Kikkerland Make Your Own Music Box Kit, Siler

With 15 notes and a small price point I didn’t know what to expect. The box sounds really nice. Warm deep and sentimental. Just like I would want a music box to sound like. I did not think I could have so much fun, plotting melodies and punching holes. It is a manual process and can be tedious if you look at it that way. But you end up making a product that is completely analog and mechanical. And there is something very special to me about that. It sounds so pretty and it is fun to make your own custom tunes. This is not chromatic, so the note range is very limited. But the constraints are good for creativity. I think. And I am practicing on a 15 note before jumping into a 30 note music box. I think I found a new hobby.

If any of you have tried to make a custom music movement before, you know how time consuming/expensive it can be! I didn't know how well this thing would work, but I figured it would be much cheaper and easier to do, and I was right! Actually, it works very smoothly and sounds beautiful. The hand crank can be a little annoying, but once you mount it (wood works best for amplifying the sound), it's not half bad! But let me also give you a cheat if you don't want to waste time fixing errors on your punching and trying to figure out what it will all sound like when you're finished: There's this WONDERFUL app I found called: "Music Box Composer" for Android and Google. It sucks they don't have it for PC because that would be SO much easier to work, but my boyfriend has an Android phone and I stole it from him to find this app. It is an exact replica (on the 15 note setting) of your music strips! You can move the notes around easily and play the song through your phone until you are content with how it sounds. Then you can easily copy the note placement from your phone to your music strip using the hole punch without making unnecessary mistakes. I'm so glad I found both this contraption as well as the app, and I look forward to buying more for my friends to enjoy! :)

I got this as part of a gift that I was making for my boyfriend as a one year anniversary present. It turned out really well and sounded a lot better than I thought it was going to, but it is very difficult to get it to sound right because you do have to transpose what ever song you are going for into C major. I have 8 years of previous music knowledge so it helped a lot but I feel like it would be very difficult for anyone who doesn't know how to read music. That being said, it's very personal, unique and an excellent little gift idea that can mean a lot. I put You & Me by The Dave Matthews Band on mine, so anything is really possible if you think it sounds right. Plus, it was also a really fun project to put myself to. I would recommend it.

This a great thing to get if you want a fun craft project to make as a gift. The gear system is already all put together, but it’s so much smaller than I thought. Not a bad thing in the slightest, you just can’t make a cliche music box that girls in 90s movies have. Instead it’s closer to keychain size. The music is really, definitely worth the price. The gears are made of plastic, so it doesn’t feel like it will shatter in your hands, but if anything were to break it would be those gears. The sheets, where you hole punch into, are good quality (they are not gonna tear on you if lay a finger on them). But, even though they look long, you could probably only write the chorus of most songs on there. Also it has no bass notes, and the box is only tuned to major C. Otherwise it’s a great gift, and you can personalize it by making your own box.

The Kikkerland Make Your Own Music Box Kit gets a 5-star review from me! It is small, simple, crafted well, and sounds nice. I bought the music box kit to make as a gift. When you’re holding it it’s hard to hear and has a metallic sound to it, but when it’s put on a table or screwed into a wooden box with the included screws the sound really resonates. My only complaint is that the lower pitches do not last very long, while the higher pitches stay ringing for a few seconds, leading to some unevenness while listening back any pieces you’ve written. Another complain I have about the item is the included hole-puncher. Although it is accurate with its crosshairs, it can be extremely difficult to punch through the paper at times. I found my thumb hurting quite a bit while trying to punch out the excerpt I wrote. Overall, you are getting a great product. It is very cheap at under $15, and while it does have its flaws, I’d say the quality for the price is very good, and would highly recommend this to anyone who is thinking about making a music box as a gift!

It's okay. But sort of a disappointment for me because the song I wanted it to play does not exactly work. I was under the impression it could play any song that falls in that 2 octave range, and is short enough to fit on the strips. But that's not exactly true. The problem I have is that consecutive eighth notes (of the same repeating note) do not play. It can handle eighth. But only if the note changes. For instance A-B-C-D is fine. A-A-A-A is not. Repeating notes cant be less than a quarter. Otherwise, it just sort of buzzes. Rather than a crisp chime. Unfortunately, my tune has a few of those conditions. And I was hoping to give this as a gift. So like I said, a disappointment. This is mentioned in the instruction booklet. But did not see this anywhere on the listing prior to purchase. I don't know much about music boxes in general. Maybe it's a common thing. Otherwise, hole-punching is a little tricky. Getting the hole lined up. I think I only messed that up once. Says I can fix with tape. I haven't tried that yet though. Also, don't care for the included Happy Birthday song. But that's not what I got it for anyway. All in all, it's alright provided you have a song that fits the conditions.

J’ai été séduit par le concept, et pas déçu ! Nous avons passé 1 heure avec mon fils à composer chacun notre morceau... Ca marche vraiment bien, et c’est excellent pour la pédagogie musicale ! A recommander aux musiciens en herbe (en revanche : non musiciens, s’absetenir, des bases musicales sont nécessaires)

Ich habe dieses Produkt als Zeitvertreib gekauft. Persönlich habe ich keine musikalische Erfahrung, aber zur Rumprobieren schien es mir ansprechend. Nach ein paar Versuchen kam ich zum folgenden Schluss: Positives: - Die Papierstreifen für die Noten sind wunderbar. Die Darstellung mit Notenlinien macht die Übertragung von Noten ein Kinderspiel. - Es liegen Schrauben mit Kreuzkopf dabei, falls man die Spieluhr irgendwo anbringen möchte. Neutral: - Das beigelegte Anleitung ist nur in englisch und französisch. Es gibt keine deutsche Anleitung. - Die mitgelieferten Streifen sind etwas aufgerollt. Sie sind daher etwas unhandlicher beim Stanzen und Abspielen. - Der mitgelieferte "Birthday Song"-Streifen scheint etwas verändert zu sein. Das Anfang und Ende klingt anders, aber der Mittelteil ist was man erwartet. > Achtung: Die Uhr kann keine Noten spielen, die nebeneinander gestanzt sind. Noten müssen bei gleicher Tonlage eine Achtelnote voneinander entfernt sein. Ansonsten werden sie übersprungen. Am Ende bin ich zufrieden mit dem Produkt. Das Problem mit dem Nichtspielen nebeneinander gestanzter Noten ist zwar ärgerlich, aber technisch unvermeidlich. Aber für einem Einstieg ins Selbstkomponieren von Spieluhren finde ich es absolut ausreichend. (Zum Einstieg eignet sich das Video "How to program a Music Box" vom Youtuber Wintergatan)

I bought this as an experiment, as I'm looking to make a music box with a tune I can't find on standard music boxes, and I've been very pleasantly surprised at how good it is. The quality of the sound is excellent - much clearer and louder than I expected. For my project I was considering using a normal music box and making a customised barrel for the tune I need. But having watched a couple of YouTube videos of people who'd tried that (and they were far more skilled craftsmen than me) this product seems much easier to use, and the sound quality is much better than they achieved. I would definitely recommend using this if you need a music box with a rare tune, rather than trying to make your own drum/barrel. The unit itself is pretty solidly constructed, not as fragile / plasticky as it looks in some photos, and the mechanism that translates the holes in the paper into plucks of the comb is more substantial than I thought too. It will serve as a long-term mechanism and I imagine the punched paper could easily be replaced with something stronger like a thin strip of metal if you needed something permanent.

L’ho comprato per un amico e non nascondo che prima di regalarlo…diciamo che ci ho giocato un po’ 😁…ero scettico ma è perfettamente funzionante e molto semplice e divertente…regalo piaciuto molto

Muy buen producto, le realicé una melodía especial a mi novio. Si no tienes conocimientos de música es un poco complejo entenderle al inicio. Hay que pasar las partiruras a Do mayor (pueden usar la versión de prueba de musescore, muy buena app con la que puedes convertir las partiruras).