Yes, is this a slight hardware refresh to the EP-133 with a new skin and different factory presets?

The KO-1 had a similar "Street Fighter" edition, which could be loaded with the original PO-33 samples.

Are there any reasons not to buy this over the EP-133 from a pure capability standpoint? I wish the marketing were a bit clearer on that front, seems we need to intuit this by diving into the specs and capabilities ourselves.

There are new features in the software (presumably implementable on the original if they choose to) but the new one has twice as much memory, with the new samples taking up 75% of that.

Did they resolve the intense hardware bugs with the EP-133? I haven't been following after basically giving up on TE due to this (EP-133) being the second time they sold me a lemon.

Do you mean slidergate, if so, yes thats solved. I still use mine regularly without significant issues.

I ordered the KO-II for a friend, after reading about it on Hacker News. I love Teenage Engineering's playfulness and creativity, but was disappointed when the KO-II had quality issues with its input nob, making it unusable.

They were quick to issue a refund, but I would have loved to see them fix the underlying issue and offer us another unit. I'd have the same concerns about this model, since it looks like it uses the same base hardware.

It has a new arpeggiator, new punch in and send effects. So, different firmware.

Props to them, this is bat-shit crazy stuff. And they're going full blown with it.

I bought a EP-133 KO II when it first came out but quickly sold it after a few weeks - it wasn't my jam.