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Thank you for listening to my music!

Haha thank you! I’m glad you love the XY as much as I do. The XY does so much, so naturally it’s not easy to convey how comprehensive it is without making multiple very long videos. And I think it’s easy to just assume the synth can’t be any good because of the price, size, whatever. Obviously that’s not the case, as you know. It’s an amazing synth. Thank you again for listening to my music and stopping by 🙏🏻

@ “hate has taken the synth lands. at medieval times when behringer coping became a norm and called affordable for the people, burning innovators and their supporters is also a sign of dark ages” 😂 we forgive them and have phunn! 🖤

It is pretty fun and easy to get making music with, even if you’re not musical! I have had a great time with it

I've made music for about 30 years now! To my knowledge, no bank was robbed.

It took me a long time to feel comfortable sharing my music, and I now realize that I wasted so much energy and time worrying about people who never were going to be happy with what I shared. Thanks for saying that and listening to my music! 🙏🏻

Thanks you for this 🙏🏻 I appreciate the kind words about my music. It is disappointing when I see other musicians or music lovers feel the need to put others down in comments for some reason only they will really know. It’s not necessary and honestly, it really doesn’t do anything for anyone. I used to live in Seattle and still visit from time to time! Thanks for subscribing! Also: I love chicken nuggets 🤣

Yes, it’s really easy to set up exactly how you want them to handle MIDI when you connect them over USB. Each has a configuration screen to set if they send/receive (or both) clock, notes, audio, etc. In most cases while I am setting up a jam, I make the XY send clock and notes, while the OP1F receives both but doesn’t send. That way I can have one of the XY’s tracks send a note sequence like you hear in this video, triggering the samples on the OP1F. Thanks for watching my video and stopping by!

Thank you! This one was a fun little experiment. The XY really does make it easy to try a bunch of new variations/ideas. Have to spend more time with Brain but I was really happy with this jam. Thanks for listening!

Thank you for subscribing and listening! My review of the XY is that it is a great little synth, but what makes it fun is that it does so many things in a tiny little synth you can throw in almost any bag and write music with. It’s not the best synth in terms of feature checklists (synths, samplers, sequencers, and more), BUT it is the best synth in this tiny portable package. So is that for you? Depends on how much you travel. I post jams here but if you listen to my “non jam” Spotify songs, most of those were started on the OP1F on travel and then finished in the studio. So to your questions… Should you buy the XY? Hard to say. Is it your only synth? Would it be your primary synth? Do you travel a lot? As a primary synth it will do a lot and it can control other synths. I primarily use it as a starting place. Writing songs on it is very quick. Most of the jams here I wrote within 20-40 minutes and they are great song starter ideas for me something that sounds so good in such a short time is a great creative device. Is it a breakthrough device? Yes, but with the caveat that is because it is the smallest, most comprehensive, portable and travel friendly synth there is. It is the best in class from that perspective. How convenient for finishing songs? As of right now, not very convenient. There is no export by track feature. If you use it as the primary synth that won’t matter because it has an incredible end of chain processing stack (eq, compressor, etc). But if you want to send those tracks to a DAW as of this comment, you have to hold a track button for recording it solo the entire length of the track. Ouch. So I am hoping for improvements. Send tracks to DAW? Kind of tied to the last answer. It’s a pain if you want individual tracks right now. Sending the whole track is easy as pie though. Happy to answer more questions!

@@ModulationStation Thank you very much for what you are doing. It means a lot to me! I'm building a studio right now and am looking into the need for a groovebox on it. Overall, the OP XY picture has become clearer thanks to your reply. Yes, this is my first synthesizer. I wanted to buy an OP XY to use it as a sampler and to build an eurorack and control recording processes with it. But it is important to me that there is a possibility to finish tracks on the device itself, replacing the DAW. But from the looks of it, replacing the DAW is quite difficult. Could you please tell me how OP XY performs as a sampler compared to other devices? THANK YOU!

Thanks for the kind words! As a first synthesizer, the XY will get you pretty far. What you'll be missing is the final render of a song if you want to process each track individually. So there is work to be done there and we can hope Teenage Engineering will help with some tools to make it a bit easier. I'm planning another video to show the XY integrating with eurorack. I did some really quick tests by running a sequence through to the new ALM MCO mk2 and it was pretty painless and fun. More to come on that end. One thing you'll have to think through is clock integration, but if you do go the eurorack route, consider a clock that has MIDI clock support - that will make it very easy. As far as sampling goes, it has essentially three samplers with different features. There is a sampler that does pitch shifting over the length of the keyboard. This is the most basic and has really great controls over crossfading, etc, but if you need a lot of pitch accurate control over many scales, it's probably not the right sampler. The other sampler is the multisample, which allows pitch specific samples to be set for a range of keys. It's pretty comprehensive. The last sampler is the drum sampler, which lets you set a sample per key on a drum machine. You can set pitch and volume per note as well as some other controls about the loop. You can move samples onto the XY. On lines, someone has been having a challenge moving more the 4GB of samples on the XY as of right now, but it's likely that number will be enough for many use cases. Here is the thread: llllllll.co/t/teenage-engineering-op-xy/69435/368 I wish the sampler had parameter locks that could be recorded around loop start and end, as I love doing little glitchy changes with samples. But as of right now that's not possible. You also can't just record a big sample and have it auto slice. I hope that is coming in.

@@ModulationStation Thank you so much for the information! I will look forward to your next videos! It seems to me that in my case it would be better to build an interesting modular synthesizer for this money. Can you tell me if it's possible to record Eurorack directly into Ableton and control it via MIDI keyboard? The question is, do I need to buy a separate module with outputs? I really like the possibility of generating non-trivial sounds with such a system. And I would like to use the eurorack for recording tracks, not for live performances. Thanks!

Thank you! A couple answers: Recording eurorack into Ableton: this is absolutely possible. There are a number of ways to do this. I run my eurorack into my audio interface directly, but some people use things like Expert Sleepers ES-8/ES-9 (www.expert-sleepers.co.uk/es8.html) that lets them record directly from the rack (both CGV and audio, which is nice). If you already have a nicer audio interface then you might not need the Expert Sleepers unit, but would likely just need to run your audio outputs (perhaps from a eurorack mixer - I use the WMD Performance Mixer). Sending MIDI to eurorack: I use the Expert Sleepers FH-2, and it's the most expandable and most configurable MIDI solution. It might not be the right fit for a first eurorack, but there are plenty of options (check out Befaco's MIDI Thing 2 or the Noise Engineering's Univer Inter as other examples). Some controllers, like the Arturia KeyStep Pro can send CV out and might be a good first controller if you don't already have one you like. I tend to send MIDI from an ExpressiveE Osmose to the FH2.

Thank you! I’m glad you liked it! This was one of those little jams that started with an experiment that I literally had no idea where it would go. Was really happy with it in the end! Thanks again 🙏🏻

Thanks for the kind words and listening to my music! I appreciate it 🙏🏼

Now, I would turn down the @sshole levels on this reply. It’s really muddying up what might be a helpful insight.

Thanks for the feedback and supporting the channel 🙏🏻

Wow there’s a whole verse, chorus, A and B section for a new song in that comment!

I thought the same thing when I read it 🤣

Hahaha this comment is gold. Thanks for making the time to listen!

Thank you! I think we all have these moments where it’s easy to let others drag us down when we put ourselves out there. But the reality is most of us likely make music because we love making it, and want to share with others who feel the same way. Sometimes we intersect with people who don’t like the same things and that’s fine. But it doesn’t mean it has to just be a negative experience and everyone can have fun with it.

I’m glad you enjoyed it! I had so much fun making it. This was one where I had a bunch of smiles putting it together! Thanks for listening ❤️

Thank you! I am glad you enjoyed it! Appreciate you taking the time to listen and comment 🙏🏻

Thank you! This is a labor of love over decades of making music. I feel so at home in there. A good place to be creative.

That’s the part that is so hard to explain. It does many, many things. It is an arranger, sequencer, synth, sampler, drum machine, etc. and it fits in the side pocket of my backpack. Thanks for listening to my jam!

@@ModulationStation OPXY looks amazing, I am into sequencers.

Great question because I did it two different ways. While I was doing the jam I just connected the XY and OP1F over USBC with the XY running as the master clock. That worked incredibly well as I was working through the song. But when I went to record it, I had to switch things up. I decided I would run USB audio out of both into my Mac and record it in Ableton. However, since Ableton can only have one USB audio device as an input, I created an aggregate audio device and used that. This allowed me to be able to record from both! For final recording I made Ableton the master clock.

Thank you for taking the time to listen. I appreciate it and am glad you enjoyed it!

Wow, thank you for the kind words. That made my day and I am happy you enjoyed my jam!

Thank you for watching! I’m glad you enjoyed the video ❤️

I think this was for @reyreyes23, but I thought I would post this for others who are curious. All my music has videos here and all the music links are on my profile as well. Here is a Spotify link for my music this year. open.spotify.com/artist/4LXsrGI7h4pmDa9JtC6Glu

@@ModulationStation apologies it was for him, I’ll delete and reply to him.

@@reyreyes23 where’s your music? Nothing to show but a lot to say.

@@ModulationStation will check it out!

Thank you! The track speed switch is quite fun for experimenting. I have another project I was working on and I simply duplicated a drum pattern, set it to the fastest track speed (1/2) and it ended up working like a fill pattern over the other drum track. Glad it was helpful!

Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it. I love this little synth.

It’s a great little synth. I happened to get a puppy at the same time and didn’t get much studio time, so the XY has been the perfect songwriting companion.

Thank you for listening to my jam and I am glad you enjoyed it! Been writing lots of little jams on it and really am loving it.

Thank you for the kind words and I’m glad you enjoyed it! I have had a lot of fun spending time on the XY. It’s a great little synth.

Thank you! At first I thought I would sing, but then quickly realized I’m not a good singer 😂 But I figured finger tapping is something I am definitely qualified to do. Thanks for listening to my music!

Thank you! I’ve been having a lot of fun getting to know the XY. I’m glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you! I really wanted to get everything sequenced and orchestrated as much as possible for this jam. I probably made the most mistakes in losing track of what each pattern and sequence did, so I’ll likely try to work out a system for that going forward. Glad you enjoyed it!

Glad you enjoyed it ❤️ It’s amazing how quick it is to come up with things. Really loving the XY. Still a lot more to learn but it is incredibly fast to put together some really nice jams.

Wow, thank you for that. You made my night! I am glad you enjoyed it!

@@ModulationStation Came in to say the same thing. You nailed the vibe!

Thank you 🙏🏻 I had so much fun putting it together. I truly appreciate you taking the time to let me know you enjoyed it.

I think you are going to love it. I'm very interested in hearing others mix the two together more. What I did was fairly basic on this jam but I think it could get very cool.

Thank you! Yes, it can have quite a bit of... digital lo-fi noise? I really like the crunchiness of the sound. It's not super clean. That being said, it can come off a bit cleaner. I have two of those audio experiments if they are of interest to you, but didn't record video. One shows it really smoothing out a pretty terribly sequenced bit into something quite pretty and the other shows it getting a bit weirder. I could put on Soundcloud or Bandcamp - lmk!

Thanks so much for listening and I hope you enjoyed the music!

So much hate. Live an let live. I scrolled through a bunch of your recent comments and you criticize EVERYONE.

Seriously. What a jerk.

@ I also give praise and respect when it’s deserved. What I said is the truth, and I didn’t say it was bad.

Thanks again for the kind words and support! Glad you are enjoying the music ❤️

I don't feel there is much overlap, which is interesting. The workflows and use cases are very different, and the synth engines and effects are also completely different. I feel the synth engines on the OP1F are definitely stronger, but I wouldn't say the XY is weak. It's certainly capable. The punch in effects on the XY are so much fun. I need to stop overdoing them 😂 Short review is they are better as companions. I wasn't sure I would feel that way when I first got it, but it feels that way so far.

@@ModulationStation Thanks. Looking forward to more videos of them together!

Pretty easy! A few quick things: 1. Make sure you are on latest firmware on op1f 2. Set one as master clock and the other as receive only 3. Make great jams Enjoy!

Hahah, thank you! Those strings are so good. I was sitting there playing with them and thought… hey, it would be funny to pair this with my puppy running in the backyard. Instant movie flashback 😂

Thanks for asking! I’m not sure I am a tutorial series person, but how about I try a video of a song from scratch? That could be fun. I’ll put some thought into it and try putting something together!

So I just posted a song from scratch. Not quite a tutorial, but shows how fast it can be to start to lay down a song. Hope you enjoy it!

Thank you for the kind words! Also thanks for giving my jam the time for a listen. Much appreciated.

Thank you! I handled sync in two different ways. As I was getting the jam set up I connected both over USB with the OP1F receiving clock from the XY. For recording I ran them both into Ableton and had Ableton send the clock and transport.

@@ModulationStation oh cool, always interesting to hear peoples set up, its the nerdy bit that get me!!

One cool thing I did in here was I put down some of the track to the OP1F tape and then slowed the tape down to get a nice little warble on it at normal speed. Then they are playing in sync here with some new parts coming in. I deliberately chose to use from free running LFOs and loose delays given the style of the song, but it all went very well. One thing to note is that when I started recording I could not get the OP1F to sync correctly. It turned out I was 5 minor firmware updates behind. After fixing that it was pretty flawless. Have to get these two into the studio together and make a proper track.

@@ModulationStation keep us updated on the proper track!

Man this and your last jam are really good. I know people are railing about the price, I get it, but you’re just quietly using it for what it’s intended: make cool stuff. Keep it up and I may end up getting one of these myself

Keep making music and doing the things you love. Also, thanks for coming by and listening to my music!

That means a lot! Thanks for the kind words! 🙏🏻

@@ModulationStation too funny, got this in my YT feed and then I saw your post on lines 🙂

Hah! That’s funny. That is my favorite place to learn what others are doing with the XY without worrying about random people who hate TE 😂

Thank you so much! This one was fun to make. At first I did everything on the XY and then I was like... hey, why not add the OP1F... because it can be done!

I’m really liking it a lot. I just put up my second jam with it where I tried out a few new things and it continues to be super fast to build out tracks and things that sound really nice. Thanks for listening!

They did a great job. It does a lot, is easy to use, fun to play on, and sounds really good. I have traveled with the OP1F for quite some time and wasn’t sure how I would feel about this one. But honestly it’s a workhorse and a great synth for putting tracks together. Just spent the day working on another jam and it’s just so good.

Thank you for the kind words! Spent the day working on another jam and it really is a fantastic tool. It can do so much. I am loving it. Hopefully another video soon.

Thank you so much 🙏🏻

You are in for a treat. I am loving it and can’t wait to practice even more with it. Looking forward to hearing what you come up with!

Most of the punch in effects you see and hear are sequenced but I decided to spice it up with some live ones as well. Almost everything can be sequenced!

Thank you! 🙏🏻 I am still learning the XY but really loved how this came out. It’s a beast.

@ it’s super deep. Way more complex than the op-1f. Yeah that track sounds great. I love melodic house/techno.