PO-32 Tonic!!

Felipe · January 19, 2017, 10:41am

More details on the PO-32 in the SONIC CHARGE forums directly from Frederik Lidström:

- PO-32 will have 4 drum channels - so only 4 drumsounds polyphony

- Microtonic and Pocket Operator will be able to exchange sounds and patterns

…below you have the new Microtonic interface with the PO panel

Frederik ( Sonic Charge Forums ):

<span style=“color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: “Helvetica Neue”, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); font-style: italic;”>…, it’s a fully featured Microtonic drum synth engine in there. Because it runs on a low power microcontroller, it is limited to four channels (which in itself required some extreme coding wizardry from Magnus). The optimize button analyses the pattern and sounds and tries to rearrange the channels to minimize the voice stealing. While the transfer interface is visible, Microtonic will actually run in “PO-32 preview mode”, limiting itself to four channels, so you can hear and tweak the result before transferring.

<span style=“color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: “Helvetica Neue”, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;”>https://soniccharge.com/forum/topic/812-teenage-engineering-po-32

Servando · January 19, 2017, 11:54am

Transfer is very much like the TC electronic tone print pedals then. Really not a big deal. If microtonic was an iOS/android app that would be fantastic.

This is the only thing that could decide me to buy it

have you ever heard of Elastic drums?.

hudson · January 19, 2017, 12:24pm

Would like to know if drum sounds can be further edited on the PO. If so, I imagine we will be limited to 2 parameters.

hudson · January 19, 2017, 1:17pm

In-depth looksys here > PO-32

Eti · January 19, 2017, 1:26pm

Transfer is very much like the TC electronic tone print pedals then. Really not a big deal. If microtonic was an iOS/android app that would be fantastic.

This is the only thing that could decide me to buy it

have you ever heard of Elastic drums?.

Yes I know Elastic drums, I am not looking for a drum app, just wishing that TE comes with an app that can do the same thing the TC Electronic Toneprint App do with TC Electronic guitar pedal ;). Google it if you don’t know it yet, I am a guitarist and can say I really enjoy this technology!

steveoath · January 19, 2017, 1:40pm

Is there anything stopping people from recording the tones used to transfer data to and from the PO-32 and playing them back via a computer as a way to trade kits?

I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t do this. The PO won’t know where the sound is coming from. And a computer doesn’t produce any special sounds that playing back through a phone or whatever couldn’t do. That would certainly be a great way to distribute “presets” amongst everyone – and also to have some stored for on-the-go changing of sounds.

GAME CHANGER. If we could set up a thread where we linked to recordings of the data sound we have instant preset swapping.

steveoath · January 19, 2017, 2:21pm

Yes I know Elastic drums, I am not looking for a drum app, just wishing that TE comes with an app that can do the same thing the TC Electronic Toneprint App do with TC Electronic guitar pedal ;). Google it if you don't know it yet, I am a guitarist and can say I really enjoy this technology!

The TC stuff (correct me if I’m wrong) doesn’t let you edit in the toneprint app - I only briefly flirted with the HOF mini, so memory is hazy. So unless there is editing within the PO tonic people would be relying on microtonic owners sharing the “data bleep”.

However, I had a thought (dangerous). If you have soundcloud/bandcamp/etc setup with a playlist of Tonic “data bleeps” you could use your phone to trigger the preset change.

TabascoEye · January 19, 2017, 2:27pm

cloudburst
Wonder if the “Lock” is a break-off tab and represents a once-only use-case?
CB

No. The manual page says you can create a solder bridge of the two pads on the backside of the unit.
So the tab is just a PCB trace that you break off but you have exposed PCB pads that you can connect again using a soldering iron.

Pretty cool idea.

TabascoEye · January 19, 2017, 2:28pm

bichuelo
I understand you can use all of the features -minus backup- without a computer ain’t it?
It would be great if you could save the presets in a recorder or the OP-1 without a computer. I do think this might be possible as well!

yes! you could just record the “modem” sounds it makes with an OP-1 and store multiple “patches” on the OP-1.
No computer needed to switch on the go :o))
This is cool.

TabascoEye · January 19, 2017, 2:34pm

Is there anything stopping people from recording the tones used to transfer data to and from the PO-32 and playing them back via a computer as a way to trade kits?

pretty sure TE will rather encourage it and already has thought of the possibilities of storing these sound/data snippets on smartphones, OP-1, …

GCF · January 19, 2017, 3:48pm

Just had a thought for saving presets on the OP-1 – you could have a drum kit that alternates between the drum sound that you will hear and the data sound. Then to transfer, you just find the sound you want, and play the next key on the keyboard to transfer that sound over. It would be a nifty way of consolidating sounds on the OP-1 without taking up too many Snapshot spots.

I will outright say that if I get the PO-32 without the software, I would chip in a few bucks to someone who does get it in exchange for sounds moving forward.

jjbbllkk · January 19, 2017, 6:44pm

Just had a thought for saving presets on the OP-1 -- you could have a drum kit that alternates between the drum sound that you will hear and the data sound. Then to transfer, you just find the sound you want, and play the next key on the keyboard to transfer that sound over. It would be a nifty way of consolidating sounds on the OP-1 without taking up too many Snapshot spots.

I will outright say that if I get the PO-32 without the software, I would chip in a few bucks to someone who does get it in exchange for sounds moving forward.

That is a damn cool idea. I wonder if the PO-32 will need to go into a special mode to send and receive the data chirps or if it can perform and listen at the same time.

GCF · January 19, 2017, 7:07pm

@jjbbllkk In the video with the microtonic creator, it seemed like that “Star Trek” noise was an “armed for receiving data” sound. So probably requires a separate mode that stops all other activities.

MrJoshua · January 19, 2017, 10:13pm

Quote:

“you can craft your own unique sounds in microtonic, or download them e.g. from the sonic charge online rhyhtm-generator patternarium. then you send them over to PO-32 tonic (via the microphone without a cable) and take the machine on the road”.

So there is a repository for patches online already!

GCF · January 19, 2017, 10:39pm

@MrJoshua I just looked into that Patternarium. As it currently stands, you would still need to own uTonic in order to upload those sounds to the PO-32. The sounds on there can be saved as “preset files” that contain all of the settings for each drum. Then you import that file into uTonic to get the sounds and patterns. Maybe it will be updated so that it can play the individual sounds too if the maker thinks it’s a good idea.

Lowrent · January 20, 2017, 3:09pm

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPfZqcog8yv/

Sounds goooood…

TimeRaveler · January 20, 2017, 4:29pm

Looks like the knobs can be set up to morph between 2 different sounds/parameter settings! I wonder if one knob always controls pitch and the other is customizable like this?

https://ask.audio/articles/namm-2017-demo-video-of-teenage-engineering-pocket-operator-po32

motone · January 20, 2017, 5:24pm

@TimeRaveler Knob A controls pitch, knob B controls “sound morph” (see MicroTonic GUI, horizontal slider on the top).

5StarNomad · February 8, 2017, 11:18pm

For those interested, here’s how the PO-32 packaging opens up. Check out the “story”!

5StarNomad · February 8, 2017, 11:27pm