Teenage Engineering’s Tiny Record Player Also Makes Custom Vinyl Records

If you asked followers of Teenage Engineering’s musical toys and devices what the corporate’s subsequent creation would be, they most likely assumed it will be a brand new Pocket Operator, one other speaker, or perhaps an replace to the OP-Z. In actuality, it’s the corporate’s first system that wholeheartedly embraces analog audio: a portable record cutter.

Analog audio codecs as soon as regarded as extinct are having fun with a stunning renaissance. Cassette tapes are discovering their approach again into shops and vinyl data are as soon as once more a booming enterprise, even if most of us carry a tool in our pockets with entry to actually tens of millions of songs. Does analog audio sound higher than digital? That could also be a debate that’s by no means resolved, however data do have a definite sound that many choose over the exacting perfection of a digital file, and now Teenage Engineering needs everybody to have the ability to make their very own.

Fans of vinyl data and turntables may discover the brand new PO-80 acquainted. It’s a collaboration between Teenage Engineering, designer Yuri Suzuki, and the Japanese instructional toy maker, Gakken—though these final two have labored collectively earlier than. A number of years in the past, Gakken and Suzuki created the EZ Record Maker, which we coated again when it debuted in 2020, and whereas we haven’t gone fingers on with the brand new PO-80 but, based mostly on pictures alone, it appears to be like almost equivalent to the EZ Record Maker, other than some coloration updates and snazzy Record Factory branding.

That’s not essentially a foul factor, as a result of getting your fingers on the EZ Record Maker exterior of Japan wasn’t straightforward until you had been prepared to abdomen some hefty import charges. The PO-80 contains each a tonearm that may play again five-inch or seven-inch (with an adapter) vinyl data in addition to a slicing arm with a replaceable stylus that may engrave three minutes of superb monophonic sound (at 45RPM) or 4 minutes of decrease high quality audio (at 33RPM) onto a five-inch vinyl disc.

For $149, the USB-powered PO-80 contains a built-in speaker, an additional slicing stylus, six clean five-inch vinyl data, and a 3.5-millimeter audio plug for connecting an audio supply like a Pocket Operator synth. Teenage Engineering additionally sells a bunch of equipment together with a $59 carrying case, substitute stylii for $15 every, and a 10-pack of clean data for $20.

For these hoping for “the optimum sound quality for your recordings,” Teenage Engineering has additionally created an online mastering tool that “applies the desired equalizer curve to your music and makes it easier to achieve good lo-fi sound quality on your custom 5″ cuts.” Don’t anticipate miracles or a sound that compares to the pre-recorded vinyl data you should buy at a retailer, however once you’re dropping $2 on three-minutes of analog audio, you may as properly do something you’ll be able to to make it shine.