Any used Akai device. Depending on how old I would say get them the new standalone device called the mpc one+. If the price is too steep look for a used midi device from Akai.
Honesty, a used cell phone would make a better pocket operator.
Pocket operator (particularly the KO) is the single thing other than maybe the OP-Z that I think has enough creative utility relative to its price to not feel like glorified furniture.
I'm always a bit surprised by how much hate fancy, over-engineered products get on here. If you think it is overpriced, don't buy it. Buy the better budget option and let the 'stupid rich idiots' piss away their money on stuff like this.
I just don't get it. Always the negativity.
And if it's all so bad, why not link us to a better product? Why just bitch? Seems like some weird form of jealousy?
I'm not sure if the comments you were referring to were just cleared or something because this seems like a larger overly negative reaction than anything else in this thread. It's okay for a few people to calmly talk about how they think a product is bad, even if you don't get it/agree with it.
I'm not sure there is anything to add beyond the original threads for this though. The price isn't coming from being over engineered though. Some people will like that, others won't. This one probably pushes that boundary more than even most other TE products though.
Its not jealousy or any of those things - its a desire to see the audio industry improve upon itself, and not just pander to shiny-thing-obsessed hipsters.
Teenage Engineering have a long history of pandering to the bespoke-coveting hipster market, and for those of us who develop pro audio products, it is frustrating to see TE get the press for features that are well and truly established - at much more affordable prices, in less bespoke products - just because their products are less available/accessible, less affordable, and thus 'more exclusive'.
We in the audio world want MORE people to access great technology - not less - and we fight very hard to keep our BOM and other development costs low, so that we can actually produce superlative gear that pushes the state of the art forward.
TE do not produce superlative gear that pushes the state of the art forward. They produce bespoke parts with the bare minimum actual feature set required to qualify for entry into the pro audio market. For every dusty OP-1 sitting in a drawer, the user could've bought 5x the number of portable synth/jamstation units, and gotten a much better experience for it.
Anyway, hipsters, Teenage Engineering is jumping the shark. Get on the Zynthian or monome bandwagon already, shee-iissh ..
As someone who has both TE and monome gear along with Elektron, Moog, and a decent variety of other gear, I still don’t understand the hate toward TE and it reminds me very much of the Apple haters who bash the company no matter what they ship claiming it’s all over-priced and that you can get better gear for less.
Back in the early 2000’s people made the same sort of comments about Apple laptops that I see applied to TE where they claimed
Apple made laptops for hipsters rather than serious machines.
I find monome a really curious example to use in particular because if anything norns is incredibly overpriced for what it does (something people call out regularly in forums).
TE makes a particular form factor that is small, light, easy to travel with, and easy to pull out and use with a small amount of space for a music setup. I pull out my TX-6 far more often than my Audiofuse Studio these days for that reason. Despite it being more expensive with fewer features the convenience for someone that doesn’t have a large dedicated space for music more than makes up for the price premium.
For the ones who feel TE pricing is ridiculous, all you need is function and the experience of using something don't matter much - yeah then TE perhaps is not for you ?
Personally I see my OD-11's doing double duty as sculptures and speakers, bringing me more than just sound waves, most speakers are huge and ugly - these guys ooze 1960's and Kubrick
My OB-4 loop function brings a playful way for me to save loops for my wife to discover, so it's a social object as much as a minimalist boom box ?
To me these are art pieces with a personality and if you ever owned a painting or some jewellery, why should electronics always be about function and price with disdain for aesthetics... ..cables, dust balls and wall warts anyone ?
I sometimes prefer to not have a function if the price is an eye sore.
I'll spend more on something of equivalent features for only two reasons: build quality and freedom. Alas, most electronics nowadays offer neither, so cheapest it is.
This one is a bit more ridiculous than the others.
You can get something like a Tascam DR-07XP for $150 and it does 32bit float format with essentially unlimited dynamic range. I will never need to buy another field mic.
Easily the most overrated company in audio electronics to date.
They make expensive bespoke parts with barely enough features to lure in the punters, who delight in being special while devices 1/3rd the cost do far, far more ..
Discussions at release (2023) - (171 points, 194 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35906292
(43 points, 27 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35899498
That discussion contains:
As someone considering buying a pocket operator for his son: How true is this? What are decent alternatives for PO?Any used Akai device. Depending on how old I would say get them the new standalone device called the mpc one+. If the price is too steep look for a used midi device from Akai.
Honesty, a used cell phone would make a better pocket operator.
Pocket operator (particularly the KO) is the single thing other than maybe the OP-Z that I think has enough creative utility relative to its price to not feel like glorified furniture.
I enjoyed mine a lot / made a lot with it!
It’s not true of their cheaper products, the POs especially.
The EP series are also good bang for buck.
The OP series, along with the TP-7, TX-6 are luxury goods. If you’re trying to save money, they’re not for you. They are nice though.
Get your kid a Zynthian instead:
http://zynthian.org/
.. a far better investment, with way more utility for the forward-thinking electronic-music making youngster ..
Thanks for the link !
I would have loved that device in my teens.
In fact reckon I'll buy one for my nephew.
Cheers
I'm always a bit surprised by how much hate fancy, over-engineered products get on here. If you think it is overpriced, don't buy it. Buy the better budget option and let the 'stupid rich idiots' piss away their money on stuff like this.
I just don't get it. Always the negativity.
And if it's all so bad, why not link us to a better product? Why just bitch? Seems like some weird form of jealousy?
I'm not sure if the comments you were referring to were just cleared or something because this seems like a larger overly negative reaction than anything else in this thread. It's okay for a few people to calmly talk about how they think a product is bad, even if you don't get it/agree with it.
I'm not sure there is anything to add beyond the original threads for this though. The price isn't coming from being over engineered though. Some people will like that, others won't. This one probably pushes that boundary more than even most other TE products though.
Its not jealousy or any of those things - its a desire to see the audio industry improve upon itself, and not just pander to shiny-thing-obsessed hipsters.
Teenage Engineering have a long history of pandering to the bespoke-coveting hipster market, and for those of us who develop pro audio products, it is frustrating to see TE get the press for features that are well and truly established - at much more affordable prices, in less bespoke products - just because their products are less available/accessible, less affordable, and thus 'more exclusive'.
We in the audio world want MORE people to access great technology - not less - and we fight very hard to keep our BOM and other development costs low, so that we can actually produce superlative gear that pushes the state of the art forward.
TE do not produce superlative gear that pushes the state of the art forward. They produce bespoke parts with the bare minimum actual feature set required to qualify for entry into the pro audio market. For every dusty OP-1 sitting in a drawer, the user could've bought 5x the number of portable synth/jamstation units, and gotten a much better experience for it.
Anyway, hipsters, Teenage Engineering is jumping the shark. Get on the Zynthian or monome bandwagon already, shee-iissh ..
As someone who has both TE and monome gear along with Elektron, Moog, and a decent variety of other gear, I still don’t understand the hate toward TE and it reminds me very much of the Apple haters who bash the company no matter what they ship claiming it’s all over-priced and that you can get better gear for less.
Back in the early 2000’s people made the same sort of comments about Apple laptops that I see applied to TE where they claimed Apple made laptops for hipsters rather than serious machines.
I find monome a really curious example to use in particular because if anything norns is incredibly overpriced for what it does (something people call out regularly in forums).
TE makes a particular form factor that is small, light, easy to travel with, and easy to pull out and use with a small amount of space for a music setup. I pull out my TX-6 far more often than my Audiofuse Studio these days for that reason. Despite it being more expensive with fewer features the convenience for someone that doesn’t have a large dedicated space for music more than makes up for the price premium.
I would not call a TE product "over engineered".
I think they spend much of their engineering budget on user experience.
Happy owner of OB-4 and OD-11 here...
For the ones who feel TE pricing is ridiculous, all you need is function and the experience of using something don't matter much - yeah then TE perhaps is not for you ?
Personally I see my OD-11's doing double duty as sculptures and speakers, bringing me more than just sound waves, most speakers are huge and ugly - these guys ooze 1960's and Kubrick
My OB-4 loop function brings a playful way for me to save loops for my wife to discover, so it's a social object as much as a minimalist boom box ?
To me these are art pieces with a personality and if you ever owned a painting or some jewellery, why should electronics always be about function and price with disdain for aesthetics... ..cables, dust balls and wall warts anyone ?
I sometimes prefer to not have a function if the price is an eye sore.
There's more to life than function.
Bring on the flames ♥
You must be deep into the Apple walled garden.
And you're right, I'll never get it I guess.
I'll spend more on something of equivalent features for only two reasons: build quality and freedom. Alas, most electronics nowadays offer neither, so cheapest it is.
This one is a bit more ridiculous than the others.
You can get something like a Tascam DR-07XP for $150 and it does 32bit float format with essentially unlimited dynamic range. I will never need to buy another field mic.
$1499
Easily the most overrated company in audio electronics to date.
They make expensive bespoke parts with barely enough features to lure in the punters, who delight in being special while devices 1/3rd the cost do far, far more ..
What utility does the spinning motor bring on this thing?
It helps the hipster justify their investment by differentiating an otherwise normal function found on other devices, with 'applied automation'.
There is no other purpose.
[dead]