Teenage Engineering OP-1
Ranked 3 of 6 pocket synthesizers by recommenders
Recommended for its good design and how fun it is to play, though critics find it expensive and limited.
Recommended for its good design and how fun it is to play, though critics find it expensive and limited.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 73%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 2.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Well designed and fun to use
“op-1 is the most notorious one, but they do have some well designed not over-priced products”
Comment from 27 Nov 2025 in “C100 Developer Terminal” “well designed, fun to use, expensive, but limited and locked down”
Comment from 7 Oct 2026 in “Teenage Engineering Is Going to Stop Making Synths” “the OP-1 Field especially was just _fun_ to play with”
Comment from 7 Oct 2026 in “Teenage Engineering Is Going to Stop Making Synths” Owners say they love it
“The OP-1 (and TX-6) on the other hand are excellent, I have 3 of them and love them dearly!”
Comment from 8 Jun 2026 in “Teenage Engineering: Introducing APC-2” “I used to own an OP-1 and I thought it was great.”
Comment from 29 Nov 2025 in “C100 Developer Terminal” “they're everything I ever wanted”
Comment from 8 Jun 2026 in “Teenage Engineering: Introducing APC-2”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Expensive for what it does
“well designed, fun to use, expensive, but limited and locked down”
Comment from 7 Oct 2026 in “Teenage Engineering Is Going to Stop Making Synths” “For every dusty OP-1 sitting in a drawer, the user could've bought 5x the number of portable synth/jamstation units”
Comment from 26 May 2026 in “TP-7 Field Recorder” “Teenage Engineering is widely accepted to be overpriced hipster crap”
Comment from 8 Jun 2026 in “Teenage Engineering: Introducing APC-2” Limited to four tracks, constraining
“well designed, fun to use, expensive, but limited and locked down”
Comment from 7 Oct 2026 in “Teenage Engineering Is Going to Stop Making Synths” “It's a Fischer-Price 4-track recorder, there's a very good reason you don't see your favorite musicians dailying it.”
Comment from 8 Jun 2026 in “Teenage Engineering: Introducing APC-2” “Neither Linux nor Android are artificially limited to 4-track recording.”
Comment from 7 Oct 2026 in “Teenage Engineering Is Going to Stop Making Synths” - Comment from 27 Dec 2025 in “Things and Stuff of 2025”
Other pocket synthesizers people recommend
The four most recommended other pocket synthesizers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M-VAVE FM-1 | 14 | 2 | 88% | 1 | 1 mo3 owners | — |
| Teenage Engineering Pocket Operator | 11 | 2 | 85% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Teenage Engineering OP-1This page | 8 | 3 | 73% | 5 | — | — |
| CHOMPI portable sampler | 5 | 4 | 56% | 2 | — | — |
| Dato Duo | 5 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
13 of the 14 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“well designed, fun to use, expensive, but limited and locked down”
“the OP-1 Field especially was just _fun_ to play with”
“Neither Linux nor Android are artificially limited to 4-track recording.”
“I wouldn’t say it had much of an impact of electronic music.”
“Teenage Engineering is widely accepted to be overpriced hipster crap”
“The OP-1 (and TX-6) on the other hand are excellent, I have 3 of them and love them dearly!”
“It's a Fischer-Price 4-track recorder, there's a very good reason you don't see your favorite musicians dailying it.”
“they're everything I ever wanted”
“For every dusty OP-1 sitting in a drawer, the user could've bought 5x the number of portable synth/jamstation units”
“controls GarageBand or Ableton or your op-1”
“I bought one and found it... a little constraining for my taste.”
“I used to own an OP-1 and I thought it was great.”
“op-1 is the most notorious one, but they do have some well designed not over-priced products”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.