An article about Teenage Engineering. as the company was about to release its OP-1 keyboard. Originally published in 2010 in Scion Magazine. Story by Evan Shamoon.
At first glance, Teenage Engineering’s OP-1 looks like a vintage 1980s Casio keyboard, it’s toy like aesthetic underscored by friendly white plastic and colorful knobs. But for electronic musicians, it’s the look of the OP-1 that really makes it desirable. Music production hardware rarely come from designers who think holistically about the end user experience. The idea behind the OP-1, it seems, is to do for synthesizers what Apple did for computers: humanize them. Teenage Engineering is a ten-man team based in Stockholm, Sweden. Inspired by fellow Swedes Elektron (creators of the beloved Machinedrum sampler/drum machine), Teenage Engineering has taken upon itself the mission of creating a high-end music-creation device for a discerning consumer in an industry full of cheaply produced, barely designed equipment.
The OP-1 is small enough to fit into a backpack, runs on batteries, and takes a decidedly different approach to interface. “I think we’ve created an instrument that you can just pick up and learn how to use instantly, almost like a flute or guitar,” says Teenage Engineering CEO David Erickson. “When you’ve played with it for a while, you learn the hidden power features, and hopefully find your own way of mastering it live.”
As the digital salivation from internet onlookers will attest, the OP-1 is a rather exquisite piece of gear. The hardware and software have been built from the ground-up to seamlessly work in harmony with one another, with Teenage Engineering overseeing both. You can see the results in the OP-1’s small touches. The numbers and shapes dancing around its iconic screen are color-coded to the corresponding knobs, and built into the device are a motion-sensing accelerometer, microphone and even, bizarrely, an FM radio. It’s a machine full of personality, with little secrets and quirky design touches around every button and knob.
Nearly everything in the OP-1 is being created in-house at Teenage Engineering, thanks to a workshop outfitted with a small CNC milling machine, a laser cutter, a 3D printer, a 2D-plotter and plenty of soldering equipment. Even initial attempts to outsource the mechanical CAD work have been corrected: Prototypes and electronics are being produced in Sweden, with only plastics and keyboard mechanics being crafted in China (The only place to do such things,” according to Erickson).
We started work on the OP-1 two and a half years ago, but before then we could not have done this kind of thing,” says Erickson, who points out that tools have become much more readily available in recent years. Chip manufactures are slowly realizing that they can’t charge top dollar for the required tools, which is democratizing hardware design like never before. “They need to sell chips, and make the development environment available to kids!” says Erickson. The result? Teenage Engineering.
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