Hi all,
I just bought an OP1 to pair with my OPZ.
What I would like to do is to connect them MIDI to control the OP1 with the OPZ’s sequencer, or even just have the bpm and play and stop keys synchronized so they can play together.
I know there are several tutorials online but I can’t get them to work.
Currently I have tried connecting the OP1 to a USB hub (which is connected to the computer for power).
The OPZ is connected to the hub in the same way.
The audio output of the OPZ is connected via jack to the audio input of the OP1, and my headphones are connected to the audio output of the OP1.
I have tried changing the settings on the OP1, both Synch and Beat Match.
I have tried changing the MIDI settings of the OPZ and OP1 (Shift + COM) but nothing.
I am groping in the dark.
I am not a great MIDI expert and I don’t understand if I am doing it wrong in the settings or if the hub might be wrong or not.
Hello! I’ll try to help but this might take a bit of troubleshooting.
First, I think your actual issue comes from the hub: if your hub is connected to the computer and you have both the OP-1 and OP-Z connected to the hub, the computer can see both devices but they can’t see each other unless you’re using some software to get them to communicate with each other (like a DAW).
The quick way to check if the OP-Z is detecting another USB device is if the last step on the sequencer flashes green when you plug it in (might take a few seconds or a few tries). If this doesn’t happen, the OP-Z doesn’t recognize any connected USB device.
It sounds like you have the right idea overall as far as settings go but just to be clear here’s a hypothetical setup for syncing the OP-1 to the OP-Z’s clock and sending the OP-Z’s chords track to the OP-1’s active synth:
Connect the OP-1 to the OP-Z via USB; the last step on the OP-Z’s sequencer will flash green 2 or 3 times when the device is recognized. Note that not all cables and hubs work for this.
Set up the OP-Z’s MIDI
a. Enable setting 3 (MIDI out)
b. Enable setting 5 (MIDI clock out)
c. Enable MIDI from the Chords track
d. Set the Chords track to a channel number you can remember–let’s say 8 because it’s the default. This represents the outgoing MIDI channel from the chords track. The incoming channel for the chords track can’t be changed and will always be 8
Set up the OP-1’s MIDI
a. Set the clock to Sync mode. The display will read EXT when it detects an incoming clock
b. Open the MIDI settings (Shift + COM) and change the MIDI channel to 8–this represents the channel for all incoming and outgoing MIDI.*
* = as I’m writing this it occurs to me that the OP-1 will also play the OP-Z in this situation. To avoid this either change the MIDI channel you’re using or disable incoming MIDI on the OP-Z by turning off setting 2.
Does the op-z also send step component triggers and also parameter locks if it is a corresponding track? Like drum to drum, lead to lead, bass to bass?? or do you have to do like LFO sweeps again on the op1?
Can you clarify what you mean? I’m confused because “drum to drum, lead to lead, bass to bass” wouldn’t work on the OP-1 since it can only have 1 active engine at a time, so I assume I’m just misunderstanding you.
I’ll do the weird thing of just throwing out a bunch of bullet points that I think relate to your question:
Any OP-Z track with outgoing MIDI enabled will send MIDI out, but it won’t be able to send MIDI to two different OP-1 engines at once.
If there are any step components that affect MIDI on those tracks, they will also affect the outgoing MIDI (e.g., velocity step components will also affect the outgoing velocity for that step)
The outgoing CC numbers are customizable, and the OP-Z will send out CC for any parameter locks that are applied
If you want to use these parameter locks to control the OP-1’s engine, you’d have to change them to CC 1-4 and use the OP-1’s MIDI LFO.
I’m not sure if any of that made sense, and if I’m waaaaaaaay off track feel free to hit me up on Discord–I know we’ve talked before (I’m windowbed)
You were on track my friend.
Yes I’m the same guy from discord (duh lol)
Essentially - with this caveat: I’m talking only one track per sequencing
IoW just one track at a time, individual tracks separately (so it would take at least 4 passes)
So what I intended to say was
Send ALL midi data (p locks too) from bass track of the opz to the bass track of the field
Then send all midi for lead track , p lock etc
My other question was with the drums being divided differently, how would you be able to send the sequencing for drums < or would that needs to be done on the field alone>
(Your step video is the best tutorial out for step components )
Note: I only have the original OP-1 but it seems like this is the same for the Field.
The only CCs the OP-1 can accept are through the MIDI LFO on a track, which only accepts CCs 1-4.
So if the parameters on your OP-Z are set to send CC 1-4, the Field’s synth will respond to the OP-Z’s automation through the MIDI LFO. Any other parameter lock will be totally ignored.
But you could definitely program all the notes and a bit of automation on the OP-Z and use it to sequence the OP-1’s synths to the tape one at a time.
You could also do drums all at once but you’ll have to be careful about which notes you use since the kits are laid out so differently between the OP-1 and OP-Z.
Edit: let me add a hypothetical example:
You record a sweet bass line on the OP-Z
You add some filter automation to it
You decide you want to instead record your fire bass line to the OP-1’s tape, so you sync the two and pick your synth sound on the OP-1 while the loop plays on the OP-Z
You add a MIDI LFO to the synth and set it so CC 3 (the default CC sent by the filter on the OP-Z) controls filter frequency on the Nitro effect
I had a lot of trouble connecting my OP1F and my OPZ. I wanted to have the MIDI out of the OPZ, the sound of the OPZ and the sync from the OP1F at the same time.
The best way I found to avoid the horrible USB background noise is to use Bluetooth for MIDI and the headphone output of the OPZ directly into the mic input of the OP1F.
