Teenage EngineeringPO-28 Pocket Operator Robot Lead Synthesizer/Sequencer

Pocket Operators are mini-synths and when daisy chained together I’m able to create 4, 8 and 16 Bar snippets to include in songs. Over time I’ve been collecting them and PO Office is my latest acquisition; they are expensive, but they are great fun!

Definitely one of the best pocket drum-synth units out there.PO-Tonic is great. If you buy this, I highly recommend buying both as the PO unit can communicate with Microtonic directly for making new sounds for the PO. If you just buy the PO-Tonic (without Microtonic), you're not really getting the best out of the machine as you can't change the soundbank yourself (unless you go to youtube which can send new sounds via the built-in microphone).I know the PO-Tonic with Microtonic is quite expensive compared to the other units - but it's definitely worth it if you want a solid and capable battery operated drum synth which you can carry in your pocket.If, however, you're not intending to ever buy Microtonic, I recommend you to buy the PO-Speak instead of the PO-Tonic because the PO Speak also contains the default sound banks from the PO-Tonic.If you do decide to buy Microtonic for the PO-Tonic, go to the Patternarium website which has hundreds of thousands of sound presets and drum patterns for free which you can edit and send directly to you Tonic. The free/Cracked versions of Microtonic do not support transferring sounds to the PO-Tonic - you;ll have to buy it but if you contact the SonicCharge website, they will give you a massive discount for Microtonic if you prove you bought a PO-Tonic (eg: send a photo of it or a screenshot of your order).The best thing about the PO-Tonic (with Microtonic) unit is that it can also be used as a synth instrument (you can make any sound in microtonic, not just drums).The other amazing feature is the "morph" feature which morphs 2 sounds for every slot on the PO. This means that you can create thousands of unique sounds on the PO if you use microtonic, simply by using the patternarium presets and appying a morph to them.One last thing is the effects, very decent and usable effects which cleverly inject a lot of raw excitement into the sounds - they can be manually triggered and sound great - even just by mashing the buttons randomly - great for live sessions.For the perfect Pocket Operator rig set-up, I would recommend:PO-Tonic (with Microtonic) as a Drum/Synth machinePO-K.O. as a samplerPO-Speak as a vocoder/bass synthLink the 3 together and you've got an amazingly versatile rig. I'd go so far as to prefer my Pocket operators to my Analogue Korg Electribe.Highly recommended.

This is my second purchase of the KO as I regretted selling my first so much. It’s abilities for the price are incredible, It’s intuitive once you get the hang of the button presses and although it lacks tools like midi I often use it for slowing down and pitching samples as it does a better job than some of my more expensive gear

This review is about the PO-20 Arcade.They may look a bit odd and minimalist, but they sound incredible and provide a lot of fun for the creatively minded. If you are a beginner to electronic music, the PO may somewhat puzzle you, but in the hands of someone with even a little bit of experience, these provide hours of fun and even some serious musical capability.The PO-20 totally takes me back to my youth when I used to own an Atari. The rich 8-bit quality of the square wave arps superbly re-create the atmosphere of that era, but with a modern twist. The chord sequencing is inspired. Very clever indeed, hats of to Jesper Kouthoofd and his team for producing something remarkable. I love the way the chord sequence changes the arps and baseline, even without turning up the drone. The side chain compression simulation on the drone sound is a very cool sounding modern twist.I am also astounded by the very expansive sequencing capability. You can store 16 x 16 step sequences and link them into a chain of up to 128 patterns, that is whopping 2048 steps! The chord sequence of up to 128 "bars" (from a choice of 16 cleverly chosen chords) is independent from this so the options are virtually limitless. Each sound has two parameters that can be sequenced too.I love the fact that I can sync my PO to my Korg Volcas and other synths. Very easy to set up, plug in and select SY2, that's all there is to it!The only bit of criticism I have is about the packaging. I get that this is all part of the overall minimalist design of the product, but does not protect it enough when sent. Especially the knobs are vulnerable as they stick out of the packaging. My first one arrived with one of the knobs smashed in. This is partly because Amazon did not properly packaged it (just stuffed it into an envelope, which got crushed between heavier boxes). The replacement came in the same rubbish packaging, but all works fine. I disagree that the unit is vulnerable to damage. Of course there are always those that treat their kit like Casey Neistat, but then of course nothing is safe from damage.Highly recommended, seriously thinking which one I want next!