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1 HN recommender · recommended in 4 months, 2022–2024
20:55 · 331K views · May 22, 2022
A tutorial in the GAS Therapy series showing how to recreate the Teenage Engineering OP-1 and OP-1 Field with free software. It argues you do not need to buy expensive gear to make music.
HN mentions it in threads on the OP-1 and gear acquisition syndrome, as a look at the OP-1's feature set and a cheaper alternative.
4 comments from Hacker News
They are ridiculously overpriced. They are terribly limited, which is marketed as a bonus - I don't see it that way. I wouldn't go so far as to call them trash - they're very expensive toys. You may enjoy this video about the OP-1's feature set, even without the background knowledge to know everything he's saying is 100% true (which it is) - this video I like Apple, quite possibly too much. I put a lot of value on user experience. But I would never buy a Teenage Engineering product with my own money. I find that 'I only drink $500 bottles of wine' kind of thing deeply uncool.
I just discovered GAS therapy [0], as there was some controversy about the OP-1 pricing (also from Teenage Engineering). To summarize both sides, software is pretty cheap and limitless. Device are limited which can spark creativity by constraints, their tactile form factor feel great, and their portable nature can be a great advantage. However, there are other arguments that typically revolve around how "software cannot replicate vintage sounds" where the holy wars really begin. Nobody has ever proven that, but the myth endures. Recently enough [1] showed all that basically with an eq, a compressor and a distortion you can reproduce any vintage amp sound, you just need to know how it deviates from a flat sound response. How expensive the vintage or high-end hardware is might be a deterrent for some but a very attractive proposition for others. [0] this video [1] [LINK]
- Using the C++ Standard Library for Real-time Audio - Timur Doumler - ADC21 - [LINK] - How to replicate Teenage Engineering OP-1 and OP-1 Field for free. | GAS Therapy #35 - this video
Impact on pocket cash for sure. But seriously: How to replicate Teenage Engineering OP-1 and OP-1 Field for free. | GAS Therapy #35 this video