The OP-1 looks awesome for sparking creativity and providing a one stop shop for synth, sampler, sequencer. I play guitar in a duo and have often contemplated adding drum loops or ambient pads as background tracks to my music. Has anyone had experience using the op-1 for this kind of thing?
Would work great, but so would lots of other stuff cheaper. iPad, SP404, Circuit, Volcas… Lots of fun little noisemakers around these days.
iPad + Korg Gadget or even just Garage Band would probably be better suited than the OP-1 as you might hit the 4 track limit pretty fast once you start fading in and out layers of sound.
As Anfim said there’s other little interesting boxes too, especially the Volcas and POs could provide what you’re looking for at a very affordable price point.
Thanks for the replies. I’m curious about the iPad route. I have korg gadget - like it but crashes fairly often. I cannot get on with the iPad without a controller keyboard either - partly what pulled me towards the op-1 as it looks so tactile.
Can anyone recommend ipad compatible keyboard controllers to look into?
Oh and as a side note, anyone had experience teaching kids music on an op-1?
I’ve used the OP-1 to play prepared audio loops on gigs. I had to manually do it though - wait until the Tape hits the audio section I want to loop, then hit the button combo to loop that section. As a guitarist, you can see the problem with “manually do it”, right? That said, I set up my loops on alternating tracks - play Loop A on Track 1, then Loop B on Track 2, then Loop C on Track 1, etc. As long as the loops are short, and the total recording time is less than 6 min. you don’t need more than 4 tracks to play through a bunch of loops.
I did see a singing acoustic guitarist use an OP-1 as part of his solo act. He arranged his songs/set so he could take his hands off the guitar to start/stop loops on the OP-1 without the audience feeling like there was an awkward silence. Actually, for the songs that featured OP1, I think he always began the song by pressing play on the OP1, then singing/playing guitar, then taking his hands off the guitar when he needed to change the backing audio in some way.
Definitely a more complicated usage, but Bon Iver’s band on Jimmy Fallon was recently using a bunch of OP-1’s: http://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/video/bon-iver-8-circle/3099669
Can anyone recommend ipad compatible keyboard controllers to look into?I've got the Arturia KeyStep but I use the OP-1 too. The nice thing about hooking up both is that you can play the OP-1 with the KeyStep and get velocity control.
Thanks. I bought myself an OP-1 and I’m very satisfied with it. Unfortunately the iPad camera connection kit does not work with the OP-1 since it requires more power so I need to replace this with either the new USB 3 CCK that includes power, or get a powered USB hub.
I’ll take a look at the <span style=“background-color: rgb(252, 252, 255); color: rgb(37, 38, 30); font-family: “lucida grande”, “Lucida Sans Unicode”, tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;”>Arturia KeyStep.
Thanks. I bought myself an OP-1 and I'm very satisfied with it. Unfortunately the iPad camera connection kit does not work with the OP-1 since it requires more power so I need to replace this with either the new USB 3 CCK that includes power, or get a powered USB hub.I'll take a look at the Arturia KeyStep.
I really hate the way Apple approaches these things. How on earth does it require more power if the OP1 is self powered to begin with?
And there is an option to disable the draw on power in the COM modes on the OP-1 - so I was confused too.
And there is an option to disable the draw on power in the COM modes on the OP-1 - so I was confused too.I have a Pro 9.7" and I can power my OP-1 with or without OPT mode from the CCK. Also, I have the USB 3 CCK, works well too. Unfortunately it won't let me power it from my little power bank, the Apple charger works fine though.
Thanks. I bought myself an OP-1 and I'm very satisfied with it. Unfortunately the iPad camera connection kit does not work with the OP-1 since it requires more power so I need to replace this with either the new USB 3 CCK that includes power, or get a powered USB hub.
Powered USB hub would give you the most options. IPad + Camera Connector + Hub would give you the USB hosting functionality you need for the OP-1.
Any hub recommendations?
I’m currently using a Belkin - just a plain ol’ hub you can pick up at any Best Buy/Target/whatever.
Starting over I’d probably get an Anker. Heard about Anker on the iPad Musician FB group while researching replacement Lightning-USB cables (NOT the Lighting-USB Camera Connector!!!.. just your plain cable) after one of them went bad. The Anker cables look more solidly built than typical Apple cables. I also got an Anker 4-USB port charger after losing my iPad charger. I’d expect their USB hubs to be just as good.
The OP-1 looks awesome for sparking creativity and providing a one stop shop for synth, sampler, sequencer. I play guitar in a duo and have often contemplated adding drum loops or ambient pads as background tracks to my music. Has anyone had experience using the op-1 for this kind of thing?
I am interested in this exact function as well. I fits in my hard bass case along with my zoom h4n perfectly. I would love to use it live to add parts, samples, beats to otherwise live set (funk/rnb/reggae mostly). I also have a digitech rp-255(gtr) /355 (bass) - maybe I’ll try live looping a repetitive bass part; then get loose on the op.