…per button. You pay €33,81 per button for the OP-XY against €37,02 per button fot the OP1.
But seriously, it is so tiring to read how people think that teenage engineering stuff is overpriced and not worth it. It’s just the market. As long as people pay those prices, the price is right. If no one would buy their stuff, it would be either crap or way too expensive (remember Apple Vision Pro?)
I’m so sick of the entitlement some people feel about having a right to cheap consumer goods. Grow up or work harder! If you’re cheap, buy cheap.
Smaller the technology, more attention to details, quality control is higher on all levels, electronic interference needs to be accounted for etc …
Its the same reason a pocket pc cost way more than a regular laptop with 2x tye specs
The other factors are the code, it must have taken enormous amounts of debugging and bottleneck solutions to have all this overlaying realtime sequencing complexity working without glitches, pop, crackles, freezes and midi problematics, like stuck notes or sync issues …
Its a 1st class Engeneering both hardware and software
Let me mention Deluge: it is also a small portable groovebox powerhouse without hard limits and supporting almost all functionalities the OP XY has except emulated velocity sensitivity and some fx types but having many other cool features along with another quick and inspiring workflow and it costs 860 EUR less then OP XY. That’s a huge difference.
I would just add they are equals on opposite ends of the musician workflow spectrum: one being audio (op-1f) and the other being midi (op-xy). One is a performance based realtime workflow , and the other is a step sequencer based workflow. They are like yin and yang. One is not better than the other. They serve different purposes for different situations, environments or musicians. Price is not really that different between them.
Deluge is what I looked at instead but the form factor is what drew me away. But it’s PERHAPS a more “powerful” machine , at least that what I thought against the op1F but it didn’t have the portability and features I wanted otherwise
Look - plain and simple - this IS the OP-Z Field or op-zf
It’s awesome . Without rival really. If you used an op-z sequencer this will certainly make your even more mind blown
Battery life is another things to consider here and all the effort to utilize low power solutions or optimize tech to sip power takes skill and commitment to the core design principles
for me personally THAT is a significant part of the cost of all TE devices and what makes them fun…power/charging becomes an afterthought and i can simply focus on making music no matter where i take em
@rudolphrapid you’re the 2nd person i’ve heard mention Deluge in this context and i’ve seriously looked into it until now
never knew it has a battery built in, or that it’s relatively small for something with grid array integrated for controls
i’m not looking for an alternative to XY but Deluge looks like a more capable companion for a modular setup so if i have friends seeking out tools to pilot a hybrid setup, i’ll keep this in mind
I had a Deluge for a couple of years. I had to send it back to NZ twice for repairs. I’m not super fond of the company for reasons that are too long to get into.
It’s fun to use the grid to sequence. The arrange mode is easy to sketch out songs.
It has probably changed since I had one, the code is open source now. When I had it, the internal synth was average at best with a confusing paradigm for presets. The effects were poor.
The reason I sold it was the frustrating UI. Almost everything is done with button combinations- 128 identical buttons. The writing on the machine is as tiny as they could get it. I bought an overlay that helped but I still disliked it.
For sequencing some external synths, it’s great. The other features just feel crammed into a very busy UI. It felt like a mess to me.
The price is outrageous. People are justified in complaining about it. Of course no one needs to buy one but we should voice our options. I really hope the sales are weak for this device and the price has to be dropped. I don’t think too many people have that kind of cash laying around for a groove box that, honestly, is not really that amazing or revolutionary. It’s just an OP-Z with better synth engines and sampling.
I have used the OP1 and then the OP1 Field a lot. I have come to the conclusion that I am not made for the tape workflow, because I want to have control on the notes I record, and to be able to edit them afterwards. I am composing my first song on the XY and I am quite happy for the quality of the sounds too.
I am sick and tired of all the rants about the price. T.E. devices were never cheap so what did you expect? You cannot afford it? Do not buy it but do not bash it just for that. The fox and the grapes anyone?
I have always dreamed of an OP-1 FIELD with a sequencer that meets my tastes, so I am totally happy with the XY… the only thing that lacks (I know I am a PITA) is the possibility to export wav files, since I like to publish my “works” on youtube. Now I have to record the audio signal with my DAW (using Audacity or Reaper) but I would love being able to do it with the XY alone…
I thought the OP-1 was too expensive (well, for me to justify purchasing anyway) so I passed. Then the OP-1 Field came along and I found one used at a great price because it wouldn’t power up. I read about the battery and how it needs to be charged periodically or it can act exactly as this one did. I put it on a low trickle charge for a couple of days, and it charged up and has been running fine since. It really comes down to getting one in your hands to understand what TE accomplished - a portable device that has all you need and is FUN to use. Had a shop stocked the OP-1 locally and I had the chance to play with one, I am sure I Running “tape” seems much more immediate than a step sequencer to me. Then, Perfect Circuit had a sale and I ended up with an OP-Z with all the goodies in one bundle. Completely different workflow, but very fast and again, FUN and even more portable. Then, the OP-XY came along and this time, I just went ahead and paid the normal price because by then I had a good feel for what TE was doing. I have no regrets there, so I decided to get a TX-6, which showed up yesterday. If somebody such as Behringer cloned any of these for pennies on the dollar, we might be able to make a case for TE charging too much. But in the absence of that, I don’t think anybody quite has the workflow and overall feel of TE’s products. Whether what they charge in the absence of direct competition is too much, is really up to the individual purchaser. For me, it is what it is and I love the look, feel, and workflow of these pieces. I don’t have a need for the CM-15 or TP-7, so I simply have not purchased these. But for somebody who needs that functionality, I am sure it would be worth the price to them. People vote with their dollars. That is how the economy works. If enough people feel these things are priced right (I didn’t say “reasonably”…) The company will continue to make and sell products. If sales don’t support the company, it will either have to change its business model or go under. Simple as that.
That’s true that most companies charge what the market allows them to but that doesn’t also mean that this practice can’t be exploitative.
I have the op-1 field, tx-6 and now the op-xy. Both the op-1 and tx-6 are great devices (I’m still not sure about the op-xy); however I would still argue they are a fair bit over priced. Look at something like the M8; that’s one guy making these AFAIK; the build quality and software are great. He could probably charge four times the price, especially given the demand, but he doesn’t.
I’m not really complaining about their pricing. No one is forcing me to buy them. I’m just stating the case that I think TE does charge too much for their “premium” devices.
Well, these things ARE expensive, I can’t deny that. But we what I might think is a fair price and what TE might think is a fair price, could be worlds apart. The choice is up to me to decide to buy or not. There are boutique shops that sell premium versions of everyday items at a high price, and apparently there are enough people willing to pay those prices to keep them in business. I see TE as similar. I have no interest in the products these boutique shops sell. I can go to Target or other stores and buy the same functionality for far less money. It just happens that TE seems to scratch a particular itch for me.
You are correct. But these aren’t fashion accessories; they are instruments. Again they can charge whatever they want and someone there probably believes these are fair prices. I just don’t think they are.
In a way, TE’s products are fashion accessories in my opinion. These things are very much stylish compared to , say, a Roland MC-707 which also provides everything needed to put a tune together in one box. I could easily see a shop such as Sharper Image selling something like TE’s products, but not something like the MC-707. I don’t really care about that. What attracts me is the workflow, portability, and completeness of what they provide in such a small package.
