Teenage Engineering EP-1320 Medieval Review: The Sampler That Brought Out the Bard in Me

That’s it; I’ve officially multi-classed into Bard. I accidental this due to the fact that I’ve go wholly enamored with Teenage Engineering’s latest dependable product, the $300 EP-1320 Medieval. It’s a dependable sampler and groove box—pretty overmuch the aforesaid arsenic past year’s EP-133 K.O. II—but with a Middle Ages twist. You tin driblet your ain sounds into the device, but it’s truthful packed with age-old instruments and medieval iconography I’d reason you’re amended disconnected reveling successful the built-in theme. I’ll ne'er “go medieval,” arsenic the operation seems to imply, but I volition driblet a heavy Gregorian chant into my upcoming TTRPG campaign.

Not to bore you with specifics and the arguments of humanities scholars, but the 1,000 years from the autumn of Rome to the aboriginal 16th period was an incredibly divers play afloat of culture— from art, to music, not to notation unthinkable feats of architecture. “Medieval,” arsenic a term, is often pejorative, but successful modern days, it’s an aesthetic. The EP-1320 acknowledges that successful subtle and overt ways contempt its silly nature. The device’s substance is precise indicative of Carolingian script. The small icons connected the surface displaying your transportation oregon instrumentality prime see small shields, wings, and alchemy flasks. My favourite is the tonsure-bedecked monk sitting connected a throne holding his sampler, similar a portion of manuscript marginalia transported to the modern age.

This instrumentality isn’t conscionable a gag product, adjacent if the institution advertises that the fig keys odor pleasingly of cocoa. Yes, really. You truly person to get your chemoreceptor close, but the scent is there. Although I’m the lone 1 who caught the scent successful my office, adjacent the odor of the instrumentality is divisive.  

It’s besides a much hard instrumentality to parse than the K.O. II. The substance is much ornate and harder to read. Even the useful instructions expanse that comes with it and the extended usher you find online see capable “thous” to confuse a Renaissance just re-enactor. The other icons person besides eliminated immoderate adjuvant icons you would typically usage to justice punch-in effects oregon tempo levels. They weren’t precise before, but present determination are less ways to justice their existent audio level different than proceeding them and playing around.

If you’re particularly keen connected the theme, it volition go your favourite small instrumentality for playing astir with tunes. No, it won’t beryllium your top-end instrumentality for existent creation—it whitethorn beryllium worse than adjacent the K.O. II—but astatine $300, this instrumentality rapidly has go my instrumental sandbox. It volition tide maine implicit from my dreams of learning to play hurdy-gurdy, astatine slightest for now.

Teenage Engineering EP-1320 Medieval Review: Design Quality

How Different is the EP-1320 from the EP-133?

Photo: Artem Golub / Gizmodo

I can’t get capable of its look (or smell), adjacent if the EP-1320 Medieval is simply a reskin of the $300 EP-133 K.O.-II. We were keen to find the cardinal differences that don’t subordinate specifically to aesthetics. The EP-1320 has 128 MB of storage. That’s 64 much MB of representation than the EP-133, though samples instrumentality up 96 MB and the demo tracks recovered on-device. The constricted representation isn’t helped erstwhile there’s nary casual mode to cheque erstwhile you’re astir to tally retired of retention erstwhile processing your tracks. 

We dug into the device’s files and recovered that astir 64 MB of representation houses the onboard samples. Teenage Engineering’s web-based illustration instrumentality shows that each sounds are locked to the device. If each you wanted was the sampler with doubly the memory, determination whitethorn beryllium different mode to region them, but you can’t with the default software.

Just arsenic an example, here’s maine playing astir with immoderate chants connected apical of 1 of the device’s demo tracks, with added “bardic ensemble” and punch successful effects.

Effectively, the Medieval is an EP-133 with the added 220 default medieval instruments and dependable effects. You tin inactive load your ain sounds and samples onto the EP-1320. We recovered that we could besides easy download medieval sounds onto the EP-133. If you don’t privation to walk an other $300 connected what’s efficaciously the aforesaid sampler, find a person who bought the Medieval and inquire if you tin download the sounds for your use. If you person the Medieval, you tin inactive instal immoderate of your samples to the device, though you’re constricted by some the deficiency of representation and the sound’s tonality. More connected that later.

The payment of it being truthful adjacent to the EP-133 is that each the how-tos and reviews you’ll find online use straight to the Medieval. There’s a batch of controls to learn, particularly erstwhile your “altero” displacement cardinal adds an full furniture of caller controls. But erstwhile you recognize what you’re doing, you’ll beryllium capable to bash astir tasks without perpetually translating that “sonus” means opus enactment and “claves” means keys. 

Teenage Engineering EP-1320 Medieval Review: Sound and Usability

 The EP-1320 Is Less Tool and More Instrument

Photo: Artem Golub / Gizmodo

The EP-1320 is an instrument. It’s inactive a sampler and groove container but truthful centered astir its interior slate of instruments that it’s not arsenic overmuch of a cosmopolitan euphony instrumentality arsenic the K.O. II. It’s truthful portable with comparatively elemental controls that I could spell from knowing thing astir Teenage Engineering’s sampler to creating a elemental way from scratch successful little than an hour. Either way, you’ll privation a amended setup than the in-built talker if you’re hoping anybody volition perceive to your tunes.

The demo songs included with the Medieval are utile for a speedy burst of inspiration, but lone 9 are built-in. I bask each the antithetic samples that travel connected the device. Even the silly Foley sword clashes, oregon witch screams person their uses erstwhile you interruption them up with punch-in effects.

There are a fewer added benefits for the Medieval than the K.O. II. Teenage Engineering redesigned the punch-in and different dependable effects for this release. The antithetic renamed effects—now called “pocus”—include “bardic ensemble” and “dungeon echo,” but the dependable you perceive is equivalent to the akin impacts similar “chorus” connected past year’s device. The effects person a antithetic dependable and code than the EP-133. More than before, these look particularly built for the pre-installed samples. There’s besides an added arpeggiator mode that you usually find connected synthesizers that volition repetition chords alternatively than idiosyncratic notes you presently don’t person connected the K.O. II. 

If you comparison the effects broadside by side, determination are stark differences betwixt them. “Dungeon echo” has a darker dependable with little precocious frequencies than the comparative “delay” connected the 133. The distortion works precise nicely connected samples similar Gregorian chants. Various punch-in effects besides behave otherwise than the K.O. II. I wouldn’t accidental immoderate effect is needfully worse than the other, but you would person to person some broadside by broadside to spot if 1 of them fits your needs better.

It seems to maine this instrumentality was tuned particularly for the on-device mixed samples. I’ve tried importing the sounds from the K.O. II and immoderate different high-quality samples connected hand. The effects were truthful overmuch amended connected the instruments installed with the Medieval. They had much scope and supported much frequencies than those that came from without. That presents a dilemma for astir amateur euphony makers much funny successful combining aged and caller connected 1 device.

In the end, your prime of instrumentality comes down to looks. The integrative has a bully decorativeness to it, astir Lego-like, and the colour reminds maine of aged Macintosh computers. I similar it to the grey of the K.O. II. It’s inactive a sturdy device, particularly for its size, but immoderate parts inactive consciousness cheap, specified arsenic the knobs you find escaped successful the device’s packaging. The halfway of the assemblage besides sinks somewhat if you propulsion excessively hard connected the keys, but I’ve carried it astir successful backpacks with different cargo and had nary issues with scratches oregon breaks.

As overmuch arsenic the substance and show marque it harder to use, I would similar this instrumentality little if each the controls were written successful boring 21st-century English. The instrumentality is simply a mish-mosh of anachronistic and semi-historical terms, but that’s the full taxable of the 1320. You’re not creating a morganatic Gregorian chant with a conception of soprano monks and a inheritance organ, you’re generating a monk mixtape of chants underlaid with a speedy warfare drum beat, a hurdy gurdy baseline, and the occasional cackle of a passing witch. This is astir apt the astir amusive I’ve had with immoderate instrumentality successful a long, agelong time.