Teenage Engineering EP-133 - Fader Gate, Workflow, Sampling!

[@TheUnperson]

Buying some gear? Please use an affiliate link: (US):www.bit.ly/PCtheunperson (EU): www.thomann.de/gb/index.html?partner_id=52787 Also... i have a Patreon! Check it out - www.patreon.com/theunperson

[@squarelanguage]

With all the demos of this, I feel there is a hip hop renaissance coming

[@TheUnperson]

Hope so! 90's hiphop is by far my fav!

[@ZylonSe]

Trip Hop

[@Don_Kikkon]

Thanks for consistently high quality content. Inspiring, honest, affable, ingenious, critically fat, harmonically rich, engaging edutainment. Not the easiest balance to get right so consistently. Hats off mate. Happy New Year! 🤘

[@TheUnperson]

Thank you for the kind words ~ I really appreciate it! ☺️ Happy new year to you and here’s to a productive 2024!

[@fredicagoillanoise1309]

I began making beats with limited machines such as the ASR 10 (22 sec of sample time) and made bangers so I'm not going to have a problem creating with this box. I just got mine yesterday and no prob with my fader or the speaker. I plan on pairing it with my SP 404 MK2.

[@TheUnperson]

Glad your fader is working fine. reckon it will pair very nicely with the 404!

[@manstuarta9066]

Bravo! Your musical taste is unmatched. Keep it up!

[@TheUnperson]

Thank you sir! ☺️

[@planetplex]

I was looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this. Didn’t realize that it came with some difficulties. All in all it does look like potential fun. Good luck with it and nice work on the demo!

[@TheUnperson]

Thanks man. It’s defo a lot of fun 😎🤖

[@Noisybatt]

It's a great unit for the price. More satisfying than the Novation Circuit when I first got it.

[@Gmartin4049]

happy new year. looking forward to more of your vids x

[@BIG1TOWER]

It’s fun making music on this thing. Im tired of producing on a computer.

[@TheUnperson]

I find a combination of hardware and computer to be my most productive way to work 😎

[@electrosonicnebula]

I was trying so hard to get what Jam 1 reminded me of, of course it's the same vibe as Tim Maia's O Caminho Do Bem, one of my favorite tunes ever. I feel you about the 64 Mb, no resampling, etc. which is just crazy. But what a beautifully conceived and inexpensive machine. I seriously hope it inspires other companies. I'd love a luxury version of this beast. Include a keystep-like keyboard and bassy speakers and I'll give a kidney

[@locavoremusic3680]

Spectacular jams on this one!!

[@TheUnperson]

Why thank you!

[@brianhuxtable4026]

My KO2 arriving monday hopefully. Cheers for the post. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿✊

[@TheUnperson]

Ahhh the long wait for gear to arrive ~ hope you enjoy your Monday! :D

[@KnockSquared]

Great video. Can you use shift while trimming to get a more fine trim

[@TheUnperson]

Ohh I didn’t know that ~ thanks!!

[@markfelixm]

Great video, smooth beats 👌🏻

[@TheUnperson]

Thanks!!

[@vinylarchaeologist]

What you did there with the punch-in effects reminded me of drummer Deantoni Parks‘ performance on the Ableton Loops keynote. If you havent seen it - it‘s mesmerising!

[@RSKT_music]

I thought the same thing. LOVE Deantoni, especially his work with The Mars Volta.

[@TheUnperson]

I’ll defo check that out! I’m a massive Mars Volta fan and really liked his drumming on the Octahedron album (I think!)

[@TheUnperson]

My fav band ❤️

[@RSKT_music]

​@@TheUnperson Close! He drummed on the Noctourniquet album. Not my fav album of theirs, but it's his drumming that keeps me coming back to it. ❤

[@TheUnperson]

Ahh yea - I knew that! There's some great tracks on Noctourniquet.

[@expander3710]

Mine is on the way - I hope TE can implement resampling as that will alleviate a host of limitations; also perhaps a way of chaining patterns together or at least quantising pattern launch?

[@TheUnperson]

I would love resembling!!

[@istvantoth7431]

This thing is not my cup of tea, but still tempted to buy the OP1 Field one day.

[@TheUnperson]

me too! But I need to buy a car first and they're about the same price :D

[@NovakTheEnjoyer]

Your videos are always really inspiring. I could be having an off day with jamming or writing and your videos make me want to run to my gear. I particularly loved watching you sample. I find it difficult to do and a lot of the time, when I think of trying it, I don’t even want to start., I’m not even really sure why. I think it’s because my track record of beats that sound pleasing to my ear is not a very good one, but watching you makes me forget how bad I am at it. Don’t know if that makes sense, but I would love to see more sampling videos. Maybe a little insight into your methods; what you look for, things you think about, things you like or gravitate toward? Thanks for the inspiration!

[@TheUnperson]

Thank you for the kind words as always! I’d actually say that sampling is one of my weakest skills, and I feel similar to you in that I typically don’t want to start. I think for me it’s because it’s not immediate. To get the best results you gotta spend time listening to music, which is not what I wanna do when I’m in the mood for making music. Plus there’s the concern that it’s already been sampled a hundred times so you gotta find more obscure samples. Then you gotta chop it up in a way that brings something new to the table. Then you gotta try make a full track out of it instead of a 4-bar looping beat lol. I’ll definitely be making more sample based content in future tho as I dig the KO2 and I wanna get better at it!

[@NovakTheEnjoyer]

@@TheUnperson you nailed it for me. It’s a hill I usually don’t want to climb

[@howardyermish]

Interesting to see how you’re approaching creating tracks with this new device. If only they included a microSD card slot.

[@chadw6593]

My hope is that you can store stuff via USB with future firmware.

[@TheUnperson]

Agreed! But maybe the limitations will inspire creativity ☺️

[@iShredStreets]

9:50 Ayo, Shook Ones Pt. II! 👀

[@TheNimasan]

i had faulty device. i got a new one. so far so good. it works. i really hope not another issue pops up somewhere. i love it and want to keep it!

[@TheUnperson]

So far so good on my end ~ no problems yet. It really is so much fun!

[@h2o1969]

The thing scares me. I just don't think it will last. I am thinking of getting a 1010 bitbox. It seems to have some legs, and I can get a midi controller if I decide I need real pads. Now that the MK2 is out, I am hoping to get one on the cheap.

[@TheUnperson]

I know what you mean… I love it but I’m a bit scared to throw it in my backpack and take it anywhere.

[@byronamerson]

Nightmares on Wax

[@LoVeAmBiEnT]

I wanna make strictly ambient stuff w it. We will see what happens

[@Kevlun4]

An amazing video!! Can you explain me all the setup, cables, conections you need to do with your phone to samplig like you with spotify? I LOVE THAT, please help me!! I'll receive my KO II on wednesday and im so excited to do stuff like this!

[@TheUnperson]

Thanks! You just need a stereo minijack cable to go from your phone to the input on the KO2. If you have an iPhone then you will need an adapter too, as there’s no jack output.

[@Kevlun4]

@@TheUnperson thank you!!

[@nocturnalron69]

Looks and sounds cool. Can you also do you taxes on it?

[@TheUnperson]

I bloody hope so.. my tax return is due soon and I’m counting on it!

[@clockspeed-nu4kj]

can you seperate tracks in daw to mix the track

[@McEnroe911]

Who comes out on top, this or the sp404? Happy new year brother!

[@TheUnperson]

For me… KO2 wins. I have an older 404 and for some reason didn’t really gel with the workflow.

[@McEnroe911]

@@TheUnperson good to know. Appreciate the insight!

[@ZylonSe]

That cupper makes me nervous

[@Studio_4to1]

Thanks for that kind of content. TE needs to get their heads out of their pricey bag. With that botched EP-133 release, it is now officially a dodgy brand with pricey yet cheaply built gear. It’s amazing how TE still has not publicly addressed their own mess. No SD card. 64MB memory. And don’t start with the horrendous « limitations are creativity » stuff - same can easily be said with « options are creativity ». The buggy software they blatantly ripped off old school samplers, the Lego build quality for that price point, the cheap materials, etc… 350€ for a half baked rip off is crazy in 2023/2024. And with that dodgy quality? Don’t know about anyone else, but as a customer, I don’t like to throw my money at brands with such cheap ethos. And I own 5000+€ TE stuff (which, at TE, doesn’t mean a lot of gear, really). They need to stop throwing money in marketing and actually make an effort on quality. And made accountable for their failures (the bent OP-Z, etc).

[@TheUnperson]

I’m a bit torn with this one. The price is very reasonable, and the design and workflow is reaaaally fun. Just a shame the build quality isn’t quite there.

[@Studio_4to1]

@@TheUnperson That’s TE for you. On one hand, they have killer features and great design ideas. On the other (quite busy hand), we’ve got hefty price tags with cheap quality and an arrogant attitude towards their shortcomings. They made their own bed. They either need to rethink their whole process or just get bought by a bigger company. It’s not their first rodeo. And it’s not a 6 month old company : - OG 1’s keyboard failures - OP-Z bend issue and double triggering - OB-4 broken power button, line in lag on first firmwares, lack of loop export option, bad weight distribution and no stereo pairing - OP-1 Field screen issues (had to go through 3 units personally), lack of QoL updates and half baked software on many occasions (noisy audio input, clicks and pops, etc) - POs faulty encoders and dangerously hot batteries - PO Modular build issues - TX-6 lack of basic options and bad connections - TP-7 wheel coming off, cheap internal mic and parasite clicks on recordings from the device itself - a Field family with next to no integration within itself for a price tag that’s just out of reach for most - Choir dolls with bluetooth issues and laggy performances - CM-15 with some weak capsules and power issues - Cheap accessories that won’t fit the gear its made for, that breaks/rips easily - The EP-133 fader, speaker and pushed pads issues, the software wipe outs, the lack of resampling for so little space, the half baked utility with no back up, etc. I could go on. TE is riddled with quality issues. They don’t address it. They keep pulling the « we’re a small boutique company » every time they screw the pouch and never learn lessons from their past mistakes. I’m with you a 100%. It’s a shame. Their devices are supposed to be fun, intuitive, creative and easy to use anywhere. But portability is a marketing lie, here. Same as build quality and pristine software. Whatever the issue is, they just need to get their quality straight, their CS on point and they need to change both the narrative and their attitude. At some point, customers are getting the narrative back and it makes TE the end of a really poorly executed joke. We’ll see. Music Tech issued an interview with TE’s boss. Arrogant interview as always. But we’ll see where they take the narrative in the next months. In the meantime, too bad the EP-133 was botched down and half baked. It sure is a great beast. Had two units with two broken faders. But it sure looked fun on paper.

[@devondetroit2529]

Can you resample?

[@TheUnperson]

No resampling, tho it is rumoured to be implemented in an imminent firmware update.

[@Gmartin4049]

blows chompi out of the water. still waiting for mine. sad face. man they went fast.

[@TheUnperson]

I haven’t checked chompi out yet but it sure looks interesting!

[@electrosonicnebula]

Chompi is missing a few standard features, a bit like KO II is missing resampling. It's weird because Korg had the Microsampler like 15 years ago which did everything Chompi did and then some. There's another interesting new keyboard sampler called Wofi that has some interesting additions. Any implementation of the KO II that would include a keyboard, like a budget OP-1 would be highly welcome

[@beatsbyjiro8291]

First vdeo that actually made me consider buying one of these, does it have auto chop and assign chops to pads a la MPC?

[@shark6350]

Yes if you hit shift + sample

[@TheUnperson]

I didn’t know that ~ thanks!!

[@TheUnperson]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@zenithpinch]

64MB of storage and no SD card slot? what a slap in the face

[@GreatistheWorld]

Pretty sure it’s an intentional constraint

[@TheUnperson]

@michelnielsen2855 sorry for mumbling!

[@TheUnperson]

Like back in the good old days!

[@BingoBabyO]

Less is more.

[@Studio_4to1]

True and wise words.