Children's Museum Learning Synth

[loxley11]

So I was taking my 5-yr old through our local children"s museum for the umpteenth time, but this time I got an idea: there are all sorts of objects for kids to play on or play with to learn; why not make a kid-friendly, kid-proof synth for them to twiddle with and learn all about sound design?

 

I did a quick search online and didn"t turn up anything. Has anyone ever seen anything like this?

 

My thought was to have a simple soft synth but with a large kid-friendly interface: lots of colorful buttons and knobs on a great big panel with lots of visuals explaining what waveforms and their overtones look like, what a filter does, how an ADSR envelope works, and lines showing the signal path from keyboard to speakers. Most importantly, the analog-style interface would let them edit sound in real-time and hear the results as they twiddle with the knobs. Obviously not for the toddler crowd, but definitely something kids 6-12 could interact with.

 

The software would be the easiest part - just a basic minimoog-style modeler. Customizing the software to the unique interface would be more work. I think the main obstacle would be having ultra-durable or cheap/easily replaceable moving parts. But probably not impossible. Would think something like this could be done for under a grand. Might even be able to get some help from a soft synth company, since it would be great publicity, at least locally, and could definitely get young musicians interested in sound design. Any helpful thoughts or critiques?

[Tom Williams]

How about LittleBits by Korg?

 

http://www.airnetworking.com/Pictures/LittleBits.jpg

[Baldwin Funster]

Behringer MS-1-RD Analog Synthesizer with Handgrip - Red

 

Looks as kid proof as anything as long as the kid respects stuff. Even a fisher - price toy can't be kicked around...much.

[stillearning]

. ...with a large kid-friendly interface: lots of colorful buttons and knobs on a great big panel with lots of visuals explaining what waveforms and their overtones look like, what a filter does, how an ADSR envelope works, and lines showing the signal path from keyboard to speakers. Most importantly, the analog-style interface would let them edit sound in real-time and hear the results as they twiddle with the knobs...

I love it! And I would also include a display monitor showing resulting waveforms as they play! I would have dug the shit out of something like this as a kid. I teach keys part-time in retirement and would spring for something like this in a heartbeat.

[lightbg]

You can get kids started here:

 

On line Synthesizer

 

Jake

[loxley11]

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. Although what I probably didn"t make clear in my OP was that I was imagining an exhibit for an actual children"s museum. A simple synth with a larger-than-life display that several kids could gather around and interact with at once. Although I"m totally on board with your concept for visuals, stillearning. I pictured two old-school style oscilloscopes for each VCO, showing the saw or pulse waveform (with proper pulse width of course, to illustrate how that affects tone), a screen displaying the ADSR envelope as it"s modified in real-time, and 2nd screen animating the changes in cutoff frequency and resonance. A basic arpeggiator and portamento functions would be cool too, and perhaps an LFO section, if it didn"t make things too complicated.

 

Although my idea was for a museum exhibit, I don"t see why you couldn"t make a scaled-down model for consumer use. I did find a few items like that in my initial search; Blipbox doesn"t even have words on the panel and looks like a toddler could use it.

 

But regarding the original idea, my first two questions are:

 

- where could I find extra durable pots and sliders for the control panel? Sliders would look cool for the envelope generator, but I don"t think they"re as durable as pots, and man those kids can destroy everything (you should see the condition of the old upright piano they have there ð®)

 

- second, what"s involved in making what is essentially a hardware controller for a soft synth? Would you need proprietary data, or are there some open-source synths that would be easy to interface with? Or would it be easier to use the chips from low-cost hardware modulars, like the LittleBits set mentioned above, replacing the pots and buttons with much beefier, sturdier ones?

 

 

[Magman]

A friend from the Netherlands and I looked into this a few years ago.

 

Our idea was to have something like a card table (so it was portable). In the centre would be a collection of synth electronics - we were going to use at least 2 Doepfer DIY Synths plus a few additional modules to flesh out functions available. We also looked at a version with 4 synths, so one for each side. Around this central area would be a wide border of polished steel, this would allow magnets to fix a collection of toys to interface with the synths. Audio output would be headphones with a possible external amplifier for more public demonstrations should something interesting came out of the play. At least 2 headphones per synth would allow collaboration.

 

The toys were to allow a sense of 'playing' with music. Some of these toys included:

 

Small CV keyboards, akin to toy organs or perhaps something like a Korg Nanokey

 

A small 8 note Sequencer

 

A motor driven opto-interuptor with a variable speed control.

 

A fan driven generator, that could be blown or use a motor driven fan to generate CV"s or pulses.

 

A mechanical Sequencer, moving a contact generates notes - both circular and straight versions.

 

Ball bearings in tracks that make contact as it or they travel along the track, could be used as a clock for sequencers, or a step generator.

 

That was just a few of our idea"s, but these would all be connected by 4 pole jacks to provide power CV and clock connections as well as power to the edge of the central area.

 

All of these toys could then be patched into the synths to make music or noise as required.

 

So we had lots of idea"s, but none of them have seen the light of day as yet. As I am now a member of a Maker Place, I might just move this along a bit this year, as I attend a few Maker Events and Synth Meets during the year were this would be an interesting conversation piece.

 

Regards

 

Mike

[Threadslayer]

It might be fun to allow the toys to generate representative synthesized sounds that kids could relate to rather than just random noise. A formula 1 race car engine winding up based on the toy's motion modulating an LFO, a fighter jet including white noise, high pitched whine - and sonic BOOM, horse hooves clopping along at different gaits, a lion's roar...

[loxley11]

Anyone ever tried the open source program SynthEdit?

[loxley11]

Bumping this thread as I’ve picked back up the idea for a functional children’s learning synth exhibit.

 

tldr summary: want to make a basic analog style synth with an interface that is kid-friendly and instructive, for use as a kids museum or science center exhibit.

- I think the simplest way to accomplish this would be to build a physically robust hardware interface for an existing soft synth.

- I think the simplest way to pay for it would be to appeal to the soft synth manufacturer to subsidize the project in return for advertising printed on the unit. 

(if anyone has any better suggestions I’m open to ideas)

 

All that being said, seems like the first step would be to select the soft synth. I haven’t really kept up with advances in soft synths over the past 10 years or so (going back to school and having a kid and all), so less familiar with the options. 
 

Required features:

- 2 oscillators with at least hard sync, coarse and fine pitch controls

- square, saw, and tri (or sine) waveforms

- LPF with cutoff and resonance control

- standard ADSR-type AEG & FEG

- at least 1 LFO with common assignments (pitch, amp, PW, LPF cutoff, rez) and standard waveforms (tri/sine, saw up/down, sqr, s/h)

 

Not required, but highly desirable:

- mono/poly modes

- portamento

- noise generator

- split mode

- pitch envelope generator (at least 2 levels/rates

- basic FX (reverb, chorus, delay)

- my Matrix 6 let’s you modify the saw osc wave shape to essentially morph it smoothly into a triangle wave. Haven’t seen this on many other units tho. 
 

Any products come to mind? I’ve heard good things about the Arturia modelers and the u-he DIVA but not familiar with every feature. Are there any software products that let you custom-build your own soft synth?

 

As always, any input is greatly appreciated. You guys are a remarkable community and I consider myself lucky to be able to pick your collective brains. 

 

 Thanks!

 Drew