teenage engineering pocket operator PO-12 rhythm, drum machine and sequencer with parameter locks and punch-in effects

There are pros and cons to the Pocket Operators, but I think it's certainly more pro than con. So long as you know what you're getting, these things are FUN. With some help from an adult with YouTube tutorials, even children could be making some sweet beats in minutes. The Pocket Operators make great sounds and encourage you to make awesome freestyle jams. They may be the best thing on the market for playing with music. Pros: -Quick to use. Just install batteries and hit PLAY, funky beats come out of the built-in speaker. Hold down Pattern and hit 1-16 to try the 16 different loops. Hold FX and hit 1-16 to try different effects. -Love the design. Teenage Engineering is primarily a Japanese design company, and it shows. The Operators come in a paper box with a pull-tab down one side. The hanging loop on top gives it the look of some treasure you'd find tucked on a shelf in a hardware store. It looks like some 1980s pocket calculator. Funky oldschool design all the way. The little LCD display looks like an old electronic game, very neat. -Sound is incredible. Even if built-in speaker is clear and loud for what it is. The unit does distort at high volume, but if you want to output the sound leave the unit around 70% and use external gain. -Great range. You can change the BPM, volume, and parameters of all the included sounds. Add the FX, and there are tons of options. One filter can make everything sound 8-bit, another kicks up the bass to room-shaking levels. It's all there. -Syncs to a range of devices. The unit only inputs or outputs a click track, but this easily patches into the Korg Volca series and other units that have a customizable way to take an analog click track. You can also chain multiple POs, they'll all pass through the sound and click track to give you one output at the end. Love it for jam sessions. -The 16-step sequencer, with 16 sounds, and 16 effects, plus more. That's a lot to get in such an inexpensive synth. The closest competitor is probably Korg's Volga series, and one Volca may cost you as much as 2-3 POs while offering fairly similar experiences in terms of being able to put together immediately accessible jams. It's probably no coincidence that the PO can easily sync to the Korg Volca line. -Did I mention it has clock and alarm functions? In case you want this thing to wake you up with fresh beats, I guess. Cons: -The instructions in the packaging are useless. Look up a YouTube video immediately. -The screen doesn't actually give a lot of information. The main animation is mostly useless and barely relates to the sound in motion. Only a few of the icons really relate to your sound in progress. For instance, you can only tell if you're in RECORD mode because of one tiny little icon- that's easy to miss in play, which is a shame because the only real damage you can do to your loops is in RECORD mode so this should have a more obvious icon. -So many limitations that can frustrate people who know about music production, even if newcomers will never know they're missing a thing. Because there's no MIDI in/out, you can only get notes or melodies to play by twisting the parameter knobs. The sync track also won't share swing with other units, so you'll have to keep that in mind if you jam with multiple units chained. There are plenty more quirks to find in YouTube tutorials. Almost all these quirks are just things that someone with this as their only device will learn to play with, but if you're a real music producer you should check in-depth reviews before purchase. -For the price, they could probably put this in a plastic case. That's about my only complaint. The unit is so tiny, and it's a bare board, and it has such limitations- surely they could afford to either sell it a bit cheaper or put it in a case. The company does sell cases for about $30, but that jacks up the price of a Pocket Operator so high you might as well go for a Korg Volca. In the bare board form though, this is an okay deal. Plenty of people sell cheap 3d-printed cases online. Overall: In terms of only buying one unit to jam on, the Pocket Operators are about the most fun you can possibly have anywhere near this price point. High recommended as a gift for any music fan that loves to jam. Anyone who bothers looking up some tutorials will be making awesome songs in minutes. It's so neat to play with this thing. And it looks so cool, people will steal it out of your hands just to play with it. Which unit would I recommend out of all the POs? This Rhythm unit is really more of a drum machine, which some people need. It can make neat songs if you know a little about how to tweak the knobs, or it would be a fun backing for vocals or an instrument. If you need one unit for someone who already plays an instrument, or sings or raps, this is the one. The most complete unit to date is probably the 2x-series Arcade, which jams out 8-bit chiptunes (or, the kind of music you'd hear on old arcade machines). I'd recommend the Arcade for instance if someone wants to compose songs while riding the bus, assuming they like early videogame music. The next contender for a total unit apart from these two is the 3x-series KO, which lets you use samples- including things you record with the built-in microphone. Where to go from here? As said, this unit syncs both to other POs and to the Korg Volca series without much work, so it depends on how much money you have. Obvious connections in the PO line are the Sub, Tonic, KO, and Factory. The Korg Volca series makes an equivalent to pretty much all of those units- such as the Bass, Keys, and Sample. The click track syncs pretty well to almost any other synth that can output a click, so it should work in most environments. Not as recommended for people used to working with a PC(or DAW), as the lack of MIDI may hurt your work flow.

Wow this thing is so awesome. I’ve always wanted a little synth to play around with. I really didn’t know what to expect from this little device but it really gives a lot out. 16 different sounds, all which are able to be customized and shaped to make tons of unique sounds. Plus 16 different effects. Same amount of patterns which you can copy or chain together to make some pretty big bars. You can adjust the volume and bpm. It’s solid though should handle with care since it’s an exposed board. And you can make things bigger and better by linking other pocket operators or other devices together. Honestly a ton of fun making this a great value. I’d certainly recommend one if you like making beats and such

Great, portable and powerful drum machine in a small size. The cheapest of the series. Great starting point. Fun to learn with and as complex as you would like it to be.

Very cool. I use this to practice with when I play guitar. TE pocket operators are great for practice and they open up new ideas. I often carry one around with headphones and play wiht it when I have free time.

Fantastic little device hereAnd dxtremely useful when combined with crazy fx pedals. Has a jarring amount of volume on tap and when plugged in it’s a crazy boost to an amp I swear. The in out jacks durability is questionable and I feel they could’ve added more solder where the connections are but hopefully this isn’t a problem for me anytime soon

This is a very cool peice of equipment ...ive seen ppl do crazy things and im getting there very pleased with this piece of gear bought a case and a trs to xlr cable into a mixer amp

WOW! I have purchased many different types of electronic instruments in my life and i have to say this is about the funnest thing i have bought for less than the price of a cab ride in the city :D It's sound quality is actually really great, considering you would expect something of this price to have sub-par sounds :P The user manual is cryptic at best, but there's just enough in there to get you going and you can easily find great resources online from people who have had more time exploring this thing to really help you dive MUCH deeper than you can ever imagine. The unit looks flimsy, but it really is pretty well built even without it having any sort of protective case or shell on it. You can buy a rubberized protective case somewhat like an iphone or other cell phone case but honestly, if your cautious of where you store this thing, it should be just fine without it ie.... don't stick it in your back pocket and plop yur arse on a bench :P The effects on this thing are not only great, but the way they are implemented into the whole performance like fell allows for some pretty insane and really just random/hard to reproduce music moments that will really keep you hooked on playing with this thing for a long time. I'm the proud owner of a full fledged professional music production studio and this little puppy really can add more than just a "gimmick" bit of flavor to any serious producers pallet of sound design tools ;) Might have to get the other two now just to complete the set! :D

Great for beats with my guitar. Sounds good though sounds better plugged into amp.

super krachtige toestel. ik kan huren lang oefenen en nieuwe ritmes maken

Fun, addictive, and sounds great. Like all teenage engineering products, it's a little bit pricey for what it is, but it is well made and I expect it to last a long time with regular use. Most importantly though, it sounds awesome and the learning curve is pretty quick and it's quite easy to make and edit fun and usable percussion loops. There are lots of tutorials around on YouTube and the like so watch a couple and go for it!

Fun to fiddle about with. good sounds

Strumento divertentissimo. Prima o poi comprerò anche gli altri della stessa casa, possono essere usati tutti collegati in parallelo.

Ótimo pra criação, estudos e pocket performances. É mesmo lofi, mas os recursos de efeitos dão o charme e se usado com consistência não compromete, torna-se um estilo