It’s a forum, its what people do…new product comes out we analyse, criticise, praise, compare to existing products and state why we do or don’t want it! There are no reviews and scant information so most of what anyone is saying is speculation as with any mixer audio quality is the main thing and with any I/O low latency will be a big selling point.
The general consensus from this and other forums as far as I can tell is that it overpriced (especially as it has no Mic Pre-Amps) and missing some important features (although it has interesting but perhaps less important features). It is very, very small, and you either think that’s great or impractical…
One things for sure, its definitely getting people talking!
Teenage Engineering make products that fill their own niche. You can’t compare the TX-6 to a bluebox because the bluebox isn’t a sequencer or a class compliant interface. You can’t compare it to other tiny battery powered mixer because they all have less features and less inputs, aren’t audio interface and/or cannot record. You cannot compare it to larger mixers+audio interface because of the form factor, etc, etc.
All in all I am pretty sure most buyers are unlikely to use all features and the form factor is as likely to be a con than a pro but all these justify the price.
In the TE video for it, it shows 22 patterns with a 23rd “random” mode.
All in all, I don’t think anyone should put too much weight on the sequencer and synth side of things. It all seems to fall into the quirky toy feature category like what the OB-4 has with its ambient mode and monk singing mode. I dunno, maybe it will be surprising or get uploaded down the road. To me it looks like it’s at best “better than a metronome.”
yes! if interpolation is possible i’d love being able to fade between rhythms somehow
i’m more excited about sequencing it externally and expect to push the digital drums to the limit with onboard compression and fx loops thru analog heat and other pedals
Maybe not a common use case but if you visit some awesome studio like smem in Switzerland or that vintage synth museum in LA you could record tracks with the mixer (and a laptop). Of course you could also just overdub with a single stereo interface a bunch of times like I did at smem, but I guess it’d be cool to do it all at once with a bunch of friends playing the instruments.
As you can tell I’m kinda reaching to find a practical use for this thing but that would be fun.
The Blue Box and Black Box are a nicely matched duo. One sequences and samples. The other mixes, records, provides effects. The two are great for making stems and loops. I wonder if TE has similar plans to match the little mixer to another product and what it might be?
This is apparently the first in a new “Field” line. I’m hoping that means a multi-track recorder based on op-1 tape with ob-4 like capabilities. I’m assuming that would get us closer to $2k lol
That’s a bit of a weird comparison. Touchscreens are aimed to be controlled with one or two fingers, so it’s okay that they are small. If I try to imagine how I would turn two adjacent knobs on the tx-6 without touching anything else by accident, I just can’t see that this would be an enjoyable experience.
The last 2 years of the pandemic. being removed from trade shows, real customer feedback, not being able to do meaningful market analysis, left over - half realized R&D efforts, shelved collaborations with Kanye West.
Singing dolls, an all red OB-4, overpriced micro jewel box mixers ??
Eccentric is fine. Charging $1200 for a product no one asked for and is clearly a fun toy is absurd. I don’t know how this company will stay in business. I mean… It costs more than the syntakt.
Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think many companies make what people ask for. They make what inspires them and fits their vision. If a person likes it, then cool they buy it, if not that person moves on.
I think it will be interesting to see how the view on this changes once they start shipping out and added to setups. TE has been making crazy decisions (that have been questioned) since 2005, and I have a feeling they always will. I for one appreciate it, the music gear world doesn’t need any more painfully predictable companies. Who knows, maybe the TX-6 will join the ranks of cult/classic machines that no one also asked for.
I mentioned this in a facebook post but i am gonna mention it here as well.
a early user mentioned that it seems that alot of the components in the TX-6 are designed by TE and not standard (off the shelf) components.
this is signingicant because it will drive alot of the cost.
the volume (amount of units) which will be produced drive alot of the cost as well.
Research and development is cost drivers as well for smaller companies (bigger companies can negate RnD cost by investing in hardware platforms etc. Behringer is a great example of this)
manufacturing costs from components is added onto each unit,
same with RND costs.
The sales volume for this mixer is probably small (and TE probably knows this) so this means a bigger precentage of manufacturing and RND costs is added onto each unit. which means you will have a hefty price increase.
Bluebox is amazing and its a feat that its deigned by one person! but it uses off the shelf components and even the same housing as its partner Blackbox ( with some additional holes in the back) that will keep costs down.
My guess about why TE chose to design their own components might have to do with the fact that they don´t want to be in a position as they were with the OP-1 screen change. where the supplier of the screens kept raising the price of the screen because OP-1 was the only product that still used it to the point where the supplier forced them to change the screen.
TE might be thinking that TX-6 will be in production for 10+ years as with the OP-1
but that would be fun.
