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As it turns out, I’m going to be spending in excess of ten hours a week on the subway. I’ve got a rad retropi machine to help pass the time, but I’d like to work on musical ideas when I’m out and about. What do you guys bring with you on your commutes, or what would you bring? So far I’m thinking a Volca or one of the Teenage Engineering OP thingies.

6th generation iPad.
$329+tax and a boat load of apps both free and paid. There's just a ton of capabilities there. No pots/sliders to get broken off when you're crammed body to body. Plus it doubles as a million other things.

I jam on the subway all the time. OP-1 is my go to, because it's sturdy, versatile, easy enough to play even when the cart is shaking and sits very balanced on your legs. I used to use pocket operators, but they're quite fragile and it looks like you're just vibing hard on a calculator.

OP-1 is going to be hard to beat for this. Super long battery life and the tape makes it possible to write whole songs on the go.

The OP-1 was my first thought, too. But it is kind of prohibitively expensive. Though, it’s definitely not outside my budget.

What do you folks think of the OP-Z? It seems like it could be cool, anf it’s small enough to fit in my fannypack?

Sell other gear, and the bum bag, and get an OP1?

Are you in Korea now? How is it?

Ableton, man.

D.o.S. wrote:Sell other gear, and the bum bag, and get an OP1?

Are you in Korea now? How is it?

It’s tempting, but I’m not quite sold on the OP-1 yet. And my bum bag’s perfect for carrying my gameboy and some snax


I am in Korea now, and it’s still very overwhelming. So far I’m really enjoying the Koreanized versions of American food, and Seoul is easily the prettiest city I’ve ever seen.

Only a second hand report, but I have an acquaintance who spends tonnes of time on the subway with SunVox. My understanding is that it's notional and super-complicated, but will run on almost anything, including older phones.

http://www.ilovefuzz.com/viewtopic.php?f=149&t=15788

op1 +1
qy70 +1
iPad +1

what about like an mpc500 or something like that?

I'd noodle with an iPad over anything else (VCS, Moog, generative apps, matrix synths). If I was going to get a compact synth, I'd go with an Organelle over an OP-1, but the Volcas would make me feel less nervous about travel damage (not to mention much less expensive and smaller). I wish Digitana would finish the Halia, but there's been no update in over a year, and I imagine it will eventually debut for more than $500 USD.

http://www.synthi.co.uk/halia/

What about a Kaoss or a Kaossilator? Those are portable, have a lot of sounds for the money, and some (KP3) can even save your settings/performances. I had the little yellow one years ago (before the 2S) and it was a lot of fun for $80-120. They could be used for ambient/experimental, not just electronic/dance. The MIDI implementation on them was never good, but there are ways around that, if you want to use an external trigger.

01010111 wrote:The OP-1 was my first thought, too. But it is kind of prohibitively expensive. Though, it’s definitely not outside my budget.

What do you folks think of the OP-Z? It seems like it could be cool, anf it’s small enough to fit in my fannypack?

OP-Z isn't really out yet, though it is supposed to start shipping this week. It seems more suited to sequencing and plays best with an iPhone/iPad and an OP-1. Apparently it isn't going to have a full fledged tape and sampling might not be as easy as the OP-1, but that's still speculation on my part since the manual isn't even available yet.
You can still find an OP-1 for a decent price (like the same as a new OP-Z) if you're patient and prowl forums.

Organelle would be cool if it were battery powered but I'm pretty sure it needs a power supply.

An iPad is great assuming you don't mind the lack of knobs/buttons to touch. It'll probably be the most powerful device overall but battery life can be an issue if you forget/can't recharge it every day.

greyscales wrote: Organelle would be cool if it were battery powered but I'm pretty sure it needs a power supply.

You are correct.