Teenage Engineering: OP-1 Portable Synthesizer

Brand: Teenage Engineering
Model: OP-1
Purchased: March 18, 2022
Instrument: Digital synthesizer, sampler, sequencer, and portable workstation

This device is a portable electronic music workstation combining synthesis, sampling, and sequencing. It has a synthesizer, a sampler, a drum machine, and a 4-track digital tape recorder. Essentially, it’s a portable digital audio workstation (DAW). I had seen quite a few videos of this at the time, which amazed me as a fun, creative toy to play with, but it was expensive. Originally, these were around $700 until the pandemic drove up prices.

I was going through a tough time with plenty of stress at work and a health issue at the time, amplified by work stress, and I made this purchase to help focus my mind on creativity while recovering. I purchased a kit with a case and a few accessories, then added a few more add-ons. The Accessory kit included parts that let me connect to LEGO so I could use Mindstorms or EV3 to automate some controls while playing the synthesizer.

When I purchased my synthesizer, the product had already been around for about a decade. The model number I received was TE002. Shortly afterwards, the OP-1 Field was released.

Price List

Product	Price
Kit: Teenage Engineering: OP-Portable Synthesizer Kit Decksaver: Clear cover Blucoil: USB Wall Adapter Blucoil: 3-FT USB cable	$1,319
Teenage Engineering: M-1 On-Ear Headset for OP-Z Synthesizer and Daisy Chain Headphones	$79
Teenage Engineering: OP-1 Accessory Kit (FM Antenna, Crank, Blender, Brick Shafts)	$79
Analog Cases: Teenage Engineering OP-1 Custom-Fitted GLIDE case for travel	$46.98
Ancable: 3.5mm 4 Section FM/AM Telescopic Antenna for Teenage Engineering OP-1	$5.99

Creating Music

Can I create music? Yes, but it’s more of a meditative, fun experiment. I’ve seen many videos of people DJing in clubs, or of a few people getting together with their own OP-1s and jamming. I’m not at that level. I’m more into experimenting and relaxing. However, I did release a few songs while experimenting.

Zero-XP

March 22, 2022

I created a little album on Sound Cloud called “Zero-XP” and added my OP-1 songs to it as I was experimenting.

WTF?

I spoke into the sampler and just said, “What the fuck?” then kept playing the sample with different notes. It’s a very weird song. In addition, I created some artwork on the display similar to an Etch-a-Sketch.

Quick Fox

This one was a little different. I made it slightly bouncier and recorded myself saying the well-known line: “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.” Many people will recognize that the sentence includes all 26 letters of the alphabet and is often used in touch-typing classes. I split the sample and assigned different keys to change the order of the words spoken and pauses.

Red Means Record

Before I purchased the OP-1, I would spend hours watching the “Red Means Record” YouTube channel as he went through the process of creating various songs on the OP-1. I would watch as he pieced everything together.