 Hi, I'm Russell Brandom, and this is the Pocket Operator 14 from Teenage Engineering. It's a tiny, cheap bass synth. So Nathan wrote about this on a site a while ago. It's just a tiny, cheap bass synth. This one, I think everything together with shipping, it was like 80 bucks. So I just bought it. They didn't send me this or anything. And I've been playing around with it for a couple weeks. It's probably my favorite object that I own right now. You only get sort of 16 and change buttons, I guess 23 buttons. And that determines kind of everything you're going to do with it. All the melodies are programmed in in advance. So you can play it like a traditional instrument, but it's really, you're sort of not supposed to. The way it works is you program the melodies in. Hit a button and you turn this knob and it says, okay, do I want that to be a C or do I want it to be a D? And you sort of turn the knob, which is really awkward and kind of takes a while. But the plus side is once you have it programmed in, it'll just play over and over again and you can sort of worry about other things. So right now I've got it programmed to play the bass line from Billie Jean. So this is what it looks like when it's working. I've done all the grunt work of programming it in. You can see what that's like. I'll just put it in write mode. And if I want to change this note to something much higher, I just turn the style. So now it's an octave higher than it was before. You see, it's not really a satisfying way to change the notes. You have to sort of have in mind in advance what you want, but the effects are much more immediate. So if I want to add distortion in that same note, I can just... And you see, the bass line starts to change, but it's better because it's... Well, anyway, it's different because it's effects. What's changing is that I'm punching in effects or punching them out. There's this submarine visualization in front of everything. So each torpedo that's getting shot out is a beat and the different machines are different effects. So he's running between the different machines to sort of put in the effects that I've already punched in. I have no idea what is going on. So the result is when you're playing it, mostly what you're doing is you're punching in effects, which is a very different way to think about music and sort of performance. And it's a way that has a lot more to do with how popular music works right now. When you hear a particularly sort of rousing or affecting part of a pop song, it's generally because some new instruments coming in, they're putting in some effect, a bass drop, that's what a bass drop is. That's sort of hard to do in software. I mean, that's generally how people do it, but it's very difficult to get that sense of a performance. Generally, you're sort of arranging these effects in advance. You have to sort of know what you're going for before you do it. Whereas having a little guy like this lets you really get into it and feel it in a sort of much more visceral way. So I don't know, I like it, and I've had a lot of fun with it.
 Hi, I'm Russell Brandom, and this is the Pocket Operator 14 from Teenage Engineering.
 It's a tiny, cheap bass synth.
 So Nathan wrote about this on a site a while ago.
 It's just a tiny, cheap bass synth.
 This one, I think everything together with shipping, it was like 80 bucks.
 So I just bought it.
 They didn't send me this or anything.
 And I've been playing around with it for a couple weeks.
 It's probably my favorite object that I own right now.
 You only get sort of 16 and change buttons, I guess 23 buttons.
 And that determines kind of everything you're going to do with it.
 All the melodies are programmed in in advance.
 So you can play it like a traditional instrument, but it's really, you're sort of not supposed
 to.
 The way it works is you program the melodies in.
 Hit a button and you turn this knob and it says, okay, do I want that to be a C or do
 I want it to be a D?
 And you sort of turn the knob, which is really awkward and kind of takes a while.
 But the plus side is once you have it programmed in, it'll just play over and over again and
 you can sort of worry about other things.
 So right now I've got it programmed to play the bass line from Billie Jean.
 So this is what it looks like when it's working.
 I've done all the grunt work of programming it in.
 You can see what that's like.
 I'll just put it in write mode.
 And if I want to change this note to something much higher, I just turn the style.
 So now it's an octave higher than it was before.
 You see, it's not really a satisfying way to change the notes.
 You have to sort of have in mind in advance what you want, but the effects are much more
 immediate.
 So if I want to add distortion in that same note, I can just...
 And you see, the bass line starts to change, but it's better because it's...
 Well, anyway, it's different because it's effects.
 What's changing is that I'm punching in effects or punching them out.
 There's this submarine visualization in front of everything.
 So each torpedo that's getting shot out is a beat and the different machines are different
 effects.
 So he's running between the different machines to sort of put in the effects that I've already
 punched in.
 I have no idea what is going on.
 So the result is when you're playing it, mostly what you're doing is you're punching in effects,
 which is a very different way to think about music and sort of performance.
 And it's a way that has a lot more to do with how popular music works right now.
 When you hear a particularly sort of rousing or affecting part of a pop song, it's generally
 because some new instruments coming in, they're putting in some effect, a bass drop, that's
 what a bass drop is.
 That's sort of hard to do in software.
 I mean, that's generally how people do it, but it's very difficult to get that sense
 of a performance.
 Generally, you're sort of arranging these effects in advance.
 You have to sort of know what you're going for before you do it.
 Whereas having a little guy like this lets you really get into it and feel it in a sort
 of much more visceral way.
 So I don't know, I like it, and I've had a lot of fun with it.