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I bought the PO-35 Speak which has two mono tracks for a vocoder-based synth and a drum synth. The OP-1 originally piqued my interest but I wanted to test the

I bought the PO-35 Speak which has two mono tracks for a vocoder-based synth and a drum synth. The OP-1 originally piqued my interest but I wanted to test the waters of electronic instruments before jumping (only had guitar and piano experience before). At first glance it appears very limited and is often dismissed as such, but as I understood it better I found it had impressive depth and capability for making tracks. The true power is really the design, the entire time spent on the learning curve is fun, from out-of-the-box to building patterns and full tracks is a rewarding experience. There were times I thought I had hit its limitations and was disappointed to learn I couldn't do something I wanted to, only later to learn there in fact was - my initial approach was just wrong. The device almost has a game-like reward for discovering it's features. That said the thing died 6 months in and the warranty process took about 3 months. In the mean time the OP-1 had its notorious production/price shenanigans climbing to $1300 from $800 so I picked up a Deluge instead. The OP-Z also looked interesting but I don't think I'll give TE any more money and certainly not for that something that I couldn't part with for months at time.

tomxor 7y ago
For what it's worth I have an OP-1, bought it 1-2 years ago when it was £800 - and I thought it was expensive then! Anyway, my opinion will not be useful comparatively, since it's my first and only piece of electronic music hardware, only other stuff I have is guitars, amps etc. I can tell you it's been very fun, very reliable (only once I froze it when using a combination of a lot of effects at once with settings I imagine probably took up too much memory), battery lasts for ever (due to CPU type etc), it has a lot of depth, I still haven't figured out how to use absolutely everything, features are very discoverable and learning curve is pretty linear. Some of it is "programmy" as you describe for the POs, but it's also plenty intuitive and direct with the built in keyboard, which I appreciate because my musical background is mostly instrumental. The main reason I got it is for the very thing that makes it unique, it's tiny, all in one, it's got almost everything you need and is fun - I know it's not the best value for money or the best audio or best effects etc etc, but I don't want to make music on my computer, and I don't want to start out with loads of independent devices to manage and wire together... I appreciated the idea of something I could grab and play with to encourage me to play with electronic music more, and it total achieves that. The only thing I feel like I miss sometimes (and this is considering I have never owned any other electronic music hardware), is more keys, for the form factor I can't argue, but I think the next thing I would buy is a midi keyboard, I've tried programming longer pieces but it never fits in the sequencer. [edit] My single gripe in out of all the design/quality is key debouncing (it doesn't have velocity keys), which doesn't seem to catch enough... sometimes I can exploit it to effect, but most of the time I don't want it - it's occasional, like maybe 1/50 if i'm not being very careful and just hammering rather than pressing. I should probably try updating the software though as this may have been improved. I doens't bother me massively though, like I said it's the only thing.
- briankelly 7y ago
  Oh yeah don't get me wrong, I think it's a great piece of gear. I probably would have gone with it over the Deluge if not for the price hike. I have a pretty similar approach in that I wanted a sort of all-in-one portable sketchpad mainly so I can detach from the computer painlessly and avoid the device daisy-chain you described. I think the OP-1 basically nails this use case and the design reflects that. The Deluge has a more Swiss army knife approach with its focus on providing a variety of functionality rather than a streamlined design, but both are great if you don't want the kitchen sink of specialized devices and can live with the performance sacrifice. They are coming out with live looping in the next release so it will be a very powerful companion to my guitar. I'm really looking forward to it.
bitL 7y ago
How do you find Deluge? Thinking about buying it as a maxi-version of Circuit when I make more space in my studio (Octatrack, Maschine & Circuit as groove boxes/sequencers/samplers already there).
- briankelly 7y ago
  I like it quite it a lot. I don't have a lot to compare it to, but beefed up Circuit is a good way to describe it. Its sequencer, especially the song and arrangement modes, are powerful and probably the area it excels the most. My main gripe is that the sound can lack punch in the low end, making bass/sub-bass difficult and drums less satisfying. But pretty much everything else I'm happy with and love the workflow and form factor.

tomxor 7y ago

For what it's worth I have an OP-1, bought it 1-2 years ago when it was £800 - and I thought it was expensive then! Anyway, my opinion will not be useful comparatively, since it's my first and only piece of electronic music hardware, only other stuff I have is guitars, amps etc. I can tell you it's been very fun, very reliable (only once I froze it when using a combination of a lot of effects at once with settings I imagine probably took up too much memory), battery lasts for ever (due to CPU type etc), it has a lot of depth, I still haven't figured out how to use absolutely everything, features are very discoverable and learning curve is pretty linear. Some of it is "programmy" as you describe for the POs, but it's also plenty intuitive and direct with the built in keyboard, which I appreciate because my musical background is mostly instrumental. The main reason I got it is for the very thing that makes it unique, it's tiny, all in one, it's got almost everything you need and is fun - I know it's not the best value for money or the best audio or best effects etc etc, but I don't want to make music on my computer, and I don't want to start out with loads of independent devices to manage and wire together... I appreciated the idea of something I could grab and play with to encourage me to play with electronic music more, and it total achieves that. The only thing I feel like I miss sometimes (and this is considering I have never owned any other electronic music hardware), is more keys, for the form factor I can't argue, but I think the next thing I would buy is a midi keyboard, I've tried programming longer pieces but it never fits in the sequencer. [edit] My single gripe in out of all the design/quality is key debouncing (it doesn't have velocity keys), which doesn't seem to catch enough... sometimes I can exploit it to effect, but most of the time I don't want it - it's occasional, like maybe 1/50 if i'm not being very careful and just hammering rather than pressing. I should probably try updating the software though as this may have been improved. I doens't bother me massively though, like I said it's the only thing.

briankelly 7y ago
Oh yeah don't get me wrong, I think it's a great piece of gear. I probably would have gone with it over the Deluge if not for the price hike. I have a pretty similar approach in that I wanted a sort of all-in-one portable sketchpad mainly so I can detach from the computer painlessly and avoid the device daisy-chain you described. I think the OP-1 basically nails this use case and the design reflects that. The Deluge has a more Swiss army knife approach with its focus on providing a variety of functionality rather than a streamlined design, but both are great if you don't want the kitchen sink of specialized devices and can live with the performance sacrifice. They are coming out with live looping in the next release so it will be a very powerful companion to my guitar. I'm really looking forward to it.

bitL 7y ago

How do you find Deluge? Thinking about buying it as a maxi-version of Circuit when I make more space in my studio (Octatrack, Maschine & Circuit as groove boxes/sequencers/samplers already there).

briankelly 7y ago
I like it quite it a lot. I don't have a lot to compare it to, but beefed up Circuit is a good way to describe it. Its sequencer, especially the song and arrangement modes, are powerful and probably the area it excels the most. My main gripe is that the sound can lack punch in the low end, making bass/sub-bass difficult and drums less satisfying. But pretty much everything else I'm happy with and love the workflow and form factor.