original OP-1 · firmware 246

Patcher

Opus 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.

opus 1

before you start

  1. Back up your tape, synth and drum folders (disk mode: com, then T1).
  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.
  3. Know the way back. te-boot is never changed, and the cleaner gets you back to stock or op1r. 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 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.

1Putting Opus on the OP-1

  1. Back up first: in disk mode (com, then T1) 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_opus.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. Hold help on Opus's main menu page to see "opus 1" and the build.

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.

2Leaving Opus

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

  1. Open the menu (synth drum tape mixer) and press T1 (system): the first row is the cleaner.
  2. With more than 33 sampler presets of your own, the row says how many it will set aside.
  3. Turn green to ask for the clean ("clean: at restart"), then switch the OP-1 off and on. The row then reads "done".
  4. Install the other firmware the same way as Opus.

Nothing is lost: Opus keeps a copy of everything it changed. Install Opus again and each sound you didn't change in the meantime gets its effect back, and the set-aside presets return. Opus's own engine sounds (dimension, amp) play as the plain iter engine elsewhere.

3Recovery

If an OP-1 ever stops at a black screen with white text at start-up, its data isn't damaged: the OS stopped while reading, before writing anything. Switch it off, hold com while switching it on, and install Opus (or the firmware you came from) again through update mode. te-boot is never changed by Opus, so this way back is always there: choose 1, upload firmware, not 7 or 8, which erase your data.

4What is safe

  • Updating Opus keeps your sounds, presets, tape and settings.
  • Coming from op1r or another mod: Opus starts on their data. Sounds using another firmware's engines or effects play a stand-in and show "incompatible preset"; your saved data isn't changed.
  • Going to op1r or stock: run the cleaner first (above).
  • Your files on the USB disk (themes, the start-up picture) live in the OP-1 and are copied to the disk in disk mode, so the OS clearing the disk never loses them.

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 doesn't run on the OP-1 field, and it doesn't run together with other firmware mods.

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