Teenage engineering - They have gone modular

I was surprised and delighted to see this today.
I'm a big fan of this Swedish company.

The teenagers have got a new series of synths out.
Beautiful Scandinavian designs.
Their website describes this as the poor man's modular but I can see these being sold in art galleries.

The System 400 (as my friend Justin pointed out) harks back to the EMS Synthi E
And I think the similarities are more than just its colour

The Synthi E was designed for education, and I feel that these new TE synths will open up the world of modulars to a much wider audience.

The flat pack idea reminds me of  IKEA. Another Swedish company... who are known for selling good, minimalist designed products at affordable prices.

As far as I can tell from the manual, the patch cables are 3,5mm but the module size is their own format (not Eurorack).

The 400 has  3 OSCILLATORS, NOISE, RANDOM GENERATOR, 2 ENVELOPES, 2 VCA'S, LFO, FILTER, MIXER, SPEAKER BOX, POWER PACK AND A 1–16 STEP SEQUENCER.

THE COMPLETE KIT COMES WITH CHASSIS,16 MODULES, 15 PATCH CABLES.

It doesn't look like you can move these modules around within the system.
The kit comes with a flat metal face (reminds me of my old Meccano set) where you bend (the edges) to make the case...

The modules are then screwed onto the back of the face ??

The other two synths released are the 170 & the keyboard

The 170 is a analog monophonic synth with step sequencer. It costs $349USD and includes a chassis, nine modules and eight patch cables.
The modular membrane keyboard has tuneable keys and a step sequencer. It seems to be designed for use with the 400 & 170 model... and hopefully will conform to Eurorack CV/ gate standards

The module dimensions are here.

The TE system uses M2 screws., 5mm spacing mount holes. Module dimensions are 30x90 for a 6HP module. ie the height is 90mm which is approximately 2U

Euro specs are M3 screws, 5.08 mm spacing mount holes, and a 3U height.

But the PSU  is compatable ... both +/-12V

I hope this is the first of many future module additions. Maybe a case that allows for free placement of the modules..... I can see this system expanding 

Links:
Teenage Engineering