The Teenage Engineering Pocket Operator series just got some new siblings announced at NAMM 2016!! Here's a little tutorial, guide, overview of the new charming little units. PO-20 (Arcade) PO-24 (Office) PO-28 (Robot) cheers CUCKOO
You are one of few people on RU-vid who actually give clear pointers on these funny little gadgets. Thank you! I just picked up the arcade and am looking forward to putting that in my retro-futurism arsenal!
damn, the PO-20 sounds sooo freakin good. what a surplus profit! ordered my OP-1 yesterday and im really looking forward to link these two great machines. Also many thanks to you cuckoo for making all these great videos. It's always fun to watch you bending good gear. keep on!
got to say i really love this guy. no mancrush, i'd just like to live inside his skin for a day,, tap out some damn smooth keyboard sounds with those sleek fresh fingers of his. such a mellow type of man you just can't not like. a cloud of puffy feathers in the summer sky. i wish i was more like him, but alas, i'm too much of a slave to my neuroses. well, next life, surely. big up to the true cuckoo, you rock compadre!
This is such a great review. And your musicality is incredible. I look forward to further experiments with the arcade! I'd be very interested in buying mercy you come up with. Stickers, cables etc. and paying that bit extra for them to support your work.
Ok see THIS is a demonstration. All other things I watch say, "oh this does 'this'," but don't actually show it, nor do they explain and demonstrate what 'this' can be used for. This video, however, explains what each thing does, how it can be used, how you can manipulate it, and how to join it with something else, and then he shows an example of each.
Awesome!! just getting into chiptunes/synths. Trying not to buy everything but man.......great Tutorial! Thanks Cuckoo! Keep the videos coming ...Good Stuff!
Thanks for having the sensibility to program something that's actually listenable on these things. I don't know why people who demo instruments just make awful sequences to show 'what it can do.' Sure I want to know what it can do, but I'm more concerned with how it CAN be used.
The Robot almost feels like a hand held Commodore 64! The Arcade feels like a nice drum machine, and I feel the office will lay dormant, until it lands in the right hands, then everyone will want one. Superb video!
Hopping over from the Volca FM video. After asking around on reddit, I think this is actually what I want. The arcade, in particular, looks like a fantastic little guy with which to start my journey, and maybe I can pick up some of his brothers and sisters once I get going.
I got the PO-20 (Arcade) recently and it's so much fun to use on the morning commute to work. I can bang out 4-5 solid patterns by the time I get there. You forgot to demo the Drone function, Cuckoo! That adds such a layer of depth and continuation between patterns it blows my mind. The battery life on these things is impressive too. I've used it a ton over the last few days and it still says 98%. (They seem to have weeks worth of use per set of batteries.) I can't wait to get the Robot PO soon.
+Matt Laskowski (fox-orian) If I want to test the waters, which pocket operator would you recommend out of all the POs. I really like the sound of rhythm PO-12 and Po-20 as well.
+Corey S I have more background in keyboarding melodies / piano, but the gamer in me couldn't resist the PO-20 as my first choice. However, I actually just bought the PO-28 (Robot) today, and I have to say, I believe this one is the most well-rounded of all the PO&'s if you haven't considered this one. It seems to have a little bit of everything --- a drum kit with 16 sounds that you can make 16 patterns with as well as 8 (fantastic sounding) synth voices (split into high/low octave to make 16 total "voices") which allows you to play live on top of your beats. It's super SUPER easy to make great sounding melodies on this thing despite the limited number of keys. The voices also change greatly with the AB knobs giving you some nice variety of 8-bit tones. The 20 is still a lot of fun, though, especially if you're more into sequencing over live playing. Cuckoo is right that the chords function on the 20 is a fantastic unique feature -- without any extra work you can instantly create variations of your patterns offering FAR greater variety with what you can get from your 16 slots. You can queue up 128 patterns / chord progressions in a chain to literally make a whole song, it's fantastic. So my recommendation is: Superior Sequencing / Beats - get the PO-20 For a little bit of everything - get the PO-28 You won't be disappointed with either and both will give that blissful hit of nostalgia :D Watch the videos for them on the teenage engineering youtube channel and see which one immediately grabs your attention more.
+Matt Laskowski (fox-orian) Thanks! I really like the sounds from the PO-20 so i think i'll get that one first. Although the synth voices in the PO-28 are really cool also.
Yeah, these are valid and great points. Also, in a recording recently, I could see how much the office could give as well. It stirs things up by adding a sort of messy space to the mix. It might not be as immediately rewarding as the others, but it's cool in its own way.
Arcade Kicks Ass! These 2nd series of PO's all looking great but the Arcade's chord feature is a total game changer. I know this is from 2 years ago (almost 3) but I've come a little late to the PO party. Lol
Thanks for the video, really interesting ! I plan to buy some of them to make music for a sci-fi pixel art game I am working on. The Arcade and Robot looks good but I am not sure about the Office. Maybe another one from the previous units could be more interesing to perfect a set more oriented for game OST/sound fx ?
Thanks for this amazing tutorial. just one question: is it possible to remove only one layer from the pattern. if you record a wrong sound can you fix that by only removing a single sound or layer?
What a cracking review and demo - by far the best RU-vid has to offer. I got my Office last night and the instructions are pretty minimal and I don't find it particularly intuitive so your demo helped me get the hang of it. Nearly have it sussed now. It's a lovely little mix of fun and frustration. It does so much but in its own slightly odd and interestingly limited way. Despite he price (£50 does seem a bit steep - it feels like a £35 piece of kit but Teenage engineering do seem to like to charge something of a premium price for their stuff) I'm still tempted to fork out for another in the range - choices choice eh? I'd love to know what (and if) the icons on the screen actually mean. Suddenly a little dictaphone appears and I'm blowed if I have the faintest idea why! Are they telling me anything useful (beyond the obvious like whether I'm recording or what the BPM is)? Thanks again for the video - your work and wisdom are much appreciated :-)
Light is dawning gradually - I can see that the little tape deck I'm calling a dictaphone is showing me when an effect is active which is handy. Just need to work out what the rest of them mean now :-)
Hey Cuckoo, I've been toying around with the PO-20 for a while and have been able to make some okay loops, but I want to make more complex songs and really utilize its ability to chain up to 128. There aren't really a ton of intermediate resources for the PO-20, so I was wondering if you either knew some handy tricks or knew where I could find more advanced tutorials. I see a lot of people making cool songs with the PO-20, and I want to be able to do the same. Edit: Oh also how do you carry these things around in a bag without them turning on by accident?
Hey cuckoo! Is there any way to clear the motion sequencing on the pocket operators? It's really irritating to spend so long tuning my po-12 drums just perfectly only to have them snap into the motion sequencing of the built-in patterns once I press play. Even if I've cleared the pattern and put in my own...
Thanks for the review. I purchased the arcade&office ,I might get the robots tonight. you should post a link so people can donate to you're account. your reviews help people learn features. you earned a donation. If 100 people each gave you a dollar, you'd have $100.
What if there are chords and linked patterns on the arcade? Will it do all chords for the first pattern, then do the next, or will it play the chord sequence parallel to the pattern sequence?
the arcade is an incredible machine and i have not had this much fun on a music instrument as much as this one right now im stuck on which po to get next to couple with my arcade im either thinking rhythm or robot oh decisions decisions
+John Wamos ha ha, great! It's really great stuff. I think, all in all, the Factory is probably my favourite. It's a bit wacky in a bleepy way and somewhat unpredictable way.
Hey man. Always love watching your vids. You're a talented, knowledgeable man, and have such a pleasant demeanour! One thing - throw that Patreon link in the descriptions of all your vids!
Cuckoo I know this is incredibly old but how did you "reseal" your PO-20?? You even had the batteries in there and everything already! I was trying to save my boxes to setup as art (and I did!) but to have the proper cases all squared would be awesome! Love ya bud!
Hi guys, just got my Robot and Arcade operator. Love them, but what really pisses me off as a musician is limitation within one scale.Also i can't select ALL of sharps and flats, am i doing something wrong here? Are scales somehow selectable? Cheers!
