Did you think Teenage Engineering would go another full year without introducing something extremely cool and extremely expensive? Think again. The company recently announced the long-rumored OP-XY groovebox. It looks like the OP-1 Field, but plays like the relatively old OP-Z. It also costs $2,300.

The OP-XY is described by the company as “a powerful synthesizer and composer with deep, direct sequencing capabilities.” That sounds about right. The primary workflow here is sequencing, as opposed to the simulated tape recording found with its OP-1 siblings. The groovebox has a small keyboard and a strip of 16 LED-equipped buttons to control the sequencer.

Inside the box is a multisampler, plus some great-sounding synth engines, a drum kit, and a number of useful effects, including the punch-in effects of the original OP-Z. As for the specs, this little beast comes with 512GB of RAM, a dual CPU system that is “capable of ultrafast processing power and efficiency” and 8GB of internal storage.

Teenage Engineering boasts about the Groovebox’s “brain chord progression”. It lets players program chord sequences by letting them “talk with their hands”. We don’t know exactly what this means, as hands are usually used when programming any chord sequence. We’ll have to wait for a hands-on experience to understand its essence. It allows live recording, which is cool.

Just like the OP-Z, it has a built-in gyroscope that allows players to adjust parameters by moving the device around. For connectivity, it has a USB-C port, 3.5mm stereo input, MIDI in, MIDI sync and a new multi-output port that can send MIDI, CV, gate or sync data. It also has Bluetooth MIDI.

It looks really cool too. This thing is awesome, replacing the toy-like OP-Z with something that resembles the OP-1 Field, although the color has changed to matte black. It has a bright OLED display and many of the multi-function buttons and knobs found on the original OP-1 and Field. It looks great and I want it to be a great device. It is.

As mentioned earlier, there is one problem. The OP-XY costs $2,300. You read that right. That’s $300 more than the OP-1 Field. Heck. You could buy a brand new standard OP-1 and OP-Z and still have some money left over for cables and other accessories. Despite the price, I’m optimistic about this one. I absolutely love the OP-1 Field and I don’t care who knows it.

This is actually the first ultra-expensive instrument the company has released since the aforementioned OP-1 Field. Last year’s EP-133 and its medieval-flavored follow-up both cost $300. The OP-XY is available now.

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