What's new vs the original OP-1?

The OP-1 Field is a significant upgrade from the original OP-1, featuring enhanced hardware, expanded recording capabilities, and new creative tools. The most notable improvements are stereo recording, multiple tapes, and wireless connectivity.

Physical Design

The Field has a natural anodized aluminum body instead of painted finish. It features a color LCD display (replacing the AMOLED), color-coded encoders (blue, ochre, gray, orange), and USB-C connectivity instead of mini USB. The battery lasts 24 hours compared to the original's 16 hours.

Recording & Audio

The tape recorder now handles 4 stereo tracks instead of mono tracks. You can store up to 8 different tapes in memory (versus just 1 on the original). The sampler is now stereo. Four tape styles are available: Studio, Vintage, Porta, and Disc mini, each with different sonic characteristics.

Connectivity

Bluetooth LE support enables wireless MIDI and clock sync. The FM radio now includes a transmitter in addition to the receiver, allowing you to broadcast your music. File transfer uses MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) for easier preset management.

New Creative Tools

New synth engines: Dimension (wavetable), Vocoder, and Amp/Tuner. New effects: CWO, Mother, and Terminal. New LFO: Velocity (for keyboard expression). New sequencer: Hold (loops and transposes played notes). An output mixdown feature records stereo bounces of your complete mix to sides A and B.

Sensors

The Field includes both accelerometer and gyroscope (original had accelerometer only), enabling more complex motion-based modulation through the Element LFO.