Frequently asked questions

Beyond the usual marketplace caution (use buyer protection on Reverb/eBay, beware too-good-to-be-true deals and stolen units), test the things that are expensive to fix. Exercise every key and encoder for dead spots or crackle, check the screen for dead pixels, try the headphone and line jacks, and confirm it charges and holds a charge. Make sure it powers on, takes a firmware update, and isn't iCloud/account-locked or reported lost. New units come with a warranty, which is worth weighing against the second-hand saving.

Pick one master clock and split your gear into two sync worlds. The OP-1 field and the K.O. IIs speak MIDI clock, so run MIDI/USB from your master (the TX-6 works well as the hub) to those devices and set them to follow external clock. Pocket Operators don't do MIDI — they sync to an audio click on the left channel, so feed them a sync signal from a PO set to send sync, a dedicated sync box, or a MIDI-to-audio-sync converter, and chain the POs from there. Decide up front whether your MIDI master or your PO chain is the timing reference and derive the other from it, so everything starts from one tempo.

You can go straight in — no preamp needed. Use a TS (mono) cable from the guitar with a 1/4" (6.3mm) to 3.5mm adapter (or a dedicated guitar-to-3.5mm converter cable) into the OP-1 field's line input, then open the input page and pick the Amp input effect that arrived with the recent firmware. From there you can dial in gain and tone and record straight to tape. A passive guitar's level is a bit low, so push the input/amp gain to taste.

There are two versions: the original with 64MB of sample memory and a newer one with 128MB. They run the same firmware and behave identically — the only difference is how much sampling time you get, so the 128MB holds roughly twice as much material before you have to manage space. For learning the device the 64MB is plenty; the 128MB is worth the extra outlay if you sample a lot or want to future-proof. If you buy used, check the fader feel — some early units had a slightly finicky fader.

The EP-133 updates through the browser using WebUSB, which only works in a Chromium browser (Chrome or Edge) on a desktop — Firefox, Safari, and iOS/iPadOS don't support WebUSB, so the updater simply won't see the device there. Make sure you're on Chrome/Edge, use a USB-C cable that carries data (not a charge-only one), close any other app or browser tab that's connected to the unit, and try a different port. If it still doesn't connect, swap the cable before assuming the device is at fault — bad cables are the most common culprit.

Some early EP-133 units had reports of a finicky or unreliable fader, which the community nicknamed "fadergate." Later production runs and the 128MB units are generally reported as fine, but because it comes down to per-unit hardware tolerance rather than a single revision, the safe move is to test the fader's full travel on any unit you're buying — new or used — and use the warranty if it feels notchy, jumpy, or dead anywhere along its range.

Yes, it's a strong fit. Chopping breaks is exactly what it's good at: sample an Amen or any break, auto-chop it across the pads, and re-sequence it into new patterns, then record the result into your DAW for finishing. You don't need much memory for a handful of breaks, and it sits comfortably under $500. The main limits to plan around are finite polyphony and that mutes/solos are by group, so arrange your chops with performance in mind.

Yes — plenty of techno gets made on it. It's strong at exactly the things techno leans on: chopping and looping samples, building tight drum and bass patterns, arranging scenes into a track, and using the punch-in effects for filter sweeps and builds. The things to be aware of are finite polyphony and memory, and that mutes/solos work by group rather than per pad, so plan your kit with performance in mind. As a first sampler for that style it punches well above its size.

The stock samples are thin on their own, so fullness comes from layering and processing rather than one magic preset. Stack the same note across pads slightly detuned, double a part an octave apart, and play chords instead of single notes. Lean on the onboard effects — a touch of reverb, chorus, or compression thickens things fast — and tweak the envelope so notes sustain. Most of all, bring in better source material: sample a real synth or pad, or import richer multisamples (tools like EP-PatchStudio in this list make multisampling easy).

The K.O. II solos and mutes by group rather than by individual pad, so the trick is to arrange your kit with performance in mind: put the parts you'll want to drop in and out into their own groups, so a group solo/mute becomes an effective per-part mute. For finer control during a take, build pattern variations that include or omit specific pads and switch between them, or sequence the mutes into the song. It's a workaround rather than a true per-pad mute button, but grouping thoughtfully gets you most of the way there.

Yes. Instead of trimming the sample, move the note itself. Step through the sequence to the step where the sample plays, set the timing mode to Free, then hold Shift plus that sample's pad and tap − or + to nudge the note a few ticks earlier or later. That fixes samples whose start was clipped or delayed by a hands-free recording threshold, without re-recording. Tuning the record threshold avoids the problem in future recordings.

Each sound has a play mode that decides whether a pad gates (plays only while you hold it) or fires as a one-shot (plays the whole sample from a single tap). It lives in the sound's edit settings, not a global menu — select the pad/sound and change its play/trigger mode to one-shot. Set it per sound, so you can have, say, one-shot hits on your drum pads and gated playback on a sustained pad in the same kit.

A factory reset restores the built-in sound library, so start there. If a reset doesn't bring everything back (for example after you've overwritten sample slots), download the factory sample pack from Teenage Engineering's EP-133 K.O. II page and copy it back onto the device over USB. To audition a sound on a pad, press the Sound key, then a numbered pad, then use + / − to step through the library.

Prepare samples before they reach the unit. Trim silence from the start and end (long tails waste the most space), and bounce to mono anything that doesn't need stereo; most drums and one-shots don't. Resample layered or processed sounds into one file instead of keeping the parts, and be choosy about what earns a slot. Batch tools in this list, such as KO-Trimmer and the EP-133 memory saver converter, automate the trimming and mono conversion. If you regularly run out of room, the 128 MB version of the K.O. II doubles the space.

There isn't a single "un-chop" toggle — chopping reassigns that group's pads to the individual slices, so to go back you re-assign the pad. Hold the relevant pad and pick the original sample again (Sound, then the pad, then select the sample), which restores normal per-pad playback. To keep both versions, copy the original sample to a fresh, empty group before you chop, so the chopped layout lives in one group and the whole sample in another.

The K.O. II is a standalone sampler and sequencer: you sample anything (your voice, records, a synth, the radio), chop and tune it across pads, sequence it into patterns and songs, and add effects — all without a computer. Its appeal isn't that it does something a DAW can't, but that it pulls you off the screen and into a fast, hands-on, happy-accident workflow that's great for sketching beats and ideas. It's a groovebox, not a deep synth, so think of it as a sampling sketchpad alongside your DAW rather than a replacement for it.

There's no official hard case, so owners improvise. TEcases makes a made-to-measure Sidekick case. Carry cases for 40% mechanical keyboards are a cheap, popular fit. Hard-shell cases sized for the OP-1 or OP-XY hold it with room left over for cables. It's light, so some people just carry it in a padded pouch or alongside another unit in TE's own EP bag.

Yes. Any USB-C cable to a phone charger or power bank powers it, and it draws so little that some power banks drop into standby. If you hear ground-loop hum when it's powered from a computer or a powered USB hub, switch to a power bank or use a power-only USB-C cable. Rechargeable batteries are the other fix if you keep forgetting to switch it off.

Almost always it's the cable or a setting. Use a USB-C cable that actually carries data — a lot of cheap cables are charge-only and will power the device while staying invisible to your computer. Then check the Sidekick's USB mode in its settings so it's exposed as a class-compliant audio/MIDI interface rather than just charging. On an iPhone, connect over USB-C (older phones need a powered camera-style adapter); once it's recognised it appears as a standard audio input in your DAW or recording app.

The Sidekick is an add-on that gives the EP line a proper audio interface, extra inputs/outputs, and mixer-style routing plus effects, so it shines if you want to record stems into a DAW, bring in external instruments, or perform with more I/O. If you've only just got a K.O. II and are still learning the basics, it isn't essential and you may not use its strengths yet. It's relatively inexpensive and widely stocked (and returnable), so a common approach is to grow into the K.O. II first and add the Sidekick once you hit its limits.

No. The EP-40 is a curated performance/"riddim" instrument with fixed built-in content — it is not a sampler and has no way to import your own audio. If you want to chop and play your own samples, that is the EP-133 K.O. II's job; the EP-40 is designed around its on-board sounds and performance controls.

The device itself doesn't bounce multitrack stems, so the built-in route is to play parts out and record them into your DAW in real time over an audio interface — usually group by group (or track by track), then line them back up and chop in the DAW. The resample function is handy for capturing a part first. For a much faster workflow, desktop tools can convert a whole project into DAW-ready material: EP Toolkit exports EP-133/EP-1320/EP-40 projects straight to Ableton Live, REAPER, DAWproject or MIDI, and PatchStudio helps with samples and patches. Short one-shots or loops can also go through the online tools.

A factory reset restores the EP-40's built-in sounds, so you don't have to undo changes pad by pad. Back up anything you want to keep first, then run the reset. If a reset doesn't fully restore the factory content, download the EP-40 factory sample pack from Teenage Engineering's EP-40 page and import it back over USB. Going forward, keep a backup of a clean device so handing it to a friend can't cost you the original layout.

It transposes. It doesn't tune. The EP-40 doesn't detect a sample's pitch: it treats whatever you recorded as the root note (C) and plays the pads up and down from it, in semitones in chromatic mode or in scale steps when a scale is selected. Changing the key shifts that root. If your sample is really in F# but you set the key to F, the result is still off by the original difference. For results that sit in key, tune or record your melodic one-shots to C before loading them. Otherwise, play in chromatic mode and find the right notes by ear.

Several owners have reported the EP-40 staying on regardless of the power switch and whether it's running on AAA batteries or USB-C power, so it isn't just a dead-battery quirk. First make sure you're on the latest firmware from Teenage Engineering's EP-40 page, since power behaviour is the kind of thing a firmware update can fix. If it still won't power down after updating, treat it as a fault and contact TE support — others in the same situation have had it handled as a warranty/repair case.

The EP samplers can drive outboard gear: they send MIDI out (over the sync jack and over USB), so you can use the pattern sequencer to play external synths and drum machines, not just internal samples. It's a capable but fairly basic MIDI sequencer — great for laying down parts for a synth from the same workflow you already know, but it isn't as deep as a dedicated MIDI sequencer for things like lots of CC automation or many independent MIDI channels. For a simple, fast "sample box that also clocks and sequences my synth" it works well.

Not really — the official EP Sample Tool (and the community desktop tools) run on a computer, not on iPadOS, so there's no full backup/restore path from an iPad alone. If you're travelling light, the practical advice is to bring a laptop when you'll need backups, and otherwise avoid factory resets on the road, since a reset without a backup wipes your projects and any custom sounds. Plan your trip around having a backup made before you leave.

Don't drag files in one at a time — use a tool that does the batch import for you. Teenage Engineering's official field/EP sample tool lets you load a whole folder of samples and write them to the device in one pass, and if the pack ships as a full backup you can restore it as a project/backup instead. Community tools like EP-PatchStudio and the EP toolkit (both in this list) also handle bulk import and device management. Whichever you use, back up your current content first, since restoring a backup can overwrite what's already on the unit.

Yes. The EP samplers share the same sample format, so the factory packs from the EP-133 K.O. II and EP-1320 Medieval can be imported onto the EP-40 Riddim (and the other way around) using the EP sample tool or a community tool like EP-PatchStudio. The catch is memory: the EP-40 has limited storage, so you may not fit every pack at once — load the sounds you actually want rather than all of them. Back up the device first, since restoring a full backup can overwrite what's there.

Don't count on a warning. Owners report no low-battery alert well in advance: weak AAA batteries show up as glitches or cut-outs during playback, at which point it's too late on stage. For a show, put in a fresh set. Better, run the unit from USB-C: a phone charger or power bank powers the EP-1320 / EP-133 directly, and you can keep batteries in as a backup. Both run on four AAA batteries.

Don't rename it to .zip — a .pak is the EP's backup/restore format, not a plain zip archive, so unzipping it by changing the extension generally fails. Instead, load it with the EP sample tool's "restore" function, which writes the contents back onto the device. If your goal is just to move a sample pack between EP units, it's easier to import the individual samples (or the source pack) with the sample tool — or a community tool like EP-PatchStudio — rather than wrestling with the .pak directly. Back up the target device first, since a restore can overwrite it.

They share the same core sampler engine but lean different ways. The EP-133 K.O. II is the do-everything one: sample anything, chop, sequence, and arrange full songs. The EP-40 Riddim is built around loop triggering and live, hands-on performance — its demo content is reggae-flavoured, but you can wipe that and use it for any genre, and a lot of people prefer it specifically as a live sample/loop launcher. The EP-1320 Medieval is the same idea with a medieval-themed sound set. Pick the K.O. II for general production and song-building, or the Riddim if live looping and quick triggering is your main thing.

Owners reach for a few options. Purpose-built cases cut to the device exist (see TEcases in this list); a popular off-the-shelf pick is the CTRL / Magma case, which is well padded and has room for cables; and any small hard case or camera-style bag that fits the unit works for backpack duty. Teenage Engineering's own folio offers light, slim protection but less impact resistance. Whatever you pick, make sure the fader and knobs aren't pressed on in transit.

Yes. The EP-40 Riddim, EP-133 K.O. II, and EP-1320 Medieval all share the same chassis and footprint, so a splash/silicone cover made for one fits the others. It gives the same light protection against dust and spills. (For carrying and impact protection rather than a surface cover, see the case options in this list.)

It comes down to samplers vs a synth. The EP-133 K.O. II and EP-40 Riddim are samplers — fantastic, affordable, and flexible, but they make synth sounds by you sampling or importing them rather than synthesising in the box. The OP-1 field has real synth engines built in, so if rich, tweakable synth tones are central to your sound it gets you there directly (at a much higher price). A common path is to start on a K.O. II to learn sampling and sequencing cheaply, then add an OP-1 field later if you find you want hands-on synthesis.

Definitely. The K.O. samplers are designed to be immediate: you sample a sound, tap pads to play it, and you're making a beat within minutes, which makes them great for a curious beginner or a rhythm-minded kid. The EP-133 K.O. II is the full-size one with the deepest features; if budget or ruggedness matters, the pocket-sized PO-33 K.O. is much cheaper and just as playful. Either is forgiving to noodle on, and the manuals are short — the main thing is the willingness to experiment.

The K.O. II's backup is a device backup meant for restoring to the unit, not a tidy folder of WAVs you can browse and edit on a computer. So you generally can't "open" a backup to pull out individual sounds. If you need the samples on your computer, keep your source files there in the first place, or resample/record the sounds out of the device. Use the backup for safekeeping and restore, not as an editable project export.

No — neither the OP-1 nor the OP-1 field has Bluetooth audio output. The only built-in wireless option is the original OP-1's FM radio transmitter, which is noisy and not really meant for clean listening. For good sound, use a wired connection from the headphone/line output, or on the OP-1 field send audio over USB-C to a computer or interface. If you specifically want Bluetooth, run the wired output into a small Bluetooth transmitter.

They solve different problems, so it's not redundant — but you rarely need both. A Decksaver is a fitted hard lid that clips over the keys and knobs to protect the top surface on a desk or loose in a bag; a case or sleeve protects the whole unit in transit. If you mostly carry it in a padded bag, a Decksaver plus that bag is plenty. If it gets thrown around, a proper hard case (the Analog Cases one is a popular OP-1 field pick) can replace the need for a separate Decksaver.

Connect the OP-1 to the iPad over USB (USB-C, plus a camera/USB adapter on older iPads) and put the OP-1 into disk/content mode — it mounts as a USB drive, and the iPad's Files app can browse it to copy tape bounces, recordings, and synth/drum presets off. Alternatively record the OP-1's audio out into an iOS app in real time. The OP-1 field exposes the same USB disk for transferring its content.

The OP-1 field doesn't work like a grid sequencer, so there's no MPC-style "quantize to 70%" on the tape. Tight timing comes from one of two places: play the drum part into one of the built-in sequencers (Finger, Pattern, Endless, Tombola, etc.), which lock notes to steps, or record to tape against the metronome and rely on your timing. Many people sketch the groove with a sequencer for tightness, then bounce it to tape. It's a feel-first workflow rather than a fix-it-after-the-fact one.

Most transfer headaches come down to file format, cable, or disk mode. Make sure samples are 44.1kHz (mono .aif is safest for drum slots), use a USB-C cable that actually carries data rather than a charge-only one, and put the device into its disk/content mode before dragging files. Stay within the per-kit slot and size limits, eject the device properly when you're done, and if a kit won't show up, try a different cable or port before reformatting anything.

Yes. Connect the minilogue's MIDI OUT to the OP-1 field's MIDI IN (over USB-C with a class-compliant connection, or via a DIN-to-USB host adapter), set both to the same MIDI channel, and make sure the field is set to receive external MIDI notes. The minilogue's keys then play whichever engine is active on the field. If nothing sounds, check the channel match and that MIDI input is enabled in the field's settings.

Not as a built-in feature — the dedicated multisampler is an OP-XY thing — but you can fake it. Record several different sounds (up to ~20 seconds each) across the four tape tracks, loop them, and use the multi/copy trick to spread them into a playable instrument. The OP-1 field and OP-XY are believed to share the same hardware (around 24 voices), so the limitation is the field's software playing one instrument at a time rather than the chips — hence the tape workaround rather than a true multisample patch.

For on-the-grid styles, owners overwhelmingly point to the OP-XY. It's built around a step sequencer with eight instrument tracks, multisampling and per-step control, which suits quantized, pattern-based music and live sequencing. The OP-1 field is centred on its four-track tape and hands-on recording: great for sketching, sound design and improvised, layered pieces, but less of a step-sequencing machine. If you're also weighing a DAW companion, Ableton Move (or the Ableton Note app) sketches straight into Live. Some people keep both TE devices for different jobs rather than choosing.

Not directly — the OP-1 and OP-1 field apply their effect to the whole mix rather than to a single tape track, so turning on a delay or reverb colours everything at once. The common workaround is to record the part you want affected through the input (or bounce it) with the effect on, then switch the effect off so it doesn't touch the other tracks. It's an extra step, but it gives you per-part effects on a machine that's built around a shared master effect.

Go to the tape, hold Shift + Record, then press Play — the count-in starts before recording. It arrived in firmware 1.6.0, so if nothing happens, update to the latest version (a few people only got it working after updating past 1.6.0) and try again. It's a modifier combo rather than a menu setting, which is why it's easy to miss.

There are three common paths. The most flexible is to record the four tape tracks into a DAW — either as one stereo bounce or, if you want stems, track-by-track — and do the final mix, arrangement, and mastering there. Some prefer to stay in-device, using the mixer and master effects and exporting the finished mix. Others merge down to a single track to free up tape while keeping the original layers parked elsewhere on the tape. Pick the DAW route if you want to polish and add parts; stay in-device if the point is to keep the whole thing on the OP-1.

On the OP-1 field, connect over USB-C and it shows up as a class-compliant audio and MIDI device, so you can record its output straight into an iOS DAW or mixer (AUM, Drambo, GarageBand, Logic for iPad) and use the iPad for effects, mixing, and arrangement while playing the OP-1 hands-on. The original OP-1 has no USB audio, so there it's more about MIDI sync and using the iPad for ideas/notation or as a player for backing parts. Either way the iPad is a great companion for finishing what you sketch on the device.

The OP-1 doesn't have built-in microtonal or alternate-tuning scales, so the practical route is multisampling. Build a sampler/drum patch where you place notes tuned to your microtonal intervals across the keys — sample each pitch at the tuning you want, or import a multisample set pre-tuned to your scale — so the keyboard then plays those intervals. It's more setup than a synth with a tuning table, but it lets you perform non-12-TET scales on the device.

Historically the original OP-1 has been finicky to clock with other gear over USB MIDI — it works, but a lot of the long-standing "can't get it to sync" threads come from quirks in how it sends/receives clock. The OP-1 field improved this with more capable USB MIDI. In practice: connect over USB MIDI, set the OP-1 to send or follow clock as needed, and if you're chaining several devices, a USB MIDI host or hub gives you the most reliable results. Expect a bit of trial and error, especially with the original.

Yes. Since 2026 there's an active scene of unofficial firmware for the original OP-1. All of it is based on TE's last official release (246) and adds things like tape undo/redo, four tapes, new synth engines and effects, scale modes and preset renaming. op1r is the common base. Maiko Pruett's builds, the Hundekraft workshop and OPUS each build on or alongside it, and the browser builders let you pick features and generate the update file from your own official 246 file. You install it like an official update: hold COM while switching on to reach te-boot, choose firmware update, and copy the file over USB. To go back, flash the official 246 update the same way. OPUS also ships a cleaner that prepares your data for stock firmware first. These are hobby projects, not affiliated with Teenage Engineering, and early builds have left units stuck on an error screen at start-up (fixed in later releases), so back up your tapes and sounds before flashing. The OP-1 field isn't supported yet (op1r has a work-in-progress port).

That audible "CPU noise" on the external input is associated with the very first original OP-1 (the 2011 mark-1). It was common-enough knowledge a decade ago, and it's why some long-time owners avoided recording external audio on those early units. Later OP-1 revisions and the OP-1 field don't have this issue — owners consistently report clean recordings, and the OP-1 field's mic and input are well-regarded. So if you're hearing it, you likely have an early unit; on a modern OP-1 or the field you shouldn't.

Record the part to a tape track, then use the tape's reverse playback on that section and resample it onto a second track — now the forward and reversed versions sit on separate tracks and play together. You can also reverse the audio in the sampler and re-record it to tape. The trick is committing the reversed pass to its own track via resampling rather than expecting per-track reverse on playback.

Patches you save on the device land in the snapshot folder, which is the only place on-device saves go. "User" is simply where people usually put sounds they copy over from a computer. On disk it's all ordinary folders of .aif patch files, so in disk mode you can rename and arrange folders however you like, and many owners keep their own patches in named folders. Reorganising is easiest from a computer.

No — the OP-1 (and OP-1 field) tape is four tracks by design, with no setting to add more. The usual ways around it: bounce/consolidate by recording two finished parts together onto one track to free the others, play the synth and drum engines live over the tape instead of committing them, or back the tape up and finish the arrangement in a DAW. The OP-1 field keeps the same four-track tape but adds a proper mixer; it does not raise the track count.

Yes, that's a solid price. Original OP-1s have held their value unusually well and often go for more than that second-hand, so $600 for a clean, working unit (or an opened-box one) is a good deal rather than a red flag. Before buying, test every key and encoder, the screen, the speaker, and the jacks, and confirm it charges and takes a firmware update. The OP-1 field is the newer, pricier model — if you specifically want USB audio and the bigger feature set, factor that in, but for the classic OP-1 experience $600 is fair.

A screen that sits very slightly off-center is common on these devices and falls within normal manufacturing tolerance — it's purely cosmetic and doesn't affect the display or how the unit works. Unless it's dramatically misaligned, has dead pixels, or the glass is lifting, it isn't usually worth the hassle of a return. If it genuinely bothers you on a brand-new unit, that's a reasonable thing to raise with the retailer, but don't expect a "perfectly" centered panel.

A few options come up repeatedly. Teenage Engineering's own case is slim and fine for light protection; for tougher travel duty, owners rate the Analog Cases OP-XY case highly, and generic small hard cases or camera bags that fit the unit also work. Precision-cut third-party cases exist too (see TEcases in this list). Pick based on how much impact protection you need versus how slim you want it.

The reliable approach is to record each track on its own. The OP-XY is a class-compliant USB audio interface, so connect it to your computer and, for each track, mute everything else and record that single track's output into your DAW in one pass — repeat per track to build up stems that line up. Keep transport and tempo consistent between passes so the stems stay phase-aligned, then assemble and finish them in the DAW. It's a few passes rather than a one-click export, but it gives you clean, separate tracks.

Yes — hold the mute/shift modifier and tap a track button to mute or unmute that track, so you can drop parts in and out by hand. For arrangements where you want the muting to be part of the song rather than performed live, build it into the composer: make pattern variations that include or omit specific tracks and switch between them. Between live muting and pattern variations you can get most of the "drop the drums, bring them back" control you're after.

The entries in square brackets are subfolders, not sounds. Press the second encoder to open one and reach the presets inside. To go back up, scroll to the top of the list, because the back arrow doesn't step out of a subfolder the way you'd expect. If the installer reports errors when you add two packs at once, install them one at a time; owners who did that got both to load. Some also found the iPad installer worked when a PC kept failing.

Two ways. By cable: run your phone's headphone output (a USB-C or Lightning to 3.5 mm adapter works) into the OP-XY's 3.5 mm line input, press Sample, and turn the black encoder until the line-in (L/R / 3.5 mm) source shows at the top right. Anything the phone plays is then audible through the OP-XY and can be sampled. Over USB-C: the OP-XY also works as a USB audio device, so a phone connected with a USB-C cable can send audio to it. Select the USB source on the sample page. Owners found this works on current iOS versions, though older ones gave pops or silence. iOS sends audio to only one USB audio device at a time (usually the last one connected), so unplug other interfaces.

They can. Owners report that an OP-XY project doesn't keep its own copy of every sample. It points back to the files in your library, so deleting a kit, or moving it into another folder from a computer in disk mode, can leave the project's sequences intact but its sample slots silent. Before you tidy up the library, save the sounds your projects rely on as presets (or keep a full backup of the device in disk mode), and only reorganize files you know no project uses.

The OP-XY takes MIDI in over its USB-C port as a class-compliant device, so wire the phone or computer running your chord/controller app to the OP-XY with a USB-C cable and set the receiving track to listen to external MIDI. There's no native Bluetooth MIDI, so if your app only sends over BLE you'll need a Bluetooth-MIDI-to- USB bridge in between. Once it's wired and the track is set to receive, the app's notes play the OP-XY's engine.

There's no drag-to-reorder, so people move patterns with copy and paste. Copy a pattern into a free pattern slot, then paste it back where you want it. The copy carries its sound and settings with it, so the spare slot can be on any track, and you only need one free pattern somewhere in the project to shuffle things around. For variations that don't use up pattern slots, the auxiliary tracks are worth learning.

Not as engines — the OP-1 field and OP-XY use different synth architectures, so you can't copy a field patch over and have it run on the XY. To use those sounds on the OP-XY you sample them: play the chord or note you want on the OP-1 field and record it into the OP-XY (multisample across the keyboard if you want it playable in tune), or connect the two over MIDI so the OP-XY sequences the OP-1 field as an external voice live. Sampling captures the exact sound; MIDI keeps the field as a playable instrument in your XY set.

It depends on how you make music. If you work mostly with samples (chopping loops, finger-drumming kits, recording sounds with the built-in mic), the EP-133 K.O. II is the better fit. It's a hands-on sampler with pads, a fader and a simple screen. If you'd rather build tracks from synth engines and drums with deep step sequencing (per-step parameter locks, step components, separate drum, bass, lead, arp and chord tracks), the OP-Z suits you better. It has no screen, though, so you lean on the companion app or learn the key combos. On a budget, a PO-33 K.O! is a cheap way to try sampling. The OP-XY combines both approaches at a much higher price.

Over MIDI from the oplab module. Set the switch next to its out port to MIDI (not TRIG or PO), then run a 3.5 mm TRS cable from that port to the synth's minijack MIDI input. The OP-Z and many compact synths, the S-1 included, use the TRS "Type A" wiring, so no adapter is needed. A synth with a 5-pin DIN input needs a Type A adapter. You can then send notes and CCs from a track, or just clock to keep the two sequencers in step. Connecting two USB devices directly doesn't work, because neither one is a USB host. For audio, run the OP-Z's output into the synth's mix input if it has one, so both come out of one stereo pair.

If the OP-Z's synth sounds are your main gripe, the OP-XY targets exactly that: it has stronger synth engines, better sound quality, deeper sequencing, and real audio/CV I/O, so it's the natural upgrade. Adding external synths to the OP-Z keeps your setup cheaper and more portable, but you trade that for cables, extra boxes, and a more fiddly signal chain. Choose the OP-XY for an all-in-one step up, or external synths if you'd rather keep the OP-Z as a compact sequencer hub.

Teenage Engineering's manuals say to charge the OP-XY and OP-1 field from 5V USB power — a computer's USB port or a basic USB charger — which is the safest reading of the official guidance, and TE's warranty excludes damage caused by charging any other way. In practice, many owners run them from 65W+ PD chargers and powered USB-C hubs (85W) with no problems, since a device should only pull what it needs. If you want to follow the manual to the letter, use a plain 5V source; otherwise a reputable PD charger or power bank is what most people use day to day without issue. USB-C Power Delivery negotiates the voltage, so a bank rated "up to 20V" still supplies 5V to a device that asks for it. Be wary of a supply that only lists high voltages, and of proprietary cables that push a fixed voltage.

Connect the OP-XY over USB-C and put it in MTP (disk) mode, then copy your audio files into the Samples folder. On Windows it's the smoother experience — you can drop sub-folders into Samples — though renaming files/folders over MTP often fails (that's an MTP limitation, not the device). On macOS, MTP is finicky: Finder may show the folders but block edits (the classic "error 36"), so an MTP transfer app (e.g. Android File Transfer) tends to work better than Finder. Either way, keep samples in supported formats and eject cleanly when you're done.

The neatest community trick uses the tape track as a ducker: go to the tape track, activate only the track(s) you want to pump (set their level around 50–99 depending how hard you want it), keep the tape effect dry at x1, and the ducking follows your kick. You give up that tape track for tape FX, but you can still use it on other steps with parameter locks. There's also a more involved routing method using the multi-out set to audio, but most people find the tape-track approach the easiest way to get a sidechain feel without external gear.

You can tie a note into the next bar with a step-hold trick, the same way extending the last step works: hold the note's step and press an earlier step on the following bar. For example, with a note on step 13, hold S13 and press S12 to tie it from step 13 of bar 1 into step 12 of bar 2. It reliably ties a note to the step before it on the next bar; tying further (across multiple bars, or to a later step) isn't cleanly exposed and people haven't found a consistent method — so for long sustains many fall back to Hold or live recording.

This is a common OP-Z problem, especially after the unit has been stored for a while. Start with Teenage Engineering's official "kickstart" procedure in their help center. If that doesn't work, owners have had luck with a few community tricks: fully drain the cell and recharge it, open the back and gently bump or reseat the battery on its contacts while the charger is connected, or briefly bridge the battery contacts with a stripped USB wire to wake the cell. Note the OP-Z still runs fine on USB power with the battery removed. If the cell is genuinely dead, replacements are hard to find — TE doesn't sell them and iFixit's are usually out of stock — so people fit a similar-spec LiPo by soldering it to the connector, or use a community adapter such as the open-source OP-Z replacement-battery kit (also sold on Reverb).

The OP-Z is class-compliant, so most USB-MIDI keyboards work — the real question is power. Low-draw controllers run straight off the OP-Z's USB-C port: people report the Korg nanoKEY/microKEY and Arturia MicroLab/KeyStep working directly, usually with pitch-bend and mod passing through. Power-hungry keyboards (e.g. Novation Launchkey/FLkey) need more than the OP-Z can supply, so you have to insert a powered USB hub that injects power to both sides — the TE-endorsed Kingston Nucleum is the classic pick, but any decent powered USB-C hub or camera-kit-style adapter can work. The other route is 5-pin MIDI: send MIDI out from the keyboard into the Oplab or Line module and power the keyboard separately. Whichever you use, set the keyboard to the track's MIDI channel and play.

The OP-Z is a class-compliant USB audio device, so the cleanest route is to record its output over USB. On a computer it appears as an audio interface that any DAW can record from. On Android you typically need a USB-audio app such as Audio Evolution Mobile Studio or USB Audio Recorder PRO to capture without crackle; on iOS connect via a USB-C / camera-kit cable into your recording app. If you just want to play out (for example to a Bluetooth speaker) you can route through an app on the phone, but expect some latency. If you'd rather stay in the analog domain, take the headphone/line output into a standard audio interface.

Long-time owners still rate it highly — there's enough depth that people keep finding new tricks years in. The well-known issues are real but mostly manageable: a slight frame bend can cause occasional double-triggers, and dials can feel loose. In practice double-triggers often affect only a few buttons and can be worked around by pressing firmly, with more involved physical fixes available, or sidestepped entirely by playing via a USB-MIDI keyboard. The weak point worth checking is the battery (see the OP-Z battery FAQ). Modules are sold separately and some (Line, Oplab) are discontinued and pricey secondhand — without one you lose CV/MIDI-DIN and some Pocket Operator / eurorack integration, but the core device is fully usable over USB. If buying used, test every button and encoder and confirm it actually charges.

Not by data transfer. Transfers only move patterns and sounds between Pocket Operators of the same model, so a PO-12 can't send its kit to a PO-33. You can resample it, though: the PO-33 is a sampler, so play the other PO's sounds into the PO-33's line input (left jack) with an aux cable and record them into a drum slot (pads 9–16), which splits a run of hits across the pads. A recording of someone playing through the kit works too. The two units can also simply run in sync side by side on the same cable chain.

The PO-33 doesn't auto-slice — you build the chop by hand. Sample short segments of the break into separate sound slots (sample each hit/section over the line-in, trimming each one), so different pads trigger different parts of the loop. Or sample the whole break to one slot and re-trigger sections live in a pattern. Keep segments short (the PO-33's sample memory is small) and match the source tempo so the slices line up when you sequence them.

You sample into the PO-33 through its line-in — play the audio from a phone, computer, or mic into the input and record it, then trim the start/end and it lands in a sound slot. There is no USB, so you cannot drag WAV files onto it from a computer; everything is sampled in over the audio input. Match levels going in to avoid clipping, and remember the total sample memory is small, so keep clips short.

Pocket Operators have no USB or file storage — your patterns and samples live in battery-backed memory, so they persist while the batteries are good but there is no project file to export. To "back up" a track, record the audio output (the 3.5mm line/headphone jack) into a phone, recorder, or computer. There is no way to save the PO-33's sample memory or patterns to a file, so keep your source samples on a computer and re-record them if you ever lose the memory.

Pocket Operators have no power switch. They auto-sleep after a few minutes of inactivity (the screen goes off) and wake on a button press, so there's nothing to "turn off" — just leave it and it sleeps. To force it fully off, remove the batteries (or unplug external power). Because patterns/samples live in battery-backed memory, don't pull the batteries mid-edit if you want to keep your work.

They suit different people. The PO-12 Rhythm is the simplest: its drum sounds are fixed, each one has two tweakable parameters, and it's the quickest to pick up. The PO-32 Tonic is a drum synthesizer (its engine comes from Sonic Charge's Microtonic) whose sounds can be replaced. You can design kits in the paid Microtonic plugin, or load free patches someone else made by playing their audio file into the PO over an ordinary aux cable, so you don't have to buy the plugin to get new sounds. The PO-33 K.O! is a sampler: you record your own drums or loops through its mic or line input. That makes it the most flexible, but the drums are only as good as the samples you put on it. Get the PO-32 if you mostly want punchy, editable electronic drums. Get the PO-33 if you want to build kits from your own recordings.

Pocket Operators run on two ordinary AAA batteries, and alkalines are fine. Rechargeables work too and are the eco-friendly choice. NiMH cells such as Eneloops last for ages, and USB-rechargeable lithium AAAs are common, though lower-voltage (1.2 V) cells may not quite reach full volume. Take the batteries out if the PO will sit unused for a long time, since leaking cells can damage the board.

You don't need to spend much. Pocket Operators are small and inexpensive, so a pricey case is usually overkill — a silicone bumper, the official PO silicone cover, or a small zip pouch protects the exposed board and buttons fine, and many people just keep them in a pocket or a little hard case. If you're weighing a 50–60€ case against an ~80–100€ device, lean toward a cheap protector and put the rest toward another PO or sounds.

Treat a PO as what it is: a bare circuit board with an LCD on the front and the batteries clipped on the back. Many units run for years, but owners regularly report cracked or glitching screens, bent battery clips that cut the power, and buttons that become unreliable with heavy use. Build quality also seems to vary between batches. The consistent advice is to fit a protective case from day one, either the official silicone one or a hard printed or commercial case, and to keep the PO away from the bottom of a heavy bag. A case that covers the buttons also stops the unit switching on in transit.

A working PO mutes its speaker as soon as a plug is fully seated in the output. First check the socket: the output is the right-hand jack, and the left-hand one is the input/sync jack, so headphones plugged in on the left change nothing. Make sure the plug is a standard 3.5 mm stereo (TRS) plug and is pushed all the way in. Then try a cheap pair of earbuds to rule out the headphones. High-impedance studio headphones can sound very quiet from a PO's small output, so turn the volume all the way up (hold BPM and press pad 16) or put a small headphone amp in between. If the speaker keeps playing with a known-good plug in the right-hand jack, the jack's switch is likely faulty. Try a factory reset first, then consider a repair.

No. A PO has one tempo for everything, so you can't give individual patterns, or two instances of the same pattern in a chain, their own BPM. The usual workaround is rhythmic: program the "slow" section at half-time (or the fast one at double-time) within the same tempo, which uses extra patterns but sounds like a tempo change. A second PO or an external clock can also drive a different part of a setup.

You need a real audio input. A plain USB-C (or Lightning) to 3.5 mm headphone adapter is output-only: it's a tiny DAC for headphones, so a PO plugged into it through a splitter records silence. Use a small USB audio interface that has a 3.5 mm or line input and works with your phone. iRig-style interfaces and compact USB-C interfaces are the usual cheap picks, and on a computer any audio interface's line input works. Run the PO's right-hand output jack into the interface, then record in any app (a voice recorder, GarageBand, a DAW, or a sampler like Koala). Set the PO's volume high and the interface gain low for a clean level. To capture video and audio together, pick an interface your camera app can use as its microphone.

Only if you need to. Removing the tab gains or loses no functionality. It's just a piece of the PCB with a hole for hanging the PO up. The main reason people snap it off is that the official silicone case, and many third-party cases, only fit without it. A tab-less PO is also a bit more pocketable. Reasons to keep it: you can't reattach it, some owners prefer the look, and an intact tab helps resale value, especially on limited editions. If you're undecided, use a case that fits around the tab, or leave it on until you've picked a case.

Turn up the PO itself. Its master volume isn't a knob: hold BPM and press a pad, where pad 1 is quietest and pad 16 loudest. A PO left at a low setting sounds thin through anything you plug it into. Also check that the cable is in the right-hand jack (the output), and on a PO-33 that individual samples weren't recorded or trimmed too quietly. Weak batteries lower the level as well. If you're recording into a computer, plug into a microphone or line input and pick that input in your recording app, not the laptop's headphone socket.

There's real overlap — the K.O. II can do most of what a Pocket Operator does and more — so a PO isn't essential. Where they earn their place is portability and immediacy: a PO lives in a pocket, so it's the thing you grab to capture a bassline or beat idea the moment it hits, then bring back to the K.O. II to flesh out. Specific models also have their own character (the PO-33 K.O. sampler, the PO-32 Tonic drums, the Sub bass). Treat it as a fun, cheap idea-scratchpad rather than an upgrade.

Plug into the EP's input and sample it like any other source — but mind the level. A guitar's pickups put out a weak, instrument-level signal, so going straight in tends to be quiet and thin. Put something in front to bring it up to line level and shape the tone: a DI box, a preamp/pedal, or an amp-and-cab simulator all work well, and an overdrive or amp sim also gives you a usable guitar sound rather than a clean DI. Once it's recorded you can chop and sequence it like any other sample.

Put it into update mode and drop the firmware on as a disk: hold COM while powering on, then select update mode — the OP-1 should mount as a USB drive you can copy the official firmware file onto. This needs the screen and buttons connected to navigate, and is different from "test/T-boot" mode (just holding a key at power-on), which won't mount for a normal reflash. If it boots and chimes but never mounts in update mode, that points to a hardware/connection fault (e.g. the dev board) rather than the OS — check the manual's update steps and the ribbon connections.

Unit-to-unit quality complaints do come up for the TP-7 (and the TX-6) — soft or "squishy" buttons that can worsen over time, and occasional software hangs in sub-menus. Buying directly from Teenage Engineering isn't necessarily more reliable than a good retailer, and several owners went through two, three, even four units before landing on a good one. So it's worth inspecting a new unit carefully and not hesitating to exchange a clearly faulty one — a solid unit is a lovely device, but you may need an exchange or two to get there.

The faint mechanical click/whir from the motorised reel is common — owners who get warranty replacements often find the new unit clicks too, which suggests it's inherent to the mechanism rather than a defect in one bad unit. The good news is it generally doesn't bleed into recordings, so once you know it's normal most people stop chasing a "perfect" unit and just use it. If yours is loud enough to be picked up on recordings or sounds grinding (not a soft click), that's worth raising with TE support.

The TP-7 is a premium pocket field recorder with a motorised reel you can spin to scrub through audio by hand. Common uses are field recording and high-quality voice memos (it pairs with TE's app to transcribe spoken notes), grabbing sound to sample later, acting as a USB audio interface or recorder for other gear, and serving as a tactile jog/scrub controller. It's a luxury, tactile take on "always have a recorder on you" — overkill for some, a joy for people who capture sound constantly.

By default the TX-6 will try to charge whatever you plug into its USB ports, which can pull power from a phone, iPad, or OP-1 field. Turn on the "USB GND isolation" setting, which disables the charger. The catch is that on its own it doesn't always survive a restart — save it into a scene so the setting loads when the device powers on, which several owners report makes it stick.

Yes. Send the TX-6's main output into the TP-7 and hit record — either over USB-C, where the TP-7 acts as the recorder/interface for the TX-6's mix, or with a line cable from the TX-6 output to the TP-7's input. Watch your levels on the TX-6 so you're not clipping into the TP-7, and if you want to keep using the TX-6's aux sends/returns, take the recording feed from the main out rather than a channel you've routed away.

If your priority is simply capturing performances to a file dawless, the TP-7 is the cleaner choice: it's a focused recorder and USB interface and tends to "just work." The TX-6 is a full mixer that also records, which is great if you want to blend several sources, but some users hit glitches recording to USB sticks on it. One thing to know about the TP-7: you can scratch the reel during playback, but it doesn't record that scratching — it only affects playback of an existing file. So pick the TP-7 for a straightforward mobile recorder, the TX-6 if you also need a mixer.

You can order directly from Teenage Engineering's own store, which ships free in many regions — the trade-off is that shipping and support can be slow at busy times. For faster or more local options, buy from an authorized retailer such as Thomann, Perfect Circuit, Sweetwater, or Bax Music, which also gives you their returns and warranty handling. There's an active used market too, but check the fader and overall condition before buying second-hand.

For a first Pocket Operator, the PO-33 K.O! is the crowd-pleaser because it lets you sample your own sounds, which keeps it fun long after the novelty wears off. If they're more into drums and beats, the PO-32 Tonic or the PO-12 Rhythm are great, and the PO-20 Arcade is the playful gateway for melodies. They're all cheap, self-contained, and run on AAA batteries, so any of them is a low-risk way to dip into the TE world — pick by whether they want to sample, drum, or write tunes.