The Pocket Operator PO-33 Knock-Out is a super fun sampler and step-sequencer made by Teenage Engineering! I got one in August 2019, and am using it to play around with sample-based music.

See also Music Gear and Setup

In 2019 I got a Pocket Operator PO-33, part of the "Metal" series of devices from Teenage Engineering. This is a sampler and step-sequencer in a pocket-calculator-esq form factor. Very fun! These are some notes.

Resources:

• Reddit - r/pocketoperators - very active community

Data

• Sound 1-8, "Melodic"
  • Single sound per button
• Sound 9-16, "Drump"
  • 16 sound-slices per button
  • Each slice is an independent thing

Controls:

• "sound" button
• "pattern" button
• "bpm" button
• Rotator-A (left)
• Rotator-B (right)
• "record" button
• "FX" button
• "play" button
• "write" button
• Melodic buttons
  • Button-1
  • Button-2
  • Button-3
  • Button-4
  • Button-5
  • Button-6
  • Button-7
  • Button-8
• Drum buttons
  • Button-9
  • Button-10
  • Button-11
  • Button-12
  • Button-13
  • Button-14
  • Button-15
  • Button-16

Map of modes and inputs and displays:

• Current selections
  • You currently have one sound selected
    • Press "sound" -- assigned sounds are dim-lit, current sound is flashing bright-lit
  • You currently have one active pattern, though you may be in part of a pattern-chain
    • Press "pattern" -- assigned patterns are dim-lit, patterns in the current pattern-chain are bright-lit, current pattern is flashing bright-lit
  • You currently have one FX selected
    • "FLT" - Filter
      • Displays "?" on the screen below feedback area (upper-right)
      • Rotator A (left) LPF, noF, HPF
      • Rotator B (right) Res (Resonance)
    • "tri" - Trim
      • No trim-mode indicator
      • Display at bottom of screen indicates start/length of slice
      • Rotator A (left) - slice start offset
      • Rotator B (right) - slice length
    • "ton" - Tone
      • Displays "!" in a quote-bubble below feedback area (upper-right) when in tone-mode
      • Rotator A (left) - Display "Ptc", indicates slow-down or speed-up of sample, amount indicated on bottom scale
      • Rotator B (right) - Display "UoL" for "volume", indicates volume level of sample, amount indicated on bottom scale
• Perform mode "PrF" (default)
  • Button-1 through Button-16 -- Trigger sound
    • If current sound is melodic, pitch will change based on which button you press
    • If current sound is drum, each button 1-16 will trigger one of the drum slices
• Edit mode (press/release "write", record-icon displayed when in edit mode)
  • Buttons will be dim-lit on each of the 16 steps that are assigned for the current sound
  • Buttons will be bright-lit on each of the 16 steps with the current sound-tone or sound-slice
  • Long-press a dim-lit button to switch the current slice to that button
• Play Mode
  • Press the "play" button to start/stop play-mode
  • Play (right-triangle) indicator appears on the screen to the left of the clock
  • During play-mode the 1-16 buttons will bright-lit on each step
  • Each step also flashes the play-button on the beat
  • The entire pattern-chain will play
  • The current pattern number is displayed, like "P-1" through "P-16"
    • During chains it will change from one pattern to the next as it plays
  • Write+(1..16) - add the current sound (melodic note or drum-trigger) at the current step
  • Hold down "FX"
    • Current step switches from bright-lit to dim-lit
    • Current effect (1-16) is bright-lit
    • No-effect (16) is bright-lit by default
• Play+Edit Mode
• Play+Perform Mode
  • Sound bright-lit blink when triggered
    • If a drum is on button-10, then every time ANY drum on button-10 is triggered then button-10 will light up
• Record Mode
  • Hold down the "record" button
  • Blinks "rEc"
  • Displays monitor scale of volume level of input
  • Additionally hold down 1-16 to record to a sound
  • If the target sound is a drum (9-16), at the end of the recording the sound will be sliced
    • Slicing is done based on "transients", bits of silence
  • Record+Sound -> Delete current sound
    • Displays "dEL" during deletion, which can take a second or two
  • Record+Pattern -> Clear the current pattern
    • Displays "cLr" during clearing, which can take a second or two
    • Clears only the current pattern in the pattern chain, keeps the chain sequence
• Backup Mode
  • Press write+sound+play
  • Cancel by pressing any button
• Restore Mode
  • Press write+sound+record
  • Cancel by pressing any button