Teenage Engineering - Pocket Operators

The Lounge Other Gear
1

https://www.teenageengineering.com/products/po/

As much as i’d love a Sub37 or Analog Keys i’ve had to settle for ordering a PO-14 Sub and a PO-12 Rhythm. I’m looking forward to be able to play about with them whilst out n about and then feeding them to my Octatrack when sat at my desk. Hoping they’ll provide so nice raw fodder for the OT and plenty of ‘happy accidents’ to be further twisted up with scenes etc.

Just had an email from TE stating that they could still be two to three months away though…

Anyone else here ordered one, or more?

2

Are definitely on my list, but want an OT first (trying hard to resist keeping splurging instead of saving or ill never get there!). May get the rhythm for my daughters bday though, she thought they looked fun too and am always happy to buy her music stuff.

3

Keep saving, the OT is well worth it and gives new life to your existing kit. Maybe you can ‘borrow’ your daughters Rhythm to tide you over :wink:

4

Hehe the thought never crossed my mind, promise! XD

5

My biggest question… would there be a way to sync the Pocket Operators and an Analog Four?

I was thinking that maybe sending a certain VAL LIN with four beats might sync it. I know it won’t sync regularly but considering how versatile A4 CV is…

I’m gonna get one for my girlfriend eventually but you know I’m gonna want to steal it for a night or two :stuck_out_tongue:

6

I think you can sync it to anything using the Audio In signal. I have ordered the PO-12 and case myself. Now we play hurry up and wait…

7

Foolishly I was so eager when ordering that I didn’t even see the cases. I do like the look of them as is but I guess leaving them ‘naked’ will affect their roadworthiness.

8

I think you can sync it to anything using the Audio In signal. I have ordered the PO-12 and case myself. Now we play hurry up and wait…[/quote]
From my understanding; it isn’t just regular sync. You can sync from Volcas though from the manual of PO-12. Is it possible to sync Volca and A4 through audio cables?

9

You can sync volcas via midi and PO from volcas (from my understanding).

I ordered the PO-12 and PO-14…they look like fun little toys to go along with my volcas.

As cool as the little covers looked, I wasn’t going to spend that much on a cover (it was almost as much as the synth).

Will they replace my A4, AR, OT, Sub37, etc etc…of course not…will they be fun and entertaining…for me, of course. :slight_smile:

10

Just ordered the PO-12 plus silicone case + $9 shipping off their site.

Received an order confirmation stating they expect to dispatch in APRIL.

Thought they would be inundated with orders but… sigh.
.
Plan to run midi sync out of octatrack to volca then sync volca to PO-12??

Other option is cv from the A4?

The appeal of these is that I can hide this little guy from my wife. She equates size to cost lol.

11

I placed an order and was about to click the pay button, and thought, do I really these lofi sounding things, and the answer was no.

12

Honestly these things are toys. There’s no doubt about it.

However. They look like really fun toys for killing time when your commuting or at school

13

Yeah good fun on a flight / bus ride as you say.

8 bit sound for that lo fi feel. They look like they could easily pass off as a pocket calculator. Could sit at the back of the class tapping out beats. Fool a few teachers. ( I’m middle aged btw so not applicable to me )

14

I want to like these. They’re adorable and CV sync is a nice touch. But they sound very samey, which might be OK except that it’s not a good sound to me. Only 16 steps per pattern is perfectly reasonable at this form factor and price range (hi Volca) but that puts it squarely in the “toy” category for me. I am curious about the effects, especially if there’s a BBD, but not particularly hopeful.

As far as handheld noise toys, LSDJ and LGPT mop the floor with these things.

15

^ those require a gameboy though don’t they?
…or an emulator which would defeat the purpose

I will probably get slammed for saying this but I consider my volcas more in the “toy” category…though they can be used for things…they don’t replace any of my heavy hitters (synths).

I actually hesitated a bit because like J_C_Selector I thought to myself…do I really need another lofi synth…I already have all 3 volcas and the volca sampler on the way…however, I can pass these POs off to the kids or something to mess around with.

They seem like fun little toys. :slight_smile:

16

Maybe we can use the cue output of the Octatrack with the metronome on to sync it with the pocket operators?

I hope so!

17

hmmm, that would be interesting…I use my cue outs in studio mode for recording but that would be cool if it worked

18

LSDJ requires a gameboy, or, yes, an emulator. LGPT runs on quite a few platforms (PSP seems to be most common) but I don’t think there’s an Android/iOS port yet. It’s open source now, though, so the possibility is certainly there. A neat trick is to throw a GB emulator on your PSP so you can have both LSDJ and LGPT on it. The PSP is getting a little long in the tooth now but it’s pretty comfy for LGPT at least.

I’d put the Volcas in the toy category too, although for my money their MIDI inputs open them up quite a bit wider than these TE things. It’s not all that useful to talk about whether things are toys, anyway, and I apologize for doing so. What I mean to say is that a 16-step sequencer is pretty limited for on-the-go jamming, even with those weird parameter locks. But if you’re not trying to, like, compose, it could be a good time :slight_smile: That’s what I find with my Volca Beats too.

19

Hi all,
I’m a lucky pocket operators owner (I live in Paris, France and ordered them right after they were available on the Colette store).
Anyway, I confirm that it works using a pulse sample on a cue’d track. It’s actually one of the first tests I did. Here is a crappy demo :slight_smile:
https://soundcloud.com/qlamerand/pocket-operators

Another working solution I tested - that I prefer as it frees the cue outputs - is to use Korg SyncKontrol https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/korg-synckontrol-for-monotribe/id438617344?mt=8 on my iPhone. I sync it in MIDI using a MIDI compliant USB interface + Apple camera kit and connect the POs to the headphone output via a Belkin RocksStar.

20

I am getting my PO-12 today in the mail and a brand new RYTM tomorrow. Drum Machine Duel at high noon! Anyone else get their Pocket Operators yet?