The OP-1 Field: From Toy Vibes to Creative Commitment
The most impossible thing about the OP-1 Field is that they got the vibe right from the beginning.
When the mk I came out, they debuted it at some electronics show under plexiglass with a computer running it. It didnât even really work, but they believed it would work. And the original was just such a cool âtoyâ seeming thing. I think a lot of people got offended that it looked like a toy, but the whole idea was probably to get you into play modeâwhich is an amazing place to be.
Now weâre well into mk2, itâs been out for a few years, and theyâve just kept perfecting it. I honestly havenât found a better thing to make cooler stuff with. My history with these goes back to 2016 or 2017: I bought one, sold one, quickly bought another one, and when the new one came out I bought it the first day I saw it. I just knew Iâd be buying it eventually, so I caved.
But now that it takes guitar and bass so well (which obviously makes sense), itâs even more locked in for me. The tape workflow really works for vibe. And I think if youâre a music producer right now and youâre listening to demos, thatâs the one thing thatâs sorely missing: the elusive demo vibe.
A huge part of it is the lack of commitmentâif you donât have to commit, you miss what you were doing in the moment. So when you take a combo like #jamuary2026: youâve got time constraints + you have to commit to tape, it opens up a whole new thing. You can loop sections. There are so many different ways to do cool stuff youâre never going to do again.
When I started this Jamuary, I was writing down chord sequences, and Iâve long since stopped doing that because it almost takes too much time to stop and do it. Sometimes itâs goodâespecially if youâve got a wacky thing going on and you need to remember it, or you need to pay attention to it while youâre playing. But for the most part Iâm doing it so early in the morning I canât see. Iâve got one light and Iâm moving it around. One guitar. My upstairs bassâwhich isnât my nicest bass, but itâs a cool bass.
In a world where products are rushed out and nothing makes sense and this and that⌠itâs just so nice to have something thatâs dependable, goes deep, and constantly surprises you.
And frankly, at $2,000 itâs probably worth one and a half times thatâso shut up about the price.