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PO-80 Record Factory

teenage.engineering

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Re: PO-80 Record Factory

#81

Post by xani_ »

faefox wrote: post #7
quantumwannabe wrote: post #4

This appears to be a rebranding (at nearly three times the price) of the Gakken Record Maker (which is still available online for its MSRP of ¥7,980 ($55) [1]). It even comes with a copy of the Gakken magazine! Here's a review of the Gakken record maker (which looks identical to the Teenage Engineering one) [2], the Japanese description from Gakken [3], and an English description from a reseller [4]. Gakken is a Japa…

The margins on everything Teenage Engineering sells must be insane. Thinking in particular of their "computer-1" itx case which is a handful of pieces of unbent sheet metal and commodity parts, all for a mere *$195*.

The power of decent product with massive hipster appeal

I wouldn't be surprised if it was something like 400%+ on everything but maybe the pocket operators. Even those probably have healthy margin, as it is just PCB + some buttons. custom LCDs in tens of thousands are also insanely cheap (in ballpark of $1 for something like that).

Re: PO-80 Record Factory

#82

Post by xani_ »

tibbon wrote: post #11
rkachowski wrote: post #3

The most surprising thing about this is how low the price is for a teenage engineering product. I don't know anything about LP manufacturing but 150 for an LP reader / writer seems pretty cool.

I can never get a handle on their pricing. Its all either absurdly low (how do they make pocket operators so cheap?!?!?), or absurdly high (why is OP-1 so absurdly high?!). But at this price, hitting buy asap. It will be a neat effect for use in my studio.

The custom LCD is ~1$ in bulk, PCB maybe $1-2, Microswitches can be had for like $1-2 usd per 100, probably another $2 in bits and bobs (passives, battery holder).

CPU is just a cortex M3 IIRC, probably some ADC/DAC, so maybe $5-7 for the "brain" of the thing ?

Then shipping, handling, rest of manufacturing (arguably very simple, no case, just board with components).

So there is probably still a healthy margin left, not anywhere near "absurdly low", just at that price the volume helps a lot.

> (why is OP-1 so absurdly high?!).

Coz they know people will buy it. They hold that price used too.

Re: PO-80 Record Factory

#83

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

xani_ wrote: post #82
tibbon wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can never get a handle on their pricing. Its all either absurdly low (how do they make pocket operators so cheap?!?!?), or absurdly high (why is OP-1 so absurdly high?!). But at this price, hitting buy asap. It will be a neat effect for use in my studio.

The custom LCD is ~1$ in bulk, PCB maybe $1-2, Microswitches can be had for like $1-2 usd per 100, probably another $2 in bits and bobs (passives, battery holder). CPU is just a cortex M3 IIRC, probably some ADC/DAC, so maybe $5-7 for the "brain" of the thing ? Then shipping, handling, rest of manufacturing (arguably very simple, no case, just board with components). So there is probably still a healthy margin left,…

Don't forget that they need to make enough profit to recover their engineering NRE costs. At low volumes that can force pretty high prices.

Re: PO-80 Record Factory

#84

Post by xani_ »

cole-k wrote: post #49
tibbon wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can never get a handle on their pricing. Its all either absurdly low (how do they make pocket operators so cheap?!?!?), or absurdly high (why is OP-1 so absurdly high?!). But at this price, hitting buy asap. It will be a neat effect for use in my studio.

Are the pocket operators really that cheap for the functionality they provide? I was always of the opinion that Teenage Engineering was ridiculously overpriced, but so much of what they make is so cool that it makes me want to buy anyway. I'm not creative/musical/rich enough to justify buying an OP-1. If I ever was, though...

> I'm not creative/musical/rich enough to justify buying an OP-1. If I ever was, though...

Digitone/Digitakt/Syntakt are much better at high but still lower than OP-1 price while still being very playable

On the entirely other side, Korg Volcas are pretty cheap and fun little devices, few other companies also make similarly priced and sized ones.

And lastly, cheap midi keyboard and just software synths are cheapest option, if less "touchable".

OP-1 niche is basically people wanting to be limited on purpose and/or just having something super-portable to jam on

Dirtywave M8 is also kinda in similar space of "small & portable" but it's based off the old school trackers so super-powerful. But again, pretty pricy, and tracker workflow.

Re: PO-80 Record Factory

#85

Post by cammikebrown »

xani_ wrote: post #84
cole-k wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are the pocket operators really that cheap for the functionality they provide? I was always of the opinion that Teenage Engineering was ridiculously overpriced, but so much of what they make is so cool that it makes me want to buy anyway. I'm not creative/musical/rich enough to justify buying an OP-1. If I ever was, though...

> I'm not creative/musical/rich enough to justify buying an OP-1. If I ever was, though... Digitone/Digitakt/Syntakt are much better at high but still lower than OP-1 price while still being very playable On the entirely other side, Korg Volcas are pretty cheap and fun little devices, few other companies also make similarly priced and sized ones. And lastly, cheap midi keyboard and just software synths are cheapest o…

I think the Korg Minilogue xd is the best synth for the price. I also have several pocket operators, an Elektron Model:Samples (eh), and I’m borrowing my friend’s Volca Modular (which is pretty sweet).

Re: PO-80 Record Factory

#86

Post by cammikebrown »

Marazan wrote: post #63
cole-k wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are the pocket operators really that cheap for the functionality they provide? I was always of the opinion that Teenage Engineering was ridiculously overpriced, but so much of what they make is so cool that it makes me want to buy anyway. I'm not creative/musical/rich enough to justify buying an OP-1. If I ever was, though...

The pocket operators are great value, the PO-20 is one of the best all-in-one groove boxes around and the price makes it a total bargin. However, the cases are pure ripoff territory. I wonder if there are 3rd party ones available.

$29 for a case is a very standard price for phones, and the PO cases have more functionality.

Re: PO-80 Record Factory

#87

Post by Diapason »

"THIS PRODUCT IS NOT SUITABLE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN AS IT CONTAINS SHARP METAL AND OTHER SMALL PARTS." Yet they show a super young child on their page.

"give your favorite 7" records new life". No thanks, I like them as they are.

Re: PO-80 Record Factory

#88

Post by ungamedplayer »

earthboundkid wrote: post #80
nerdponx wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've personally experienced this at work before. A non-technical person uploaded the image to the CMS, assuming it will be scaled down at some point after uploading. A web developer used the image from the CMS, assuming it was scaled down at some point before being exposed for the frontend to access it. In reality the image never got scaled down anywhere, and ended up on the frontend in its full 9 MB glory. This ende…

I am a one man shop running a news site and put my site through webpagetest every Monday morning. I find it crazy that big companies apparently don’t do this.

You're likely more dedicated than most. There is a certain level of ignorance that allows these people to continue in comfort and unfortunately its not fixable because they don't know and likely don't care.

Re: PO-80 Record Factory

#89

Post by dusted »

But it's so bad... It's so strictly in the "toy" category it's not even funny..

Somehow this fits well with teenageengineerings line of very overpriced products with a tremendously high focus on novelty and high markup and not much else.

Re: PO-80 Record Factory

#90

Post by dusted »

TylerE wrote: post #46
MDGeist wrote: post #2

Audio quality is about what you'd expect from a lathe cut record. That being said, since it is so hard to get vinyl pressed these days I could see a small run of cut singles being something artists could sell as a novelty for die hard fans. Neat!

The big problem here is that due to how soft the material has to be to cut, the lifespan on these is going to be somewhere in the realm of 1-10 plays.

Having listened to the samples they provide, I'll argue that the lifespan is about 0 plays, they're basically DOA.
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