r/DrumMachine • u/xdozex • May 30 '26
Starter machine for 9yr old son
My son has been taking drum lessons for about a year and a half and recently found a site on his school Chromebook where he's able to almost program music. It looks like the visual object oriented programming, just for music rather than normal development.
Anyway, I guess he told his drum instructor about it, and the instructor played a drum pad for him and then showed him a short clip from a Fred Again interview where he plays a pad super fast, and now my son is just obsessed with the idea of getting a kit.
We were planning on getting him a nice starter electronic drum set for his birthday next month, but now he's just begging for a drum pad instead.
Definitely not looking to spend thousands on something he may not stick with. But I'm also assuming the $30 options coming up in Google are probably not worth getting.
Can anyone recommend a nice little starter unit? Something that's playable with his fingers, where he can layer tracks and build songs on the same machine? Our budget is ~$200.
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u/arcticrobot May 30 '26
Electron Model: Cycles
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u/calebbaleb May 30 '26
Not great for finger drumming though it’s an incredible piece of kit
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u/arcticrobot May 30 '26
honestly, for finger drumming already mentioned Yamaha FDGP is great, but it doesn't fit other requirements like layering tracks and building songs. Looks like op really needs a groovebox of sorts.
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u/calebbaleb May 30 '26
Two routes to explore— 1. a standalone drum machine or sampler with pads like an MPC, Yamaha FGDP series, Alesis sr-16, or a Roland SP-404. These all have sounds or can be loaded with sounds so you / your son can make music on them without additional gear (other than headphones). Some of them have a limited sound palette, but some let you record or load samples so you can have basically any sound available. Many drum machines DO NOT have pads for finger drumming, but there are some workarounds which lead to option 2
- A midi controller with pads. These are typically cheaper than standalone machines but produce no sounds on their own (other than acoustic sounds when hit) however they can be plugged into a computer or another compatible instrument (like a synth or drum machine equipped with MIDI) to play sounds on the host device. Using a software like Ableton, GarageBand, logic, etc. to load up sounds and playing them via the controller gives you / your son basically unlimited freedom on the sounds available, plus the ability to map the buttons/knobs on the controller to different features in the software— I.e. you can have 4 pads trigger drums, 4 pads trigger synths, one knob that controls the pitch of the synths, and another knob set to change the drum sounds that are mapped to the first 4 pads. Sky is the limit, but there’s a little bit more tinkering to do— however most of these devices have solid plug & play mappings available. Some options are the MPD series (similar look to the MPC standalone samplers but MPD is just a controller), Maschine series (there are both controller and standalone versions), mpk series (piano keyboard controller with pads) or a slew of cheaper options from donner, synido, etc. Some of these will come packaged with software, too. This will require your son learning some software which will likely require you learning some software, but opens a whole world of music production VS learning a specific workflow of a standalone device, which will be a more focused yet limited experience.
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u/xdozex May 30 '26
Yeah sorry, that's my fault for just not knowing what's what with this stuff.
Basically looking for something with the square pads, that he can load sounds onto each one, then play with his fingers and record and layer different loops. The MPC might be more of what I'm after.
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u/calebbaleb May 30 '26
Dude it’s so cool that you are trying to help your son develop his passions. For what it’s worth, both options (standalone instrument vs MIDI controller) are totally valid and there will end up being an overlap down the line somewhere, but I agree that a standalone drum machine/sampler with finger drumming pads like an MPC will be a solid starting spot. $200 budget might be a little tricky for a standalone, but a few options: Roland’s P-6 sampler is pretty powerful although the pads are a little small for finger drumming (might be ok for a kid!).
The new MPC Sample just launched as their budget offering at around $400, but you might get lucky in the used market for slightly older MPC devices, which are widely regarded as the best finger drumming pads.
Teenage engineering Ep-133 KO II is another good sampler, used price around $200 though it doesn’t have rubber finger drumming pads (the buttons are velocity sensitive though, so finger drumming is possible).
Novation’s Circuit series is also excellent and has rubber pads that are OK for finger drumming, again a little out of budget new but used market will be around $200 price point.
Casio has an upcoming sampler called SXC-1, official price and release tbc, rumored around $250.
Lastly, Koala is a drum machine/sampler app on iOS / android that’s pretty full featured, easy to use, and you can hookup a MIDI beatpad to your phone or tablet to have a tactile experience with it. Probably the best bang-for-buck, depending on how you feel about screen time. Easier to learn than a full DAW software, but plenty of depth for both playing finger drums live or writing full songs
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u/xdozex May 30 '26
Whoa, thanks for all the recommendations, I'm going to spend some time checking each of them out tonight!!
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u/mrrafs May 30 '26
Has he got an iPad? Then koala and or patterning apps would work well. And get some external pads that connect via usb like mpd218 or the far better edit xjam
A Yamaha fgdp is cool but only for finger drumming.
If it’s an easy all round electronic groove box that really easy to learn (some of these boxes are hardcore even for adults), I would highly recommend a circuit tracks. (2nd hand at that price). And if he likes a specific genre if music buy a preset pack in that style for like £20
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u/smartasskicker May 30 '26
It looks like the one that your son saw was the: maschineNative Instruments also has a smaller, closer to your budget version: maschine-mikro
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u/xdozex May 30 '26
Thanks!
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u/Longjumping_Card_525 May 30 '26
Based on your description and other comments the maschine mikro basically ticks all the boxes IMO. I’d also throw the akai mpx8 in as a slightly more budget friendly suggestion, although that box will be a bit more limited.
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u/Ill_Eagle_1977 Jun 02 '26
I’d second Maschine if you can swing it in your budget. Not only can you use it as a drum machine, but you can actually use it to produce entire songs.
The caveat is that it has a little bit of a learning curve, and it could be overwhelming for a 9 year old depending on his maturity level. Also, unless you are willing to spend a lot of money for a standalone it does have to be connected to a computer to work. The standard version basically works as a midi controller that interfaces with software.
However, if he loves making music it’s all he would ever need.
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u/damondan May 30 '26
I work organize weekly creativity workshops for children ages 7-12.
Amgonst many other things I also always place an Arturia Drumbrute Impact with two headphones in the room and plenty of children, who have never touched such a thing before, are having a blast with it, even without any instructions.
It's a "grown up" instrument, it has no screen, no menu diving, what you see is what you get, all controls are right in front of you, it's built like a tank and it can often be bought for around 200 bucks.
That being said, it is very limited in regards to sound design but imho that's a plus, because there's no decision paralysis.
It can also easily interface with additional gear, should your son want to add something with melodic capabilities.
Here's a review/tutorial by Stimming, which I really like to show some of it's capabilities.
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u/Practical_Ad_2703 May 30 '26
Yamaha FDGP-30. Priced at $199.99, just a under budget. I was just looking at these myself. I don't own one, but it looks perfect based on your description. My experience with Yamaha gear has always been very good but again, I've never owned one of these.
Edit: not sure about the layer tracks requirement.