Teenage Engineering OP-1: The micro synth with massive impact
betterbydesign.cc
betterbydesign.cc
Accessible, capable, portable, and cheap was accomplished for hobbyists by (1) the generation of synths just prior to the first Volcas and Behringer retro-ripoffs, starting a few years before the OP-1 came out, and (2) the iPad moment. Self-contained and highly flexible but still fun was accomplished for professionals by (1) Reason and (2) Octatrack. Quirky jams on the go in an expensive statement piece is accomplished by modular.
The Pocket Operator series suits some of the writer's arguments better, but those didn't pop off. The OPs and the modular starter kits are, more than anything, stunning design pieces that appeal to tech prosumers with an interest in music who lack experience outside the DAW. But even then, you can get more functional pieces with similar curb appeal from companies like Elektron and Critter & Guitari.
In my anecdotal experience, most everyone who buys a Teenage Engineering synth uses it for a month or two to record about an album's worth of demos then either leaves it on a shelf or sells it to get something else. Compare to something like the Volca Drum which has become a staple in the community as far more than a toy (for a great album heavily featuring it, check out Crush by Floating Points).
People talk about the $2,000 price tag (for the field) as being hard to justify. I feel the same way, but I do have some synths in the $2,000+ price range. In that price range, you can get a high-quality performance instrument--something like a proper stage piano, synthesizer workstation, or one of the cool analog or hybrid synths from Sequential.
And if I want something that's small, sleek, and portable like the OP-1, the iPad is totally killer these days. If I'm gonna drop money on high-end dedicated hardware, I could get something like an Octatrack or MPC.
The OP-1 seems a lot like, say, a Kawasaki Ninja. It's a sexy, sexy beast, but most people would rather have a car, or maybe a scooter or bicycle. You don't buy a Ninja because you need to get to the grocery store or visit your parents. You buy a Ninja because it awakens feelings within you.
And imagine, you can buy an OP-1 or seven Volcas! You can get the 2 Circuits and still have money for 2 Behringers! I never found the sound from the OP-1 particularly interesting, and the instrument is more suitable for looking cool rather than making actual music.
This is so objectively untrue that when I read it I assumed it was a joke or somehow tongue in cheek.
Even at the height of its popularity, the OP-1 was rarely used by serious, professional producers ... for reasons that should be pretty obvious. It's a toy. When I say "used" I mean "found its way onto the final version of a track," and when I say "professional" I mean "someone who works in a studio or who produces music for a living." I owned one and enjoyed it, and by TE's frequent appearance on the front page, I'd say many here did as well.
The title of the link is also a stretch. I disagree, but I think it skates by. The Microkorg had a huge impact on music tech, but was also rarely used in the studio or on tracks (in part because of its bigger brother, the MS-2000).
EDIT: The title has been edited. I don't remember the one prior, but something like "...massively influenced music technology."
Then I come back to reality.
No regrets, but damn, what a waste of a stallion! Still have the bike, it just hasn't been ridden to it's potential.
At least it's an inanimate object :-)
Bikes are kind of different. There's an order of magnitude difference in your experience with a proper carbon road bike versus a steel Huffy. People who've only experienced the latter tend to think of biking as miserable. It's the one thing that I tell people to either spend the money on or don't bother.
Another is that if your bike is for exercise, and you spend your time chugging up hills, then it doesn't matter if it's not built from the latest, lightest titanium alloy. The heavier the better in fact.
Of course, the effort to keep a promise is manyfolds greater than that to make it, and spending a few thousands of dollars only requires clicking a button, whereas putting thousands of hours into something requires… putting thousands of hours into something.
Anyways, when I have such consumerist impulses now, I try to break it down. What about this purchase is flattering my ego or making promises to myself? Is there anyway I can get those results without dropping a month of living expenses on a new piece of gear?
I have an OP-1 and a collection of pocket operators. The PO’s are my favourite creative outlets, by far.
Korg iDS-10
There’s also the iMS-10 but haven’t tried it. Yet.
I too lusted after the OP-1 bc of Red Means Recording. I finally bought one a few years ago. I barely play it. The sounds aren’t that great and the sampler is Casio sk-1 level. You can’t record more than a few songs on it and it doesn’t have enough onboard memory to hold many samples. I bought a Arturia keystep and installed logic on my MacBook. I use that set up 98% of the time.
Yes, you can spend $200 to get bitwig + an akai mpk which does so much more... But it's a completely different experience, and you will likely just get lost in the near infinite amount of parameters.
You could also buy an SP-404 and other professional gear and stay way below what you would pay a single Op-1 (nevermind the field) but then you have N pieces of unwieldy equipment instead of a slick, portable one.
It is a very unique piece of gear. It's definitely way overpriced though... Maybe deservedly so, it's one of those products whose value is greater than the sum of its parts.
Still, at the end of the day, it's a toy. If you want to have fun, buy it. If you want to actually produce music, look at professional equipment.
Genuine question: is it? Teenage Engineering strike me more as luxury lifestyle brand.
The TE gear isn’t some industry standard, but they definitely get a lot of love and use. I was in the studio recently of an A-tier film composer and he had a few of the TE wooden choir dolls on his desk.
Professionals want and need to get stuff done, which (as several have noted here) is not what these products seem to excel at.
I think they’ve branched out, but back then it was well edited videos of songs being created on OP-1, with a top down view of the keyboard. No talking.
Is it..
- The hardware? Because I thought low level hardware was a commodity in this day and age... - The software? - The industrial design of the actual unit? - The cool hip design/marketing/brand?
Multi-engine synths / grooveboxes are getting more common. You see stuff like the Roland SH-4d, or the various options from Elektron. You can combine these things with an ever-increasing selection of pedels. And if you have an iPad, there's all sorts of quirky stuff you can do there.
I honestly don't see why someone would want to create an exact clone of the OP-1. If I made synths, I would want to make something new.
Their PO-2x series, for instance, was designed by Linus Åkesson a.k.a LFT. A lot of his coding and hardware projects have hit the HN front page.
I have a feeling many "serious" studio people scoff at this subculture, especially outside Sweden... But you shouldn't scoff at Sweden when it comes to music production.
Waiting on the Behringer OP-B tho I guess :)
i own one, it's setting in a shelf