RIP OP-Z Hype: Long Live OP-Z!

I’m officially over it I guess. After waiting for years and years and then seeing beta units in the wild on social media with hardly any compelling demos. Not that I think I’m owed anything by beta testers or TE, but just ran out of energy to stay hyped in this last home stretch. Was a fun few weeks recently on this forum but now that those conversations have died down I literally see nothing anywhere even though we’re closer than ever to its release. Anyone seeing any OP-Z action anywhere these days?

@instantjuggler said:
I’m officially over it I guess. After waiting for years and years and then seeing beta units in the wild on social media with hardly any compelling demos. Not that I think I’m owed anything by beta testers or TE, but just ran out of energy to stay hyped in this last home stretch. Was a fun few weeks recently on this forum but now that those conversations have died down I literally see nothing anywhere even though we’re closer than ever to its release. Anyone seeing any OP-Z action anywhere these days?

Yes! Signed up to say exactly this. Don’t know what happened. What haven’t there been any discussions about the synth engines?? Ya know…the things that cause the thing to make noises?? I dont get it. It seemed cool at first but at $600 and without any other info about what’s underneath, Ive lost interest.

There was also virtually no information about the OP-1 when it came out. No manual, no advertising. TE just made something great and waited for users to really demonstrate its capabilities. It suffered the same scrutiny for its price to size ratio, but things have turned out ok.

The synth engines sound similar to the OP-1, and like those of its older sibling, are labeled in a less-than-traditional way that forces you to explore the engine rather than turn a familiar knob. There are tracks for different synth functions (like arp, chord, melody) and different engines can be selected for each track. Most engines have a filter built in, and each page has the ability to route through two selectable send effects. Color coordination will again be on tap for this device, especially for those not pairing it with a screen. A shift button rotates through various editing pages such as the engine, envelope, LFO and effects routing while multi color LEDs change to indicate where you are

@Lymtronics said:
There was also virtually no information about the OP-1 when it came out. No manual, no advertising. TE just made something great and waited for users to really demonstrate its capabilities. It suffered the same scrutiny for its price to size ratio, but things have turned out ok.

The synth engines sound similar to the OP-1, and like those of its older sibling, are labeled in a less-than-traditional way that forces you to explore the engine rather than turn a familiar knob. There are tracks for different synth functions (like arp, chord, melody) and different engines can be selected for each track. Most engines have a filter built in, and each page has the ability to route through two selectable send effects. Color coordination will again be on tap for this device, especially for those not pairing it with a screen. A shift button rotates through various editing pages such as the engine, envelope, LFO and effects routing while multi color LEDs change to indicate where you are

Yeah I’m sure that’s true. I wasnt following them back then so I don’t know. But all I hear are like little bleeps and bloops. I dont know…I’ll of course watch and eat up all the videos once they go in depth more into the synth engines.

Just think it’s odd they would have videos showing off the interface but not the actual synth engines. It would be like having a car commercial and showing off the air freshener and seat cover. Like who the fuck cares.

not to mention that the op1 was considered vaporware for years when they first debuted a non-working prototype.

i get that its kinda odd, but there are a lot of moving pieces w/ the op-z.
maybe the jumped the gun last year by showing everybody it.

whats wrong with a lil mystery in your lives?

They’re out of their minds not giving a beta unit to Jeremy at red means recording, or Andrew Huang. I’ve still yet to hear a compelling demo of what it’s capable of. And two months from release, we still don’t know what features will be present at launch.

I have a feeling they will also struggle to meet demand when early units start to come out. It’s not like Korg showing a working synth at a trade show and promising 10,000 units with a specific street date.

TE could surely produce a beautiful ad campaign, but would not want to waste it on a large audience they could not satisfy.

I assume the release of the OP-Z will not be a bookend for the development team, and that they will remain hard at work for months refining and embellishing the software. It may even be months until a second batch is in stock, as they work out how to scale production and work out turn around times from their factory. Speculation, of course, but not an unlikely position for a small company to find themselves in. We will all be able to purchase one eventually, but I wouldn’t expect to walk into a Guitar Center on a certain date and buy one of several units in their stockroom.

But yeah… the hype will begin once the first-wavers have them in their hands and start making music with them. If I’m not lucky enough to have one by then, I know I will be drooling at the threads here of people exploiting various features and dissecting cryptic elements of OP-Z together.

@Ion677 said:
They’re out of their minds not giving a beta unit to Jeremy at red means recording, or Andrew Huang. I’ve still yet to hear a compelling demo of what it’s capable of. And two months from release, we still don’t know what features will be present at launch.

From what I was told, they did not do “global” hardware beta testing for the OP-Z, just in Sweden and a few neighboring EU countries. Which explains why RMR and Andrew Huang aren’t testing.

@Ion677 said:
They’re out of their minds not giving a beta unit to Jeremy at red means recording, or Andrew Huang. I’ve still yet to hear a compelling demo of what it’s capable of. And two months from release, we still don’t know what features will be present at launch.

@Ion677 said:
They’re out of their minds not giving a beta unit to Jeremy at red means recording, or Andrew Huang. I’ve still yet to hear a compelling demo of what it’s capable of. And two months from release, we still don’t know what features will be present at launch.

I seem to be like the only person who can’t stand Huang. I find him super annoying and clickbait-y and condescending.

I seem to be like the only person who can’t stand Huang. I find him super annoying and clickbait-y and condescending.

He definitely does the shouty titles with a “crazy” face thing I hate too even if the content is sometimes good

Haha, I have blocked all of Andrew’s videos on my YouTube. It’s nothing personal, he seems like a nice guy and like someone said above some of his videos have good content, but I just found myself having watched a whole bunch and not getting anything out of most of them, I think there and a different demographic. I can’t blame the guy for having super click_baity images and titles on his videos, as far as I know that will boost your views immensely. Anyway, he’s clearly doing very well for himself, so hats off to that.

It’s like Andrew Huang and Cuckoo are complete opposites: the former - overly sharp, snappy, clean production, very click-baity, overall generic (IMO) tune. The former, kooky, not as sharp production, some really long videos, non-generic tunes (but very divisive).

RE the OPZ: while the hype has definitely turned down, I have a feeling that when i launches it will be joined with some really fully featured videos and examples, and they will be impossible to get a hold of due to being massively sold out. The hype is going to be furrrrrrious.

@ludicrouSpeed said:
Haha, I have blocked all of Andrew’s videos on my YouTube. It’s nothing personal, he seems like a nice guy and like someone said above some of his videos have good content, but I just found myself having watched a whole bunch and not getting anything out of most of them, I think there and a different demographic. I can’t blame the guy for having super click_baity images and titles on his videos, as far as I know that will boost your views immensely. Anyway, he’s clearly doing very well for himself, so hats off to that.

Yea I mean I have nothing against the guy and good for him, but Id prefer the no-frills type videos over his stuff any day. The one video about the Digitone was called “DIGITONE IS SO INTENSE” and he’s wearing a silver jacket on. IS IT MAN?? How intense whoaaaa…No thanks dude. It’s condescending to me or something, I cant describe it.

It IS intense, you wouldn’t understand ? ? jks

All aboard the hype train doot doot ?

Huang is OK. I expect his choice of audience commands his delivery style.

@eesn said:
Huang is OK. I expect his choice of audience commands his delivery style.

Let’s not bring “choice” into it, lest I get all philosophical up in heeyah. XD

@ludicrouSpeed said:

@eesn said:
Huang is OK. I expect his choice of audience commands his delivery style.

Let’s not bring “choice” into it, lest I get all philosophical up in heeyah. XD

we’re just talking :smiley: but i think i sorta see what you mean, doesn’t add up exactly, once you consider the products being showcased.

that said, let’s not pretend youtube isn’t full of reviews so boring they make you want to scrape out your own brain and eat it with a teaspoon…

Hahahhahaa. Good point. I’m hoping to do a fun opz unboxing/first impression + review. I should have one of the first from the July 31st if all goes well.

PS. @eesn I reviewed ham a few weeks ago, does that count?