[dmcginty]

And for the $2000 MSRP of the OP-1 Field you could buy a brand new 13" MacBook Pro, an Ableton Live Standard 11 license, a Scarlett Solo audio interface, an M-Audio Keystation 49 USB MIDI controller, and still have some money left over.

[filoleg]

That's like telling someone that for the price of a new BMW S1000RR motorcycle, they can instead buy a really good Honda Civic, because a Honda Civic can carry more passengers, you can sleep in it, it is more reliable, safer, cheaper to service, holds resale value better, more versatile when it comes to different weather conditions, etc. You are missing the point that those in the market for BMW S1000RR are often aware of all those factual advantages that a Honda Civic has, they just prioritize different factors in their choices than you might. Someone who is looking to buy a motorcycle isn't gonna suddenly be swayed by looking into all the factual advantages a Honda Civic can provide over a motorcycle.

Despite both items serving fundamentally the same base purpose (getting from point A to point B for cars/motorcycles; making music for OP-1/your list), and one of them is cheaper overall and on paper has a lot of factual advantages, they might simply prioritize different things and both be extremely good at different things they prioritize. I, personally, love the workflow of the original OP-1 way more than almost the exact list you produced (because it used to be pretty much my setup, except I used a different midi controller).

[tarnith]

Correct. In this case the laptop+audio interface is a lot closer to the BMW S1000RR if we're using this analogy for music production.

The OP-1 if we're using motorcycle analogies is like a Zero. Really cool, new tech, quirky, doesn't use gas (a traditional DAW) but also comes with a bunch of limitations (can't load any of your normal synths into it, have to work around sampling) kind of like the limited range of electric motorcycles.

Totally fine if what you want is an electric bike for city commuting or short trips, until you want to go on a weekend trip or a track day. Now you're waiting on charging, and limited in power.

I think we've stretched this analogy far enough. I wouldn't call a laptop with an audio interface and Ableton a Honda Civic. OP-1 fills a niche, but it certainly isn't high end performance in terms of audio quality or malleability. They're really cool, creative, unique ways of making music if you like the interface, but ultimately a quirky niche in terms of actual production.