Teenage Engineering is an organization that follows its personal path. It’ll launch a $250 toy automobile in the future and a full-featured groovebox/sampler for $300 on the very subsequent day. That’s what occurred this week. Teenage Engineering simply surprise-launched the EP-133 Ok.O. II, a conveyable sampler/groovebox that's feature-rich, appears to be like completely gorgeous and prices simply $300. You learn that price proper.
The one musical devices in TE’s lineup that strategy this worth level is its catalog of Pocket Operator moveable synthesizers, so it’s no shock that it is a direct followup to the very best one, the PO-33 KO sampler. The unique Pocket Operators had been marketed as one thing of a toy, regardless of being surprisingly strong, however the EP-133 Ok.O. II is being marketed as a workstation. This is a reasonably large, however nonetheless moveable, machine that extra intently resembles an Akai standalone machine. It received’t slot in your pocket, however will slot in your bag.
Let’s go over some specs. The Ok.O. II boasts 64MB of reminiscence, which isn’t rather a lot, however TE merchandise sometimes include some tradeoff. It’ll be sufficient for a bunch of samples and some tasks, although, which the corporate says was intentional. Teenage Engineering co-founder and {hardware} lead David Eriksson informed The Verge that if the sampler had an excessive amount of storage it might “give the consumer the choice to complete later” as an alternative of finishing a track in one-go. Will no one consider the poor musicians on the market who love beginning issues and hate ending issues? Asking for a pal.
There are 999 slots for samples, as a matter of reality, and an inner microphone for making your personal. Although that is, before everything, a sampler, it ships pre-filled with drum hits, synths and different sounds so you will get straight to work. It connects by way of USB-C for loading samples from a pc or MIDI gadgets. The Ok.O. II can be moveable, operating off of 4 AAA batteries. In different phrases, there’s no inner rechargeable battery, however that $300 price ticket needed to come about by some means.
The unit contains a conventional 3.5mm headphone jack and crucial buttons and knobs are orange, to assist musicians discover them throughout dwell units in darkish, smoky golf equipment. That’s a pleasant contact. The machine itself is beautiful, with a good-looking panel of buttons, knobs and connectors. The keys are clicky and, extra importantly, velocity delicate. There’s an oblong LED display screen up high that boasts related design language to the OP-1 and OP-1 Area moveable synthesizers.
Teenage Engineering hopes this product will appeal to newbies to the world of music-making, so the workflow is designed for simplicity, a trait shared with its forebear. Regardless of that caveat, it is a highly effective instrument that ought to lure in professionals and amateurs alike. It options 12 mono and 6 stereo voice polyphony, stereo/mono sampling at 46.875 kHz/16-bit, 12 pressure-sensitive pads, 6 built-in FX sends with a punch-in mode, a grasp compressor and each guide and computerized pattern slicing instruments. It additionally appears to be like actually cool, like an accounting calculator from the longer term.
The EP-133 Ok.O. II is accessible at this time and, once more, prices $300. The day earlier than Thanksgiving is an odd time to launch a brand new piece of {hardware}, however Teenage Engineering relies in Sweden, so what does it care? It’s value noting that that is the primary devoted music-making machine the corporate has launched since final 12 months's OP-1 Area.
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/teenage-engineerings-ko-ii-groovebox-is-feature-rich-and-only-300-164933466.html?src=rss