Better still, I used this during playback as a way of dynamically muting sounds and creating breakdowns: if you hold down a button from a group it silences all other triggers until you release. For a start each column is effectively a choke group.
In fact you can use this architecture creatively. When creating a bank it makes sense to avoid placing sounds with a long decay in the same group as things like hi-hats that will cut them off. These are not distributed dynamically, each of the four columns of the 4x4 grid is allocated a single voice. The 16 sounds in a Tonic bank share four playback voices. You can also record patterns in real time (quantised to the grid) if you hold the Write button, although this is a bit fiddly. Steps can be added or removed by tapping the buttons. In Write mode, the grid represents the 16 steps of the current pattern, with one sound shown at a time. In play, you can freely trigger sounds from the 4x4 grid. One of these toggles whether you’re in Write or Play mode. The remaining few buttons around the edge are used for changing global settings and modes. Sixteen of the buttons make up a 4x4 grid that’s used for playing sounds, setting sequence gates and entering values. The screen doesn’t help much: while there are a few small readouts on it that confirm what you’re doing, it’s largely devoted to a cartoon animation that plays along as sounds are triggered, reminiscent of ’80s handheld games. The PO-32 is not the most intuitive device to get started with - you definitely need the few hints that are printed on the box and on the back of the unit even simple tasks like changing the volume aren’t straightforward. If in doubt, though, there’s an optional case which provides both an outer shell and nicer button caps. My review unit survived some pretty harsh treatment, being chucked in a bag in various planes, trains and automobiles, and put through its paces by two under-10s. Cleverly, all the delicate components are safely stowed away behind the screen. The back is mostly smooth bare board, with just the soldered pegs from the knobs poking through. At the top there’s a tiny mic for data input, and two mini-jack audio ports providing audio output, data transfer and sync connectivity.Īt first it just feels wrong to be holding what feels like a half-assembled piece of electronics, but there’s actually very little that’s exposed. On the rear are clips for attaching two AAA batteries, and a simple metal bar that angles the unit up when on a tabletop, or folds away if held in your hand. It’s a slice of circuit board with a surface-mounted screen and a 5x5 grid of controls, two of which are small pots while the rest are buttons. If it was a cartoon character it would blush and try to cover its midriff. The Pocket Operator looks like a calculator that’s lost its outer case. A perforated ‘zip’ in the card is used to unpeel the device in a process my wife described as “an event” she was dismayed I’d not videoed it and put it on Instagram. The beautiful gold card package protects the main part of the unit, while the integral hook (not something you find on the spec list of much gear) sticks out ready for hanging on a peg. you should never expect the ordinary from Teenage Engineering.Įveryone loves a good unboxing, but nothing comes close to opening up a Pocket Operator. These can then be transferred to the PO-32 via an audio data burst. It’s this plug-in (bought separately) that provides the programming interface for creating your own PO-32 sounds. The ‘Tonic’ moniker is borrowed from Microtonic, the Sonic Charge plug-in whose drum synth engine has been committed to silicon on this device. This one is a programmable synth-based drum machine with a pattern sequencer, performance effects, and parameter lock automation. The PO-32 is the latest and most ambitious Pocket Operator in Teenage Engineering’s quirky range of handheld instruments. Teenage Engineering take the Pocket Operator game to the next level.
#Sonic charge microtonic po 32 bundle software#
The software or plug-in can be used to create and load sounds into the device. PO-32 is a hardware version of Sonic Charge’s Microtonic drum synth.
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