Recording To Laptop Via OP-1?

I was talking, in a previous thread a few months back, about the problem of recording direct to tape / album from the OP-1’s in-built mic. Basically, the mic itself is amazing, but I can’t seem to record to tape without there being a horrible hiss that sounds like spooling tape in the background. It’s a frustrating flaw, because I love everything else about recording to the OP-1: the mic, the effects, the ability to slow and speed up the tape to get different vocal textures - my (admittedly not astounding) voice has never sounded better.

I’ve tried all sorts to try and work round this problem, to little success. Then I wondered - is there a way of recording through the OP-1, using the in-built mic, tape effects etc. but with an output so that the actual recording is being done by a computer? I guess you’d have to use the headphone socket as a line-out, but has anyone tried this, and is it possible?

Haven’t got my OP-1 around to test but is this a confirmed problem with OP-1? Not being able to record to tape from mic without the problems you mention seems like a big deal. It’s something I’m sure I’ll want to do at some point :frowning:

I posted another thread about it a little while ago, and no one seemed able to confirm or deny it. The general response seemed to be along the lines of ‘I think it’s the sound of the tape running’. I think if you just used the synth / drum / sample sounds, and DI instruments, it’s not a problem. So if you’re doing instrumental stuff, and things that don’t need acoustic instruments and vocals, like I guess a lot of people on here do, it’s probably not a problem you’d even encounter. And I suppose that’s why I didn’t get a huge response to the last thread.

It seems to uniquely be a problem recording external instruments / voice, to tape, with the in-built mic. If anyone else could say whether they’ve had the same problem - as well as if the recording to laptop via OP-1 idea works - that’d be much appreciated.

I have noise issues even via line in, most problematically when a USB cable is connected (turning off charging helps but doesn’t eliminate the issue). I think you’re right about the mic too but not at my op1 to check. My workaround was to record to the Drum sampler, the issue occurs when the tape is running.

My solution has been to record with an external mic (in my case an iPhone mic app and a 1/8" cord between the iPhone and op-1). It gets the job done, may sound better than the built in mic does to begin with, even without the tape running sounds.

I use a cheapo Behringer UCA202 to record from line out into my iOS devices. It works fine, and keeps things mobile / away from my computer.

Lame… It’s not a real tape recorder!?? Using ‘tape’ shouldn’t affect sound quality of mic as source right? There’s no mechanical noise like a real tape deck, just code… If i bought an Ipad multitrack app and recording on a track introduced unexplained noise it would be seen as kind of ridiculous, deal breaker to many… I don’t see how this is any different except it has graphics of a tape? Sounds like a huge bug, needs to be fixed, hopefully in new OS…

Maybe TE will give us Dolby C in the coming update >.> lol…

Hahaha :slight_smile: maybe they’ll introduce a pencil variant of the ‘crank’ for when battery dies/tape gets chewed up :wink: