Good luminescent paint/material (like the kind used on watch dials) - good enough to glow brightly and last a useful amount of time - is expensive and rather fragile. I would guess it’s partly a cost decision and partly a durability decision.
Super-LumiNova is the Swiss watch standard (Seiko’s proprietary lume, LumiBrite, is even brighter & longer lasting, but no-one else can buy it or use it):
But the same company also make something called Lumicast, which is Super-LumiNova mixed into a ceramic material that can be cast in solid shapes. I’ve no idea how much it costs - I am guessing rather a lot - but I would love to see something like that on a music device.
I just called my rep and he said 11/21 is still the date they’re being told and that I’m in the first allotment they’re getting (pre-ordered maybe in March). Hmmm.
in the user guide, the lego-esque button with the C on it is labeled “modules”:
the module track is used to control any OP-Z expansion modules. more information will be available as more modules are released.
modules are sold separately.
when no module is inserted the module track can act as a midi track with 16 independent midi cc values.
however, in the specs section of the website, it’s labeled “cv & trig”.
inconsequential difference? big clue as to what modules will be released? somewhere in between? to me it seems like a big hint that this is going to play very well with eurorack. but i’m already pretty excited and on board with the OP-Z as it is, maybe I shouldn’t be speculating baselessly.
I’m really intrigued by this little box - especially by the video capabilities - but I’m not hearing any actual music made with it that is remotely inspiring. It’s all very chiptune and bleepcore-type stuff… Ack. Anyone heard any really good ambient/sample-twiddling sounds out of it?
The delay effect is impressively long, and there are LFOs per channel (including delay channels). The four drum tracks are sample based, so you can (in theory, I’ve not actually done it yet myself) place your own packs in there (I think they’re the OP-1’s format). The synth engines certainly lend themselves to longer slower more ambient evolving sounds too! Nothing like as powerful as a Blofeld But certainly capable.
Keep an eye on it anyway! I’ve got my OP-Z bleeps and bloops out of my system now with two awful cheesy blip tracks, and I’m going to slow things down for my next project
Gear4Music refunded my pre-order without notice, I got an email from them a week or so ago saying that the ETA had been delayed then a couple of days later noticed that the funds had been returned to my paypal. Strange, oh well I don’t mind waiting for a later run, I’ll probably leave it until after Christmas now as the wrongly printed buttons being reported would probably do my head in, so hopefully they will correct them for the subsequent runs.
Interested to keep seeing what folks do with theirs, looks like a very nice little powerhouse, for now I’ll get my portable jams on with Bhajis and nanoloop, and I have kind of been distracted from OPZ and gone on a vintage Palm OS devices collecting spree, I’m weird like that
Thanks for all the OPZ insights and clips, interested to know if anyone has plans to combine OPZ with a SBC like a Raspberry Pi or whatnot? Could be a lot of fun to be had.
I like this ambient bit, before the beat kicks in - nothing wrong with beats per se, but it’s at least another hint at how usable this thing might be for purely ambient, beat-free soundscapes.
The use of leds to show step length would be nice .
I’m sure it’s in one if the feature request lists … it obviously would work better with colours / brightness to help indicate sub values but on/off values would be nice to show 1,2,3,4 etc for step length.
But I don’t ever expect it , don’t ‘need’ it in any of the gear I have.
But certainly capable.
