''Casio VL-Tone Plus'
The OP-1 is a very cool looking and even more impressibly playing synth. Yes, we know it looks like a toy, and you wouldn't be the first to compare it's looks to a Casio VL Tone. The calculating synth toy that sparked a revolution.
It seems however that its intuitive design and clever format is what sets this synth apart from anything elese because it has actually been designed to make us rethink a bit about how we make music and the user interface stands as a sort of metaphor for life about thinking outside the box.
The creators of the Op-1 are stupidly/brilliantly called Teenage Engineering. They consist of seven Swedish ubergeeks with experience in the gaming industry, programming and involvement with electronic music. Their mission is to bring the world products with superior quality, functional design and top-class engineering.
So what does this synth offer, a cut and paste from the technical specs is as follows
• Midi Controller with Transport and Four Endless Encoders
• Fm Synth
• Sampler with mic or line in, built in speaker
• FM Radio that allows you sample the radio directly!
• 8 synthesizer models, 8 samplers and effects like Delay, Flutter, Filters and EQ all built in.
• Step sequencer/arpegiato
• Built in Motion Sensor
So a quick reality check will tell you that this kit costs nearly £800, That's two ipads or two Microkorgs! Hmm, this little pocket rocket is going to have to pack a pretty good punch at that price!
OK, so do you remember the fun of your first synth?
Well most reviewers of this product are claiming that the OP-1 takes it back to basics. I guess that's its intuitive design coming back in again. The build itself is incredible and very... well, Swedish! Coloured knobs steer you through the menu. With the ergonomically raised buttons and keys, and some actual braille on the backside, you wonder if this was actually designed with the visually impaired in mind. Such is the intuitive, hands on nature of this gadget.
In brief the Op-1 is a synthesizer, sampler, drum machine, sequencer and multitrack recorder all in one trendy box. Surprisingly an FM radio (What no DAB?) comes in handy. Either to quickly go and sample a posh person from Radio 4 conveniently using a hip hop word like Sound Boy, or to get the footy scores while you work. You could feasibly use this thing as a portable radio (yes it runs on batteries) but that would really waste your dough! Combine this with the onboard virtual tape deck and some groovy FX and you're totally mashing up the sounds.
The colour LCD screen displays all manners of infographics in a retro Tron stylee and these groovy visuals actually benefit your sound sculpting as coloured wave forms on screen help you appreciate what a VCO oscillator, for example, is actually doing to the sound. Depending on which mode you're in, the screen could show two reels of a four-track tape, a vinyl turntable (used for recording masters of your multi-track doodles), or all manner of weird synth and drum machine controllers.
So sound-wise of course we are talking about lo-fi, retro digital bleeps but with big brassy balls on them. With many keyboards of this size, big choral and orchestra sounds are made a little redundant by the fact you can't get the most out of them on 25 minikeys. The drum kits (150 of them) are really groovy though, and you could justifiably use this as a standalone drum machine.
I guess the best use for the OP-1 though, is a very cool doodle box to impress your friends and keep out on the desk right next to your Mac, and then grab when you have a long train journey coming up. In brief, the intuitive format and 'outside the box' design make this thing pretty special and something that any gadget freak would dream of.
But the price sadly is a bit of a shocker!