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What exactly is 8-bit sound?
by David Lee
David Looking at Things: Teenage Engineering PO-33 K.O
13/5/2023
Translation: Eva Francis
In this series, I take a look at things that usually get hardly any attention. Up today: a synthesiser in credit card format.
This strange thing is a synthesiser. It features a built-in microphone, so you can record something and then play it as a sample at various pitches. You programme which sample is played when and in which pitch. The result? A piece of music – kind of.
I wanted to try this out and write about it. But that was before Covid, so over three years ago. Nowadays, it’s no longer at the top of my agenda. More precisely, it’s now at the very bottom.
Getting used to the unfamiliar way of using this synthesiser is tricky. I used to know how to do it, but have since forgotten everything and can’t be bothered to start again from scratch. On top of this, the synthesiser has lost the piece I composed previously. When the batteries are empty, the memory is erased.
As a consolation, I have a lousy video to offer that shows my first attempt from 2020. It doesn’t make too much sense music-wise, but I’m just calling it jazz. That should be fine.
David Lee
Senior Editor
David.Lee@digitecgalaxus.chMy interest in IT and writing landed me in tech journalism early on (2000). I want to know how we can use technology without being used. Outside of the office, I’m a keen musician who makes up for lacking talent with excessive enthusiasm.
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