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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

#191

Post by SideQuark »

mattigames wrote: post #188
SideQuark wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your definition of irrational is not everyone's. I suspect you buy things other people would consider irrational, yet you buy anyways. Does that make you irrational? Or do different people have different utility functions? People buy what they want, not what you think they should.

Nope, its not that subjective, and not about what I think or don't think I should, food is a product category that is fully rational to buy from and its one of the reasons its prices tend to be more stable and is strongly corelated to the hardships of the production chain, not all foods but certainly a lot, certainly the most basic ones (e.g. potatos). Just like buying a smartphone is a more rational choice than buyi…

>Nope, its not that subjective, and not about what I think or don't think I should

Sorry, human utility functions, which drive pricing, are subjective [1]. This is basic economics. Different actors have different values - if there were some mystical "rational" rule to drive prices, it would be the same for all people. That some people value different things differently would imply that what is rational for one person (thus they choose one ordering) must be irrational for another (since they choose a different ordering).

Some people buy Goop because it makes them happy. That is all that is needed. That you do not does not make their purchase irrational. That is a misguided way to judge them and their preferences.

>and its one of the reasons its prices tend to be more stable

No, it's the other way around - people ten to buy more of the foods that are priced stably since they can plan. Many foods are wildly unstably priced, and as such cannot be planned around, so are more niche.

And this happens not just in food, but pretty much every type of good.

>certainly the most basic ones (e.g. potatos).

Potatoes are historically more volatile in pricing compared to other food stuffs [2] (you can use the site to check lots of goods, put each in Excel, compute volatility). So your claims are contradicted by evidence.

> predictable but irrational

Define a rational purchase. Be sure to address individual utility functions.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utility

[2] https://www.in2013dollars.com/Potatoes/price-inflation#:~:te....

Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#192

Post by jacquesm »

robocat wrote: post #134
jacquesm wrote: post #24

Note the Moog Theremin sitting around casually used as a dump for patchcables!

Behind the Theremin is a kakelugn/kachelofen/masonry-heater fireplace. https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Masonry_heater https://duckduckgo.com/?q=swedish+round+ceramic+stove

Those are beautiful!

Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#194

Post by agentultra »

For all the folks who immediately react to any mention of TE with, “it’s expensive garbage only idiots would buy!” Have you seen a full tear down and did a component cost analysis to get a rough idea of the unit cost?

I’ve seen some breakdowns of the PCBs in the OP-1 and it doesn’t look like they’re skimping on parts/design to me. I’m not huge into hardware nor an EE so maybe I’m wrong here.

However I would think that given the volumes they sell and the component cost with all of the custom bits that go into an OP-1 Field, it’s probably fairly reasonable.

Most businesses want to make products they can sell. I’m only suggesting that maybe the engineering that goes on at TE isn’t pure marketing fuzz and that they’re not selling underwhelming products at inflated prices to suckers who love a brand more than decent gear.

Having read the article I think it’s interesting how they’re running the business. It seems that they value creativity and skill rather than time to market or feature lists.

It’s pretty easy to make a pure software synth with high-end DACs that is basically a laptop trapped in a custom box with an opaque interface of some sort. Almost everyone does it in some way. Features! Deep menus, tonnes of buttons, endless tweaking. Probably easier to do on a laptop.

It’s a neat feat of engineering to put limits on where you allow yourself to go. Different things happen when you have to get creative to avoid the limits. The Pocket Operator series is dope as hell. What a neat idea that almost effortlessly pulls in the Game & Watch aesthetic. Few places are doing stuff like that.

I’m curious what other oddball stuff they will work on next. It’s not necessarily my cup of tea but I really think they do good work.

It’d be interesting to get a deep dive into specific products in their line. He talks about influences in general. I wonder how that ends up playing out.

Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#195

Post by [deleted] »

ilyt wrote: post #152
bookofjoe wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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."

Well, it is overpriced rip-off if you target consumers that don't know any better and could get better for less. But their customers know exactly what they are getting so it is not that.

[deleted]

Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#196

Post by bmitc »

Towaway69 wrote: post #71

Perhaps slightly OT but I found building my own synthesizer using a cheap midi controller with a few dials and supercollider[0] to be very enjoyable experience. Somehow I have a better connection to making music since it was my own virtual Synthesizer and it does just what I need it to do! [0]= https://supercollider.github.io/

Supercollider is unfortunate because it has a very restrictive license.

Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#197

Post by ilyt »

xdfgh1112 wrote: post #170
ilyt wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Portable all in one groovebox with a keyboard. MASCHINE+, MPC X, Force, dozen other 440 style grooveboxes. Arguably Dirtywave M8 I mean it is neat device and I'm kinda surprised nobody cloned the minimalistic format (I guess Volcas are kind of that, although more "one thing" rather than versatility, but the asking price is truly ridiculous

None of those have a keyboard.

They have, just not piano one. Which hinders more than helps creativity if anything...

Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#198

Post by ilyt »

psychomugs wrote: post #189
ilyt wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not "care", it's morbid curiosity about how psyche of humans work.

There is a marked difference between curiosity and kvetching.

"Who in right mind buys this overpriced gadget? Why ?" is both.

Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#199

Post by xdfgh1112 »

ilyt wrote: post #197
xdfgh1112 wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of those have a keyboard.

They have, just not piano one. Which hinders more than helps creativity if anything...

If you can play keyboard, there really is no comparison between keys and a set of buttons.

Re: Interview with the founder of Teenage Engineering

#200

Post by benhurmarcel »

prmoustache wrote: post #174
fassssst wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea I mindlessly plunk around on it while muted.

why don't you just leave the meeting if you aren't paying attention anyway?

In most companies that's not an option. You sound lucky to not have to go through this, but waiting through hour-long meetings while waiting for an interesting topic or hearing your name is part of daily work for many office workers.
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