teenage engineering launches world's first electronic instrument that plays medieval music

Medieval music via teenage engineering’s electronic instrument

It’s 2024, but Teenage Engineering wants to bring back the hurdy-gurdies, lutes, Gregorian chants, and thundering drums with EP-1320. It’s their recent release, dubbed the world’s first electronic instrument, sampler, and composer that only plays medieval music. Why rave to club music when party animals can rock and roll to the sounds of bagpipes, shawm, flutes, and trumpets?

There’s a large library of phrases, ready-to-play instruments, and one-shot samples in Teenage Engineering’s electronic instrument. In their words, ‘The instrumentalis electronicum is the ultimate, and only, medieval beat machine.’ DJs and music producers can play medieval music directly on the pads, or they can plug in their external MIDI keyboard to add their own flair to the sounds.

all images courtesy of Teenage Engineering

EP-1320 and the sounds of witches, farm animals and a dragon

Teenage Engineering’s EP-1320 boasts hundreds of medieval sounds and samples. The design team has even added a line input and internal microphone, so users can sample their own music in just a few seconds using the electronic instrument. If they’re not into that, they can just tap the pads and play the hurdy-gurdy, citole, bowed harp, and gittern. They can mix that with the sounds of frame drums, tambourines, chain rattles, and battle toms. If they want, why not add some clappers, bells, and coconut horse hooves to go with their Gothic flow?

Users shouldn’t forget the various foley and sound effects such as swords, arrows, farm animals, no less than two separate witches, rowdy peasants, and an actual dragon (yes, there’s a sound of a dragon). The medieval electronic instrument has a ‘demus’ mode. When switched on, users can choose any of the nine songs and then dance along with them using the sounds and instruments on the four banks. They can play around with the tunes by activating some punch-in sound effects, so the tavern fever is full on, causing a Middle Ages party frenzy in the modern year.

Teenage Engineering bring back the hurdy-gurdies, Gregorian chants, and thundering drums with EP-1320

‘cocoa scented’ pads and a ‘torture chamber’ reverb, too?

Teenage Engineering’s EP-1320 runs on four AAA batteries, but the electronic instrument can also be powered using USB-C. Even the design of the sampler and music composer looks medieval, from the font style all over the board to the color, presentation, packaging, and imagery (the main image resembles a woman holding a harp). The electronic instrument is portable too, and the design team includes a quilted hardcover case, t-shirt, keychain, and a vinyl record featuring songs and samples as additional medieval apparel and accessories.

There’s also an integrated speaker in the electronic instrument, so users aren’t required to plug in external ones when they want to listen to medieval music. Teenage Engineering says that the pads on the sampler/composer are ‘cocoa scented’ and that users can also play ‘torture chamber’ reverb. A dungeon echo and a bardic ensemble are also included, cranking up the Middle Ages party. As of publishing the story, EP-1320, the world’s first electronic instrument that only plays medieval music, is available, priced at 349 EUR per unit.

there’s a large library of phrases, ready-to-play instruments, and one-shot samples included