Just ordered an OG. I bought a field a few mo the back and liked elements of it but in the end just couldn’t justify the cost of it. Amazon in the UK currently have the OG for sale and with a voucher I had I ended up getting a new one for £650 so figured I’d give it a shot. Slightly concerned it will just tempt me back towards the field though, so reading these alternative takes is reassuring!!
I want to use it as a sound source for my octatrack and as a portable/fun couch and holiday sketch pad so hoping the OG will fit the bill.
I’d say the transition for me has been fantastic. I didn’t need a neutral machine but one with character. From that point of view for me, the OG is a much more interesting device than the field, because the difference is really noticeable in terms of sound. Even so, I must point out that I use it in fairly old-school house and deep house composition styles, and I’d certainly be limited if I wanted a very clean sound. In fact, dirty is what I was looking for. Now I really have the feeling of having a machine with its own character, and for me the field sounds like the “sterile VST” version of op-1. If you can live without the reverb and dimension synth, you’ll honestly love the OG. Also, I didn’t need the extra features that op-1 field brings (stereo, multiple projects etc…) because I’m a very lucky owner of a dirtywave m8 which has pretty much replaced athedaw for me and brings everyting I need for arranging and song structure. I use the OP-1 as a chaos machine and endless sample source. For that purpose, the field was way too overkill for me.
I also need to precise one more time : the build quality of the OG is FAR superior than the field I had ( very plastic and unconsistant clicky feel on the key, horrible microphone issue…). Field feels so fragile in comparison, you will not believe me until your receive your OG.
No hate on the field, it was just way too overkill for me at the end. Still a decent machine but not worth 2K IMO (And i tried to make it worth it)
I want to precise that during the time I had the field, nothing I’ve made with it finished in a final song except for few small things. The OG on the other hand have already been used in the main melodic part of a few songs of mine. I especially LOVE the character of the sampler or chopping music loops taken from anywhere, especially vocal ones. Didn’t felt such a mojo on the Field.
That’s really helpful, and reassuring. Much of what you say resonates with me. I
Am definitely looking for something with a little more grit and character. I tend to make old school house and minimal/dub techno, tape loop style ambient and lofi hiphop. I think the OG should suit these styles well.
Like you I have an external device (for me the Octatrack) that can handle the arranging and some sequencing etc so looking more for a sound source and inspiration machine as well as something portable I can travel with. Hopefully this will work for me!! Thanks for coming back with such a detailed reply
You will love it 100%. Especially at that price point it’s flawless. The sampler sounds super interesting for the style you’re describing which I am also into. It can gives you really interesting textures if used correctly. I especially love the compressor because it can give you a very good punch (didn’t experience any of that on the field). I can’t recommend you enough to watch DJ Thomas white’s videos about the OP-1, because he is into music closer to our style than most of the other videos out there !
Hello : )
Considering buying an og op-1 ,had one some years ago liked it but sold it .
have a couple of question to op-1 (and opz ) ninjas
would use it live and as your are limited to one project (tape) at time , i saw op1 manager could be a solution to load project during live set from ipad (can do transition with opz ) . how this app is reliable? does it take long to load project ? does it crash multiple time or freeze the op-1 ? maybe another solution for this task , that idk ?
how well opz and op1 interact ? stable clock ? can i easily create drum kit and synth sample in op-1 and transfer it to opz ?
I wonder if there’s a loyal following out there for the OG OP-1. I ended up selling both the Field and the XY and keeping the original because for some reason i just love it. IMO it captures a kind of magic and playfulness that the new ones lack.
Glad you guys are talking about the OG - My wife got me one as a gift and I love it, but curious how other people like to use it. It seems to invite different ways of creating and I haven’t quite worked out how it fits into my setup yet, I’m so used to working in logic. I won’t be installing any of the new firmware for now, I haven’t even got to grips with what it can do without!
Looks like the stuff I was commenting on was removed- probably need to be on a different forum to discuss unofficial features being added to the OG OP1. The OP1 is getting a lot of new synths and fx through people doing alternative firmware’s, given that an OP1 is a fraction of the cost of an OP1F but has a very similar form factor it makes it seem like a good choice if you like the form factor but want something ‘more’ (and more frequent) than TE offer…
