Oooh mama! You know what? I have an intuitive guess that a prototype of this device was what we hear in the opening track of “I, I” - bon ivers latest album. I remember reading about them using a “radio”. Sounds like what you might say if you had this prototype bit we’re under an NDA.
What audio are you referring to that was posted on Instagram?
Just stumbled upon this job listing on their website: https://teenage.engineering/jobs/embedded-linux-system-engineer
Job description
teenage engineering is looking for an embedded linux engineer to help develop and maintain
yocto & openwrt based platforms.
Openwrt is an open platform for WIFI-routers!
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They also joined Zephyr project earlier this year;
“teenage engineering is developing embedded products in a wide range of complexity: from single core Cortex-M0 to multicore and multiprocessor systems with totals of up to 5 different mcu’s from various vendors,” said David Eriksson Head of Hardware at teenage engineering. “Our goal is to build the perfect multi-chip system where we capture what each breed of processor does best and allow them to work together in harmony. With Zephyr, we can develop anywhere. We make sure that code can run on host as well as device, and that interconnectivity is platform agnostic allowing a mix of real hardware and desktop emulation. We prefer to develop with open tools, so Zephyr is really the only sane choice for an RTOS where it is possible to achieve true transparency on all layers of the stack. We are happy to become members of The Linux Foundation and the Zephyr Project and to take part in shaping and influencing the future of embedded systems.”
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Real-time linux, Bluetooth & wifi, cloud connectivity, includes a speaker (but is clearly far more), magic wand - or is it a composers wand?
I think it’s a new synth. The advertising worked. I’m excited.
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Guess the audio is gone now because they were doing it as a “live demo”. It opened with audio (samples?) from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly theme mixed with other synth stuff, then it kept drifting between songs/genres, some ambient stuff, some rap mixed in but it sounded kind of distant or in the background. It was kind like a Girl Talk mix with different songs/sounds overlapping each other over time, but much less starkly defined than Girl Talk. It had a dreamy, groovy, floaty feel to it.
I am grasping at straws for the ball, metronome, speaker picture they posted today, but the ball is mirroring the metronome and the metronome appears to be floating slightly above the other items. So…“Mirrored, floating metronomes (times) speaker/radio”…possibly fitting in with the PEOPLE PLAYER concept I posted above in that is a speaker that allows multiple people to jam together by mixing in different songs/instruments over an undefined length of time and with undefined time signatures without being in the same room together.
I could be completely wrong about all that haha, just guessing.
Other words that come to mind that a better riddle wizard may be able to piece together.
Ball
Ball bearing
Steel
Silver
Reflective
Mirrored
Globe
Circular
Metronome
Time
Count
BPM
Floating
Wood
Speaker
Radio
Portable
Sound
Yellow (I don’t know if the paint job is indicative of anything, it looks a bit like a Chinese character but it is too incomplete to figure out).
EDIT: Just going to go a crazy with the straw-grasping now because why not. TE loves incorporating elements of Japanese aesthetics/writing into their stuff. The symbolism of the circle (ball), triangle (metronome), and square (yellow box/speaker) occur in Zen/Chan Buddhism, as well as other religions and philosophies across history. It is usually associated ideas of form leading to formlessness, one thing constantly used to build upon another, and a general sense of infinity or infinite change.
So…music that is made in an infinite, formless, collaborative way…because it is made by anonymous individuals adding infinite shifting layers of new sounds to a foundational song using their fancy TE internet tape recorder speakers, eh?
Hey TE if I solved it please give me a sly wink <3
Here is a quote about the philosophy behind the circle, triangle, square symbol from D.T. Suzuki.
"The circle-triangle-square is Sengai’s picture of the universe. The circle represents the infinite, and the infinite is at the basis of all beings. But the infinite in itself is formless. We humans endowed with senses and intellect demand tangible forms. Hence a triangle. The triangle is the beginning of all forms. Out of it first comes the square. A square is the triangle doubled. This doubling process goes on infinitely and we have the multitudinosity of things, which the Chinese philosopher calls ‘the ten thousand things’, that is, the universe. The trouble with us linguistically-minded beings is that we take language realistically and forget that language is of no significance whatsoever without time. In truth, language is time and time is language. We thus come to think that there is in the beginning of the world a something which is real and concrete, such as a world of galaxies which though formless and nebulous is yet real and tangible. This is the foundation of the universe on which we now have all kinds of things, infinitely formed and varied. It is thus that time itself begins to be thought of as something concrete and real. A circle turns into a triangle, and then into a square, and finally into infinitely varied and varying figures. In the same way the Biblical account of creation has turned into historical truth in the minds of many. But Zen is very much against such fabrications. There is another and a more traditional interpretation that may be given to these three figures of forms. Sengai was familiar with Shingon, the mantra sect of Buddhism, as well as Zen. He liked Shingon because it taught the identity of the bodily existence ( rupakaya ) with ultimate reality ( dharmakaya ). The bodily existence is here represented by a triangle which symbolizes the human body in its triple aspect, physical, oral (or intellection), and mental (or spiritual). The quadrangle represents the objective world which is composed of the four great elements ( mahabhuta ), earth, water, fire and air. The Dharmakaya, the ultimate reality, is the circle here, that is, the formless form. We generally hold a dichotomous view of existence, form ( rupakaya ) and formless ( arupa ), object and subject, matter and spirit, and think they contradict each other and are mutually exclusive. Both Shingon and Zen, however, oppose this view and hold that what is form is formless or empty ( sunya ), that is, they are identical.
In his little treatise on this subject called Tengan Yaku (Medicine for the Eye), written in a dialogue form, Sengai estimates Zen as being higher than Shingon, and states that Zen is more direct and immediate and to the point without indulging in verbalism. Zen in this respect is the most effective medicinal drop for the eye that is still wandering on the level of intellection. It replaces this kind of eye with the one possessed by Mahasvara (Great Lord). It is the divine eye which looks directly into the secrets of the ultimate reality. The opening or awakening to this order is abrupt and beyond verbal demonstrations of any sort, which is characteristically lacking in Shingon."
-D.T.Suzuki
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I like the idea of global(sphere), synchronised,(metronome), sound(speaker). I hope this is for both musicians and audiences given the pressures we all currently under. 4 more days. I can’t wait.4 more days.
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If that thing has global streaming then it will need a smartphone companion app…
If any of those guesses are close to the mark (and again, it’s TE and random guessing, it might turn out to be a camera-controlled theremin with a speaker that you play by dancing), then I think it would be able to be used as Bluetooth speaker and tape recorder without a phone, but the big features would definitely require a phone/laptop app. They already went that route with the OP-Z for visual feedback.
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Sooooo. When will it launch tmrw?
I don’t think they have said anything more specific than “September 30th”, but I will be checking the page at 12:01am Sweden time which is in like 5 hours. I was planning on making this my one birthday present to myself, so I am going to be prettyyyyy bummed if they sell out instantly.
EDIT: 12:02 there now and I don’t see anything, looks like it’ll just be some time in the next 24 hours.
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still nothing !
That’s why it’s mysterious!
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Maybe it will be a night launch with a cocktail party in the woods…
My stomach is a knot lol. I really hope that speaker was a decoy because i cant imagine how it would be 6 years worth of dev time
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Also if anyone is interested in producing an OP2 concept (rendered hardware mock ups, UI and interface, feature list etc) within the coming month or two hit me up i was thinking of making it a personal project. It could even be a straight up competitor that we speculate!
I have always dreamed about a dream machine that would make it all and would be designed by the community of users.
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Found on the json files on the website…
“introducing OB–4, the incredible sounding magic radio”
$599
Available in black or red color
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That’s disappointing.
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