Keyboard/Sampler Recommendations

My 11 year old has no inclination to learn the guitar, but loves the gorillaz and more importantly “David” Albarn.  

Novation Circuit Rhythm
Roland P6
Roland SP 404
Model Samples
Teenage Engineering KO

all good check out Bad Gear for some reviews.

Circuit Rhythm is probably the easiest to get going with.

Thank you, I’ll investigate.  

If you have any questions let me know I’ve had quite a few things

oh also the original Polyend play can be had very cheaply secondhand 

Or, software wise, FL Studio. Probably the fastest way to put something together. 

Does he want to play physical keys? If not, maybe get an iPad with Koala Sampler (see YT for what it does). It's far more sophisticated and flexible than almost any hardware sampler. And the iPad size screen makes it a lot easier than using a phone. Or maybe there's a Black Friday deal on Korg Gadget.

ETA for standalone sampling and beat-making fun with a keyboard, an Akai MPC Key 37 would be awesome.

Thank you @Sporky and @goldtop for these suggestions.  More to consider. 

goldtop said:

Does he want to play physical keys? If not, maybe get an iPad with Koala Sampler (see YT for what it does). It's far more sophisticated and flexible than almost any hardware sampler. And the iPad size screen makes it a lot easier than using a phone. Or maybe there's a Black Friday deal on Korg Gadget.

ETA for standalone sampling and beat-making fun with a keyboard, an Akai MPC Key 37 would be awesome.

I was assuming hardware was what was wanted.

Agreed, that music making on an iPad is super fun and often apps that cost £200 on Mac are £20 on iPad 
Korg Gadget is a great shout and if you want buttons then you can get a little Midi controller to go with it. 
Korgs ones sync perfectly with Gadget.

monquixote said:

I was assuming hardware was what was wanted.

Agreed, that music making on an iPad is super fun and often apps that cost £200 on Mac are £20 on iPad 
Korg Gadget is a great shout and if you want buttons then you can get a little Midi controller to go with it. 
Korgs ones sync perfectly with Gadget.

I’ll be honest, I’m looking at all options at the moment.  I’ve never been great with tech*, so I’m researching.  I’m going to see what the boy thinks.  

Maybe if you have some idea of budget and if you already own an iPad.

Ipads are ideal for checking things out and the app quality is on par with far more expensive VST's as mentioned above.
I always find them a bit clunky for more serious use.  USB C helped, but I still find too many leads and dongles are needed but that's probably just my lack of persistence.  Airpods don't work because of the bluetooth delay, you can use headphones with the right adapter but can't charge or add a midi keyboard.  I have a dongle but it doesn't work for audio.  I can use my Audio interface but it's miles bigger than an ipad and defeats the point.

The biggest problem is me with the ipad, but it does mean I'd like an all-in-one option as a DAW alternative. Like one of these.....

goldtop said:

ETA for standalone sampling and beat-making fun with a keyboard, an Akai MPC Key 37 would be awesome.

I have one of these lined up as my next purchase.  Ticks a lot of boxes for a dawless, more immediate option.  MPC 3 looks great and I already own a few Air plugins I can use (stage piano, Organ, Stage EP, Mini D).    

I'd get him a keyboard with its own sounds. I've played keys all my life and find anything that requires 'setting up' is far less likely to get used complared to something that needs a button pressed and its on and working. He, of course, is a different person than me  =)

There are so many inexpensive keyboards that would be great fun for anyone, and so many on the used market. All (almost) will send midi if he wants to use it as a controller.

GarageBand on iPad has a sampler in the keyboard, drummer, loads of digital instruments… 

Synth One and Korg synths all great.

lots of keyboard skills and teaching apps too.

If you go the virtual route you rob them of the organic process of using a physical machine, and at that age it's much more special to receive a machine that lights up and has buttons and stuff that they can actually learn. A VST is just another program that you can try once and disregard for the next one.

I'd get him a KO2 or a used Akai MPC One.