3 ms·

I was so excited to see the announcement! Finally some new OP-1 stock will drive the prices back down to the original ~$700 mark. Nope! On what planet is thi

I was so excited to see the announcement! Finally some new OP-1 stock will drive the prices back down to the original ~$700 mark. Nope! On what planet is this actually worth $2000? I'm really disappointed to see TE become this lifestyle company and continue jacking up their prices.

cxcorp 4y ago
The hi-fi audiophile world is certainly an expensive one.
- hammyhavoc 4y ago
  Music production isn't "hi-fi audiophile", and the OP-1 isn't hi-fi, nor audiophile, if anything, it is lo-fi.
nathanvanfleet 4y ago
I feel like I have also seen this in the espresso community. Companies sprung up that are address a boutique audience that ultimately seems to be best-in-class but also charge some astronomical prices.
999900000999 4y ago
An iPad Mini + a Bluetooth midi keyboard will do anything this can do better and easier. You pay for the brand and to say on Twitter that you use hardware
- hammyhavoc 4y ago
  "Hardware". It's DSP. It doesn't even have an analog filter, right?
  - 999900000999 4y ago
    Not much is actually hardware anymore. Unless you actually mean like an old school synth keyboard.
    - hammyhavoc 4y ago
      What are you talking about? Analog synths and analog hardware as a whole are having a renaissance. There's more brand new analog synths on the market today than there have ever been. There's even a new Oberheim.
      - 999900000999 4y ago
        I've never been more happy to be wrong. It's just most of the instruments I'm seeing, are essentially a bunch of knobs which can figure an internal computer. I absolutely love synths, so I'll probably buy one of these.
323 4y ago
> see TE become this lifestyle company TE always was a lifestyle company. All their products, including their gaming device, are about looking cool. Which is why device thinness is extremely important and the first thing they talk about. Just like Apple. You don't buy a TE device to actually make music, you buy it to impress people about how creative you are, how you are not a pleb consumerist.
- yunwal 4y ago
  I feel like looking cool is definitely a factor, but the OP-1 is also about being portable and fitting into your lifestyle. Photographers will tell you that "the best camera is the one you have with you", and the OP-1 is like the phone camera of music. It's like a step up from singing into a voice memo. You can use it to capture ideas reasonably accurately whenever you feel inspired, and refine them later at an actual workstation. Obviously not everyone will think this is worth $2000, and there's definitely an element of status symbol there, but I've genuinely enjoyed owning one.
  - 323 4y ago
    But the distribution is important. The fact that there are some cyclists which actually need a $20k bike doesn't mean that the majority of $20k bike buyers are not doing it just for status (the famed dentist cyclists).
  - hammyhavoc 4y ago
    Cubasis on a phone or tablet is way more capable than this drek.
- gaws 4y ago
- elihu 4y ago
  The original OP-1 was kind of expensive, but it was a unique product that a middle-class person might buy if they're really into creative music making. Sort of like how a middle-class person might buy a high-quality guitar -- because they feel it's worth it and there isn't n less expensive option that they'd be satisfied with. I feel like at a $1999 price point, though, they've crossed into territory where their products are going to increasingly be seen as being only for rich people, and I think it's starting to hurt their credibility. The coverage of their new mixer on /r/synthesizers was overwhelmingly negative. It's like if Apple suddenly decided that going forward all their products would be gold plated and cost twice as much. If you make it too obvious that the point of the product is to flaunt wealth, then that detracts from it being just a product that's interesting, pleasant to use, and useful in some context.
spoonjim 4y ago
TE is following the Apple playbook to a T: fanatical obsession with appearance/image/brand positioning PLUS absolutely excellent engineering PLUS extreme price markups. The result is a product that has a bananas price tag but also has no real substitutes.
- Gigachad 4y ago
  I'm not sure that really holds true for Apple. Almost every one of their products has huge competition where Apple usually still holds the title for best value product. They have a few products like the Studio Display which don't have many direct replacements but all of Apples mainstream products are just good value.

cxcorp 4y ago

The hi-fi audiophile world is certainly an expensive one.

hammyhavoc 4y ago
Music production isn't "hi-fi audiophile", and the OP-1 isn't hi-fi, nor audiophile, if anything, it is lo-fi.

nathanvanfleet 4y ago

I feel like I have also seen this in the espresso community. Companies sprung up that are address a boutique audience that ultimately seems to be best-in-class but also charge some astronomical prices.

999900000999 4y ago

An iPad Mini + a Bluetooth midi keyboard will do anything this can do better and easier. You pay for the brand and to say on Twitter that you use hardware

hammyhavoc 4y ago
"Hardware". It's DSP. It doesn't even have an analog filter, right?
- 999900000999 4y ago
  Not much is actually hardware anymore. Unless you actually mean like an old school synth keyboard.
  - hammyhavoc 4y ago
    What are you talking about? Analog synths and analog hardware as a whole are having a renaissance. There's more brand new analog synths on the market today than there have ever been. There's even a new Oberheim.
    - 999900000999 4y ago
      I've never been more happy to be wrong. It's just most of the instruments I'm seeing, are essentially a bunch of knobs which can figure an internal computer. I absolutely love synths, so I'll probably buy one of these.

323 4y ago

> see TE become this lifestyle company TE always was a lifestyle company. All their products, including their gaming device, are about looking cool. Which is why device thinness is extremely important and the first thing they talk about. Just like Apple. You don't buy a TE device to actually make music, you buy it to impress people about how creative you are, how you are not a pleb consumerist.

yunwal 4y ago
I feel like looking cool is definitely a factor, but the OP-1 is also about being portable and fitting into your lifestyle. Photographers will tell you that "the best camera is the one you have with you", and the OP-1 is like the phone camera of music. It's like a step up from singing into a voice memo. You can use it to capture ideas reasonably accurately whenever you feel inspired, and refine them later at an actual workstation. Obviously not everyone will think this is worth $2000, and there's definitely an element of status symbol there, but I've genuinely enjoyed owning one.
- 323 4y ago
  But the distribution is important. The fact that there are some cyclists which actually need a $20k bike doesn't mean that the majority of $20k bike buyers are not doing it just for status (the famed dentist cyclists).
- hammyhavoc 4y ago
  Cubasis on a phone or tablet is way more capable than this drek.
gaws 4y ago
elihu 4y ago
The original OP-1 was kind of expensive, but it was a unique product that a middle-class person might buy if they're really into creative music making. Sort of like how a middle-class person might buy a high-quality guitar -- because they feel it's worth it and there isn't n less expensive option that they'd be satisfied with. I feel like at a $1999 price point, though, they've crossed into territory where their products are going to increasingly be seen as being only for rich people, and I think it's starting to hurt their credibility. The coverage of their new mixer on /r/synthesizers was overwhelmingly negative. It's like if Apple suddenly decided that going forward all their products would be gold plated and cost twice as much. If you make it too obvious that the point of the product is to flaunt wealth, then that detracts from it being just a product that's interesting, pleasant to use, and useful in some context.

spoonjim 4y ago

TE is following the Apple playbook to a T: fanatical obsession with appearance/image/brand positioning PLUS absolutely excellent engineering PLUS extreme price markups. The result is a product that has a bananas price tag but also has no real substitutes.

Gigachad 4y ago
I'm not sure that really holds true for Apple. Almost every one of their products has huge competition where Apple usually still holds the title for best value product. They have a few products like the Studio Display which don't have many direct replacements but all of Apples mainstream products are just good value.