Let me guess… you already have one and you like OP-1 sooooo hard.
Those poor people and their envy are always crying and raging against the progress… ah…
I’m going to upgrade only to get that incredible new display 
I wouldn‘g reduce the “anger” to people being envious…I for one can easily afford an OP-1 and still feel that the price hike is poor form, not least given the statement on used prices TE released not too long ago.
I appreciate that maybe there’s been some (unannounced) updates + an increase in production cost, but I’d like to know if/what they are (rather than rely on industry hearsay) and how they justify a near doubling in price.
Either it’s poor pricing strategy (or confident maybe) or it’s poor marketing (no word on updates/redesigns etc in press release).
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I do have one. I think it was expensive then. I think it’s extremely expensive now 
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I don’t know. After all these years there many more instruments nowdays are cool, sounds great and do things much faster. DN & DT are one of few. Just saw some of the early tutorials how to make simple groove on the OP1 and its usually 30min with speed up video. You’ll be off and flying with many more patterns, quantized (!) with any of the current and cheaper devices available on the market. I believe there is still a lot of hype and myth about this piece. Unique as it is, only minimalists and people with a lot of time will invest to this. TE does know it well. (maybe thats why they are ‘teenage’ after all. . . no kids, no family routine and daily time limit etc. Its a solid pice of a kit, sturdy and so on … however to me still a toy as all of their pocket operator line. I had op1 few years back but it was on the shelf within a week, as I wanted to make a groove and compose a piece for a tv score and never looked at it again and returned it within my 14 days money back guarantee. I prefer my kids to play with volcas not OP1. But hey, would it be 600 Eur . . I would call Santa to take care for it for them. But not for me anymore. Its sexy but I am out of the GAS bubble and … do not have that much time… my 5 cents
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Got to get the money for these vehicles from somewhere!!
If the link doesn’t work, just Google - Teenage Engineering Ferrari …
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I thought they did a great pricing job with the POs and the new Mod units but ive a feeling they won`t extend that good value to the up coming op-z mods!
To give TE credit though, they did say the op-z was going to be priced somewhere between the PO`s and the Op-1…and now it is pretty much bang in the center;)
they need our cash for Gas, when usually it`s the other way round.
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Well, then why not take the plunge and do a complete MK2 redesign? You (Elektron) did the same with Machinedrum/Monomachine and Analog Four/Rytm without those steep price increases.
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This price would be a bit easier to swallow if they included a 3 year warranty and improved customer support.
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It´s all that plus…TE themselves claimed previously that noone should pay insane s/h prices…and now they come out with an insane price increase by 50% without loosing any word why this is.
- Bad communication towards their (potential) customers
- double tongued regarding s/h prices vs. new price in their former claims.
All in all…they lost a lot of good reputations by that.
Whatever the reasons for the price increase are…without any explanations from them, they seem to be now the new swedish greedy bunch.
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At least.
Im baffled by it all. The price for portability and mono sampling. The latest firmware improved it a bit. If Behringer can do it why cant other companies source parts?
The sequencers are in the exact bpm of the tape. As long as you arm the recording & hit the sequence, which activates recording, it lines up perfectly. I’ve NEVER had them not line up. But it’s all in the way you record them.
I have a hard time making full tracks tho too. So I have been using it more live. I make a bunch of loops, then perform the song… using mutes & switching between the different loops & adding 1 shots. I get a better final product doing it this way… plus I gain skill 
My FAVORITE way to use the Op-1 is with another sampler/sequencer, like an MPC or Maschine Mk3. I don’t midi, I just make my sounds, loops, whatever on the Op-1, sample it into the MPC or Mk3. I find it to be a fast workflow & a lot of fun.
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I think so too! Never used it in a club, but I think it gets loud & yea, like bass, kicks, they hit hard! Hhhhmmm… I wonder if it’s due to it’s more lofi quality… Still learning about this stuff, but like the K.O. Even tho the output of the K.O. is low, bass & kicks hit HARD. BOOM!
If anyone knows why, I would love to know. Like does the K.O. hit hard because it’s 8-bit? Or are there multiple factors? The Op-1 isn’t 8-bit, so there has to be something else going on.
I don’t really have a dog in this fight but I will say, it’s amazing how affordable things are that you don’t purchase.
If one thinks that the OP1 is too much money for what it is don’t buy it. You save money on a tool that you can already do without. If you want it but can’t afford the new price either save up for longer or be patient and see what the used market does. If the used price goes up and they still sell, than there is clearly a market for it at that price.
With all gear there is the price vs the value. Value is determined by what people are willing pay while price is determined by the market. Just because someone lists one for a ridiculous price doesn’t mean it will sell to everyone but to someone it may still be worth it to them. For others there are many other options at many deifferent price points.
All in all most of this “anger” is really misplaced and seems at the very least rather churlish.
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It is certainly tricky.
The full tracks I’ve made with the OP-1 were usually based around 16 bar loops with lots of just live FX tweaks, muting/unmuting, live playing on top. But even most of those were fed into Ableton for additional arrangement. I’d usually take a solo’d phrase and copy it to another track for re-pitching+FX to make additional layers.
And as good as that compressor sounds, when you overdo it, getting out from under that with expanding in post is a bit of a nightmare.
Like Daren mentioned earlier in the thread, the OP-Z sequencer suits my needs more than the OP-1 tape. A product in between the two would be wonderful. The larger form factor of the OP-1, with the OP-Z sequencer based workflow and its step components power.
It’s fun to dream.
As for price/value proposition, I’ve worked in contract manufacturing / co-packing long enough to know that you don’t raise the price of an existing offering by this much unless you absolutely have to.
A small company like TE, coming fresh off multiple product announcements, wouldn’t want to disturb the positive attention they’ve received for a simple “cash grab”. And there is a chance their margins might be even less than they were before the price increase due to the new part’s cost. They have likely absorbed some of the increase themselves as to not completely shock customers.
All manufacturers have some products with higher margins than others. There is a chance that pocket operator / modular / OP-Z sales are all helping the OP-1 stay alive for a bit longer.
I’ve gone through such a scenario at my last two employers, where an earlier flagship product became more expensive at the part/ingredient level to produce, and the price had to be raised. Our margins were reduced some but that reduction was also offset by the success of newer products that had higher margins. In the end we were able to curb the price increase somewhat and keep the product competitive, or else we would have simply discontinued it, as it would not have sold at the actual price after markup.
It all gets rather tricky to price when you can’t keep a lower direct retail price which would undercut your distributors who have to make their own markup.
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But the price used to be 899…now 1399. I remember the public discussion here in Germany when the prices for Butter went up permanently from 0,89€ to now 1,19€ for 250g Butter a few years ago…Like the end of civilisation was near discussion…
The Problem Here is Not only the raise, but originally the OP1 was Not in Stock anymore and s/h prices Sky rocketed. Former price was 899 or 949€ in the stores. TE came out and Said that noone should pay those Sky Rocket prices. Now… they are doing the Same Thing! Ppl who waited now for TE to have OP1 Back in Stock to NOT purchase a second hand unit for 1099 or 1199 feel but for 899/949 just feel betrayed by TE.
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Butter is more important than OP-1 to be fair. And that’s a similar % price increase
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No i dont think that Butter is necessary… Margarine is a good substitute for less Money. I am Just saying that a discussion, when Something gets a price increase of such dimension, is unavoidable.
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Ah yeah, i agree, it’s a huge jump.