teenage engineering Arcade PO-20 User Manual Download Page 2

1. getting started

power-up

insert two fresh AAA batteries.

pay attention to plus and minus 

terminals.

set clock

set time by turning knob A for 

hours and knob B for minutes. 

press any key to confirm and exit.

alarm clock

press sound + pattern. set alarm 

clock by turning A for hours and B 

for minutes. (disable by turning 

knob A all the way down.) press 

any key 1-16 to set pattern for the 

alarm. to stop alarm press any key.

reset clock

reset the clock by removing the 

batteries and start over.

2. play

select pattern

hold pattern and press any key 

from 1-16 to select pattern.

blinking led indicates active 

pattern.

play

press play to start playing.

press play again to stop.

sequencer

a pattern consists of 16 steps.

3. creating a pattern

select sound

hold sound and press any key 

from 1-16 to select sound.

create

press write. rec symbol is lit on 

screen. enter sound/notes in grid. 

active steps will be lit. press play 

to listen to your pattern.

parameter locking

during play, hold write while

turning knobs to write sound

parameter changes over time.

hold any key 1-16 and turn knobs

to edit sound paramaters on that

particular step. for most sounds, 

parameter 1 controls the pitch and 

parameter 2 controls the waveform.

4. chords

hold chord and press any key 1-16

to select chord. see reference on 

opposite page. during play, the 

change takes effect at the next 

pattern boundary.

hold chord and press a sequence 

of keys 1-16 to create a chain of 

up to 128 chords. one chord can 

be selected multiple times. 

example: 9, 9, 9, 16 plays chord 9 

for a duration of three patterns, 

then moves on to chord 16. the 

entire sequence then repeats.

5. live effects

hold fx and press any key 1-16

to toggle effects. see reference on 

opposite page. some effects are 

mutually exclusive. fill-in, retrigger 

and glitch effects last until the next 

pattern boundary. the solo effects 

can be pre-activated while the 

sequencer is stopped.

drone

hold chord while turning knobs to 

control drone playback of the 

current chord.

fade out

during playback, press fx + play to

fade out and stop the sequencer.

6. tempo and swing

press bpm to switch tempo. the 

bpm will be displayed in the upper 

right corner of the screen.

HIP HOP (80 bpm)

DISCO (120 bpm)

TECHNO (140 bpm)

hold bpm and turn A to adjust 

the swing. hold bpm and turn B to 

fine-tune tempo from 60 to 240 bpm.

7. volume

hold bpm and press any key 1-16 

to adjust master volume. at volume 

levels 9-16, the filters can be driven 

into distortion.

8. live record

while playing, except in write 

mode, hold write and press any 

key 1-16 to punch in notes.

notes will be quantized according 

to the current swing setting.

9. step multiplier

in write mode, press and hold any

key 1-16 to select step, and press 

bpm to insert a re-trig on that step.

press bpm multiple times to switch

between 2, 3, 4, 6 or 8 multiplier.

10. making a song

(pattern chaining)

copy pattern

while holding pattern, press write

followed by any key 1-16 to paste 

the active pattern to the 

corresponding new slot.

clear pattern

hold chord and press pattern to 

clear the active pattern.

chain pattern

hold pattern and press a sequence 

of keys 1-16 to create a chain of 

up to 128 patterns. one pattern 

can be selected multiple times. 

example: 1, 1, 1, 4 plays pattern 1 

three times then moves on to pattern 

4. the entire sequence then repeats.

11. sync multiple units

connect a standard stereo audio 

cable between the units. the 

master unit will control the tempo 

of the slave unit. hold chord and 

press bpm on master unit to 

toggle sync modes. press 

repeatedly to toggle between 

different modes displayed in the 

upper right corner of the screen. 

press play on slave unit to wait for 

master clock sync. press play on 

master to start.

sync modes

there are 5 sync modes. default 

mode is SY0. 

when sync is used the signal will 

be split between audio (right) and 

sync (left).

sync scenarios

example A

chain: 

PO-20  PO-12 PO-14

setting: SY1  SY5  SY4

example B

chain: 

external  

PO-20

setting: volca  

SY2

 iphone

 computer

 synckontrol

example C

chain: 

ext. 

PO-20 PO-16

setting:  

SY3  SY4

example D

chain: 

PO-20  ext. (split cable)

setting: SY1

disclaimer

although teenage engineering will use all reasonable 

endeavours to ensure the accuracy and reliability of 

this product, neither teenage engineering nor any 

third party supplier will be liable for any loss or 

damage in connection with the sale or use of the 

product except for: a) personal injury caused by our 

negligence or that of our employees or agents when 

acting in the course of their employment with 

ourselves and; b) any other direct loss or damage 

caused by our  gross negligence or wilful 

misconduct.

ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CONDITIONS, 

WARRANTIES OR UNDERTAKINGS (OTHER THAN 

CONDITIONS, WARRANTIES OR UNDERTAKINGS 

EXPRESSLY STATED, OR IMPLIED BY STATUTE 

AND WHICH CANNOT BE EXCLUDED), WHETHER 

ORAL OR IN WRITING, INCLUDING WARRANTIES 

AS TO SATISFACTORY QUALITY AND FITNESS FOR 

A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ARE EXCLUDED.

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all rights reserved.

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