Teenage Engineering Pocket Operators Cheat Sheet

A Games & Hobbies › Music cheat sheet in English by Naenyn

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

Music Hardware Teenage-engineering

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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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