On one hand, I could definitely do without random katakana on things. On another, this is nothing an “‘AMBIENT’” sticker won’t fix. On a third, at least in this case it’s a product someone apparently cared about, rather than just Superdry crap. On a fourth, it’s extremely Japanese to plaster meaningless quasi-English over things to make them look cool (see this store directory from Shibuya, circa 2015) so maybe turning that around is OK once in a while.
14 Likes
edison
9080
saw on instagram kount koal designed a bunch of the drums too… gonna be good…
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Any idea when they are shipping?
robbie
9082
While not more widely inaccurate, it’s worth noting that half the brands in this image are not Japanese.
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BKCP
9083
NerdSeq i2c/multi-io expander is now available in the XOR shop
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Also Milkfed and X-girl are still alive and kicking. In fact, 90s fashion is enjoying a huge resurgence in Japan at the mo. I’ve even seen a few schoolgirls wearing “loose socks” in the last couple of months.
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Any idea when they are shipping?
I ordered an EP-133 this morning PST Nov 22, and I got a shipping notice this evening. It’s shipping out of Marlton, New Jersey via Fed Ex. Apparently, they are manufacturing them on a new assembly line in Barcelona.
1 Like
Fun thing a friend sent me, there’s reference to the idea that swing, step adjustment, and more can be done on a per pad basis. The idea that every pad could have a different amount of nudging, swing, or more, is extremely exciting.
I would’ve figured that swing would be applied via group, meaning 4 different types of adjustments. The idea that I can have drums on group A and have hats, snare and kick on different swing settings is huge!
(And I’m sorry for the YouTube face in the thumbnail…)
6 Likes
karst
9087
looking at the manual, it looks section of the track can be looped, but maybe not samples individually.
The EP-133 was an instant purchase from me. Before the YouTube videos even. I think I read a paragraph on Synth Anatomy, scanned the screenshot of the build and immediately bought it. Not sure I’ve ever done that. I’ve been in the camp slagging TE as of late, but credit where credit is due they hit a massive home run with this one. I’m so very impressed with what they’ve pulled off at this price and I think they’ve raised a bar here such that Elektron, Roland, Korg, Polyend, and even Torso might be feeling a bit anxious right now. Well played, TE, well played.
14 Likes
My assumption is that the Japanese text is inspired by the feeling one might get from finding Yamaha and Casio products at a store or a garage sale
Anyone else got the email from Buchla & Tiptop?
Today we celebrate the official release of an important project we started 2 years ago: the remaking of Don Buchla ’s mega module, the awesome Model 296 Programable Spectral Processor . It is now available for pre-orders at our dealers at $699. Shipping to the dealers from us will start November 30 .
I have no idea what this thing does to be honest but/therefore I’m intrigued
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FWIW even this isn’t terribly important / serious but still very fun discussion - I interpret it more like “this is supposed to be cool in a retro sort of way, man” than “this is supposed to be exotic”, and in my mind it kind of fits TE’s really deliberate style choices. A bit like they borrowed a lot of style and imagery from Nintendo Game & Watch in the PO series as mentioned, starting from some of the characters in the devices.
(At least in my youth there were a lot of weird cool gadgets with Japanese text in it found in thrift stores in the '90s before all the electronics started being manufactured in China, and of course Nintendo was the main console around that you could even rent from the corner kiosk, and that sort of stuck in a teenager’s head. I appreciate that might be different for someone living in a, erm, less “exotic” country than I do where Japanese brands tend to borrow names from our language - but TE people are living just across the Gulf of Bothnia and I suppose are vaguely same age, so maybe they have sort of similar experience.)
I’ve always gotten that “teenage design choice” vibe from TE in general, both their own things, Playdate, and what they did for Ikea etc., so maybe that’s intentional? Most of their devices feel sort of deliberately “naive” or “playful” (sometimes even “clumsy” in a fun way) homages to companies and designers that have obviously influenced them greatly… A bit like an aspiring teenage “hipster” who hadn’t seen a Dieter Rams designed objects or '90s Nintendo consoles before saw them for the first time and was like “fuck these are so so so so cool, I want to make something similar” - and then actually had the skills to make something similar.
And that’s not a bad thing at all - they feel sort of, stylish like gadgets designed by a teenager who loves gadgets and then has grown up to an actual skilled industrial designer, and not stylish in a “seriously cool” way of which there’s a bit too much in the world IME. The random Japanese words just feel like they kind of fit to that “cheesy / clumsy but still fun and stylish” part of it.
(Edit: walk of shame - after looking at some workflow videos and the guide, I put in my order - this was the second “instabuy” this year. I’m not getting as old and well-advised as I imagined, although the first one is now my “core” instrument so at least I probably have more idea of what I really have use for these days…)
13 Likes
kim
9092
Just to say that the japanese writing has always been there one way or the other. There used to be a line of it just below the «Teenage Engineering» headline on their website. It’s also on early Elektron prototype sketches (on a sheet that was included with the MD back in the day) when TE’s Jesper Kouthoofd worked there Elektron prototype images? - #22 by fingerwolf - Other Elektron Gear - Elektronauts
Reads to me like pop nostalgia, in the 90’s if something came from Japan it was «cool» in a particular way (see for instance graphic design by The Designers Republic for Warp et al from the same period). In the 70’s and 80’s Japan was also where the smallest and most innovative electronics products came from.
There’s even now japanese at the bottom of TE’s website. I guess they would say it’s simply to be inclusive, it’s information and marketing, but it definitely has a long history with them in terms of esthetics. However exotifying or not that may be.
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Nwilton
9093
It’s just the vintage Japanese game aesthetic they’ve always used for pocket operators, isn’t it? Seems pretty straightforward.
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Aomatos
9094
This is very important news. The 296t is a monster of a module. At this moment there is the Bark Filter from Verbos and the Fumana from Frap Tools but this is the original design and the price is very attractive in comparison. Very excited!
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2197
9095
do you mean raise the bar regarding the price? or as a sampler in general?
it’s definitely a great design, and i think the usage of cheap and readily available parts is smart, but it certainly shows when it comes to functionality (and we’ll see about build quality). i mean, you can’t even loop samples afaik, let alone re-sample (i’d be glad to be proven wrong here though). those are quite essential things for many people working with samplers, which reminds me that this is indeed very much a pocket operator still – even though it’s a really cool one.
the main thing seems to be it has a very capable, fun and intuitive sequencer. it also has some flairs and a few fun and highly playable, but not great sounding effects, with only two editable parametres (i mean, listen to the reverb in the demos?). it is specced quite far below products from the companies you mentioned, both in sample memory, functionality and sound quality of effects. it’s just in a different ball park and aimed at different users i think.
4 Likes
fyoosh
9096
It can definitely slice and chop. The guide is here: EPâ133 guide
5 Likes
2197
9097
yes, i noticed that and removed it from my post just before your reply : )
1 Like
I agree what you say otherwise, but I’d wager (in an irritatingly nitpicking way) that the group of interested people has a large overlap. Eg. this does also appeal to people who could also be in the market for a MPC One, SP404mk2, Digitakt and so on, or already own those things, just as something that’s more straightforward and with a different workflow.
(Or Push 3 Standalone and M8 like I do - I don’t mind having something that looks a bit more immediate and “stupid” as an alternative to diving deeper. Based on demos it looks like someone wanted to make something resembling a SP-1200 but as cheap and cheerful as possible.)
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