[flagged]
[flagged]
Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering
101–110 of 207 posts
Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering
#102[flagged]
Needlessly bitter and jealous take.
Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering
#103[deleted]
Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
Portable all in one groovebox with a keyboard. Even ignoring the keyboard, the creativity and fun of the OP-1s tape and synthesis modes, things like the gyro and FM radio, are fairly unique. There is a reason it is so successful.
> There is a reason it is so successful. Yes, because it managed to capture a self-sustaining hype cycle powered by customers who for the most part don't really know what they're buying. It's more of a status item than an actually fun or useful musical instrument, IMO. This thread reminds me, I need to sell mine.
I was curious to hear about other products that are similar, but superior to OP-1, that previous reply alluded to.
Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering
#105[flagged]
[flagged]
Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
And people fall for it. It's crazy how many people blindly buy into TE's "homestyle" marketing like they're some hibrow synth company. The OP-1 tickles every American's "Product Cortex" in their brain though, immediately associating brutalist design and Corinthian leather with quality engineering. It doesn't matter if we're not the target audience, we just want to spend money on pretty things that make us feel good.…
So... you judge character based on appearances? No other gear company has tackled the all-in-one synth-sequencer-4trackrecorder-groovebox that is the OP-1 in the decade since its release. TE not capitalizing on this would be financially naive.
I am pretty sure real professionals use carefully configured personal computers with keyboards plugged in.
Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
All of which says "stylised and arty" and is a look much used in The Wire and similar publications. I'm kind of irritated by this. TA are legendary for super-expensive toy-like products that must have insanely high margins. So somehow the "I was never into money (but now I collect antique synthesizers with four or five figure price tags)" line doesn't ring entirely true.
And people fall for it. It's crazy how many people blindly buy into TE's "homestyle" marketing like they're some hibrow synth company. The OP-1 tickles every American's "Product Cortex" in their brain though, immediately associating brutalist design and Corinthian leather with quality engineering. It doesn't matter if we're not the target audience, we just want to spend money on pretty things that make us feel good.…
They’re the Sharper Image of audio.
Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering
#108The photography of this is interesting. I'm not sure I'd know how to approach this assignment (I might start with rapport and portraiture in the space), but some things I noticed on different photos: * Warm vintage color cast on the '70s-looking gear wood panel. * On-camera-flash-like directional lighting, with harsh shadow (maybe to separate person from gear background, but both in focus?). * Contrast and saturation…
This style is ubiquitous—Terry Richardson, etc.
Let's hope this guy didn't get the rest of the Terry Richardson experience!
Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering
#109The photography of this is interesting. I'm not sure I'd know how to approach this assignment (I might start with rapport and portraiture in the space), but some things I noticed on different photos: * Warm vintage color cast on the '70s-looking gear wood panel. * On-camera-flash-like directional lighting, with harsh shadow (maybe to separate person from gear background, but both in focus?). * Contrast and saturation…
All of which says "stylised and arty" and is a look much used in The Wire and similar publications. I'm kind of irritated by this. TA are legendary for super-expensive toy-like products that must have insanely high margins. So somehow the "I was never into money (but now I collect antique synthesizers with four or five figure price tags)" line doesn't ring entirely true.
Unfortunately, All low volume boutique electronic musical instruments have “insanely high margins”. The less boutique normal stuff made by Yamaha and Roland is likely priced at 4x the BOM - and they are able to get better deals from distributors than TE can.
You can’t sustain a business any other way. Consumer electronics are cheap because they can sell millions worldwide. Stuff like the OP1 sells in the 10s of thousands so they’re not getting any special deals from their vendors either.
Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
And people fall for it. It's crazy how many people blindly buy into TE's "homestyle" marketing like they're some hibrow synth company. The OP-1 tickles every American's "Product Cortex" in their brain though, immediately associating brutalist design and Corinthian leather with quality engineering. It doesn't matter if we're not the target audience, we just want to spend money on pretty things that make us feel good.…
So... you judge character based on appearances? No other gear company has tackled the all-in-one synth-sequencer-4trackrecorder-groovebox that is the OP-1 in the decade since its release. TE not capitalizing on this would be financially naive.
My opinion is based off the weekend I spent with a rented model. I very quickly realized that the OP-1 is like an iPhone app that someone turned into pricy hardware.
> No other gear company has tackled the all-in-one synth-sequencer-4trackrecorder-groovebox
Seriously?
Plenty of other companies have. If you're old enough to remember, Elektron had an 8 track sequencer/recorder/groovebox that cost roughly the same price as the OP-1. Their mono model was actually cheaper than the OP-1 (and arguably nicer).
...which is of course to ignore the hundreds of other sub-$1000 grooveboxes that do 90% of what the OP-1 does. Hell, that's to ignore DAWs that cost 1/3rd of the price with 300% more features. If you buy an OP-1 as your introduction to electronic music, you are wasting your money.