Oplab OS 859 beta (update: OS 861 released)

@jon thanks so much, OPlab rocks!

And the manual! Beauty.

So, did not download the new one yet!

BUT

Can someone tell me: can you sync OP-1 to modular?
As in: run a gate or trigger clock into Oplab, and have the OP-1 sync to it?

That was one feature I was really looking forward to…!

the new oplab manual in pdf if anybody wanna

^ how did you do that! great and thanks! Could you do same for PO guides?

@piotr - no it is not possible that way around.

its all cut and paste job then convert to pdf.

Will do the PO guides and post it when its ready

@piotr - no it is not possible that way around.

That’s too bad really. It makes the integration of these two worlds one-sided.
In my case, th emodular is the central environment/device, and OP-1 is an auxillary component, so would like to be able to slave the OP-1, as opposed to having an auxillary be the rhytmic engine that drives to whole thing.
The board expander does give nice choices, and makes that implementation richer, and more complex, but I still would like to be able to sync the other way around.

I think that the reason is because midi clock is 96 ticks per bar, and to convert from a modular clock stream would require some clock multiplication. However if you have a Monotribe with midi then it will happily take 8 pulses per bar from your modular and spit out midi clock, you could then connect the midi out from the monotribe into Oplab and sync the OP1 to the Oplab.

If you have a mac, just go to the page and Print and you can convert right to PDF there. No cutting/pasting required. Here’s one I just did…

Ah - never occured to me to try print then set output as PDF, using Chrome on windows BTW

I think that the reason is because midi clock is 96 ticks per bar, and to convert from a modular clock stream would require some clock multiplication. However if you have a Monotribe with midi then it will happily take 8 pulses per bar from your modular and spit out midi clock, you could then connect the midi out from the monotribe into Oplab and sync the OP1 to the Oplab.

Do not have Monotribe.
Why wouldn’t Oplab be able to do the multiplication? A mode where the gate IN takes the clock from modular, and clocks all other outputs would be so useful…

I agree :slight_smile: I do not know if Oplab would not be able to do it BTW, simply saying that is is not as straight foreward as dividing.

hello everyone . i am checking new OS: mode 5 with Makenoise RENE sequenser . its work well , but the clock dont run if you dont push start|run in the master clock device.
in modular world the clocks dont run or stop , clock reset signal is used for that . this signal is the signal output from the gate OUT of oplab in Mode 5 .
would be more interesting than the clock for modular never stop.
what you think? excuse me for my poor English

^ what would be the advantage of having the clock running when stop is pressed? I think if it was running all the time it would make syncronisation a nightmare.

hello everyone . i am checking new OS: mode 5 with Makenoise RENE sequenser . its work well , but the clock dont run if you dont push start|run in the master clock device.
in modular world the clocks dont run or stop , clock reset signal is used for that . this signal is the signal output from the gate OUT of oplab in Mode 5 .
would be more interesting than the clock for modular never stop.
what you think? excuse me for my poor English

I see what you mean, I considered it but wasn’t sure which way would be the most useful. It’s consistent with how MIDI clock works (normally always running) but I decided on the way it is now (stopping the clock and doing an internal “clock reset” on start) to also work with modules that don’t have a clock reset input. It’s also because that’s how the PO-sync output in the same mode works, since pocket operators don’t have start/stop/reset inputs.


Do not have Monotribe.
Why wouldn’t Oplab be able to do the multiplication? A mode where the gate IN takes the clock from modular, and clocks all other outputs would be so useful…

It could be done for sure, I’ll put it down for future feature suggestions.


However, slaving an OP-1 to modular sync as you suggested before might not be so straightforward. The OP-1 MIDI clock input works more like a tap-tempo, i.e. it doesn’t directly trigger the sequencers but rather the OP-1 internal clock gradually adjusts its tempo to the incoming clock. Because of this, if an incoming clock changes its tempo, the OP-1 will adjust to it but may get out of phase. It’s not really possible to change this because of how OP-1 handles clock and tape sync internally. Adding another layer of clock interpolation (in the oplab) would probably aggravate this problem.

If you want perfect synchronization with an OP-1, the OP-1 has to be the master.

@jon for the digital outputs would it be possible to have them selectable between trigger mode or gate mode, the reason I ask is that when using finger sequencer a stream of 16th notes on the same key is not allowing the digital output to go low, see the attached video for a demo. The first key I press is a standard pattern, then after a few seconds I press another key with the 16th same note sequence, you will see that the first green LED on the small proto board attatched to Oplab stays lit, I tried other keys and octaves and the result is the same.

@darenager: I don’t want to add too many “hidden” settings since it’s hard enough already to remember everything. I feel if you want a more trigger-like output, you should just send shorter MIDI notes from your controller.


On the OP-1 sequencers specifically, it keeps the note on for the entire duration of the step, but there actually is a short “note-off” between each note. It’s probably too short for the LED to visibly turn off, but if you use the output as a trigger for a drum machine or AD envelope, it will work fine.

Perhaps it would be useful if the OP-1 sent shorter notes in drum mode.

@jon Thank you for your feedback regarding the clock TO Op-1
I think what you describe as a possiblity sounds great! Most of the clocking modules in my system behave that way anyway, and I think it would actually make sense for Op-1 to have the moment of adjustment happen. the benefit of being able to slave Op-1 to other devices via Oplab, in my opinion, outweighs any concerns one might have about the clock adjustment scenrario you described.

@jon fair comment about not wanting hidden modes, but yes it would be great if the OP1 finger drum sequencer sent very short notes, I mainly use the OP1 as my controller (got 2 OP1 and 2 Oplabs!)