On the base of this device its says ‘toy’. I’ll follow their lead, although I’ve owned non-toys less sophisticated than this.
This is the third iteration made by Playtime Engineering of a groovebox for toddlers. The first has the look and feel of a Fisher Price toy – they can bite it and sit on it and and hit it on the wall. None of the big knobs are labelled – not important. Turn it on and the music plays. Turn the knobs and the sounds change. Fool proof, limited. If you think your baby is going to be a rave lord, here you are.
The second has much more detail – the knobs are labelled, the sounds are more sophisticated. This is for older children that want a little more control. You still have instant melodies but you can also plug in a MIDI cable and play your own tunes from a keyboard. Nevertheless it’s still a near random sound source – you can’t store a sound and come back to it. A lot like modular.
This third version has a darker, more sophisticated design. It’s near identical to the previous iteration but you could borrow it from your child and take it on stage. Because it’s darker the blinking lights seem more vibrant and suggest a level of control – mostly illusionary. Yes they do fly around in a way that describes what’s happening, but it’s all a bit much to take in.
The big purple lever at the left is the tempo, the big purple one to the right is filter. I would have preferred that the tempo be a smaller knob but I am not a small child. There’s a button to pick a random melody (every second version of which has percussion) and another purple button that picks a random sound. The other purple button makes the synth ‘freak’. From there you can switch oscillators, adjust the envelope, two LFOs, switch filter type between LP/BP/HP and bash in some kick and snare. More than that – but that will do. You are performing on the Blipblox.
Control freaks such as myself will become annoyed, as it’s confusing how to tame the thing into the sound you might like. But when I shove it into other people’s hands and yell ‘Check This Shit Out’ they quickly get wiggling and feel like a real wiggler. I have no small children but I think they would too. It’s a pinball machine, pachinko, a pair of raver trousers. I have seen and heard expensive modular rigs offer less. The only question is whether you prefer Fisher Price colours. I kind of do.
