I clicked through to the store thinking "Come on TE, what pricepoint have you set this time", and it's $2,000. Two grand. I chuckled, and closed the tab.
Like most synths, it seems so. Obviously not adjusted for the launch of the new "field" OP-1 yet, but locally (EU country) the OP-1 seems to go for about 700-1000 EUR second-hand. New one in stores here seems to still be 1100+ EUR (closest store to me lists it at ~1200 EUR new).
Meanwhile, the OP-1 was used on like 40% of all modern pop music production process.
I think the market is massively successful artists and they know they will pay.
I’d love to see a citation for that. Lots of artists use it for demos, and it’s a good live tool, but if you look at modern pop it’s being produced with soft synths or Sequentials, Rolands, Korgs, etc.
Citation needed, given how poorly its synthesizer engine sounds, I do not believe that the case one second. It's certainly hip among hobbyists though because praised by a bunch of youtube influencers...
To me your comment sounds like something you just made up entirely.
Doesn't really seem to be hurting them, now, does it?
It's true that if you just compare the costs, it might be cheaper to go the software route. But I mainly make music to go away from the computer, as I spend a lot of my days programming on one already. And the ability of pulling me away from the computer you can't put a price on :)
Plus, fiddling with real knobs that affect the sound in real-time, having a keyboard with a heavy feel, being able to turn on the hardware and instantly be able to use it (no fucking around with forced updates) and the ability to mod your own hardware with just a solder-iron is just like really really fun.
But yes, on an objective scale, the OP-1 is not competitive.
If I had $2000 to throw around, I'd buy a Syntakt + Digitone/Digitakt instead and get a setup that could do whatever I want + more.
Yeah, I agree with that, which I thought my previous comment made clear, maybe I wasn't clear enough.
Also, good products.
Kind of. In my experience, design gets priority over things like usability and durability. My OP-Z is barely usable after a few years of owning it due to the (admittedly nice) material the chasis is made of. The buttons frequently double trig, the dials have popped out, and it's got a bit of a bend in it.
I also get some mis-trig issues on the pocket operators, though for the price I don't mind them as much. The original OP-1 didnt seem to have these issues at least.
That being said, I've never been able to fully replace my OP-Z with anything else on offer so yeh, they're innovative if nothing else.