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?
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 ..
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.
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.
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 ..
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?
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 ..
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?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 ..
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 ♥
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.
$1499