teenage engineering CEO Jesper Kouthoofd made waves when he casually mentioned he’d told the company he founded to quit making synthesizers. Whatever is coming from the Stockholm company, the jokes they inspire show no signs of abating and — this seems an opportunity.
This all started in an interview Kouthoofd gave to High Snobiety, under a headline that — definitely underlined that message (and might either drive down or drive up demand for their current instrument range). To be clear, this is not parody (as far as I know; maybe Jesper just reorganized the synth division as part of the bicycle operation).
Teenage Engineering is going to stop making synths [High Snobiety]
Specifically, High Snobiety’s Lukas Mauve writes, “Kouthoofd tells me that, as part of a reorganization last fall, he announced to his team he is planning to stop making synthesizers altogether. The OP-1 is no exception. “
“Everyone was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ But I’ve come to the conclusion that, for us, the products aren’t the business,” Kouthoofd says. “We can be so much more than that.”
As I write this, teenage engineering has not responded to my question for further comment; it seems much larger tech publications have come up empty-handed, too. Kidding aside, the synth business is time consuming, unforgiving, and often unprofitable, and teenage does have a lot of other product areas (like their work with phone and audio maker Nothing). Plus, I literally just got the news that they’re opening a “department store” on Lafayette St. in New York, so I guess they’re the new Bergdorf?
While it’s unclear whether we should even worry about that statement, what is clear is that we have a new parody of teenage engineering to enjoy, and… honestly, it’s a parody of all of us. By Kai Lentit:
There are two things I love about this.
One, you do get a lot of genuine teenage engineering products in here, partly because it’s shot at Hainbach’s studio.
Two, uh, not only does this implicate me and other people in music tech, but I, uh, started to actually like some of the off-the-wall design ideas here.
I mean, amidst all the AI and sameness and general bleakness of the world, there’s something refreshing about just laughing at ourselves. But as for teenage engineering, given the TE jokes over the years, you did realize that announcing you were quitting the entire instrument business was going to make you a target for some friendly ribbing, right?
Now excuse me, I need to go pick up some screws.
This also clearly needs some new parody lyrics:
“Who took the money away” — that doesn’t really need to be changed.
I’ve got a CV that’s better than this
But you don’t remember at all
As we get older and stop making synths
You won’t find me waiting long
Hmmm… what if nothing is better than this?
We all feel trapped in the synth world sometimes. Call it, uh, Stockholm Syndrome okay I did not intend that I’m going to stop now. Good night.