Teenage Engineering EP-133 K.O. II Sampler

[Crunchyave]

Heh, obvious sampler influence confirmed (and seen in the picture): "I think the nice thing about samplers are that they become "you," rather than a synth that has a certain sound. you choose what to sample and how to chop it. Also we're all big fans of the work that Roger Linn did with the LM-1 & 2, MPC60 and 3000. Many samplers since became too complex to use, so to me, the reason for creating a new hardware sampler today is more around making a handy instrument with zero boot time, low latency throughout, and a tool you'll learn to master, that encourages you to perform."

Emphasis mine here, but this is the main reason I’m excited to grab one of these. An imperfect tool that is quick to learn and master is (for me at least) way better for actually ending up with music than an amazing tool which requires too much setup before I begin.

[fastlanestranger]

What’s funny is they spent a ton of money on that packaging (licensing) while still making bad packaging.

[acuriousbehind]

glassjoe.jpg

[flts]

What’s funny is they spent a ton of money on that packaging (licensing) while still making bad packaging.

I don't want this to turn into yet another TE critique thread, because I enjoy the things that they do and wish them to succeed... But that does sound like a very TE kind of mistake if it's about that. Eg. make something that looks great, is super fun & fast to use and novel idea - and then mess up something badly in the practical implementation.

[fruitsnake]

Is it possible to input/pass audio thru the effects (without sampling) ?

Yes

[starthief]

One thing to watch out for on the faders is that recorded fader movement takes precedence over live fader movement. So at one point I thought the fader had failed on me, when it turned out I'd recorded LPF automation


As far as Lego compatibility goes, all the pots have those plastic axle things, the fader is similar but without the horizontal crossbar.

The battery cover/faceplate and the speaker cover are both attached with Lego-compatible studs.

There are also some holes along the edges that might be useful for some kind of stand, or connecting multiple units in the EP series with a few 3673 connector pegs to link them side by side. If that's the sort of thing you'd be inclined to do, anyway.

[Gdub]

No one has really mentioned the 9 project bit
What happens once they are full ?
Can we move projects to a pc, and import them back again ?
This is a deal breaker for me
What are the options?
And basically everything to do with getting sounds,patterns out of the device
No one seems to be talking about the above
Can I make a full track? Can patterns be chained together?
Hopefully someone has these answers
I’ve only really seen some 4 bar loops demonstrations

[fruitsnake]

MAJOR UPDATE TO FADERGATE

I fixed the fader myself in 3 minutes without opening the case. All you need is a T-pin/bobby pin/paperclip type thing. Big thanks to Decima1 on youtube for doing the diagnosis. In his video here you can see the part of the component that was damaged by the box that needs to be fixed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1aze7ySnxc

Here's my step by step for fixing it without opening the case.

1: power off your KO-II and push the fader to the bottom position (0%)
2: bend some kind of small pin thing at two right angles, perpendicular to each other (see attached pic; I used a T-pin)
3: carefully insert the the now bent end of the pin into the slot above the fader and slip it downwards underneath the little car that the fader post is attached to. This should now be resting on top of the little brushes which have become bent in shipping and are causing the malfunction.
4: gently press the pin down and in under both the left and right sides of the fader post car (towards the base and bottom of the unit). This should bend the brushes back down towards the contact strips in the fader.
5: carefully remove your bent pin from the fader slot and power on your unit. The fader should be working.

This worked for me on the first try, so I assume you could repeat if necessary until it works, but I'd also watch out since the brushes you're trying to bend back are very small and could certainly be damaged with repeated/rough fiddling. Luckily, you haven't opened the case so if this fix doesn't work for you, you can still send your unit back under warranty.

[hawkfuzz]

No one has really mentioned the 9 project bit
What happens once they are full ?
Can we move projects to a pc, and import them back again ?
This is a deal breaker for me
What are the options?
And basically everything to do with getting sounds,patterns out of the device
No one seems to be talking about the above
Can I make a full track? Can patterns be chained together?
Hopefully someone has these answers
I’ve only really seen some 4 bar loops demonstrations

Once they're full you'd have to erase something. It's just like the POs. This isn't meant to be the one and only but like most TE products it's for immediacy. I'd be surprised if nothing pops up to support import/exporting though.

[behndy]

i have a bud that has some down time from where he worked at, so ordered him a KO when i ordered mine. actually, a day after i ordered mines. his got there today (from B&H, they ship FedEx), said his fader works fine. woot! mentioned that the holes for the buttons are a bit tight on some keys, that they stick a little.

[Gdub]

@hawkfuzz
Thanks for the reply
Sadly I thought that was going to be the answer
This could be the deal breaker for me

[Logarhythm]

Thanks for sharing your clever fix, fruitsnake. I ordered an EP pretty early on release day (presumably TE will resume shipping units on Mon) and have since been expecting to need to fix the thing when I get it, based on all the reports. Personally I enjoy doing that sort of thing but it doesn't make it less crappy for everyone, especially if they have to send their brand new units back for repair. Here's a pic of the opened-up slider from the disassembly video to supplement fruitsnake's instructions:

2023-11-26 14_12_52-2023-11-26 14_08_23-sh4-commits - Firefly - Slack.png - IrfanView.png

The design aesthetic is totally nailing it for me and I've been interested in a midi composer/MPC-style counterpart to my digitakt for a while. I do hope there is a librarian utility for the patterns at some point, or it'll really stifle the long-term freedom of using this thing.

[sacguy71]

I have tons of samplers and will wait for TE to fix the early release issues with the software, firmware and sliders. I am happy with my SP404 MK2 and other samplers and this seems fun but quite limited.

[polesay]

Just got mine and the fader doesn’t work. lol

[fruitsnake]

Just watch a few episodes of MacGyver to brush up on your paperclip skills.

[Finn&Logi]

Thanks fruitsnake , gonna work my MacGyver paper clip skills to see if I can fix mine as well.

[Dyst]

Just got mine with a broken fader as well. I'll try fruitsnake's method to fix it.

[polesay]

I returned mine cuz I didn’t wanna deal with it or potentially break anything trying to fix the fader. Bummer cuz it seemed really cool and fun from the brief time I spent messing with it. If they get this sorted out I’ll prolly get another one eventually.

Funny that they made this really cool packaging that I guess damaged the fader? Mine was in there so tight that it was borderline impossible to get out of the box.

[fruitsnake]

Someone was asking about the sound quality with user samples vs the stock sounds, so I just loaded my favorite personally-sampled drum hits onto there and they sound fantastic. With the same samples and no post-processing, KO-II sounds much more polished than the Polyend Tracker. I'd say the sound quality is similar to what I get with my MPC Live with one or two plugins on my kit, but the immediacy of getting good sounds on the KO-II is its real advantage. Obviously with the MPC I can add tons of processing on every drum and get the kit to sound far more intense than on the KO-II, but that takes some doing. So, in conclusion, I'd say that the "inherent sound" of the KO-II is quite good; what you're hearing is not just lots of pre-processing on the stock sound set.

[soundular]

Thanks for the insight! That was my question, so thanks for sharing.

[behndy]

** SOUND QUALITY DESCRIPTIONS **

this and the advice on the fader, you are a veritable FONT of helpful information. thanks!

[bjoerngiesler]

I just loaded my favorite personally-sampled drum hits onto there and they sound fantastic.

This has been my experience with the TE stuff I own. It all sounds really good, punchy, crisp, clear. Not sure how they do it. I suspect some EQ and compressor built into the playback chain. But it's really really nice.

[t-sun]

Thanks to everyone who received theirs and have posted reports, it's a shame about the build quality issues - I had wondered a little about what to expect there after I read that they spooled up a new production line in Spain just to build these. Brand new product design, brand new production facility, possibly inexperienced builders. Hopefully as more people get them we find that more of them are in working order than not.

Regarding the sequencer, does the web UI for transferring samples not also allow you to pull sequences? Without having one connected it won't really show me anything.

[Aleksey]

I just loaded my favorite personally-sampled drum hits onto there and they sound fantastic.

This has been my experience with the TE stuff I own. It all sounds really good, punchy, crisp, clear. Not sure how they do it. I suspect some EQ and compressor built into the playback chain. But it's really really nice.

I can’t get over how effective the master section in OG1, blew my mind quite literally since I was playing with some beyerdynamic 770s on high volume.

[cs1729]

My fader is messed up too. It works ok, but if you press it a little to the side, it jumps way up in value. Probably I'll open it up and bend the pins or try to find a better part that fits.

Does anyone know if it's possible to mute either individual pads or whole channels (abcd)? I see a mute icon which I know references mute groups, but the manual also sort of implies it can be used for another type of mute. I found holding shift and pressing a pad will solo a sound, but I would really like a mute function.