10 Gifts For Electronic Musicians Under $100 November 29, 2013
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Looking for a gift for an electronic musician, or maybe a cool new toy for your music laboratory?

2013 has been a great year for affordable new gear for electronic musicians – so we’ve put together a collection of links for relatively inexpensive gift ideas.

Here are 10 electronic music gifts under $100 to check out:

  1. Korg’s Monotron line includes three synths at about $50 each, the Korg Monotron, the Korg Monotron Duo and the Korg Monotron Delay.
  2. The Gakken SX-150 MARK II Analog Synthesizer looks like a toy, but it’s a real analog synthesizer, under $70, and has been popular with as a platform for DIY mods.
  3. The Stylophone is a miniature stylus-operated synthesizer, based on the 1967 classic, and it’s available for under $25 at Amazon. It offers three sounds and can output through the built-in speaker or via an audio out jack.
  4. The Bleep Drum + MIDI is a $75 kit that lets you build a ‘rad-fi drum machine’, with sequencer, pitch-adjustable samples, and MIDI. It’s available at the Bleep Labs store.
  5. Gameboys can be purchased on the cheap, since they’re 20 years old and jillions were made. Add Nanoloop, though, and you’ve got an inexpensive lo-fi synth. Nanoloop pricing starts at 29 Euro.
  6. The modular documentary I Dream Of Wires offers 4 hours of hardcore modular synthesizer and electronic music action for $30 on DVD, $35 for BluRay at the Science With Synthesizers shop.
  7. The iConnectMIDI2+ looks like a standard USB MIDI interface – but it supports Mac, Windows & iOS, adds Audio passThru from one device to another, lets you hook up 2 computers at the same time and has sophisticated MIDI routing and filtering. Amazon has it for just under $100.
  8. Several companies offer DIY Eurorack module kits. The Mutable Instruments CVpal is a DIY kit that lets you build a USB to CV converter that can be used in a Eurorack synth or standalone. See the Mutable site for details. They are currently out of stock – hopefully these will get replenished soon. See also the Synthrotek store for their DIY Euro modules , Thonk for several DIY Eurorack modules and the EAR store for their Euro version of the Gristleizer.
  9. The Novation LaunchKey is a mini USB MIDI keyboard that works with your iPad or laptop that offers a 25 note mini-keyboard, 16 drum pads and 8 knobs. It’s available for under $100.
  10. The Bob Moog Foundation has a 2014 Calendar that celebrates 50 years of Moog modular synthesis. It’s $20 at the Foundation site and your purchase helps support their mission.

Let us know if you’ve got other suggestions in the comments!