Teenage Engineering is no stranger to weird gadgets that defy description. This is a company that released a $250 toy car and, uh, whatever these are. We all knew that. We also knew that the company would likely be releasing a follow-up to its massively successful EP-133 K.O. II sampler. We couldn’t in a million years, however, have guessed that it would be a medieval-themed monstrosity.
That’s right. The sequel to the K.O. II is a sampler built entirely around sounds inspired by the middle ages. It’s all here, from Gregorian chants and lutes to drum sounds that recall Monty Python. The sampler also comes pre-loaded with tons of themed foley effects, like sword slashes, arrows, farm animals and, according to the company, “an actual dragon.” The EP-1320 Medieval has everything, if by “everything” we mean samples of screaming peasants.
Aesthetically, it’s basically the K.O. II with a different skin. The design features red calligraphy, castle towers and, of course, plenty of latin. As a matter of fact, it’s not even referred to as a sampler at all. The company’s calling it “the world’s first medieval electronic instrument” and there’s a large label on the front that reads “instrumentalis electronicum.”
There are new effects, for those worried it would just crib from last year’s model. These include something called a “torture chamber reverb” and another referred to as a “Bardic ensemble.” The arpeggiator has been redesigned and there are hundreds of new multi-sampled instruments. Teenage Engineering also says, and I’m not kidding, that the drum pads smell of cocoa. We reached out about that last one and will report back when we get some info.
Of course, this is a sampler at heart, so users can put anything they want on it via the internal microphone or USB-C connection. It’s also essentially a K.O. II, so there’s the same punch-in FX tool, nine memory slots, dinky speaker and a battery compartment that holds four AAAs. But out of the box, it has everything you could possibly need for a D&D-themed rave.
Just like the original, it’s $300. Orders are available now. Diehards can also pick up a themed t-shirt, a vinyl record and a quilted carry bag.
The EP-133 K.O. II was a huge hit, but was plagued by some performance concerns, including a number of units that shipped with busted faders. TE says all of this was due to poor packaging. Let’s hope the company got all that sorted out.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/teenage-engineerings-built-a-medieval-themed-sampler-complete-with-gregorian-chants-164941795.html?src=rss