Not satisfied with the OP-Z specs that TE has (partially) announced so far? Maybe there’s some hope in gaining extra functionality through its many forms of expansion—and I don’t just mean the modules. Let’s look at all the forms of expansion it has and what might be possible with each, starting with maybe least obvious but possibly the most promising one…
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The (iOS only, for now) app. When TE says the app contains “the OP-Z sound engine” and “dual-domain synthesis,” there’s nothing preventing the sound engine in the app from going beyond the OP-Z’s engine, right? Could TE permit it to take advantage of the phone’s hardware to overcome the processor and RAM limitations of the OP-Z? The three note polyphony limit on the synth tracks comes to mind. Speaking of, does anyone know if that limit also applies to the chords track on the OP-Z? What about the MIDI track? I assume that you should be able to sequence whatever you want on that track, no? Anyway, back to the app… On iOS, any audio that the app generates could be made routable (in separate tracks, hopefully) through Audiobus or inter-app audio and then could be made available to the multitude of music apps that support these standards for further processing. Same goes for MIDI data. And Ableton Link support for syncing and transport also seems like a no-brainer here. I’m surprised I haven’t seen anyone talking about this on the Audiobus forum.
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USB audio. Like a Roland Boutique device, it would be great if the OP-Z audio tracks could be sent down the USB cable and received by a computer. I guess there would have to be some kind of audio interface circuitry for this to work and space sure is limited in the OP-Z’s case. Going beyond what a Boutique offers would be iOS support for that audio interface, not just computer support. That would make it possible to do the routing described in 1) without the need for “dual-domain synthesis.” Perhaps latency might be an issue though?
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USB device access. It’s nice to know that samples can be loaded via a computer by copying files manually, but what if you could connect directly to an OP-1 and transfer samples through some kind of tight software integration? So far, I haven’t heard a lot from TE about what will be possible when connecting an OP-Z to an OP-1.
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Bluetooth. Given the limited number of ports on both the OP-Z and smartphones (I’m looking at you, Apple!), it’s nice to see TE using Bluetooth, not only for pairing it as a controller, but also for transferring the 12-second sample files through the app. The question for me is how reliable will that be? In my limited experience transferring files to my Apple Watch over Bluetooth, the user experience hasn’t been that great. And would it make sense to support Bluetooth headphones despite the latency, if only to go completely wireless?
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4-pole 3.5 mm audio “out” jack. Presumably that fourth pole would support audio in, like with Apple’s wired EarPods. Even though the OP-Z won’t do onboard sampling (all the more reason why I’m hoping the OP-1 integration is really tight), what about mix in or PO connectivity? Or will you need that MIDI and CV module to do that?
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Modules. How much bandwidth will the port (for lack of a better word) that connects the modules be able to handle? I wouldn’t hold my breath for a full-blown screen module, but would a sampling module be possible? I’m thinking of something like a cut down PO-33. Could that record and transfer samples to the device over the module port What about a second battery or a RAM or storage boost?
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Software updates. If nothing else, we’ll see probably see a handful of requested features (probably starting with any highlighted in a Sonic Lab review) added via software update since TE has a great track record of updating the OP-1 over the long term. Here’s hoping they update the OP-1 soon too.
What capabilities would you like to see added to the OP-Z via these expansion methods? And does it have other forms of expansion that I’m missing? Forgive me if my questions have already been answered somewhere else. It’s been hard to piece together all the info that’s floating around about what this thing can and can’t do.