The Founder of Teenage Engineering Reveals Why They’re Quitting Synths

by Akshat Jain
1 minute read

Teenage Engineering’s founder says the company plans to stop making synths, even the OP-1. Here’s why!

Teenage Engineering, the Swedish brand behind the much-loved OP-1, is planning to stop making synthesizers. And the person saying it is its own founder, Jesper Kouthoofd.

He shared the news in an interview with Highsnobiety, published on October 7. He told his team about the plan last autumn, and they were pretty confused. That makes sense. The OP-1 came out in 2011 and put the company on the map.

So why quit?

Kouthoofd says “the products aren’t the business.” To him, the whole company is the real creation. He doesn’t want it to be known as just the synth company, or as a company with one famous product.

Jesper Kouthoofd also made a bold claim. He believes about 99% of people who buy synths don’t use them as serious tools for making music. For most people, he says, a synth is therapy, entertainment, and a hobby. So the company can chase that same joy with other kinds of products.

What comes next?

Nobody knows yet. Kouthoofd showed the writer a project in a private lab and said it could change how we live online. Some of the work won’t be ready for five to ten years.

The brand already makes some wonderfully odd things, like a portable vinyl cutter, a tape dispenser, and a $2,000 set of eight wooden singing dolls. This move fits that spirit.

Should OP-1 owners worry?

Not right now. There’s no end date and no official notice from the company. It has kept releasing gear, including the K.O. Sidekick mixer in May 2026 and an update for its EP series in June.

Fans on Reddit are split. Some are worried, some want the firmware opened up so the community can keep improving it, and some think it’s a smart move.

If you love your OP-1, keep making music with it. It’s also a good idea to save a backup of your projects and the latest firmware, just in case.

Teenage Engineering's founder says the company plans to stop making synths

Teenage Engineering may be leaving synths behind, but it isn’t leaving creativity behind. Whatever comes next, it will probably be strange, and that’s why people love them.