Hello, everyone,
I thought I’d ask for some tips for playing live improvisational music with the op-1…
I post this mildly frustrated from a limitation of which I’m sure you’re all aware. If, when in drum-mode and running the sequencer on HOLD, you want to play something from synth mode in accompaniment with the drum sequence, then you can’t just switch to synth mode… No. First, you must record the sequence on the 4-track, and use the loop function, and the IN and OUT have to be set just right, and then you can switch to synth mode…
What does one do to stream-line this and handle this sort of thing in a live-performance context?
It seems like it requires quite a bit of premeditation and preparation on the performers part, which isn’t a bad thing at all, but this limits the improvisational element considerably…
Also, once you record something to tape, you can no longer tweak the effect on that loop (you are limited to just tweaking the master effect, but couldn’t change the drum effect without going back to drum-mode, restarting the sequencer there, but then you have to manage the mixer-levels on the loop you’ve created…)
This, of course, is not a real problem… It is just a matter of getting accustomed to switching between synth mode, drum mode, tape mode, and the mixer… But what sort of things do you do to prevent “dead air” or similar interruptions? And what are some tricks you’ve found to help you switch between modes while improvising live?
I should confess that I only recently purchased an op-1 and up to this point have only used analogue hardware, and no software, for music making… so the Op-1 is a very different experience for me!