We’ve been tearing down a few musical instruments as research for a project, and Teenage Engineering’s OP-1 had some great Easter eggs inside.
The most interesting detail was the screen. They only use about two-thirds of it. Rather than paying for an expensive custom display to fit their perfect grid layout, they took an off-the-shelf screen and simply masked off the rest.
Teardowns are the best way to get inside the minds of companies with massive R&D budgets.
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I was sick this week, so no energy for a fancy reel, but I still wanted to share a quick sneak preview of what I currently have in the works. Overall, it’s just “some” custom PCBs (yeah, I got a little too enthusiastic):
Number 1 is Clotty, obviously and most importantly: my RP2040-based period tracker, a hybrid between sensor board and gaming device. And it runs Ultimate DOOM now, because reasons.
It’s the first working prototype (!!) and a WIP (!!), but the hardware design files and a blog post are already online if you want to have a glimpse (links in bio).