Facts. And then shrink them both together down to, what, a third of the size? Come on.
This is true about everything, including majority of employees about their employer.
Run a business, sell product, whatever it is itās expensive af to survive, let alone make a profit.
The reason I mentioned hardware power is because if Behringer were to power a clone using an FPGA, no amount of panic additions made to the firmware of the OP-1 will allow it to compete!
I refuse to be sucked into this belief (one that TE fans in general appear to have), that thereās some wizard-like form of design-purity going on here.
There isnāt. Itās just good, clean design, and to prove it to you, allow me to decrypt your fantasy:
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The OP-1 enclosure wasnāt pain-stakingly fabricated from a block of aluminium by centuries old, time-served craftsmen. It was cut by a machine in seconds in exactly the same way that every other CNC-produced part is produced.
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The quality of components is nothing special. In fact the OP-1 has to rate as one of the worst quality devices out there in terms of durability if the amount of owner videos Iāve seen on YouTube with missing keys is anything to go by.
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The Ā£465 TE Hoodie wasnāt lovingly crafted by blissful virgins sitting on puffy-white clouds in the sky. Nor is the fabric interwoven with 24 Carat Gold stitching (which is kinda what youād expect from a hoodie of that price).
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The Ā£619 OB-4 isnāt able to communicate with aliens, nor is it able to broadcast to you the winning lottery numbers ahead of the draw. Itās just a radio, buffered recorder and a jog dial.
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The Ā£1599 folding TE Field Desk isnāt something new, or special. In fact itās the sort of thing I expect to find in IKEA for Ā£30 with one of those weird IKEA names attached to it.
So thereās a point at which even the most determined of people (and biggest of fans) are going to turn around and say, you know what, Iāll not have my intelligence insulted like that. So for as long as TE continue to cause insult to peopleās intelligence, they can thoroughly expect those being insulted to continue voicing their opinion about it, and thatās what people are doing.
Then those people are even more ignorant of how little it actually costs. Iām a hardware developer myself and have a pretty good idea. Itās very true that hardware development costs are often a mystery to the consumer. There are aspects involved that would never come to mind of the consumer, but TEās pricing is not reflective of production cost, it is reflective of brand image.
The fact that your post genrated 14 likes so far despite you being completely and utterly wrong, will no doubt be a sigh of relief for TE, so hereās a table for yāall to put your OP-1 Field on for when youāre out and about in the Field. It even has the matching name āFieldā, so that alone must surely make it worth the asking price.
The scary thing is it will probably sell-out pretty quick, so hurry-up!
Thatās a lot of likes!
Damn, that was quick, you caught me out just before I edited it
A number of red herrings here
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The post you quoted is discussing the OP-1F, not the OG OP. That did have a number of manufacturer problems (in addition to the OP-Z) and it seems, with the OP-1F, they decided to avoid all that and do it right, increasing costs.
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Regarding the OB4, Iāve heard a number of people attest to how good it sounds. You seemingly left that out of your assessment. Take a look at the cost of budget audiophile edit: Bluetooth speakers, then add in everything the OB4 offers.
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The hoodie and table are, objectively speaking, ridiculously priced in that brand way. The table, however, is made to order and this cannot take advantage of economies of scale.
But their core products - music making machines - are all imo reasonably priced for what they offer.
I canāt believe weāre here again, feeding the troll. If nobody ever answered these TE-is-to-expensive posts, theyād soon dry up. And yet we throw gasoline on them every time.
The only TE products I personally feel are priced fairly are the Tonic, KO and Speak.
I happen to think theyāre the best value music-making products on the market at the moment, and have serious repsect for the development that went into them.
Having an opinion different to your own or one you donāt agree with, does not make me a troll.
Look back and youāll see Iām replying to statements put to me.
Iām a hardware developer myself, my opinion is valid and based on experience, but is yours?
There are too many posts to reference to bother quoting precisely, so here is a global add-on to my previous post about design:
Peeps donāt seem to realize what good design is about: you donāt need incredibly rare or over-the-top-manufactured stuff to make a design gem. What you need is an eye for details: how the pots are bevelled, the size and shape of the keys, the right hues for the colorway, the right style for the UIā¦ Itās a lot of small small things that, once summed, make for a really satisfying experience. And, similar to Apple, TE is king at this game (and yeah, Iām a designer, in case it was not obvious).
I canāt agree with B producing allright design. They just donāt have an eye for the details that make a product premium design-wise. In fact, most hardware designers have horrendous taste I find and that has always baffled me coming from people with such golden ears.
Well, I digress: for me, only TE can make something as refined as the op1fā¦ There are even people buying them because itās a beautiful / playful object to own.
In my head, Iāve already bought the TP-7. Iāve decided itās a multi-track recorder with the OP-1 tape awesome made into its own legendary product and I wonāt hear otherwise.
You guys carry on with the price debate in the meantime, and Iāll get back to you when Iāve imaginary-recorded a few make believe-tracks with my so far non-existent TP-7.
Make sure to post some clips
Challenge accepted.
Korg instantly came to mind while reading this for some reason.
The Drumlogue looks hideous imo.
If its at Superbooth I guess a chance one or two Elektronauts are testing it now like they did the Field OP-1 / TX-6
Respectfully and realistically, as I hardware developer myself, I disagree
Almost missed your post, itās lucky I was reading-back and spotted it!
Agreed, garbage design.
I think itās a misplaced product due to competition, and I suspect itāll be a complete flop for Korg.
Regarding their pricing strategy, the OP1 was reasonably priced at launch (ā¬799), POās were too.
The OP1 at one point was selling 500 units per month for a long time, according to TE. So I donāt understand why there is a perception that they are a small business.
Truth.
@Helland out of interest what do you consider the most expensive but valuable piece of music gear?
I get the sense youāre not keen on the op-1 field as value for money.
What about an octatrack? Or an MPC live 2? Or Perkons? Or a high end Waldorf synth?
You almost caught me out there but not quite, because to answer that quesiton is going to leave the OP-1 Field in the running by default due to the āmost expensiveā aspect of it.
Nice try though