The Teenage Engineering OP-Z Dream Machine is a lightweight yet sophisticated all-in-one synthesizer, and a progression of the original Teenage Engineering OP-1. The appearance of the OP-Z is deceiving: as with the OP-1 some find it difficult to believe that such a small and uncomplicated design could not match the output and sounds from larger synthesizers. To underestimate the OP-Z however would be a mistake. The sequencer of the OP-Z offers 16x tracks with individual step length and tempo per track, 160x user patterns, parameter locks, endless pattern chains, alongside step and live recording. 2x levels per track consist of linear sequencing and variations per cycle and track. So it is possible to create an entire arrangement of self-defined deviations with only one set step.
Synthesizer Features A polyphonic synthesizer is available for each track, which contains various forms of synthesis including drums and percussion, samples and effect chains. A pre-selection allows you to work your way through to the desired result in a playful way. The 2x effect blocks have a modular architecture and can be configured by the user.
Display Options Teenage Engineering embellishes the OP-Z with a free app for iOS devices with a display and numerous editing functions which can be implemented directly on the iPhone or iPad once paired with the synthesizer. Indeed, the OP-Z includes technology that allows for the manipulation of your sounds to images.
The main features of the Teenage Engineering OP-Z Dream Machine include:
I was looking forward to this little groovebox but it turned out to be (for me) a disappointment. The soundquality wasn't impressive, pretty much all the synthengines sounded very similar, only two sound parameters per synth, apart from LFOs and envelopes. Most importantly I didn't find it intuitive and creative, generally one of the strenghts of teenage engineering. Sold after 2 months of frustration..
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