In lots of respects, Teenage Engineering is the tech firm that may do no unsuitable. All through its comparatively quick historical past (its first product, the OP-1 synthesiser, was launched in 2011), the Swedish firm has created a raft of meticulously designed and very costly professional audio gear (not least the OP-1 Area), together with a bunch of playful, way more reasonably priced sound toys (see the PO-80 File Manufacturing facility). Its devices are covetable, collectable, and vastly influential by way of design, typically utilizing esoteric interfaces as a approach to short-cut the trail from thought to sound to track.
Teenage Engineering EP-1320: a portal right into a world of imagined medieval grooves
Teenage Engineering EP-1320 Medieval: consideration to element is first price
(Picture credit score: Teenage Engineering)
Humour is a vital ingredient within the TE recipe (even when detractors declare that the corporate’s costs are the punchline). That is the brand new EP-1320, a whole overhaul of final yr’s compact EP-133 Ok.O.II groove machine. The joke, in the event you can name it that, is that the EP-1320 presents itself as a portal right into a world of imagined medieval grooves, because of a totally redesigned interface and UI that takes inspiration from the realm of scrolls and manuscripts.
Lutes, chants and hurdy-gurdys have a 14th-century timbre
Teenage Engineering EP-1320 Medieval
(Picture credit score: Teenage Engineering)
The onboard sounds even have a particular 14th-century timbre, with pattern units that embody lutes and chants, hurdy-gurdys and acoustic drums and different quirky sound units, all of which will be performed on the gadget’s pads or through an exterior midi keyboard. That is idiosyncrasy taken to its logical excessive – ‘instrumentalis electronicum is the final word, and solely, medieval beat machine’, reads the blurb – however musicians of all stripes will lap up the prospect to interrupt out of the inflexible grid of established Twenty first-century techno sounds.
Teenage Engineering EP-1320 packaging
(Picture credit score: Teenage Engineering)
Whether or not this field of methods will usher in a brand new age of medieval-inspired digital music stays to be seen. Nonetheless, the onboard sounds and sequencer (which will be augmented by importing and slicing up your personal samples) give off a vibe that’s half Monty Python, half Midsommar, probably birthing a type of bizarre folks that appears to even additional into the previous.
Additionally accessible, a 10in EP of medieval songs
(Picture credit score: Teenage Engineering)
Teenage Engineering is actually leaning in laborious to an off-beat aesthetic of magick, fantasy and unusual symbolism. A leather-based keychain, ‘medieval quilt bag’ carrying case, and a 10in document ‘filled with medieval sounds recorded by actual medieval musicians on actual medieval devices’ to be loved and sampled, are all being made accessible.
A ‘medieval quilt bag’ is on the market to hold your EP-1320 round
(Picture credit score: Teenage Engineering)
The EP collection appears set to grow to be TE’s subsequent playground, following on from the ultra-simple Pocket Operator line of tiny synths and drum machines. We’ll maintain you posted on the following cease on this intriguing audio journey.
A leather-based keychain for extra medieval vibes
(Picture credit score: Teenage Engineering)
Teenage Engineering EP-1320 Medieval, £299, teenage.engineering/retailer
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