My analogy always goes to comparing it to the cost of a laptop with better internal components. However, you must realize that this product is custom and has a different internal system than a basic laptop, and its UI is much better organized. Ultimately, I struggle with the decision: should I spend this amount of money on something that cannot do as much as a computer, or should I spend more on DAW+ plugins that might be able to do more but leave me less satisfied? This is a lifelong struggle for everyone in this field!
It’s a tough one, especially with iPads being practicaAlly full production units in and of themselves, it’s hard to justify the cost of the op1F compared to let’s say an iPad Air + Cubasis + Audio Units of your choice or a Mac+ Logic + Audio Units of your choice . VST and DAW definitely open wider range of possibilities, but they do they have the magic of TE products? Stuff that makes you creative and inspired because of the device and its capabilities …it’s really a personal choice.
For me: I went FROM Logic on Mac and Cubasis on iPad with VSTs to my Op1F+opz because the workflow works for me and I prefer to use it when I feel inclined to make music - just boot it up and go
DAWS make me feel uninspired so I don’t get much music done in one
So if you can afford what you want comfortably get the TE…otherwise it is more cost effective and definitely more versatile and potential than an op1
TE rules !
The tape mode I find beyond useless. But the sounds and the fun I have fiddling to come up with different ideas are almost worth it.
I connect it to my DAW and play usb-audio through that OR I play midi in through my keyboard and then have that go to my DAW.
It really sucks that it’s so locked into this one way of working and I find it almost hostile not to include an undo button.
Regarding undo, there is the well known “lift and drop back” clipboard method, like cut and paste on the computer, you can paste/drop again if you need to. This gives you undo for the tape.
As for the unit vs an iPad, each to their own. iPad is super versatile and capable, but I am not aware of any iPad or computer app that matches the tape functionality, which personally I really enjoy. More importantly, battery life on the Field is INSANE far more than an iPad in actual use, and it has physical keys with velocity. So I’m a big fan as you can see
You buy a device for it’s limitations and haptic controls. I use a PC all day for work and swipe on my phone all day, the last thing I want to use for creative work in my free time is a mouse or a touchscreen. Can my PC or ipad do more than my TE & modular gear? Sure. Are they more fun to use? Hell no.
You can make music without it. Without any doubt. When you get on op1 you pay for the workflow, that in my case i heavily use the sequencers, and for the ability to modulate the sounds in a different way. Much more on hand, you hit lucky accidents much quicker, but you have to put the time into it.
Is like any other piece of gear you buy: the more time you put into it, the more things you are able to squeeze from it.
This is an easy decision. First you get a computer with a DAW and monitors and after that everything else. Because everything else is a luxury.
Gotta respect fully disagree on the easy part. I would rather keep my op1F and opz (and maybe even add a tp7) than own an iPad/mac + daw + plugins. It was a hard decision for me anyway.
long time opz user here, my 2 cents:
I started with my laptop and ableton and a midi controller. It was just not fun for me. As others said, i spend a lot of time for work on my computer and using it to make music never felt like “relaxing” just more work. Staring at the screen with so much going on, the potential distractions, windows crashing or randomly updating and ruining music sessions with friends… a year went by and i made like 2 songs and only played music like 10-12 times total.
I ended up splurging on an OPZ as a “gift to me” and it just toooooooook off. I was coming home from work making music every week, bringing it to friends houses, hell i even made one of my favorite songs on an airplane traveling to see family. It expanded into a whole Dawless setup that wasn’t as portable but i always had that option of literally pocketing my opz and making music backpacking parts the Appalachian trail. Never would have brought a laptop and midi controller with me up those mountains
long story short, use what inspires you
I think it depends on what kinds of user experience works best for you.
I’m actually envious of people who can make great sounds with a computer or an iPad. I just cannot grok working with a DAW and making all of the sounds through a touchscreen or a clicky interface. It doesn’t work for me. Teenage Engineering’s stuff clicks for me because I need the physicality of the device away from a screen for my bleeps and bloops to come out.
FWIW, I’m a classically trained flautist who played both baroque/chamber music and improvisational jazz/soul before my hands failed me. I’m a tactile learner, too, so all of that may play into why TE’s stuff just does it for me.
Actually I kind of like combining the two
It’s a faux experience in a way as I never delve totally into the DAW But
I use the iPad/iphone (as the computer) + Cubasis (as the Daw) to often supplement , sample or sequence into the field and it works swimmingly
For example: I sampled a drum kit into the field, then I opened a track in Cubasis (which transport timeline actually corresponds to the tape reel to reel; meaning if you go to , for example, bar 5 and click/move on the timeline, the reel moves position to that position and time on the op1 field tape), opened Octachron+Auto Fills, and I now can sequence drums on the op1f from my phone, iPad or Mac!!!
So I can use the DAW as a reference, as a base, as a sequencer, additional transport control …
all to supplement the Op1f: thank goodness it works so easily with iOS ….
The OP-Z is truly one of the most amazing devices I’ve ever owned! It’s pretty much the only reason I still stick with these kinds of devices, thanks to its portability and how much it can do in such a small package.
Op-z is the best groovebox ever made and will be for quite some time in my guess