I’m considering buying an op-z again but since I have a Tracker and absolutely love it, I’m thinking a Play might be better. Are these two comparable at all? They’re both sequencer-based but I’m wondering if that’s where the similarities stop. Granted there is a huge price difference but that’s beside the point. I’m thinking a Red Panda Tensor with a Polyend Play will do pretty much the same thing as an op-z. Opinions welcome. Bring it on.
Play has a more comfortable UI (and a more robust chassis), but personally, punch-in effects and transpositions are more fun in OPZ.
True. Those are the only 2 I can think of that I’ll miss. OP-Z has live audio input that can be manipulated by the Tape track but I’m thinking Tensor + Tracker will handle this and Play will be sequencing everything. But once I get it, I may go in a totally different direction. In my opinion, it’s better to just start new instead of trying to recreate one’s older method. Not being able to sample into the Play seems like a limitation but, as long as I can load my own samples into it, I’ll be content. Another question: how easy is it to load my own samples into Play and use them?
Adding your own samples is very easy, but removing and inserting the microSD card is a hassle. I think Play needs a sampling/resampling feature.
Compared to OPZ, Play seems to require more prep work.
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how is the sd card a hassle? If it’s like the Tracker, it doesn’t seem like a hassle to me. Is it different on the Play? I’m sure I will end up using the included samples most of the time but there are certain samples of mine (like playing my guitar and drum sounds I recorded from my own drum kit)that I would need to have available to feel like I actually created my song (it’s just a personal thing).
I agree.
However, I did not have fun with the workflow of adding my own performances on Play. It is hard to explain…
I had a lot of fun doing that at OPZ or Deluge.
But if I follow the whole folder format for the Play, I should be fine, right?
My own experience so far: i have a “portable” sd library with 256GB of samples that i use in multiple dawless devices (e.g. Blackbox, MPC). I started using the play with the factory ones and so far i never, never, never plugged in my own SD. Why? because i started experimenting with the default ones for the first couple of weeks and falled in love with what i was able to create without carrying over all my samples (yet). Sooner or later i will create a custom SD for the play where i’ll organize the samples in strucrured folders to be able to use sample packs, but i do not see any hassle loading samples from any folder structure either.
Back to the main topic: i own an OP-Z, a Tracked and a Play. In my humble opinion the OP-Z is more a super portable device to bring with you when you can’t carry over too much gear and you don’t want to miss that unmissable inspiring moment. But in my studio i never use it, unless i need to dump something i’ve skratched while travelling. I find the Play much more intuitive (note: i don’t live record, i always skratch down sequences manually, step-by-step). I hope this helps! 
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Yes this helps tremendously. I ran into a trade situation where I could get a Play immediately so I just went for it. I totally agree. I’m no longer in a rush to get my own sounds on there, still learning the ins and outs of the Play. The more I use it, the less it bothers me about not having an audio input- I have plenty of other samplers. Right now, I’m just making beats with it- so far the musical instrument samples have been underwhelming to me and difficult to get sounding good but, I’m sure I’ll get better at it. This has always been a barrier for me when using sequencers; how to get acoustic instrument samples or synth samples to sound more natural than your typical one-shot machine gun-style samples. Play combined with Tracker has been productive and inspiring, even though I still have a lot to learn.
Now, if I could just stop bumping the wrong knobs with my fingers…
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