#141

They just put up a short demo on youtube. I like the overall design, but I wish they had taken it a bit further. It’s not something I would probably ever afford though.

The radio controls look a bit awkward.

#142
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#143

ahh that motorized “tape” dial is so cool.

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#144

The deafening thought in my head after watching that: Why isnt this a mixer?

4 line inputs plus bluetooth audio and FM radio

An ambience generator that samples from the inputs or generates separate tones entirely

A motorized tape wheel to cue grab and warp the last 2 hours of your performance

An onboard looper synced to internal clock, sync pulse, bluetooth midi, or usb midi

OM-4. The Magic Mixer. Same price or more expensive than the OB-4, but that’s okay because it would be infinitely more useful, interactive, and complimentary to their most popular products.

15 Likes
Pre-release Hype Megathread
#145

I’ve been reading this thread and trying to put my finger on what, exactly, feels weird to me about this. I think the issue is that I want to think of the OB-4 as a radio but it isn’t really that – it’s an art piece that happens to function as a radio, and the radio part is purely a secondary function. The primary function is to be a display piece. As a radio I don’t care for it but that’s not the point; what matters is whether or not one likes it as art, in which case de gustibus and all that. (The whole “play it loud and annoy people” thing really bugs me, but I guess that’s part of the LET’S ANNOY THE SQUARES LOL marketing angle, and I am decidedly not in the target demographic for that. In any event, anyone who has the $$$ to pony up for this probably isn’t living in close proximity to anybody else.)

#146

You’re right that it’s not a radio but it’s actually a speaker. I’m betting 95% of use cases will be hooking it up to an iPhone to play Spotify playlist. The lack of most cool radio features that many people here noticed already tells me the “radio” part here is just for the retro vibe, especially since it’s forgetting that radio cunsumption has completely changed in the last decades and it’s much more podcasts and replay based now, and again, I don’t see anyone using it inside the car driving to work or at breakfast listening to their morning news shows which would be the rare use cases where typical FM Radio is still widely heard.

So really they say Radio because it makes them look cool and retro and it’s got a “shocking” factor that sets them apart (“A radio! In 2020! They’re crazy ahah!” when “A portable speaker! In 2020! Like… Most other brands?” is a little less dramatic and wouldn’t have generated such a mess maybe), but even if you look around here to all the people who mentionned interest, none of them felt to me like they were actually going to listen to the radio on this thing, it’s really a Speaker, and it’s really going to play playlists or be used by musicians as a line out speaker for their modular maybe for instagram pictures in the parks, hills and rivers of the worlds.

1 Like
#147

It’s a half formed raspi project at best. I’d play around with it for a while but then it would gather dust. The fact the mantra box function is a selling point is hilarious seeing as they are £3 disposable electronics

#148

a 2.2 minirig setup while not the same specs would be ~$700

EDIT:

saw this interesting exchange on the TE social media…

“You guys are aware that some country are stoping FM broadcast, it’s planned for Switzerland and France already. It’s gone in Norway. I’m a big user of OP-Z and Op1, and some of the pockets but to be totally honest this dream machine radio that won’t work in some countries in a few year and that cost 1k is a bit much right now…”

reply

“this is of course a valid concern. however, what if there could be more ways to utilize the fm functionality…”

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#149

There are some really cool uses for low power FM transmitters

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#150

an op-z radio transmitter module, calling it now

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#151

I’ve got one that you plug into the output of whatever you want (like an OP1 for instance) and it plays it on one of two selectable stations

I keep it with my audio adapters for now but perhaps it could have another use…

@Justmat ding ding ding!

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#152

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I wonder if the mention of a 4 pole audio cable could be another means of opz interaction…

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#153

What seems to be missing from this discussion is the understanding of how low is the quality of the average radios or in fact any other non-digital consumer electronic products out there. Go to any major consumer electronic store and check the radio section. With some minor exception, it’s filled with plastic garbage with bad reception, horrendous dials/switches and (more importantly) with arguably the shittiest sound that ever has been coming out of home entertainment devices in past 70-80 years. And it gets even worse if you are looking a radio that is able to record your favoured broadcasts.

This is the context for OB-4 and it looks like this is what TE is in dialogue with in the process of creating this product. Did they get it right as a living room radio? It’s hard to tell without actually using it. But it’s a spot on job for industrial design, functionality, user interface and also for provoking the market of personal entertainment electronics. Unfortunately, it may be hard to tell that from you tiny smartphone screen…

4 Likes
#154

Without DAB it’s not much use as a radio in Europe.
I have a Roberts DAB radio and Bluetooth speaker that has perfectly decent sound and cost 1/2 the OB-4. That’s the market that the OB-4 is up against.

1 Like
#155

It’s not missing from the discussion, I’ve said it already and I’ll say it again, those radios you’re talking about are no longer the primary device through which people listen to “the radio”, my own personnal radio is either my smartphone + a bluetooth speaker (if I’m away from the computer) or my computer if I’m on the computer. And that’s the case for many people now, because incidentally it’s easier to listen to the radio that way. The reason the products you comment on are so cheap, is exactly because they don’t represent much of a market / use case anymore, except for people who are used to their listening habits and stick with this way of doing it because that’s what they’ve done all their life (these people are, I think, NOT the target for the OB4, my mother definitely wouldn’t care much for it at least) and those people rarely care about audio fidelity because those of them who did mostly switched to the newer systems to listen to the radio that I mentionned above.

So if TE is in dialogue with the Radio use cases of 1995 it’s fine by me it’s a funny experiment and why not after all, but let’s not pretend there’s more of a need for their “radio” than there actually is, especially given the fact FM will no longer be supported in many countries which just really says everything of how little of a use case that is (and why no brand sells high end radios in supermarkets anymore) and how poorly thought out from a purely “radio” standpoint this product is. And TE hinting at the fact that the FM could actually be used for something else than Radio kind of shows the Antenna itself might be the feature, more than “listening to the radio”.

Then again, as a bluetooth/line in speaker that can playback any signal (including the radio why not but I’m pretty sure even then this will be a marginal use case for the OB4) from another device, it will be interesting to see how it sounds, how well built it is etc.

I find it really confusing that we’re having so much discussions about the “Radio” aspect (and here I mean it in the broad common sense of the term “listening to the radio” not “radio antena” which can have its peculiar use cases) when it’s clearly a side feature of the product which is first and foremost a speaker. But we can blame them for that since they’ve advertised a “Magic Radio” I guess…

5 Likes
#156

Btw if we completely forget about marketing campaign and radio part. What are the real competitors of this speaker if we assume it sounds not bad at least? Like two speakers, line-in, bluetooth, battery, nice looking?

Edit: not hitting every point but kinda nice!:slight_smile:

#157

Unfortunately, perhaps not so nice.

#158

Well “Veblen was right” wouldn’t have the same ring to it I guess?

2 Likes
#159

At least if all hell breaks out people with a OB-4 would be able to hear the resistance on their FM radio while everyone with smart phones and bluetooth speakers will be completely in the dark!

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#160

They’d also be able to rewind, relisten to and remix important broadcasts in this post apocalyptic future.

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