Apparently, TE knows this Rabbit person's background as we are talking about millions dollar business. TE's values here are questionable when they decide to go with this guy.
As for OP1, packaging a tape effect when it can't produce good sound quality is a fraud. Sampling from FM? Check Klaus Schulze.. Music startups can certainly innovate, such as Roli (Seaboard and Rise), moog. make noise. Open source monome. and, to my sorrow, Émilie Gillet (Mutable Instruments). TE's innovation in music itself is far inferior to them. If you praise te, I think it is unfair to other people who are obsessed with technological innovation.
I have always felt that TE is a electronics company with no innovation in hardcore technology. The appearance and packaging are different from previous ones, but there is not enough practical integration. Of course, this is just my personal opinion. If you disagree, you can write down your opinion. Thank you.
A Synthstrom Deluge arguably ticks those boxes, except perhaps for the "piano layout" (not that I think that makes much difference when you can't play either device like an actual piano, and at least the Deluge has a luscious isomorphic keyboard) and the large screen (though the screen isn't really the primary interface on the Deluge, taking a more supporting role of dynamic visual feedback to the real interface, which is pushing the physical buttons - you can get quite far on the Deluge without even looking at the screen.)
And it's still a joke. Spend $200 less and get and Osmose[1] and have a keyboard that you can actually use, a better synth engine, and something that is actually used for music production. They even off free shipping. Portability is overrated when your keyboard tech is stuck in the early 90's, without velocity sensitivity let alone aftertouch and MPE.
The original OP-1 was $600 less than that when I got it for noodling around with music during my commute to work. So yes, if you choose to ignore some criteria, there's plenty of options.
And it costs what, $600-800 more than the original OP-1?
The "field" reboot is such a sad joke. All that fans had been asking for, quite literally for decades, was for Teenage Engineering to fix the supply chain for OP-1 and produce them in-volume. Instead they upped the price and made it even more rare.
> If you praise te, I think it is unfair to other people who are obsessed with technological innovation.
Lol this is music hardware. It's value is the joy people get from using it. The OP-1 has a huge fanbase that praise the workflow and the interface specifically. If "hardcore technology" is important to you then fine but I don't think that applies to most people buying synthesizers - right before the OP-1 the entire industry was deep in a trend of analog reissues.
FWIW I don't think an OP-1 is worth the asking price but after a short time with one it's clear where the money went.
I do some hobby music production and have no idea where I would incorporate any TE equipment into my life, but I can't explain it, I have this visceral reaction that I want to buy their stuff. It just looks so cool. Thankfully it's not at my "won't use more than 3 days then throw in my music closet" price level so I've never even come close to ordering anything.
I've been tempted to get that cheaper Pocket Operator to see if I'm missing out on something but have abstained so far.
