The same goes for the 1994 first pressing of Marillion's Brave.

Side 4 has a double groove, which would give you either The Great Escape + Made again (a sort of a happy ending) or The Great Escape + 20 minutes of water sounds (which can be interpreted as the sad ending).

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_(Marillion_album)#Vinyl_... (I also have a copy and can confirm indeed it works like that).

De La Soul's 12" Single for "Me Myself And I" also has its second side cut with two grooves. The hype sticker says, "3 Sides." Each time you put the needle down you have a 50/50 chance to hear the song you're trying to hear. :-)

https://www.discogs.com/master/19554-De-La-Soul-Me-Myself-An...

I bought a Record Store Day release of Ella Fitzgerald live in Berlin that did this around 2020. Very cool stuff.

Jack White did something similar with Lazaretto.

Sometimes it is nice to have one thing that does its one job extremely well.

The Gakken toy record cutter was only 8000 yen when it was released[0].

My spouse bought one on a whim. The quality is ... quite bad. It's a tool for learning about how this works though! So it was a fun little activity. But it really is "just" what it is.

Maybe Teenage Engineering's toy that looks like is exactly the same tech is better. I have my doubts.

[0]: https://hon.gakken.jp/book/1575072200

Shipping is making things prohibitively expensive in many parts of the world

Similarly if you're in Europe I recommend:

https://drdub.com/en/faq/

I've done it twice and had a great experience, although in the 10X pricing range compared to recordcut.com.

I've used https://www.online-druck.biz/lp-cover.html for the sleeve, but I don't know if they ship internationally.

I need to remember this when I buy gifts

Producing a lathe cut is the first (physical) step of many of pressing vinyl.

This isn’t targeting consumers, or even record stores, but record pressing plants.

This is kind of a big deal because this sort of fundamental equipment hasn’t been available new for decades. The vast majority of plants/mastering facilities are using old Scully lathes from the ‘50s and ‘60s. Those are getting ever older and harder to source parts for, and with the vinyl boom the number of pressing plants is actually going up.

From what I know about record manufacturing, creating the lacquer master would involve adjusting the angle of the groove to allow for two concentric grooves to be laid, along with some care in creating that master. But once it’s done, the manufacturing process is handled through a stamping process (so a vinyl record isn’t cut, it’s pressed with a metal die that’s created from the lacquer master through electroplating).

There’s certainly novelty to this, I’d love one if the price were reasonable. Direct capture, almost like a polaroid for vinyl records, no need to “develop” it.

I imagine artists could sell a super-limited (i.e. 1 copy) live recording of a show the second it ends for a premium, especially if they kept the machine on stage and personally packaged and signed it.

These are Designed. The target audience has tremendous disposable income, and Taste (subjectively, of course.)

No one is buying this for economy’s sake.

There used to be places where you could make your own one-of-a-kind record: pretty much direct microphone to vinyl¹ which I’m guessing this essentially is. But that said, I kind of feel like most of Teenage Engineering is more stunt than practical.

⸻

1. A booth for making records like this plays a role in the plot of Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock. Elvis Presley’s very first recordings were a similar thing, the two sides recorded in a booth to make a singular record to give his mother as a present in 1953.

You’d cut it normal equipment, with very wide groove spacing. Start the two grooves 180 degrees out of phase. They’ll never intersect.

You could do it with more than two grooves, just to having them at 360/n degrees apart. You’ll just have to make the groove spacing wider as the number of tracks go off. Of course that comes at the cost of playback tine.

$700? $70,000 for a Patek Philippe Aquanaut!

Do you like anything? Or have any enthusiasm for life? Is your whole bit just calling other people’s enthusiasm cringe?

id pay to watch mkbhd(or similar) review the apc-2. and compare one made on apc-2 to someone like recordcut(or similar). that said. im glad companies like teenage are catering to the whimsy. because why not. im sure it will sell out. and they will stop producing it after they have scratched the itch of wanting to create a product like it. and hopefully after that we can get our hands on the un-redacted files.

ooh, this seems super cool. i see that he doesn't print jackets, have you gotten them printed elsewhere for that?

So, Apple until the M chips?

This isn't that but their "record factory" toy[0]... I'm like 90% sure is the same thing as something Gakken released in Japan for half the price as a little fun toy[1]

Even in the age of the internet there's a huge business in people basically taking a "normal" thing from another market and then rebadging it to release as an elevated thing.

Studio neat has a $231 tiny box cutter[2]. OLFA (A "professional" box cutter maker) sells a 2 pack of tiny box cutters that probably are 5x more ergonomic on account of being made to be used instead of to look nice on a website, for $10. [3]

The best version of a thing is likely whatever people who do it all day use. But you can totally make a market for consumers who want "fashionable" things but who don't really get the space.

Studio Neat is a big offender on this honestly... basically all of their stuff have "better" things at least at half the cost just available in random stationary stores. I'm all for wasting money on pens, but at least waste them on good pens!

[0]: https://teenage.engineering/products/po-80

[1]: https://hon.gakken.jp/book/1575072200

[2]: https://www.studioneat.com/products/keen

[3]: https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/OLFA-Compact-Knife-Pieces-95B2...

Teenage Engineering seems to run partly on hype and halo effect. It makes cool things you can’t afford, and you buy something cheaper. Selling a vinyl cutting machine keeps them in the news, which keeps them in your mind, and then you think about how you always wanted an OP-1 but oh maybe you could buy the EP-133 instead.

I’m sure there’s a price at which the vinyl cutter is profitable.

There is one company that sells similar lathe cutters in Europe. To aquire it you need to go on a multi day training in a remote Swiss forest. Then it’s around 10.000 EUR in equipment, granted you supply your own record player (sl1200 ~700EUR). But yeah cutting high quality stereo records is an art. No matter the money you throw at it, it will involve a lot of maintenance, skill, experience, spare parts, mastering skills, consumables, and time (these cut in real time). Indeed, who wants to do that? I welcome any effort in this niche though!

I have a real “I was born yesterday” feeling having realized that “Teenage Engineering” has nothing to do with making audio tech accessible to young newcomers.

Are there bootlegs on vinyl? Maybe now there can be.

>> "who wants to own cutting vinyl?"

Well, Sega gamers for one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c744iD0_fWU

Apple is a consumer company selling device art. Teenage engineering is a device art company selling consumer products.

That used to be $95 at launch, which still is very expensive of course, but slightly more palatable. I wonder if the current price is due to tariffs perhaps?

Consistency is super hard to achieve if you are not cutting daily in a (climate) controlled environment, even then, you will burn out the cutting head transducers, your cutting heads will dull (super fast). Operational costs are pretty high. Wonder how much they will charge for this lathe. I guess 40-80k USD?

Is that entirely fair?

Their Pocket Operators are pretty cheap and accessible.

rich young newcomers are totally welcome!

they list them too https://teenage.engineering/retailers

Why would you pay for a review from a smartphone reviewer who likely has never listened to Vinyl?

yeah, I glued the jacket together - but no, I didn't get it printed professionally. that's a great thought!

The best box cutter is the Moby Safety Knife. I used it when I was working in a supermarket 20 years ago, and I haven't found anything even remotely comparable.

The short blade on top is perfect for breaking the tape to open the box without damaging the contents. Then the mouth can be used for quickly breaking down boxes or cutting shrink wrap. You are just cutting tape, so the blade never wears out.

I cringe every time I see someone using a Stanley knife in a supermarket.

https://www.safeknife.com/

That fancy box cutter looks high utility; what don't you like about it besides the price? The retraction seems designed for frequently opening boxes, but not constantly. (I open few boxes and have a bog standard box cutter; I haven't used Studio Neat's or OLFA.)

It's also possible that TE are full of people who are passionate about design and sound and want to work on and release interesting products in that space. Not everything is a psyop

Isn't a vinyl cutter the first step when pressing records?

Shill fetish

I learned about the Pacific Handy Cutter from my local grocer. It's cheap and excellent. It has a dull edge for 95% of tape cutting needs, and a safety guide for when you need to use the blade. Admittedly, it's not useful for slicing up / cutting down boxes.

This model is right handed, but they make a lefty too.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HXLNCMM

I remember someone talking about their $100 box cutter and thinking, huh? I just use my keys.

The OLFA small box cutter is more ergonomic, does the job, and costs 100x less so you could buy a 10 pack of em and put them everywhere you want one.

Other people have linked serious box cutters for "I need to use a box cutter on 100 boxes" cases, and OLFA's small box cutter will work well for a bunch of other stuff (OLFA also has like 20 other form factors all at reasonable prices).

Looks good for light-duty uses. Scared for my fingers for anything heavy.

They're passionate about style and brand, not design and sound.

I say this as someone with expertise in a domain they nominally targetted.

Very "cool" looking kit, but: missing basic features, unremarkable in those provided; serious issues rendering it fundamentally inappropriate for its nominal application.

You might need different machines to cut wax/vinyl directly vs cutting lacquer to make a stamper.

> frequently opening boxes, but not constantly.

If you are frequently opening boxes, that spring-loaded mechanism is going to cause repetitive stress injuries. No competent workplace health and safety employee would approve it.

Also, if you are using a utility knife frequently, you likely have a depth you want to keep it. Say I’m installing carpeting. I want to set the razor at a depth for the shag of carpet I’m working on today and have my blade at that depth until I’m done. With a spring load, the only depth that can easily be set is fully out where I’m pushing it all the way. Any intermediate depths will result in me shaking back and forth trying to hold a constant intermediate pressure.

This is a utility knife for someone rich who uses it for the day’s amazons packages because they think using the blade from their scissors is beneath them.

The other nice feature is using standard utility blades.

I have several Stanley type box cutters and blade retraction is an infuriating experience on each one because it gets stuck, the lock button gets stuck, it doesn't slide properly, often doesn't click into place, etc. I can definitely see the appeal of an object that is actually designed to work properly.

It’s not made to fit in the hand. There’s no way to lock the blade forward. It’s one of the stupidest designs you could have for a box cutter.

That took my comment to a much darker place than I anticipated—I think basic marketing is ok, and even if you’re passionate about design, you still should be thinking about the business’s bottom line.

But, like, https://teenage.engineering/store/field-desk

Or maybe the TP-7 is a better example.

They are obviously following the playbook from brands like Supreme. At least in part.

Maybe frequently was the wrong word; I would think spring-loaded would be designed for a lot of cycling between quick cuts and some other tasks, and you didn't want to leave the blade open.

Fixed blade would be best if you were constantly opening boxes and/or you could set your knife down open. And yes, for doing tasks where you are doing longer or more strenuous cutting (carpet is a great example.)

They money is fun to grouse about, but I thought the complaint about the low utility was the interesting bit.

I'm confused because over the past 20 years I've owned four Stanleys[1] and used many more and never had those problems. Are you using the absolute cheapest ones they make? Because even the ones you get at Home Depot these days have metal innards that hold up over time.

One of mine got left outside in the garden for an entire winter. One side of the enclosure is sun bleached and I had to replace the blade, but otherwise it still gets used every week and works fine.

[1] This one. None of them have ever failed, I just keep 3 of them in different locations and physically lost (maybe loaned out) one a few years ago. https://www.stanleytools.com/product/10-179/hi-visibility-re...

For what it’s worth, a non-locking blade is a plus for some people. I wouldn’t really want to leave a locking box cutter around, I’m too forgetful, but one that stows itself away automatically I’d feel a bit safer about. Still a silly price, though.

That's basically a bad Eiermann desk ripoff, but about twice as expensive as the original.

https://www.richard-lampert.de/en/furniture/eiermann-1/

That is hilarious. Ikea with the Rexroth price tag.