Teenage Engineering OP-1

I firmly believe that there is an ill-consided, niche, very inspirational instrument for everybody out there. This was mine. I would not have made it over the initial hump of making beginner electronic (in the broader, non-acoustic, sense) music without it. It's a bit of a leap given the price, so knowing some things about yourself is useful: if you enjoy and are inspired by opinionated tech, if you prefer dialing in sounds by ear rather than understanding exactly what the synth engine does, if you know you will pick up this thing way more often if it's well-designed and well-built, if you need the focus of working away from the computer, these are some good reasons you might enjoy the OP-1. If just reading the above leaves you incredulous, you might not!

One thing I don't see mentioned in youtube reviews but that I think is key: the OP-1 doesn't have a reverb effect (as in, the humble room and hall reverbs that you don't notice until they're not there anymore). So coming in from a lot of genres it will sound off, especially drums. If you love everything about it, but the sounds don't quite click for you, I recommend trying it out with a simple room reverb (e.g. through your DAW).

There is no other way to say it.

I have been eyeing the OP-1 for more or less 2 years, since I first got the OP-Z. I have owned many hardware synths and software throughout my life, and there were always pluses and minuses for their features. This one here is incomparable as it stands in a category of it's own. The pure workflow of it is an invention in of itself. It's also an art piece, and call me any names you want - How things I use to create look and feel affects me plenty. Op-1 inspires ideas, and as many have mentioned, the limitations here serve a purpose.

The only two things I really would add to this incredible machine are 1) The ability to route to two of the tape tracks at once to get a stereo signal recorded from the input. 2) MIDI I/O.

Be warry though, it's not for everyone. Previously I was convinced by a majority of fellow creators that the Deluge is by far a better, more fully featured product. It is the later for sure, but personally I sold it and finally got what I really felt I needed. And I was right all along.

Just know what you're getting yourself into first: A fantastic little synth, well, synths, with keys, usable solo or with others, a four track recorder, an amazing sampling drum machine and f.x. All of this in a box the size of a small, portable, pc keyboard, housing a great display, a speaker and keyboard. Oh, if you want something with the made in China feel ,forget this, it's solid and feels like a piece of military technology, able to go into the field. Actually, it feels like its from another world, or at least the future! I just wish I hadn't waited..also, a great controller for a computer DAW and a great community of users out there too.

To cram so much functionality into something this small while keeping it simple to use is rarely found. You can tell a lot of thought has gone into this unit. We really don't need a multitude of functionality to get lost in, just a good sound and a few tweakable parameters.

The Teenage Engineering OP-1 is a light house in the stormy sea of complex DAW's and software controllers. Make a few songs with it using just 4 tracks and surprise yourself at how good it can actually sound with a bit of internal sound mangling and imagination. If you are deep in the DAW rabbit hole then grab one of these and realize that making music can actually be quick a fun.