teenage engineering pocket operator PO-12 rhythm, drum machine and sequencer with parameter locks and punch-in effects

There are pros and cons to the Pocket Operators, but I think it's certainly more pro than con. So long as you know what you're getting, these things are FUN. With some help from an adult with YouTube tutorials, even children could be making some sweet beats in minutes. The Pocket Operators make great sounds and encourage you to make awesome freestyle jams. They may be the best thing on the market for playing with music. Pros: -Quick to use. Just install batteries and hit PLAY, funky beats come out of the built-in speaker. Hold down Pattern and hit 1-16 to try the 16 different loops. Hold FX and hit 1-16 to try different effects. -Love the design. Teenage Engineering is primarily a Japanese design company, and it shows. The Operators come in a paper box with a pull-tab down one side. The hanging loop on top gives it the look of some treasure you'd find tucked on a shelf in a hardware store. It looks like some 1980s pocket calculator. Funky oldschool design all the way. The little LCD display looks like an old electronic game, very neat. -Sound is incredible. Even if built-in speaker is clear and loud for what it is. The unit does distort at high volume, but if you want to output the sound leave the unit around 70% and use external gain. -Great range. You can change the BPM, volume, and parameters of all the included sounds. Add the FX, and there are tons of options. One filter can make everything sound 8-bit, another kicks up the bass to room-shaking levels. It's all there. -Syncs to a range of devices. The unit only inputs or outputs a click track, but this easily patches into the Korg Volca series and other units that have a customizable way to take an analog click track. You can also chain multiple POs, they'll all pass through the sound and click track to give you one output at the end. Love it for jam sessions. -The 16-step sequencer, with 16 sounds, and 16 effects, plus more. That's a lot to get in such an inexpensive synth. The closest competitor is probably Korg's Volga series, and one Volca may cost you as much as 2-3 POs while offering fairly similar experiences in terms of being able to put together immediately accessible jams. It's probably no coincidence that the PO can easily sync to the Korg Volca line. -Did I mention it has clock and alarm functions? In case you want this thing to wake you up with fresh beats, I guess. Cons: -The instructions in the packaging are useless. Look up a YouTube video immediately. -The screen doesn't actually give a lot of information. The main animation is mostly useless and barely relates to the sound in motion. Only a few of the icons really relate to your sound in progress. For instance, you can only tell if you're in RECORD mode because of one tiny little icon- that's easy to miss in play, which is a shame because the only real damage you can do to your loops is in RECORD mode so this should have a more obvious icon. -So many limitations that can frustrate people who know about music production, even if newcomers will never know they're missing a thing. Because there's no MIDI in/out, you can only get notes or melodies to play by twisting the parameter knobs. The sync track also won't share swing with other units, so you'll have to keep that in mind if you jam with multiple units chained. There are plenty more quirks to find in YouTube tutorials. Almost all these quirks are just things that someone with this as their only device will learn to play with, but if you're a real music producer you should check in-depth reviews before purchase. -For the price, they could probably put this in a plastic case. That's about my only complaint. The unit is so tiny, and it's a bare board, and it has such limitations- surely they could afford to either sell it a bit cheaper or put it in a case. The company does sell cases for about $30, but that jacks up the price of a Pocket Operator so high you might as well go for a Korg Volca. In the bare board form though, this is an okay deal. Plenty of people sell cheap 3d-printed cases online. Overall: In terms of only buying one unit to jam on, the Pocket Operators are about the most fun you can possibly have anywhere near this price point. High recommended as a gift for any music fan that loves to jam. Anyone who bothers looking up some tutorials will be making awesome songs in minutes. It's so neat to play with this thing. And it looks so cool, people will steal it out of your hands just to play with it. Which unit would I recommend out of all the POs? This Rhythm unit is really more of a drum machine, which some people need. It can make neat songs if you know a little about how to tweak the knobs, or it would be a fun backing for vocals or an instrument. If you need one unit for someone who already plays an instrument, or sings or raps, this is the one. The most complete unit to date is probably the 2x-series Arcade, which jams out 8-bit chiptunes (or, the kind of music you'd hear on old arcade machines). I'd recommend the Arcade for instance if someone wants to compose songs while riding the bus, assuming they like early videogame music. The next contender for a total unit apart from these two is the 3x-series KO, which lets you use samples- including things you record with the built-in microphone. Where to go from here? As said, this unit syncs both to other POs and to the Korg Volca series without much work, so it depends on how much money you have. Obvious connections in the PO line are the Sub, Tonic, KO, and Factory. The Korg Volca series makes an equivalent to pretty much all of those units- such as the Bass, Keys, and Sample. The click track syncs pretty well to almost any other synth that can output a click, so it should work in most environments. Not as recommended for people used to working with a PC(or DAW), as the lack of MIDI may hurt your work flow.

This is the quickest I've ever gotten up to speed on a synthesizer, and some of the most fun I've ever had with one... at the lowest price point! The PO-12 Rhythm Pocket Operator from Teenage Engineering is definitely packing a great deal of quality, versatility, and spontaneity into a very small package. Worth adding to almost anyone's arsenal. Even as a more-fun-than-drudgery metronome, it's worth the price of admission. But once you start chaining sequences together and playing with FX automation, it's flexibility and pizzazz start to shine. A truly excellent purchase for almost any musician or hobbyist, and I say that as someone who works as a professional musician and owns multiple much more expensive hardware and software synths

Finally, a handheld chiptune drum machine. I know these have been around several years but I just got mine yesterday, so if you're like me and hesitant to buy it cause it looks too good to be true, pull the trigger. This little dude is worth every penny and more, I mean you can adjust the parameters of every sound and input them 2 ways, sequenced or live, and both work great, especially helpful that it syncs them with the beat when you input live notes. And don't get me started on the swing knob, that thing is super cool! Best little feature for sure. Also, I'm sure this is just me, but I love watching the LCD dude work the big sewing machine looking thing when it's playing.

Great for beats with my guitar. Sounds good though sounds better plugged into amp.

Super fun micro drum machine. Needs a case or shell.

Possibly the most fun you'll have with a "toy" drum machine. Anyone can pick this thing up and start making interesting sounds and having fun with beats and effects. Those of us who are experienced with drum machines and computer music can unlock the real power of this baby; any genre is possible and you can get mad deep into complex patterns and sounds. I use this with my mini-rig setup but it is a seriously wonderful musical tool on its own, too. No, this isn't a serious piece of studio equipment, but it's some serious fun and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves making music. I've had this for a few months and it's still one of the most fun pieces of equipment I own. I would say I recommended it to my friends but after anyone plays with it for 5 minutes they are hooked and ask me where they can get one for themselves.

Nuff said Powerful groove tool Easy to sync Tuff sounds