Analogue audio continues its unexpected modern renaissance, and French hardware maker We Are Rewind has just announced what might be the sharpest retro-tech crossover of the year. The company is teaming up with synthwave royalty The Midnight for a special edition of its flagship portable cassette player, the WE-001.

For anyone following the resurgence of physical media, We Are Rewind has been a standout name. They took the nostalgic, chunky silhouette of the classic Sony Walkman and completely rebuilt it from the ground up for modern workflows—swapping AA batteries for internal lithium-ion power and pairing magnetic tape heads with modern wireless connectivity.

This latest collaboration dials directly into the neon-lit, 1980s retro-futuristic aesthetic that both brands live and breathe.

A Match Made in Neon

Formed in Los Angeles in 2012 by Tim McEwan and Tyler Lyle—originally sparked by songwriting sessions inspired by the film Drive—The Midnight have grown from bedroom synth experiments into arena-filling stalwarts of the synthwave genre.

“We like to think of The Midnight as a kind of time machine,” McEwan and Lyle shared in a joint statement. “We’re ’80s kids, and we learned that music came from plastic cassettes… We’re proud to collaborate on this special edition: not to return to the days of the Walkman, but to bring forward something we’ve been missing without knowing it.”

Visually, the special edition leans hard into that vintage ethos. The player’s circular viewing window has been reworked to feature the iconic striped-sunset motif synonymous with the band’s visual identity.

“Collaborating with The Midnight felt like an obvious fit from the very beginning,” explained We Are Rewind co-founder Romain Boudruche. “As soon as the opportunity came up, we immediately saw how the circular window of our cassette player could become the iconic striped sunset… It felt as though the product had almost been designed for it.”

Vintage Format, Modern Hardware

Beneath the bespoke chassis, the Midnight Edition keeps the upgraded internals that made the standard WE-001 a hit with music purists and industrial design fans alike.

Rather than relying on cheap novelty components, the hardware is geared for legitimate playback fidelity:

• Bluetooth 5.1 Connectivity: Stream tape audio seamlessly to modern wireless headphones, soundbars, or Bluetooth speakers.

• Modern Power Management: Ditch the alkaline batteries—an integrated rechargeable lithium battery delivers up to 12 hours of continuous playback via USB-C.

• Analogue Recording Suite: Features a dedicated 3.5mm line-in port to let you dub your own mixtapes directly from external audio sources or compatible microphones.

• Wired Output: A clean, amplified 3.5mm headphone jack for zero-latency wired monitoring.

• Tuned Audio Reproduction: An optimised motor mechanism and magnetic playback head boasting an upgraded frequency response of 30 Hz – 14,500 Hz (±3 dB) with Type I–IV tape compatibility.

Pricing and Availability

The We Are Rewind × The Midnight WE-001 launches officially on 1st October, sold directly via the We Are Rewind web store.

Each unit ships bundled with The Midnight’s Syndicate release on a limited-run “Purple Swirl” cassette tape. Retail pricing is set at:

• US: $199

• UK: £159

• EU: €179