Teenage Engineering - OP-XY First Look
OP-1 field’s and OP-Z’s child on Steroids!
It’s always a great day when a new Teenage Engineering instrument is released! And what a release!
Teenage Engineering just announced the brand new OP-XY. Its name is a clear hint to the OP-Z, a device that people desperately asked for an upgrade in the past few years. But is it actually an OP-Z 2? Well, yes & no. The OP-XY comes in a stunning all-black OP-1 field form factor and if you don’t look closely, you’d think it’s a blacked-out OP-1. The main attraction of the OP-XY is the gradient sequencer in the middle of the device. It’s like Teenage Engineering took everything they knew about sequencing and created a powerhouse that borrows inspiration from TE’s famous instruments of the past and present.
Overview
So what is the OP-XY? Much similar to the OP-1 field, the OP-XY is pretty much a DAW in a box. It can do pretty much everything you’d want to make music. It has 8 brand new Synth Engines, a Drum Sampler, a Synth Sampler & a Multisampler (I literally can’t wait to make multi-sampled instruments on this), Built-in effects, Punch-in Effects, a crazy-powerful Sequencer, an Arrangement & Song Mode, and the list goes on and on. It’s so feature-packed I don’t even know where to start!
The Synth Engines are all new and share the same philosophy as the ones on the OP-1 field. But with one main difference! Since the effects section works much differently on the OP-XY, the 3rd page now hosts two filters instead of the effects that you can choose on the OP-1. The first page is your synth and its parameters, the second page is the Envelopes (yes, two envelopes) - one for amplitude and one for the filter, the third page is your filter that has 4 different options, and lastly, page 4 has your LFO. The addition of an extra envelope and a filter makes sound design much more versatile and complex and I hope that those can also come to the OP-1 with a firmware update.
A brief overview of the new engines:
Axis: An FM synth that sounds great for pads and string-type sounds
Dissolve: A noisy and harsh synth that can do leads, gritty pads, and more
Epiano: As its name implies, E-Piano can create beautiful electric piano sounds. But its mellow character can be also used for any type of sound like pads & bass.
Hardsync: Replicates the punchy sound of hard-synced oscillators. Perfect for stabs and basses!
Organ: Umm, yes. Organ sounds!
Prism: Virtual Analog synth that can be detuned and widened. Good for all synth sounds!
Simple: Your basic waveforms single oscillator synth patch maker.
Wavetable: Another classic wavetable synth that allows you to move around the wavetable and create movement. And no, you can’t load your own wavetables.
For drums, the OP-XY has your regular Drum Sampler, which you can find on the OP-1 field. Simple and effective!
Effects
OP-XY treats effects differently and in numerous ways. There are Send Effects & Punch-in Effects. The send effects are Chorus, Delay, Distortion, Lofi, Phaser, and Reverb and you can send any track to any amount on those Send Effects. keep in mind, you can only have 2 Send Effects per project.
The Punch-In effects are a whole different story. There are 12 effects for the Drum parts and 12 for the Melodic parts. You can perform with them just like on the K.O. II but you can also add them to your sequences! The amount of variation and expressiveness you can create with your sequences is incredible and limitless by using effects on the sequencer itself. To control the effects sequences, there are 8 Auxiliary tracks that hold this information for you to edit and play around.
Workflow
As I said earlier, the OP-XY is a complete beast when it comes to creating songs or musical ideas. There are so many things I want to explore, and we will probably go into detail when I have it in my hands for a proper hands-on review. The OP-1 field is also a great instrument to generate ideas or even create full tracks but there is a huge difference between the two devices that sets them apart. The OP-1 field is an instrument in which you work with audio. You have the Tape that can store 4 audio tracks with unlimited overdubs and it’s 6 minutes long. On the opposite side, the OP-XY stores sequences which are MIDI data. MIDI files are way smaller compared to audio files and that’s the reason OP-XY can store thousands of projects to its 8Gb memory.
The workflow is similar to any DAW where you work with plugins. The same goes for the OP-1 field if you mostly record audio files in your DAW. For each track, you can create patterns using the sequencer. Then those patterns can be grouped into scenes. And lastly, those scenes can be arranged in the Song Mode in any order you want. If you are an Ableton Live user, you’ll feel at home with this type of workflow. It’s literally the exact same way I work in Ableton Live so I believe it’s going to work perfectly for me.
You can, of course, mix your tracks, add a master saturator & compressor, and do some basic EQing in the end.
Connectivity & Design
As far as connections go, the OP-XY has a USB-C port for charging it (the battery is once again fantastic and presumably lasts for around 16 hours), connecting to your laptop, and sending MIDI & Audio. It has an Audio Out that’s stereo, a MIDI-in port, an Audio-in port, and a Multi-out jack that can send CV, MIDI, Audio, or Sync Out.
It has a built-in microphone, a built-in speaker, and the same layout as the OP-1 field. Design-wise, the only difference, besides the color palette, is that the notes are smaller to fit the 16-step sequencer buttons above it.
As expected, the OP-XY looks absolutely beautiful. I love the black & white aesthetic although I’m still not sure I love the gradient sequencer color choice. The screen is also black & white (I’m suspecting by choice since it must be the same screen the OP-1 field has) and the graphics for the engines and the effects are a joy to watch. Since it’s a Teenage Engineering device, it simply cannot look bad. They even managed to make a Medieval Sampler look cool.
OP-XY VS OP-1 field
The moment I saw the OP-XY and started to read about its specs, I immediately started comparing it to the OP-1 field. I guess the design similarity is the reason that made me think of it. However, in reality, while these two devices have so much in common, they have some major differences. The biggest one is the the one I mentioned before - OP-XY works with MIDI data and OP-1 field works with Audio files. Each of the two has its advantages and limitations.
Since I haven’t worked with the OP-XY yet and I love my OP-1 field to the death, I won’t say that one is better than the other one. What I can say is that the use of MIDI on the OP-XY makes it a bit more versatile. Creating patterns and scenes is the way I work in Ableton Live so it’s a workflow I feel comfortable with. Plus, it allows you to store way more stuff than you can do on the OP-1 field.
The Song mode and the arrangement on the OP-XY are completely different from the Tape on the OP-1. The Tape on the OP-1 field is linear while on the OP-XY you have a more modular approach. You create a few building blocks (patterns), structure them into scenes, and then arrange them to create a song. Imagine having the ability to create different loops (patterns) on the OP-1, and then arrange them to Tape - a completely different approach. They do have different philosophies and approach to structure a song and again, they are not really comparable - it’s mostly a matter of taste and preference.
If you don’t have either of these two devices and you can’t choose which one to buy, I would focus on which type of workflow you prefer and what you want to do with it.
Final Thoughts
I was sure that a successor to the OP-Z would be released at some point, but honestly, I didn’t expect something like the OP-XY. Teenage Engineering has the following on the promo page of the OP-XY and it couldn't be truer. “be careful what you wish for—we know you’ve had wet fantasies about a no-compromise, dual-cpu boosted and fully rebuilt sequencer, sampler, and performance instrument, based on the much-loved workflow of the OP–Z.“
The OP-XY is truly an instrument that exceeded any expectations of what the OP-Z 2 could become. Just like the K.O. II was a huge improvement and a massive update to the limited Pocket Operators, the OP-XY stands proudly as the most complex, versatile, feature-packed Teenage Engineering instrument to date.
The price… Just like two years ago with the OP-1 field, we will have so much drama for OP-XY’s price. Yes, it costs 2.299€. Is that expensive? Yes, it is. But as I said in my latest video on the OP-1 field there is absolutely no reason to get angry on what anything costs. It’s a product made by a company and they can put any price tag they want on it. Then the market will decide if it’s worth its money or not. Without knowing any TE financial data, I think that the OP-1 field experiment went pretty well for them and I’m sure that the OP-XY will also be a very successful product release.
To be honest, I was expecting the new OP-Z to become a mid-tier product for Teenage Engineering. Somewhere around 1.000€ to be in between the K.O. IIs and the OP-1 field. But that would mean it would be way more limited so I’m glad Teenage Engineering gave their all and made the OP-XY such an incredible instrument. It really feels like they maxed out its potential and power on every level.
OP-XY is an amazing sequencer, synth, and portable DAW. All the things people have been complaining about the OP-Z or even the OP-1 are taken care of and there’s nothing left to complain! So stay tuned because a full hands-on review is coming very soon and we’ll go through all the little details of the OP-XY!
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