The patch can be found here.
TL;DR - It’s a sampler patch that lets you route the internal microphone, audio input, radio, or USB audio thru an effect of your choice before it hits tape. To use it, make sure audio is playing from one of the aforementioned sources and then hold a key down. Try changing effects or effect settings.
Long Story - I have been using this patch for about a year and am only now getting around to sharing it. I personally think it is super useful and inspiring. I am not sure if anyone has thought of a similar patch before, but even if they have, this is a good reminder of some very cool, advanced OP-1 functionality.
Last winter I got into a situation where I was in an unexpected COVID quarantine right before a big, cross-state move. My studio was packed away. All I had was my OP-1, a cassette deck and some cassettes. I wanted to use my guitar recordings and field recordings from the cassettes and make some music on the OP-1 while I waited out quarantine, but the sounds on the cassettes were raw and needed some processing from the OP-1.
Out of necessity, I figured out how to process sounds as they come in to the OP-1. The two most important parts of the patch are the sample (which is basically pure positive amplitude with no periodicity, so it does not produce sound on its own), and the Element LFO, which effectively routes the audio input to modulate amplitude at 100%. Feel free to study my patch further and let me know if you have any questions.
I think that similar goals can be achieved by recording to tape and then re-sampling, but I like that this patch enables me to effect an input in real time before committing it to the OP-1 tape.
Some fun things you can do with it -
- The obvious is you can change the frequency spectrum of any input before the sound hits tape – This means if the recording from your mic is too boomy, you can cut out some low end using Nitro or Filter; This means if you want a rain sound to be more crunchy, you can low-pass it and add some resonance; This means you can filter noise from the radio to sound super pleasing. It opens up so many possibilities.
- Use the time-based effects (CWO, Delay, Spring, etc.) to make sounds input into the OP-1 more spacey/trippy
- Use phone as a live vocal processor for your voice or talk radio (this is extremely entertaining)
- Double up effects, with an effect on this “AudioThru” patch and a master effect (and master EQ and drive) for wild live sound processing
- Perform with effects as you record external audio to tape
- Make the effects self-resonate when they receive an impulse (like tapping on the microphone). Most effects seem capable of this to some extent, and you can use it to create amazing tonal and percussive sounds that can then be recorded to tape and then re-sampled.
There are probably a ton of other creative things you can do with this patch. Let me know what you end up using it for! Enjoy!