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Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

scandinavianmind.com

61–70 of 207 posts

Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#61

I too would live in a pinterest-ready castle filled with toys but i dont have the stomach to rip off customers as shamelessly as TE is. The B&O of our generation.

It’s a luxury product! I’m guessing you just don’t enjoy luxury products. I don’t either, but then at least I can identify them. Some people like luxury.

Right. It’s like complaining that a Rolex is $15k because you can buy a just-as-good mechanical Seiko for $75.

Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#62

I too would live in a pinterest-ready castle filled with toys but i dont have the stomach to rip off customers as shamelessly as TE is. The B&O of our generation.

I dunno, I have always believed that something is worth exactly what someone else will pay for it. Value has no objective correlate: it is a construct agreed upon by the seller and buyer. "Overpriced," "rip-off," and their ilk seem to me ad hominem attacks by people who don't meet at "sold."

I agree something being overpriced doesn’t exist. However, rip off or scam is different. That’s intentionally selling one thing as something else. Mostly in the form of not holding up some end of a bargain.

Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#64

I too would live in a pinterest-ready castle filled with toys but i dont have the stomach to rip off customers as shamelessly as TE is. The B&O of our generation.

Yep. Ostensibly there's nothing wrong with making pricy hipster audio equipment, but the rampant success of their marketing just makes me facepalm. People out there genuinely think the OP-1 is a $1000 product in 2023, which should inspire riots in the street. The OP-1 Field raising the price instead of lowering it is the last nail in the coffin for me. $800 is a pricy toy - $1500+ puts you in brand-new Octatrack terr…

It's not normally called "scam" when you just take a simple product, wrap it with lots of marketing and branding, and overprice it.

Or maybe it is, in which case the entire modern economy is a scam. Ok I see where this thread is going from here.

Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the options with similar portability, sampling, synthesis, fx, and multitrack recording, that you can buy new, and is not just an ipad or something, for under 300 dollars?

You've sorta missed my analogy. You can get a Novation Circuit, Electribe or even a brand-new Model: Samples for less than $300, but none of them are the "Star Wars Hotel" that the OP-1 is. I could show you a product that is exactly the same and cost's half as much, but people will balk at it complaining that it doesn't have a cow animation like the OP-1 does. They've "productized" an instrument that shouldn't cost m…

I am also interested in the $300-500 all-in-one groovebox rivaling the OP-1 (without cow animation)

Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#67

Would like to know when they'll start selling their pocket operator synthesizer and sequencer again. Rumors that a chip shortage has negatively impacted on their production, but who knows! It's been months now that they've been out of stock on their website - https://teenage.engineering/store/po-20/

Given their other marketing, they could simply be keeping it out of stock intentionally, to increase demand by creating a (false) sense of scarcity.

Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#68
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously, comparing my OP-1 ($1400, made in china, buggy, bad QC, small and simple hardware) with my Analog Rytm mkII ($1700, made in sweden, reliable, impeccable QC, larger and much more complex hardware) - the margins on these TE gizmos must be insane .

There was nothing like the OP-1 at release and still nothing like it now. It is overpriced, but they arguably deserve it. They have the Apple business model.

By what criteria is there "nothing like" it? Of course you can define "like" in a way to make this true, but I'm curious what you think are the salient differentiators.

Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#69
post #63

[flagged]

> I sell overpriced aluminum audio equipment And yet everything they make sells out. Almost like it's worth the price.

>And yet everything they make sells out. Almost like it's worth the price.

I dont think, A implies B.

With great marketing and lower volume production, you could probably make most overpriced, average quality widgets sell out.

Doesn't mean that because they're sold out therefore they were priced "right". (as subjective as pricing is)

Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#70
post #63

[flagged]

> I sell overpriced aluminum audio equipment And yet everything they make sells out. Almost like it's worth the price.

They've made a couple of thing worth the money. The OP-1. That's about it.

I would consider their Pocket Operators to be more than novelties if they would have provide god damn MIDI support

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