I am wondering, if OP-1 is suitable for “mainer” streams style of electronic music. for example: trance, psytrance, house.
Its very good for ambient and chillout, thats for sure.
Why I ask? Because I havent heard any song in mainstream. What I’ve heard was some beautiful ambient and chillout and mostly some horrible glitch-noise cacophony, that hardly can be called “music”. I’ve done some music roughly 10 years ago in DAW, and I ran of ideas, so I quit… But now I want to create some music, but not at the computer, because I sit in front of computer all work day, and at home I just want to relax a bit, and jam some music. And I’m thinking of buying OP-1 for this purpose. (yes, for relax and fun :))
Like any instrument it is up to the user not the instrument - load it up with house sounds and sure it can be used to make house music, if you are looking for an out of the box solution though I’d probably say go for a Novation Circuit or Korg Electribe which might be more suitable.
I’ve looked up Electribe and it looks too “presety” for me…That you have many presets you can tweak, and a lot of samples. , And mainly does not have a “proper” keyboard, that OP-1 has… The 16buttons is not what I’m looking for. I’m afraid, I wont able to jam on them
I kinda like the OP-1 taperecorder and synths.
@LyingDalai: I want to make some music, what comes to my mind (thats really helpful, right :D) Mainly with some pads and melody
I’ve looked up Electribe and it looks too “presety” for me…That you have many presets you can tweak, and a lot of samples. , And mainly does not have a “proper” keyboard, that OP-1 has… The 16buttons is not what I’m looking for. I’m afraid, I wont able to jam on them
I kinda like the OP-1 taperecorder and synths.
@LyingDalai: I want to make some music, what comes to my mind (thats really helpful, right :D) Mainly with some pads and melody
I would go for the OP-1 if I were you. The reasons why you would not go for novation circuit and electribes (and DAW) are the exact same reasons why I went for the OP-1. The OP’s limitations are a bit brutal in comp with DAWs from both a prod and live use point of view and sometimes made me think about going back to ableton but the satisfaction of being able to get it all out of the box from such an addictive interface wins all the time. And this pushes you to build around limitations.
If I could interject here w/o derailing the op too much.,…
I’ve been diving in to the op-1 for a week or so now and I do see the contagious and fun positives (love the radio sampling!) but…
Other than the clear portable fun writing benefits
Has anyone around here been able to incorporate the op-1 for more of a “band / singer-songwriter” style
…+ tape machine &/or Daw approach ?
The limiting factors thus far (for me) are the “1 project at a time 6 min limit” & limiting way to sync via straight sequencer / tempo map. Of course I may be missing options being still new to it.
For other styles electro wise , I’d love to approach a kinda Bowie-eno “low” instrumentals kinda thing.
But again the sequencer seems to be the limitation. Maybe add an iPad or?
Anyway I’d love to hear others thoughts. Know matter if I decide to keep or sell, it does seem wise to wait for the new update to see what it could bring. Whenever that happens.
@chet I’ve only had mine a few weeks but if you’re looking to compose in old school 4trk style it’s basically exactly that (+ sequencing and synth/sampler bells and whistles I feel your pain when comparing to a DAW etc for singer/songwriter/band kind of stuff tho… It’s maybe not the best box for that. Depending on how much you like to comp takes/edit tracks etc…
So far I’ve mostly used mine just as a scratch pad/sound design/something fun I can play with while I’m sat with my kids etc… Besides a couple of ambient/noise tracks I haven’t ‘finished’ anything inside it. Not sure I’ll ever use it that way for the normal kind of stuff I do. More often probably just use it to pencil ideas/loops/sounds out on then import to daw to work on. But I’m the same with my Octatrack. Had it a year now and still haven’t finished anything inside it! I’m kind of the opposite of what I hear from other people, DAW makes me focus whereas hardware I end up with tons of different ideas in different boxes… Hardware’s more fun to mess around with tho and all the ideas’ll end up getting used somewhere eventually…
I say all this but a lot of users on here are making killer stuff totally inside OP. I guess like Octatrack everyone finds their own workflow/roles for it
@Callofthevoid I hear you. I don’t want to complain as it’s very cool within its limitations. Just trying to conclude if how interactive-friendly with DAW projects it will ultimatley be when building around a vocal & gt or piano etc.
I agree, some op-1 users get much milage with it for their specific styles. It’s mostly a challenge (for me) when it comes to the sequencers limitations and lack of quantize for a 3 min real time performance.
(For example, if I import a 3 min guitar vocal scratch to build around)
But again, what some users do with their op-1 is impressive. I hope I can iron out a few of its challenges.
You can definitely make house music with the OP-1. Here is a jam i just uploaded. Admittedly the beats were done in the MPC 60 and i then resampled 4 loops i made into the OP-1. Its pretty rough and was my first time using the 2 together (some of the loop points are a bit dodgy), i like to think it adds character lol…
op1 is best suited to sketching music. it doesnt make a specific style. nor does it particularly lend itself well to any one style. its extremely open ended. There was a guy making amazing METAL tracks on it and posting. I think that opened alot of people eyes towards the flexibility of the op1. Since its a sampler it literally can sound like anything. Many of the synths give me a very chiptune feel though. your just as likely to make Bossa Nova as you are EDM on the op1. its extremely open ended. I tell everyone its my musical sketchpad because I never really know what im gonna get. But its a very versatile tool when im working on any style of music in any setting. needs keyboard solos. check. need drum machine. check. need secondary live percussion. check. need a bit of live looping. check. need a sequenced 303. check. need dank arpeggios. check. need layering of vocals and resampling till it sounds amazing. check. need an effects unit. check. its such a little powerhouse.
I feel your pain when comparing to a DAW etc for singer/songwriter/band kind of stuff tho… It’s maybe not the best box for that. Depending on how much you like to comp takes/edit tracks etc…