Tell me your complaints about the OP-1

[Psyre]

Or what you love about it. I'm so close to pulling the trigger bit curious how it will incorporate into my flow as it's sort of everything itself.

[harpies]

Good: The sounds on it were so much better and not as limited as I had thought, as I was Initially worried by the demos I heard. It can easily get some good bass, and I was working on a very doomy track when I got rid of it.

Bad: I kept having trouble with overdubs, layering tracks, and saving...may have been user error since the manual doesn't go into great detail with some features.

Worst: mine came with a key that kept popping off almost every time I touched it...turns out the piece that the keys clip into is very cheap plastic and was broken. Getting teenage engineering to return emails took several weeks the first time they responded, then follow up emails took several days to a week, and this communication lasted over a month and a half. Even though I'd had the op-1 for only three months and bought it brand new, they still wanted to charge me $30 for the replacement piece and acted like I was getting a deal by not charging for expedited shipping. Lack of support and knowing how the keybed was so susceptible to break compelled me to return it.

[frigid midget]

I guess "price tag" doesn't count as a complaint?

[fcknoise]

Cons:
Only 6 minutes of tape is quite a restriction for using it as a standalone recording device. Which it isn't intended for but is pretty chill to do
No direct MIDI out/in, you need a OPlab or a kenton USB midi host unless you are cool to use a computer in your rig.
And as Vidret saud, the reverb is pretty limited. They have a spring and the two delays can be set "reverbish" but a hall reverb would be killer.
Although the tape tricks is freaking sweet and super fun to use, idk if id use them in a song. They have their own very specific sound that I've kinda gotten used to

LOVE:
IT IS SO DUCKING FUN TO USE - making a track is easy and just fun. The hassle of creating recorded music is almost zero. Absolutely love that.
Slowing down the tape - you are making something and then you are like "I wonder what this would sound like -6 semitones", you do it and it goes slower and you are like yeeaaaaaaaaaaah
The effects. Only complaint is lack of one more reverb, but the ones that are there are cool.
Sampling shit is so easy and fun it is killer.
Weird thing to love but the battery life is amazing. I had a 9h flight on which i used it most of the time and I didn't have to recharge it once. It has never died of low battery for me, I've just randomly charged it from time to time.

And yeah, the rest is great too. I just wanted to mention a few things

[Strange Tales]

Ugh I really want a Orthgonal ER-301 but this was the original plan, and you're selling it pretty hard there. So torn.

Thank god this thing is actually never available and used prices haven't dropped in 5 years.

[tremolo3]

Always wanted one but... is it really $900?

Any cheaper alternative? ipad? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[echorec]

Cons:

No MIDI/O (external accessories required, I think the Oplab was discontinued.)
limited preset recall (8 synth slots? ---meaning if you like revisiting your settings and taking session breaks, you'll have to dump and re-import files from a computer)
layout/immediacy is lacking (Menu-diving, manuals, and forum support is necessary.)
keyboard/build quality is lacking (replacement components and accessories are over-priced)
price (way too much money for something with glaring shortcomings and it's not like TE makes economical accessories. They continue to gouge you for any little extras.)

I strongly prefer the ability to create and recall customized work without a laptop. My greatest frustration with the OP-1 is that it functions more like a boutique toy than a pro synth. It's priced like pro gear, but that's not really what you're getting. If you look beyond the sleek design, you're getting a micro-key, 2-octave sequencer that lacks fairly universal amenities (patch recall, dedicated MIDI ports). I'd personally advocate for a Mother 32 and a looper pedal. You'll get warmer sounds and a faster workflow. Considering that the latest iPad is $329, I just don't see any way to justify the OP-1's $849 price tag in 2017. It's $500 more for something with less interesting sounds.

Wasn't the Oplab about $350? Sure, you can get a Kenton MIDI to USB host, but that's $100+, too. I find the idea of something >$800 that lacks basic MIDI ports to be absurd. If I spend $850 on something, then I want to be able to play it right out of the box---not to have to spend an additional $100-500 in accessories to make it perform like other gear.

http://www.kentonuk.com/products/items/ ... host.shtml

Obviously I'm not a TE fan, although I wanted to be. I listened to dozens of demos and watched a lot of tutorials, but I just found it to be exceptionally over-priced for something that lacks must-have features. It's not deep enough or robust enough to justify the price.

[sears]

I never used mine. I thought I would write on it but it didn't make any sense to me. I always reached for my guitar instead. All I used it for was making cool synth sounds. That part is easy.

Cons: no dynamics

Pros: the used market is buoyant

[manymanyhaha]

Obviously everyone will have their own pros and cons based on their needs. Mine:

Pros: Portability. I can take it anywhere and have. I spent a week with it camping in an African tropical forest a few years ago, sampling the sounds and mangling them. I can play with it on the airplane or in the back of a car or anywhere. And the battery life is really good.

Cons: My external mic went out. Apparently quite of few them have died.

I think it needs a nice big reverb for ambient type music. The different delays and spring reverb don't quite do it for that.

[D.o.S.]

this thing is actually never available and used prices haven't dropped in 5 years.

Biggest complaint right here.

[fcknoise]

You can save synth presets in the op-1 and the mother 32 isn't quite comparable imo. I'm sure a M32 with a looper is really fun but it is really something entirely different. I wouldn't bring that shit to make music on an airplane

It does have a certain workflow on its own. It's maybe not intended to use with all your existing shit, even though you can do that. It's meant to be an easy and fun way to make music, ultimately. Call it a toy if you want, but people do make actual great music with it

[manymanyhaha]

I think for ambient the envelope and synth engines do a great job on their own, but yes. Reverb.

yep, for sure.

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

this thing is actually never available and used prices haven't dropped in 5 years.

Biggest complaint right here.

funny like a year or so ago..maybe 2? i was seeing them pretty regularly in the $500 range. i thought the used prices were going down.
now it seems like they are going up due to lack of new stock.

[Strange Tales]

this thing is actually never available and used prices haven't dropped in 5 years.

Biggest complaint right here.

funny like a year or so ago..maybe 2? i was seeing them pretty regularly in the $500 range. i thought the used prices were going down.
now it seems like they are going up due to lack of new stock.

Blegh, I missed out on seeing those then. Cheapest I've ever seen was $650 and those get snatched up immediately. Here's to hoping for new stock and lower prices sometime in the future (cause this looks fun as fucks to distract myself on long journeys).

[DRodriguez]

I've used them in a few sessions and generally they sound a bit cold and sterile naturally. They excel once you start layering, but I don't particularly like the sound when played just as a live instrument. They can definitely be beefed up via external processing

That said, you can make crazy stuff with them and are unrivaled for portable full song making machines. Also some people do crazy stuff using them as samplers. Check out that steezo dude.

I'd recommend waiting until the op-z comes out in case there is some used price drops