(Sorry for the crossposting)
So.
My wife was sweet enough to deal with the whole thing twice. Which is, two units, two dead faders (and some knobs). Still, no RMA, no communication, no replacement, etc.
So refund it is. And I’ll refrain from buying me some legos this year! Lesson learned!
Here’s hope you guys all have/keep functioning units and keep creative amongst this mess of a release.
Cheers!
lol that sucks man. seriously a big bummer. honestly i feel the same frustrations as you generally, although not to the same extent simply bc i dont have as much TE experience as you.
one glimmer of reframing i can suggest though is just understand one thing (this has helped temper my expectations): we are used to big tech style support like apple inc, but they have a bank account bigger than eu countries and literally 10s of thousands of software engineers paid 400k USD. compare that to TE which has less than 100 total employees. its just IMO not possible for them to offer anywhere near the support we’ve all come to just “expect” now a days. just my 2 cents.
I usually subscribe to this point of view. I really do.
But in the case of TE, it is borderline arrogant at that point.
I asked for a RMA basically 2 hours after receiving my first unit. In between then and today, TE CS sent me 3 emails.
3 emails without any RMA in sight, no real concern about my issues and, more than anything, no acknowledgement of any sort.
Would they had provided a RMA, I wouldn’t be disappointed. I usually found TE CS to be quite on point.
But this release is, at least for me, a bit too much. Too arrogant. Too botched down.
I’m not gonna list everything that went wrong. Errors can/should be made when designing/releasing a new product.
But this isn’t TE first rodeo. The OP-Z debacle was supposed to be their « let’s wake up » moment. The op1 Field price tag was supposed to be a statement of quality and dedicated development.
But they failed on all these fronts more than once.
They could apologize. They could communicate. They could live up to their word.
And I can wait. I can understand a lot of things.
But the way they operate is not aligned with my simple expectations.
I bought from retailers (well, my wife did). So TE is not even obligated to take direct RMAs (which, in the end, they don’t at the moment).
But, at the very least, this whole EP-133 is a mess.
Quite simply - and this is my own personal opinion at that point, so feel free to dismiss it - they are not a brand I trust anymore.
I work hard for my money.
I’m not their target.
Again. I’m the first to be surprised here.
And believe you me, I don’t usually take things at heart like that.
But in 2023, they cost me way too much. And I paid way too much for products that were not as pristine and sturdy as advertised.
I can get behind your argument any day.
Just not with TE anymore.
They have some cool designs, some really cool ideas. I almost got sold here.
But I do have a full ITB studio, some great outboard gear that never had any issue at all.
TE is the single brand in my studio with, basically, one support ticket per item. Minimum.
I’ll keep an eye out.
For sure, TE’s teams got some great ideas.
But they have to outgrow their « teenage » moniker and morph into some serious adult management.
Then, they’ll get my money.
Sorry for the (kind of a) rant.
Not my style.
But they messed with my wife on this one.
She was all sad today, with tears in her eyes, saying she thought she had a killer gift - only to let me down.
Same with the first unit.
And believe me when I say my wife is hard as a rock.
(She was upset because of the bad gift and the amount of effort to return everything. Luckily, my fave retailers know me well and provided way more support than I thought they would)
I’m getting old. Or too picky. Or both. But after the UPS debacle, this EP adventure is way too much time for me.
Anyways.
I just can hope for the best to anyone with a functional or broken unit.
TE is a broken brand for sure. But its users/customers are among the most creative ones. And this community is a real wonder. Inspiring place.
Again. Sorry for the rant.
Guess I have to get back to the machines that work and spend less time ranting behind a screen!
Thanks for the insight tho.
I really do like your posts, man.
Inspiring at times, always helpful and respectful af.
Cheers!
Hey so,
i’ve posted this on many other forums and i can’t seem to get a straight answer. Has anyone succesfully gotten polyphony working via trs midi in? i’ve tried multiple pieces of gear (polyend seq, yamaha reface keyboard, roland j6, korg nano key studio, akai miniak, deluge, tenori-on) you name it, but i can’t seem to get polyphony to work midi in on the ep-133. the only thing that has worked to succesfully get polyphony to work via midi in was OP-1 Field via USB. Also, i can play polyphonically on the ep-133 with the pads, and i can also send midi out polyphonically with the ep-133, so its not a settings (key vs legato) or voice stealing, or mute group issue. has anyone here tried trs midi in and successfully gotten chords to work?!
Thanks.
it worked for me by
Yes, as I mentioned in my post, those settings are confirmed. Also, I mentioned I have gotten polyphony to successfully work with an op-1 via usb. Can you elaborate what piece of gear you’ve successfully achieved polyphony via trs midi in?
i posted on elektronaught forum too but just in case y’all have some helpful insight too:
just got my ep133 direct from TE. arrived in great shape no issues. speaker and fader all good. the keys did slightly stick at first but after playing the thing for 15min (which went by in what felt like 55 seconds) all keys were super smooth. very brief break in period is all.
i can attest the fader knob is very tight. i very slowly but surely applied force, nothing crazy but quite firm. no issues but i’m def seeing how this could cause issues. how can i tell if the fader knob is on all the way? does anyone know? i’d push a bit more if i knew it could go on more but i don’t want to risk it at this point.
I think it is on all the way, mine looks the same and if you compare the height of the fader know to the height of the other knobs, it’s the same, at least it is on my device.
Arturia MiniLab 3.
Hi, 1) my fader is light and smooth, 2) I have pressed my fader knob is futher down than yours. I would say I have 1/2mm clearance.
i was kinda thinking i might have a bit more to go bc when i watched the TE videos on their website the close up shots look like the fader is almost flush with the plane of the device.
how hard did you have to push and does anyone have any tricks to make this safer and or easier? thanks all!
Can you share a photo of the fader without the knob attached? And perhaps measure how long the tap sticks out. I am thinking maybe your fader is not mounted correctly and therefore is pressed against the top of the EP133. That would result in tight operation, and not being able to push the knob all the way down. Do you follow my thinking?
unforuntaely there is no going back at this point lol, its on quite tight. i appreciate your help here. i think it is far enough on for me. i was mostly just concerned that if it needed to be flush with the surface of the unit id def need to go further, but im seeing that there is at least some clearance in the official pics from TE so i think even if i have a slight delta/epsilon thats not a huge deal IMO.
if it sits flush with the other knobs (or maybe slightly under) then u got it on just fine
I did a little tribute to the KO 133 EP with this set of wallpaper. (It’s a slightly custom unit, Dustkat style). Thought someone else could also enjoy it.
I’ve yet to use my K.O. II, as it’s a gift, but I’ve been wondering about a specific QC / Parts issue.
Regarding the back story about TE buying random components and deciding what to build, does anyone foresee a situation in the very near future where the K.O. II can no longer be made in it’s current form, due to a lack of components that have been used to fix faulty units, or can’t be used at all due to complete failure of components en mass?
I’d say it’s a valid question. But a really complicated one.
And, long story short, it depends on TE’s vision, TE’s ability to purchase enough stock at a given time, TE’s partners and TE’s specific BOM.
Since they probably purchased cheap by-the-bulk components and, therefore, probably have been securing both their stock and forthcoming restocks for a foreseeable future.
That’s the whole problem with the Fadergate : TE is probably stuck with a sub-par component and is, at the moment, calculating what it will cost in RMAs - although they probably did their due diligence on the matter way back when designing the product.
Usually, you only get an interesting price on certain quantities depending on a number of variables. And designing around your stock (and not the other way around) has its downsides.
Great question there. And an important one given the issues at play here
Hi all, I’m having a little difficulty with a particular sample.
I’m using Grp D, selected a pad to record on. I’m using the mic. Threshold at minimum, level is fine.
All good so far as when the recording is complete the sample plays back in its entirety.
Next I want to add this sample to a pad and record it in. Set the length of bar to 8 which is more than enough to accommodate the length of sample. Hit record and play then press the pad but it doesn’t record the full length of the sample. I can set the Sound to One or Key or Legato and whatever I choose it only records a few seconds of the 5 second sample. The sample isn’t trimmed. The attack is short and the release long.
Tapping the pad when the sequence isn’t running the sample will play right through when in Sound mode or Main. Playing the sequence back and it only plays a couple of seconds of the sample.
What am I doing wrong?
Thanks
tbh u might not be doing anything wrong
i too have been noticing similar weird behavior w/ the samples playing back
sometimes it will play all the way thru
sometimes it will only play the beginning
sometimes it sounds like there is a release env set
as in the sound gets quieter as it plays out either all the way or only part
sometimes it plays at full volume all the thru
sometimes it lpays at full volume but stops short
Interesting that someone else has encountered this too.
I’ll add that I’ve double checked that the fader settings are not influencing the sample.
