Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by sdenton4 2583 days ago
My sense is that it doesn't strictly rely on an external device - you can find your way to where you like without a screen... My long-term fear is what happens when the internal batteries get old.

(I love my OP-1 and pile of pocket operators; Teenage Engineering is doing amazing work.)

2 comments

Maybe I misunderstood the OP-Z manual but I think that some of the functionality of the OP-Z is only accessible if you connect it to an iOS device, e.g. the two features called Photomatic and Videolab.

PS some recent promotional material by TE said that the OP-Z app is iOS only "for now", so at least there is hope that it will become available on more platform.

Those are both at least 100% ancillary to it's function as a synth and sequencer and are kind of just fun extras for stuff like live performances.
The battery is replaceable, not sure that it's a big concern. I'd kill to see open documented bindings for wireless interaction, as well as the ability to write custom synth engines, but really doesn't appear to be the direction for them.
This could be reverse engineered. If the Bluetooth connection is encrypted, there might be an additional step involving jailbreaking the iOS device (hard) or setting up some kind of MITM proxy. The rest shouldn't be too complicated. It sounds like TE might be working on an Android port; they just don't want to commit to it.