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TP–7 Field Recorder
- smoldesu 3y ago$1,500? For a field recorder? That's not a crazy number for a digital synthesizer. It's eye-watering for a pocket-sized mixer. For a microphone though? This is madness. You carry a cell phone with you every day - if you need more, you buy a Zoom handheld for maybe ~$150. There's no shortage of pissing-and-moaning about Teenage Engineering hardware, but goddamn. They are really betting on people not wanting to open the Voice Recordings app on their smartphone with this one.
- shams93 3y agoYeah although it seems like besides their pocket operators everything they sell costs around 1500. I'm sure its amazing but the mic on my cell phone is good enough for me to capture tons of samples with my phone.
- tomtheelder 3y agoTheir stuff is design art first and foremost. Usually they are also high quality, functional products as well, but someone would buy this if they think it’s beautiful, not for practical purposes.
- wahnfrieden 3y agoI disagree, I find the TX-6 and OB-4 at least highly functional tools without peers. There are no mixers with the function of the TX-6 and the next closest comparables are still near the same price with several major gaps. OB-4: The only other one I found which isn't just a bt hifi and tries to be an actual studio monitor is the iLoud, there is a new product from Fender as well. I also have the iLoud and stopped using it (worse sound, fewer useful tools). I don't think these 1-2 alternatives are clearly superior value.
- giobox 3y agoI think its a bit of a stretch to argue the OB-4 has no peers? There's no shortage of premium battery powered speakers out there. While the design may be much more to your liking, there are good options.
- wahnfrieden 3y agoWith hifi or monitor like response?
- giobox 3y ago> With hifi or monitor like response? Unless you are going to apply speaker or room correction, no speaker has a universally flat "hifi" or "monitor like" response in all environments. What you hear is a product of both the speaker and the room, not just the speaker. For this reason alone, a portable speaker makes little sense for use as a "monitor" and that's before we get to the pretty terrible stereo channel separation going on with the drivers mere inches apart on a flat surface on this particular model. This is a fairly big part of the reason people working on audio projects tend to rely on headphones to monitor in the field. There are plenty of battery powered speakers with as close to a "neutral" (monitor) style response curve as just making a plain ole speaker can, but again, not like almost anyone will hear that neutral curve on a portable speaker anyway! The Sonos units can at least perform sweep tests and some room correction via a phone mic ("Truplay" in their marketing), as one example - even the portable battery powered units like the Move. The Move is also a third cheaper. Room correction will generally provide significantly more accurate or "hifi" as you put it bass response. I completely agree the design of the OB-4 is more attractive though!
- wahnfrieden 3y agoThx for the move reference, haven't researched in a few years. Tho I need two moves to match stereo need for production so it's quite a lot bigger, I'm sure that helps the sound. I have software for sweeps and eq.
- 3y ago
- andrewmcwatters 3y agoI don't think they're betting on anything. They know they make somethings that no one else in the world does. Are there designer microphones like this made by other companies anywhere else in the world? No. They have no real competitors despite making technologies you can easily purchase elsewhere.
- smoldesu 3y ago> Are there designer microphones like this made by other companies anywhere else in the world? No. You have apparently missed out on over 100 years of designer microphones built by companies exactly like this. The design of their mic is an apparent homage to old Neumann and Rode designs. Besides them, AKG, Beyerdynamics, Oktava, Electro Voice, Behringer, Buchla and dozens of smaller design shops have been doing this for decades. It's like claiming that "nobody else was making colorful hipster synths" before the OP-1 came out.
- llamaimperative 3y agoThey're betting on people who love jawdropping gorgeous pieces of technology and have lots of money to spend on art
- ugjka 3y agoPoor people don't understand rich people, seems
- mrguyorama 3y agoPoor people literally cannot afford to understand rich people. That's what scarcity mindset is
- MichaelZuo 3y agoWell quite a few try, like the folks on welfare buying luxury handbags and so on.
- wahnfrieden 3y agoit's not a mic. the included mic is a subpar convenience function "in a pinch" not the primary purpose. it's $3000 for mic+recorder.
- lwhsiao 3y agoFor those wondering, the CM-15 is their field mic at $1199 [1]. [1]: https://teenage.engineering/store/cm-15 https://teenage.engineering/store/cm-15
- AceJohnny2 3y agoPar for the course for Teenage Engineering.
- criddell 3y agoI have absolutely no use for it but I kind of want one. I think it's beautiful.
- AdamJacobMuller 3y agoI also have no use for it and completely want one. If it was 1/3rd the price and it was a bit smaller I might even actually buy one.
- criddell 3y agoI could set it on the shelf beside the Leica camera I want but have no use for.
- dwringer 3y agoI assumed at first reading the model number "TP" on this thread that this was a discussion about their $75 modular tape dispenser. [0] [0] https://www.jam.se/en/products/synthanalogvintage/teenage-engineering/teenage-engineering-field-rail-tape-dispenser.html https://www.jam.se/en/products/synthanalogvintage/teenage-en...
- mandmandam 3y agoThis is Emperor's New Clothes level silliness. "But it's art" - Yeah, well, lots of overpriced art is ugly and stupid; serving only the noble purpose of separating wealthy fools from money. If people want to pay €1500 to show me they're a complete rube, they can go right ahead. I'll be here judging them, briefly and against my better judgment, before moving on to actually enjoyable and productive pastimes.
- fmajid 3y agoI'm pretty sure the Juicero was a deadpan form of performance art, like Piero Manzoni's, ahem, crappy work.
- mandmandam 3y agoHaha, I came to the same conclusion. Let's be buds.
- armadsen 3y agoI will very likely buy one. I don't need it, or any field recorder really, although I do already own a "regular" Sony field recorder that I use occasionally, but not professionally. I'll buy it because I love well made, beautiful, functional things. It's the reason I own and regularly use a Leica camera, a (custom) mechanical keyboard, specific reel to reel tape decks and turntables, etc. I also have a particular interest in recording and playback devices of all kinds. Fundamentally I just enjoy and appreciate them. By contrast, I don't care about cars and drive a cheap 15-year old one. I do of course realize that for many people price must be a primary consideration. I'm grateful and lucky to be in a position where I can (carefully) spend more on certain things. For other people, price is just more important than the things I cited even if they could afford something like this. That's completely reasonable and understandable, too.
- turtleyacht 3y agoAnyone know the model of typewriter they use in the image, where they sell up the ease of transcribing TP-7 audio to text?
- jkubicek 3y agoLexikon 83DL typewriter, 1970 https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/2004.187/ https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/2004.187/ The audio recorder is cool, but that typewriter is *gorgeous*
- jeffbee 3y agoFWIW, Chrome answers this question neatly. Just select "Search images with Google" from the menu and it scores a direct hit.
- turtleyacht 3y agoNice, thank-you. A triple-press to take a screenshot, and the third icon down opens Google Lens. Tapping on the typewriter draws a box around it, and Google tries to find it.
- dvt 3y agoI know everyone's going to complain about the price (which is ridiculous), but I think Teenage Engineering is the last company around that has that sleek Apple aesthetic and extremely premium feel. I get giddy every time I see them on the HN front page. They've been around for a while, so I assume there's a decent professional audiophile community that is supporting them. I hope they continue doing well!
- soperj 3y agoI mean, look at the newest Sony phone: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/05/sonys-1400-xperia-1-v-hits-the-us-with-a-4k-display-textured-glass-back/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/05/sonys-1400-xperia-1-...
- hammock 3y agoWhat about it?
- amelius 3y agoUltra sleek design.
- fnordpiglet 3y agoLooks like my iPhone and every other phone since the iPhone was released - am I missing something? The minimalist slab with a screen isn’t exactly unique any more?
- dylan604 3y agoexcept it has a zoom lens. also, being able to use the phone as a screen via cable vs latency ridden wireless connection as a video screen is interesting
- fnordpiglet 3y ago
- rocket_surgeron 3y agoAre they going to make more than 7 of these? Usually they only manufacture 7 examples of what they sell. Five to give to YouTube review channels and two to actually sell. When those two sell out they wait 29 months and then make two more. Or so it seems.
- filoleg 3y agoMy local synth shop (Patchwerks in Seattle, heavily recommend, they even have an online store; no affiliation with them besides being an occasional customer) keeps restocking in noticeable numbers and selling out of their TE equipment (and no, not just Pocket Operator series) on regular. People actually buy it. The only time when it is somewhat not easy to acquire TE equipment is within the first month or two after the release for their more popular devices. You can even go on the official TE website now and easily purchase anything released last year (minus limited edition/limited run items, but that's just meh), with the only wait being the time it takes for package shipping from Sweden (which takes like a week or so to arrive to your address in the US).
- mbgerring 3y agoThe rocker and the wheel both look like they would break under even moderate real-world use. And I get that not everyone is technical enough to do this but whisper.cpp gave basically everyone good-enough auto transcription, so that horse has kinda left the barn. Despite that, I hate how much I still want this.
- wahnfrieden 3y agoI'll stick with my iPhone + TX-6 for multitrack recording. The TX-6 has definitely been worth the $1500. re: size: It's fine for me, I adjusted quickly to the knobs. They can be turned without fully gripping your fingers around their sides. The size is a feature to me as I have a fully battery powered portable setup that sizes down enough that I can easily carry the parts on my person without a bag.
- joemi 3y agoYou don't find the TX-6 too small? That's what's preventing me from even considering buying it. If it were a little bigger, I'd be dreaming about getting it, or perhaps even actually getting it.
- tomtheelder 3y agoI got to fiddle around with one. I have probably average sized male fingers, and it really wasn't a problem at all. Tbh if there's one thing you can pretty reliably count on TE for it's spectacular minimalist design, but if there's a _second_ thing it's thoughtful ergonomics.
- bobsomers 3y agoLook at the 1010music Bluebox. It's about twice the size of the TX-6, half the price, and infinitely more usable as an actual mixer and multitrack recorder.
- wahnfrieden 3y agoi know it, it's a decent alternative. it's not useful as a bluetooth controller (I use TX-6 for both mixing inputs as well as software mixing sources on the iPhone), it's not an audio interface. the bluebox also has no battery so you have to increase the size further to attach one. does not fit the same use cases. not what you'd get bluebox for but I also use TX-6 as a BTLE performance device apart from its mixer capability (like the TX-7 stem player prototype was before it had any audio inputs) which again has nothing comparable that can be handheld.
- andrewmcwatters 3y agoI am sort of curious about their manufacturing. Say you wanted to create some really mundane object, like an anodized aluminum fidget spinner, with nice cut parts such as Apple's or teenage engineering's hardware? I suppose you'd use an aluminum 6061 block cut with a CNC machine and anodize the finish. OK. Well, doing CNC parts at volume is quite expensive. I can see teenage engineer's expenses here from that alone. But... is that all there is to it?
- amelius 3y agoThe trick is to make 1 item and then show it to a bunch of VCs who will then pay for a large batch at lower unit cost.
- bsder 3y agoExpertise, time and money are indeed all it takes. But that doesn't mean it's easy. :) You can absolutely build beautiful stuff in your own home shop. The Chris Ramsay Playing Card Press https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PwAQZNLy0I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PwAQZNLy0I What you need to understand though is that these kinds of projects take ridiculous amounts of time. CAUTION: That video is Clickspring. You will get sucked in and lose hours of time. Do not open unless you can afford to waste a lot of time. :)
- ilyt 3y agoThey make their products in china so a bunch of CNC cut parts for $1500 toy recorder is tiny fraction of the price
- d23 3y agoI'm assuming the cost is entirely to make up for labor.
- hammock 3y agoHow does the TP-7 compare to Zooms, the biggest competitor in this space? https://zoomcorp.com/en/us/ https://zoomcorp.com/en/us/
- andrewmcwatters 3y agoI don't think you really need specs to compare them. Zoom's are ugly and used by actual professionals, and teenage engineering's are a monument to the functionalist school of industrial design and purchased probably by mostly enthusiasts.
- cupofjoakim 3y agoGoing out on a limb here, but I would guess it doesn't. If the pricing will be similar to the other entry in the field lineup (TX-6) we're looking at many multiples of the price of a Zoom H4n Pro, which I also would guess has a wider arrange of features - except the transcription. That being said - teenage engineering is probably not looking to compete with Zoom. The branding is totally different. TE is looking for a premium market, while the first thing I was met with on zooms homepage was a button that said "New lower price!". Teenage engineering continues doing something that I don't really understand - making me want to buy stuff that is really expensive that I have no need for. I won't buy these things, but every time I see them I do appreciate the craft.
- johnsonap 3y agoIt seems much more prone to accidental stopping with the reel on the front. neat looking feature but not sure how practical it is.
- gorkish 3y agoI'd think that anyone in the market for a "field recorder" today would be completely insane to buy something that wont record in float32.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- lvl102 3y agoFor the price you can buy state of the art mic and field recorder. For audio-to-text, simply use Microsoft office. But you can buy this if you’re rich and don’t know where to burn your cash.
- johnsonap 3y agoyeah to me a field-recorder with transcription is aimed at least somewhat towards journalists who can't even come close to affording this
- chamakits 3y agoIs the target audience for teenage engineering products people that like extremely sleekly designed products that also have nice features; or do people in their industry hold them as highly regarded products that have unique features and perform well beyond their sleek design? I'm asking without judgement and out of ignorance of the field of audio engineering. I absolutely believe that there is a market for sleekly designed products that also happen to function well; but I don't know if audio engineers (and other people this targets) also believe that teenage engineer products are worth the price beyond that.
- andrewmcwatters 3y agoI don't personally understand why you would use their hardware for anything considering each of their devices have industry leading competitors that people like more. I think you have to just want to buy their hardware. They're lifestyle devices.
- moron4hire 3y agoThese devices are ostensibly toys for rich people, but really more like advertisements for their product design services. You're supposed to see the TP-7 as a CEO of a hardware startup and want to hire Teenage Engineering to design the shell to go around your prototype.
- wmf 3y agoWhat have they designed besides the Playdate?
- moron4hire 3y agoThe Ikea Frekvens line: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/newsroom/range-news/get-the-party-started-with-frekvens-pubaaf1fd67 https://www.ikea.com/us/en/newsroom/range-news/get-the-party...
- 3y ago
- urig 3y ago$80 tape dispenser? Shut up and take my money!
- deadeye 3y agoSerious question, if you inherited tens of millions of dollars and wanted to spend it on premium things, where can you buy insanly luxurious every day items? Like: An apple corer? A Yeti (like) cup? A mobile phone? Kids toys? I've always wondered this. I live in a world of throw away quality every day items. Do the ultra wealthy have luxury options for these things?
- andrewmcwatters 3y agoI can't think of any store that caters to this specific type of thing. And now that you mention it, it's a real shame. Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom sell a lot of Veblen goods, not necessarily actual high-end anything. Costco sells actual high-end products, but they're very limited in their selection. For various products, people in the know don't use them. However, for example, flashlights they sell from Duracell are stronger than anything you can pickup from Home Depot, curiously.
- nickthegreek 3y agoIsn't this what SkyMall used to be?
- bombcar 3y agoSkyMall was the cheapest shit hahaha
- SamBankmanFried 3y agoI use https://old.reddit.com/r/BuyItForLife/ https://old.reddit.com/r/BuyItForLife/ as a starting point, but it can be hit or miss depending on what you search.
- dang 3y agoI'm afraid using a real celebrity's name as your HN username falls into the sort of thing we don't allow here - see https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix=true&page=0&query=by:dang%20trollish%20username https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme.... I've temporarily banned the account but if you want us to rename it for you to something untrollish, we can do that and unban it.
- Brendinooo 3y agoThis company is the best kind of self-indulgent. The product looks incredible and probably will be a joy to use. It's neat to see hardware that's not commoditized.
- ilyt 3y agoIt honestly looks like "we just keep asking for more for less and people keep paying that"
- SoftTalker 3y agoIt's like a Leica camera. You buy one to be seen with it, not so much to use it. If you want the ultimate in a retro-cool field recorder, look for a Nagra IV. https://www.nagraaudio.com/product/nagra-iv-family/ https://www.nagraaudio.com/product/nagra-iv-family/
- butterfi 3y agoI followed that link and audibly gasped... omg, thats gorgeous
- dagmx 3y agoLeica’s are a fairly unique shooting experience though due to being basically the only rangefinders left. Though I’d also argue you could get a Fuji X100 series and it replicates the experience really well.
- codr7 3y agoNot even close from my experience, having used both.
- dagmx 3y agoWhat would you say is different? When shooting in the hybrid mode, you get the OVF with frame lines and the centre phase shift overlay. Imho that’s basically the same experience as any Leica rangefinder I’ve used. Maybe the rest of the experience is different (interchangeable lens, body) but I think the rangefinder experience is very well replicated.
- larvaetron 3y agoI feel like I'm the only person who isn't a fan of Teenage Engineering's design. It's all a bit too uncanny valley for me.
- mandmandam 3y agoYou are not. It's like Patrick Bateman's Fisher-Price to me. This thing in particular is purely for posers, even more than their other stuff. I find it condescending, and nebulously offensive.
- amoss 3y ago> Patrick Bateman's Fisher-Price Oh wow, that one is going in the memory bank for future use.
- dpflan 3y agoIndeed, my mind field recorded that one!
- thewataccount 3y agoI have literally no experience with music or any of this stuff. I've seen a few videos and the OP1 looks cool - how do these things perform? Are they decent but expensive, or are they just pretty but trash? IMO Apple pulls this off well because their devices work really decently while also holding that premium look.
- mandmandam 3y agoThey are ridiculously overpriced. They are terribly limited, which is marketed as a bonus - I don't see it that way. I wouldn't go so far as to call them trash - they're very expensive toys. You may enjoy this video about the OP-1's feature set, even without the background knowledge to know everything he's saying is 100% true (which it is) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU8alMWUmDI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU8alMWUmDI I like Apple, quite possibly too much. I put a lot of value on user experience. But I would never buy a Teenage Engineering product with my own money. I find that 'I only drink $500 bottles of wine' kind of thing deeply uncool.
- scrumper 3y agoIf there was ever a product page that needed a video... Spinny jog wheel thingy is lovely. And apparently it moves while you're recording? If you put your thumb on it to slow it down does it pitch the audio up on playback? It's not how I'd spent $1,500 but I'm glad it exists. Irritates the same itch that makes me want to buy an old Nagra SN. (Which is also not how I'm gonna spend multiple thousands either, but I get it.)
- nielsbot 3y agoLooks like a feature borrowed from their radio https://teenage.engineering/products/ob-4 https://teenage.engineering/products/ob-4
- rcarr 3y agoI was sold until I clicked through to the store and saw the price: £1299. Absolutely ludicrous given a Zoom H2 is £149.
- dsr_ 3y agoIf you buy a Zoom H8 with all of the optional microphone sets, you don't quite get up to this price. Teenage Engineering is selling the fantasy of being Hunter S Thompson's assistant.
- mrguyorama 3y agoAs far as I can tell, it doesn't come with any adrenochrome laced bags of cocaine, so I think it would be missing a key part of that fantasy.
- dsr_ 3y agoI assume a major part of the job is going on runs to acquire the salt shakers, the briefcases, and the bottles of ether.
- asimpletune 3y agoIf Wes Anderson were an Engineer I think he'd make stuff like this. Take a look at their new microphone as well https://teenage.engineering/products/cm-15 https://teenage.engineering/products/cm-15
- knifie_spoonie 3y ago> self noise: 14 dBA That's really not very good, especially for the price they're charging. I'm starting to sense a theme.
- jelder 3y agoI love physical buttons. My keyboard has the exact right keyswitches for how I type. On the other end of the spectrum is my car's absolutely cursed touchscreen and capacitive buttons. The TP-7's buttons look really great, until you get to the part about the motorized wheel. That thing is going to jam with lint or sand or beard hair and that's the end. Or something is going to accidentally touch it and you'll miss a key moment of an interview. I wonder what the battery life would be without that thing.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- wmf 3y agoLike a cyberpunk Nagra.
- ShadowBanThis01 3y agoEvery time I look at this company's products, I realize how useless they are. And that's before considering their absurd prices. The big selling point for this thing is supposed to be its ready accessibility and "high quality" audio, but it can't record high quality as it stands. About its gimpy built-in mic they say "OR USE THE INTERNAL MIC IN A PINCH." Or you can buy the Zoom F3, which costs $350, is small enough to strap to your wrist, and records in float. Then you can buy a good mic (or two) and still come out way ahead of the asinine product featured here.
- squeaky-clean 3y agoI don't see a way to add a windscreen? A $50 field recorder with a $10 wind screen will probably sound better in the field than this. This looks like it's main intended to be used for transcription indoors. I also can't find any details on headroom. Will this clip when recording a concert, or a jam session, or recording a car engine revving?
- holografix 3y agoThis is so neat and the design looks so thoughtful. But USD$1500 is just… pornographic. I immediately wanted one and steeled myself for what I thought was going to be $300-400. I LoL’ed when I saw the real price. Might as well charge $15000
- lazzlazzlazz 3y agoIt's beautiful and sparks joy. But a Zoom F3 is a strictly superior device in all dimensions and costs $350. This recorder doesn't even support microSD cards or replaceable batteries. It's fundamentally unserious.
- kqr 3y agoIt's not clear to me bit does the F3 have a built in mic or does it only use the XLR inputs?
- fassssst 3y agoYea, and the F3 has 32-bit recording which means you don't really have to worry about gain and clipping. It's a big miss that this doesn't have 32-bit audio especially given that the OP-1 Field's audio pipeline is all 32-bit.
- lazzlazzlazz 3y ago32-bit recording is so superior to 24-bit recording that no sound system is modern without it. The TP-7 is outdated on release.
- ilyt 3y agoAfter reading that I expected it to cost like $700 but it costs fucking $1500 TE have perfected milking hipsters to perfection
- nerpderp82 3y ago45+ burned out tech managers, but yes.
- inhumantsar 3y agoHey now that's not fair. Some of us burned out tech managers with more money than sense are still in our 30s.
- Zardoz89 3y agoThe greatest offense is creating a product so refined in its exterior craft that offers a feature set barely competitive with the most entry level ZOOM.
- valdiorn 3y agoWho buys this stuff, honestly? I wonder what the market size is? TE is the equivalent of Gucci handbags for hipster musicians.
- whatthepoint 3y ago[flagged]
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- zoul 3y agoI used to love TE stuff, but with their latest products it’s no longer good design, it’s just plain parody. Even ignoring the price, which is always a part of the design, the controls are impractical (I would even say borderline comic) and just beg to get misused or broken. After which what, you throw the whole thing away? Indeed “there are thoughts, ideas and fragments that - for the sake of humanity - we need to record and be able to return to as a reference”, but as a journalist I would sure as hell not use this device to record them, going instead for my trusty iPhone Voice Memos app backed up by an old-school $50 voice recorder running on AAA batteries. It’s a bit sad, because I would love to indulge on seriously designed high-end recorder. But that’s not what this is.
- mywacaday 3y agoAre there any other hardware companies out there that have a unique aesthetic or style?
- whywhywhywhy 3y agoEnd of the day TE products are closer to toys than they are tools. I mean that in a positive way in the sense the people who buy them get excited about them and using them makes them happy but you have to build your workflow around them. Although their "Field" range is starting to feel overpriced by their standards, Kinda think if the mixer was around $500, the recorder around $600 and the Microphone around $350 the range would be a lot more compelling, like line the pricing up so buying all 3 is closer to the price of the OP-1 Field not double the price of the OP-1 Field. I'm sure they'll sell enough, just think aiming for that pricing would have made buying the whole set a no brainer for the TE fans.