Teenage EngineeringCA-X red silicone-case

Complicated for a beginner (may just be me!) But absolutely incredible piece of kit

Everything you could hope it would be

Easy to use.

Expensive for what it is. Recently I preferred using the operations without cases, as you lose some tactility and character. But good for protection.

Can't complain

I'm a published artist with over a dozen original music (vinyl) releases since 2012.There's a LOT of hype around Teenage Engineering which IMO is almost entirely unjustified. In some ways TE represents everything that is wrong with music instrument manufacturers in 2024.I thought I would dip my toe in the TE water with this product, after watching some well known youtubers review it. It seemed like a cool lo-fi sampler that I might be able to use on the move, to record and/or program beats, instead of going on social media or watching videos on my phone. I thought this might be more productive. I also thought it might be something that my 4 year old my get into at some point.I expected the sound quality to be lo-fi - box ticked ;-) and it has its charm - so far so good.What I didn't expect is just how poor the knobs are and how inaccurate they are in terms of cutting up samples, setting start and end times etc. The software is fine. However the knobs for setting the start and end times, and generally, are very poor quality and not fit for purpose.To give an example, not only does it take a super light touch, with the knobs being ultra sensitive, but (and this drove me mad) you gingerly go back and forth to find the correct point to cut your sample (which in itself is super faffy and requires A LOT of patience and LUCK), and once you let go of the knob, it MOVES!!!As such this is completely unusable for any production and even if you want to have a play around.Add to that Teenage Engineering's bespoke midi clock implementation (they try to get you to buy more gear that can convert midi clock to their 1/8th note system, which NOBODY else uses). There are workarounds but who can be bothered with that, when you can't even cut samples to the length and timing you want.This is a very expensive toy which reflects pretty much every TE product. There are much better options available. I won't be buying ANYTHING from TE ever again. Hopefully when my 4 year old is older, this can be an introduction to sampling. Then again it might put him off music production altogether...

Pros ++ Added level of protection that covers the ‘exposed’ nature of the PO product line+ It makes the product seem a lot more complete, and durable+ Cool design, colours, and high quality cover+ Clever folds on the back manage to cover the battery connections and act as a stand to rest the PO on flat surfacesCons -- Still quite a lot of exposure for the back portion of the unit, it will NOT encase your PO fully- I know Teenage engineering make cool, quality products so some premium pricing is to be expected…But it’s way too expensive for what it is