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Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

scandinavianmind.com

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Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#121
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://dirtywave.com/ Close enough.

That's a $600 product. Perhaps less expensive but not not-expensive. And it lacks knobs and piano keys.

No cow animation, either... completely unusable.

Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#122

Earlier 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.

Yep, if you really think about it people not overcharging for their products are the real suckers.

Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That last 10% is precisely the point. Nothing AFAIK has the audio-oriented tape-style workflow with a keyboard and groovebox functionality in as small a footprint as the OP-1. The reality is that the OP-1 has been successful enough to warrant a successor and that are not negatively affecting other manufacturers doing whatever they want to do with their offerings, and this affects you personally... how?

I just find it utterly fascinating how rich, clueless tech workers throw money at cool-looking companies they see on YouTube. It's so unfathomably stupid to me that I feel the need to share it on HN, but I realize in retrospect this community might not share my opinion.

It's unfathomably stupid to me that one would care so much about what others spend their money on, as if it were something actively harmful.

To each their own, the only real winner here is the one selling their product.

Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#124
post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yep, if you really think about it people not overcharging for their products are the real suckers.

[deleted]

Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#125

Earlier 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.

Synthstrom Deluge does everything the OP-1 does (and much more), and was $400 cheaper until recently.

Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just find it utterly fascinating how rich, clueless tech workers throw money at cool-looking companies they see on YouTube. It's so unfathomably stupid to me that I feel the need to share it on HN, but I realize in retrospect this community might not share my opinion.

It's unfathomably stupid to me that one would care so much about what others spend their money on, as if it were something actively harmful. To each their own, the only real winner here is the one selling their product.

Sometimes I forget this is a business website first, tech website second. Touché, the abject waste of money is so easy to ignore when you contextualize it on a website of moonshot founders and Apple enthusiasts.

Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Synthstrom Deluge does everything the OP-1 does (and much more), and was $400 cheaper until recently.

No UI, no keyboard requiring a different mental interface if you are coming from a traditional i.e. piano-based instrument, at least twice the size.

Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Synthstrom Deluge does everything the OP-1 does (and much more), and was $400 cheaper until recently.

It's also much bigger and heavier though.

Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 could show you a product that is exactly the same and cost's half as much Show it, then. (and btw "half as much" is significantly more than "under 300 dollars") > but people will balk at it complaining that it doesn't have a cow animation like the OP-1 does. Probably I will complain that it lacks synthesis, a multitrack recorder capable of making long tracks, an input for sampling, or something. (I agree the anim…

The OP-1's synthesis engine is so stiff that I'd argue it doesn't have one either. It's subtractive synth may as well be sample-based, the FM model is fine but incredibly simple, the Karpluss-Strong engine is fun but one-note and the sampler doesn't really fill in the rest of the cracks. It's a fine machine, but arguing that it's both a synth and a multitrack recorder ignores the fact that both of those features are pretty compromised.

I posted some examples of cheap, shitty grooveboxes I would prefer to the OP-1 in another comment below. Understandably not all of them will be to everyone's liking, but all of them are cheaper than the OP-1 and easier for me to recommend to learning musicians.

Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am pretty sure real professionals use carefully configured personal computers with keyboards plugged in.

The same as how professional photographers use expensive 'real' capital-C Cameras with interchangeable capital-L Lenses but still carry pocketable point-and-shoots for 'fun,' e.g. Ricoh GR, Fuji X100. Tools should be enjoyable to use, which these gadgets offer in spades.

But in this case, the just-for-fun pocket device is more often expensive than the capital-K Keyboard.
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