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TERRENCE O'BRIEN:
This is Blipblox.

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It's a synthesizer
designed for children.

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The company behind it,
Playtime Engineering,

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even go so far as
to call it a toy.

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And it certainly looks like one.

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It's all bright glossy
plastic with knobs

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and levers, big enough for
the tiny hands of a child.

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Oh, and it's covered in tons
of crazy blinking lights.

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But if you start digging
a little bit deeper,

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you'll find out that it's
more than just a plaything.

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So let's start with the basics.

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Under the hood is
a digital synth

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engine capable of producing rich
and downright bonkers sounds.

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But an oscillator alone
doesn't make for a very

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interesting musical instrument.

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There's also an amp
envelope, a pair of LFOs,

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a modulation envelope,
and a low-pass filter that

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take that raw sound
of the oscillator

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and turn it into something
far more compelling.

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But here's the thing.

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Most of the controls and options
have been streamlined or hidden

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to make it more approachable.

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For instance, you just hit
this button in the middle

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to cycle through the
various algorithms

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that combine oscillators
and modulation schemes.

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In fact, you won't find the
words cutoff or wave shape

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anywhere on the front panel.

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Or any labels, for that matter.

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There's not even
a keyboard here.

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Instead, it comes preloaded
with hundreds of melodies

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and sequences that it
automatically cycles through,

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whether you like it or not.

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The idea here is to avoid the
usual prescriptive approach

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to sound design, and
encourage experimentation.

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And that's largely in service of
the target audience, children.

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Blipblox is meant for
kids as young as three,

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but I can tell you from
experience-- most kids

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that young wouldn't
understand what an LFO does,

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and nor would they care.

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But they can probably
piece together

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that the blue knob makes things
sound all wobbly and crazy.

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Of course, there's much more to
do here than blindly turn knobs

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and hope for the best.

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The Blipblox is designed
to grow with a child.

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Once they get past the
turn knobs and push buttons

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randomly phase--

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maybe somewhere between
5 and 8 years old--

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kids can start
connecting the knobs

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to their specific functions
and learn to follow the signal

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flow lines on the front.

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And if they need a little help,
there's an online tool box that

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spells out all the functions.

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Now here's where
things get fun even

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for the adults in the room.

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The Blipblox has a number
of hidden features.

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I won't run through all of
them, but the two most exciting

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are the Bonus Waveform mode
and the Sequence Off mode.

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The first of these options
unlocks an unspecified number

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of additional sounds
that the company deemed

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too crazy, while
the latter turns off

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the relentless
internal sequencer.

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At which point you can hook
up an external sequencer

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or a keyboard to the standard
5-pin MIDI DIN on the back.

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That means even as your child
enters their teenage years,

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they can still get
even more use out

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of the Blipblox as
a real instrument,

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rather than just a source
of unending cacophony.

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And once you play this
thing with a real keyboard

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plugged into a decent
amp, you realize

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it's not just a noise maker.

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Yes, the Blipblox is
shiny and made of plastic.

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Yes, it's explicitly
designed for children.

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But that doesn't
necessarily make it a toy.

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And honestly, at $189, it needs
to be more than just a toy.

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That's more than most
of Korg's Volca line,

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and you can even find
real analog mono synths--

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like the Monologue or
Arturia's MicroBrute--

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used for around that price.

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But those instruments can also
be intimidating to a child.

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Blipblox's appeal is in its
simplicity and sense of whimsy.

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And really, its only
competition on that front

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is the Dato DUO, which
takes a different approach

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to teaching synthesis.

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It puts more of the
standard synth controls

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at their fingertips, and
also encourages parents

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to play with their kids.

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But at this particular
moment in time,

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they're kind of hard to find
in the US and cost over $400.

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And as much as I
love my child, I'm

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not entirely sure he
needs to own the most

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expensive synth in the house.

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Maybe after dada gets himself
that Moog he's been eyeing.

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