Iāve had a proper play over the last couple of days and Iāve gotta say - the general sound quality is wonderful. Each sound (instrument, drums with/without effects, etc) is so rich. Stereo makes a huge difference. Also loving the ability to work on different projects at once depending on the mood or when an idea strikes.
Itās been very stable, no crashes. Iām working on some tracks, but taking my time to get fully comfortable - Iām relatively new to the OP1 in general, so learning as I go.
Good things:
The stereo sound
The multiple project option
Reverb - Mother is the Daddy
BLE connection - the potential here is great
Build quality
Battery life
Not so great
The radio signal doesnāt seem to be any better than the OG, but that could just be my area.
The stereo path makes it more obvious (to me) that we need to be able to pan sounds in an easier way
The in-built manual is a bit of a gimmick
I know that this is just the beginning - excited to see what is next!
I loved the OG-1 for everything it brought to the table but it undoubtedly needed a hifi modern-featured counterpart and in my opinion the OP-1F over delivers on that. I love the different tape styles, their sound and their workflow feature differences, and also being able to lift/drop between them.
Iām excited at the future possibilities for this device too.
The BLE works so well and is like super low latency in my experience. I have an Extra Deluxe 61, with a CME ble midi adapter, and the OP-1F sitting on the open space of the ED61. Itās a cable free set up.
bluetooth audio (with no latency (I can dream canāt I?)) would be soooo cool, but I guess the FM audio is a good call going to the OB-4, but Iād really dig a fully cable free setup to wireless headphones.
ble can do audio, so maybe thatās a future possibility?
for fun and jamming (not āseriousā stuff) using airpods since I usually always have them on me. @MichaalHell have you heard of anything in the beta tester forums about bluetooth audio requests?
The other thing Iād ask for is a case option that works with a decksaver. right now iām eyeing the Bowoo OP-1 case, itās freaking $110 but it fits the OG with a decksaver so I assume it will fit the field, and itās design makes me thing it wont flip the power switch in transit like the old op-1 cases. plus the lip on the decksaver protrudes about the same amount as the power switch, so overall itās looking like my best case option right now. EDIT: read some reddit reviews of the Bowoo case and think iām gonna pass on it.
Agreed on the need for an additional case option like the two for the og. Iām so close to cutting a slot in the padding of my case for the fieldās power switch. I didnāt like the way the field seemed to need to be maneuvered into the current case on a video.
Also agree on initial reviews. The hum is gone! Keys also feel better to me. Radio signal is pretty weak.
I forgot to mention the Keys! good call. They totally feel different to me, I like the action a lot more. The found, feel and action feel premium and now the OG keys feel plastic-y, loud and cheap lol.
They did a great job on this. and my unit hasnāt had any key issues, or software bugs (yet!) so itās really been great.
Oh yeah, MTP, the method by which you transfer files is super fast and way better than how it was done on the OG (which felt like a firmware update everytime) now if connected to a computer you can just pop in, rename, move stuff around, drop new samples in, etc way faster than before.
(renaming on the device is really handy too if you arenāt by a computer, I found myself getting pretty quick with it)
My decksaver fits perfectly in the op-1 field bag. Itās super snug and is a great fit. Itās tight at first but stretches the bag a little for the form of the deck saver and works like a charm. This deck saver is from the UK
Has anyone tested the OP-1 Field with the TX-6 usb-c to usb-c? Was wondering if you could control each 4 OP-1 tracks with four of the knobs on the TX-6. The guide mentions the 12 track in option via USB, but I just havenāt seen anybody connect the two devices and control like that.
Jeremy Blake / Red Means Recording from what I understand got pretty burned out on the original, the videos he did, and the creative rut he was in. He mentioning this in a video some time ago, and has since gone down a different path with lots of different gear including a lot of modular stuff.
It wouldnāt surprise me if he didnāt get an OP-1 Field.
But then he does have that new video on the Pixel app.
Letās do some fun speculation to pass the time while we obsessively wait for our expensive machines. Iām not an accountant so I may be wildly off with my speculation, but itās fun either way.
The lowest order numbers I saw associated with the Op-1 field was in the 19602XX range. The highest Iāve seen is 1925XX. So this means there were roughly 2300 orders in the span of time that orders were open for the Op-1 field.
Obviously not all of these were orders for the field. I for one ordered a field and then ordered the case separately. And then we have everybody who ordered the new tx-6 mixer, or any of their other products. For speculations sake, letās estimate 75% of the orders were for the OP-1 field.
That means roughly 1,725 Op-1 fields have been ordered through TEās website. We know it canāt be much more than that, however it could be a bit lower, depending on other sales.
Now letās estimate they mark up their Op-1 field by a margin of 300%. This seems high but is not uncommon for boutique instruments like this. That means TE pays roughly $670 to produce one unit, and makes $1,300 per unit sold.
This means so far, TE has generated roughly $2.25 million in āprofitā from these machines. How much of that goes to expenses would require further speculation, but we can probably assume most of it.
Current estimates have TE generating almost $24 million in annual sales. For a company of 60 people, this is very good, but not insane. Most people at this company are not getting rich, while there may be a few people who end up pretty well off. If anything, TE is able to pay a competitive wage to attract good talent and keep their operation growing and continuing to produce incredible products. The argument that TE is some greedy profit hungry over-priced toy maker for rich people doesnāt really make sense to me.
Once you use the op1 as your main device one can get pretty burned out due to how tedious it is to make beats and melodies exactly how you want. This is mainly due to the tape workflow and the super basic sequencers on the op1. Yes you can make music quick on the op1 but at the cost of it sounding simple and not as dynamic since you canāt adjust things later and refine it like you can on grooveboxes like OP-Z and elektron stuff. Once you record and you need to fix some levels or whatever it becomes laborious to record again. It wouldāve been amazing if they had added some new audio editing features to the tape to mitigate the tedious workflow or add some sequencers that allow for complex programming. Now of course you can just import the op1 tape tracks to your computer for further editing but whatās the fun in that ?
Maybe itās because Iām relatively new to the OP1, but I find the sequencing pretty adaptable. Mixing up the sequencers on a single track pretty easily and basically playing different finger sequences is pretty cool. There are things Iād like added, but I like the workflow to be honestā¦ but then Iām coming from a āI just like to play and make shit upā approach, rather than a āI know exactly what I wantā.
Iām keeping the OG alongside the field and am excited to use them together in fun ways like bouncing via fm transmitter or using the OG to pan tracks for stereo sampling.
For sureā¦ using panning on the OG-1ās mono tape tracks to set up a stereo mix for sampling or recording straight onto a single stereo tape track on the field.
For example, I have a few other synths and pedals that are mono. I could layer them into the OG tape and get a nice stereo vibe going with track panning and FX, then essentially mix down onto a single stereo track on the field. Does that make sense? Iām sure it could be done solely on the field using resampling, but this seems more fun (plus some of the OGās mojo will be applied).
Also, I can see recording the field through FX pedals into the OG, then bringing that back over to the field. Also possible with a single device but requires hard panning and clever routing through a split cable in order to avoid creating a feedback loop.
