Teenage Engineering has taken the unusual step of reassuring the public that the OP-1, its first and enduringly popular portable synth, isn’t dead. Rumours had started to circulate that no more of the devices would be made, leading to prices rocketing on the second-hand market.
In a post on Facebook, Teenage Engineering says that “no one should pay this price for an OP-1,” highlighting one that’s been listed for sale at the ridiculous price of $8,600. The post continued: “Last week a rumour circulated that the OP-1 was dead. No one was more surprised than us. However, we’ve been working hard on updating the hardware platform in order to keep the product alive for many years to come. This is causing a brief stop in the production, but we will be up and running at full speed shortly.”
So, there you have it - the OP-1 isn’t dead, it’s merely sleeping. The rumours may stem from the fact that TE has just released the OP-Z, a new synth that some people have wrongly assumed is a replacement for the OP-1, but a more cynical view is that they were started deliberately in order to drive up those second-hand prices.
Either way, the advice is to sit tight, keep your money in your pocket and wait for production to restart.
