Official announcement ZM-4 module OP-Z

This is the only reason I visited this link is to laugh at the insane price TE will want for their next bit of gear. :joy:

I thinks same a oplab ā‚¬149 EUR

Mixed Feelings about this, on one hand iā€™m glad we have a new module.
however it looks like the oplab module will be obsolete as this one brings the same functionality. TE has really been letting me down.

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Well kinda of, the oplab has two cv in and two out plus midi and gate. It is really good for controlling a synth and a modular, anything you need. Not many sequencers can send modulation from a sequencer over modular plus note cvā€¦ this is cool but doesnā€™t totally replace the oplabā€¦ this is good if you donā€™t need that level of modular control. I need bothā€¦ they both have their strengths and you can only use one at a time, why not have both? Better to have it and all thatā€¦ they are not even that much money reallyā€¦ but everyone will decide that for themselves.
I honestly rarely will use either, I use rumble 80% of the time, but I want them all.

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oplab is more for a modular synth user.
line is more for dj, sampling.
im very exited because now you can easily daisy chain pocket operators and op-zā€™s !

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I agree and feel like they couldā€™ve maybe made several products aimed at midi, cv and triggers, or audio but they diluted their intent by combining too much in each module

for some folks (po users) the oplab and zm4 will be great but it feels like a missed opportunity for the rest of us

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Honestly I donā€™t get it. How can a unit without CV but with audio make a unit with CV but not audio obsolete? Or rather, if you donā€™t need CV but do want audio I/o then this is ideal and oplab never suited your needs. And if you did need CV but not audio then your requirements were already catered to.

Anyway, for many users this seems to offer exactly the functionality we want built-in (within reason)

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with trrs sockets they could have made it with

CVx2/Gate - Midi In/Out - 2x Stereo In - 2x Stereo Out

in one module :()

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this what i dont understand

thereā€™s already a toggleā€¦if they just let me choose AUDIO along with MIDI / TRIG / PO i would have no complaints whatsoever

What if i need audio i/o but no midi or po sync? There is no module for that and thatā€™s why this release is frustrating for some of us

Saying Line makes Oplab obsolete might be exaggeration but it does feel like TE didnā€™t consider oplab users when they made this. Itā€™s so similar that the oplab is less distinct and even resale value will probably be lower since some of its features can be found elsewhere.

Iā€™m really glad this will work for many of you but that doesnā€™t change things for everyone. Itā€™s perfectly reasonable to expect an audio i/o attachment module to use all itā€™s ports forā€¦audio i/o

If that sounds unreasonable or confusing then just agree to disagree and enjoy your ZM 4 :blush:

Audio is much higher bandwidth than MIDI/sync. It needs more CPU resources and it meeds A/D D/A. Itā€™s not a simple one to one or just a matter of a toggle, or even necessarily possible to add more than one more stereo in and out.

For me an audio only module would have its uses, but combining MIDI/sync and audio, even if it means less audio, is still much more immediately useful in a variety of ways. I donā€™t want to be swapping modules, and I donā€™t want to have to use too many weird adaptor cables.

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sure honestly i didnā€™t think that was practical to add the toggle but thatā€™s why the ā€œsimpleā€ solution would have been an all audio module

you wouldnā€™t need adapters and dongles to get audio in or out

as youā€™ve said that might not have been possible

cool
i hope you have fun
:wink:

I use the oplab all the time, not only for my modular but also to connect 2 POā€™s, midi in and out at the same time. The gate out from the oplab to sync two POā€™s with a passive multiplier (because i want 2 separate mono channels from the POā€™s) and the midi in for clock and the midi out for a synth. The POā€™s and OP-Z to a small 4 channel audio interface connected to the ipadā€¦ Itā€™s small for traveling and i can use some nice plugins (Eventide and audio damage audio units) Also itā€™s easy to record a 4 channels live jamā€¦ So for me the oplab is just fine and all audio is routed to IOS (ipad or Iphone).

Iā€™ve been using my POā€™s for years with gates on the modular to sync them and never had any problems with it :wink: Also an additional advantage is that you can adjust the scale you like (4/8 /16 patterns for the sync) in the module track from the OP-Z.

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Looking forward to this. I will definitely use it. I have been using the 1010Music BlueBox mostly.
As I prefer the smaller footprint of that mixer to that of the Allen & Heath Zed Mixer that preceded it.
Reduction in size, cool. Opens up the possibilities.

I wonder what the next module would be, where do you go from here ?
OPLab, Rumble, and now Line.

Someone on this forum, mentioned that there was a photo of 4 prototype modules when the OP-Z was debuted. And a Yellow (OPLab), Grey, Green and Red module.
Again, what could the next on be ? Maybe some tie in with a future product, or the OB-4, or an analog module.

Iā€™ll say what has been often said, I am also looking forward to an OP-Z firmware update.

Would be nice to have more synth engines, and a few more effects. I still think a vocoder for the M-1 headset would be pretty cool. Arturia added a firmware vocoder for the MicroFreak in update 2.0 Cā€™mon Teenage Engineering, would be so much fun to use the microphone on the M-1 with the OP-Z to cover Kraftwerk Trans Europe Express :slight_smile:

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They should have made a module that supports both CV and Audio with DC coupling.

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I was listening to the why we bleep podcast yesterday and they had an interesting little discussion about keeping designs focussed and ā€œcognitive loadā€ of features and not necessarily piling on stuff. This is something TE are masterful at (not doing), especially on the OP-Z. Focus is important.

I wonder how this will be implemented - will the output per track be selected on the mixer page or the module page? A toggle for main / aux would be simple enough - if you extend that to multiple outs and switching them between audio and cv itā€™s into a different level of havingto think about it.

I wonder if there could be a way to use the i/o as a send effect without using a ā€œsendā€ plugin on one of the effects tracks.

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I just realizedā€¦ it says it will be out in springā€¦ geez I thought it was silly to promote it before it comes out, but it wonā€™t be out for a long timeā€¦againā€¦
Iā€™m really sick of waiting, this sucksā€¦ it seems like a bunch of things come out in springā€¦ I guess it is hard to get parts for even thisā€¦ Iā€™m really excited about it thoughā€¦ I never really sample much with opz because the mic sucks and the USB is too fiddlyā€¦ I canā€™t wait to be able to sample normal just like my mpc can!! Bring it my lovely teenage mutant ninja engineeuetles!!!

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