There are lots of youtube videos showing guys tweaking their own patch, but I would like to get an overall view of the sounds that this machine ships with. Is there any demo walking through the default patches?
I am more interested in "melodic" patches like bass, pads, leads. Is OP-1 good for these kind of sounds or is it more for playing with rythms and fx?
Could OP-1 even be used as a sketch pad for pop music while commuting? (I am tempted by the size of it, the direct interface and the various sequencers.)
That’s one of the strengths of the OP-1: being a sketchpad for melody, harmony and rhythm. With all the synth engines it is easy to find or create patches for bass (e.g. try FM or Pulse), pads (String, Cluster or FM would be my first choice here), leads (Digital, Dr. Wave and FM are especially great here, but this is just my taste).
The FX are not what you might expect, when you work with DAWs – there is one FX per instrument and one master FX. That means for example you can’t combine a filter and reverb on an instrument without some tricks (like resampling – this forum will help with tipps and tricks a lot!).
But what makes it a perfect sketch tool is the TAPE! You just play and record a sequence or beat, loop it, overdub it or play another voice on another channel. Very intuitive and quick.
I’d say: Give it a try!
I am more interested in "melodic" patches like bass, pads, leads. Is OP-1 good for these kind of sounds or is it more for playing with rythms and fx?
That sounds like me. I love the OP-1 most of all for its synths and I use its synth engines more than anything else. I do also love the singular sound and user experience of the effects, so I use those with my other instruments too.
The 8 synth engines (and synth sampler) provide a wonderful breadth of sounds. If you go to the hyperlink, you can take educated guesses on some of the sound potential based on the engine/parameter names. I have 2 analog hardware synths and the most powerful synths around (software synths), but the OP-1 synths are amongst the most frequently used.
I’m not aware of there being a demo of all the presets.
Could OP-1 even be used as a sketch pad for pop music while commuting? (I am tempted by the size of it, the direct interface and the various sequencers.)
Definitely. There’s nothing about the OP-1 that lacks pop potential. I struggle to think what genres it couldn’t handle. Frat rock? Frat rock!
The OP-1 has it’s own “sound”. Unless of course you are using it as a sampler - but even then you’ll be wanting to use the OP-1 effects and they too have their own “sound”.
This album is a pretty good representation of the kind of stuff you can knock out with the OP-1.
Notice the OP-1 “sound” running through this whole album.
If you want to make music like that, with the OP-1 “sound” then the OP-1 is for you.
The OP-1 is in no way a DAW like you would get on a Laptop/Desktop or even as comprehensive as some of the DAW-Like Apps you get for iPad.
I’d try grab one second hand, see if you like it. If not, then sell it. They hold their value pretty well this way.
If you buy from new then sell you’ll maybe lose a hundred or so bucks/pounds.
The video artist links that @LibertineLush has linked to are more artists using the OP-1 as an instrument within a larger collection of instruments rather than all-out production on the OP-1.
