Teenage Engineering Choir: WTF or Take My Money? You Make The Call!
Teenage Engineering Choir is a collection of eight ‘singing’ wooden dolls. It’s MIDI wooden doll choir is the most baffling music tech product of the year. This Eight-piece ensemble can sing built-in songs or you can feed it your own
This set of eight wooden dolls is designed to “serenade you with a repertoire of choral classics,” and can also be triggered by your OP-1 Field or any Bluetooth MIDI keyboard, so can ‘sing’ your own compositions, too. Each doll has its own voice and vocal range, and can perform solo or as part of a wider ensemble.
The collection of pre-installed songs – which includes festive classics such as Deck The Halls and Auld Lang Syne – has been created using an algorithm based on counterpoint melody, a music theory technique that involves using two or more independent melodies that complement each other (a bassline and synth lead would be one contemporary example).
Once a song has been chosen, each doll’s performance can be started by tapping its head or giving it a light tap on the table, while tilting a doll left or right will decrease or increase its volume. “If it gets annoying, it can handle a little smack to turn it off,” says Teenage Engineering.
Each doll has a unique ‘personality’ and is made from solid beech. In true babushka style, the speaker/CPU can be found inside, while each doll is rechargeable and offers up to four hours of performance time.
Even by Teenage Engineering’s standards, the Choir is an audacious release, and feels more like an art project than a product with any genuine commercial viability.
What they say about the choir:
“made to serenade you with a repertoire of choral classics, as well as perform your own original compositions through midi over ble.
each member has their own characteristic vocal range. individually one can sing a dynamic solo, together they perform an immersive a cappella concert.
the choir is inspired by the original absolute choir, our very first project.”
The dolls are available now for $249/£249 each.
Find out more on the Teenage Engineering website.
