So the OP-1 is kaput, no more available is that soooo?

sysexual

@oat_phipps

ok Oat after some casual thought i suppose op1 is a hipstery product. but its a damn good hipstery product. your comment to me felt negative, compelled me to stand up for it. but you are not wrong.

sysexual

now back to nanostudio.

apapdop

I sold mine a few weeks back. Bought it second hand 5 years ago, used it extensively for about a year, then it gradually fell out of favour for IOS. No regrets at all, sold it for more than what i paid for it to a willing buyer who is very happy with their new toy.

I was soooo close to buying an OP-Z with the money but, in a rare act of willpower, i fought the urge and bought a new dining room carpet instead. Not as powerful/portable as an OP-Z but very nice to lie on.

[Deleted User]

I used to watch those videos and think ‘wow, what an incredible thing’, and then carry on tapping away, with my disappointing clicks and pings, accidentally erasing my work in the recorder.

Thing to remember, is the OP-1 differs to the iPad in that it’s more of an instrument. And what you don’t get to see in those videos is the countless hours they’ve put in learning, practicing, and building muscle memory. Like a guitar - anyone can buy one, few can play like Hendrix.

I’ve got kids, work, diy, forums, soaps to watch etc. so I will never have the time to invest in doing the OP-1 justice. Whereas with an iPad I can boot up a couple of synths, and be immersed in a tunnel of joy. Instant gratification.

The OP-1 is a wonderful thing in the right hands, but in mine it’s just a very very expensive Casio VL-Tone.

StudioES

Back in 2012, for me it was either an iPad Retina or OP-1. I choose OP-1 Never used it to it's potential, usually just as a sound module. Its sequencers were inspirational though, Rozeta and the other new AU MIDI apps kinda reminds me of them. Didn't like the 4-track tape deck approach, so why did I buy it? Had a 20% off coupon....

One of the things I miss about it was the CWO effect. Pitch-shifting delay. Anything on iOS like it? I have frekvens, love it, but not the same. CWO adds random glitchy artifacts that gives life to any dead signal. (Not the glitchyness caused by the weak CPU (clicks and pops), though maybe TE exploited that for the CWO effect like RDJ supposedly did with his Akai samplers?) btw love this video:

Icepulse

@greengrocer said:

@Icepulse said:

@oat_phipps said:

@sysexual said:
it was in production for 7 years. for a companys first product that is incredibly good. it still gets high praise from top people in the industry. definitely more than a “hipster synth” as said above...

Never played one, but it's definitely a hipster synth just based on its marketing. Sure, it can probably go deeper, and you may have enjoyed it as much as any classic synth, but at its surface level it's undeniably a hipster synth.

I love Journey deeply and unironically, but for a bit there about a decade ago they were an ironic hipster band. No biggie

A cursory glance on YouTube or Instagram will yield an insane, eclectic array of incredible music made with an op-1. Don’t forget that it’s an incredibly capable sampler, and when synths are used judiciously in combination w/ samples and effects, the OP-1 can take you anywhere you want to go, unless your destination is merely “more options”.

The same can be said about the Korg Volca Sample which cost only $100 and even 2 or 3 Volca devices for $200 or $300. What I want to say that it's not the instrument that makes cool and crazy stuff but the people that use them. And of course you can do cool stuff the OP-1 but you can do also do cool stuff with a device that's much cheaper. I rest my case.

You don’t want to rest your case w/ a Volca / OP-1 comparison, because there is none. You can’t even sample into the volca, for starters.

Qmishery

I never had enough "ready to spend" $ to get op-1...

...anyway i still think it has genious ergonomics/workflow/design

@Tarekith

Don't feel too bad, nothing says hipster more than the OP-1 except final fantasy tactics. We never would have learned this without your judgement

huh? FFT is golden classic of srpg/trpg genre, alongside with Tactics Ogre (unless you only accept "western school" of x-com and jagged alliance)

jigglypuff

There's an op-1 on eBay with the current bid at $8400, and others priced around $3500. FYI for anyone who has one and needs a few xmas bucks. I just sold mine unfortunately.

StudioES

This is what T.E. had to say today:

Carnbot

...and watch those bids retract

RockySmalls

@audiblevideo said:

@kobamoto said:
c'mon Oats there's nothing more hipster than the surface marketing surrounding making music on the iPad, spread the love

p.s. what is hipster anyway?

Intellectual Definition:
The hipster subculture is stereotypically composed of young adults who reside primarily in gentrified neighborhoods.[1][2] It is broadly associated with indie and alternative music and genres such as chill-out, folk, modern rock, pop rock, and post-Britpop. Hipsters also frequently flaunt a varied non-mainstream fashion sensibility, vintage and thrift store-bought clothing, generally pacifist, conservative political views, veganism, organic and artisanal foods, craft alcoholic beverages, and alternative lifestyles. The subculture typically consists of mostly white young adults living in urban areas.[3][4] It has been described as a "mutating, trans-Atlantic melting pot of styles, tastes and behavior".[5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipster_(contemporary_subculture)

Slang Definition:
Hipsters are people that try too hard to be different (and genuinely do think that they're being different), by rejecting anything they deem to be too popular.
Ironically, so many other people also try too hard to be different that they all wind up being the exact same, so hipsters arent actually different at all, theyre just people that are snobbier and more annoying about their taste in "alternative" things, which are all popular now thanks to the other hipsters.
Hipsters pride themselves on liking things that no one else likes, and normally only really like them because they think no one else likes them and that theyre being unique. This is being delusional because all the other hipsters also like the same things.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hipster

everybody watch (or re-watch) all episodes of NATHAN BARLEY now!
even more chillingly hilarious 14 years later..

Dham

@kobamoto said:
surely you jest Dham

Lol! Of course!

Dham

@Carnbot said:
...and watch those bids retract

Yep! Like this one that has received 24 bids, currently at $1,825 with 16 hours left. Many of the bidders are probably unaware of Teenage Engineering's announcement/email.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Teenage-Engineering-OP-1-Keyboard-Synthesizer/302990053109?epid=217363019&hash=item468b9d4ef5:g:WEYAAOSwydZcDTkU

Dham

@MonzoPro said:
I used to watch those videos and think ‘wow, what an incredible thing’, and then carry on tapping away, with my disappointing clicks and pings, accidentally erasing my work in the recorder.

Thing to remember, is the OP-1 differs to the iPad in that it’s more of an instrument. And what you don’t get to see in those videos is the countless hours they’ve put in learning, practicing, and building muscle memory. Like a guitar - anyone can buy one, few can play like Hendrix.

I’ve got kids, work, diy, forums, soaps to watch etc. so I will never have the time to invest in doing the OP-1 justice. Whereas with an iPad I can boot up a couple of synths, and be immersed in a tunnel of joy. Instant gratification.

The OP-1 is a wonderful thing in the right hands, but in mine it’s just a very very expensive Casio VL-Tone.

My experiences with the multiple OP-1s that I have owned are pretty much identical to yours. I always justified it by telling myself that at least the OP-1 would do double duty as USB controller for my IOS apps. But then reality sets in and I would end up spending 90% of my time using IOS apps. so i would sell the OP-1 again and buy another Korg Nanokey Studio, link it to Gadget and it is almost as good and a fraction of the cost.

kobamoto

right about now somebody is laughing all the way to the bank and someone is throwing their op-1 off the balcony

Carnbot

Ha, yeah I was living in Shoreditch at that time watching them shoot episodes on our street

@RockySmalls said:

everybody watch (or re-watch) all episodes of NATHAN BARLEY now!
even more chillingly hilarious 14 years later..

kobamoto

I guess then that op-1/ipad users don't really fit the description of hipsters as they are quite common

Dham

@kobamoto said:
I guess then that op-1/ipad users don't really fit the description of hipsters as they are quite common

Well then again there is also the gearslut category along with sub-categories such as MPC-slut, Maschine-slut,
Korg-slut, Moog-slut, Modular-slut, etc.

Blipsford_Baubie

I was googling sluts and found this place. Hello. I am looking for discrete "computer love". Pads that after i hit it and quit it, my midi connections will be forgotten.

[Deleted User]

@Dham said:

@MonzoPro said:
I used to watch those videos and think ‘wow, what an incredible thing’, and then carry on tapping away, with my disappointing clicks and pings, accidentally erasing my work in the recorder.

Thing to remember, is the OP-1 differs to the iPad in that it’s more of an instrument. And what you don’t get to see in those videos is the countless hours they’ve put in learning, practicing, and building muscle memory. Like a guitar - anyone can buy one, few can play like Hendrix.

I’ve got kids, work, diy, forums, soaps to watch etc. so I will never have the time to invest in doing the OP-1 justice. Whereas with an iPad I can boot up a couple of synths, and be immersed in a tunnel of joy. Instant gratification.

The OP-1 is a wonderful thing in the right hands, but in mine it’s just a very very expensive Casio VL-Tone.

My experiences with the multiple OP-1s that I have owned are pretty much identical to yours. I always justified it by telling myself that at least the OP-1 would do double duty as USB controller for my IOS apps. But then reality sets in and I would end up spending 90% of my time using IOS apps. so i would sell the OP-1 again and buy another Korg Nanokey Studio, link it to Gadget and it is almost as good and a fraction of the cost.

It wasn’t even a decent controller - I could only get mine to trigger the keys - if I’d been able to use the rotary knobs I’d probably have kept it.

Pleased to see they’re keeping it going though, if I won the lottery I’d get another.

That eBay ones up to three grand, the buyer will be miffed when he finds out he could have bought a new one for a quarter of that price.

StudioES

Yeah, the noisy keys don't transmit velocity, though the 4 encoders can be mapped to CCs, but you have to go into a special COM mode for that, if I recall correctly. There's a gyroscope that sends MIDI CCs too, like the apeSoft apps w/ iDevice....
I never used it as a MIDI controller-my $40 Keystation Mini 32 was far better.
The magic was the immediacy of the 4-track and how it all comes together, and works together; meh.
Sync options stunk. Trying to sync it to a tight hardware sequencer was a nightmare since the OP-1 always drifts like the worse iOS apps. Mono synths, cellphone soundchip, underpowered CPU.

kobamoto

sounds like a great instrument.

Gaia.Tree

For me the magic of the OP -1 is pull it out and ur jamming within 30 secs. I can do that with the iPad but OP1 was more immediate and more playful and that made me use it a whole lot more.

stemshade

@Gaia.Tree said:
For me the magic of the OP -1 is pull it out and ur jamming within 30 secs. I can do that with the iPad but OP1 was more immediate and more playful and that made me use it a whole lot more.

Well it’s anything but immediate for me. Trying to get a seamless loop with no clicks and stacking tracks and arranging without overdubbing on top of something by mistake is a bitch. At least for me. I’ve done it but it’s something i make myself do. Everytime i do i think of the progress i would have made in gadget instead. Stopped looking at it for that, at least for now, and see it as a versatile instrument for tracking and performance.

Dham

The OP-1 was/is indeed a cool, magical instrument. One of my favorite features was sampling from the FM radio. I have sort of duplicated that feature by purchasing an Ipod Nano (6th gen) and sticking that in my portable kit. It has a headphone jack which can be easily routed to any USB audio interface.

BroCoast

@vpich said:

@Gaia.Tree said:
For me the magic of the OP -1 is pull it out and ur jamming within 30 secs. I can do that with the iPad but OP1 was more immediate and more playful and that made me use it a whole lot more.

Well it’s anything but immediate for me. Trying to get a seamless loop with no clicks and stacking tracks and arranging without overdubbing on top of something by mistake is a bitch. At least for me. I’ve done it but it’s something i make myself do. Everytime i do i think of the progress i would have made in gadget instead. Stopped looking at it for that, at least for now, and see it as a versatile instrument for tracking and performance.

There is a trick to that, the same kind of trick one would use with the basic recorders built into some synth apps. If you watch a video of someone who is good on the OP1 you'll figure it out.

[Deleted User]

@Dham said:
The OP-1 was/is indeed a cool, magical instrument. One of my favorite features was sampling from the FM radio. I have sort of duplicated that feature by purchasing an Ipod Nano (6th gen) and sticking that in my portable kit. It has a headphone jack which can be easily routed to any USB audio interface.

Yeah I used to like that. The sampler was very good, and really easy to use and edit. I do miss that.

Gaia.Tree

@vpich said:

@Gaia.Tree said:
For me the magic of the OP -1 is pull it out and ur jamming within 30 secs. I can do that with the iPad but OP1 was more immediate and more playful and that made me use it a whole lot more.

Well it’s anything but immediate for me. Trying to get a seamless loop with no clicks and stacking tracks and arranging without overdubbing on top of something by mistake is a bitch. At least for me. I’ve done it but it’s something i make myself do. Everytime i do i think of the progress i would have made in gadget instead. Stopped looking at it for that, at least for now, and see it as a versatile instrument for tracking and performance.

My clicks and pops silver bullet is to lay down a basic melody and then overdub it with a note that wraps around the end to the start.,but after I had the latest firmware on mine it was all good

stemshade

@BroCoast said:

@vpich said:

@Gaia.Tree said:
For me the magic of the OP -1 is pull it out and ur jamming within 30 secs. I can do that with the iPad but OP1 was more immediate and more playful and that made me use it a whole lot more.

Well it’s anything but immediate for me. Trying to get a seamless loop with no clicks and stacking tracks and arranging without overdubbing on top of something by mistake is a bitch. At least for me. I’ve done it but it’s something i make myself do. Everytime i do i think of the progress i would have made in gadget instead. Stopped looking at it for that, at least for now, and see it as a versatile instrument for tracking and performance.

There is a trick to that, the same kind of trick one would use with the basic recorders built into some synth apps. If you watch a video of someone who is good on the OP1 you'll figure it out.

Yeah. Of course, always room for improvement. I do know it pretty well, but can’t say i’m a master. There are little tricks like always lifting a track before overdubbing so you get one level of undo.... but that is far from ideal. My point was when i compare it to how quickly i move along with my other portable devices (ipad/iphone) i lose steam. Still love the op-“1 though.