Teenage Engineering’s new $89 synths produce live Mega Man and Street Fighter soundtracks

The Swedish synth makers at Teenage Engineering are back with a new pocket operator series in partnership with Capcom. Pocket operators, first launched in 2015, are the company’s mini-synth and sequencer devices that are no-frills and low cost, and these new ones just happen to be Mega Man and Street Fighter themed. They’re gorgeous-looking gadgets that, unlike many of Teenage Engineering’s other synths and audio products, won’t break the bank. They each cost $89.

Thanks to the partnership with Capcom, Teenage Engineering has loaded these pocket operators with original sounds from their respective games. That means you can make your own live Mega Man and Street Fighter soundtrack on the fly.

These synths have some key hardware differences. The Street Fighter one, the PO-133, features a microphone for sampling, eight sample and drum slots, a 40-second sample memory, and 15 punch-in effects. It also features 15 Street Fighter sound tracks from the original Capcom arcade game. The Mega Man one, on the other hand, contains a real 8-bit synthesizer engine for reproducing the sound capabilities of the original NES, as well as 15 sounds, a micro drum, and a three-track synthesizer.

If you want a taste of what you can create using the PO-128 or the PO-133, Teenage Engineering has some neat audio demos on the product pages. The Street Fighter model (the PO-133) is available starting today, while the Mega Man one (PO-128) will be available starting on December 2nd. They are likely to go fast, as Teenage Engineering typically doesn’t produce large quantities of its products. So act fast if you want your own video game synth machines.