One Small Synth, Ep. 7: PO-20 Arcade

Published on Sep 28, 2018 Aidan Burns-Fulkerson

"This is the seventh installment in a micro-series diving deep into my collection of very small synthesizers. Each episode will explore one little music machine. There will be no talking, just music or noise, depending on the synth in question and your personal taste in sound.

Today we admire the PO-20 Arcade by Teenage Engineering and Cheap Monday. This lil guy comes from the second range of Pocket Operators, and was the first PO to offer real chainable chords. Many of the sounds are defined based on the selected chords even when the droning is turned down to zero. This PO allows 16 sound polyphony, and given the variety of sounds onboard, it can make sweet, complete music all on its own. The sounds all come from an 8-Bit palette and the effects add to the mix with several glitchy repeat options, several solo options, filters, and a little arpeggio that sounds like Mario just picked up a whole ton of coins. The best way to appreciate this machine is to play it live and mess around with all the effects. Enjoy the tiny show!

Let me know if there’s a particular synth you’d like to hear, and I’ll add it to the short list for future episodes. Enjoy!"