original OP-1 · firmware 246

Patcher

Opus 2's core is made from your own copy of Teenage Engineering's firmware 246, here in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, and no TE file is hosted here. The plugins come after, as files: the starter pack.

opus 2

before you start

  1. Back up your tape, synth and drum folders (disk mode: shift + com, then T3).
  2. Start from untouched stock. The patcher only takes TE's own op1_246.op1, so your update is always built on clean stock, never on top of another mod. It installs over stock, Opus 1, op1r or Hundekraft all the same.
  3. Know the way back. te-boot is never changed, the cleaner gets you back to stock or op1r, and Opus 1 needs no cleaner at all. How it works
  1. file
  2. check
  3. patch
  4. download
Don't have it? Download 246 from teenage.engineering (the last release for the original OP-1).

Install

Opus 2 installs like any OP-1 update, through the OP-1's own update mode. te-boot, the part that installs updates and recovers a stuck OP-1, stays exactly as Teenage Engineering made it.

1Installing Opus 2

  1. Back up first: in disk mode (shift + com, then T3) copy your tape, synth and drum folders to a computer. Opus keeps your sounds and tape, but a backup is always the safe start.
  2. Make the update above: op1_246_opus2.op1.
  3. Switch the OP-1 off, then hold com while switching it on. The screen shows TE-BOOT and a menu: press 1 (upload firmware).
  4. Connect the OP-1 to the computer, copy the update onto the disk "OP-1" that appears, and eject it.
  5. The OP-1 checks the file, installs it and restarts.
  6. Add the plugins: in disk mode the disk shows a mods folder. Copy the .opmod files you want into it, or drag the starter pack's mods folder onto the disk: it merges. Eject the disk on the computer (the OP-1 leaves disk mode); the OP-1 loads them at its next start.

Never choose 7 (factory reset) or 8 (format drive) in the TE-BOOT menu unless you mean to erase your sounds and tape.

Opus's menu: hold synth drum tape mixer together. T1 is the system, T2 the mods, each plugin with its version, memory and share of the CPU.

2Leaving Opus

Stock firmware, and mods built on it such as op1r, stop at every start on data they can't read, such as a sound naming an effect they don't have. Opus has a cleaner for that.

  1. Open the menu (synth drum tape mixer), press T1 (system) and choose the cleaner.
  2. Turn green to ask for the clean ("at restart"), then switch the OP-1 off and on. The row then reads "done".
  3. Install the other firmware the same way as Opus.

The cleaner sets Opus's effects in your sounds and presets to stock's CWO, switched off, and sets aside sampler presets past stock's limit. Nothing is lost: Opus keeps a copy of everything it changed, and when you install Opus again each sound you didn't change in the meantime gets its effect back.

Back to Opus 1 needs no cleaner: install it from Opus 1's patcher. It starts on Opus 2's sounds and keeps them as they are; its own settings, such as colours, start at their defaults.

3Recovery

If an OP-1 ever stops at a black screen with white text at start-up, its data isn't damaged. Switch it off, hold com while switching it on, and install Opus (or the firmware you came from) again through update mode: choose 1, upload firmware, not 7 or 8, which erase your data. If a plugin is the cause, hold stop while switching on to start without plugins, then delete it from the mods folder in disk mode.

4What is safe

  • Coming from Opus 1 keeps your sounds, presets and tape. With the starter pack in mods, your Opus 1 sounds (bitcrush, chorus, plate, dimension, amp, the second effects) play as before.
  • Coming from op1r or Hundekraft keeps your sounds, presets and tape, and the plugin files they put on the OP-1. The bridge, an alpha and a download of its own, runs their synth engines and effects.
  • A plugin you remove: sounds that use it are kept as they are and show "needs" with its name; they play again when it's back. A missing effect plays switched off.
  • A plugin that crashes is left out at the next start, and the mods list says so; one that takes far more CPU than it should is switched off until the next start.
  • Going to op1r or stock: run the cleaner first (above). Going back to Opus 1: no cleaner.

5.1Why your own file

The patcher carries only Opus's own changes. Teenage Engineering's firmware comes from your copy, so it never gets passed around.

5.2Nothing is uploaded

Your file is read by this page, on your computer. The patcher checks it's the untouched 246 before changing anything, and checks the result against the published checksum.

5.3Which OP-1

The original OP-1 with firmware 246. Opus 2 doesn't run on the OP-1 field, and it doesn't run together with other firmware mods. It's a beta: tested in an emulator running the OP-1's own firmware and on the developer's OP-1.

The patcher bundles LZMA-JS by Nathan Rugg (MIT).