Teenage Engineering OP-Z

Let me start by saying this could be a brilliant device. It sounds good, inspires and is powerful for creating music but .. here comes the 'could be' part...

The elephant in the room: The quality is abysmal. My device works as it should but (and its a big one) its build is shoddy to say the least. The OPZ is warped, the rotary encoders, which are magnets pop out. (not only when upside down but are being pushed outwards by their own magnetic force all the time. At times the buttons also double trigger. This is completely unacceptable at this price. I should have been weary of TE after I bought one of their Pocket Operators and the quality was bad. But I thought that it was an inexpensive device so didnt think much of it.

At first I was in love with what the OPZ could do and couldn't see myself returning it, but two years down the line I'm sorry I didn't. The bad quality really pushes me away from using it and it just sits in a drawer. Waste of money ultimately. At TE, the sound engineering and software team is probably doing a good job but hardware is abysmal. The price is not justifiable.

I'm not being unrealistic here. Do your own research. This bent grey piece of plastic in front of me is proof.

I bought this device a year ago and I still love it very much. First, the design is much better than it looks on a photo. It is light, feels great to handle and the button are enjoyable.

Making music with this device is really easy and it immediately sounds great. The drum sections are really good. You can make awesome beat really quickly.

The whole design is very intuitive despite the lack of screen. Once you get how this thing works, you really do not need a screen.

The sequencer is just perfect. This device can serve as the "brain" for you set, as it is really easy to sequence other instrument with it.

My only reservation is about the synths. The sounds are good but nothing incredible. The biggest issue at this point is that it is very difficult to add new sounds (sample). Hopefully this will be solved at some point.

In my opinion, this is a fantastic device that is a perfect entry into the world of electronic music.

When you first open it you worry it will be difficult to learn how to use this because of it being so menu-driven but the quick-start guide and overlays are so intuitive that you learn the interface within 20 minutes.

I've been using this to write music while on planes and trains and to demo out new ideas worked on in the rehearsal room too.

One small issue I've noticed (and read online along with the OP-1) is that in some situations you get a loud buzzing noise if the instrument is charging via USB on a computer/laptop that is also being used to record the OP-Z from the line-out. (Only if it is the same laptop/computer). This is because it is non-isolated and creates a ground loop. I've seen isolators that can fix this problem so should be OK (and if you don't have it plugged in to charge it is no problem). For this reason I haven't marked down the OP-Z in my star rating as it is a work-around-able issue.

Overall it is incredible. Certainly very expensive but you can tell a lot of that cost is for the large amount of time spent on research and development from Teenage Engineering.

I've been using this machine for a few months now and it's intricacies never cease to amaze me.
I've been using Korg grooveboxes from the electribe series for years and this does everything those machines did, better and in a way that's much more user friendly. I can't possibly sing the praises of this synth within the word limit of this review but I'll try.

1. It's small and that's not a problem. It's easy to play once you get used to it and if you're a commuter this is hands down one of the best ways to pass time on a train.
2. The internal patches are beautiful and even if you don't like them, they're highly editable. And loading new samples from the 'op.fun' website is simple once you learn how.
3. Great as a makeshift drum machine for live jamming. The live effects make for dynamic sounding drum fills. Similarly, setting the synth to random can create really interesting loops.
4. The design is sleek and minimal and I love it. It's very impressive to me how they do so much with so few buttons and knobs. I thought working without a screen would be more difficult but It's very easy to navigate parameters once you learn what colour means what.

In conclusion,
there's so much you can say about this synth but most importantly, if you think it's the kind of thing you'd like and you've got the cash to spare, go for it. Maybe watch some Cuckoo videos.

Some cons ;
Limited midi capability without expansions.
Internal speaker is pretty bad but I use headphones or plug it into other synths mostly anyway.
No instruction manual (will be a con for some people but I loved that to be honest)

Really cool little device, very inspiring and addictive.

The factory sounds on the drums tracks are well designed, the synths are nice. They are many functions that allow to experiment and make patterns unpredictable (if you want to).
On top of that you have two tracks to control lights and visual! (and that is a first).
And last but not least awesome sequencer!

Pros:
-Super small and battery power, so you can bring it anywhere
-Inspiring
-Make music and control visual and lights with one machine
-It sounds very good: synths/effects/drums
-The machine feels good when touching it

Cons:
-Only two parameters can be tweaked on the synths track (in order to design the sound)
-Only 6 notes polyphony to sequence midi (on module track without module)
-Only 4 notes polyphony on chord track
-You cannot apply step components on the module track (without the module)
-Actual firmware has bugs: machine turns off, latency when switching projects (not great for live situation)
-Quality build: some parts like the rotaries or the feet seem very fragile. (rubber getting destroyed or rotaries getting out)

Overall it's a great mobile device and the firmware is still young so hopefully all bugs will be fixed.

The fact that there is no screen isn't a problem. I got used to it within a day and it really boosted my workflow and inspiration.

If you want a portable device to experiment with and record you ideas fast and be able to control visual and lights buy it!

It's a great toy, awesome for taking with you anywhere. The form-factor is great. And the battery is decent.

You can make something in minutes and it will sound good.

The sampling process, in my opinion, is a bit more complicated than expected, but you get used to it.

It has a limited space for your samples, and you need to constantly make back-ups.

It's great, but it's just for fun.

The downside is the build quality. As many others say, I also encountered the double trigger problem, witch can be annoying sometimes. And also a not so smooth encoder (just one of them moves slower).

Overall it's a great toy to have on the go.