Live data from Hacker News

TX-6 – Teenage Engineering

teenage.engineering

151–160 of 343 posts

Re: TX-6 – Teenage Engineering

#151

Once, just once, I would like to see someone say “why is this so expensive, it’s just […]” and then build one themselves, and bring it to market, for that lower cost. Go ahead, just try.

If you actually build one yourself (not just limited to this particular mixer, but also e.g. analog synthesizers, FM synthesizers, samplers, …), you'll be surprised by how ridiculously overpriced almost all of the available audio hardware really is. The sad part is that in many cases your prototype will be cheaper than the commercially available audio hardware. In practice you'll probably skip the "and bring it to ma…

As someone who literally does this for a living at Sequential, you couldn't be more wrong

Re: TX-6 – Teenage Engineering

#153
post #56

I absolutely love their design language. I'll never have a need to own any of their products but I wish I could buy the gadgets I do need/want with this kind of design/style.

I don't need to own my OP-1, but I'm glad I do. It makes me happy every time I look at it.

I'm so jealous. It's the one thing I lust after but can't justify. I wish I could rent one and see how bad it twists the knife towards pulling the credit card out.

Re: TX-6 – Teenage Engineering

#154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, all my Apple devices do exactly what I need them to.

Lucky for you. Once I tried to copy a single audio file to my ipod without going through the whole itunes journey. Spoiler alert: In the end I just stopped using apple stuff.

I tried the same with a mini disc player. Knowing what a product does and how it does it is kind of key though.

Re: TX-6 – Teenage Engineering

#155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right at the very beginning: > ultra-portable pro-mixer and audio interface. TX–6 is our ultra-portable, battery-powered mixer and multi-channel audio interface. comparable to larger units, but with even more tech packed into one sturdy little machine. I’d say that’s pretty damn clear what it is and that it’s “ultra portable.” What were you expecting them to add?

Lots of people don’t know what a mixer or audio interface is.

It's not an iPod, it won't be advertised to a general audience. People that visit the TE website will usually have heard about it from word of mouth.

Re: TX-6 – Teenage Engineering

#156
post #45

I absolutely love their design language. I'll never have a need to own any of their products but I wish I could buy the gadgets I do need/want with this kind of design/style.

Me too. They are aping the Rams look as well as Ive/Apple did at their best, and now Apple doesn't do it any longer.

> Rams look

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieter_Rams

Re: TX-6 – Teenage Engineering

#157

Like most Teenage Engineering products, it's an absolutely amazing-looking, well-engineered product with a ton of functionality that does a thing I don't actually need for far more money than I can justify spending on it.

So, Apple!

Pre-Intel Apple, or back when you needed a Mac computer for your iPod to sync, because USB mass storage isn't elegant enough or whatever.

Re: TX-6 – Teenage Engineering

#158
post #3

Halo hardware, absolutely, but their design sense is utterly phenomenal. What a gorgeous piece of kit.

If I were ever to go back to the Wintel world (or whatever the word is for Windows+AMD), Teenage Engineering's computer is probably the only one my wife would allow in the house: https://teenage.engineering/products/computer-1

As sibling allready hinted at, check out Streacom: https://fabiensanglard.net/the_beautiful_machine/index.html

Re: TX-6 – Teenage Engineering

#159
"Why is it so expensive?" - commentary from someone who does this for a living at Sequential

Small Volume - each unit is more expensive than a large volume product, you don't get price breaks on any components or tooling costs

Design focused - Who is the product for? It isn't for people who want to spend 250$ on a Behringer mixer. It is for people who want something that is high quality and doesn't break. Reliable. For people that rely on their tools to be creative or appreciate design. You are paying a premium. See Apple for lots of examples. This is also one of the biggest strengths of the company, if you want something cheap you're looking in the wrong place.

Complex - the amount of balance of various components here adds a lot to the design and development costs. Battery is an unusual feature but puts it in a different product category. Balancing that with the audio quality and reliability is not a trivial problem. Add in wireless, audio drivers (not trivial at ALL), Complexity increases development time and adds risk to the long term stability of the product, that is added into the cost.

Most of the small features feel like somebody there thought it would be fun and/or easy to put in. It's a good way to iterate through design ideas, you have to see it in reality. That type of prototyping isn't easy. Most people don't use 90% of the features but when you are in a creative industry the 1% that does absolutely LOVES it and uses it in ways you never expected. It's difficult to balance the amount of development you put into fun things vs. business cases.

If you are trying to figure out why you'd pay for this you aren't their target market. It's far more interesting (to me) to think about why some people WOULD pay for this and what a market looks like that you are not a part of

Re: TX-6 – Teenage Engineering

#160

Once, just once, I would like to see someone say “why is this so expensive, it’s just […]” and then build one themselves, and bring it to market, for that lower cost. Go ahead, just try.

Just say it costs $100/mo for 12 months for on-prem. They'll think it's an exciting new enterprise B2B SaaS.
Post reply on HN