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Comment by Toutouxc | Hacker News Reader

I use a Mac. I have a PlayStation AND a Switch, I can come up with reasons to buy almost every gadget imaginable, but no matter how lovely and enchanting the OP-1 is, €1121 is just too much for something that wouldn't make me more money (as my job is not in music production).

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They retain value. You could buy one used and sell it for more, if not the same price you purchased it at. I think the worst case is you'll essentially be renting it for $100-200 if you really don't like it. This was my experience, anyway.

It's a great device even if your job isn't music production. Easy to use, lots of fun, though I didn't enjoy the form factor.

They only retain value if they sit unused. Units that see regular use almost always have some break in the first year or 2, and replacement parts are not cheap.

Yeah I can see that. The one I had saw regular use when in my possession, but I had it for less than 6 months iirc. It was still in excellent condition.

Buy the OP-1 now and sell it 5 years later and you'll find the cost of ownership to be quite negligible.

Works similarly for Apple laptops (but maybe stick to 2-3 years in that case). Even if you only get half price for it, it's still owning an Apple laptop... for half price. (And keep the box, they can be worth hundreds in terms of total resale price difference boxed/unboxed.)

I don't know anything about OP-1, but if it's been for sale for 10 years then I would expect it to have high resale value. In which case you can sell it at some point and get some of the €1121 back.

Seems closer to a musical instrument than a gadget.

PlayStation and Switch and almost every other gadget imaginable will drop in value much more quickly than OP-1.

Indeed, usually hobbyists don't buy professional gear since they are not professionals. Same goes for many other industries too (TV production cameras too expensive for hobbyists and so on).

OP-1 is a tad expensive even for professional gear, but it is also a neat little machine. Elektron gear is maybe more powerful, but it also costs more. Cheaper gear exists as well. Up to each musician to decide what is too expensive for them in the end.

The novation launchpad is in pretty much every studio and it's only $400 or so. Teenage Engineering makes some really cool stuff and they charge boutique prices for it.

> The novation launchpad is in pretty much every studio

> it's only $400 or so

Sounds like you answered your own question :)

TE sure make some expensive gear, but they also make cheap gear, checkout the Pocket Operators. They are deceivingly good for the price (and aesthetics).

The OP-1 does have it's use case though, and it can definitely been seen in the wild, although cheaper gear can of course be even more popular.

Do professionals use the OP-1? I can imagine a person doing music production for a living not willing to do any significant part of their job on a device the size of a chocolate bar.

Who's the thing even for?

Yes, professionals use OP-1.

It's one of Jean-Michel Jarre's favorite synths[1].

JM Jarre is one of the godfathers of electronic music. You probably heard Oxygene part IV some time in your life[2].

[1]https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2012/05/jarre-synth

[2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSIMVnPA994

> Do professionals use the OP-1?

Of course, you can find lots of "boutique" instruments being used by a range of creators. I don't think there are a lot of them only using a OP-1 for full tracks though, although I have seen some live performances made with it together with other instruments at the same time.

Actually this submission seems to be about a few pages, one of them being "made on OP-1" where you can see just that, artists using the OP-1 in different scenarios: https://teenage.engineering/products/op-1/anniversary/made-o...

Edit: one specific example: Diplo claims the OP-1 is one of the ten "essential" items he owns, has to count for something at least :)

> not willing to do any significant part of their job on a device the size of a chocolate bar

Heh, tons of people fiddle with modular synths and I can imagine that being even worse sizes (or "smaller" rather).

This is the most insane approach to responsive design I've ever seen. Just scale down everything, including the text, as the window gets narrower?

They (TE) make musical instruments and gear, they are not a technology web 2.0 startup so of course they won't build the greatest websites. For something truly insane, see how Moog built their website, lots of fun and confusion, even though their equipment is ace: https://www.moogmusic.com/

Sure, Dan Deacon comes to mind. Most of the instruments he uses in his performances are smaller than a computer keyboard.

Here's a picture he posted of his gear:

https://twitter.com/ebaynetflix/status/442078506655023104/ph...

In his NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert, you can see an OP-1 on the near-right of his table.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heFRwLfjVXI

edit: I found a website which catalogs musicians and the equipment they use. It lists 190 users of the OP-1.

https://equipboard.com/items/teenage-engineering-op-1-portab...

I've never heard of Dan Deacon but I clicked the NPR set you linked above and man - what a treat! Thanks for sharing, friend!

You're welcome! Dan Deacon's music is fun, and I've heard that his concerts are a blast.

My favorite online presentation of his music is the collaborative video made by Adult Swim for the song "When I was Done Dying".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuJqUvBj4rE

Thanks for sharing, that was awesome.

Check out this clip of him on a morning news show from early in his career. It's a gem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eMb_kh_glw

Spotted Portugal. The Man using it here https://youtu.be/fSVwJyxeVYI

EDIT: turns out I'm response number 1000 – read someone else's comment.

Of course! There are many synth artists out there. E.g. Andrew Huang

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YHz6lsMcjDY

Andrew Huang is probably the worst example of a OP-1 user when it comes to music production and not music production teaching. AFAIK, Huang is more of a Youtube-educator than musician.

I don't know, he puts out really good music and videos at an equally astonishing rate for both. They have lots and lots of albums and while few of them are alike, I thoroughly enjoy most of them.

do you know any good hardware for hobbyists to get started?

There's just so many!

Korg Mini/Monologue and Volcas, any Behringer analog stuff, Arturia Mini/Micro Brute/Freak, Roland Boutique, Yamaha Reface CS/DX, Modal Electronics Skulpt, Waldorf Rocket....

And Teenage Engineering has a more affordable OP-Z, and not to mention their Pocket Operators that are wonderful machines for $60 or so (I use PO-12 as a drum sequencer for jamming).

And that's not even going into the old/used gear market. I got a Soviet analog polysynth for under $500 off Reverb last week. However, I feel like getting started, the newer stuff is both cheaper and better. We are living in the synthesizer renaissance era.

If I were to pick just ONE synth to recommend, it would be Korg Monologue. It's a masterpiece with a lot of depth, but simple to get started on, and super hands-on. For other recommendations, see articles like [1].

[1] https://www.musicradar.com/news/the-best-cheap-synthesizers

I love my Korg Minis, both the monotribes and the kaoss pads. They don't have a lot of features, but I see them kind of like musical Lego. You just plug them into each other in different ways and then just play around all day. And I think buying all of them, plus enough cables to connect them all, would only set you back about $800 total.

Novation Circuit is a great starting point for electronic music. Just released a new version too. Step up from that would maybe be a Digitakt (from before mentioned Elektron), basically Circuit but even more powerful in probably every way. If you have the money to spend, go for a Octatrack.

Roland MC101, Roland MV1, Elektron Model Samples, Elektron Digitakt, Novation Circuit, Ableton Push 2 + Ableton Live, Roland SP404 series, Fruity Loops software, Ableton Live software.

Stock up on Behringer gear. Haters will call you everything from cheap to anti-semetic, but their synths hold up just as good as some of the biggest contenders on the market.

Just because Uri Behringer happens to be antisemitic[1] doesn't mean that people buying Behringer gear are also antisemitic, so I don't think people would call you that if you buy it. Although I personally stay clear from their gear for lots of reasons.

- [1] https://www.musictech.net/news/is-this-how-behringer-respond...

Axoloti Core comes to mind

http://www.axoloti.com

http://www.axoloti.com/examples/

Might be worth getting a PO-12 or PO-32 Pocket Operator (the drum machine models). Beyond one of those and the PO-33 I wouldn't go too deep into that range as they're way more toys than full fledged synths but that could be all you want (it was all I wanted tbh) and they're a lot of fun and will retain their value if bought used.

I keep a PO-32 beside my desk to mess with when I get frustrated coding.

Modal's CRAFTsynth and a cheap USB MIDI keyboard. Together with an OTG adapter for your phone/tablet, Modal's app and a USB hub, it's a really fun and cheap setup to play with. It is more finicky to control than more expensive synths, but the range of sounds possible and the quality of those sounds is downright astonishing.

Synthstrom Deluge (or any good DAW on the home computer you already have if you don't actually care about hardware).

Sure, iPad and Garageband.

This, it's overpriced imho. I'm sure it was a lot cheaper at launch.

At $875 in 2013, it was somewhat cheaper, but not much.

https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B00CXSJUZS

Also, for that much cash, I'd expect something bigger (therefore better interaction unless you have tiny hands) and more robust physically.

The size is arguably the OP-1's "killer feature." It's closest competitors in terms of capability (meaning music-specific devices, not like an iPad or something) are all _way_ bigger and less portable. It's also one of the most solidly built pieces of tech I've handled.

Granted I've not held the actual device. But it just doesn't look like something that would survive being taken to gigs.

The base casing is milled out of an aluminum block. It's quite robust. Alessandro Cortini toured with one with NIN on the Tension tour.

I guess I was stuck with appearances - it just "looks" like a toy - compared to my Seaboard and Lynnstrument anyway.

Grab a Novation Circuit, sounds like the perfect musical gadget for you.

Wow, I've seen some videos and damn, I didn't know how capable those were. Thanks, I may end up with one.

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