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the Teenage Engineering OP-1

The OP-1 in 2011, the year it went on sale. Photo Shuichi Kodama, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Teenage Engineering OP-1

20 traced influences · 6 sources

dig the Teenage Engineering OP-1

What it took directly

  1. statedthe OP-1 took from the Absolut Choir (2007), the singing-doll installation Teenage Engineering built for Absolut Vodka"the starting point for the [OP-1] synthesizer, because we started working with synthesized sound and we wanted to do our own stuff without the client." Jesper Kouthoofd, to Nathan Ingraham, The Verge (August 28, 2012)
  2. statedthe OP-1's step sequencer took from the Roland JX-3P's simple step sequencer, one of Kouthoofd's favorite synths"This is actually based on one of my favorites synths, the Roland JX-3P, which has a really, really simple step sequence." Jesper Kouthoofd, Teenage Engineering's founder and head of design, to Damian Kulash of OK Go, L'ArcoBaleno (2013)
  3. statedthe OP-1 took from the Casio SK-10, which Kouthoofd names as the source of its "sub""And the sub is from this old Casio; it’s called SK-10, right?" Jesper Kouthoofd, Teenage Engineering's founder and head of design, to Damian Kulash of OK Go, L'ArcoBaleno (2013)
  4. statedthe OP-1 took from mobile-phone parts: the OLED display, processor, battery and accelerometer"all the components in the OP-1 are based on mobile phone components like the OLED display, the processor, the battery technology, the accelerometer and stuff like that." Jesper Kouthoofd, Teenage Engineering's founder and head of design, to Damian Kulash of OK Go, L'ArcoBaleno (2013)
  5. documentedthe OP-1's shape took from Casio's VL-Tone, the pocket synth-calculator of the early 1980s"It’s got a form factor inspired by the Casio VL-Tone series – you know, those cute little 80s-vintage synths." Peter Kirn, Create Digital Music (January 17, 2010), after time with the prototype and the team

What it learned to do

  1. statedJesper Kouthoofd learned from Roland's 303, BOSS pedals and the Portastudio, in the music store where his brother worked in the early 1980s"My brother used to work in a music store, in the early ’80s, when all the Roland machines came—the 303, the BOSS pedals, the Portastudio and all that." Jesper Kouthoofd, Teenage Engineering's founder and head of design, to Damian Kulash of OK Go, L'ArcoBaleno (2013)
  2. statedthe OP-1 learned from the early-1980s machines its makers played with, from Casio's VL-Tone to Roland's"everything from the VL-Tone to the Roland machines; and if you look really carefully at the OP-1, you can see traces of that." Jesper Kouthoofd, Teenage Engineering's founder and head of design, to Damian Kulash of OK Go, L'ArcoBaleno (2013)
  3. statedthe OP-1's tape mode learned from working on a 1980s four-track recorder"So it’s a little bit how you worked in the ‘80s, with a four-track recorder, but digital." Jesper Kouthoofd, Teenage Engineering's founder and head of design, to Damian Kulash of OK Go, L'ArcoBaleno (2013)
  4. statedthe OP-1's sound learned from a choice to be purely digital while other synth makers chased virtual analog"But we said ‘OK, it's digital and we want it to be pure[ly] digital." Jesper Kouthoofd, to Nathan Ingraham, The Verge (August 28, 2012)
  5. statedthe OP-1's four knobs learned from Kouthoofd's rule that turning a knob must change what you hear"But our strategy was that when you turn a knob, you should hear the difference." Jesper Kouthoofd, Teenage Engineering's founder and head of design, to Damian Kulash of OK Go, L'ArcoBaleno (2013)
  6. statedJesper Kouthoofd learned from graphic design school, hand methods and record sleeves he designed from age 15"I went to school to study graphic design. I trained in the classic methods, using the camera and making everything by hand. I started doing record sleeves when I was 15." Jesper Kouthoofd, to SFMOMA curator Joseph Becker (February 2024)
  7. statedJesper Kouthoofd's industrial design learned from German and Italian design: simple geometry, the 40-color RAL scale and German industrial standards"the design philosophy should be a mix between German and Italian. I set up restrictions when I design. I always work with simple geometric shapes, RAL colors — which is a 40-color scale — and try to adhere to German industrial standards." Jesper Kouthoofd, to SFMOMA curator Joseph Becker (February 2024)
  8. statedTeenage Engineering learned from Elektron, the Swedish synth company Kouthoofd had worked with"I used to work with another synth company called Elektron on the West Coast and Sweden." Jesper Kouthoofd, Teenage Engineering's founder and head of design, to Damian Kulash of OK Go, L'ArcoBaleno (2013). Create Digital Music (2010) also notes the team's Elektron pedigree
  9. documentedthe OP-1's sound team learned from co-founder David Mollerstedt's years heading audio at EA's DICE studio (Battlefield, Mirror's Edge)"Another founder, David Mollerstedt, headed up the audio team at EA’s DICE studio, which produced the Battlefield and Mirror’s Edge games." Ciara Byrne, Fast Company (September 3, 2013)
  10. documentedthe OP-1's synths and interface learned from prototypes written in Python around native code, then rebuilt on the device"Teenage prototypes their sound creations and interface in Python, wrapped around native code, before re-implementing them on the device." Peter Kirn, Create Digital Music (January 17, 2010)
  11. inferredthe OP-1's color coding comes from Kouthoofd's rule that each color carries one meaning across all of the company's products"I connect colors to a meaning and then apply that to all products. If it’s orange or red, it means recording." inferred: Kouthoofd states the color rule for "all products" (SFMOMA, 2024) and Sound On Sound describes color linking screen and encoders on the OP-1; neither ties the two together

The tradition it sits in

  1. documentedthe OP-1's tape mode comes from the tape-and-splice collage craft of early electronic music"The craft of early electronic music was deeply connected to the process of recording to tape, then splicing, into a finished product as a collage." Peter Kirn, Create Digital Music (January 17, 2010), placing the feature; not a statement by its makers
  2. documentedthe OP-1 comes from the line of small, cheap Casio VL-Tone synths, in a reviewer's reading"it's difficult not to imagine Teenage Engineering's OP1, with its mini keyboard and internal speaker, as today's VL‑Tone." Paul Nagle, Sound On Sound (January 2012). A comparison, not a stated influence
  3. inferredthe OP-1's screen art comes from early video-game art"most of the graphics you'll see feel straight out of old Atari video games" inferred: The Verge's reporter says the graphics feel like old Atari games, and Fast Company says the founders grew up with 1980s home computers; Teenage Engineering does not name games as a source

Where the whole form comes from

  1. documentedthe OP-1 comes from the 1980s home computers and Japanese synthesizers its founders grew up with"The founders grew up in the 1980s and played around with the home computers and Japanese synthesizers of that era. Working with hardware as well as software meant dealing with, and sometimes pushing, physical limitations. Kouthoofd says these experiences helped shape the OP-1." Ciara Byrne, Fast Company (September 3, 2013), reporting Kouthoofd

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