Just visited elektronauts and everyone still trying to guess what the new product is. A lot of people mentioning Octatrack 2 or an Op-1-like portable device. Clues point to something else tho.
Made me curious about TE’s stance on the idea of an OP-2. I only recently started paying attention and haven’t heard anyone mention anything. Has there ever been any promising reports/rumours?
An 8-track op-2 with din-midi, huge memory storage/memory card support, basic OS function updates (undo, name/delete files from device etc), multisampling/rompler options, stereo tracks bouncing, more lavish FX, possibly an extra octave on the keyboard etc etc just seems like a no-brainer for TE to totally kill that area of the market. They’ve already done the groundwork and should be able to do something like this under £1000 considering how old the op-1 tech spec is.
Frustrating when companies don’t follow up on products and fully refine them in a 2nd version, or they take forever to do it. Op-2 and Octatrack 2 both seem like units begging to be made but no sign of either of them just seems like by delaying ‘sequels’ to these units TE and Elektron are just giving other companies the chance/time to bring out similar(ish) alternatives and consumers end up with a bunch of options that are ‘nearly perfect’ in different ways but often kind of hatchet jobs/ommisions in varying areas. Maybe it’s a business model thing but makes no sense to me…
Yeah that’s what I thought… I don’t really get it tho. Op-z looks OK but an op-2 could be ridiculous. Guess maybe they just want to keep doing different things to keep themselves inspired. Or they thought hard about the business side of things and maybe it makes more sense to shelve any op-2 thoughts until OP1 is more outdated. Hopefully someone else will do something
Their entire business model seems like vanity projects. They have no real desire to live up to anyone’s expectations but their own. It’s served us well w/ the OP-1, although I’d love to see an iOS companion app that recognizes the device and offers (at least) backup and sample loading. A sample chopper and a patch editor for the synths would be marvelous, of course. But just something to back it up, on the go, would eliminate one of the devices biggest drawbacks.
@eesn this is what makes TE totally different from most other manufacturers out there. TE undertake projects because it interests them & gets their creative juices going. They’re not beholden to the whims of the customer.
I would love to see this spirit of design freedom & creativity adopted in the DJ arena (where I spend most of my time/money). In this scene, products are built by big business and their sole aim tends to be the cash flow, always selling the next slightly bigger, slightly shinier piece of kit without pause for thought on where it is all going or could go.
TE’s expectations of their own products and eye for detail are probably infinitely greater than that of your average customer or many other manufacturers out there.
Their entire business model seems like vanity projects. They have no real desire to live up to anyone's expectations but their own.
this! we need more of this kind of healthy criticism, and so do TE
You misunderstand me. It wasn’t a criticism! I wouldn’t have it any other way. If they fell in line like everyone else, we’d never have gotten the OP-1 in the first place! Peace.
But seriously, great point about most music tech businesses just pursuing the logic of profit. TE just doing their own thing, don’t care about me and you. It’s refreshing.
I’m not sure TE are as purely ‘creatively driven’ as you guys are suggesting tbh. POs seem like great little money makers to easily churn out variations of like they are doing?
Op-1 is arguably over-priced and under-developed (stoked I got one just as they fixed the pops/clicks… Don’t know how you guys coped with them before for sooo long!?).
I’m slightly baffled by Op-z to be honest. Maybe it’ll be great but the interface/hardware etc seems like it won’t really offer me much more of an improvement over quite basic touch screen sequencing. Though I generally hate touch screen… I’ll be interested to know the price…
I’d say it’s equally/more likely the decision to hold off on an op-2 is that financially there’s no risk and no resources being used in just producing/selling op-1 until the market dries up?
To be fair it’s probably a bit of both creative/business reasons… Don’t get me wrong. TE are a great little company and its cool to see them doing things slightly differently.
Just seems like the right time for an updated op-1 now with specs that warrant the price tag now that other companies/alternatives are starting to catch up (organelle, ipad etc…).
Op is one of those weird boxes that is only worth the money because it’s niche and there’s no better alternative. Octatrack is the same. Portability of op/depth of OT both in league of their own. Not sure how long that will be the case tho…
First off, trying to reason how businesses make business decisions without being a part of that company is rarely successful. “Because customers want it” is hardly ever the bottom line as to why something will get made. To the developers, getting the OP-1 to do cool things and be fun may be more important that creating polished, final tracks.
Second, I think you have to recognize that TE is not walking around their office saying “The OP-1 is so half-baked, lacks features, is unusable as-is, we should create a new one.” Every device has its limitations, design choices, flaws, and room for improvement. TE seems to listen on some of these and make changes. On others, they probably don’t give any fucks. They’re creatively making something used for creative purposes. If they were designing a phone and it didn’t make phone calls, then they would fail as a company.
Lastly, just because they can doesn’t mean they should or will. If they want to work on vanity projects, more power to them. One of the benefits of being a small company with relatively small reach in the world is that they can do whatever they want because it feels good to them. We should all be so lucky that we could find work that is sustainable and allows us to create whatever we want without concern to what customers feel the best business decision is. I wouldn’t hold out for an OP-2. The good thing is that music equipment is numerous and varied. If you want more FX, you can add them outside of the box. 8-tracks can be done on the computer or by buying 2 OP-1s. More octaves on a MIDI keyboard. Sure there are things that would be nice to have in an updated OS, but until then there are other means.
@gcf you’re probably right. TE and Elektron both make killer stuff and obvs they can do whatever they want and fair play to them if theyre in it equally as artists/inventors as much as they are to make money/perfect hardware.
Just that when I was reading the Elektron teaser video guessing game thread there are a lot of people hoping on op-2/ot2 kind of units. And no one out there seems to have something like this in the pipeline. (the new pioneer sampler ‘might’ compare to OT for depth etc and improve on it some areas but waiting to learn more about it…)
OT and Op both becoming a little old now in terms of spec. And both have some ‘issues’ for many users that would be huge if they were ironed out or expanded on sequel versions.
I love the OP1 mainly for its portability, all the workarounds you mention for more tracks/more fx/more octaves etc all kind of kill the vibe for me. I’d rather just make do as it is cos any extra cables etc just make my kids wanna mess with stuff I realise not everyone is in that kind of home situation tho. As part of my main setup (when I get time to use it…) I have pretty much zero wishlist with Op or Ot. I love both as standalone too, just would love to see updated/expanded versions for all the sofa jammers out here
OP-Z seems like an OS update that grew legs (we lost some original features of initial promise and gained OP-Z).They did mention there could still be an OP-2 ,but IMO not for a long time. The OP-1 was designed to be timeless classic, it would eat into sales.
Anyone that seriously expects an OP-2 that "fixes" whatever they think is wrong with the OP-1 is going to be sorely disappointed.
I don’t think anyone really ‘expects’ it. Just personally would love to see it and seems like many others feel the same judging by that Elektronauts.com thread.
Op-1 is a great, unique box with its features/ui/portability/work flow but feels like the first of its kind… not the last
just seems like by delaying ‘sequels’ to these units TE and Elektron are just giving other companies the chance/time to bring out similar(ish) alternatives and consumers end up with a bunch of options that are ‘nearly perfect’ in different ways but often kind of hatchet jobs/ommisions in varying areas. Maybe it’s a business model thing but makes no sense to me…
