Hi all, considering getting an OPZ and interested in anyone’s experience using one mainly for sample-based beat making i.e using only samples basically (boom bap, lo-fi etc). As I understand it you can’t ‘line in’ sample direct to the OPZ or has that changed? How are the filters, can you get a decent resonant sub-bass from a filtered loop for example?
For a bit of background, I have the PO33 and I love it - if the OPZ was a super-hyped version of the PO33 with better filters, eq, and sequencing I’m almost already sold.
I also have the Electribe 2 Sampler which I get along with fine although it definitely has its limitations mainly in the sequencer but also speed of working with samples and a lack of mute/choke except for 2 pad sets.
I used to work with a DAW a lot of years ago mostly FL Studio and Live but I just don’t really feel like staring at a screen after working all day and the PO33 really sparked my creativity.
Also had an MPC2000 and an ASRX back in the day so I guess I’m just looking for any experiences of OPZ for making this type of music and of course, comparisons to anything I’ve used before would also be helpful.
Hoping to join the OPZ club soon - cheers in advance.
It’s pretty great for it. Sampling is super easy. the drum sampler slices up your sample automatically and you can quickly adjust start and endpoints.
The sequencer is perfect for drumsbeats, you can also program loose unquantized drums easily.
no problem imo. The filter is very versatile
Only thing I dislike is, that all programs share the samples, so sample management is a bit cumbersome. But if you just finish your beat and record it you can forget about the sample I guess and just overwrite it next time.
Outside of live sampling using the mic, I’ve had a decent go at loading drum kits into the Z using the OP1 drum vst. Feed it crunchy drums, and you can filter, distort, and pitch entire kits. Micro step timing allows push/pull, and you can save 16 beats or more if you keep the bpm and master track settings the same. There are some scratch/Lori samples in the stock kits to get you started. Tape track can pseudo scratch, and you can get the delay locked into some nice loops. Use the master track to hi/lo pass as needed.
Thanks guys that’s interesting feedback. Another question … Does the ops handle sampling in much the same way as the po33 by which I mean you can say, sample a loop in a drum track and it auto slices then you could copy a slice to a melodic track filter it down and play it back as a Baseline ie non destructive editing ? Thanks
Sadly you can’t copy from drum slots into melodic on the OP-Z…
The OP-Z is very much worth the money, but the sample handling is not amazing. Yet the variety of things you can do with it makes up for that.
Thanks for that tbh it’s not a deal breaker or anything , I’m thinking the opz probably has some unique ways to retrigger slices using the parameter locks and components etc
I’m pretty much only using my own samples and I’m not dissapointed. Well it’s no octatrack, but I think it’s really good for what it is. Sampling with the microphone can actually result in some really nice lo-fi samples, have been using it much more than I thought I would.
I also switched from po33 to opz and yes, it can be seen like a boosted up version with lots of new features, you can record samples from the USB audio in if you have an android phone and you set it up to use the op-z as its audio output