Teenage Engineering's new OP-XY is a conveyable synthesizer and sequencer that appears much like the corporate's OP-1 discipline. However functionally, it's as an alternative a extra succesful replace to the corporate's six-year-old OP-Z, with a stronger concentrate on layering sounds with totally different results and a steeper $2,299 price ticket.
With an “all-black anodized end”, the OP-XY is one more pleasant instance of Teenage Engineering design. Its black-and-white motif, accented with a grayscale gradient working throughout the sequencer's 16 inputs, is the antithesis of the intense yellow Playdate handheld that Teenage Engineering helped Panic design. Not like the $429 OP-Z which relied on a cellular machine like a smartphone for its display, the OP-XY now has a built-in black-and-white OLED show, which in all probability contributes to the excessive value.
Powered by a twin Blackfin CPU system paired with 512GB of RAM and 8GB of inner storage, the OP-XY options eight “distinctive synth engines” and punch-in results ported over from OP-Z and Teenage Engineering's pocket operators . There's additionally a six-axis accelerometer inside that permits sounds and results to alter by merely transferring the sequencer.
The OP-XY contains sampling capabilities by way of a built-in microphone or inputs that embrace a three.5mm audio port. There's additionally a USB-C port, a three.5mm multi-output that features MIDI capabilities for controlling exterior synthesizers, and a three.5mm port for analog audio output. For those who don't wish to cope with wires, the OP-XY's rechargeable battery will maintain it powered for as much as 16 hours, and there's help for MIDI over Bluetooth.
Though Teenage Engineering continues to promote its $59 pocket operators, the corporate's audio gear has moved towards extra premium and costly choices lately. The TP-7 Subject Recorder, a digital audio recorder with a brand new rotating “tape” reel, debuted final 12 months for $1,499, following a tiny mixer known as the TX-6 that arrived the 12 months earlier than for $1,199. Even the corporate's unique OP-1 synthesizer, which debuted in 2011 for $849, has been changed by the $1,999 OP-1 Subject.