Thanks a lot. No multitracking, just some normalizing and a bit of compression on the recorded wav file.
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You’re welcome and thanks for the info.
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For the ones interested I just released The Z-Files album fully composed and written on the OP-Z.
Thanks for listening!
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really nice! In a lot of youtube clips (and, sadly, when i use it as well) the OPZ has a particular sound it gravitates towards. (perhaps having to do with the simple synth engines, or the master Chorus/comp effects?). Your stuff does not “sound like” it was made on a OPZ… and i mean that in the best way possible.
I would love to hear more about your workflow, sound design etc.
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Couldn’t agree more. This is giving me hope to make music sound less “op-z”.
Sending mine to the fixers soon for double triggers and distorted output on the minijack and usb.
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I struggle with this a lot, mostly just because I use all the built-in synth engines a lot (a behavior I chalk it up to the sample storage and recall limitations and my own laziness 
), but everything kinda comes out sounding like an OP-Z demo track as a result.
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Thanks a lot!
Well I only use custom samples for kits and melodic stuff (no internal synth sounds) and I think that’s the answer.
I also do stuff like eq/tape-saturation/compression/wow-flutter etc. on most of my samples beforehand.
Regarding my regular workflow on the Z I use it like below:
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Tr1 - One shot drum kits containing a full kit (not only kick/snare/hi-hat/fx like you ‘should’ use it on the Z)
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Tr2 - Sliced Drumloops
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Tr3 - Multisampled instrument (synth/bass/piano/guitar etc.)
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Tr4 - Multisampled instrument (synth/bass/piano/guitar etc.)
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Tr5 - Bass samples
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Tr6 - Melodic samples (pads and plucks)
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Tr7 - Melodic samples (plucks and short notes)
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Tr8 - Melodic samples (pads and long notes)
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FX1 - Half wet or full wet delay with LFO on Pan for ping-pong effect
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FX2 - Full wet reverb and bit of LFO on Pan or something else as well
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Tape - Effecting chosen melodic content (most of the time Track 8) Fine on 100 (+12 semitones) or Fine on 0 (-12 Semitones) Filter on 30 with a bit of resonance and using a Full Dry signal. Tape track is going thru the full Wet reverb FX2 for a subtle and dark shimmer effect giving everything a more spacious feel
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Master - Bit of Chorus (never above 30) and Drive on 50. Punch on 50 and Master around 50.
That’s about it! I am thinking about making a sound pack for the Z soon for the ones interested. The pack will contain most of the sounds of the above Z-Files album.
Cheers.
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Thanks so much for sharing this. Very helpful to all those breaking out of the “op-z sound”.
One further question… is this on a per song basis? As in you have a unique kit and set of samples for each song you write or have you created a single kit and set of synth track samples that you can reuse for different songs?
Your welcome, I reuse samples/kits for different songs a lot and if I change up the samples on the Z it’s more on a ‘per album’ basis. If you check out a previous Z only album of mine you’ll hear drum and melodic sounds which I also used on the Z-Files album. Some of these samples come from the OP-1 on which I also use custom samples only for a long time. For the Energy Crisis EP I’ve used a different set of samples (those are included with that EP btw.)
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Would be so into a Rephazer soundpack! Or two… Your vids were a big part of my decision to get a z years ago. Always putting off the task of building up my own samples…
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What’s the current situation with the Op-Z build quality? Have TE sorted out QC issues with later builds?
Thanks
Ha - I was curious of this myself recently. I sent a message through the TE support site and asked if they engaged in any continuous improvement activities, etc. Their response was unsurprisingly vague, but they said that they look at opportunities to improve. They also mentioned that the OP-Z has a warranty and should anything go awry, they’ll replace / fix it. Other than that, I don’t know what the current status is. I will say it’s probably the voice of a loud minority, while the majority of users don’t have any problems with their unit.
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Cheers!
That makes me feel cautiously optimistic. And I suppose it’s obvious with the warranty that issues would be sorted, defective units replaced etc
And thanks again to @rephazer
Your recents tracks have brought me to the point of buying one.
And in my usual topsy turvy way, I’ve already bought a dual Op-1/Op-z stand in preparation.
I’m most definitely out of the NGNY group now.
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…don’t bend it. And support it in the middle.
Thomann alone sold more than 1000 OP-Z.
I was the first to report the bends and doubletrigs and after that it was existing more or less for nearly every OP-Z user in this forum.
-minority
Most of them just nagging to sell the OPz for a Digi or whatever.
If you think about selling or changing stuff there’s often this moment where you have to build up hate against a product or company to get rid off.
my 3rd Op-Z (early adopter) is now bend and click free since idk 3 years?
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Good info. Thanks
No problems at all from mine. I love it. Also, it’s easy to fix the old pop-up encoder and double-trig problems if you ever get them.
Thomann has a 3-year warranty.
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Cheers! I need to forward that to TE, perhaps they will buy me a beer and get a copy of the Z-files album 
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The deed is done. Delivery on Monday (My day off)
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It came bent…
But I knew that was a risk going in