An electronics workbench with engineering equipment, including a microscope, oscilloscopes, and electronic components, surrounded by small plastic containers and tools.

About Us

Strange Science Instruments is two brothers working to build interesting things for musicians, producers and recording engineers.

We get a huge kick out of working on complex, technically challenging products.

We build beautifully engineered hardware that solves real problems for audio professionals.

A person's hand is working on a green printed circuit board with electronic components, using a probe for assembly and testing. Cables are connected to the circuit board, and it is placed on a green ESD (electrostatic discharge) mat.

A no-BS, engineer led company

As a small company run by engineers, we take pride in every product we release. We don’t set arbitrary deadlines or cut corners to ship products before they are ready. The question “Can we build it properly?” matters as much to us as “How many of these will we sell?”

We build all products from scratch and develop custom-made solutions when needed. For example, our high-performance analog PLL circuit and bare metal FPGA core are unique to us and not available anywhere else. We manufacture as much as possible in-house using our own industrial machines (CNC, Laser, etc.) and PCB assembly is done for us by a US based company. We do all final assembly and test ourselves in California.

In our pursuit of technical excellence, we prioritize:

  1. High reliability

  2. Excellent performance

  3. Comprehensive testing

An oscilloscope displaying a frequency spectrum and a person's hand pressing buttons on the device.

TL;DR

When you buy our products, you’re buying well-built hardware that will last a very long time and provide trouble free performance. The products are made by technical experts that are happy to get into nitty-gritty details if you have questions. (Talk to us!)

Our promise:

  • No marketing fluff or corporate statements. Ask us technical questions and get clear technical responses.

  • Our products will work 24/7 in professional work environments.

  • If you have the lab equipment and expertise, we encourage you to make your own measurements (and tell us.)

  • Customers keep our lights on! We take their feedback seriously and react quickly to issues.

Meet the Strange Scientists

  • A man with short dark hair and a slight smile sitting in front of a Modular Synthesizer with colorful patch cables and lights in a room decorated with a framed poster and a houseplant.

    Leo Der Stepanians

    PRODUCT DESIGN and MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

    A lifelong composer, 20 year veteran of the M.I. (musical instruments) industry and studio owner, Leo handles product design and mechanical engineering as well as sales and marketing. He holds a degree from the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) and lives in London, England. When he’s not designing products, he’s hanging on for dear life at the rock climbing gym.

  • A man smiling, wearing glasses and a light blue shirt, in a workspace with electrical engineering equipment including a microscope, a speaker, and various storage containers.

    Teo Der Stepanians

    HARDWARE and FIRMWARE ENGINEERING

    An engineer’s engineer, Teo handles all electrical engineering, simulations, firmware and automated testing of Strange Science Instruments products. He holds degrees from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the University of California at San Diego (UCSD). When he’s not in the lab, he’s sampling tasty San Diego beers and walking the best dog in the world, Aria.