Reasons NOT to buy an OP-XY (from a Teenage Engineering fanboy)

A few people have said they bought an OP-XY because of my videos. While I love my XY and plan to use it as my main workstation, there aren't many people I'd recommend it to.

I made this video to balance my excitement and tendency to focus only on what a device can do and how to creatively apply it.

Hope this gives a bit of a different perspective!

Chapters:
0:00 Intro tune
1:17 There are SO MANY bugs
1:30 Multisampler is buggy
2:20 External engine is buggy
3:10 Some basic functions are missing (even by TE's standards)
4:04 I don't think you'll be able to record over 20s of audio
5:06 The screen doesn't make it easier to use than the OP-Z
5:34 The screen is TINY
6:04 Step components are just as confusing as before
7:22 I don't think you'll be able to export MIDI
8:19 More menus means more memorization
9:19 All the ways you could mute a track
9:49 (I get confused during my own demo)
10:37 I don't understand arranger mode (skill issue)
11:32 Summary
12:30 Final Bad Gear homage

@teenageengineering #teoperator

[Farold_Haltermeyer]

I'm only 2 days in on testing mine and I'm already starting a little cheatsheet. Got one to try, as someone who does not enjoy sequencing music but is TRYING to after decades of kissing tech frogs to find a winner...and despite the foibles I have to say that over the Rolands, Elektrons, Korgs, Sonicwares, Squarps, Somas etc this is the most fun I've had with the tedium/medium.

And contrary to many naysayers I've found it the most "complete" in that it offers what I need. I get the distinct impression of a product design that is not done to tick market/demographic boxes, but actually a quite personal wishlist of initial features from the engineering team and their tastes.

It will evolve, but may not be quite what the masses of beats/bedroom producers want...and I'm quite happy about that!

[nyanko]

I bought it because I need a super portable workstation for travelling. It fits the bill perfectly compared to other brands. I won't sell my digitakt 2 of course, but I won't have to bring it along anymore.

[YFJSR]

Now this channel is gonna blow up with this one 📈 That was a catchy intro hahaha. Need a response from the man himself.

[KINGJADEX]

I was so confused whose channel I was watching when the intro started. lol

[signalcolors]

You have already heard the OP-XY in the intro tune...

[jasonalvarez]

As a teenager engineering fan I appreciate this video. Thanks for all the info 🙏

[samprock]

Good one, Fakelorian! ❤ I have only one serious complaint on OP-XY as hardcore OP-Z fan. The note keys do not lit in the dark not qualifying it for a BED GEAR 😂
Otherwise I’m very happy with XYZ platform! Thanks for all the info! I’ll wait to start putting multi samples (hand drum). There is tons of other upgrades to enjoy yet ❤

[willmcdono]

Love the gag. Love that wanting the XY makes me love my Z and use it more. Still gonna buy the XY one day and still gonna blame you WB(J).

[squiredog]

I’ve just noticed. The black keys are below the white keys??? What???

[zyrt]

Hii, strange thing is I don't have the bugs you're describing at the beginning of your videos using 1.0.13 firmware

[robertclements]

Some valid points and I also own it.I think going back and listening to some of the things you are saying “it’s not easier than”I hear a lot of apple and orange comparisons.and a lot hope on never promised features.and this muddy’s the water.make no mistake xy was rushed and that’s a strike on T.E.but any and all comparisons are moot.saying because a menu was somewhere different on op-1 is irrelevant information.could have been an email.

[bjamminsincebirth]

Soooo what you’re saying is I’m gonna be spending a lot of time having fun and learning something new…. I’m in

[prestonnunez]

“Maybe they’ll fix it, maybe they wont” regarding the multi sampler not loading samples correctly/consistently

😂😂 omg wow, I totally appreciate this video as someone who had to return theirs due to hardware issues

I agree with all of this

[jones]

Interesting points

Bugs - i mean its version 1 FW - to be expected there's bugs especially on a device with this amount of complexity. Like has anyone released any device at FW1 and been bug free?

Graphics - Interesting not all features have graphics yet (midi) and yeah i agree - maybe the graphics could be more informative with step components

Layout - I feel he is scraping the barrel a little here - so what if the system menu is located in a different location compared to other devices?

Sounds muted - Yeah i feel this could be improved - could be confusing why a sound with midi isnt playing. Maybe a ''sound mute reset' per track? Like a panic short cut

Arranger - It looked pretty straight forward on the Andertons demo video?

[bjamminsincebirth]

Well….couldnt you have it export the arranged song mode? Or am I missing something?

[edgeof]

As a big fan of the OP-Z, and your excellent OP-Z tutorials, I now have zero desire to get the XY, especially for the price of 5 OP-Z's. If anything watching all the XY content out there (positive and negative) just makes me appreciate the OP-Z even more. Nice Audiopilz tribute though, maybe work on the accent.

[whoadog]

I’m a huge fan of the OP-Z. The XY seems a bit half-baked at this point. I’m definitely interested in picking one up at a later date, but it seems like it’s going to need a few major firmware updates to be rock-solid and reliable as a workhorse production unit. I can deal with the lack of pattern export and having to record audio into something to finish tracks, but bugs and unreliable MIDI are a no-go for me.

[dezem]

Not a fan of the hard to read micro text in the UI, I think i would prefer an Akai MPC Live II workflow which is more man size and logical. I havent heard many decent full fat sounding jams come out of it either, kind of borderline casio tone is what I always get from these type of devices. I could afford one, no problem, but I dont see the value in my opinion.

[SkerryVibe]

One BIG reason not to buy it, at least not at the moment, is that it can crash and when you start it up again all your projects and samples are gone, back to factory reset, it just happened to me… 🤬

[aravartanian]

I have a few comments:

(a) For the price, there aren't quite enough synths or they are not powerful enough. The dimension synth is really a workhouse on the OP1F since it gives you most all of your subtractive synthesis in a cute but familiar interface. By way of contrast, the range of sounds available in each individual synth on the XY isn't quite as broad.

(b) Haven't seen anyone mention this, but connect the OP XY to the OP1F using USB to USB and try to send MIDI out. The OP1F isn't picking up 'note_off' commands! I would have expected the OP1F and OPXY interop to be better.

(c) Most of the content I've heard produced for it so far sounds very static and lofi because ... it is and has to be. The synths aren't big. A lot of the very basic automation that makes for drama in electronic music (filter sweeps) is even harder to do than it was on the OP1. Two send effects is pretty limiting. You're always going to need reverb. So if you want a warble, no delay for you? That's going to really limit what people can do with it. By way of contrast, the OP1 had an effect per track as well as master effects and the ability to resample. You could just do a lot more with your sound. Of course you can always plug the audio into something else, but for $2, 300 it should really be self-contained portable fun. For like 1/4 of the price, you get 30 very usable effects on the SP404. This thing just needs to do more and if I'm right you're going to get a kind of "monotony" in the content people produce with it. We'll see.

(d) It's just not a workstation if it can't record an audio track, for examples a long vocal or guitar track. I would have to record my audio on an external device and sync it with playback to send out a complete song. I don't think it should be called a workstation. The OP1 is a workstation. The XY is a sequencer.