Instrument guide × Play the computer keys shown below the device. Hold Shift on your computer, or hold the device Shift key, for secondary functions. All additional settings stay below the device.
Sound-design studies Adapted from Teenage Engineering’s helicopter and singing-bird exercises . Load a study, hold a key, then use T2 / T3 / T4 to shape it. Browser approximations; these change your current sound, not the tape.
Load rotor study Load bird study Sounds & modules Synth and Drum have separate sound slots and sequencer memories. The numbered 1–8 keys choose sounds in those modes. T1 is the engine, T2 the envelope, T3 the effect and T4 the LFO. Press T3 or T4 again to toggle that module. Shift + T3 / T4 opens its browser: blue chooses, then T3 / T4 confirms. Effects include Delay, Punch, Spring, CWO, Grid, Nitro and Phone. The sound processors are browser approximations of the original effects; CWO uses single-sideband frequency shifting with feedback delay. Tremolo controls pitch/volume, Value targets one coloured parameter, and Random targets all four in the selected Engine, Envelope or Effect. Shift + orange changes Tremolo shape; tempo sync and free-running switches are below the device. Shift + T1 changes just the engine. Shift + a sound key opens whole presets: blue chooses a category, green a preset. Hold a sound key for five seconds to save its snapshot locally; Shift + Synth/Drum restores the saved version. Shift on T2 exposes play mode and portamento. The blue, green, white and orange knobs control the four parameters shown below the device.
Sampler The four knobs set start, loop-in, loop-out and end. A held key repeats the loop region; equal loop points disable looping. Releasing the key leaves the loop and follows the release envelope. Shift + blue reverses the sample, Shift + green/white fine-tunes the loop points, and Shift + orange sets gain. Imported audio is mono, up to six seconds, rooted at C4. Each sound slot remembers its own sample.
Sequence a part Shift + Sequencer opens the sequencer type selector. Select Pattern for a 16-step drum grid, or Endless to enter up to 128 steps. On the sequence screen hold Shift and press notes. Pattern adds/removes notes at the cursor; arrows move the cursor. Endless advances when all notes of a chord are released; Shift + Right adds a rest or extends held notes, Shift + Left deletes the last step. Release Shift and play C4 for original pitch. Orange enables sequence Hold; the other knobs control cursor/rate, swing and length/trigger pattern. Drum and Synth retain separate sequences.
Record & arrange Select your sound, enter Tape, choose T1–T4. Hold REC, then press PLAY or a musical key to start recording. Releasing REC before that cancels arming. During playback, hold REC to punch in; release it to punch out. REC + PLAY latches recording. Shift + REC records only when you scrub with blue. Stop halts in place. In Tape, hold arrows to wind; Shift + arrows step a bar when stopped or move the active loop during playback. Hold Stop + left/right to jump to the beginning/end of the last take. The external Start button rewinds to zero. Shift + blue slides a take up to its neighbour. Blue scrubs, green moves loop-out (Shift: loop-in), white changes tape speed, orange sets record level. Tape is six minutes and always overdubs.
The 1–8 sound buttons now become tape functions: IN, OUT, Loop, Brake, Reverse, Chop and two memo keys. Hold M1 or M2 while turning knobs to memorize changes. Release to restore; hold the memo again to recall those changes temporarily. Shift + Loop selects the take beneath the head. Scissors splits; Shift + scissors joins. Lift removes the selected take into a clipboard; Drop pastes it at the head and advances to its end. Shift + Lift lifts the same region across all four tracks. Lift loop region uses the loop boundaries. Drop in the Synth sampler resamples the lifted audio (up to six seconds).
Tempo & album Tempo opens the clock screen; repeated taps set BPM. Blue sets tempo, green clock mode, white tape speed and orange metronome pitch (fully down: off). Beat Match links tape speed and tempo. Album T1 records the live master output, T2 plays the recorded side, T3 stops and T4 changes side. Album keeps two six-minute stereo sides in browser storage; export each side below the device. Recording a side again replaces that side.
Mix & keep your song Mixer T1 uses the knobs for track levels; Shift adjusts their pan. T2 is EQ, T3 the master effect, and T4 master output/drive. Export WAV renders a stereo mix of the loop, or all recorded material when looping is off. Save tape project keeps all four tracks, take boundaries, loop markers and the mix in a local JSON file. Open project restores it. Export WAV keeps a stereo mix. Save before leaving or reloading.
The tested workflows follow the original OP-1 guide . This is still an independent recreation: the stock firmware, factory sound engines/kits, exact DSP, external hardware inputs and some performance functions are not reproduced. Source and limitations .