Teenage Engineering PO-33 K.O. 5-stars Reviews

An insane amount of fun and use

A pocket sampler to sample any interesting sounds you encounter where ever you go? With a sequencer so you can play around while you are bored, wherever you are?

I'm having so much fun with this, and when travelling it even entertains my 8 year old daughter, who finds it similarly hilarious. Everyone needs one.

great sampler

Great sampler , just feels a bit flimsy , really needs a case.

Really nice tool. Especially for sketching ideas and trying new sounds.

Yes it has limitations, but they won't get in the way if you put your mind to it.

great pocket sampler

I believe this is the most versatile PO among the 9 that have been up to buy right now. It's louder than the previous series, really simple and fun to play with. In a couple of minutes and with some youtube help you will be making beats. Really easy to record sounds into it as well, being with the onboard mic or with line in.

As all other PO's it is kind of fragile, a case is extremely recommended if you plan on using it's portability. I wouldn't trust mine inside of a loose backpack without proper protection. The case also helps to don't accumulate dust on the contacts.

Also it is 4 track polyphony so it is a bit limited on how many sounds you can play at the same moment, but honestly to me this limitation is good cause it makes things simple and force you to get creative.

Overall it's a great little gadget for some fun and also serious music making.

Packs a punch for it's size...that's why it's called KO

Packs a punch for it's size...that's why it's called KO. So happy with this little cracker...it has added a lot to my setup and I can carry it around town and sample stuff from the streets

Excellent!

Amazing sampler that fits in your pocket! You can record anywhere with the built in microphone and use your samples to create quick ideas on the move.

The most versatile of PO's

When in doubt about the pocket operators I would recommend this one for its versatility or the arcade for its enjoyment factor.

The versatility comes in being able to sample any sound on the fly and make music with it instantly. A friend plays the trumpet? Sample it in couple of seconds. Waiting for the metro? Sample while you wait. Join your sampled stuff together and make a track.

Its pretty intuitive and the performance effects are something you wont easily find elsewhere. One of the biggest plusses on me not selling mine and keeping it.

The sound quality is good but its not great compared to say the digitakt, but the latter is not portable nor is it priced so interesting :)

This tiny thing is a BEAST!!

I've never use a pocket operator in the past and im not familiar with drum machines or a step sequencer, So... when i get in my hands po 33 i was so confused of how easy in use it was. In the official site of teenage engineering you can find everything about how it works and its functions. I use it for beats in my jams and i connected with my volca sample and minilogue and thats where it was a little confused but as i write above the site can explain everything.

the way you can sample a sound is very easy and you can trim, pitch, and set the start-end of the sound you add. I found that its better to add sound from another device via aux cable or a connected mic for external sounds and not of the po 33 mic.

Pros:

quantize, very easy use, so many functions, the size and the quality is unbelievable of how it looks in first place. Best part is the effects ... so much fun.

Cons:

The limitation of 4 sound polyphony and that you cant write different sound from the same drum rack.

The way it sync with other devices can be confusing

Overal:

very fun to play and so many uses to make you more creative for every use.

Exactly what I was expecting - great fun.

This is my first Pocket Operator and I chose it because of it's sampling functionality. The amount of fun I'm having with this and the ease with which one can create beats by sampling all sorts of things is the reason for my 5 star review. Great intro into the the Pocket Operator range.

Since I found out about the pocket operators series, the one that I always wanted was a sampler, teenage made it so I bought it.

First of all, if you're looking for a sp 404 or a mpc for a fraction of the price, just forget about it, you're going to blow 100 bucks(its monophonic, 40 seconds of sampling time etc...).

This is a great machine, you can record through the built in microphone and then you can cut, pitch and throw a low/high pass filter to the sample. After that you can sequence all the sounds and you can chain sequences together in order to create a song or simply make a 16,32 etc step sequence.

Good: The effects are incredibly fun to use. After creating a sequence you can create a performance by using them.

Bad: the samples are divided in racks and you can't play a 2 samples from the same rack at the same time. For example, if you have in a drum rack a quick drum and a high hat, you can't play both at the same time, the last one added to the sequence will delete the previous sound in that step.

And the sequencer is 4 notes polyphonic, so when 4 samples are playing at the same time, if you add a 5th sample to the sequence in that step, one of the samples will stop playing. That can be a good or a bad thing, sometimes can mess up completely the sequence but other time can help to to create a dynamic sequence through out the time, by adding some samples, others fade away.

Other thing that might be upsetting: You can add samples to the sequence by 16 step mode or live mode. Even though its possible to record live to the sequence, what you play is quantized, so if you try to do something weird keep in mind that the sequencer can mess it up because will quantize what you play, regardless if you want it or not.

Conclusion: Is incredibly fun machine, if you use the limitation in your advantage, you can create really cool things with it.