For the price learn to sing in C or its modes etc…
Ah bugger. Just paid for postage on my case for my PO12 and this thread is making me want to buy the other two now! :P
PO14 or PO16..... or both?!!
If it could play every key then it would be overpowered, especially for the price TE is selling it as. They had to nerf it a bit so it would stay within the parameters of it’s intended use: a support piece for the OP-1, rather than it’s own seperate instrument.
As the unit is now, its intended use should be obvious, to sprinkle in a quick easy to adjust melody overtop of whatever it is you are playing. It is one of the reasons TE went so far out of the way to make them sound different. To the OP-1 they serve as Musical sprinkles, icing, etc not an instrument in and of itself.
and here is a video for @punji showing off the nothing to do with an LFO; lfo effect- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgfbABbmmDo
Ughhhh… It’s killing me that TE apparently took out this ability in the PO-28. I just recently bought the 20, and then the 28 to add ‘lead’ sounds over it… I’ve been trying to recreate parts of actual songs in the PO-28 but always always always hit a sharp/flat that I can’t reproduce. The half-note shift seems like it was a perfect solution, why would they remove it in the 28 when it’s supposed to be the ‘lead’ model of the 20-line?!
For those of you wanting a workaround within the limits of the scale (which by the way I would argue is more A minor with a minor and major 7th)… I recently purchased Melodyne 4 Studio… Not only can you tweak the pitch to any pitch of your liking, but also create polyphony! I hope to post a track with it soon 
For those of you wanting a workaround within the limits of the scale (which by the way I would argue is more A minor with a minor and major 7th)... I recently purchased Melodyne 4 Studio... Not only can you tweak the pitch to any pitch of your liking, but also create polyphony! I hope to post a track with it soon :)
Not sure how a workaround to a missing feature on the POs would be to buy a $700 piece of software ;). But that’s cool- look forward to hearing your work! Can anyone recommend another small, cheap physical device that would pair well with the POs that could play (and ideally save programs) ‘lead’ without the key limitations? I know most will say the OP-1, but I’m looking for something along the price of the POs…
I always rate the mini kaoscillator (1 or 2) for pocket jams.
You can even turn scale off completely ,for continuous pitch slides.
late chiming in to this ^^ was also slightly disheartened to discover this limitation, started with the PO-20 and really wish the device would offer the option to choose which chords are on which buttons. Would love more minor chords !!
Using it in my band STICKY BISCUITS. On some songs that feature chords the PO20 doesn’t have I simply use the effects to take away the chords (rhythm only) for those parts. With another instrument in the mix it works that way. We’ll try to write songs that include the more obscure PO20 chords to have more variety. In general super happy with what the PO adds to the songs, finally ready for club/party gigs that require more bass and rhythm ^^
Some of the micro drum sounds can be tuned to out of scale notes. Also some of the play styles fill in so out of scale notes, but your song still has to have a natural root note (no sharps/flats). One thing to try is just put a note on the 1st step and set it to the key of your song. Let it play and mess with the play styles. They will do stuff over the whole sequence. You can also use this to change “keys” while the sequence is running
Does anyone know if there is a way to do the half note up in the Robot PO-28?
Or why is this the only model that has a G# besides the C major scale?
You can play A minor using the same notes as C major. The most common exception is raising the G a half step up to G#, so it works as a leading tone to A. (like the note B in C major)
You can play A minor using the same notes as C major. The most common exception is raising the G a half step up to G#, so it works as a leading tone to A. (like the note B in C major)so TE added G# to give the user the option of a major key or a minor key, with only 8 different notes.
But it makes way more sense to use F# instead, ain’t it? With that black key alone, you will have C major, A minor, G major and E minor
In that case, you can still use the fifth (E) in A minor for endings and to resolve to A, instead of G#
Was considering adding some PO’s to my OP; this thread definitely killed that idea 
But it makes way more sense to use F# instead, ain't it? With that black key alone, you will have C major, A minor, G major and E minor
But it makes way more sense to use F# instead, ain't it? With that black key alone, you will have C major, A minor, G major and E minorSure, you can play a natural minor scale in A and E with those notes. But you don't quite "have" those minor keys, since the harmonic minor scale is just as common as the natural minor scale. (and requires G# for A minor, D# for E minor)And sure, the fifth scale degree has a function similar to the leading tone. But TE decided to go for a single more complete minor key, rather than two that are both missing an important note.of course ideally they'd have a full 12-tone scale, but with the limited physical interface, this is what they decided was the best compromise.
Of course I do understand they can’t have the 12-tone scale, that’s why I made that suggestion. That’s my humble opinion. But what you say makes total sense as well.