Hi there. I recently bought an OP-1 after enjoying working with the OP-Z - and I really love it. It has a great and intuitive workflow and with its portability, it’s super creative. I use it merely for sketching out things - mostly beats and textures. My issue is that I don’t get really further than this. Are you guys really producing full songs with it and what are the tricks of doing it. So far I have recorded the sketches into Ableton and continued from there. Extending the loops into songs onboard seems rather time consuming and a bit complicated to me. What are your tipps and what do I do wrong? Thanks to all
I go about as far as you do with the OP-1.I start out with great ideas and to take any further, I just don’t have the chops. However people like “Red Means Record” has no problem expanding his ideas in to very complex and long musical arrangement
I’m in the same identical boat. Love love the machine but I thought it would be more intuitive than the op-z. I can accomplish incomparably more of something resembling a composition/song on the op-z than I can on the op-1 so far. But I vastly prefer the feel of the keys and the knobs on the op-1. I also prefer the drum kit layout on the op-1. If the two were one machine in the form factor of the op-1 it would be in.frikkin.credible.
Have y’all looked here: OP-1 Tips and Tricks
You could start with the “Making a track from scratch” video and then try out the other tips and tricks and you’ll get some top OP-1 skills! Also, of course, check out @cuckoo and his great videos e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W62G81x1LI4
to make an arrangement try this – get a 8, or 12 or 16 bar loop, then mute/unmute the tape tracks every two or four bars, and record that into an OP1 album, or straight into a digital recorder. great for making dance tracks. making the arrangement live gives it lots of feeling!!!
have plenty of changes (such as, hi-hat swapped for shaker etc.) and rolls, crashes every four or eight bars.
Have experienced the same with the OP-1. I never really ended up happy with a “full” Track on the OP-1. Use the OP-Z mainly now and it’s Day and Night compared to the OP-1. But i guess it comes down to what workflow you prefer. Free Tapedeck Style recording or sequencer-based.
Hi 5*Nomad. Thank you very much. I will go through these videos. Most helpful. To me - the approach of the OP-1 to music is more natural and intuitive. That is why I love the machine. Just need to step up my chops so my sketches become more finished. The OP-Z is cool machine as through its portabilty is fun. It’s more a sequenzer though and I almost prefer to work on a DAW with controller for this kind task. But the OP-1 is an instrument with an organic approach. So your video tipps will certainly help. Cheers
Look up how to do some op-1 tape tricks on youtube. Learn to jam with the tape tricks, master FX, track mute and loop jump. @squiddly has awesome advice. You can add more variation by shifting your tape loop forward and back.
@OPZtacle I totally agree that the op-z sequencer is way better than anything on the op-1. Have you tried using the op-z sequencer on the op-1 synths? I have been having fun with that, also recording muting some instruments and recording op-z loops to op-1 tape, and using the op-1 tape like @squiddly said. I find it way easier to program tons of variation and changes with the op-z sequencer than the op-1 sequencer.
after I’ve made a few loops and ideas, I start recording to tape just like I would with a real tape machine: I plan out a song structure, then I make a guide track on tape track 4.
When I say “Plan a song structure”, it can be as simple as: intro, loop A for 16 bars, loop B for 16 bars, loop A again, loop B again, a breakdown, loop A again, loop B again, outro. This structure worked for early classical music composers and it’s still perfectly good now!!
Then I build the track up from scratch following the guide. First a drum track, then bass, chords, melody, effects etc. I don’t reuse the loops, I prefer to re-create everything for the final track and add variations along the way.
The good thing about the OP-1 compared to a real tape machine is there’s still some scope to edit your structure after you start recording the final track; e.g. if you decide you want only 14 bars of loop A, you can just cut out 2 bars from the stuff you already recorded.
Thanx ssam. That seems a great way to approach it. I recon this way of laying out a song will require quite some concentration. I will give this approach a try. Thanx again.
What you said. Lol
Thank you much!
If they were the same machine it would be perfect. Lol