Teenage Engineering's founder says it plans to stop making synths. Owners need more than a quote

Teenage Engineering founder and CEO Jesper Kouthoofd told Highsnobiety, in an interview published on 7 Oct 2026, that during a reorganisation "last fall" he told his team he plans to stop making synthesizers altogether. The OP-1, the 2011 instrument that made the Stockholm company's name, is no exception. His staff's reaction, in his telling, was confusion. His reason: "for us, the products aren't the business."

That is the whole announcement. There is no end date, no list of products and no statement from the company. The Verge, which carried the quote the same day, said Teenage Engineering did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

What did Kouthoofd actually say?

Read in full, the interview is about company philosophy more than a product roadmap. Kouthoofd says the company itself is its most important creation, that it "shouldn't make profits out of the products", and that he no longer wants ideas to end up as "obvious end products", another synthesizer being the example the writer gives. He also says some work in the lab won't be released for five to 10 years, and points to a project he thinks will change online life. He doesn't say what replaces the synths.

The interview gives a sense of scale: Highsnobiety reports that the company has about 100 staff and annual revenue of around $46 million. It also has Kouthoofd claiming that 99% of synth buyers use them as therapy, entertainment or a hobby rather than as productive tools. He offers no data for that.

Some coverage went further than the source. MusicTech wrote that he is ceasing synth production immediately. The interview says no such thing. It describes a plan announced internally, with no timing attached.

What is still shipping

The evidence from the weeks since points the other way, at least for now. On 15 Oct, Teenage Engineering posted OP-XY firmware 1.2.0, adding multichannel USB audio, a new drum synth engine called drumline, a dynamic track filter with drive and a detune preset setting. CDM covered the update and asked, half-joking, whether the product team can compete with a CEO who says they aren't a synth company any more. On 22 Oct, Synth Anatomy reported new K.O. range hardware: the EP-35 amp at €399, the EP-127 pedal at €99 and smaller accessories.

So, as of 23 Oct, no Teenage Engineering instrument has been discontinued, as far as we can find. Anyone who writes "the OP-1 is dead" is ahead of the facts.

How owners are reacting

The reactions we could read range from sadness to acceptance. One tech writer's post on X called the news sad, then conceded Kouthoofd's line from the interview about there being no point going to work if it isn't fun. Another post on X read it as part of a wider shift, arguing that hardware is turning from finished products into platforms owners keep developing themselves.

The r/teenageengineering thread on the news is one place owners are discussing it. Reddit blocks our access, so we couldn't read the replies ourselves. MusicTech, which did, reports mixed reactions: one user is wary of the long-horizon projects, another hopes Teenage Engineering will open-source its firmware so the community can keep the devices going after the company moves on, and a third argues the synth line has reached its natural end point.

It lands in a rough year for gear people rely on. Native Instruments' operating companies were sold out of insolvency with effect from 1 July (our coverage), and HYBE is winding down its AI voice company Supertone (coverage). Those are very different cases from a company changing direction by choice, but the lesson for musicians is the same: the tool is only as durable as the support behind it.

What we think

Kouthoofd can run his company however he likes, and a firm that has made a $2,000 choir of singing wooden dolls was never going to plan like a normal instrument maker. But an OP-1 Field or an OP-XY isn't a finished object you simply own. It is a battery, a bootloader and a firmware file that only Teenage Engineering can supply. The OP-XY guide says only a battery supplied by Teenage Engineering, fitted by qualified personnel, should be used. That means an exit from synths is a support question for every working musician who has built a live set or a writing process around these boxes.

Here's the detail we think matters. Several recent OP-XY releases, including 1.2.0, list "improved bootloader security" in their release notes. The notes don't say why, and there may be good reasons, such as protecting units from bad flashes. But tightening control of the firmware path at the same moment the founder talks about leaving the category is the opposite of what owners need. If the company wants out, the community's idea of open firmware is the decent exit.

There is some good precedent. The OP-1 downloads page still offers an OS update for the original 2011 OP-1. That is better than much of the industry. It is a habit, though, not a promise.

So our ask to Teenage Engineering is specific. Publish an end-of-life policy for every current instrument: how many years of bug-fix firmware, a commitment to keep every OS release downloadable, battery and parts supply for a stated period, documented project and sample formats so work can move to other tools, and, when support ends, an unlocked bootloader or open-sourced firmware. That costs little and is worth more to owners than any new object in the lab.

Until then, if you depend on one of these instruments, download and keep a copy of the current firmware file, export your projects and samples regularly, and keep track of the battery.