Teenage Engineering has released a drum machine that immediately caught our attention: the EP-1320, capable of playing medieval samples. Sounds of lutes, hurdy-gurdies, booming drums, bagpipes, bombards, and Gregorian chants are sampled and ready to be mixed and reassembled in 2024, evoking medieval vibes. More than the features — certainly interesting but easily replicable with other drum machines — it’s the design and the communication of this product that stands out. Let’s see why.

Starting with the design, we immediately noticed the manuscript-style font and a medieval color palette consisting of brown, light green, and dark green. At first glance, it almost looks like a drum machine put together with Lego pieces. It’s portable and comes with a set of accessories that follow the same theme. Among the other features not mentioned above, there’s also a “torture chamber reverb” — perfect for a historical reenactment evening.

On the Teenage Engineering website — thanks to custom-designed graphics — we also find all the specific features of the EP-1320. On the same page, there’s a fantastical medieval-themed commercial showing the drum machine, with some melodies created using the EP-1320 playing in the background. Communication-wise, it’s a hit. Perhaps less appealing is the price, set at €345.