As far as I know the first module to be released for the opz will be a conventional 5 pin midi expander so the opz can function as a sequencer for other gear. I haven’t don’t a lot of my homework on this so I’m not sure of the specifics, but this is what I am assuming anyway
I have noticed the weird compression occurring as well and chalk it up to me not really knowing how to mix down on the unit properly yet. You can get some really nice pumping with the drive and I’m pretty impressed with how gelled together patterns can feel, but a lot of things feel very imprecise in terms of working with the encoders. Especially in comparison to how fine and granular elektron devices tend to be.
In terms of the synths I think in all honesty one can bang out a lot of compositions with the device before one could justifiably say they’ve exhausted the sonic palette available.
What’s frustrating me at te moment is because the manual is not available as one complete .pdf it’s rather hard to keyword search functions you’re trying to accomplish as the document is broken into different webpages. As well having a screen to read the manual and a screen for the app display does add a lot of clutter. The app will be essential for me for a very long time before I can know what the hells going on with all these glyphs and blinking lights.
Thanks, but it can sequence other gear now right? Cuckoo did a video of it sequencing the iPad.
The adapter would mean you would not need a MIDI host a la Kenton USB MIDI host?
I agree that the manual is not very accessible. I find the lack of capitalization especially disturbing.
Heres some noodles I did over the first few days of the OPZ. The core patterns aren’t that bad but when I start faffing about with the punch in FX it all goes a little tits up (especially with the second pattern!). And don’t start on the timing of the 3rd pattern… haha
Anyway, despite all the shit, the point I’d like to make is the actual sound quality which is pretty solid throughout despite my best attemptes my best attempts to ruin things! Recorded straight into Ableton. Only part of the 4th one is a little ropey. Not sure what I’ve done/nudged but it’s almost like I’ve turned everything up too loud and the unit is compensating (if that makes sense).
So not my finest moments, just tooling around and thought Id share as further examples of what this thing can do even in largely clueless hands.
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Made a little something with a video synth and the Z, straight to VHS. This thing is so much fun!
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The sound qualities really good, and some lovely sounding stuff you did there J0n35y, that’s me sold, going to get one for my birthday this month 
Sounds great 
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Thanks Davy though you’re being far too kind! Listening back is a little cringey but then I wasn’t aiming for “finished”, more “quick and nasty”. Some nice ideas in there though.
Thoroughly recommend getting one though. There is a huge list of stuff I haven’t or have barely touched like:
Step components
Creating my own drum/synth packs
A whole raft of parameter playing on the various drum/synth tracks
LFO in depth
Tape
FX sequencing
Not even used it with a screen yet!
Video/light sequencing (doubt I’ll go there mind you)
Probably another half dozen or so things I haven’t thought of
Considering I got mine for about £450 with the recent 15% off Ebay code I’ve got to say it’s been a really fantastic purchase.
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A little something I threw together for Jamuary and bounced straight from the OP-Z. Too bad, there’s the 10sec limit, but I’m traveling and don’t have an audio interface with me.
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Ah so thats what “bounce” does! Seems a bit odd of limited to 10 seconds though!
Still to travel with mine. Working from home this week. Waiting on an adapter to arrive that should hopefully mean my Xkey will work plugged straight into the OPZ.
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USB C to USB A adapter arrived and pleased to report my XKey works fine directly plugged in to the OP-Z. That makes for an even more fantastic travel combo. 3 octaves of pretty much full size keys working off the OP-Z = winner!
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What video Synth? LZX modules or a 3 trins?
That video made me think of Better Call Saul!
Lumen, midi controlled by the Z.
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Great software!
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Street Fighter inspired this time. Still some very ropey use of the punch in FX but really love how far you can take a single pattern with this thing. And still not used a screen with it once!
Anyway, won’t clog up this thread any more with crappy tunes - again, just examples of how “reasonable” one can get with this thing after less than a week of owning it. 2 patterns here.
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Thanks to the info on here i got an OP-Z and now i have 2 questions regarding sample import:
- How should i import a drumloop? Loop it in my daw and cut it exactly after 6 seconds and then put it into a synth slot of the op drum utility to create an aif file?
- And what about drum hits? I understand they should already have the right levels because you can’t change the level of a single sample. Is that right?
The drum samples can be up to 12 seconds total for the kit. I recommend slicing your loop into individual hits and then loading those slices into the drum utility, that way it’s more flexible than just having it as a full loop (or using it in the synth tracks).
I’ve just assumed this is the case for my own sample packs, and so I basically normalise everything before making the kits. The drum utility allows you to adjust gain per hit, but I’m not sure if it carries across to the OP-Z (pitch per hit does though!)
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A month after the launch, its still hard to grasp what this machine does. The manual is still super vague about most things. Their youtube videos were a lot about the unity/visualisation feature which is so niche that probably only 1% of their users will ever touch.
At this point, I’d really like to see a youtube video showcasing all the synth engines inluding their parameters to see what kind of sounds this machine is capable of because the youtube videos thus far sound very chiptune-like and I dont need to shell out 600 Euros for that.
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Not all of them. It’s very diverse, it can sound however you want it to sound. It just takes some creative thinking in order to push it.
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