Originally published at: Teenage Engineering's TP–7 field recorder has a motorized "tape reel" | Boing Boing
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I think Teenage Engineering has identified and laser targeted the “dilettante musicians with trust funds” demographic.
I like their stuff but even as a grown-ass person with a professional job I don’t feel I can afford any of it.
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designwise, it’s like what if IKEA made music equipment. Price-wise, it’s like what if Leica made music equipment.
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I don’t think IKEA quite captures the tiny form factor they are obsessed with - to the detriment of the devices even. Their mixer is unusably small and even with tiny hand models it’s quite obviously difficult to mix with.
I’m not sure who exemplifies the miniaturised Dieter Rams vibe they do…
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These look gorgeous. Of course I have no use for them.
It’s like Dieter Rams married Sony’s 1980s miniaturization department and this is the baby.
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The small size means you’ll have lots of extra room on your desk.
Aha their aesthetic is extremely Lectron: Raytheon Lectron - Wikipedia
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I mean FFS. $1500 and you’re advertising that it comes with a headphone adapter.
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Right, because moving parts is what I want in digital recorder. Also no XLR or phantom power… and on and on. And all for only $1700!! Countdown to when that wheel breaks in 5, 4, 3, 2, …
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Dieter Rams: Braun.
ETA
Dieter’s team designed that look.
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This is truer than you may know. TE and IKEA briefly collaborated on a series of audio / party devices:
(I have one of the smallest bluetooth speakers from this collection and it is actually really nice.)
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Yeah, I’m so so torn. I first became aware of them through a design exhibition where I saw the OP-1 and was immediately intrigued, but couldn’t justify the cost.
Then the PO’s happened, and I was in love with the idea that they would be willing to service both ends of the market.
Now it seems like they’re leaning (back) into the high-end demo, which kinda bums me out. But I guess if you sell a handful of beautiful, high-priced objects, you can probably make more money than a bajillion low margin micro synths.
I guess I’m still a “fan”, but I’m extremely unlikely to buy anything if the continue to cater only to the upper end.
So, it’s the original iPod click wheel then. That was a great interface for scrubbin’ and scrollin’. The world did lose a little something when dedicated physical iPods became an app on your phone.
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The OP 1 did things that nothing else did though. Since then actual innovation has been thin on the ground. Something but small, plastic, looking like it was designed by Dieter Rams isn’t innovative.
The OP1 wasn’t for everyone but its quirky workflow was actually something that appealed to musicians. The new stuff doesn’t really call out to musicians at all.
Where there’s some tat from TE there’s always a new product from Elektron that you think “oh, I’d love to use that”, this is this weeks: https://www.elektron.se/ie/analog-heat-mkii-explorer
And if you really have way way way too much money:
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I think I mostly agree with you, though the mixer actually appeals to me a lot. I’d love nothing more than a tiny 6-stereo-channel mixer. I just won’t pay $1200 for it.
Indeed.
Unfortunately, I don’t. After 25+ years of lust, I finally got a Rickenbacker 330-12. That’s pretty much blown my “music gear I don’t really need” budget for a while. 
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That’s a handsome looking bit of kit.
Video editing machines had similar ‘jog dials’ in the 1980s if not earlier:
On reel-to-reel audio tape machines you can turn the tape spools themselves to scrub forwards and back.
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The Lectron electronic blocks system and product was the exclusive and unique invention of Georg Greger in the early 1960s.
Something tells me that there was a patent dispute at some point, if someone felt the need to use this very specific language in the Wikipedia article
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