“In an interview with Lukas Mauve, published by Highsnobiety on October 7, 2026, Kouthoofd reveals that he told his team during a company reorganization last fall that he intends to stop making synthesizers altogether. And yes, that includes the iconic OP-1. Teenage Engineering even shared the interview on its official Instagram account, using the same headline.”
Quoted from Gearnews. I wonder if this is very synth specific (POs, OP1f, OP-X), or if the samplers, the TX-6, CM-15 etc. are on the chopping block as well? A total about face or just dropping the synths?
take it with a grain of salt. just my 2c. remember from the SATs those little math problems where under the diagram it would say “not drawn to scale”? just when you thought you could eyeball it. that’s the news now a days. again just my 2c but this little analogy seems to consistently commute well as time goes on.
they’ve built the best platform for music-making and if you follow along their path the sidekick has been a logical step for them to introduce because they for themselves thought there’s nothing else, same with the field line for instance and if you by now take all their hardware (the og1 included) there’s nothing that could be added in hardware so it’s best to focus on the existing eco-system as there’s plenty of room to grow in firmware making a TE only setup (+mutable/Pittsburgh modular) a life-long choice more then ever and the SP1 along with the Og1 mods are something i can’t believe are happening because the quality of hardware thru firmware is excellent and really expressive
Well first, there’s no reason to be rude and swear at me.
Reading the whole article makes it seem like there might be a sea change coming at TE. Maybe you’re right and they stop producing only the OP-1f, OP-XY, OP-Z, the modular, and 8 of the 9 Pocket Operators, but still produce the PO-33, the TP-7, TX-6, CM-15, the EP line, the Sidekick, the choir dolls, and the PO-80.
So you think, very literally, they’ll continue to produce just one of the Pocket Operators and also break up the Field line, discontinuing the OP-1f but continuing with the other three?
“Some of this won’t be released for five to 10 years,” Kouthoofd says, pointing to a new project he believes will change our online life."
TE might not adjust a thing but the article makes it sound like a shift is coming.
hey sorry you feel like i cussed at you…i’m seeing this pop up repeatedly across the web and fail to understand what amounts to fearmongering from my perspective or overreaction based on guesswork and assumptions
i focus mostly on what was said and whats been done by te themselves (so not 100% literal)
the range of products you mentioned makes it clear that te has never really followed a formula when developing products and any shift the company makes while reorganizing staff isnt gonna drastically change that part of their core values
I think when you look at the larger picture here with gear manufacturers, we have sort of reached a bit of a peak with things. Most gear now is an update on an existing model. I suspect they don’t want their entire business model reliant on them having to keep releasing new musical gear or having to support so many released devices.
The other thing is that they have built a business on various things, music equipment being one of them. They may want to diversify and change things up and not be reliant on it. Especially if you as an owner are not interested in that as much anymore or want to devote business resources to it.
You might be right about having reached a peak with music gear. Of course I can’t imagine the next amazing advances that will happen or I would be making them myself.
I am curious about TE’s statement that they’re working on something that will “change our online life”. Because online life could really do with a change.
at least the hardware is all over the place and somehow the vibe-coding helps to maintain technology like real-world things, maintaining their inner circuit and transforming it into the future.
there’s this statement floating around that Jesper said “the products we do should make your 10 year old innerchild pretty happy” and while I like the kiddy reference I think someone lost it in its meaning at all because TE has ever been like fast forward 10years ahead (like now there’s nothing that could come close to the og1 even without mods) and the xy is still far ahead, even tho it needs more love ^^
so in my personal timeline having the og1 since 2012, going thru all the the OS updates (cwo,voltage etc) and now being part of the recent OS magic it feels like TE is still the future but by now we’re updating a 2011 flagship OP1 like it is 2016 with granular, supersaw, Euclidean, vintage tape echo, quad LFO and more and more.
that pace alone makes it pretty clear that for the next 10 years your old ass hardware that you would think needs a pretty hefty update tag from the manufacturer is now the most modern thing floating around, the performance is astonishing and if not it’s fixed within hours, no hassle really
for me personally it’s the greatest time because I love it when things keep going forward and not being gatekeepers, for this long.
again it’s the hardware and aesthetics that hold the identity because yes, you can have an fm bell on basically anything these days or Euclidean sequencers but only the OP1 has got the magic of not overwhelming you with dumb ass menu diving setting you straight to the music, that magic will last forever if treated just right in terms of TE design aesthetics but @popcorp really does it in a way which is en par with TEs philosophy and that’s the future. our monks told us how to play the device and now we play the device and make it better for the next generation of our lives
