Go to Opxy manual and search for the CC assignments. Then go to your Monolit and choose the corresponding CC. Very easy!
What version firmware are you using on monolit? I’m in the latest and it doesn’t seem to work. Are you connecting them straight via usb c to usb c ? Thanks!
And does your monolit show up as a ‘device’ on your op-xy?
Make sure you have your midi settings right on your Op-xy. On your Monolit you have to adjust your corresponding CC number so that your Op-xy, can read it. I’m not sure how else to describe it.
So, now that it’s out about half a year, how are owners feeling about it? Has it become the essential piece of your setup and writing? Or does it do a dedicated job due to limitations? How’s the bug and build situation, any issues?
After some initial problems, I am really happy with the XY. In fact, it’s the only device on my desk at the moment and it turned out to be the groovebox I’ve been waiting for many years and I like the machine more and more every day.
I’m also happy with the stability of the software so far. I am currently only affected by one bug: MIDI from the XY to the DT2 is not working (this only affects MIDI via USB). At the moment this only bothers me to a limited extent because I use the XY w/o other gear.
What bothers me most is that saving presets via snapshots is extremely cumbersome. Every time you change a preset and save it as a snapshot, you have to rename it. Again and again. It would make more sense to be able to simply overwrite snapshots while retaining the existing name.
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I’ve only had a couple crashes since I re-purchased the XY a couple of months ago. It definitely feels more stable, and it’s a lot more fun to use when you’re not worrying about that sort of thing. Overall I’m happy with the unit, though there’s a couple things that still keep me from reaching for it more:
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For live use there’s a few things that I keep running into that trip me up. The fact we can’t switch scenes and clips in increments great than one step. Makes it tricky to keep all my clips in time and with their proper phrasing. Also, no easy way to mute tracks without leaving the current screen you’re in.
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Data management is still incredibly basic for such a fully features device. Weird limitations on how you organize your samples, no way to back up samples used in a project with that project, and preset management is lacking (no way to update a preset, organize your presets better, etc).
Hopefully some of these can be address, (especially) the data management one is my biggest issue at the moment.
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Most essential piece of musical equipment I own. If I could only have one synth it would be this. I’ve sold several synths (Monomachine, AR, Prophet 6) that I am not using anymore as a result, may sell more (OP-1f and KO2) that I also have barely been touching.
For me the most surprising things are how much more I’m writing more songs - on the Elektron gear and Ableton I found myself writing loops more and then just getting stuck trying to turn those into compelling songs. The song-orientation of the XY is really great.
Also really love how the punch-in effects are just 1) compelling out of the box and 2) make performance really feel like playing an instrument instead of hitting play / DJing. I know some of that is possible with the Elektron stuff I own - especially the A4, AR and Octatrack - but it feels like a lot more work there and I never clicked with that workflow on the A4 and AR in particular.
Lots more potential - I do have some complaints: the fact that I can’t string projects together into a set is a huge, huge limitation; the synth engines are good but starting to feel a little limited; I wish there was a little more flexibility with the tape track and punch-in effects. Also the sampling capabilities are really limited - I’m making it work (my music is very sample focused) but man I would kill to have even 60% of the Octatrack’s flexibility like time-stretching / slicing / tempo detection / etc.
But overall extremely satisfied and still having fun with it 6 months in.
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I’ve found that building songs is happening less for me that it did on the OP-Z, which is surprising. I can come up with great drum parts and melody/chord loops, but then I get stuck.
A lot of this is down to the lack of non-annoying sample slicing, which is a big part of what I do. Another is that the XY has no good path to export songs for finishing in the DAW.
What I am finding is that I quite like the combo of the XY with the M8. The M8 is—for me—way better for making songs, and for playing with samples. But it is terrible at chords, and the XY has all those cool performance tools like the tape and punch ins. The XY’s FX are also way better.
If I hook them up via a single USB-C cable I get audio and midi both ways, I can render perfect loops from the XY to audio in the M8, I can use the XY as a send effect device, including the tape, and I can send single notes from the M8 via midi, and have them trigger chords with maestro, which I then sample back in.
It sounds complex but it just sort of happened. Plus the XY has a velocity-sensitive keyboard that I can use to input notes to the M8.
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I wish there was an easy tutorial on how to set this up and use it on YT. I’ve tried a few times and just never really gotten it working nicely.
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Just to make clear: does this mean that there’s nothing like the “change length” setting in Elektrons so that I can jump to a new pattern (or scenes/clips in this case) when I’ve reached the end of the first/second/third/fourth bar? Meaning I’ll have to it it at exactly the right time?
If so, this sounds like an instant no go for me. Unless it’s not really an issue because you don’t use it like an Elektron where you jump between patterns?
Thanks everyone to all the info you shared btw. I think this is really helpful experience by real people that shows totally different use cases, strengths and issues.
What @Instant_Fidelity says is also keeping me out, the learning curve seems quite steep, especially with a lack of good tutorials like on the Elektrons, which I found quite accessible and logical from the start.
Unlike Elektron, each part can have its own length. When you’re using song mode, it will wait until the greatest of those lengths is complete before advancing to the next queued scene. When switching scenes by hand it happens immediately I believe, similar to the KO2. I don’t think there’s any way to queue a scene change up the way you can queue up a pattern change on an Elektron box.
It’s funny because this is making me realize that while I queue pattern changes up by hand on my Elektron synths all the time, I barely ever use that on the XY, I almost always use song mode.
A big reason for that is a huge, huge advantage over the Elektron architecture is that you can change the pattern of a single track independent of the rest of the tracks. This makes it super easy to evolve songs part-by-part without having to do a bunch of “work” (copy / paste / erase a part / etc).
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I saw and love this feature and it makes so much sense for me. But I rarely use Song mode and like to switch these on the fly. I sometimes also struggle with setting up the right change length on Elektrons, but not having that option at all sounds like a deal breaker to me honestly. That seems to be the story of XY in a nutshell from what I’ve read so far: many fantastic innovations that blow everything out of the water and make Elektrons look cumbersome, but with a few head scratchers on top that can easily be dealbreakers depending on your workflow.
My biggest pain points start with the inability to chain projects—especially considering the hard limit of only 9 patterns per track. This significantly limits the ability to build seamless, extended live sets. Secondly, the built-in effects like chorus and phaser feel quite underwhelming. They lack the depth and character needed for expressive, dynamic sound design. Third, the arranger still needs some work. Not being able to copy a scene to a specific position is frustrating—cloning always appends to the end, which interrupts the workflow. On top of that, it’s still hard to visually identify active step components, which slows things down and adds unnecessary friction to the creative process.
Overall, I still enjoy the device, but I often find myself considering a switch to some of the Digi boxes for more flexibility and higher-quality sound design. Toneverk also looks really promising if that ever becomes a reality. Elektron gear still feels more professional, both in live and studio contexts. Right now, the only real edge the opxy has is portability—and I’m starting to feel like that might not matter as much to me anymore.
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I was more referring to the m8 and XY working together, but I do agree and I’ve been saying from the start that TE’s manual and docs on the XY are terrible.
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I’m definitely the opposite, but I’ve been thinking about using Song mode more for live use just to get the ability to wait until pattern end to switch. I could make transition scenes ahead of time, which limits me a bit, but doing manual pattern changes for an hour on the XY would do my head in too. 
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New firmware up today!
https://teenage.engineering/downloads/op-xy
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Yeah, I’m the opposite. I can do all I want with my digis and the occasional analog synth. But there’s a baby on the way and I‘m thinking of switching to an XY in order to make any music at all for the next months/years. But from what people are reporting here, there’s too much I’d have to reprogram my mind and I’d probably just lose interest quickly.
This is exactly why I sold almost all of my hardware studio for an XY and it absolutely serves that purpose. I’ve only been able to enjoy jamming and finishing tracks thanks to XY and its portability. There’s just not time for me to lock myself in a studio anymore
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thank goodness they fixed that cv bug i was getting real bummed about it