Nice! Can't wait to order mine at the end of the year. The Op-1 is my most used synth ever, and I've been playing synths since the very early 90s. Good video!
Really appreciate this well balanced review from someone who clearly loves the OP-1, but still treats it fairly. You make a good point to say it shouldn’t be compared to other gear!
@@A.D.G Ahhh. I ordered May 18th, a few days after. I sulked for a week looking for overview videos. I really wish they did better with the product videos but I finally caved. I might be waiting the ol' 45 days.
Yeah I'm sure they will. I think part of the reason it's so similar right now is they've started with a base line of existing OP-1 functionality, and a higher price, to not alienate existing OP-1 owners too much. Over time the feature gap is going to widen a lot I feel.
I spend a lot of time in the mother-in-law's car, sometimes waiting during appointments etc, sometimes while my kids are in the car too. No AUX input, no CarPlay etc. Not my car so can't change it. But with the FM transmitter I can stream through the car speakers awhile I wait. Which is pretty great.
Definitely! I am realising I’ve underestimated the FM Transmitter (because it doesn’t really fit in my workflow), but some of the replies here (yours included) have opened my eyes to how this is more than just a gimmick and is actually an added bonus
FM I don’t like due to the sound quality, but it has no latency, which is a bonus for wireless music transmission applications vs Bluetooth. Anyway, enjoyed your video, thanks :)
@@darwiniandude I wish I had an OB-4 here so I could really put it to the test with the quality. To be honest though, with the loudness of the new speaker I don’t think you’d need to use anything else if you’re in the car. The improved speaker is fantastic
Hopefully the stock situation is sorted soon. I figured even with the higher cost this would sell out quick, so I purchased it on release day with the hopes of selling my original.
Make sure to check the store regularly, if you want it quickly. I managed to get an order through on the 25th. They seem to make them randomly available for a little bit and then it's out of stock again. Good luck!
If I ever get my hands on one I think the FM transmitter will be useful for live events at old drive-ins where you don’t need to hook up to any PA system….everyone pulls up in their own personal vehicles, parks, tunes into the frequency you broadcast, then show up in front of the giant drive in movie screen and play the OP-1 field..audio/midi sync’d with the op-z to control visuals projected on the screen and have some extra tones and samples. If you wanna up the game with a dmx light rig, dope af..but it could still work with showing up with just an OP-1 field, an op-z, a cable to connect them, and an iPad/iPhone to hook up to the projector for visuals
Ace initial overview, thank you. I have seen a few op-1f vids and on most of them some of the keys don't seem to be aligned right. On yours the third key in from (bottom) the right looks kinda wonky. It maybe more noticeable due to the keys not sitting flush to the base now. Just a thought. I'd really like to see the scale of the brightness adjustment please, and how many levels it has.
No worries :) Yeah the keys aren't perfectly aligned, however it's mostly just the angles of the camera that make the gaps look bigger than they really are (IMO) I'd say it has a similar deviation to most larger keyboard MIDI controllers (Not perfect, but also not even an issue when playing), I haven't tried pulling the key caps off yet, but it might be a case of re-seating them for "better" alignment The brightness goes from 10 - 100. In the video it's set to 100. I'll be sure to do the brightness in the full review
@@sodiumlights okay got an update on the key alignment stuff. It seems my third from the right key is slightly mis-moulded where the stabiliser clicks in. So swapping the far right key with that one moved the slightly tilted key to the far end of the keybed. Honestly not a dealbreaker for me, but just though I’d explain what causes the alignment to be off.
Thanks for sharing your first impressions! I also plan on offsetting my OG OP-1, BUT I have to send it in for repair for the third time! One of those repairs was for the 3.5mm output, it always crapped out. Have you noticed any improvements to that output? I'm hoping that board was upgraded and more robust.
The I/O board seems a lot more stable. I’ve been plugging things in and out all week and haven’t had any issues. It might become a problem in the future, but I can’t say for sure
Yay! Sounds promising! At least we also have usb over audio now too! Have you played with Bluetooth over MIDI? I wonder if Field will ever support MPE.
what is the resolution of the samples on the drum sampler and synth engine? is it still 44100 Hz 16Bit? Previous OP-1 had 44100HZ 16Bit, I hope for field it's 48000HZ 32Bit
From the manual I think that might be the intention, but you have to split the keyboard range, meaning if you play a chord you can only play notes above the chord. I need to play with it this weekend and figure out how TE intended this to work. Even so, adding the functionality I suggested wouldn’t break that workflow.
Great video, a little worried that the black keys don't look like a proper fit? They seem uneven and all on a slight angle. Not something I'd be super happy with at this price. But a really cool product, I just bought an OG OP-1 to test out before I decide on this!
@@glynnpowell7864 I brought up the very same point. It's pretty clear to see some keys are wonky, also in other op-1f videos. Check down the comments;) Don't give drugs a bad name x
Thanks for the nice words. I can confirm that the black keys are all aligned correctly, the fish eye and shadows probably didn’t help with this. The keys themselves aren’t perfectly aligned, but the tolerance is the same as say a mechanical keyboard. I think it’s just more noticeable here because of the contrast between the white and black, but I can assure you that there is no issue with playability. It’s likely you can “fix” the alignment by popping the key caps off and re-setting them yourself
@@A.D.G I thought about that too, potentially an issue with the production process being rushed, so maybe you could just re-set them yourself and have them sit nicer. Excited to see more videos on this thing!
Having played with it some more, I would agree with you. Personally I would like them to make the adjustment to how the clearing of the hold works so that it functioned like a sustain pedal for added functionality. Another thing that would be nice is instead of splitting the keyboard range in two section, is to allow playability in both the upper AND lower range outside of the drones.
If you’re talking about the speaker grill there is a black mesh stopping any contact with the inner components from the underside. No danger unless you were specifically trying to jam a metal object into it
Hey nice small review. What about the battery changer? On my OP-1 it’s kinda a pain to charge the battery properly and in the right way. ? Thanks. The fisheye lenses is not my fav on your video. Sorry. Thanks for Sharon
Hey mate, I think you mean the battery charger? All that is supplied is a USB Type-C cable. It’s reversible so plugging it in is super easy. Yeah not the best cinematography on this one, I had my small tripod and the iPhone’s fish eye was the only one that fit the OP-1F in the frame. When I do the full review I’ll have things set up to be more visually pleasing
I recently got Koala Sampler for the iPhone and it completely cured my GAS for the OP-1 field. I also noticed that a lot of OP-1 users love talking about the OP-1 but nobody is really making music with it. Can someone please make some music with it already? Regarding your point about not comparing it to other gear, I agree, don’t compare it to other gear because other gear can produce much better results at a much cheaper price and you’ll just end up questioning why you spent so much money on this 😂. Having said that, as a previous owner of an OP-1, I do understand that this is a highly desirable designer item, and would of course have lots of fun with it if I had one.
The USB Type-C definitely feels better than the previous port. I never had issues with the 3.5mm jacks on my previous one (but I do know others did), in saying that the jacks make a satisfying click when inserted and have no wiggle room
Thanks for your sharing your thoughts. What do you think of clicks and pops improvement? With the original, you could easily generate a click when you stopped recording when the line in is still receiving audio. When lifting that recording many times I get a click on the empty tape.
I won't say that they're gone, because I haven't spent hours using it. However the hour and a half I did have with it I couldn't get it to pop and click :) I'm pretty confident that the audio engine underwent either a complete re-write or a significant overhaul, and during the SuperBooth videos they did say that the pops and clicks are gone. If I experience any I'll be sure to update this comment
@@A.D.G I'm optimistic too after hearing that video. I'm waiting for mine and I'll probably post some tests about this too because it's one of the things that bothered me more. I record most of the time via line in so it was probably the worst case scenario regarding clicks, thanks!
Other than the new reverb I see no reason at all to upgrade. Certainly the reverb is not worth 800usd more. I suspect the original op1 will hold its value better later on.
