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Teenage Engineering Pocket Operators Cheat Sheet by

A comprehensive guide covering all of the commands available on teenage engineering's Pocket Operator line of calculator-sized synthesizers.

Notes & Conven­tions

Welcome to my cheat sheet for the
Teenage Engine­ering Pocket Operators
In order to maintain consis­tency between POs, I refer to the button directly below Knob B as Func and the button directly below Func as Effect.
The Func button actually has different names/­fun­ctions between POs (described elsewhere in this guide). However, this button is always used for sync modes.
For additional info, including transm­itting and receiving data for the PO-32 and PO-35, see the user guides.
Cheat Sheet Conven­tions
With Write mode enabled:
(SS) = Step Sequence Edit (with playback stopped)
(LR) = Live Record (with playback started)

After inserting batter­ies...

Set Time
Rotate Knob A for Hours. Rotate Knob B for Minutes. Press any key to confir­m/exit.
Set Alarm
Hold Sound, Press Pattern. Rotate Knob A for Hours (all the way left to disable). Rotate Knob B for Minutes. Press 1-16 to set pattern for alarm.
Set Volume
Hold BPM, Press Button 1 (low) - 16 (high).
Stop Alarm
Press any key.
Reset Time
Remove & reinsert batteries.
Why do these things even have a clock & alarm? Weird.

Sync Modes

Mode
Input
Output
SY0
Stereo
Stereo
SY1
Stereo
Mono/Sync
SY2
Sync
Stereo
SY3
Sync
Mono/Sync
SY4
Mono/Sync
Stereo
SY5
Mono/Sync
Mono/Sync
To toggle Sync Modes: Hold Func, Press BPM.
Typical setup: SY1 -> SY5 (multiple) -> SY4
Set first & middle POs' volume to 9, last volume to 16.
Using an external mixer: SY1 -> SY3 (multiple) -> SY2

Live Play

With Playback stopped...
Select Sound
Hold Sound, Press 1-16.
Play Sound
Press 1-16.
PO-14 sub
PO-16 factory
PO-28 robot
micro drum kit
Sound 16. This drum kit plays different sounds for different note values and has only one voice.
PO-28 robot
Toggle Octave
With sound 1-7 or 9-15 selected, Press Sound.
PO-35 speak
tonic drum kit:
Sound 16. Similar to the above micro drum kit.

Feedback?

"I hope this cheat sheet is helpful! Feel free to contact me with sugges­tions or commen­ts."­
      ~Naenyn
 

Creating Patterns

Copy Pattern
Hold Write, Press Pattern, then 1-16 to copy active pattern to target pattern.
Clear Current Pattern
Hold Func, Press Pattern.
Select Sound
Hold Sound, Press 1-16.
(SS) Toggle Write mode
With Playback stopped, press Write.
(SS) Add a note
Press 1-16.
(SS) Set Note Value
Hold Step 1-16, Turn Knob A.
(SS) Set Note Length
Hold Step 1-16, Turn Knob B.
(LR) Add a note
Hold Write and play notes 1-16.
(LR) Parameter Locking
Hold Write, Turn Knob A and/or Knob B.
(LR) Clear Parameter Locking
Hold Write, Turn knobs once only
(LR) Effects
Hold Effect, Press 1-16.
(LR) Clear Effects
Hold Effect for length of pattern.
Note: Effects on the PO-2X also work in Live mode (Playback stopped). These effects can be toggled.
Note: Effects on the PO-33 and PO-35 work slightly different. Press 1-15 (PO-33) or 9-15 (PO-35) to activate. If Write is enabled, effect will be saved to the pattern. Hold Effect, Press 16 to clear.

Playback

First, press Play!
Play Pattern
Hold Pattern, Press 1-16.
Chain Patterns
Hold Pattern, Press multiple 1-16 buttons in sequence.
Cycle BPM
Press BPM to cycle between HipHop/80, Disco/120, Techno­/140.
Set BPM
Hold BPM, Turn Knob B (60-240).
Set Swing
Hold BPM, Turn Knob A.
When using multiple POs synced together, press Play on "­sla­ve" POs to arm Playback. Press Play on "­mas­ter­" PO to start Playback on all armed POs.

Device­-Sp­ecific Keys

Device
Func
Effect
PO-12 rhythm
Funct
FX
PO-14 sub
Key o-o
Style
PO-16 factory
Key o-o
Style
PO-20 arcade
Chord
FX
PO-24 office
Solo
FX
PO-28 robot
Glide
FX
PO-32 tonic
Accent
FX
PO-33 K.O!
Record
FX
PO-35 speak
Record
FX

PO-1X Functions

PO-12 rhythm
(LR) Step Retrig
Hold 1-16, Press BPM multiple times to retrig step 2, 3, 4, 6, or 8 times.
PO-14 sub
PO-16 factory
(LR) Add Playstyles
Hold Func, Press 1-16.
(LR) Clear Playstyles
Hold Func for length of pattern.
 

PO-2X Functions

PO-20 arcade
(LR) Play Chord Chains
Hold Func, Press 1-16 (up to 128 times).
(LR) Drone
Hold Func , Turn Knob A and/or Knob B.
(LR) Fade Out
During playback, Hold Effect, Press Play.
(LR) Step Retrig
Hold 1-16, Press BPM multiple times to retrig step 2, 3, 4, 6, or 8 times.
PO-24 office
(LR) Step Retrig
Hold 1-16, Press BPM multiple times to retrig step 2, 3, 4, 6, or 8 times.
Solo Play
During playback, hold Func, Press 1-16 to solo that sound.
PO-28 robot
Auto Vibrato
During playback, hold Func, Turn Knobs A & B (A: Depth (left = off), B: Rate).
Glide during live playing
While playing notes, hold Func and play a note to glide up to that note. Hold Func and release a note to glide down.
Record Glide
With Write enabled, hold a lit step 1-16, Press Func to glide up on that step. Hold an unlit step 1-16, Press Func to glide down.

PO-3X Functions

PO-32 tonic
Accent during Playback
Hold Func, Press 1-16.
(SS) Accent step edit
Select step 1-16, Hold Func, Press 1-16.
Receive Data (from uTonic)
Hold Func, Press Sound.
PO-33 K.O!
Record Sound
Hold Func, Hold 1-16, speak in to mic or use line-in.
Note: You get 40 seconds of recording time total on the PO-33.
Delete Sound
Hold Func, Press Sound.
Sound Tweak
Press Effect to toggle Knob A & B between:
 
 ­ ­ ­ - pitch & volume
 
 ­ ­ ­ - high/l­ow-pass filter & resonance
 
 ­ ­ ­ - start point & length of sound
Copy Sound
Hold Write, Press Sound, Press 1-16 to copy curren­t-s­elected sound to target sound.
Copy last-t­rig­gered slice
Hold Write, Press Sound, Press 9-16. Press 1-16.
PO-35 speak
Record Sound
Hold Func, Hold 1-15, use mic or line-in.
Note: You get 8 seconds of recording time for each sound.
Sound Tweak
Press Effect to toggle Knob A & B between:
 
 ­ ­ ­ - pitch & formant
 
 ­ ­ ­ - start point & speed
Change Voice
Hold Effect, Press 1-8. If Write is enabled, voice change is saved to pattern.
Transpose
Hold Pattern, Turn Knob A.
Scale
Hold Pattern, Turn Knob B.
 

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