Which was your first music toy?

[sepiakeys]

Just for fun (and quite likely not the first thread of this kind):

What was the first music-toy, keyboard or synthesizer you owned as a kid? Do you still have it and use it?

Here is mine. I got it from my aunt when I was about 10. It even has sliders to tweak the little FM-engine (that's how I got to know what "attack" and "decay" means) and a programmable drum computer! Will never give it away.

[Vxster]

Mine too.

[Jack Spider]

I had one of those wheezy Bontempi organs with chord buttons in the late 70s. It broke and was thrown out.

[StepLogik]

I had one of those wheezy Bontempi organs with chord buttons in the late 70s. It broke and was thrown out.

same here.

my first casio was a Pt-80, then a MT-100, then a MT-205. I also had synsonics drums. The poly-800 was my first "real" synth.

[Gianni]

Yeah, Bontempi Organ, can't remember exactly what happened to it.


But even before that, the first key thing i played with was actually a toy-piano/xylophone when I was 1-2 years old.

[hfinn]

I too had that same Yamaha...

My first as a child though was a 'Major Minor' toy.

[devetron]

Mine was a Yamaha PSS-170 back in 1987. I was 13 at the time and it was either that or an SK-1.
I still have it and have done this mod to it:
http://circuit-bent.net/pss-270-tutorial.html
That mod really breathes new life into it. It allows you to mish-mash two or more different of the presets among other things.
also added a nice 1/4" jack and bright green LED that does nothing but turn on when you flip a huge switch. I guess it indicates if there are batteries installed or not, if you can call that a function.

[Hugo76]

Some Casio keyboard. My first 'professional' box was the Yamaha rm1x.

[Stab Frenzy]

Melodica.

[oryjen]

An italian ANTONELLI A2565 SOLISTA II organ.
There were a beatbox and an auto-chords section.
Cheeeeeezy!
I was 14. 1 year later I bought my first real instrument: A KORG MS20, I still use. Never the faintest problem!
It was 1979.

[Synthprophet]

I have neve had something like that. My brother used to have some toy-keyboards, besides following him getting keyboard lessons. I didn't focus much on being able to play music myself, before my passion for synths started.

[wiss]

[cornutt]

OK guys, thanks for reminding me how old I am.

Given the time, my first musical toy was probably a wind-up music box of some sort, like maybe a jack-in-the-box. I recall having a toy piano and a toy xylophone. I don't really remember what came first.

Electronic children's toys were almost unheard of back then; the sole exception was toy phonographs. I did have one of those. And incredibly, my parents got me a wide selection of 45s that were popular then. I played "I Can See For Miles" and "Happy Jack" on my toy phonograph! I was about 5 when the first transistor radios started appearing, and my dad was an electrical engineer, so he got me one of the first Regency transistor radios. Wish I still had it; there are collectors who kill for those things now. Other than that, though, the first electronic toy I ever had was a Radio Shack Science Fair 50-in-1 kit that I got when I was 10.

[killedaway]

I had one of those wheezy Bontempi organs with chord buttons in the late 70s. It broke and was thrown out.

same here. i couldn't play a single tune, but i loved goofing on the thing anyway. looking back on things, what a miserable sound that thing produced.

[Byrthfood]

my first was the casio mt-240. i still have it and record with it once in a while - you can't beat that pipe organ.