OP-Z - How I Use The Tape Track (and how I learned to love it)

I believe that the OP-Z's Tape Track is one of its most interesting features, but I didn't always feel that way, and indeed, for a long time I didn't really understand how I would possibly work it into my music. I saw other OP-Z users doing cool tape stutter tricks, slow-downs and wobbles but every time I tried to replicate it, I ended up feeling unsatisfied.
However, though better understanding how the Tape Track worked in-depth, and learning more about its features (some undocumented!) I developed a way of working with it which felt like more of an instrument I could play or sequence and that offered me something that I couldn't find in any other instrument I own.
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[@baryonmr5120]

This instrument never stops amaze me

[@andrewsmith8762]

This is great. At last I begin to understand the Tape! It was always a mystery to me. No-one else has really explained it like you have.

[@OscillatorSink]

Really pleased that I've been able to shine some light on it.

[@MISSCHAMPAGNE]

This video was an absolute game changer for me! It feels like every day I figure out something new this thing does, I haven't put it down since I got it!

[@samanthajanesmith9591]

I fnally got an OPZ and I could never get the tape track to sound good or be of use - so many thanks for this - I finally understand!

[@johnnygoodyear270]

Ridiculously good. Thank you.

[@OscillatorSink]

Thank you!

[@herjenmusic]

The tape track is one of the difficult things to master. You are rocking it!

[@SteveEngledow]

Mate, that dry/wet tape control is game changing! Read the manual and never knew :)

[@OscillatorSink]

If only it was in the manual...

[@leftmono1016]

Blimey this really opened my eyes to the OPZ, as you say in terms of musicality there are lots of exciting options to try! Excellent video.

[@GerenM63]

Fantastic! I've been on the fence about how I've felt about the OP-Z for the kind of music I want to make, or use some other sort of sequencing and yet another module, and so I've been spending most of today on KZbin watching videos. This video finally gave me the answer! Unfortunately, the answer is a mixture of both! LOL! But, the OP-Z is now definitely on "the list!" -- I'm sold. Thanks for helping me spend more money! LOL!

[@teddycleveland7441]

This is mind-blowingly useful. I never understood how this track before but I love this approach. Super glitchy and fun!

[@hoxtonkid]

Really grateful that you've opened my eyes and ears to this! Thanks!

[@jacklee7695]

I fell in love with the Tape Track when I started applying it only to my chord track, which gives me instant funk rhythms that sound very dynamic (somewhat resembling palm muting a guitar neck). I didn't know it goes so deep though, thanks! TE should have these features in the interface on the App.

[@OscillatorSink]

That's a cool tip - I'll have to give that a try, cheers!

[@ricklarry4212]

Brilliant! Adds another level to an already ingenious device. Thanks OS! 🎶

[@alexeydemidov2989]

Fantastic as always, thank you very much for this one.

[@tompurcell1983]

Thanks so much for doing this, your tutorials are always so well considered and insightful. As with others in the comments, I was completely unaware of the wet/dry mix function and had also never thought of trying parameter locks for the tape for some reason. I appreciate you, Mr Sink!

[@OscillatorSink]

And I appreciate you, thanks for watching!

[@BOMBPHONICS]

Thank you! I learned quite a bit from this and will actually use the tape track now. The OP-Z is incredible and just got better!

[@moneypits]

Terrific work. I collected mine a couple of weeks ago and was close to ignoring the tape as it just didn't seem flexible or frankly useful. Really well explained so thank you :)

[@chrisparker5625]

Mega! I'd started to tinker with the tape track, but this has opened up a huge amount of potential sonic exploration 🙌

[@mgcspl]

Thanks! I just bought an OP-Z and your video helped me figure out this feature 👌🏻

[@nikpharesmusic5768]

Cheers for this!! Finally grabbing one second hand in awesome shape for a cheap deal! So ready!!!

[@willibooy]

great stuff! didn't know about the dry/wet red encoder function. Gonna start using the tape track way more often now, thanks!

[@AMisso]

This was fabulous. Very useful.Thank you!

[@ste5367]

👏👏👏👏 I bought the op-z today. Currently waiting to finish work to try it out. This looks like I made a good purchase

[@kintoriley]

My OP-Z is getting here tomorrow. It seems super fun, but sorta daunting too. Videos like this definitely help. Thanks and subscribed.

[@MrPeety11]

This feels like a revolution haha...amazing work dude!! I already love my OP-Z and found the same stumbling blocks with the tape track but this has blown the doors wide open....!!

[@OscillatorSink]

Yessss! Have fun exploring the Tape!

[@callumalston5755]

That mixing trick is mind blowing makes it so much more useful

[@zmmayer]

Excellent video! Really cool and inspiring! Thank you

[@KaeseNachos]

I only had the op-z for a few days now and have not looked at the tape feature yet. Thanks for the on point explanation! I kind of suspected that the tape effect will have many facets/features. Now I am blown away by what it can do. That little thing is crazy.

[@OscillatorSink]

Glad to help out! I hope you're enjoying your OP-Z!

[@MrNamaikisaru]

So much information. I haven't had my Z long but the tape seemed like a gimmick until I saw this. Saved to come back and view again. I'm even taking notes!

[@OscillatorSink]

You're an A-Star student!

[@59Perlen]

Nice. Inspires me to get my Op-z on tour again!

[@dougrewing]

Thank you! This is so helpful.

[@noname85808]

Thanks! Hope you have more to come for the opz ✨

[@OscillatorSink]

I have at least one more planned to record soon. Should be a fun one!

[@leoglen3799]

Fantastic stuff. I like you was quite scared of the tape track. Never able to implement it into my music. Now I’m sure I can using your methods and the way you turn it into another melodic track of it’s own right is superb and adds another dimension. 👌🏽

[@OscillatorSink]

Really glad I could help you find a new dimension to the tape track!

[@baduncadonk]

Eye-opening and fantastically helpful; thank you!

[@OscillatorSink]

And thank you for watching!

[@qwertzasdfgyxcvb]

Thank you!! Even after using the OP-Z for quite some time, this video got me a lot of insights. Need test it asap : )

[@ZOE-SEQ]

I use the OP-Z for almost a year now and in my opinion it‘s the best groovebox ever made. I still find new sonic possibilities every time I make music with it. Used the tape track almost exclusively as a granular processor and rhythmic effects machine but never realized that it could be a nice arpeggiator too, especially with added polyrhythms. The only thing that I don‘t like about the OP-Z is the filter. It‘s quite hard for me to have an understanding of changes in volume in the mix when I use it. The lowpass just does pretty extreme things with the sound and almost acts more like a volume knob then a filter. Anyway, I love my OP-Z so much. Thx for the video! All of your tutorials are excellent! 💜☺️

[@k0v4l]

Thanks for this video, it completely changed the way I'm looking at tape track now.

[@OscillatorSink]

Thanks for watching - enjoy exploring it in a new light!

[@DaVeTheWaVe]

Eyes opener! (And ears too)! I didn’t know about track volume to not interrupt the flow… great!

[@K_man217]

Wow, thank you so much for helping me understand this track!! So cool!!

[@OscillatorSink]

It's so easy to overlook it, really glad I've helped you get a clearer idea of what it can do 🙂

[@Shurk84]

ohhh that mix with the I + red is incredible ! didn't know that !! nice tutorial, thanks a lot. I didn't know how to use it and i will definitely try it now :)

[@OscillatorSink]

The mix makes a huge difference to the flexibility of it. I'm glad I've encouraged you to experiment some more!

[@Davnak]

Great overview of the tape track. Gave me some new ideas for using it.

[@OscillatorSink]

Thanks friend!

[@vieweralias]

amazing. such a lovely video (and tune) really appreciate you sharing. agree about making something more related to your own tune. Really beautifu! Thanks

[@williamvine6887]

Great video and a great help thanks

[@joshuaglass5377]

DUDE. Thank you for this; I had the same problem with the somewhat lack of musicality going into out blind!

[@dot_witch390]

Something I really love doing with the tape track is using it with external gear. If you run audio into the opz using an appropriate trrs cable and select the module track you can stutter incoming the audio

[@OscillatorSink]

Yes! I've played with that and it's great fun! Good tip.

[@musicalstatues73]

What trrs cable do you use, I’d love to learn to use that technique. Also what do you mean by selecting the module track? Cheers

[@dot_witch390]

@@musicalstatues73 I just use the basic irig ive also I used the headset buddy brand as well. Make sure you go to the battery section and hit 2 to hear the incoming audio

[@musicalstatues73]

@@dot_witch390 thanks, I have the Apple lightning adapter that allows for usb sampling but can’t figure how to hear the incoming audio through the tape track. Do you know if it’s something that’s only possible over the trrs cable/build-in mic? I select the input by holding rightmost button on the back +3 for usb audio, as it is in my case

[@OscillatorSink]

You might need to select the OP-Z as your audio interface to get that to work I think?

[@batninja]

Really excellent overview

[@OscillatorSink]

Cheers!

[@harleyproveau]

Awesome vid. My tape track has been neglected far too long for the same reasons. Love the groove here too!

[@OscillatorSink]

Go give that tape some love!

[@ChannelTwerp]

Great work! Thanks for this, this is going to help…eventually…on my ‘learning how to play the OP-Z’ :)

[@df68rt]

Great video man. Really useful!

[@OscillatorSink]

Thanks for watching, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@therhythmwithinem]

super helpful! thank you!

[@GradyNickel]

This is huge. I'm subscribing now.

[@OscillatorSink]

Cheers, welcome!

[@Yesternow]

Fantastic!

[@charliesorrel4514]

You can also apply the tape track to live audio coming in via the mic input or line-in, which is totally rad.

[@SaEvSampleEverything]

It's a really cool feature! While in the Tape instrument, hold Shift and enable the [c] module

[@HotStrange]

Can you then sample that or sequence any of it? I didn’t know you could do that. Super cool.

[@timdanyo898]

I love this little digi road trip groove..

[@fz1812]

Nice dude!!

[@djbruael]

Amazing, really gave me an another context for the tape track! Really appreciate the professional format as well. Have you done a video about the master track as well?

[@OscillatorSink]

Thank you! No Master Track video yet, but it's on my to do list...

[@lukebogacik2793]

Brilliant!

[@soniquest]

So glad I stumbled across this!

[@OscillatorSink]

Hello, welcome!

[@HanjoSynth]

Found on Reddit! This is awesome, subscribed! Keep sharing!

[@OscillatorSink]

Cheers! Welcome to the channel!

[@Voyagermusix]

Now the "coarse" speed dial (green) makes sense as well.. thank you!

[@baryonmr5120]

Thx for excellent explanation

[@SteveDPIves]

Love the actual track you started with too - gave me very strong Jean-Michel Jarre vibes. Any chance of an OP-Z starter video showing how to construct something like that?

[@royburrakaxmeoff]

Very helpful. Thanks 👍

[@spiegelkind2387]

the OP-Z is one of those devices where the answer to any “can i do X on it?” question is a yes, but the method can be somewhat obscure and hard to grasp at first.

[@damiensimper]

wow from gimmicky and cheesy to refined and considered, amazed what this little device can do. Great vid!

[@OscillatorSink]

Thanks for watching!

[@TerekkiTerekki]

Thank you - very useful

[@theau61]

Excellent tips thx

[@Toodoi]

Hands down the most articulate and useful opz tutorial I have seen. Why the hell haven’t you made any others for the opz!?!

[@OscillatorSink]

Thank you. I kinda came to the OP-Z late in terms of tutorials. I hadn't seen this spoken about so I thought I could fill a gap here, but I feel like Jeremy's (Red Means Recording) tutorial series covers the basics really well (it's how I learnt them), so I felt like I'd be retreading old ground.

[@Toodoi]

@@OscillatorSink i humbly disagree. I am new to opz and coming from a ux designer, your approach is one of the best on the web. Period. Any chance you’d do some paid tutorials??

[@OscillatorSink]

@@Toodoi that's very kind of you to say. Bespoke tutorials isn't something I can do right now - my worklife balance is a bit of a mess right at the moment, and for the foreseeable future (which is why my output has slowed down a bit recently). I'm not ruling out ever doing it, but it's not practical for me at the moment - certainly not to do it with the level of quality I'd be happy with.

[@Toodoi]

@@OscillatorSink bummer. I’ll have to stick with trying to decipher cuckoo tutorials 🤣

[@OscillatorSink]

@@Toodoi this is the series that helped me get started: kzbin.info/aero/PLcaEIjiwaCmTydBPcBiBO9p0OP3NnBQgv

[@wurlinnawurl]

When you hold track, what do the other encoders do? It looks like the first one changes the bpm of the loop?

[@SteveDPIves]

Near the beginning of the video you said the lead track deserved its own video - I hope you can do that ones at as I really love the track.

[@Benissn3000]

Awesome. Thank you!

[@ildarkinildarkin]

Thank you!

[@pierreb8267]

Thanks for that!!

[@satelliteconspiracy6582]

Thanks for the tips. The tape track makes for great psychedelic noise.

[@ildafons]

Wow cool!!!

[@musicalstatues73]

Well explained! I’d like to see you doing one on the sequencer and the step components :)

[@OscillatorSink]

Funny you should mention that...

[@musicalstatues73]

@@OscillatorSink sorry, my English is not perfect so not sure what you mean by that, but what I had in mind was that it will be interesting to see you dive into the sequencer and show what you like/dislike about it. I find it limiting sometimes even though limitations can be a creative fuel

[@OscillatorSink]

Ah sorry - I meant that was what I planned for my next OP-Z video (by way of an interesting challenge).

[@musicalstatues73]

@@OscillatorSink excellent, looking forward to it!

[@JohnoScott]

wow, super cool. thankyou

[@AT-pv2kz]

People don’t realise that the tape track can turn the op-zinto a granular processor

[@baqcasanke]

Plz explain!!

[@SeriousLeisure]

Great video

[@OscillatorSink]

Cheers!

[@lfoflow]

had no idea about the wet/dry... thanks!

[@rakoonsound9782]

Thank you❤

[@teniluchey]

thank you very much

[@freeze157]

Thank you for this collection of really useful info. First video I see with so many track tape tips in the same place. I just noticed that you don't have any wires connected to the OP-Z. Is the line out cable in shade or am I missing something here?

[@OscillatorSink]

Yeah, it's a black cable on a black table in a dark room - just camouflaged!

[@freeze157]

@@OscillatorSink thanks for the clarification. Just wanted to make sure I was not missing the Audio over BT feature or such :). Who knows, maybe in the future...

[@ravemealone]

10/10 tutorial 10/10 nails

[@OscillatorSink]

Nails is what I strive for.

[@peterhammel3799]

6:31 OMG thanks a lot for this tip!!

[@prrojekt]

thank you!

[@johnruschulte2593]

Thank you so much why is the wet dry mix feature not in the manual sometimes TE makes my head hurt.

[@OscillatorSink]

Ain't that the truth!

[@Jmdeleeuw-]

wet dry got added later I think. That's why it's not in the manual just like a bunch of other features. Keep you eye on the patch notes!

[@OscillatorSink]

I can't find anything about this from the patch notes on the firmware page and a bunch of new stuff has been added to the manual from the updates. I think this one is just undocumented somehow (would love to be proven wrong though - is there somewhere else I should be looking that I've missed?)

[@MattGreerMusic]

It's a bizarre feature. I still don't use it much. This is a good overview.

[@OscillatorSink]

Cheers buddy!

[@squarekid]

Great tips! PS - the texture/grain of the surface you’re playing on is identical to my desk, to an alarming degree!

[@OscillatorSink]

IKEA?

[@squarekid]

@@OscillatorSink I don’t think so, actually?

[@zebrapares]

Thanks!

[@OscillatorSink]

You're quite welcome!

[@wurlinnawurl]

I like using a long piece and just slow it down just barely. You can get kind of a barely noticeable slurryness. I love sequencing small changes in a very long sequence in the tape track.

[@OscillatorSink]

Oh yeah, that sounds fun - I should give that a go! I wish you had LFOs on the tape track - it'd be great to be able to add a little bit of warble to it (oh - gyroscoping the speed would be great too!)

[@wurlinnawurl]

@@OscillatorSink just sequence a step that is like 10 steps long and just touch the second encoder barely under the green light so it is barely noticable.. You can even start the loop at the same spot in the sequence so it wont change at all except it slightly slows, or slightly speeds, both are really cool!!

[@joemoe1906]

If the green encoder is all the way to the right it reverses the tape

[@matthausholzl2645]

goddamn i cant wait for my unit to arive....

[@GiriGagan]

@Oscillator Sink This video is very insightful and inspiring, thank you for sharing your knowledge. Can I make a request?

[@OscillatorSink]

You can certainly make a request, and if possible I will do my best to accommodate it.

[@GiriGagan]

@@OscillatorSink thank you kind sir for your prompt reply! You made an op-z ambient video called "Sleepytime Synths March 31st" (comments are turned off) in the description you mention that you somehow overcame the beat driven nature of the OP-Z to make it ambient. Could you possibly do a tutorial for it?

[@OscillatorSink]

@@GiriGagan I had no idea how I managed to turn off comments there. I will have a think about how to approach that, although honestly a lot of the trick is turning down the tempo and not programming a regular beat. A lot of the cool things you can do there is around the step components and I'll be doing a video on those soon.

[@GiriGagan]

@@OscillatorSink I will be looking forward to your next video on step components. I will look into the points you made in your reply. Thanks again.

[@choodane1844]

Wow o:

[@sativamusicrelax1121]

i like 👍😉

[@vprice509]

Scratches in table 5.3 cm above yellow wheel.

[@OscillatorSink]

There's a story behind that.

[@DaVeTheWaVe]

Eyes opener! (And ears too)! I didn’t know about track volume to not interrupt the flow… great!

[@mattytrane]

Thank you!