A portable music production studio previewed at NAMM 2022 is now crowdfunding on Kickstarter. Playtime Engineering's Blipblox myTracks is designed to give young creators all the tools they need to start making music.
The funky groovebox joins other toy-like, child-safe devices from San Francisco-based Playtime Engineering, which are designed for budding music creators from three years and up and started with the Blipblox synth back in 2018.
"The Blipblox myTracks is more than just a drum machine or a basic sampler – it's a complete music production studio," said the company at launch. It's "intentionally crafted to eliminate complexity and maximize fun."
The colorful tune generator comes with hundreds of melodies and drum loops already loaded in, so kids can get in the groove straight away. There's a randomize feature to spice things up, plus an onboard microphone for sampling the sounds around about and making them part of the music.
Up top are 25 backlit pads for triggering preset acoustic, electronic and percussive instrument sounds, which can be layered and sequenced across five tracks. To make freeing the muse as easy as possible, the device "has been designed to keep musical key and style consistent in each of its sets."
The Blipblox comes with filter, pitch bend and delay effects to help enrich the output sounds, which are controlled via big purple mod wheels on each side of the interface. And if the cooked-in samples aren't enough to get the creative juices flowing, additional sound packs are available for free download to expand the sonic library.
The unit is powered by four AA-sized batteries and sports a built-in speaker for music creation on the move. A headphone jack enables quiet play or audio output through a powered speaker, while a 5-pin MIDI output caters for connection to other music hardware. A USB-C port is included too, for hooking up to a laptop running music production software.
Kickstarter pledges currently start at US$289, shaving $60 off the expected retail price. Crowdfunding cautions apply, but if all goes to plan with the already funded campaign, shipping is estimated to start from November. The video below has more.
Source: Playtime Engineering