Oh wow!! That was so smooth!! Respect for being able to play all this “live” (no sequencer) on this tiny keyboard, including all the embellishments too!! 😱
@Living Well With TJ I actually _don't_ care - what makes you believe so? I just noted the fact, that your typical synth /groovebox/home-"producer" -generation of toy twiddlers haven't got a clue on how chords relate to each other, or how harmony generally works. That's why this commenter was confused, and to him it sounds like a "random mess of notes". He's musically stupid, in other words.
@Living Well With TJ Well, I can tell you from experience, that the enjoyment only increases with knowledge. It is a language. Just like French language is, and like Portugese is. I find reading Proust in French is much more enjoyable when I know how to speak French fluently, as opposed to reading it when I have no idea what the words mean. The analogy works when you compare it to writing in a language: The words sound nice, sure, but it's a bit of a mess to try to arrange them just based on how you see an instrument visually, and trying to hear what works. You end up doing redundant music, and you have no idea what harmonic options you have in your hands, if you don't understand chords, scales and harmony. But I'm a Berklee graduate in Jazz Piano, so of course it's easy for me to say... ; ) Don't be lazy, you fool. There's no reason to nor learn these things. You're gonna make shit music (and you probably do too... No offense :D) way more likely if you don't know how to write songs. Now yeah, Bob Dylan made 3 chords sound good, but he's a one in a trillion. You're not Bob Dylan. Nor Aphex Twin, if electronic music is your avenue. You're definitely not Aphex Twin caliber of talent. So learn your fucking music theory, you fucking doufus moron.
@Living Well With TJ I make a living playing Piano via live gigs and studio sessions, and teaching my students, so I don't know what you call it, but I would call it a form of succeeding in the "world of music", unlike you, who probably isn't even employed, nor has a talent to of any sort to speak of. I think it's quite hilarious, that you would call anyone bitter after a whiny message like yours. :D Try to hang in there, champ...
Really fantastic demo. I had an OP1 but didn't find it worth keeping but yours is the first demo I've seen where I really see untapped potential for this great synth. Thanks for sharing.
This is absolutely amazing! I first saw some electronic stuff, but now you really convinced me for wanting little instrument. Incredible power for on the train. Fantastic performance of you too.
Nice demonstration of this unit. Been on the fence about wanting an OP-1 forever because everything I find seems to indicate it is more suited to the jazzy, R&B, hip-hop end of the spectrum and this video.. well.. it kind of further cements that impression but it does have a nice sound and it was encouraging to see someone easily demonstrate its compositional and musical practicalities.
I liked this! And while, there might be some cheese factor included because of the built-in limitations of the OP-1, A) I like cheese and B) part of the spirit of jazz and creativity in general is just pushing the limitations as far as you can. And C) I thought your solo swung like a mo-fo! Also, inspires me to try more jazz-flavored experiments on my OP-1. So thanks for sharing this, brother!
+Rabbi Steve A) True! Cheese is not to be underrestimated! B) Fully agree - I feel a strong connection between creativity and limitations (regularly use this in other vids here, like the PO-32, Wintergatan OP-1 etc) C) Yay, thank you so much Steve!
+ghostly606 Thanks for the info, i've never seen anyone using an external keyboard with one, it must be really difficult ? maybe you could do a video on this?
Thanks! I guess the key is practice, practice - but for my part that has been done by just playing accompanients to different songs, pretending there is a vocalist singing on top. So do some walking bass with the left hand and then random inversions with the right as fits with the rhythm.
Oh, my goodness. That was awesome. Very impressed that you could get around those tiny little keys and play bebop lines! But still, it was kind of… awful. In a way that made me smile, but awful. It has that old Lowry Magic Organ one-finger accompaniment feel that just sounds super-cheesy. Cheesy can be fun, and I enjoyed this performance, but I think you showed that this instrument--and many like it--are not best suited for jazz. Well, at least not straight-ahead medium tempo swing. Maybe if you did something a little more far-out, or even just a different kind of feel, it would've sounded hip. I don't think "hip" was your goal though... I hope these comments don't offend you. It was a fun video and thanks for sharing!
+Greg Pagel Thanks! And not offended at all :) One thing that makes it less suitable for "true sounding jazz" is probably that the keyboard isn't velocity sensitive. I might try controlling it with an external keyboard some time and see how that goes!
+tubesockor Yes, that might make all the difference. Gotta say, I think you squeezed as much swing as possible outta that thing! Maybe you should try a Latin jazz piece-- even 8ths might be more convincing on a machine like that. Oh whatever-- just keep making fun music!
Yep, it works with velocity if sent from an external keyboard. But part of the fun with the OP-1 is using it from the minikeys, I think. Got other keyboards to play with if I want velocity :)
+tubesockor Ah nice. How were you able to connect an external keyboard to the OP-1? Yes, of course. It also keeps the digital feel alive and with the enveloppe filter you can sort of mimic a softer attack.
![Teenage Engineering OP-1: Live jazz jam - "Flamingo" [Tutorial]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
