[HN Gopher] Ten years of OP-1
___________________________________________________________________
Ten years of OP-1
Author : evo_9
Score : 90 points
Date : 2021-04-14 15:50 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (teenage.engineering)
(TXT) w3m dump (teenage.engineering)
| smoldesu wrote:
| Teenage Engineering is a frustrating company. On the one hand,
| they set out to create some of the most fun music equipment you
| can own: their Pocket Operator line is awesome for beginners of
| the hardware world, and they've consistently innovated with their
| grooveboxes. The problem? They have absolutely no respect for
| their pricing model. The OP-1 used to cost $800, which was
| already a big ask for a microprocessor, OLED screen and plastic
| enclosure. A great machine, but a hard to swallow price to be
| sure. Once YouTubers started picking up on them, they chose to
| increase the price (blaming it on a supply shortage, since we all
| know how hard it is to find ARM cores and OLEDs /s), leaving the
| OP-1 at a bewildering $1100 total.
|
| If you, the reader, has $1100, pick up an Octatrack. Elektron is
| one of the few companies that pushes the envelope of digital
| sequencing and hardware production, and the Octatrack is the
| pinnacle of their work. At $900-1000, you'll definitely get more
| mileage out of it than an OP-1, and you don't have to support
| Teenage Engineering's shitty pricing schema. Even at $600, you
| can buy an Elektron Digitakt/Digitone, which will probably serve
| you better in the long run.
| gehsty wrote:
| A music instrument is worth more than the sum of its
| components? Maybe high pricing makes it a sustainable business?
| brandonmenc wrote:
| I've owned an OP-1, Octatrack, and Digitone at various points.
|
| They aren't comparable to the OP-1, which is more of a quirky,
| fun, expensive toy, and there's nothing else like it really. I
| wasn't getting anything done with it, so I sold it. But, I can
| definitely see how someone could have a lot of fun making songs
| with it.
|
| Is it worth a thousand bucks? Nowadays you're probably better
| off spending half that on a Roland MC-101 or Novation Circuit
| Tracks.
|
| But I always kind of wish I never got rid of my OP-1 - it was
| definitely the most fun I've had on a self-contained hardware
| device - the tape interface for recording was just awesome.
|
| But as for the price increases, I never understood why people
| complain about this. They can charge whatever they want. This
| not a necessary item.
|
| > Elektron is one of the few companies that pushes the envelope
| of digital sequencing
|
| I think the Elektron sequencer workflow is overrated. Software
| is better. I understand thinking the restrictions encourage
| creativity (I don't personally subscribe to this idea), but the
| sequencer isn't "pushing the envelope" compared to what you can
| whip up in software.
|
| So I guess I kind of think some of the Elektron machines are
| also quirky, expensive toys.
| musicalynejd wrote:
| You don't understand their pricing because you don't understand
| what they are actually selling. They don't sell musical
| devices, they sell status symbols.
|
| You buy an OP-1 to look cool, not to actually make music with
| it. It's a bit like with the iPhone, but on a whole different
| level.
|
| Some buy fancy sneakers, others buy fancy pens and Moleskine,
| others buy an OP-1.
|
| And you can't have a cheap status symbol.
|
| This is also why they look so clean and minimalistic, like a
| MacBook, to the point of sacrificing ergonomy, since the
| aesthetic is what they are selling, so they can't look gnarly,
| black and full of ports and cables like an actual musical
| device.
| toiletfuneral wrote:
| oh hell yeah, we're back to the era "no one does REAL work on
| Macs / iPhones" but now its the OP-1
|
| you seem mad bro
| smoldesu wrote:
| I'm fully aware that's why they sell them, and it's why I'm
| not criticizing them for something they've obviously done
| quite well.
| dag11 wrote:
| > black and full of ports and cables like an actual musical
| device.
|
| Why does an "actual music device" have to be a certain color?
| I don't follow most of you argument, but especially that.
| [deleted]
| devin wrote:
| This is simply not true. I own a lot of synths, and the OP-1
| is a very capable (and extremely portable) 4 track studio. I
| sketch a lot of music on it, and it sees regular use in the
| studio.
| musicalynejd wrote:
| Sure.
|
| But that's not why most people buy it.
|
| Just like most people don't buy a Rolex Submariner because
| they regularly do deep dives in the ocean.
| dag11 wrote:
| Dive watches aren't for diving, divers use dive
| computers. But lots of musicians seem to use OP-1s...
| dmschulman wrote:
| There will always be a collector class with any category
| of designer product. Established manufacturers (Nike,
| Monte Blanc, Omega) are aware of this and directly cater
| to those customers. I don't think this was TE's intent
| when they launched their synthesizer.
|
| The OP-1 is an incredibly well designed product that
| stands on its own as an instrument. The device has taken
| on the life of a status symbol somewhat in 10 years, but
| is that due to TE or due to the quality of the product?
| Synthesizers have their own collector class after all,
| but I don't think you can accuse TE of intentionally
| catering to those folks when they made the OP-1. People
| like good design for many reasons. The OP-1 has an
| undeniable aesthetic quality but it's a versatile and
| flexible (and portable) instrument under all that.
| deeblering4 wrote:
| Honestly the octatrack is just as old and overpriced. Elektron
| has left it behind in terms of features like "overbridge" and
| after learning the ins and outs of my I much prefer separate
| sampler, sequencer and looper.
|
| Don't get me wrong, the OT is an amazing box. I just think a
| person can make much more interesting jams on a digitakt or
| midel:samples and an rc505, for instance.
| cush wrote:
| Have you ever used an OP1? It was underpriced at $800
| hbosch wrote:
| Buy a Deluge. :-)
| thenewwazoo wrote:
| Sorry for the meta-discussion (which I know is against the
| guidelines), but I'm finding it really hard to respond kindly
| to your comment, given the overarching tone ("no respect",
| "hard to swallow", sarcasm about parts, "shitty pricing"). I'd
| love to engage with you on the merits of pricing for what the
| market will bear, CoGS including software and craftsmanship,
| etc, but I am not able. Perhaps that's my failing, but I'd like
| to encourage you to be less acerbic in the future.
| Marazan wrote:
| I've no problem with a company pricing a product to be what
| the market will bear.
|
| However, Teenage Engineering claiming they were jacking the
| price due to "supply issues" is just insulting.
| mwfunk wrote:
| I haven't heard about this. Were they busted lying about
| supply chain issues as an excuse to raise prices? Their
| stuff is pricey but cool, but if it's documented that they
| lied about that, that would be hard to get past.
| voxrumor wrote:
| They have talked about it some, seemed reasonable. Also
| understand why it would not be a popular decision though.
| Think running a business, and understanding success can
| be very temporary if you are not careful helps.
|
| "We have had to face other costs than the actual
| components' costs of course. The currency conversion,
| inflation, sourcing of the new component, re-coding the
| display, re-designing the mounting, new tools etc. are
| just a few of the "why". When Teenage Engineering faced
| the reality of the OP-1's future, there were only 2
| choices: kill or save. We decided to save it. I
| understand that the new price is a disappointment to many
| of our fans. But I do hope some are happy that we did not
| kill it."
|
| https://www.gearnews.com/teenage-engineering-open-up-
| about-t...
| mwfunk wrote:
| That seems unfortunate but reasonable. I don't begrudge
| anyone making that choice, and I don't begrudge anyone
| thinking their prices are too high (and I don't begrudge
| anyone buying their stuff anyway because they think
| something's cool). I was way more concerned about the
| claim that they lied about it and were scamming their
| customers somehow, but so far there's no evidence of
| that.
| coldtea wrote:
| > _I 'd love to engage with you on the merits of pricing for
| what the market will bear_
|
| Well, there's also the level of pricing and milking it that
| poorer consumers will tolerate without hating the company, so
| there's that...
| smoldesu wrote:
| If my tone comes off as "acerbic", I guess I'm a little
| surprised. I love Teenage Engineering (and own a few Pocket
| Operators too), but I gotta call them out on the pricing
| issue here. When the price of the OP-1 did start to skyrocket
| in 2012, Teenage Engineering said absolutely nothing, and
| then discontinued it in 2013, sending the secondhand market
| soaring again. Of course, their response is to put it back
| into production at a higher cost, for more customers. You can
| slice this any way you want, but there's not really an excuse
| for an all-digital synth to increase in price like that. I
| have no doubts that a simple redesign could bring the BOM
| down to sub-$200, even in 2015. Failing that, they could have
| taken the re-release as an opportunity to fix some of the
| issues in the original model: give it a sensible charging
| port, improve the microphone quality, or even improving the
| sample transfer software. None of these issues were ever
| addressed. The insult added to injury is the OP-Z, a
| "successor" that was designed to be inferior to it's
| predecessor, as not to cannibalize it's market.
|
| Maybe I am hateful, but Teenage Engineering has definitely
| had a fall from grace. Even their recent modular kits left a
| bad taste in my mouth...
| type0 wrote:
| > Even their recent modular kits left a bad taste in my
| mouth...
|
| Their modular is ridiculous, I can't imagine what they were
| thinking.
| thenewwazoo wrote:
| There are schools of (microeconomic) thought that would
| encourage them to raise prices _even further_ in order to
| reduce demand to match their supply capability. If the
| second-hand market prices a good higher than the original
| seller, that 's a very clear signal to increase the price.
| At least that way the profits end up in the manufacturer's
| pocket (which they can use to increase volume) instead of a
| speculator's. That is all to say, their raising prices is
| ethical, legal, and moral.
|
| You seem to be seeing something nefarious in their
| discontinuing the OP-1, and then re-continuing it at a
| higher price. Even absent the above, it makes perfect sense
| that they could be losing money on a product, and then re-
| introduce it at a higher price so they stop losing money.
|
| Now, should they have been losing money at the lower price
| point? You talk a lot about CoGS, but that completely
| neglects things like design and development time. The OP-1
| is, by all accounts, _extremely_ well-designed and built.
| Economies of scale let companies like Apple pick lower
| margins because that R &D time is amortized over a _huge_
| number of devices manufactured. Boutique operations can 't
| do that.
|
| All that still ignores squishier questions like choosing to
| keep a price point in order to fund other projects (that
| may never be built) with increasing margins over time, or
| hell, I dunno, paying bigger bonuses to employees. Clearly
| people are willing to pay it, and they're under no
| obligation to price their goods according to any objective
| thing at all. Maybe the CEO is a mystic and likes the
| numerology of the new price better.
| [deleted]
| brandonmenc wrote:
| > You seem to be seeing something nefarious in their
| discontinuing the OP-1, and then re-continuing it at a
| higher price.
|
| This is typical behavior of a certain large class of
| musicians, particularly electronic ones.
|
| The message boards are full of people complaining that
| these companies charge "too much." They will also then
| complain that Behringer sucks for "stealing" ideas and
| pricing them affordably.
|
| Meanwhile, it has never been cheaper to buy music
| equipment and software. And there are tons of high
| quality free software out there.
|
| I would hesitate to enter into the business of selling
| music software or hardware. It seems pretty thankless.
| zokier wrote:
| Why do you think the BOM cost should have any relation to
| the selling price?
|
| > You can slice this any way you want, but there's not
| really an excuse for an all-digital synth to increase in
| price like that
|
| Adjusting to market bearing price seems like a good excuse
| to me.
| smoldesu wrote:
| Whatever justifies it for you. For every extra dollar
| they eke out of bougie hipster, they ostracize people
| like me who would definitely buy one if it was $500 or
| $600
| [deleted]
| zokier wrote:
| Why do you feel entitled to be able to buy it at price
| point that suits you?
| monkmartinez wrote:
| I didn't get a sense of entitlement. I see someone
| frustrated with features for price, then calling it out
| as non-sensical. I like when people do that frankly. Is
| it judgey? You bet, and its ok to have an opinion on the
| matter!
| blairbeckwith wrote:
| Companies are under no obligation to not ostracize
| potential customers. Do you also think that luxury car
| companies are shitty and ridiculous because they charge
| more than cars that "do the same thing"?
| monkmartinez wrote:
| I do, but I am admittedly a small sample. A case can
| certainly be made that luxury cars, in general, are not
| very "good" cars in most metrics as by which the industry
| measures what a "good" car should be. I think OP has a
| valid point, if the synth Teenage is selling is inferior
| and more expensive but sells because "status" and
| signaling.
| blairbeckwith wrote:
| But they do sell, and Lamborghini or Porsche are not
| under any obligation to make a cheap car so that everyone
| who wants one can afford one, nor should they.
| [deleted]
| jaxwerk wrote:
| I bought my OP-1 at a steal for $600 two years back. I'd pay
| $1200 for it today, maybe $1600.
|
| There's a lot of more technically capable stand-alone gear that
| can be had for less of course. My MPC Live is what my finished
| (not good compared to others, I'm just an amateur making video
| game soundtracks for kids I teach game dev to) songs ultimately
| come out of, and the Octatrack is something I've really enjoyed
| playing with. None of these are going to be something that
| lives in my backpack and comes out in the park on a sunny day
| when I've got that perfect boss battle intro sequence drop
| popping into my head though. Size considerations aside, I can
| slam down a decent prototype of a song that's actually
| listenable in just a couple of minutes on the OP-1 before the
| idea fades away, and have a blast doing it.
|
| I think their pricing is sensible. The thing fills a niche no
| other piece of gear I've found can. That seems worth paying
| for.
| mmastrac wrote:
| I paid about the same... I am considering listing it. It's
| just collecting dust unfortunately.
| singingfish wrote:
| I bought a used one a little while back - because I wanted to
| try it out and I found one at a price where I knew I could
| re-sell it easily. I fiddled around with it periodically, and
| it was fun, and with my limited skills I could do something
| that sounded reasonably musical with it. But - a. No proper
| MIDI implementation and b. I found the synth engines very
| frustrating.
|
| On the other hand, using it as a way to add backing to my sax
| playing, and record my sax onto the device was fun.
|
| But I got rid of it, and bought a used organellem and plenty
| of change left over (with which I might buy a proper
| sequencer at some point, but maybe not).
|
| I've currently got a Novation Circuit which I bought on the
| same idea. Because I play a lot of acoustic music the circuit
| seems definitely not for me, but again it's kind of fun and
| has a nice shallow learning curve.
| fedorareis wrote:
| I don't feel that an Octatrack/Digitakt/Digitone is quite a
| replacement for an OP-1. They may be better sequencers (I don't
| have the relevant knowledge to claim whether or not they are),
| but I've always gotten the impression from professional
| musicians and composers that the appeal of the OP-1 is a
| combination of form factor and portability. It has keys in a
| piano layout which makes it easy to play on and it is in a
| small enough size that you can throw it in your backpack when
| traveling.
| golergka wrote:
| You can't determine a synth's value based on it's components,
| or it's sounds. A PC with completely free plugins and VST will
| be always be much more customisable and "powerful" than any
| hardware device, and have better sound, too. That's not what
| you're paying for.
|
| You're paying for UX that creates the pit of success for your
| music-making process.
|
| You pay for the fact that you use knobs, not mouse -- although
| you would be able to draw an infinitely detailed automation
| with it. You pay for the limited choices you have, and where
| these limitations lead you. You pay for the touch & feel. You
| pay for purely subjective, aesthetic factors, like look and
| smell -- because music-making is a completely subjective,
| intuitive process and your psychological state is more
| important for it having a Turing-complete LFO system.
|
| I like OP-1 and I like Octatrack, but there's just no way you
| could have any objective "measurement" for which one is better
| of has better value -- because any value that these devices
| have is subjective. If you want to decide which one to buy,
| forget everything about specs, and just spend an hour or two
| playing with them, feeling them with your hands while you make
| music.
| vernie wrote:
| Maybe you are just cheap?
| post_break wrote:
| I want an OP1 so bad. I just can't afford it. I watch videos of
| people making music with them on youtube for hours and get so
| hooked. I was really worried this post was about its
| discontinuation which will make them spike even more in price.
| smoldesu wrote:
| Buy a different groovebox then. The Novation Circuit is a
| wonderfully capable and easy to use device, and it retails
| secondhand for less than $200. For $50 you can have a PO-33
| sampler, or for $700 you could have a Digitakt. Lots of options
| for cheap grooveboxes out there!
| dcarew wrote:
| They discontinued it before... when they reintroduced it, it
| was way more expensive.
| dilyevsky wrote:
| Originally it went for $700 i think, when they stopped
| selling it people put theirs up for thousands
| sneak wrote:
| I would pay _another_ thousand to retrofit USB-C or even microUSB
| onto my OP-1.
|
| The choice of mini-USB, the RAZR charging port, in 2011, was a
| bit baffling to me. I have to buy another cable each time I want
| to charge and use it.
| dylan604 wrote:
| >I have to buy another cable each time I want to charge and use
| it.
|
| Wouldn't it be easier to just keep the one cable you bought to
| charge it? It's not like the cable depletes itself during the
| charge forcing a new cable to be purchased per charge.
| balls187 wrote:
| Probably hyperbole, but I assume OP is implying they lose the
| cable between charges due to infrequent use.
| dylan604 wrote:
| Are we implying the battery life is so good that one only
| needs to be charged once every long often? Otherwise, how
| cluttered are you to lose a cable every time in between
| charges? Stick it in a drawer with all of the other ones.
| Just seems like a really weak strawman
| ashtonbaker wrote:
| In fact, the battery life really is good enough to cause
| this issue. Similar problem with Garmin watches and their
| proprietary cables.
| balls187 wrote:
| I assumed OP implied they device was used very rarely.
| sneak wrote:
| I have literally bought mini-usb cables on 3 different
| occasions to use my OP-1. I lose them all the time, as I
| have about a thousand (no joke) USB cables and 3-5 mini-USB
| among them.
|
| I bought 20x mini-USB as my new mobile phone uses it now
| and I didn't want to keep not finding them when I need
| them.
| dylan604 wrote:
| I understand that sucks, but that doesn't really sound
| like the fault of the device to me. It really sounds like
| one of those "you're holding it wrong" type of excuses.
| avhon1 wrote:
| Just wondering, what phone do you have that still uses
| mini-usb?
| sneak wrote:
| https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00XAF4J04
|
| I've stopped putting SIM cards in my smartphones
| entirely, but I still have one SIM I still need to
| receive SMS on.
|
| I'll eventually put it into a rpi shield/hat/whatever and
| make an SMS to email bridge. Until then, this has amazing
| battery life.
| dylan604 wrote:
| I feel kind of like I'm being trolled with this one, but
| it is kind of awesomely bad that I sort of want one.
| [deleted]
| epse wrote:
| I feel the same way. 32 GB of storage??
| sneak wrote:
| Dual SIM, too. You can even use it solely as a bluetooth
| headset paired to a normal phone to look like Gordon
| Gecko while on a call on your yacht if you want.
|
| I bought two for less than the AppleCare+ on my iPhone 12
| cost. (One as backup, as I can't imagine these are going
| to be in production for much longer.)
| balls187 wrote:
| I have two mini-USB cables I keep around as the PS3
| Dualshock 3 controller is mini-usb.
|
| Otherwise I too would have lost them.
|
| I typically don't keep older generation consoles around,
| but the original launch PS3 was a marvel for its time
| (despite being a relative flop compared to the Wii-360)
|
| The original launch PS3 contained the hardware emotion
| engine, so it had 100% backward compatibility with PS1
| and PS2 games. Later revisions removed the PS2 hardware,
| in favor of software emulation, and iirc, eventually
| backwards compatibility was removed all together.
|
| It also supported Super Audio CD format as well, and
| before it was patched out, had the ability to dualboot
| Linux.
| novok wrote:
| This is why I bought dollar store plastic boxes for my
| cables and put them in specific categories. I have one
| box for microUSB, one for USB-C, one for mini, one for
| HDMI, etc. It's been great in reducing clutter and
| finding a cable.
|
| Cables create tangled messes in a way that most things do
| not, and it's been great that my drawers are mostly free
| of cables now.
| yarcob wrote:
| I'm no good with a soldering iron but I know a bunch of people
| who would be very happy to replace that socket for a thousand
| euros :)
| tomtheelder wrote:
| I would love USB-C (not micro though!), but the mini USB port
| is still really common in music gear for whatever reason. My
| audio interface, DAC for my other PC, midi keyboard, etc all
| use mini USB. It's really weird.
| colanderman wrote:
| Strange, I've never seen mini USB on any audio gear. (Nor on
| anything else I've owned since my T-Mobile G1 ten years ago.)
| I've found "standard" connectors [1] to be much more common
| (and welcome, due to their better sturdiness over micro).
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_hardware#Standard_conne
| cto...
| deniska wrote:
| Interestingly, I currently have devices which use mini-usb and
| type c cables, but I have no use for micro-usb.
| cush wrote:
| I own an OP-1 and it is my absolute favourite piece of industrial
| design. I don't know of a more complete single consumer
| electronics product. It reminds me of an old digital alarm clock
| radio - the ones with the fake wood paneling. It does all the
| things it needs to perfectly and nothing more. Big, clicky,
| robust buttons melded with the perfect software.
|
| Cant believe it's 10 years old already.
| solarkraft wrote:
| In case you're wondering what it sounds like:
|
| I quite like this album completely created using it:
| https://professorkliq.bandcamp.com/album/28-days-with-the-op...
| ExcavateGrandMa wrote:
| Your website is pretty broken using HTML without JS :/
| Lucasoato wrote:
| Its presence in Swedish House Mafia - One video was a game
| changer :)
| leereeves wrote:
| Slightly off-topic, but: why doesn't this site support zoom?
| squarefoot wrote:
| Beautiful, although I'd prefer a real keyboard, but the problem
| is the price. With the same money I could purchase a number of
| these Open Source and Open Hardware synths.
|
| https://electrotechnique.cc/
|
| Demos here:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCA2L7CeWSE
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jk79WchWcQ
| singingfish wrote:
| There is a tonne of potential in the rPi / Teensy space. Check
| out the organelle https://www.critterandguitari.com/organelle
| scottious wrote:
| I'm a musician but I honestly don't really understand this thing.
| I even tried playing around with one for a while. It just didn't
| click at all. You could have convinced me that it was a
| children's toy and I probably would have believed you.
|
| Obviously I'm missing something. I've seen some YouTube tutorials
| but they all seem to produce the same kind of music and honestly
| I don't find it super impressive.
|
| Maybe it'll click one day
| daniel_reetz wrote:
| I have one and feel exactly the same way. It was a kind of
| playful gamification of music, but that felt like a layer
| between me and the music, instead of a source of inspiration.
|
| Plenty of other gear has clicked for me. I should really sell
| it to someone who will enjoy it.
| Toutouxc wrote:
| I use a Mac. I have a PlayStation AND a Switch, I can come up
| with reasons to buy almost every gadget imaginable, but no matter
| how lovely and enchanting the OP-1 is, EUR1121 is just too much
| for something that wouldn't make me more money (as my job is not
| in music production).
| jh3 wrote:
| They retain value. You could buy one used and sell it for more,
| if not the same price you purchased it at. I think the worst
| case is you'll essentially be renting it for $100-200 if you
| really don't like it. This was my experience, anyway.
|
| It's a great device even if your job isn't music production.
| Easy to use, lots of fun, though I didn't enjoy the form
| factor.
| capableweb wrote:
| Indeed, usually hobbyists don't buy professional gear since
| they are not professionals. Same goes for many other industries
| too (TV production cameras too expensive for hobbyists and so
| on).
|
| OP-1 is a tad expensive even for professional gear, but it is
| also a neat little machine. Elektron gear is maybe more
| powerful, but it also costs more. Cheaper gear exists as well.
| Up to each musician to decide what is too expensive for them in
| the end.
| Toutouxc wrote:
| Do professionals use the OP-1? I can imagine a person doing
| music production for a living not willing to do any
| significant part of their job on a device the size of a
| chocolate bar.
|
| Who's the thing even for?
| gnulinux wrote:
| Of course! There are many synth artists out there. E.g.
| Andrew Huang
|
| https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YHz6lsMcjDY
| capableweb wrote:
| Andrew Huang is probably the worst example of a OP-1 user
| when it comes to music production and not music
| production teaching. AFAIK, Huang is more of a Youtube-
| educator than musician.
| epse wrote:
| I don't know, he puts out really good music and videos at
| an equally astonishing rate for both. They have lots and
| lots of albums and while few of them are alike, I
| thoroughly enjoy most of them.
| capableweb wrote:
| > Do professionals use the OP-1?
|
| Of course, you can find lots of "boutique" instruments
| being used by a range of creators. I don't think there are
| a lot of them only using a OP-1 for full tracks though,
| although I have seen some live performances made with it
| together with other instruments at the same time.
|
| Actually this submission seems to be about a few pages, one
| of them being "made on OP-1" where you can see just that,
| artists using the OP-1 in different scenarios: https://teen
| age.engineering/products/op-1/anniversary/made-o...
|
| Edit: one specific example: Diplo claims the OP-1 is one of
| the ten "essential" items he owns, has to count for
| something at least :)
|
| > not willing to do any significant part of their job on a
| device the size of a chocolate bar
|
| Heh, tons of people fiddle with modular synths and I can
| imagine that being even worse sizes (or "smaller" rather).
| avhon1 wrote:
| Sure, Dan Deacon comes to mind. Most of the instruments he
| uses in his performances are smaller than a computer
| keyboard.
|
| Here's a picture he posted of his gear:
|
| https://twitter.com/ebaynetflix/status/442078506655023104/p
| h...
|
| In his NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert, you can see an OP-1 on
| the near-right of his table.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heFRwLfjVXI
|
| edit: I found a website which catalogs musicians and the
| equipment they use. It lists 190 users of the OP-1.
|
| https://equipboard.com/items/teenage-engineering-
| op-1-portab...
| luma wrote:
| I've never heard of Dan Deacon but I clicked the NPR set
| you linked above and man - what a treat! Thanks for
| sharing, friend!
| avhon1 wrote:
| You're welcome! Dan Deacon's music is fun, and I've heard
| that his concerts are a blast.
|
| My favorite online presentation of his music is the
| collaborative video made by Adult Swim for the song "When
| I was Done Dying".
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuJqUvBj4rE
| agentwiggles wrote:
| Thanks for sharing, that was awesome.
| romwell wrote:
| Yes, professionals use OP-1.
|
| It's one of Jean-Michel Jarre's favorite synths[1].
|
| JM Jarre is one of the godfathers of electronic music. You
| probably heard Oxygene part IV some time in your life[2].
|
| [1]https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2012/05/jarre-
| synth
|
| [2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSIMVnPA994
| cole-k wrote:
| Spotted Portugal. The Man using it here
| https://youtu.be/fSVwJyxeVYI
|
| EDIT: turns out I'm response number 1000 - read someone
| else's comment.
| jabroni_salad wrote:
| The novation launchpad is in pretty much every studio and
| it's only $400 or so. Teenage Engineering makes some really
| cool stuff and they charge boutique prices for it.
| capableweb wrote:
| > The novation launchpad is in pretty much every studio
|
| > it's only $400 or so
|
| Sounds like you answered your own question :)
|
| TE sure make some expensive gear, but they also make cheap
| gear, checkout the Pocket Operators. They are deceivingly
| good for the price (and aesthetics).
|
| The OP-1 does have it's use case though, and it can
| definitely been seen in the wild, although cheaper gear can
| of course be even more popular.
| kazen44 wrote:
| do you know any good hardware for hobbyists to get started?
| semi-extrinsic wrote:
| Modal's CRAFTsynth and a cheap USB MIDI keyboard. Together
| with an OTG adapter for your phone/tablet, Modal's app and
| a USB hub, it's a really fun and cheap setup to play with.
| It is more finicky to control than more expensive synths,
| but the range of sounds possible and the quality of those
| sounds is downright astonishing.
| intrasight wrote:
| Axoloti Core comes to mind
|
| http://www.axoloti.com
|
| http://www.axoloti.com/examples/
| romwell wrote:
| There's just so many!
|
| Korg Mini/Monologue and Volcas, any Behringer analog stuff,
| Arturia Mini/Micro Brute/Freak, Roland Boutique, Yamaha
| Reface CS/DX, Modal Electronics Skulpt, Waldorf Rocket....
|
| And Teenage Engineering has a more affordable OP-Z, and not
| to mention their Pocket Operators that are wonderful
| machines for $60 or so (I use PO-12 as a drum sequencer for
| jamming).
|
| And that's not even going into the old/used gear market. I
| got a Soviet analog polysynth for under $500 off Reverb
| last week. However, I feel like getting started, the newer
| stuff is both cheaper and better. We are living in the
| synthesizer renaissance era.
|
| If I were to pick just ONE synth to recommend, it would be
| Korg Monologue. It's a masterpiece with a lot of depth, but
| simple to get started on, and super hands-on. For other
| recommendations, see articles like [1].
|
| [1] https://www.musicradar.com/news/the-best-cheap-
| synthesizers
| coldpie wrote:
| Synthstrom Deluge (or any good DAW on the home computer you
| already have if you don't actually care about hardware).
| fit2rule wrote:
| Zynthian: http://zynthian.org/
|
| 1010Music Blackbox: http://1010music.com/
| smoldesu wrote:
| Stock up on Behringer gear. Haters will call you everything
| from cheap to anti-semetic, but their synths hold up just
| as good as some of the biggest contenders on the market.
| TheMagicHorsey wrote:
| Roland MC101, Roland MV1, Elektron Model Samples, Elektron
| Digitakt, Novation Circuit, Ableton Push 2 + Ableton Live,
| Roland SP404 series, Fruity Loops software, Ableton Live
| software.
| tom-thistime wrote:
| Sure, iPad and Garageband.
| capableweb wrote:
| Novation Circuit is a great starting point for electronic
| music. Just released a new version too. Step up from that
| would maybe be a Digitakt (from before mentioned Elektron),
| basically Circuit but even more powerful in probably every
| way. If you have the money to spend, go for a Octatrack.
| 99_00 wrote:
| I don't know anything about OP-1, but if it's been for sale for
| 10 years then I would expect it to have high resale value. In
| which case you can sell it at some point and get some of the
| EUR1121 back.
|
| Seems closer to a musical instrument than a gadget.
|
| PlayStation and Switch and almost every other gadget imaginable
| will drop in value much more quickly than OP-1.
| smoldesu wrote:
| Grab a Novation Circuit, sounds like the perfect musical gadget
| for you.
| intrasight wrote:
| Also, for that much cash, I'd expect something bigger
| (therefore better interaction unless you have tiny hands) and
| more robust physically.
| tomtheelder wrote:
| The size is arguably the OP-1's "killer feature." It's
| closest competitors in terms of capability (meaning music-
| specific devices, not like an iPad or something) are all
| _way_ bigger and less portable. It's also one of the most
| solidly built pieces of tech I've handled.
| 2ndseq wrote:
| Buy the OP-1 now and sell it 5 years later and you'll find the
| cost of ownership to be quite negligible.
| argvargc wrote:
| Works similarly for Apple laptops (but maybe stick to 2-3
| years in that case). Even if you only get half price for it,
| it's still owning an Apple laptop... for half price. (And
| keep the box, they can be worth hundreds in terms of total
| resale price difference boxed/unboxed.)
| _joel wrote:
| This, it's overpriced imho. I'm sure it was a lot cheaper at
| launch.
| avhon1 wrote:
| At $875 in 2013, it was somewhat cheaper, but not much.
|
| https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B00CXSJUZS
| diimdeep wrote:
| 5.54 MB, 1920 x 1080, .gif - :(
|
| `ffmpeg -i 6069b7c2057597000422abc7_original.gif -c:v libx264
| -crf 30 -pix_fmt yuv420p output.mp4`
|
| 791 KB - :)
| honkycat wrote:
| I once wrote a social media website and one optimization we had
| is we would take gifs, mark them for processing, have a celery
| task queue run this command, and replace the gif with a mp4.
|
| Worked wonders. A few years later gifycat exploded and we were
| all kicking ourselves xD
| gorgoiler wrote:
| The UI design on the OP-1 has to be up there with any number of
| great moments in industrial design.
|
| The decision to remove the Rhodes piano sample pack from the
| default firmware, including for anyone who upgraded, has to be up
| there with one of the worst decisions in product management of
| all time.
|
| Also, the disparity between models with clickable control knobs
| and unclickable knobs to this day makes me feel deeply
| uncomfortable.
|
| May we find it in our hearts to forgive. If it weren't for their
| genius we wouldn't even have noticed these minuscule flaws. Happy
| Birthday :)
| ljm wrote:
| I splashed out for an OP-1 but I bought it from Amazon rather
| than straight from Teenage Engineering. It was still sold under
| their store name, it seemed.
|
| The best PS1000 I've ever wasted, and kept the box for, just in
| case. It's a beautiful bit of kit (and it has the clicky
| controls) but I've still not become proficient enough to do
| anything but treat it as a toy. One day... _one day_... I 'll
| make something practical using it.
|
| Suffice to say, this is not the next Marc Rebillet speaking.
| agloeregrets wrote:
| This page is nuts:
| https://teenage.engineering/products/op-1/anniversary/made-o...
|
| The crazy part about it is that they only really mention the bits
| that show the OP1 in a primary means, you can find every case of
| a modern musical team making something and find an OP-1
| somewhere. Taylor Swift? Easy.
|
| Despite the clear flaws and price, the OP-1 just does something
| for creativity.
|
| Also: This is not seen in the list as they picked the cover they
| did instead, but you get to see the OP-1 used in force here by
| Chvrches:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haunJARHPm4&ab_channel=NPRMu...
| After seeing what's going on in that you begin to hear where the
| OP-1 is used by them in creation of the album.
| tenaciousDaniel wrote:
| I randomly came across the OP-1 on Youtube a few months ago and
| was blown away. Keep in mind that I know next to nothing about
| music, so I don't know how the OP-1 compares against other tools
| of its kind. But still, it seemed like an incredibly cool gadget
| and made me want to experiment with making digital music.
| smoldesu wrote:
| Teenage Engineering also makes a little device called the
| PO-33, which gives you the sampling capability of the OP-1 in a
| much smaller (and much cheaper) form factor. Check it out if
| this stuff interests you.
| okprod wrote:
| Same, I haven't touched playing music in maybe 20 years but the
| OP-1 and their pocket operators are really fun just to mess
| around with.
| capableweb wrote:
| Two or three connected Volcas are a great start into making
| music with hardware as well, so much fun.
| TheMagicHorsey wrote:
| Roland MV-1 is 100 times better.
| tomtheelder wrote:
| I wouldn't even say they are particularly comparable.
|
| I have an OP-1 and the killer features for me are _extreme_
| portability, like even more than my laptop, and the best
| battery life of any device I have ever owned. I have it with
| me at almost all times, and I can bust it out and start
| playing basically whenever. I use it at the beach, on hikes,
| in cafes, wherever. There's no way I'd be lugging an MV-1
| around with me in those circumstances.
|
| I also do like that the OP-1 forces a "keep moving" workflow
| with it's stripped down synth engines and 4 track recorder.
| People criticize that, but if I wanted a device with tons of
| tracks and unlimited sounds I would just use my laptop.
| tenaciousDaniel wrote:
| This is the kind of info I'm interested in. It's hard to know
| how it compares from my POV because the whole digital music
| world seems overwhelming and I wouldn't even know where to
| begin. Thanks!
| jeffdubin wrote:
| The Roland MV-1 could be an intuitive, creative, flexible
| device, but a 16x2 LCD? How does that compare against the
| OP-1's beautiful, animated OLED display?
| agallant wrote:
| They recently updated it to allow you to use an iOS or
| Android device as an external display: https://www.roland.c
| om/us/support/knowledge_base/36005866483...
|
| Clunkier than a device with a proper screen, but the same
| approach the OP-Z uses (though I think it can use bluetooth
| to connect instead of a cable).
| JoeyJoJoJr wrote:
| Whoah this looks awesome. The sequence arrangement looks
| especially cool. I love the OP-Z, but it's sound engine
| is limiting and it's tricky to create full arrangements.
| I might have to take a closer look at the MV-1.
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