You're saying this like their over-designing blocks/prevents basic usability, but the small amount of TE devices I've tried, they just look good, are easy to understand and are easy to use. Maybe the sound/workflow isn't revolutionary, but not every device needs to be either.
I'll still keep mostly to Elektron, but can't say I haven't been close to buying an OP-1 before the prices got too crazy.
I meant it more like they are not building products that are there to meet some need for the general population that isn't met, they aren't designing and building general use-case type products, but instead building extremely niche things like medieval samplers. Oddball, extreme niche uses. Like they aren't trying to build something like a piano that's light and easy to move, or a guitar where the strings never break, but these fun gimmicky toys. Something nobody ever asked for but which makes you smile.
You're describing like 90% of all music hardware that is being launched today :) Who really needs a new delay pedal when there already exists thousands of them? Hardly makes them being gimmicks though.
A groovebox with a sampler isn't that niche at all I'd say, it's just the theme/design that is niche, but considering it's also a small hardware upgrade compare to the original, it isn't just a different theme but an incremental upgrade.
That said, as a electronic music producer myself I wouldn't buy this either, but not because of the theme/design.
But as much as this is a half-joke, it also encapsulates an attitude that Teenage Engineering caters to: A lot of musicians love new experiences, even if they are minute changes. Because music is ultimately about taste, and playing it is about finding just the right minute changes, and creating it is about finding just the right inspiration.
Yeah, it's a bit gimmicky, but that's the point: Novelty to stimulate new ideas.