I often toy with the idea of buying one of these, and not because I need it to make music (which I’ve never done and never would). What’s great about Teenage Engineering is they fully embrace the idea that tools can be worth making and having purely for their own sake, which is a feeling some of us have always had but which society has sneered at until recently.
It’s like, when you’re a kid you are encouraged to covet objects that have literally no point but to be played with, and then we’re supposed to suddenly grow out of it, which is total bullshit, I think stemming from the fact that the ability to make fascinating objects is not something Western people can do for themselves. I mean, playing with toys is no more or less pointless than playing with music or painting, but individuals can make music on their own, so that is considered respectable, whereas making physical stuff is something we need Asian people do for us, so that is held in contempt. If you want to play with toys as an adult you have to pretend to be a connoisseur of cameras or cars or pens or whatever, and to appreciate these things only for their “practical” qualities. Even with Warhammer miniatures or Funkos Pop, you have to have the “serious” wargaming or collecting hobby to excuse liking the objects themselves.
I believe that’s changing though, because it’s increasingly possible to make lowbrow object culture at a boutique scale, and because of artists like Teenage Engineering that don’t apologise for foregrounding this angle.
(Not that I’ve heard them speak about it; I’m just basing that on what they make).
