Been using my Op1 a lot as a controller for organelle and ipad. The Op1 sequencers and arpeggio are super creative when used with various apps/organelle patches. Don’t really want all this extra wear and tear on my Op1 tho. Anyone recommend a small form midi controller with at least 2 octaves of keys and comparable onboard sequencing/arpeggios to Op1?
Bluetooth + USB a bonus.
More knobs than Op1 would be a bonus too but can fix that elsewhere if needed.
Will still use Op1 a lot of the time cos combining op1 sequencers with Organelle sequencers that are using footswitch for live sampling from Op1 patterns and mangling is too much fun 
but also having a cheaper box I can use around the house without being so concerned it’ll break/wear out would be cool.
Thanks!
Edit - TE should make an Op1 format sequencer/controller with no synths/i/o or fx etc and use cheaper materials. with just some small memory for sequences. If it was under £200 I’d buy it for sure…
Not exactly what you’re asking for, but I love the sequencer and arp on the Keystep. You can save various sequences, and the arp has variable settings. Very useful, and it’s fairly versatile.
Thanks. Yeah Keystep and korg nanokey studio are the two contenders atm. No sequencer on the korg tho and no Bluetooth or knobs on the Keystep. Also not sure if either have the same arpeggio features like Op1 (tempo division, quirks etc)…
Decisions…
Maybe not the most helpful suggestion as it’s more expensive and bigger than the other contenders… but I love using my Roland JD-Xi for this. I actually use it as my main controller for my Analog Rytm, Digitakt, iPad and hardware synths because of the arpeggiator and sequencers. Midi connected to Elektrons/synths and USB to iPad/Macbook.
The arpeggiator has 128 presets and there are 4 sequencer tracks (3 instrument, 1 drum) that can record in real time or step mode. 3 octaves mini-keys, real pitch and mod wheels.
You also get 2 great Supernatural digital synths with 128 polyphony, a shit monophonic analog synth, and all the classic Roland drum samples
There are loads of weird design decisions and pointless limitations and a ton of menu diving, but I love using it as an midi controller!
Edit - Price has gone up a lot since I got mine, but can still be found for about £250 used.
@cretakano thanks for the insights. Hadn’t considered the jd xi. 3 octaves appeals and the sequencer and arp sound pretty deep/flexible. Can get a good deal on roland stuff. A few questions if you get a minute. Do the 4 sequencer tracks send out on different channels? Do the knobs transmit cc (is that editable?)? Does it work bus powered from ipad or need psu? Does the ‘step’ mode compare well to using Endless on OP1?
Thanks!
@cretakano I found this comment on Reddit but not sure exactly what it means. Does this mean there’s no comparable sequencer to op-1 Endless functionality? Like dial in a sequence and then gate/transpose it via playing a note on keys?
" mpourdas • 245d
The deal-breaker for me is that the JD-XI does not send transposed MIDI CC data, confirmed by Roland themselves. Not key changes, but using the 1.5 transposer. Pretty annoying and I don’t know why they didn’t work that in…"
I just bought the iOS app Xequencer that might be an option for you: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/xequence-midi-sequencer/id1279011478?
If you need hardware and have no limit on price, I suggest looking at the Synthstrom Audible Deluge or Polyend Seq
:
The Deluge (I own one) isn’t that big btw. But the Seq is, so not really an option for your purpose.
I just bought the iOS app Xequencer that might be an option for you: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/xequence-midi-sequencer/id1279011478?
Long discussion on the Audiobus forum: https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/21277/xequence-midi-sequencer
If you need hardware and have no limit on price, I suggest looking at the Synthstrom Audible Deluge or Polyend Seq :D :
https://synthstrom.com/product/deluge/
http://polyend.com/seq-sequencer/
The Deluge (I own one) isn't that big btw. But the Seq is, so not really an option
for your purpose.
Thanks. Don’t really wanna spend more than £200… Deluge is cool but overkill for my needs atm.
Will check out that app. Tho ideally I want a solution that includes hardware keys…
This is dumb question but anyone know if organelle and Op1 receive ipad midi via the USB cable? No extra boxes needed? I’m not able to test right now but pretty sure I’ve never sent midi OUT of ipad via USB + CCK, only received…Guessing it should work both directions if it works for one way?
Organelle and iPad cannot talk directly as they are both USB MIDI hosts. You would need to go via a couple of MIDI interfaces. MIDI in and out works between OP1 / Organelle and OP1 / iOS though.
I can connect the OP-1 to my iPad (with USB > CCK (Camera Connection Kit) just fine. You can play iPad synths with the OP-1’s keyboard and you can play/sequence the OP-1 from, for example, Xequence.
Not sure what happens if you put another USB MIDI host to the mix using a capable USB hub. Is that what you mean ghostly606?
Yes, two hosts cannot speak to each other.
So that being the fact. Maybe look at Retrokit’s RK-004 and attach a Raspberry Pi Zero to it, download and install the free Raspberry Pi image to a microSD card, insert it in the RPi, boot and you should be set. You need to add a powered USB hub I think.
The more expensive options would be iConnectivity’s mio4 or iConnectMIDI4+. You need to add a powered USB hub to that as well.
@cretakano thanks for the insights. Hadn't considered the jd xi. 3 octaves appeals and the sequencer and arp sound pretty deep/flexible. Can get a good deal on roland stuff. A few questions if you get a minute. Do the 4 sequencer tracks send out on different channels? Do the knobs transmit cc (is that editable?)? Does it work bus powered from ipad or need psu? Does the 'step' mode compare well to using Endless on OP1?
Thanks!
The 4 sequencer tracks send out on fixed channels, 1+2 (Digital), 3 (Analog) and 10 (Drums). Annoying for some people’s setups, not a problem in mine.
8 of the top row’s knobs can be mapped to anything Ableton, Beatmaker 3 etc, CC number not editable though.
Needs the PSU, not bus powered unfortunately.
That Reddit comment is right, for some reason the transpose doesn’t work for external sequencing which is a real shame. For the internal synths you can globally transpose the whole pattern by pressing shift + a key, but not transpose by playing different notes like Endless.
You can use the interactive chord thing to change key of the whole pattern including external stuff, but would much rather just have the transpose. Hopefully they will add that in the next update!
It’s not an obvious choice to use as a midi controller, but the arp patterns and sequencer are really creative for me in a similar way to OP-1, although not that similar in functionality. Would really like something like Keystep with loads of arp patterns and a few seq tracks.