Teenage Engineering Release OP-XY

A follow-up to the OP-Z in a smart-looking black monochrome finish has been unveiled, and it comes with an extremely hefty price tag of £1899. And the website is in German. Are you not entertained?

If you haven't clicked away from the page yet, shocked by the RRP, hang around. Besides the pocket-drenching price, there's plenty to love here. It's just a bit out of reach for most.

Let's start with the obvious visual upgrade in that the OP-XY has a display. The most common moans about the OP-Z were that it was displayless, and many found it hard to work with. It depends on your point of view, as DJ Pangburn, in a 2019 review, waxed lyrical about it and 'why' it worked. But it didn't work for everyone, and evidently, that's resonated with the clever minds at Teenage Engineering. This feature alone might split opinion, but we'll wager that it's a welcome move for the majority.

The other significant additions are:

• Built-in CV
• Two send effects slots
• A “Best-in-class” DAC

So, on a cursory glance in terms of studio compatibility, the OP-XY has taken a major step forward. Just take a look at the full listed specs for the OP-XY to see a whole different level of detail:

• 8 unique synth engines
• new drum sampler
• multisampler
• synth sampler
• 4 filter types
• 24-voice multitimbral synthesis
• players per track
• instant sampling
• 6 built-in FX
• master eq
• master saturator
• master compressor and limiter
• stereo signal path
• brain™ – intelligent transposer
• 24 punch-in FX™ for performance
• creative tape looper
• 2 sequenceable built-in FX slots
• midi channels selectable per track
• 10 000+ project files with version history
• 16-track, 64-step step sequencer with 4 pages
• powerful step components
• 9 patterns per track, 99 scenes
• song mode with 9 songs per project
• presets per pattern
• 10 grooves for creative swing
• usb-c audio/midi host and device
• audio-out
• a multi-out jack, for cv, midi, audio and sync out
• midi-in
• audio-in
• built-in speaker
• built-in mic
• smooth parameter locks
• 1920 PPQN
• pressure sensitive pitchbend
• bluetooth le midi
• microtonal tuning
• performance gyroscope

And digging further, the sequencer has been reviewed and refined creatively too. It now features:

• pulse - repeats a step a defined number of times without progressing the sequence.
• Hold - hold will hold a step a defined number of steps without progressing the sequence.
• multiply - will multiply the number of triggers in a step, creating a ratchet effect, perfect for hi-hats.
• velocity
• ramp up and ramp down
• random
• portamento
• bend
• tonality - you can set this by interval. Nice.
• jump
• skip parameter, step component, trigger

In short, if you found the OP-Z frustrating with a hard-to-grasp workflow, the XY might be perfect for you, other than the price point. And don't expect any "up to 86% off" Black Friday deals.

The OP-XY is out now and available on the Teenage Engineering website.

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