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David Looking at Things: Teenage Engineering PO-33 K.O

David Lee
13/5/2023
Translation: Eva Francis

In this series, I take a look at things that usually get hardly any attention. Up today: a synthesiser in credit card format.

This strange thing is a synthesiser. It features a built-in microphone, so you can record something and then play it as a sample at various pitches. You programme which sample is played when and in which pitch. The result? A piece of music – kind of.

I wanted to try this out and write about it. But that was before Covid, so over three years ago. Nowadays, it’s no longer at the top of my agenda. More precisely, it’s now at the very bottom.

The buttons only have numbers and all look the same, which is confusing.
The buttons only have numbers and all look the same, which is confusing.
Source: David Lee

Getting used to the unfamiliar way of using this synthesiser is tricky. I used to know how to do it, but have since forgotten everything and can’t be bothered to start again from scratch. On top of this, the synthesiser has lost the piece I composed previously. When the batteries are empty, the memory is erased.

As a consolation, I have a lousy video to offer that shows my first attempt from 2020. It doesn’t make too much sense music-wise, but I’m just calling it jazz. That should be fine.

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