Teenage Engineering has introduced a new addition their line of Pocket Operators. The PO-32 Tonic is a drum and percussion synthesizer. It’s handheld—about the size of a calculator.
Developed in cooperation with Magnus Lidström of Sonic Charge, PO-32’s sound engine is powered by the well-known Microtonic virtual drum synthesizer. Unlike its software counterpart, though, all sound engine parameters are directly controllable by the pots and triggers on the device.
There are 23 small trigger buttons on the device itself, along with two knobs, one controlling pitch another controlling the “morph” parameter which seems to change each drum sound radically. This allows the user the ability to create their own custom sounds from the original factory settings.
The device is paired with Lidström’s Microtonic VST software which can be used to create even more new sounds and transfer them to the device. In a pretty amazing display of engineering, the PO-32 only needs to be held up to a computer speaker and the new sound data from the Microtonic software is transferred into the unit’s microphone receiver via a fax machine-like sound. That’s it. The PO-32 can now play the drum hits you designed in the Microtonic software!
Teenage Engineering also has several other Pocket Operators that specialize in drums, bass, synth, and other FX sounds. According to the information released at the NAMM 2017 show, the PO-32 will be available in April this year at a price slightly higher than the rest of the company’s product lineup at $89. There is also the option of buying it bundled with the Microtonic software for $139.
More info: Teenage Engineering PO-32 Tonic
