Wooden dolls with different shapes and voices sing together. Teenage Engineering's choir turns playing music into the experience of forming a small choir.
Article
A round face stands next to the elongated face. Some dolls wear hats, while others have a wide-open mouth-like hole. The eight wooden dolls gathered on a black platform look like decorations, but each has a voice. If you wake one up, it will sing alone, and if you place other dolls nearby, it will become a choir.
This is ‘choir’ introduced in 2022 by Teenage Engineering of Sweden. A speaker and control device were placed inside the beech wood body. Rather than playing the same song loudly through multiple speakers, this is an object that allows puppets with different vocal ranges to sing together.
A choir awakened by a fingertip
No need to look for the play button. Lightly tapping the head or the table where the doll is placed starts or stops the song. Tilting left and right changes the volume. Sensors inside the body detect movement and vibration.
The operation method matches the appearance well. Instead of pressing the icon on the screen, you touch the doll in front of you. The action of turning on the speaker overlaps with the scene of waking someone up. These small gestures, as much as the material called wood, create the character of the object.
It is not about increasing the same voices.
Each figure has its own vocal range—such as bass, baritone, tenor or soprano—and a distinct timbre. It recognizes nearby choir members and sings together, and the composition changes depending on which puppets are collected. The producer explains that the counterpoint in which several melodies move independently yet fit together is the basis of the built-in songs.
It’s not just about singing pre-loaded songs. If you connect it to a device that supports Bluetooth MIDI, you can have it sing along with the notes you play. MIDI is a signal that conveys which notes to play and when to play between instruments. This is a connection that turns the doll from a sound player into a musical instrument that can be played directly.
Sounds with faces
Holes and shapes that would be hidden in a sleek speaker become faces and bodies here. Their different appearances show the difference in their voices. In front of the listener, instead of the box from which the sound comes out, eight dolls standing together are left.
When the singing stops, the figures become quiet wooden objects again. The next performance begins with a light tap on the head.
Official performance video
choir demo by Teenage Engineering
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Pcp0au-IBY
official channel
https://www.youtube.com/@teenageengineering
Sources and editorial notes
Teenage Engineering·choir product/operation method
Teenage Engineering · choir instructions
Teenage Engineering · Official press photo
Editorial note: Facts were checked against the sources above; interpretations are MUADAILY’s editorial views. Image: Teenage Engineering · choir official press group photo.
Machine-translated from Korean. Read the original.
