Teenage Engineering EP-133 K.O. II Vs EP-1320 Medieval
Which one to get?
Teenage Engineering’s EP series started a year ago with the crazy release of the K.O. II. I was sold out immediately, the fader-gate happened and a few months ago, they announced the EP-1320 Medieval which at first was considered a prank but it turned out to be an actual product much similar to the K.O. II.
I’ve done a full review of the K.O. II that you can find here so we’re not going to go through its features again. On the other side, the EP-1320 Medieval version is almost identical in terms of functionality compared to the K.O. II so 99% of the stuff the K.O. II does can be done with the Medieval version too. So, in this post, we are going through all the differences between the two products and I’ll try to help you make a decision if you are thinking of buying one of them.
K.O. II Vs Medieval
The most obvious difference between the two units is of course the design. While they share the exact same size, knobs, and overall layout, the Medieval version has a different color palette, icons on the screen, and knob & button labels. I really like both designs but I absolutely love how the K.O. II looks. In my opinion, it’s the second best-looking TE product right after the OP-1 which is definitely iconic.
The thing that sometimes bugs me about the Medieval is that the labeling is quite different to match the medieval vibe, and it gets me confused. I often find myself looking at the K.O. II to make sure I’m pressing the right button but that’s something you build muscle memory over time so it’s fine.
Now in terms of functionality, there are a few differences that might draw you to one over the other. The main one is the effects - both send effects and punch-in effects.
Send Effects
Almost all the send effects are a bit different in the new Medieval EP. The Delay from the K.O. II is now a Dungeon Echo. While the Delay on the K.O. II is a standard, all-purpose, digital delay, the Echo on the Medieval is a lot darker and diffused. They sound substantially different and the Echo has more character and a dark vibe. The Reverb in the Medieval is called Torture Chamber Reverb (!) but it’s not that altered compared to the K.O. II. It might be a bit darker with a bit of a high-cut but nothing too different.
In terms of Chorus, it was renamed to Ensemble on the Medieval. Here the main difference is in the controls. Instead of controlling its feedback, you can control its speed on the Medieval version. Still, not a substantial difference between them. Another addition to the Medieval is the Dimension effect. Here it uses a delay to separate the incoming signal creating chorusing effects once again. Cool effect but nothing crazy.
Punch-in Effects
Well, it’s a bit hard to describe all the subtle changes between the punch-in effects on the K.O. II and the Medieval. Just keep in mind that almost all of the punch-in effects are somehow different. Some more, some less. They share the same principles let’s say, but there are some sound and control variations. Don’t expect completely new effects - just variations between them.
The Punch-in effects are one of the most fun and cool things on these devices and in both, you can use them to add movement and alter your sounds. I think that the ones on the Medieval are a bit more refined and subtle so you don’t alter your loops to the extreme but overall both devices share the same effects and philosophy on how they work!
Sounds & Storage
Well since we’re talking about samplers, the built-in sounds are not super important. The K.O. II comes with a wide and great selection of samples to get you started while the Medieval comes with medieval-themed sounds. The medieval sounds are fun to play around a couple of times but after that, most of them are not really usable over and over again. And a really important note: You can’t erase the built-in sounds!
The K.O. II has a 64MB memory and the Medieval a 128MB memory. That alone would be a deciding factor to choose between them. However, on the Medieval 96MB are used for the medieval samples so you’re left with only 32MBs. Half the sample memory of the K.O. II. The way Teenage Engineering treats samples on these devices is very efficient and you can store a ton of short samples on them. But if you want more sounds, the K.O. II can have more of your own samples on it.
Arpeggiator
The thing that sets those two apart is the Arpeggiator that exists only on the Medieval. By holding the Timing button (it’s called Quantum on the Medieval) you can set the timing and have a sound repeating. Perfect to create hi-hat rolls. If you press more keys on the Medieval it will create an arpeggio with multiple sounds or a standard arpeggio if you’re in Keys mode. That’s a very useful feature and I think it should also exist on the K.O. II (maybe on a future update?) but not such a huge deal to make you buy the one over the other.
Which one to choose?
The EP samplers are simply incredible pieces of gear. They do a few things but in the fastest and most fun way possible and I love to use them as a sample-based drum machine and add a few melodic elements. In my case, I decided to organize my one-shot samples and then import them on these two devices. Now, instead of searching in tens of thousands of samples, I know that my favorite ones are inside the K.O. II or the Medieval. And on top of that, I can create sequences and scenes using them within a few minutes which is always a huge deal for me.
If you have the patience and time to go deep with them, you can do more things like chopping longer samples, playing melodic sequences, etc. but I have other things for that and I don’t really do the whole sample-chopping thing in my music. So to me, these are two perfect one-shot drum machines that also store all the samples I actually use. That alone makes them worth it so much. If you think that would also work for you, don’t hesitate and just get one. They look amazing, they are totally portable, and they can do the things I mentioned perfectly. Plus, you get all those punch-in effects that are so fun to use!
Choosing one of them is not that tricky. They are almost identical devices and the differences I mentioned above are not that important to make you choose one. I would say that the storage on the Medieval being smaller than the one on the K.O. II is the most important difference. But maybe in the future, we will be able to delete the medieval samples and then have twice the memory over the K.O. II! Who knows?
In the end, I believe it’s just a matter of aesthetics. Since both instruments share so much, it really comes down to which one you prefer aesthetically. I prefer the K.O. II but you may prefer the quirkier Medieval! Also, it’s a matter of stock. They’re almost identical so if you don’t really care on the design, you can just buy the one that’s available right now.
Maybe get both?
As someone who has both devices, I can see a few advantages of having both of them. First, I can simply store more samples on hardware devices. Simple but very important. Second, you can sync them and then have a sampler that has four sections with 12 samples on each section which is way more samples than you’ll ever need. Having both gives you an abundance of samples to play at the same time which is awesome. The third reason is that both devices have limited polyphony. If you work with lots of sounds or longer samples, you will notice that sound will cut off on a sample when the max polyphony is reached. They’re meant to be used with very short samples so playing big polyphonic parts is not easy. So having both devices allows you to split stuff between devices. You can have, for example, melodic and bass parts playing on the Medieval and only drums on the K.O. II while they are in sync. That frees up a lot of voices on both devices so you won’t have that - sometimes annoying - voice stealing.
Conclusion
Both the K.O. II and Medieval are amazing samplers! But most importantly, they are fun! They have the perfect combination of functionality, speed, and fun which is so rare there days. Their ability to create complex sequences and drums within a few minutes is groundbreaking and that’s the reason they are my favorite samplers. I don’t need more power on a sampler since I would simply not take advantage of it so I’m very happy to have them and use them all the time.
The whole EP platform is something I hope to expand in the future with new devices and new concepts. They are way too affordable for what you can do with them, and just like with the Pocket Operators, I hope we’ll see more designs soon. I really want to see a synth EP version with a great sequencer onboard! I’m sure Teenage Engineering will come up with a cool new EP soon so we’ll just have to wait and see!
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