The price, and I’m serious about that - and the m8 is not thaaaat cheap, but compared to xy, yes.
Portability too, that small hard shell case for m8 is just fast to pack into the bag.
I’m a new M8 user but not at all interested in the OP-XY, so I won’t be of much help. I will say this, though: between the two companies, Dirtywave and Teenage Engineering, there is no comparison. I am really impressed with the way Dirtywave has handled itself and in its continuing interaction with the user community. I wouldn’t trust TE for a moment.
Many differences between these two devices imo… The biggest difference imo opinion is the workflow.
So it comes down to what you want to accomplish. I would say if you are happy with a tracker then M8 is the best choice by far.
Personally I’m more interested in a more performance based workflow which is why XY interest me.
I ended up impulsively ordering an M8 a day after impulsively ordering an OP-XY. In my mind, they should pair well with one another, only needing a couple additional 1/8 inch cables to midi sync them and route audio.
I’m tempted to hold on to a brand new SP-404 MK2 I’m trying to sell (to recoup some $) because I imagine it would be a great recorder for both the M8 and OP-XY, allowing digital recording over USB C for either of them.
While I love many things about the M8 (sound quality, portability, hardware, limitless sequencing capabilities), I just wanted to add that I sometimes miss an integrated option to just punch in notes. It is a bit “programmy”. You can connect a MIDI keyboard, of course, but the experience was never really straightforward to me, and it reduces portability (even with a small keyboard).
For actually playing music, the OP-XY and its integrated keyboard might be a better choice.
I’m happy with my M8 but I also can be happy with both .
The idea is not so much to get rid of the GAS but to compare two devices that are extremely portable and you can complete entire songs with them.
One advantage I see with the M8 is that with its three effect chains you can make infinite variations (much more than with the XY components) of each of the steps. However, I think that with the XY these variations in the steps are more fluid and intuitive.
I owned the M8 for a year and I’m very interested in the OP-XY (but not in the near future).
The two devices have two completely different approaches: Programming vs. playing/classical sequencing. I guess the OP-XY is more ‘hands on’ and more ‘all-in-one’. And it offers multisampling, which is important for me.
The M8 was a lot of fun for many months and something completely new. Instant fun. But as the months went by, I moved more and more back to “playable” devices. Maybe while I like to work with polyphony and chords. Which is possible with the M8, but it’s cumbersome and requires a lot of mental work. At some point the special charme was gone. So I sold the M8 and never looked back.
yea m8 is far deeper in many aspects -
128 instruments with 4 modulators each, 3 fx lanes and tables with 3 more fx lanes per step.
but you do have to be more deliberate and specific with your actions.
I personally prefer the x0x way of working, and having encoders to twist. tho I do love my m8.
from what I’ve heard the xy reverb sounds a lot better than M8’s.
I’m also not the biggest fan of the sound of most m8 synth patches, just a personal thing I guess. but they are very flexible, and far deeper than xy’s.
Yeah I agree. As @Omar said it’s kind of programmy vs more of a player instrument. Obviously synth engines also have different characters etc but a lot of the time it’s the way we work with an instrument that has the biggest impact on the music we make imo.
Yes, also regarding synth engines, to me, judging by the OP-XY demos I’ve seen, the M8 offers a wider range of sonic possibilities. It’s not that you have more different engines on the M8 (maybe less?), but it seems you can dig much deeper into sound design and modulations (the FM synth is bottomless). Moreover, with FX lanes and Tables, you can really integrate sequencing into your sound design.
The OP-XY, while sounding gorgeous, doesn’t seem to offer you an extremely lot of sound design parameters (4 per engine- which, arguably, is enough). I’m afraid that all the songs that will come out of it will be recognizable, with a characteristic sound. Not that I have a problem with this, but I think that’s a point to take into account, when choosing between the M8 and OP-XY. That is, if you’re into deep sound design.
I’ve had the m8 for a while and it was great.
I now own an OP-XY and it’s incredible. Both are top choices for an all-in-one portable music maker, but if I had to choose, I’d pick the OP-XY without a doubt.
One thing I haven’t seen mentioned here yet is polyphony. 24 voices on the OP-XY and polyphonic synth and sample patches vs. 8 monophonic voices on the m8 (with the exception of a few pseudo-polyphonic options).
OP-XY sounds better out of the box for most engines, but that’s a matter of taste I guess. More complex patches can be possible on the m8, especially with the FM engine and tables. However, most of the engines on the m8 are pretty simple as well and offer about the same amount of control as on the OP-XY. Four freely assignable envelopes/LFOs on the m8 vs. amp envelope, filter envelope, a freely assignable LFO, velocity mod, pitch bend mod, and step components on the OP-XY. The OP-XY is more streamlined and a better option for me just because of the playability, velocity sensitivity on board, and polyphony. It also has the multisampler which offers endless possibilities.
I’ve had the M8 many times and the OP-1F twice. I appreciate the M8 but it feels too much like work…I like to use a KB anyhow…the OP-1F was great for me for a portable device…loved it. I"m sure I would love the XY also.
Relative portability is a huge difference between the two for me. Both devices are perfectly portable, and I take my M8 out with me all the time. My OP-XY hasn’t left the house at all because every time I contemplate it I think about the cost of leaving that somewhere by mistake, ending up damaging it or it getting stolen. When I’m playing with the M8 on the train I’m pretty confident most people look at it like some weird game boy, but that OP-XY is getting snatched quicker than an iPhone with the look of it imo.
I’ll reiterate what some folks have said by sharing some of my own experience.
my take
The M8 is cheaper and even more portable.
Its handheld nature means you can pretty easily play it in any position and that is great.
The sound quality is fantastic, the screen is great and is a touchscreen so that’s nice for parameter edits sometimes. I was able to pick it up quickly and just let it rip, creating some really great little things in a short period of time. I loved having 4 mod slots on the M8 to make up for not really having any expressive inputs when standalone.
But, ultimately as @therockfrog said, I missed the expression and playability of keys. For reference, I even have a hard time enjoying Pad based instruments because of how much I favor keys. So the playability/expression wasn’t there for me with the M8 and I ended up often making things with a similar feel.
The XY shares a lot of the core sequencer power as the M8, just presented a bit differently, though I found myself thinking ‘this is like a tracker’ a couple times while learning XY. But, XY also has knobs, and velocity sensitive keys. It can be, in my opinion, a lot more versatile in that regard. I don’t have to purely sequence things, I can play them in pretty much as expressively as I want.
They do differ on sound engines, of course the M8 has a lot more functionality there in terms of synth parameters, but it comes down to how much you’re likely and willing to engage with those. Personally I love FM sounds but don’t love FM programming, the M8 FM synth is great but I’m not as excited to use it as I am any of the TE fm engines, just because they’re quicker and more accessible. Sound-wise in my opinion whatever you find the XY to lack you can probably make up for with the Multi, Drum or regular Sampler. It’s well featured in the sample dept now and a slice sampler would kill it.
Gosh, not to mention, the OP-XY can handle a lot more polyphony, and polyphonic playing in general, which is huge for me.
I think M8 suffers fewer bugs and quirks but at this point it’s a lot more mature firmware, so it’s not the fairest comparison.
I think, personally, overall the XY is a no brainer in comparison for all those reasons above. But if you’re looking for a hyper portable groovebox and you love synth programming and don’t love playing keys or playing things in live, then the M8 is top of class, it’s great.
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