Sweden's high-end sonic tinkerers Teenage Engineering has added another gorgeous member to its field portable audio range. The retro-futuristic TP-7 field recorder puts the power to capture quality audio in the hands of journalists, lawyers, medical professionals, and of course musicians.
The high-end digital field recorder rocks the beautiful design language of other field products, such as the OP-1 synth and TX-6 mixer, along with a similarly high asking price.
The so-called motorized tape reel out front rotates during a recording or playback, and can also be used to navigate menus and fast-forward or rewind recorded memos. Below that are big buttons for record, play and stop, plus sound-level indicators with volume control. Elsewhere is a small monochrome display and a light to show when a recording is being made.
There's a nifty rocker on the left side along with a mode button for trigger-like control – "the index finger triggers fast forward and the middle finger rewinds. Your thumb records a memo, the pinky selects the mode." Memo and navigation buttons appear on the right side.
The device can capture audio via the built-in microphone for ease of use, but also sports three I/O stereo jacks to hook the TP-7 up to external mics, headphones, studio monitors and so on. The recorder boasts 128 GB of internal storage for recorded memos, and there's a 7-hour battery topped up over USB-C.
The field recorder can serve as a multi-channel 24-bit/96-kHz USB interface or MIDI controller as well. "For musicians, TP-7 is a playground," said Teenage Engineering in a press release. "Creative minds will appreciate functionalities that include simultaneous line-in and recording, overdubbing and even a portable DJ setup."
Bluetooth connectivity is cooked in, and the handheld recorder can be used with a companion app for AI-powered voice-to-text transcriptions.
The 96 x 68 x 16-mm, 170-g (3.7 x 2.6 x 0.6-in, 6-oz) TP-7 is due to go on sale in the coming Northern Hemisphere summer for an unsurprising, but still eye-watering, high asking price of US$1,499.
Product page: TP-7 field recorder
