that’s awesome! can i ask what you’ve been using it for mostly so far?
hey that’s sweet- i didn’t realize the 3 output mode could deal with different tracks on each one. i guess that’s a simple setting in the menu when you configure them in 3 output mode? i’m still slightly disappointed that you can’t make them inputs or outputs independently of each other, that they have to all be ins or all be outs at the same time…
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I haven’t really had time for music yet — I’m wrapping up a class for grad school and getting ready to start another one. So right now I’m carrying it around the house and leaving it on my desk while I’m working the day job and recording voice memos for school projects. And then in the evening I transfer the audio to my Android phone where I have the TP-7 app, transcribe, and paste the resulting notes into my notebook.
It’s a bloody expensive voice recorder, but I’m loving it! And the transcription is first rate — a real time saver.
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I’m starting to find my workflow with the TP-7 now. This time, I wrote the skeleton of the entire track through a series of layered takes directly on the TP-7, through the TX-6. Just loops from my piano, through the Chase Bliss Mood MKI, onto the TP-7. Yep, those are all piano loops you’re hearing. That’s how funky the Mood is.
Once that was in place, I recorded that entire stereo mix onto one track on the OP-1, and used the three remaining tracks to add texture, the strings that sort of move across the looping layers and some noises and dirt.
That entire mix then went onto six separate tracks on the TP-7, from which I then created the final mix on the TX-6 with eq and limiting, some onboard reverb to add space and just a little bit of filtering on the textures.
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Maybe I could have just screwed the middle disc back in after it fell out, but I’m feeling vindicated in RMA’ing the device after seeing your on-off/volume switch issue in the video, which also looks like a mechanical defect.
I ended up going for a refund for the time being because I’m getting the feeling that there are a lot of problems with these that can be traced back to how they were assembled and (apparently not) tested. At this price point, I’d rather wait until TE has got a grip on the hardware.
I feel they should make some kind of blog post or similar acknowledging this and explaining how they’re addressing it, otherwise at least I will be reluctant to preorder their new products.
Actually just canceled my CM-15 and tripod preorder. I feel like I’ve done my duty for the year in that area. I’ll re-order everything once there are fewer problems.
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i would have also totally returned the tp-7 for the silver disc in the center… because even if you screw it back in, who knows when it will come out again, and you don’t want to keep dealing with that the whole life of the product. i don’t think its supposed to unscrew when its manufactured properly. i can’t unscrew the silver disc on the other unit i got. i returned the faulty one for a refund.
but yeah i totally hear you about getting a refund and not a replacement- its literally a lottery if the replacement would work properly or not! and you are totally right about TE, they are the worst ever at being transparent about problems they are facing. like the bent op-z with double triggers, if they would just come out and say hey, we know there are some problems, we are working on them, let us make this right with you. i find it hard to believe that inside the company they are just like ah who cares the op-z is bent, it works well enough and whatever we sell them anyway. i’d guess its more like they don’t like confrontation and don’t know what to say if they are in a situation to publicly deal with anything. for example, they generally can’t even really launch a product (before there’s any problems!) in terms of doing regular publicity and documentation upon release. sure they publish the manuals online but look at any other company releasing a product- there’s in depth videos showing off the product of what it can do.
also i totally relate to you cancelling the cm-15 pre-order… i did the same with my stem projector from kano. first i pre-ordered the special edition projector for $1000, which was the only option at the time. the special edition projector was supposed to ship earlier than a standard edition which wasn’t available yet. then they came out and said you can now pre-order a regular edition projector for $600 but the special edition will ship at the same time. so i cancelled my pre-order of the special edition, got a refund, and just pre-ordered the regular edition. saved $400 immediately. then they said all projectors are delayed by 1 year. and for a minute i was like, well i would really like to have one so i’ll keep my pre-order. but then i realized that for the moment now its 1 year delayed, and after all the other mess do i really trust that they won’t change it all again?? 1 year is a long time for something else to happen.
the cm-15 used to be listed as “coming this summer” on their own web store, and now its listed as “coming soon” the same as the tp-7. so something changed in their supply chain. and you can tell because they forgot to change the tripod on their store, its still listed as “coming this summer.”
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For me that has been their biggest crime. To carry on selling a product that they fully aware was flawed and not give a f**k about the customer. That takes a certain amount of ego & arrogance.
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I think the “coming soon” indicates that they’re quietly changing manufacturers or still looking. Granted, the CM-15 only has three moving parts I’m aware of (on/off, pad/gain switches and the built-in stand), but internal parts will also have to be screwed, glued and soldered correctly.
[Speculation] They probably had a small experimental production run of the TP-7 and kept their fingers crossed. Seeing what happened and linking this to lacking QA of that contractor, they pulled the plug on having the CM-15 made there. [/Speculation]
The TP-7 and CM-15 were also notable for not being immediately available when announced. The OP-1 Field was available immediately (and also well put together), as was the TX-6, the choir, the POs, etc. My OP-Zs are also working and not falling apart. (There’s just a problem with the yellow rubber feet wearing out easily and replacements being impossible to source but oh well.)
Wisely, they didn’t set the prices too low to be likely to be able to afford switching to a better contractor for the TP-7 and CM-15.
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On the topic of the missing built-in stereo mic: anyone find a tiny plug-in stereo mic of good quality?
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Main use cases:
- Recording conversations with my toddler while we’re out and about
- Recording samples from vinyl/synths/foley
- Recording demos from my Dirtywave M8 after having it going through my TX-6 for EQ/compression/boost/FX1+2
All of these use cases I can quickly drag and drop into a folder on my Mac and very quickly remove the first few seconds using the Preview / spacebar functionality. Only ways I can imagine TE removing that click from the buttons is to either not have recording be as immediate, or have a hardware revision; neither of which sound like a good solution to me. Recording anything with a portable field recorder is going to have that initial split second have some noise, I don’t see this as an issue at all.
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sure, it could just be my ocd or whatever to call it in regards to the click i get on the start of recordings. for me i use voice recordings a lot in my process of creating material and collaborating with other artists. i don’t usually sit down and edit them as much as just archiving them and sending them to other people.
it seems like since its a mechanical switch, and there is both a click on the way down and on the way up, they could have just started recording when the button goes up?? like you arm by pressing record. red light goes on. depress the play key, there is a click, NOTHING HAPPENS. then release the play key, there is the click on the way up and recording starts but that would be the same as the click we have on the way down now, which isn’t captured on the recording.
My Tascam DR-05, which I bought for something close to $50 dollars (after a rebate) has a silent record button, which makes no noise whatsoever on the tracks.
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it’s here, and it’s magic…
i spent a good amount of time just watching playback of an arbitrary track i recorded in, and poking the disk occasionally. idk exactly how to describe it, but there’s a deep subtle suspension of disbelief, like part of my brain that sees the disk as physically connected to the audio, not just a digital haptic control.
so many little details to appreciate. the haptics in menus is wonderful, clicks on every option and a subtle resistance when you hit the ends. the menu icons scroll continuously with the wheel, not just ticking up or down discretely. when you fully depress the ff/rw lever, after a second or two it goes even higher speed (silently; too fast for accurate playback, i guess), but you can still go like 20x speed by holding just shy of fully depressed.
even the packaging. the foam sheet that holds the manual actually is cut asymmetrically, one side sharp corners for the booklet spine, the other chamfered for the opposite corners, and the foam ships oriented so that closing the box hits it spine-first, not catching on pages. the plastic accessory holder has lil tabs inside that hold both ends of the USB-C cable, and the back even has a semi-abstract illustration of how to use them. the case hinge has lil detents that make it just a little more tactile to open.
i was concerned about quality issues, from the number of comments i saw about it. but people with problems are naturally going to be speaking up more than people a-ok, so it’s hard to gauge actual issue frequency. Mine was fine; the only things I noticed were the case magnet popped out (whatever, it’s adhesive, can be stuck back on), and that I could unscrew the disk button if I tried (but like, that’s inevitable? a macbook’s screws will loosen themselves eventually. i don’t mind. i could put a dab of loctite if i cared)
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is OP Field made in Malaysia? Any ideas why OB4 can (make sense) to be made in EU, and field stuff not?
Here’s another one where the TP-7 was key in the workflow. I recorded a bunch of piano loops through my Chase Bliss gear onto the TP-7 and then put those in the OP-1, where I wrote the song. Then, when it was done, I recorded the OP-1 tracks back onto the TP-7 for mixing through the TX-6 -
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Nice!
I spent some time last week — not as much as I wanted to — trying to figure out how to get multitrack stuff together, one track at a time. I’m not sure I did it right, but I’m slowly learning. I think I’m too used to the bigger physical interface of the Tascam PocketStudio.
But I’m not ready to give up yet. The idea of going on my next vacation with just the OP-1F, OP-1, TP-7, and TP-6, and maybe a Tula microphone and Kaoss Pad mini thingy (I forget the model name of what I have) is very interesting to me.
Of course, that would be all I could take in carryon!
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It’s a bit fiddly until you get the hang of it. It works just like any mixer slash recorder, really, but the size and the missing helicopter view as a result, is the challenge here.
I make it a habit to record the first take just as is. Then enter Edit mode, make sure I got my assignments right on each input so that I don’t replace or overdub already existing tracks (unless that’s what I want), and then just record.
It’s that making sure that your tracks are properly assigned that needs to get in your backbone. After that, it’s a breeze.
Ah, I think that’s my stumbling block.
For track 2, how would you assign input 1 again? So that you can use the same source for multiple tracks, I mean.
Thanks!
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Ah, yep, I see where you’re coming from now.
So here’s how I do it when I multi-track, one track at a time -
Arm Track 1 with either Line In, USB or microphone input.
Record into Track 1 from whatever, but say from an OP-1 Field.
Stop recording.
Now - go into Edit mode.
Disarm Track 1, or you’ll either replace what you already recorded or overdub it, depending on your Edit setting.
Arm Track 2. Assign it to an appropriate input.
Record.
And repeat this, if your use case is one take at a time, one track at a time. This works for multiple tracks at a time too, just make sure to disarm whatever you don’t want to keep messing with.
Look at each track as a tape head, not a mixing track, that you either want to arm or not arm for recording.
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Aha! Thank you! That helps a lot. My confusion, i think, was that i thought that assigning an input to a track this way was really assingning a track to the input, which didnt make any sense.
I’ll give that a go tonight hopefully and report back!
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