TP–7 Field Recorder(teenage.engineering) |
TP–7 Field Recorder(teenage.engineering) |
The big selling point for this thing is supposed to be its ready accessibility and "high quality" audio, but it can't record high quality as it stands. About its gimpy built-in mic they say "OR USE THE INTERNAL MIC IN A PINCH."
Or you can buy the Zoom F3, which costs $350, is small enough to strap to your wrist, and records in float. Then you can buy a good mic (or two) and still come out way ahead of the asinine product featured here.
Might as well charge $15000
Usually they only manufacture 7 examples of what they sell.
Five to give to YouTube review channels and two to actually sell.
When those two sell out they wait 29 months and then make two more.
Or so it seems.
TE have perfected milking hipsters to perfection
Which designs would you consider aesthetically pleasing?
That said based on the Zoom F3 site I do want one and it is also affordable for me, whereas the TP-7 is way too much for me to afford.
I think this strictly falls into second category, and there's nothing wrong with that.
It gets my goat that these systems are so stingy on channels. Add a couple more. It costs so so little. The attempts to price differentiate self-sabotage this market for me.
I hope we can see some good tactile peripherals emerge. Not full products, but like, a USB spinning disk one can also scrub on, as like this.
If you want the ultimate in a retro-cool field recorder, look for a Nagra IV.
I'm asking without judgement and out of ignorance of the field of audio engineering. I absolutely believe that there is a market for sleekly designed products that also happen to function well; but I don't know if audio engineers (and other people this targets) also believe that teenage engineer products are worth the price beyond that.
Indeed “there are thoughts, ideas and fragments that - for the sake of humanity - we need to record and be able to return to as a reference”, but as a journalist I would sure as hell not use this device to record them, going instead for my trusty iPhone Voice Memos app backed up by an old-school $50 voice recorder running on AAA batteries.
It’s a bit sad, because I would love to indulge on seriously designed high-end recorder. But that’s not what this is.
They've been around for a while, so I assume there's a decent professional audiophile community that is supporting them. I hope they continue doing well!
This thing in particular is purely for posers, even more than their other stuff. I find it condescending, and nebulously offensive.
I've seen a few videos and the OP1 looks cool - how do these things perform?
Are they decent but expensive, or are they just pretty but trash?
IMO Apple pulls this off well because their devices work really decently while also holding that premium look.
Oh wow, that one is going in the memory bank for future use.
Reading all these comments, I’m feeling equally lonely as a fan (but admittedly seldom a customer) of basically everything TE does.
I also think at that price point, there is a sunken cost fallacy that contractually obligates people to defend the visual design to the death.
Spinny jog wheel thingy is lovely. And apparently it moves while you're recording? If you put your thumb on it to slow it down does it pitch the audio up on playback?
It's not how I'd spent $1,500 but I'm glad it exists. Irritates the same itch that makes me want to buy an old Nagra SN. (Which is also not how I'm gonna spend multiple thousands either, but I get it.)
That's really not very good, especially for the price they're charging. I'm starting to sense a theme.
That's not a crazy number for a digital synthesizer. It's eye-watering for a pocket-sized mixer. For a microphone though? This is madness. You carry a cell phone with you every day - if you need more, you buy a Zoom handheld for maybe ~$150.
There's no shortage of pissing-and-moaning about Teenage Engineering hardware, but goddamn. They are really betting on people not wanting to open the Voice Recordings app on their smartphone with this one.
Teenage Engineering is selling the fantasy of being Hunter S Thompson's assistant.
https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/2004.187/
The audio recorder is cool, but that typewriter is *gorgeous*
Tapping on the typewriter draws a box around it, and Google tries to find it.
But you can buy this if you’re rich and don’t know where to burn your cash.
re: size: It's fine for me, I adjusted quickly to the knobs. They can be turned without fully gripping your fingers around their sides. The size is a feature to me as I have a fully battery powered portable setup that sizes down enough that I can easily carry the parts on my person without a bag.
Although their "Field" range is starting to feel overpriced by their standards, Kinda think if the mixer was around $500, the recorder around $600 and the Microphone around $350 the range would be a lot more compelling, like line the pricing up so buying all 3 is closer to the price of the OP-1 Field not double the price of the OP-1 Field.
I'm sure they'll sell enough, just think aiming for that pricing would have made buying the whole set a no brainer for the TE fans.
The TP-7's buttons look really great, until you get to the part about the motorized wheel. That thing is going to jam with lint or sand or beard hair and that's the end. Or something is going to accidentally touch it and you'll miss a key moment of an interview.
I wonder what the battery life would be without that thing.
I suppose you'd use an aluminum 6061 block cut with a CNC machine and anodize the finish. OK. Well, doing CNC parts at volume is quite expensive. I can see teenage engineer's expenses here from that alone.
But... is that all there is to it?
You can absolutely build beautiful stuff in your own home shop.
The Chris Ramsay Playing Card Press https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PwAQZNLy0I
What you need to understand though is that these kinds of projects take ridiculous amounts of time.
CAUTION: That video is Clickspring. You will get sucked in and lose hours of time. Do not open unless you can afford to waste a lot of time. :)
That being said - teenage engineering is probably not looking to compete with Zoom. The branding is totally different. TE is looking for a premium market, while the first thing I was met with on zooms homepage was a button that said "New lower price!".
Teenage engineering continues doing something that I don't really understand - making me want to buy stuff that is really expensive that I have no need for. I won't buy these things, but every time I see them I do appreciate the craft.
Like: An apple corer? A Yeti (like) cup? A mobile phone? Kids toys?
I've always wondered this. I live in a world of throw away quality every day items. Do the ultra wealthy have luxury options for these things?
TE is the equivalent of Gucci handbags for hipster musicians.
I think you have to just want to buy their hardware. They're lifestyle devices.
It is no less an expression of some cultural values and rejection of others.
With that being said, just about everything else, you're right.
No one who's using Zoom field records (and that's mostly everybody who does field recordings) is going to buy this unless they've got nepo money - or tech & exec salaries, which is why I'm completely unsurprised by the appearance of this story here on HN.
Teenage Engineering - it looks cool
Now that iPads have Logic Pro, you're almost certainly better off with an iPad.
...that for OP-1/OP-Z which are synths/sequencers
This thing just records audio. It has no place in anything professional based on features, it's just sleek toy that happens to record audio. I'm sure some people will enjoy engineering with it but that's it, a toy for people with some spare spending money.
What now?
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/05/sonys-1400-xperia-1-...
I have no problem with folks who want to pay whatever for whatever- I play pedal steel and own a modular synth, which are two of the dumbest, difficult, and expensive ways to create small variations in current.
But even professional level tools are less expensive than TE equipment.
In this case almost every person I know who's doing field recordings is using a zoom Hx series or something similar.
Prosumer pricing for these features would be €450-500 max. €1500 for €150 of audio quality is just smh.
Not even XLR/mini-XLR for pro mics near instantly disqualifies it for most pro uses and lack of SD card is just plain silly. The app showing you transcribed text after does look neat tho
Are there designer microphones like this made by other companies anywhere else in the world? No. They have no real competitors despite making technologies you can easily purchase elsewhere.
You have apparently missed out on over 100 years of designer microphones built by companies exactly like this. The design of their mic is an apparent homage to old Neumann and Rode designs. Besides them, AKG, Beyerdynamics, Oktava, Electro Voice, Behringer, Buchla and dozens of smaller design shops have been doing this for decades. It's like claiming that "nobody else was making colorful hipster synths" before the OP-1 came out.
I'll buy it because I love well made, beautiful, functional things. It's the reason I own and regularly use a Leica camera, a (custom) mechanical keyboard, specific reel to reel tape decks and turntables, etc. I also have a particular interest in recording and playback devices of all kinds. Fundamentally I just enjoy and appreciate them. By contrast, I don't care about cars and drive a cheap 15-year old one.
I do of course realize that for many people price must be a primary consideration. I'm grateful and lucky to be in a position where I can (carefully) spend more on certain things. For other people, price is just more important than the things I cited even if they could afford something like this. That's completely reasonable and understandable, too.
If it was 1/3rd the price and it was a bit smaller I might even actually buy one.
[0] https://www.jam.se/en/products/synthanalogvintage/teenage-en...
"But it's art" - Yeah, well, lots of overpriced art is ugly and stupid; serving only the noble purpose of separating wealthy fools from money.
If people want to pay €1500 to show me they're a complete rube, they can go right ahead. I'll be here judging them, briefly and against my better judgment, before moving on to actually enjoyable and productive pastimes.
For example, here's a $990 100mL bottle of Balsamic vinegar I found on Robb Report that's aged for a century [4].
Most of these are for private concierges and assistants, though, as very rich people don't usually bother with this stuff themselves. They get their staff to source it online or find someone to hand craft a custom piece to spec. "Personal shopper" is the generic term
[1] https://luxurylaunches.com/
The OP's not asking about luxury, exclusive stuff, of which there's plenty. Just ordinary things that just aren't cheaply made.
And they may also pretend that it's so scarce you have to apply to a waiting list for the right to buy things so you feel extra special (cynically I suspect this also weeds out riff-raff rich enough to afford the item's sticker price but not also the PA to faff about with the process).
It's very silly. And profitable, evidently.
I've temporarily banned the account but if you want us to rename it for you to something untrollish, we can do that and unban it.
Luxuries would be things like hiring personal assistants, hand-made/customized items, art collections, etc. An emperor wouldn't have a golden hoe, because he doesn't farm.
Found it: https://www.wayfair.com/home-improvement/pdp/kohler-numi-20-...
Costco sells actual high-end products, but they're very limited in their selection. For various products, people in the know don't use them. However, for example, flashlights they sell from Duracell are stronger than anything you can pickup from Home Depot, curiously.
It was so interesting. Like peering into a whole different world
If you want to be new rich, just hand someone a million dollars for a normal product, your peers only care about the sticker price anyway.
Though, I'm sure Elon isn't doing something so mundane.
They are terribly limited, which is marketed as a bonus - I don't see it that way.
I wouldn't go so far as to call them trash - they're very expensive toys.
You may enjoy this video about the OP-1's feature set, even without the background knowledge to know everything he's saying is 100% true (which it is) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU8alMWUmDI
I like Apple, quite possibly too much. I put a lot of value on user experience. But I would never buy a Teenage Engineering product with my own money. I find that 'I only drink $500 bottles of wine' kind of thing deeply uncool.
i find them both underwhelming personally
Second time I made the money through a torrent tracker I built for TV shows. Then I went to jail for an unrelated charge and everything I had was gone when I got out.
As for a design I personally consider timeless… how about the Lamy 2000 fountain pen?
Gorgeous bauhaus design, and completely user disassembleable by hand with 0 tools. The body is made from Makrolon, which is fiberglass infused lexan. Feels great in the hand, with a slight warmth and texture, and practically indestructable.
Writes like a dream, too. Been in continuous production for over 60 years.
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/v2YAAOSwQr9hMHAN/s-l1600.jpg
Video of dissasembly https://youtu.be/x7DQSJHSaHE
Lamy 2000 is built with pure Bauhaus ideals and it nailed every one of them on the head. I have many and use them constantly. I think Lamy 2000 is the only "Objectively good" fountain I have ever seen and used, and it hides its properties so well, too. It's a very understated masterpiece of design and engineering.
Those three are: engrave the nib size somewhere visible on the nib; make it in colors besides dark grey on a regular basis; and make the ink window out of a clearer plastic. If you could actually see the ink color that’s be nice.
also, being able to use the phone as a screen via cable vs latency ridden wireless connection as a video screen is interesting
This TP-7 doesn't. Not at all. Their marketing is heavily based on how cool it looks, with very little if any stuff like audio samples, frequency response, etc.
In other words, their marketing materials say "it's good, because it looks good"...
Teenage Engineering make shiny expensive toys, and market an 'experience'. Which is fine, if that's what you're after. But if you're after quality recording, get something twice as good and ten times cheaper.
I think there are qualities that are important in creative process that you overlook. The mood, your environment, quality of your tools even how "cool" they look is not something secondary.
Actually most good musicians i know care more about the feel of a tool (touch, how it clicks, how heavy it is) than they care about frequency response. They might even like things that sound in certain way and not always "correct".
For some usecases this doesn't matter sure - like if you are some reporter - get Zoom or Sound Devices. But there are people liking and buying these and they are not just posers.
Can you rename me to EscapeFromNewYork? (in reference to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_from_New_York)
We could do EscapeFromNY if you like. Or pick something else?
I did for a long time, and I haven't found anything that even comes close, at any price.
I was speaking of Leica today, I am sure they are still very nice cameras but professionals don't use them anymore. They are strictly for showing off that you paid a lot of money for your camera.
Though I’d also argue you could get a Fuji X100 series and it replicates the experience really well.
When shooting in the hybrid mode, you get the OVF with frame lines and the centre phase shift overlay.
Imho that’s basically the same experience as any Leica rangefinder I’ve used.
Maybe the rest of the experience is different (interchangeable lens, body) but I think the rangefinder experience is very well replicated.
OB-4: The only other one I found which isn't just a bt hifi and tries to be an actual studio monitor is the iLoud, there is a new product from Fender as well. I also have the iLoud and stopped using it (worse sound, fewer useful tools). I don't think these 1-2 alternatives are clearly superior value.
Some notables:
The Playdate (as mentioned)
The Ikea Frevens series
Impossible I-1 instant camera
Mayku 3D printerYou can't beat an optical range finder by cheating, there's just no way.
> (len "EscapeFromNewYork")
17
Unless you are going to apply speaker or room correction, no speaker has a universally flat "hifi" or "monitor like" response in all environments. What you hear is a product of both the speaker and the room, not just the speaker. For this reason alone, a portable speaker makes little sense for use as a "monitor" and that's before we get to the pretty terrible stereo channel separation going on with the drivers mere inches apart on a flat surface on this particular model. This is a fairly big part of the reason people working on audio projects tend to rely on headphones to monitor in the field.
There are plenty of battery powered speakers with as close to a "neutral" (monitor) style response curve as just making a plain ole speaker can, but again, not like almost anyone will hear that neutral curve on a portable speaker anyway!
The Sonos units can at least perform sweep tests and some room correction via a phone mic ("Truplay" in their marketing), as one example - even the portable battery powered units like the Move. The Move is also a third cheaper. Room correction will generally provide significantly more accurate or "hifi" as you put it bass response.
I completely agree the design of the OB-4 is more attractive though!