14 ms·

This reads like a promo piece for Teenage Engineering. The credit for the mini-synth revolution really belongs to Tatsuya Takahashi, the designer of Korg's grou

This reads like a promo piece for Teenage Engineering. The credit for the mini-synth revolution really belongs to Tatsuya Takahashi, the designer of Korg's groundbreaking Volca instruments. His Monotron synth was launched nearly five years before Teenage Engineering launched the Pocket Operator series. The Monotron is pocket-sized, fully analog, is musically useful and is supplied with a complete schematic; this last feature sparked a renaissance of circuit-bending and modding. https://www.korg-volca.com/en/ https://www.korg-volca.com/en/ https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2017/12/22/569092364/analog-for-the-people-synth-master-tatsuya-takahashi-on-engineering-fun https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2017/12/22/569092364/...

wishinghand 7y ago
The Monotron may be first, but it's not nearly as popular and influential as the Pocket Operators or the Volcas.
- anigbrowl 7y ago
  Disagree, people went nuts over the Monotron because up to that point all the established synth companies had been saying 'analog is too expensive, be happy with digital' and boutique manufacturers couldn't compete due to economies of scale and relatively high setup costs. With the Monotrons, Korg made a risky reputational bet on the idea that Pick-and-place assembly technology and tiny modern components could deliver the low costs and satisfying sound that synth nerds expected, selling the same functionality for $60 something that people were used to paying $300 to get. Any toy manufacturer could have done this of course, but Korg recreated the widely-loved MS-20 filter, making it irresistible to analog fetishists - at a price low enough for consumers to take a risk on it not sounding 'as good as the original'. Except that...it did. So then they repeated the stunt with two other Monotrons. Then they built a larger one for double the price that had a more fully featured monosynth in it, and around the same time started dropping schematics publicly and encouraging people to modify them. By the time the Volcas hit the market the bleep squad was fully in love with Korg after a 30 year cool spell, and they had shifted the entire bottom end of the synth market. Several years on, Even Roland is making analog again and there is an absolute renaissance in terms of both classic synth clones and wild new innovations. Teenage Engineering in contrast went the Apple route of very high quality industrial design, super-accessible user interface, and a high price - and they did very well with their OP-1 synth, which offers a unique combination of synthesis, sequencing/recording, and portability. The Pocket Operators are fine little synths that have opened up a bridge to the lower end of the market and allowed them to introduce several other products in the middle that don't cannibalize sales of their flagship OP-1, but I don't think it's accurate to say they're 'influential'; they answer the question of 'could you implement a decent synth plugin in hardware for cheap' (yes) and come from a company that's small enough to remind people of the DIY/kit synth designers while being established enough to design and ship a product that's complete without doing any actual work or waiting for software stability from a lone programmer. They also sell semi-modular analog synths whose enclosure is built out of cardboard, Ikea-style, but don't require anything like soldering or component selection - in short, delivering the DIY feel without the possibility of messing it up. They're cool little synths, and TE is an influential company at the top end of its range, but you're the only person I've ever heard suggesting the operators' have had any impact on the market other than slightly expanding the range of stocking stuffer options during gifting season.
  - jdietrich 7y ago
    >With the Monotrons, Korg made a risky reputational bet on the idea that Pick-and-place assembly technology and tiny modern components could deliver the low costs and satisfying sound that synth nerds expected >Several years on, Even Roland is making analog again and there is an absolute renaissance in terms of both classic synth clones and wild new innovations. So much of the contemporary synth market can be traced directly back to that gamble by Korg - the Volcas obviously, the Arturia Brute series, Yamaha's Reface series, Roland and Behringer's desktop modules, the IK Uno, most of Modal's products, perhaps even the modular renaissance. Korg proved to everyone else that the market was crying out for instruments that harked back to the heritage of classic synths but at an affordable price and in a portable package. They reinvented the hardware synth for the VST generation - customers who didn't want a full-size keyboard and a tour-worthy chassis but did want a tactile experience and authentic sounds, customers who were used to buying instruments in affordable bite-size chunks. The Monotron doesn't look like much, but it started a revolution in the synth business.
dijksterhuis 7y ago
Volcas were a proper source of excitement from everyone I knew when they came out. A drum machine for £110! No way! And a keys synth?! AND A BASS SYNTH?!? Cheap, versatile and had range to the sounds you could make. Total fundamental change in the synth market.
fumar 7y ago
This does read like a pure PR piece. TE angered most of its fanbase by increasing the price of the OP-1 after it claimed parts became more expensive due to a new supplier.
- ohitsdom 7y ago
  The OP-1 is the only device I truly love and want to own but never will. I'm still pissed TE sent out an email after an OP-1 sold for something like $10,000+ on eBay saying "don't worry, we're working on making this affordable, stay tuned" then they announced a price hike! For a 10 year old product that's constantly back ordered!
  - notJim 7y ago
    Or you could let go of that anger you're holding on to and buy a used one for $1000 :) https://reverb.com/p/teenage-engineering-op-1 https://reverb.com/p/teenage-engineering-op-1
    - ohitsdom 7y ago
      I've tried... also that is still out of my price range. But maybe one day!
    - eggy 7y ago
      Or not, since if something fails you have to ship it to TE and pay them IIRC $125 to look at it. I bought and own an OP-1, that still works great, however, the sequence you execute on boot up to get numbered list of options, such as update firmware, or factory reset cannot be reached. So now I am stuck with the last time I upgraded the firmware, and I can't get it back to the original state, so I can mess around with it again. I don't know, but to spend $800 on a synth, and have to ship it to Sweden, and pay that large a fee to simply look at it is a bit much. I then tried to simply buy a new board, so I could pop it in and be done, but they were sold out! I am sticking with Orca [1] and Extempore [2] for now. [1] https://github.com/hundredrabbits/Orca https://github.com/hundredrabbits/Orca [2] https://github.com/digego/extempore https://github.com/digego/extempore
tlibert 7y ago
The Korg Monologue is a brilliant piece of kit with the demo patches and microtunings done by Aphex Twin (who worked very closely with Takahashi on the development). If you are interested in what a deep, respectful, and meaningful relationship looks like between artist/engineers, this interview is a must-read: https://warp.net/editorial/richard-d-james-speaks-to-tatsuya-takahashi https://warp.net/editorial/richard-d-james-speaks-to-tatsuya...
- romwell 7y ago
  I can't sing enough praises to Korg Monologue. Got it for my 6-year-old niece as her first synth. Thought a bit, and got one for myself too.
  - tlibert 7y ago
    I like it quite a bit but the tuning has gotten wonky, and very sensitive to cold. I've got low confidence it will be working in ten years time whereas my ~18 year-old Nord 3 is a rock.
    - romwell 7y ago
      The Monologue is $300 new. I don't think it's fair to compare it to the Nord.
      - tlibert 7y ago
        This is true!
        TheOtherHobbes 7y ago
        The Nord is also all-digital, so it should never have tuning problems.
        InitialLastName 7y ago
shams93 7y ago
Yeah I performed a bunch of live shows in Mojave with just a monotribe I had an op1 but the USB on it snapped off during a show and it killed it. A painfully expensive loss compared to a $60 pocket operator being broken.
- mattnewton 7y ago
  Surely that’s fixable with some fine pliers and a soldering kit? Or that caused some other electrical components to fail?
  - jacobvosmaer 7y ago
    https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Teenage+Engineering+OP-1+Connector+Board+Replacement/19125 https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Teenage+Engineering+OP-1+Connec... You don't need to solder, the connectors are on a user-replaceable daughter board.
- mollusk 7y ago
  Got any recordings? Always nice to see Monotribe in action.
nkozyra 7y ago
> This reads like a promo piece for Teenage Engineering. Yeah. As an electronic music hobbiest, this has a really odd feel to it. TE's stuff is really not all that innovative and while it has its niche isn't really blowing the doors off of anything. I've never personally liked their stuff - it seems so rigid and lifeless. The Monotron + Monodelay were, admittedly, toys, but still very fun to play with and definitely ushered in a modern age of small, cheap fun synths.
- bredren 7y ago
  You can buy your way into the NY Times with a high priced PR firm.
- anchpop 7y ago
  What would you recommend to buy instead?
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - cl0ne 7y ago
    Korg Volcas. Arturia also has some fairly affordable analog synths like the Microbrute. It doesn't have any presets, so you have to figure out how to create sounds on your own and the manual that comes with it is great in explaining oscillators, filters, etc.
    - jgalentine007 7y ago
      Had the Microbrute, volca beats/keys/bass. All of them sounded awesome. The only problem is you couldn't really make songs (with distinct parts) without an additional controller (a squarp pyramid would have been cool. ) and the whole point was to not have to use a computer. If I did it again a I'd probably go with an octatrack or mpc live or something where I could do more in a single box.
      - nkozyra 7y ago
jacobolus 7y ago
Can anyone recommend a good synth that will be fun to play with but not too confusing for 3–5 year old kids? (With adult helpers who have some basic piano experience but don’t know much about synths.)
- snsr 7y ago
  I bought one of these for my kids - https://blipblox.com/ https://blipblox.com/ No keyboard but it’s a blast.
- joshka 7y ago
  Just jump on CL or your local equivalent and grab something < $100. Its not like your 5yo is going to appreciate the difference much. They'll pick up whatever you throw at them.
- jdietrich 7y ago
  The Playtime Audio Blipblox might fit the bill. It's a proper synth, but it's built like a Fisher Price toy. https://blipblox.com/ https://blipblox.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s98te0b4bo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s98te0b4bo From a more music-oriented perspective, I might suggest the Casio SA-77 - it's a whole bunch of fun for $50. https://www.amazon.com/Casio-SA76-mini-Sized-Tones/dp/B00Q836ST0/ https://www.amazon.com/Casio-SA76-mini-Sized-Tones/dp/B00Q83...
  - tb303 7y ago
    Blipblox is such a disappointment (we have one). Worth $80 not $179. Totally agree sa77 is the way to go.
    - jacobolus 7y ago
      What was disappointing about it? Can’t make enough sounds? Hard for experts to control? Too confusing for kids? Too fragile? ... Does it get any more interesting if you hook it up to an external midi input like a keyboard or sequencer? The Casio SA77 doesn’t seem to have any Midi out, so it couldn’t e.g. be combined with the blipblox.
coldtea 7y ago
>This reads like a promo piece for Teenage Engineering. The credit for the mini-synth revolution really belongs to Tatsuya Takahashi, the designer of Korg's groundbreaking Volca instruments. And neither TE or Korg has "won over kids and professionals". They just built some cool products and made decent sales. No groundbreaking phenomenon in either. The DX7 for example changed the whole industry. Volca's and TE not so much...
- tlibert 7y ago
  I imagine for the generation brought up on an infinite supply of cracked VST waReZ getting ahold of a physical piece of gear, and being forced to focus on a single piece of kit with limitations, is a revelation. Volcas have the right price point to make that happen and the right balance of features/limitations to make it interesting.
loblollyboy 7y ago
While I have never used one, I am such a huge fan of this one particular band Buerak that I had to find out how their beats were made and it was Korg Volca. Buerak is just a guitarist and a bassist, their 'drummer' is the Volca Beats and I think it's also the secret sauce. Many late-soviet bands were into New Wave and made use of synths/drum machines, Buerak - whether they claim this as an influence or not - is clearly influenced by these bands (most famous would be Kino), but the Volca sound is just so much more dynamic - and it is accessible. It's pretty cool that these guys, who ostensibly do not have a lot of money (from kind of a B-rate city in Russia), were able to make such dope music.
brbrodude 7y ago
So awesome, thanks
lux 7y ago
Love my Volca drums. Didn't realize how many more Volca models there are! When I got it there were only 3 or 4. So tempted to buy a couple more!
thomasec 7y ago
I think you're missing the point of what Teenage Engineering is trying to do. For as simple as the Korg Vulca series is, it's still an synthesizer first. You need to have some familiarity with electronic instruments to understand the controls of the Monotron that you mention: Pitch Rate Int. Cutoff Peak Compare that to the controls on the Pocket Operator: Sound Pattern BPM FX Play Write If you were handed one of these with no experience making music, which one would you be more likely to get started with? Heck, the Pocket Operator even has cute animations that go with your beats! I have tremendous respect for Korg, but I think Teenage Engineering is prioritizing fun and accessibility in a way that I haven't seen in my 30 years of making music. This may be a fluff PR piece, but I think they deserve a ton of credit for making something as intimidating as electronic instruments so downright fun and adorable.
- jdietrich 7y ago
  If you play with a Monotron, you very quickly learn what those five knobs do. You might not understand on an intellectual level what terms like "LFO rate" and "VCF cutoff" mean, but you develop an intuitive understanding of what they do to the sound. If you then go out and buy a Volca Keys or a Minilogue or pretty much any subtractive synthesiser, you already know how to use several of the most important controls. If you play with a Pocket Operator, you don't learn very much of anything except how to use that particular Pocket Operator; the interface is too idiosyncratic, the details of the synth engine too effectively concealed.
  - meowface 7y ago
    >If you play with a Pocket Operator, you don't learn very much of anything except how to use that particular Pocket Operator; the interface is too idiosyncratic, the details of the synth engine too effectively concealed. For me, that's the fun part. I like traditional subtractive synthesis, too, but there are many ways to implement synthesizers, and there's no reason they all have to follow the same standards.
- fao_ 7y ago
  > I think you're missing the point of what Teenage Engineering is trying to do. I think you're missing the parent's point that this is primarily a marketing piece for a company.
IAmGraydon 7y ago
There’s no arguing it - Korg did the mini-synth thing before Teenage Engineering. Actually, Korg, Roland, Moog and Waldorf (among others) all did it before Teenage Engineering. As a musician and synth lover, I don’t know anyone who uses the TE gear as a serious musical equipment. They’re widely considered to be in the toy or novelty realm, except the OP-1, which is saved by being absurdly expensive for what it is.
- sizzle 7y ago
  What are your thoughts on elektron machines?
  - peapicker 7y ago
    Don’t know about the poster above, but I have two so far (Analog 4 and Analog Heat) and am planning on acquiring more. They are a blast!
    - sizzle 7y ago
      That's rad! Currently getting my ass kicked by a newly acquired octatrack :)
  - IAmGraydon 7y ago
    I don’t own one, but they seem to be loved in the synthesis/sampler circles.

wishinghand 7y ago

The Monotron may be first, but it's not nearly as popular and influential as the Pocket Operators or the Volcas.

anigbrowl 7y ago
Disagree, people went nuts over the Monotron because up to that point all the established synth companies had been saying 'analog is too expensive, be happy with digital' and boutique manufacturers couldn't compete due to economies of scale and relatively high setup costs. With the Monotrons, Korg made a risky reputational bet on the idea that Pick-and-place assembly technology and tiny modern components could deliver the low costs and satisfying sound that synth nerds expected, selling the same functionality for $60 something that people were used to paying $300 to get. Any toy manufacturer could have done this of course, but Korg recreated the widely-loved MS-20 filter, making it irresistible to analog fetishists - at a price low enough for consumers to take a risk on it not sounding 'as good as the original'. Except that...it did. So then they repeated the stunt with two other Monotrons. Then they built a larger one for double the price that had a more fully featured monosynth in it, and around the same time started dropping schematics publicly and encouraging people to modify them. By the time the Volcas hit the market the bleep squad was fully in love with Korg after a 30 year cool spell, and they had shifted the entire bottom end of the synth market. Several years on, Even Roland is making analog again and there is an absolute renaissance in terms of both classic synth clones and wild new innovations. Teenage Engineering in contrast went the Apple route of very high quality industrial design, super-accessible user interface, and a high price - and they did very well with their OP-1 synth, which offers a unique combination of synthesis, sequencing/recording, and portability. The Pocket Operators are fine little synths that have opened up a bridge to the lower end of the market and allowed them to introduce several other products in the middle that don't cannibalize sales of their flagship OP-1, but I don't think it's accurate to say they're 'influential'; they answer the question of 'could you implement a decent synth plugin in hardware for cheap' (yes) and come from a company that's small enough to remind people of the DIY/kit synth designers while being established enough to design and ship a product that's complete without doing any actual work or waiting for software stability from a lone programmer. They also sell semi-modular analog synths whose enclosure is built out of cardboard, Ikea-style, but don't require anything like soldering or component selection - in short, delivering the DIY feel without the possibility of messing it up. They're cool little synths, and TE is an influential company at the top end of its range, but you're the only person I've ever heard suggesting the operators' have had any impact on the market other than slightly expanding the range of stocking stuffer options during gifting season.
- jdietrich 7y ago
  >With the Monotrons, Korg made a risky reputational bet on the idea that Pick-and-place assembly technology and tiny modern components could deliver the low costs and satisfying sound that synth nerds expected >Several years on, Even Roland is making analog again and there is an absolute renaissance in terms of both classic synth clones and wild new innovations. So much of the contemporary synth market can be traced directly back to that gamble by Korg - the Volcas obviously, the Arturia Brute series, Yamaha's Reface series, Roland and Behringer's desktop modules, the IK Uno, most of Modal's products, perhaps even the modular renaissance. Korg proved to everyone else that the market was crying out for instruments that harked back to the heritage of classic synths but at an affordable price and in a portable package. They reinvented the hardware synth for the VST generation - customers who didn't want a full-size keyboard and a tour-worthy chassis but did want a tactile experience and authentic sounds, customers who were used to buying instruments in affordable bite-size chunks. The Monotron doesn't look like much, but it started a revolution in the synth business.

dijksterhuis 7y ago

Volcas were a proper source of excitement from everyone I knew when they came out. A drum machine for £110! No way! And a keys synth?! AND A BASS SYNTH?!? Cheap, versatile and had range to the sounds you could make. Total fundamental change in the synth market.

fumar 7y ago

This does read like a pure PR piece. TE angered most of its fanbase by increasing the price of the OP-1 after it claimed parts became more expensive due to a new supplier.

ohitsdom 7y ago
The OP-1 is the only device I truly love and want to own but never will. I'm still pissed TE sent out an email after an OP-1 sold for something like $10,000+ on eBay saying "don't worry, we're working on making this affordable, stay tuned" then they announced a price hike! For a 10 year old product that's constantly back ordered!
- notJim 7y ago
  Or you could let go of that anger you're holding on to and buy a used one for $1000 :) https://reverb.com/p/teenage-engineering-op-1 https://reverb.com/p/teenage-engineering-op-1
  - ohitsdom 7y ago
    I've tried... also that is still out of my price range. But maybe one day!
  - eggy 7y ago
    Or not, since if something fails you have to ship it to TE and pay them IIRC $125 to look at it. I bought and own an OP-1, that still works great, however, the sequence you execute on boot up to get numbered list of options, such as update firmware, or factory reset cannot be reached. So now I am stuck with the last time I upgraded the firmware, and I can't get it back to the original state, so I can mess around with it again. I don't know, but to spend $800 on a synth, and have to ship it to Sweden, and pay that large a fee to simply look at it is a bit much. I then tried to simply buy a new board, so I could pop it in and be done, but they were sold out! I am sticking with Orca [1] and Extempore [2] for now. [1] https://github.com/hundredrabbits/Orca https://github.com/hundredrabbits/Orca [2] https://github.com/digego/extempore https://github.com/digego/extempore

tlibert 7y ago

The Korg Monologue is a brilliant piece of kit with the demo patches and microtunings done by Aphex Twin (who worked very closely with Takahashi on the development). If you are interested in what a deep, respectful, and meaningful relationship looks like between artist/engineers, this interview is a must-read: https://warp.net/editorial/richard-d-james-speaks-to-tatsuya-takahashi https://warp.net/editorial/richard-d-james-speaks-to-tatsuya...

romwell 7y ago
I can't sing enough praises to Korg Monologue. Got it for my 6-year-old niece as her first synth. Thought a bit, and got one for myself too.
- tlibert 7y ago
  I like it quite a bit but the tuning has gotten wonky, and very sensitive to cold. I've got low confidence it will be working in ten years time whereas my ~18 year-old Nord 3 is a rock.
  - romwell 7y ago
    The Monologue is $300 new. I don't think it's fair to compare it to the Nord.
    - tlibert 7y ago
      This is true!
      - TheOtherHobbes 7y ago
        The Nord is also all-digital, so it should never have tuning problems.
        InitialLastName 7y ago

shams93 7y ago

Yeah I performed a bunch of live shows in Mojave with just a monotribe I had an op1 but the USB on it snapped off during a show and it killed it. A painfully expensive loss compared to a $60 pocket operator being broken.

mattnewton 7y ago
Surely that’s fixable with some fine pliers and a soldering kit? Or that caused some other electrical components to fail?
- jacobvosmaer 7y ago
  https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Teenage+Engineering+OP-1+Connector+Board+Replacement/19125 https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Teenage+Engineering+OP-1+Connec... You don't need to solder, the connectors are on a user-replaceable daughter board.
mollusk 7y ago
Got any recordings? Always nice to see Monotribe in action.

nkozyra 7y ago

> This reads like a promo piece for Teenage Engineering. Yeah. As an electronic music hobbiest, this has a really odd feel to it. TE's stuff is really not all that innovative and while it has its niche isn't really blowing the doors off of anything. I've never personally liked their stuff - it seems so rigid and lifeless. The Monotron + Monodelay were, admittedly, toys, but still very fun to play with and definitely ushered in a modern age of small, cheap fun synths.

bredren 7y ago
You can buy your way into the NY Times with a high priced PR firm.
anchpop 7y ago
What would you recommend to buy instead?
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- cl0ne 7y ago
  Korg Volcas. Arturia also has some fairly affordable analog synths like the Microbrute. It doesn't have any presets, so you have to figure out how to create sounds on your own and the manual that comes with it is great in explaining oscillators, filters, etc.
  - jgalentine007 7y ago
    Had the Microbrute, volca beats/keys/bass. All of them sounded awesome. The only problem is you couldn't really make songs (with distinct parts) without an additional controller (a squarp pyramid would have been cool. ) and the whole point was to not have to use a computer. If I did it again a I'd probably go with an octatrack or mpc live or something where I could do more in a single box.
    - nkozyra 7y ago

jacobolus 7y ago

Can anyone recommend a good synth that will be fun to play with but not too confusing for 3–5 year old kids? (With adult helpers who have some basic piano experience but don’t know much about synths.)

snsr 7y ago
I bought one of these for my kids - https://blipblox.com/ https://blipblox.com/ No keyboard but it’s a blast.
joshka 7y ago
Just jump on CL or your local equivalent and grab something < $100. Its not like your 5yo is going to appreciate the difference much. They'll pick up whatever you throw at them.
jdietrich 7y ago
The Playtime Audio Blipblox might fit the bill. It's a proper synth, but it's built like a Fisher Price toy. https://blipblox.com/ https://blipblox.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s98te0b4bo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s98te0b4bo From a more music-oriented perspective, I might suggest the Casio SA-77 - it's a whole bunch of fun for $50. https://www.amazon.com/Casio-SA76-mini-Sized-Tones/dp/B00Q836ST0/ https://www.amazon.com/Casio-SA76-mini-Sized-Tones/dp/B00Q83...
- tb303 7y ago
  Blipblox is such a disappointment (we have one). Worth $80 not $179. Totally agree sa77 is the way to go.
  - jacobolus 7y ago
    What was disappointing about it? Can’t make enough sounds? Hard for experts to control? Too confusing for kids? Too fragile? ... Does it get any more interesting if you hook it up to an external midi input like a keyboard or sequencer? The Casio SA77 doesn’t seem to have any Midi out, so it couldn’t e.g. be combined with the blipblox.

coldtea 7y ago

>This reads like a promo piece for Teenage Engineering. The credit for the mini-synth revolution really belongs to Tatsuya Takahashi, the designer of Korg's groundbreaking Volca instruments. And neither TE or Korg has "won over kids and professionals". They just built some cool products and made decent sales. No groundbreaking phenomenon in either. The DX7 for example changed the whole industry. Volca's and TE not so much...

tlibert 7y ago
I imagine for the generation brought up on an infinite supply of cracked VST waReZ getting ahold of a physical piece of gear, and being forced to focus on a single piece of kit with limitations, is a revelation. Volcas have the right price point to make that happen and the right balance of features/limitations to make it interesting.

loblollyboy 7y ago

While I have never used one, I am such a huge fan of this one particular band Buerak that I had to find out how their beats were made and it was Korg Volca. Buerak is just a guitarist and a bassist, their 'drummer' is the Volca Beats and I think it's also the secret sauce. Many late-soviet bands were into New Wave and made use of synths/drum machines, Buerak - whether they claim this as an influence or not - is clearly influenced by these bands (most famous would be Kino), but the Volca sound is just so much more dynamic - and it is accessible. It's pretty cool that these guys, who ostensibly do not have a lot of money (from kind of a B-rate city in Russia), were able to make such dope music.

brbrodude 7y ago

So awesome, thanks

lux 7y ago

Love my Volca drums. Didn't realize how many more Volca models there are! When I got it there were only 3 or 4. So tempted to buy a couple more!

thomasec 7y ago

I think you're missing the point of what Teenage Engineering is trying to do. For as simple as the Korg Vulca series is, it's still an synthesizer first. You need to have some familiarity with electronic instruments to understand the controls of the Monotron that you mention: Pitch Rate Int. Cutoff Peak Compare that to the controls on the Pocket Operator: Sound Pattern BPM FX Play Write If you were handed one of these with no experience making music, which one would you be more likely to get started with? Heck, the Pocket Operator even has cute animations that go with your beats! I have tremendous respect for Korg, but I think Teenage Engineering is prioritizing fun and accessibility in a way that I haven't seen in my 30 years of making music. This may be a fluff PR piece, but I think they deserve a ton of credit for making something as intimidating as electronic instruments so downright fun and adorable.

jdietrich 7y ago
If you play with a Monotron, you very quickly learn what those five knobs do. You might not understand on an intellectual level what terms like "LFO rate" and "VCF cutoff" mean, but you develop an intuitive understanding of what they do to the sound. If you then go out and buy a Volca Keys or a Minilogue or pretty much any subtractive synthesiser, you already know how to use several of the most important controls. If you play with a Pocket Operator, you don't learn very much of anything except how to use that particular Pocket Operator; the interface is too idiosyncratic, the details of the synth engine too effectively concealed.
- meowface 7y ago
  >If you play with a Pocket Operator, you don't learn very much of anything except how to use that particular Pocket Operator; the interface is too idiosyncratic, the details of the synth engine too effectively concealed. For me, that's the fun part. I like traditional subtractive synthesis, too, but there are many ways to implement synthesizers, and there's no reason they all have to follow the same standards.
fao_ 7y ago
> I think you're missing the point of what Teenage Engineering is trying to do. I think you're missing the parent's point that this is primarily a marketing piece for a company.

IAmGraydon 7y ago

There’s no arguing it - Korg did the mini-synth thing before Teenage Engineering. Actually, Korg, Roland, Moog and Waldorf (among others) all did it before Teenage Engineering. As a musician and synth lover, I don’t know anyone who uses the TE gear as a serious musical equipment. They’re widely considered to be in the toy or novelty realm, except the OP-1, which is saved by being absurdly expensive for what it is.

sizzle 7y ago
What are your thoughts on elektron machines?
- peapicker 7y ago
  Don’t know about the poster above, but I have two so far (Analog 4 and Analog Heat) and am planning on acquiring more. They are a blast!
  - sizzle 7y ago
    That's rad! Currently getting my ass kicked by a newly acquired octatrack :)
- IAmGraydon 7y ago
  I don’t own one, but they seem to be loved in the synthesis/sampler circles.