Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Teenage Engineering's free computer case

teenage.engineering

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 60 posts

Re: Teenage Engineering's free computer case

#51

Post by cole-k »

giraffe_lady wrote: post #46
cole-k wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trigger_(guitar) Not to defend Teenage Engineering, but I have seen a surprising number of OP-1s in music videos/live performances of bands I respect. Does that justify its price tag? I feel somewhat certain in saying "no," but I have no expertise. Love its aesthetics though.

It's not particularly expensive for professional music gear, which enough professional musicians use it as that I think I have to consider it that as well. Whatever else teenage engineering sells I don't really have an opinion about but that thing gets serious use by serious professionals so I feel obligated to take it seriously. Compared to a nord piano or a cello or a rhodes or a stage mixer or whatever it's not am…

> ... enough professional musicians use it as that I think I have to consider it that as well.

While not a bad proxy, I would say it is a sufficient but not necessary condition. Especially since many pros have the money to blow on overpriced gear (but perhaps you do too).

My own anecdote: as a kid I wanted to learn electric guitar and, of course being a kid, I shopped with my eyes. My dad bought me a $1.2k guitar. It's still a respectable guitar to this day, don't get me wrong. But if he had instead taken the old electric in the garage (bought for probably $500) and spent a hundred bucks on getting it set up, I would've had a guitar just as good. I know because I dug it out recently and I actually think it is quite nice.

An example to a more extreme degree: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klon_Centaur#Legacy

Re: Teenage Engineering's free computer case

#52

Post by giraffe_lady »

cole-k wrote: post #51
giraffe_lady wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not particularly expensive for professional music gear, which enough professional musicians use it as that I think I have to consider it that as well. Whatever else teenage engineering sells I don't really have an opinion about but that thing gets serious use by serious professionals so I feel obligated to take it seriously. Compared to a nord piano or a cello or a rhodes or a stage mixer or whatever it's not am…

> ... enough professional musicians use it as that I think I have to consider it that as well. While not a bad proxy, I would say it is a sufficient but not necessary condition. Especially since many pros have the money to blow on overpriced gear (but perhaps you do too). My own anecdote: as a kid I wanted to learn electric guitar and, of course being a kid, I shopped with my eyes. My dad bought me a $1.2k guitar. It…

Well the entirety of my music gear is a 1994 p-bass and a mediocre amp I've been running it through since around the same time so I get it.

And yeah a musician friend of mine we have a running joke where we'll say something is "a software engineer pedal." Meaning you see them in the home studios of people who make good money doing something else, while working musicians get by with the nearest Boss equivalent.

I've never used an OP-1, wouldn't know how to use one or evaluate it. But I've been on stage with enough of them to get the sense that, if used fully, they can for some approaches to some styles of music, fill the role of several other pieces of gear that would each cost more than what it costs.

So I think this one is both. It's a software engineer's toy, and it's also a workhorse tool for professionals. Honestly an impressive achievement, not a lot of things end up being both in any discipline.

Re: Teenage Engineering's free computer case

#53

Post by tshaddox »

gyomu wrote: post #29
brandokyk wrote: post #7

they have a branding problem - they are starting to being perceived like a snobby brand with ridiculously overpriced products sold as a status symbol - a Balanciaga of creative tech basically so they are trying to put out some cheap good value products to signal a return of the original hacker ethos

The world of music hardware is an interesting one. You'll meet some amazing musicians who have been touring for decades and are still playing on the same guitar they got for $800 15 years ago. And you'll meet people who drop 5 figures on synth gear every year and have never put together a single track. If you're running a business selling electronic music gear, who would you rather target?

> You'll meet some amazing musicians who have been touring for decades and are still playing on the same guitar they got for $800 15 years ago.

This is a nice story, but I suspect it's rarer than you make it sound. Serious working musicians like serious equipment which tends to cost a lot of money for a good reasons.

But these are also lower volume products, and I agree with your overall point that the music gear industry is kept alive by hobbyists with disposable income.

Re: Teenage Engineering's free computer case

#54

Post by wahnfrieden »

isoprophlex wrote: post #11
wahnfrieden wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They’ve always had those two tiers of pricing/products. That’s a read from a decade ago

Browsing through their store I see only the "overpriced balenciaga-tier bullshit" category though... Edit: i kinda take that back, as two people pointed out that EP-133 sampler actually has an okay feature-to-price ratio. But $250 leather wraps to "transport" your OP-1 in tho, or $250 singing wooden dolls without obvious interfaces except bluetooth midi... i guess I'm not the target market

They also have a free Android instrument, and their modular line is very cheap relatively

Re: Teenage Engineering's free computer case

#55

Post by worthless-trash »

dclowd9901 wrote: post #47
gyomu wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The world of music hardware is an interesting one. You'll meet some amazing musicians who have been touring for decades and are still playing on the same guitar they got for $800 15 years ago. And you'll meet people who drop 5 figures on synth gear every year and have never put together a single track. If you're running a business selling electronic music gear, who would you rather target?

Personally? I'd target the musicians. But I personally find more value in working with creatives than people with money to throw away.

Then you move zero product.

Re: Teenage Engineering's free computer case

#56

Post by peddling-brink »

iancmceachern wrote: post #48
synack wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looking at the build PDF, you'd need a pretty large printer to do a single piece like that. Would need to split it into a few panels and have some sort of joinery or fasteners to make it fit on most consumer printers.

This (breaking it up and adding the "jointery") is handled right in the slicer now, easy peesie.

What do you mean by this? I’ve only used bambu’s slicer and never seen anything to indicate it can automatically add “jointery”?

Re: Teenage Engineering's free computer case

#57

Post by iancmceachern »

peddling-brink wrote: post #56
iancmceachern wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This (breaking it up and adding the "jointery") is handled right in the slicer now, easy peesie.

What do you mean by this? I’ve only used bambu’s slicer and never seen anything to indicate it can automatically add “jointery”?

You're going to love it!

https://youtu.be/zTZOH6XkUPU?si=MoOx8Hqy6xvMKvn6

Re: Teenage Engineering's free computer case

#58

Post by peddling-brink »

iancmceachern wrote: post #57
peddling-brink wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by this? I’ve only used bambu’s slicer and never seen anything to indicate it can automatically add “jointery”?

You're going to love it! https://youtu.be/zTZOH6XkUPU?si=MoOx8Hqy6xvMKvn6

Huzzah! Thanks for that!

Re: Teenage Engineering's free computer case

#59

Post by gyomu »

giraffe_lady wrote: post #52
cole-k wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ... enough professional musicians use it as that I think I have to consider it that as well. While not a bad proxy, I would say it is a sufficient but not necessary condition. Especially since many pros have the money to blow on overpriced gear (but perhaps you do too). My own anecdote: as a kid I wanted to learn electric guitar and, of course being a kid, I shopped with my eyes. My dad bought me a $1.2k guitar. It…

Well the entirety of my music gear is a 1994 p-bass and a mediocre amp I've been running it through since around the same time so I get it. And yeah a musician friend of mine we have a running joke where we'll say something is "a software engineer pedal." Meaning you see them in the home studios of people who make good money doing something else, while working musicians get by with the nearest Boss equivalent. I've n…

> "a software engineer pedal."

hah, in the world of photography, we talk about "cameras for dentists" (they often have a little red dot on them)

Re: Teenage Engineering's free computer case

#60

Post by senectus1 »

zevon wrote: post #35
senectus1 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i mean... this should be a thing. hmmm now you have me thinking.

It is a thing. ;) Here's a meta-search on different 3D model sharing platforms for "ATX case": https://thangs.com/search/atx%20case?scope=all

yeah after that i did some reading and realized it was a bad idea :-D
Post reply on HN