Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ten years of OP-1

teenage.engineering

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 213 posts

Re: Ten years of OP-1

#91

Post by [deleted] »

thenewwazoo wrote: post #82
smoldesu wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If my tone comes off as "acerbic", I guess I'm a little surprised. I love Teenage Engineering (and own a few Pocket Operators too), but I gotta call them out on the pricing issue here. When the price of the OP-1 did start to skyrocket in 2012, Teenage Engineering said absolutely nothing, and then discontinued it in 2013, sending the secondhand market soaring again. Of course, their response is to put it back into pro…

There are schools of (microeconomic) thought that would encourage them to raise prices even further in order to reduce demand to match their supply capability. If the second-hand market prices a good higher than the original seller, that's a very clear signal to increase the price. At least that way the profits end up in the manufacturer's pocket (which they can use to increase volume) instead of a speculator's. That…

[deleted]

Re: Ten years of OP-1

#92

Post by agallant »

jeffdubin wrote: post #30
TheMagicHorsey wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Roland MV-1 is 100 times better.

The Roland MV-1 could be an intuitive, creative, flexible device, but a 16x2 LCD? How does that compare against the OP-1's beautiful, animated OLED display?

They recently updated it to allow you to use an iOS or Android device as an external display: https://www.roland.com/us/support/knowledge_base/36005866483...

Clunkier than a device with a proper screen, but the same approach the OP-Z uses (though I think it can use bluetooth to connect instead of a cable).

Re: Ten years of OP-1

#93

Post by monkmartinez »

blairbeckwith wrote: post #77
smoldesu wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whatever justifies it for you. For every extra dollar they eke out of bougie hipster, they ostracize people like me who would definitely buy one if it was $500 or $600

Companies are under no obligation to not ostracize potential customers. Do you also think that luxury car companies are shitty and ridiculous because they charge more than cars that "do the same thing"?

I do, but I am admittedly a small sample. A case can certainly be made that luxury cars, in general, are not very "good" cars in most metrics as by which the industry measures what a "good" car should be. I think OP has a valid point, if the synth Teenage is selling is inferior and more expensive but sells because "status" and signaling.

Re: Ten years of OP-1

#94

Post by toiletfuneral »

musicalynejd wrote: post #88
smoldesu wrote: post #56

Teenage Engineering is a frustrating company. On the one hand, they set out to create some of the most fun music equipment you can own: their Pocket Operator line is awesome for beginners of the hardware world, and they've consistently innovated with their grooveboxes. The problem? They have absolutely no respect for their pricing model. The OP-1 used to cost $800, which was already a big ask for a microprocessor, OL…

You don't understand their pricing because you don't understand what they are actually selling. They don't sell musical devices, they sell status symbols. You buy an OP-1 to look cool, not to actually make music with it. It's a bit like with the iPhone, but on a whole different level. Some buy fancy sneakers, others buy fancy pens and Moleskine, others buy an OP-1. And you can't have a cheap status symbol. This is al…

oh hell yeah, we're back to the era "no one does REAL work on Macs / iPhones" but now its the OP-1

you seem mad bro

Re: Ten years of OP-1

#95

Post by smoldesu »

musicalynejd wrote: post #88
smoldesu wrote: post #56

Teenage Engineering is a frustrating company. On the one hand, they set out to create some of the most fun music equipment you can own: their Pocket Operator line is awesome for beginners of the hardware world, and they've consistently innovated with their grooveboxes. The problem? They have absolutely no respect for their pricing model. The OP-1 used to cost $800, which was already a big ask for a microprocessor, OL…

You don't understand their pricing because you don't understand what they are actually selling. They don't sell musical devices, they sell status symbols. You buy an OP-1 to look cool, not to actually make music with it. It's a bit like with the iPhone, but on a whole different level. Some buy fancy sneakers, others buy fancy pens and Moleskine, others buy an OP-1. And you can't have a cheap status symbol. This is al…

I'm fully aware that's why they sell them, and it's why I'm not criticizing them for something they've obviously done quite well.

Re: Ten years of OP-1

#96

Post by blairbeckwith »

monkmartinez wrote: post #93
blairbeckwith wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Companies are under no obligation to not ostracize potential customers. Do you also think that luxury car companies are shitty and ridiculous because they charge more than cars that "do the same thing"?

I do, but I am admittedly a small sample. A case can certainly be made that luxury cars, in general, are not very "good" cars in most metrics as by which the industry measures what a "good" car should be. I think OP has a valid point, if the synth Teenage is selling is inferior and more expensive but sells because "status" and signaling.

But they do sell, and Lamborghini or Porsche are not under any obligation to make a cheap car so that everyone who wants one can afford one, nor should they.

Re: Ten years of OP-1

#97

Post by epse »

capableweb wrote: post #60
gnulinux wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course! There are many synth artists out there. E.g. Andrew Huang https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YHz6lsMcjDY

Andrew Huang is probably the worst example of a OP-1 user when it comes to music production and not music production teaching. AFAIK, Huang is more of a Youtube-educator than musician.

I don't know, he puts out really good music and videos at an equally astonishing rate for both. They have lots and lots of albums and while few of them are alike, I thoroughly enjoy most of them.

Re: Ten years of OP-1

#98

Post by monkmartinez »

zokier wrote: post #84
smoldesu wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whatever justifies it for you. For every extra dollar they eke out of bougie hipster, they ostracize people like me who would definitely buy one if it was $500 or $600

Why do you feel entitled to be able to buy it at price point that suits you?

I didn't get a sense of entitlement. I see someone frustrated with features for price, then calling it out as non-sensical. I like when people do that frankly. Is it judgey? You bet, and its ok to have an opinion on the matter!

Re: Ten years of OP-1

#99

Post by epse »

dylan604 wrote: post #52
sneak wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00XAF4J04 I've stopped putting SIM cards in my smartphones entirely, but I still have one SIM I still need to receive SMS on. I'll eventually put it into a rpi shield/hat/whatever and make an SMS to email bridge. Until then, this has amazing battery life.

I feel kind of like I'm being trolled with this one, but it is kind of awesomely bad that I sort of want one.

I feel the same way. 32 GB of storage??

Re: Ten years of OP-1

#100

Post by jaxwerk »

smoldesu wrote: post #56

Teenage Engineering is a frustrating company. On the one hand, they set out to create some of the most fun music equipment you can own: their Pocket Operator line is awesome for beginners of the hardware world, and they've consistently innovated with their grooveboxes. The problem? They have absolutely no respect for their pricing model. The OP-1 used to cost $800, which was already a big ask for a microprocessor, OL…

I bought my OP-1 at a steal for $600 two years back. I'd pay $1200 for it today, maybe $1600.

There's a lot of more technically capable stand-alone gear that can be had for less of course. My MPC Live is what my finished (not good compared to others, I'm just an amateur making video game soundtracks for kids I teach game dev to) songs ultimately come out of, and the Octatrack is something I've really enjoyed playing with. None of these are going to be something that lives in my backpack and comes out in the park on a sunny day when I've got that perfect boss battle intro sequence drop popping into my head though. Size considerations aside, I can slam down a decent prototype of a song that's actually listenable in just a couple of minutes on the OP-1 before the idea fades away, and have a blast doing it.

I think their pricing is sensible. The thing fills a niche no other piece of gear I've found can. That seems worth paying for.

Post reply on HN