As someone who produces electronic music I kind of dig the limitations of the op-1. At a 2k price point though with those limitations in mind I can't justify the price. Even at ~1300 or whatever the old model is going for I can't justify the price. For cheaper you can get both a digitakt and a digitone, which I own the latter, and they sound 1000 times better than the op-1 although each respectively do quite a lot less. I was actually pretty excited to see this until I saw the price. I have spent a lot of money on electronic music gear, way more than 2000, and I'm a bit baffled about who this is for exactly.

> Even at ~1300 or whatever the old model is going for [...] you can get both a digitakt and a digitone

You could probably get an iPad, a USB midi dongle, a midi keyboard, and a whole suite of software for that, too.

And for the $2000 MSRP of the OP-1 Field you could buy a brand new 13" MacBook Pro, an Ableton Live Standard 11 license, a Scarlett Solo audio interface, an M-Audio Keystation 49 USB MIDI controller, and still have some money left over.

That's like telling someone that for the price of a new BMW S1000RR motorcycle, they can instead buy a really good Honda Civic, because a Honda Civic can carry more passengers, you can sleep in it, it is more reliable, safer, cheaper to service, holds resale value better, more versatile when it comes to different weather conditions, etc. You are missing the point that those in the market for BMW S1000RR are often aware of all those factual advantages that a Honda Civic has, they just prioritize different factors in their choices than you might. Someone who is looking to buy a motorcycle isn't gonna suddenly be swayed by looking into all the factual advantages a Honda Civic can provide over a motorcycle.

Despite both items serving fundamentally the same base purpose (getting from point A to point B for cars/motorcycles; making music for OP-1/your list), and one of them is cheaper overall and on paper has a lot of factual advantages, they might simply prioritize different things and both be extremely good at different things they prioritize. I, personally, love the workflow of the original OP-1 way more than almost the exact list you produced (because it used to be pretty much my setup, except I used a different midi controller).

Correct. In this case the laptop+audio interface is a lot closer to the BMW S1000RR if we're using this analogy for music production.

The OP-1 if we're using motorcycle analogies is like a Zero. Really cool, new tech, quirky, doesn't use gas (a traditional DAW) but also comes with a bunch of limitations (can't load any of your normal synths into it, have to work around sampling) kind of like the limited range of electric motorcycles.

Totally fine if what you want is an electric bike for city commuting or short trips, until you want to go on a weekend trip or a track day. Now you're waiting on charging, and limited in power.

I think we've stretched this analogy far enough. I wouldn't call a laptop with an audio interface and Ableton a Honda Civic. OP-1 fills a niche, but it certainly isn't high end performance in terms of audio quality or malleability. They're really cool, creative, unique ways of making music if you like the interface, but ultimately a quirky niche in terms of actual production.

but then you are using software....on an iPad :/

(Which is totally valid if that what you want from your musical instruments)

People buy gear because they like a workflow and the UX/UI tactile choices a particular designer/ brand decided to highlight.

I love Elektron devices and I enjoy patching away on Eurorack. I'm pretty sure there's VSTS out there that will do 99.9% of the sound design I do with that gear, but then i'd be using an iPad or a laptop to do that... and that just completely kills the mood :/

People should (with in their means) obtain they musical instruments that allow them to create music :)

£2000 isn't much to spend in total. That's one semi-decent synth that'll be on a par with a decent VST.

Yeah I agree, it's not really a great choice as your 'main synth'. I think it's really meant to be a self-contained portable 'music sketchpad'. I owned 2 at one point thinking maybe that was the issue, I like to double up my gear (for example I like to use two TB-303 layered); when that didn't work out the way I hoped on the OP1s I sold them and both were bought separately by traveling musicians that wanted something to noodle with/ sketch with while on tour buses, or killing time at the hotel.

So I think it's a funny product that has a lot of 'nerd appeal' but at its heart it's a pretty powerful devices, maybe often miss-used.

Also - having played with both 'hardware' and VST's I do prefer VSTs because of the ease of use; aka you can reload a track in seconds in Live versus spending 30+ repatching your gear, swooping out gear, etc (and then it's still not quite the same, but that's part of the magic of 'real hardware' I suppose).

But at the end of the day the music I created with VST's versus real hardware wasn't different at all sonically so I am 100% in the camp of VSTs are awesome.

That said, you need to be careful selecting a VST.They go 'stale' and become a liability, so for example if I open up projects from 5+ years back, almost none of them work now. So going forward, I'm going to be more careful, and probably buy VST's only from companies I expect to be around for the long haul.

You're making a good point about VST compatibility over time. One way to at least ensure a track remains playable is to bounce your midi tracks to separate audio tracks (waveform). Clearly, you lose the flexibility that comes with manipulating the original score, but you're guaranteed to be able to playback, eq, and mix the original performance. Not ideal, but better than nothing.

True, I've done that too, but you're right it's obviously a limited way to go about it.

It's funny, I kinda feel like this is what the OP1 was trying to be, or maybe what I wanted it to be, but this actually delivers on that promise. I want one: https://polyend.com/play/

Korg Module is the best noodler out there and it’s 20 bucks. I’ve tried a few portable hardware sequencers, but module on my phone fits the bill so much better.

Just finished a verse and got halfway through a chorus on a 30 minute ferry ride and I didn’t even have to remember to bring anything but my phone.

Have you tried the Korg Kaossilator? It's 20 bucks upfront and so far I didn't want to spend that without being able to try it. The description sounds cool though.

Too late to edit if someone stumbles on this. I meant Korg Gadget. Module Pro is free with gadget, so don’t buy that oops.

I am wondering if you can recall that whether one can create complex rhythm like this on OP-1?

https://glicol-tidal.netlify.app

The BPM can be changed in real-time and not limited to 4, 8, 16, 32 grids of sequences.

It has 4 dedicated sequencers. They're locked to whatever tempo the metronome is configured for. You can mix durations pretty fluidly with the endless sequencer (8th, 16th notes/rests), but you definitely cannot change tempo in a given beat--at least not without jumping through a bunch of hoops bouncing and re-recording tracks, etc. There's a basic grid type sequencer as well, but that doesn't meet your criteria.

This was like five years ago that I had one, but as far as I remember, OP-1 isn't grid-based (though maybe some of the instruments are?). It's basically like a four track tape mixer. You can loop bar-by-bar, and then copy from bar to bar. And you can stretch time in the same way that you would with a reel-to-reel tape deck. But as far as I remember it won't transpose / warp the sounds along with the change in BPM.

Agree about the built-in sounds, but I solved that pretty quickly by adding things like mellotron samples to it.

Knocking VGM, yet most innovation is happening there. Lol.