Glad this got USB multichannel audio, makes the Play so much more portable being able to hook this up directly to a iphone/ipad/mac and use those synth plugins via midi and record the Play audio through a single usb c cable and no extra audio interface or stereo cables in sight.
Look at how Synthstrom handled the Deluge: same hardware for 6+ years, countless software upgrades, now software is open source. Finally did an oled screen upgrade but allowed all current owners to have their models upgraded. I'd rather send my money their way.
@@0xbenediktcompared to what? Where would they even get a CPU 5 times slower than this in 2022? From the limitations it has, I would put it’s processing power subpar to a Raspberry, yet it’s 500% faster than it was before? (it’s $800)
This looks nice but $400 + $30 (Polyend shipping to you) + $30 (you shipping to Polyend), i.e. ~$460 to upgrade is a bit rough. If you bought the OG for $700 about 10 months ago or less (as I did mine, refurb), it stings a tad. For those who were not looking to upgrade to a subsequent Polyend product, or can't at $400, you probably won’t resell your OG for more than $300 to $400 if you are lucky. Alternatively, you would now have to shell an extra $400 for a total of $1100 to resell it as a Play+ down the road (for less than $800). That’s about 40% loss in value in less than a year either way. I don't doubt this was done with the best intentions by Polyend from an upgrade perspective, but I can see some OG users feeling... differently. Now if you are cool with that industry practice, great, but I'm not sitting in a bucket of money that large that this is not going to inform future purchase decisions, or (more likely) make me stick to revision 2 for their new products -- your mileage may vary, obviously. Nobody forced me to adopt early, it's a *fun* product, and Polyend is going to do just fine either way. The trade up is a *convenient* feature, but who are you that you were going to dump a $800 machine down the trash and not try to pass it on locally or online? If it's the latter and you had a different company in mind next, then the resale hit is still significant over that short period of time. If you want to have a discussion about recyclability, sustainability, or obsolescence, you can't conveniently wave off depreciation or total cost of ownership, especially if you can only afford a handful of gear at the same time. These arguments are compatible with having fun with your device too, one doesn't exclude the other. Telling people “it’s the same Play as the one you bought, you idiot, just enjoy it” is equally as constructive as telling people to keep enjoying their “same house” when the housing market collapsed in 2008. Hindsight is 20/20, and my 2 cents are now worth 40% less, but this could possibly have gone a bit more smoothly if: 1) Polyend had discontinued the OG many months ago, or decreased its price to $500 way before this announcement (as a signal), 2) Polyend had communicated more details about the improvements to the hardware (to really hammer the point that this couldn't have been done in firmware). I only learned about interesting new features such as faster load times from the SD card through other, obscure channels. 3) The upgrade had been $0 if you bought an OG within one month, $200 within 3 months, and $300 after that (w/ shipping), but that's only my perceived value based on the info (or lack therefore) in 2). 4) Polyend had pushed (or announced) a firmware update for the OG Play at the same time, to appease those who think the OG had been neglected during the development of the Play+. Addressing promises that were made quite a long time ago would have been nice too, promises that were mentioned by the same YT reviewers back then and that may have been part of your purchase decision, such as getting the Performance mode to work with MIDI tracks, a feature that never materialized (and here we are again, 16 months later, with promises that the Performance mode will work with Synth tracks...). ... 23) Ideally, my own wish: a greater differentiator between the OG and the Play+, to better segment the two products, as opposed to an expensive incremental upgrade -- there is a $600 diff between the T.E. OP-1 and the OP-1 Field, for example, and the T.E. K.O. II was just announced at $299 versus the T.E. K.O. OG at $99. Not a massive delay in innovation just for the sake of waiting, but a better, meaner hardware with the same form factor. For example, maybe triple the on-board memory? If you own the OG Play, you know that it is very easy to run out of space, and that space has been halved in the Play+ now that it supports stereo samples (if I understand correctly). Slap a lot more memory, or the hardware needed to stream from the SD card (like the Deluge), or a mic (to sample), or make some keys pressure sensitive, and sell for $979 maybe? UPDATE: Polyend stated: "if you bought Play a month ago and are angry, we understand that and can work something out with you, just please email us! - hello@polyend.com"
I feel you. I bought mine yesterday for 550 used 😂 And today I could get one for 500 new. I think the update shouldn’t exceed the price difference of 300.
Over all, I think it is a great to discount the OG model. It is a great device and especially for the now 500 Bugs. But for some wich try to get rid of their used ones these are bad news.
I bought may Play 13 months ago, if I was to upgrade it would mean that a Polyend Play + would cost around £1100 excluding the return shipping costs. Not sure this will sit well with early adopters of Polyend Products and will make people think twice because the Play was only launched in June 2022, meaning that Polyend product lifespan is roughly 17 months before they launch a new version. £150 upgrade price would be fairer, or a variable upgrade price based on proving the purchase price and whether it was bought new or used.
Thanks Loopop! Very useful as always! I love the Play, when I bought mine I knew it was special, the Play+ is just what I could have asked for. Seeing many complaints, but honestly, I’d buy the Play all over again, and if I didn’t, I’d buy this Play+ and be super excited about what it’s become now!
7:58 The gain staging on the Play is its biggest downside. It has no headroom at all, unlike any other groovebox. It's more like a traditional mixer. E.g. it helps to normalize your sample library to a much lower level (-12 to -9 dBFS) to avoid clipping in polyphonic playback.
The limitations simply do not justify the upgrade price and taking an approximate 40% hit to the resale value does not make me a happy Polyend customer. Kicking myself for not selling this device two months ago and putting the money towards a Digitakt.
I’ve been trying to sell mine for the past month. Had it listed at 400€ (half of what I paid for it 2 months ago) and no one wants it. I think I’m just gonna give it to my friends 12 year old daughter as I dont want to look at it any more.
Yeah, I’m done with Polyend. I spent the last 10 months spending over $800 to be a beta tester for a device I will have to spend another $400 for to get a device that will address the limitations. Still no idea if the upgrade will even resolve all of the MIDI sync issues that still exist on the original. I don’t know if I have ever been more frustrated with a company. Buyer beware if you are considering them - I say this having experience with quite an array of synth/sampler hardware. I’d have to recommend Elektron devices at this price point (funny enough, I only dove into Elektron because of waiting for Polyend bugfixes and ended up falling in love because it was just stable).
@@harveytherobot Don’t be a jerk. Of course I wanted the product - unfortunately I’ve had nothing but problems with it due to MIDI sync/jitter and have gone back and forth with their team troubleshooting (and I’m not alone here - this is something many users have been facing if you’re active on forums). I’ve got a slew of other devices in the studio and nothing else has these MIDI issues. If you’re just using it as a standalone groovebox/toy, it’s fun, but if you’re trying to incorporate it into a serious studio workflow, it becomes a headache. I bought it to make music, not troubleshoot bugs.
I'm upset with Polyend here. Where is Performance Mode for external MIDI instruments?!?! I bought OG Play for its OG capabilities and think it is an amazing groovebox/sequencer/instrument. But per Loopops review of the OG Play, stated at 53:18 in that video, I've been eagerly awaiting a firmware update that includes Performance Mode for external MIDI gear. I have little faith we'll see this feature in the OG Play now. I'm also not pleased with the cost ($400!!!) of this hardware update for OG Play customers. These complaints aside, the new synths sound amazing. Mod matrix is always welcomed and super useful. The audio over USB-C capabilities would be much welcomed in my studio. But I won't be paying this exorbitant cost to upgrade. Disappointed in you Polyend... do better by your customers who have supported you in the past.
This is becoming the killer groove box and sounds very nice but wonder why they didn't make use of all the knobs for patch edits. They could have included a third label on each knob where needed and have 30 standard synth adjustments that apply to all of the engines
The synth engines are a great addition but neither of the two patch editing methods seem to be optimal considering the amount of knobs and buttons that the device has. A better idea would have been to include a patch edit mode which displays a page with a bank of knob names and their settings (something like the Elektron boxes use). 3x5 might not fit on the display, but 3x4 for 12 knobs/parameters at a time would so much better than the current methods.
yeah there should be a smart way to use all the knobs for tweaking the synth in a special mode. And also allow you to tweak them with any device that sends midi CCs to them like a midi controller with many knobs.
Polyend is the girlfriend that wants to break up but not because she wants to see other people, but then next week you see her married. Polyend is the room mate who asks if he can bring you a drink from the coffee shop and then when he brings it to you says that you owe him for the cost of it. Polyend is the "friend" who pretends to like you to get something out of you and then blocks you when you need something from them 😁 If you haven't learned yet, now you know.
I'd guess the reason there basically aren't any yet is people are waiting for the first full release candidate. It's still in beta at the moment, I think for a few more weeks or so?
I think he went over it in his review of the original Play. My impression is that the Deluge is more full featured in almost every way and is only missing the randomizer functions that the play sequencer has.@@aquaticborealis4877
actually no it doesn't suck, when you understand you are limited to sharing MIDI tracks with synth engine tracks which is a total of 8. I only want it as a sequencer, if you understand how powerful it is as a sequencer, then you will understand not everyone wants to use it as a groove box.
@@dankeplace I got it when it first came out. the performance features were really fun, sequencer was interesting but if I want a sequencer, id just get a sequencer, maybe an oxi one. I still think the most intuitive sequencer is on the Deluge and thats how I like my sequencers, straight forward, get to this note, do this. I dont really want it evolving or making itself. So I sold it after a few months. Wasnt my bag. BUT, the upgrade path doesnt sound awesome, just an option. Doesnt sound free either. And if you bought the original Play at the pandemic price, not the original price (I think it went up 100 bucks), again, sucks if you bought the original and have to come out your pocket for the upgrade. Agree, the sequencer is powerful if thats your thing, might have been a good direction to slim it down and release a sequencer. Polyend Seq:0
@@hasan7786 They have a Polyend SEQ, I have one, 8 rows of 32, it wont do generative which is what I want. Oxi One is $600 more here for me, the Deluge is twice the price. There is just nothing on the market for the asking of the OG Play. Not for what I want within that $ range. The Hapax is same asking as a Deluge but does much more than the Deluge. Hey the Play might not even work for my intended purposes but I know of no sequencer at its $ range that will allow me to automate CCs and map CCs which is exactly what I want to do.
This should have been a FW update. Yes, Polyend offers "easy upgrade" but really, I don't think synths were much needed - rather, some Digitakt- like sampling in stereo would expand already powerful instrument greatly. I was using it as my main sequencer for a while, and with lots of external MIDI to cover, it is a bit of a drag to occupy MIDI channels with synths.
I'm guessing that the CPU in the Play+ is more potent, hence why it wasn't a firmware update. Synth/MIDI tracks overlapping is nothing new or out of the norm for a workstation. If you prefer to avoid that, then it is time to go for an MPC One or settle for a Circuit of whatever kind suits your fancy.
@@Jason75913 i am not big on MPC, rather Hapax of Oxi bcs of the modular. I do sequence everything via elektron sequencers nowdays (and use Winter Eloquencer for sequencing modular). Now, as for the FW update, I am feeling a bit iffy there - they could’ve accounted for the cpu usage when the first Play was planned. I am no expert but these synth engines seem pretty light, honestly. Aside from the fact that I don’t think synth engines were what this box needed, rather, real time sampling is what would take it to the next level. I am sure most of the people going for Play (myself included) already have dedicated synths. Polyend did wonderful job with Medusa, I don’t think these synth engines work well with this UI, it is very rudimentary and menu-divy. Again, it works well on Tracker and wavetable and granular synth engines but those are different types of synths and also, tracker users expect stripped down UI (i never had a problem with those either).
i'm still pissed. the play isn't a finished product.. performance mode is still missing for MIDI and now there's a new model? this is a mess, polyend should slow down and finish their software before putting out new hardware.
Should have been a firmware update really. If not possible on the original unit's hardware, you have to wonder why it was so underpowered considering the high price
From what I've heard, that's exactly why it wasn't a firmware update, because the original CPU couldn't handle any more and that was the only CPU they could get in a timely manner during shortages to put into the original hardware version.
Same thing about the Polyend Tracker when if first dropped, allegedly it was supposed to be as powerful as the Tracker Mini ended up being. Polyend needs to "save up more money" to invest in more robust components to be able to boast more competitive features or they're gonna get left in the dust. 3 minutes of stereo sample memory? come onnnnnn
@@connorcarbon I don't think it was polyend fault, everything got disrupted by the shortage.. the dirty M8 was unavailable for the longest time for that reason.
@@alexandrosroussos maybe the Play ++ will have inputs ? 🤣 not sure if the usb audio can go both ways.. but I guess there is a possibility there.. but I will keep the box I have and just use it once in a while as rhythm generator or a midi sequencer.. I’m not even considering upgrading. And it’s not the cost… it’s the the whole way they went about it. Lying to your customers and then 1.5 years later releasing a + version. I’ll stick to hardware manufactures that release finished products 😀
Lying?! How? They made a product with a set of features. YOU bought it. Now you're mad that there's a new version... because it came too soon? I honestly don't understand how you can be surprised or upset. Are you unfamiliar with how ... everything works? Plus, they're even giving you a trade-in option so you don't have to buy it at full price. @@djcolinturnbull
Very weird to make souch "updates" even if the box looks the same. No connectivity upgrade though, where was very needed. Waiting for the Play Mk2 that will come next year maybe.
@@dualtrx CVs for sure, BUT you can get MIDI to CV cheap enough. I have a Polyend SEQ, that is fantastic let down by stuff, Akai Force, wont even behave like a normal sequencer, then KSP, good, not great. Find what's good and make some music.
Still the case? Pretty ridiculous yes, even the Tempest could do 32 different patches at the same time, and that was analogue! This should be easy peasy right?
You really do a service to the community by going over every feature and limitation of gear... it helps people to know what they are being offered. That said... (not that I am in the market for another device), but only having 3 mins of stereo samples, and no disk streaming to compensate is a big miss.
Love the play. Feeling punished as a first adopter. Upgrade price is %50. 399 dollars. There are too many cons...i think the upgrade money would be better spent on a roland sh4d with audio going from play to the roland and the midi on the play controling the roland. Or a cobalt 5s definitely a better value. Feeling a bit underwhelmed watching the vid. Both on the sounds of the synths, their ease of use and accessibility and the restrctions they impose on the other aspects of the play... And still no arp... Or did i miss that. Good vid though. Thankyou
Meh all I want is an update with a slice mode an alternative keyboard mode to live play/record the individual samples in a folder. An yeah little bit annoyed that they have destroyed my resale value they could have waited another year at least but whatever I’m still in love with OG
So, I’d like to know if its even possible (in the future) to have a 3rd page in the sequencer IE: page1 8 sample lanes page2 8 synth lanes page3 8 midi lanes Also I would love a more expanded FX section to allow for a few different project FX (not just master effect) to be assigned per track and per step for variations in FX parameters or at the very least LFO routing to parameters such as per track panning or per track wet/dry mix of a few different FX Think Korg EMX-1 3 different FX freely assignable to any track….
Iwas exactly thinking the same. With a so deadly synth menu diving, why be scared put a 3page grid . Again cpu power lack? Same excuses? Shorter sample lenght ,same memory. No so huge upgrade. I keep my og play , and wait
@@neonvoid Actually, it's nice to be able to do sound design when at the desk with a computer and the circuit, and to load up the circuit for standalone use. It your workflow mixes composition and sound design it's indeed not convenient, but if you do separate sound design sessions and composition/jamming sessions, then it is actually quite handy.
Hydrasynth desktop + any cheap drum machine might be a better option for some. I've been a fan of polyend. I loved the tracker, what an original machine! Not sure about this, but hey, if it gets your creative flow moving, cool!
Hey mate, this release was seemingly timed to impact my decision making on what to purchase next! Thanks so much for your great reviews and demonstrations. I have one question, what do you use to display the waveform shapes, like an oscilloscope?
yeah I want to know about the oscilloscope they use, they are lots of software ones available, but the one they use seems really great, seems like a really asset with programming synth sounds!
Hi, I use MOscilloscope and MAnalyzer by a company called Melda - they’re free with some limitations in the MFreeFXBundle. Occasionally I’ll use scopes by VCV
First loopop, you as always made a great video and thank you for it :) and the following is not to you, but polyend, so: this is a joke or? 400 euro to upgrade a price drop of 200 to 300 euro of the original unit? When you want the features anyone wanted from the beginning and upgrade you paid almost 1100 euro for the plus 🤦 the timeframe of the two release is simply to short that I don't feel scammed about it :(
This is a joke. 100% done with Polyend as a company. 0 trust after they devalue the original and then have the guts to ask for $400 to make it all better. Clearly they think we are all stupid.
@@iamjamessmith That's true, of course. But it is a funny limitation, though, that you will still need 4 Tracks for 4 voice chords?!!? Why is that? In the Deluge you can have chords with as many notes as you like and as many tracks as the processor is capable of handling. At least, they should have made it possible to use synth tracks polyphonically. Otherwise, the limitation is a bit ridiculous for a serious device.
I love loopop's video and appreciate his unbiased opinions, but I as a buyer of the Polyend Play several months ago, I feel burned by the company considering I spent the most amount of money I ever did on this piece of gear and they did a move like this that killed the resale value of it. It feels extremely disrespectful to a customer who went out on a limb to buy one so early on.
I had issues with my unit (the primary encoder just came off in my partners hand!) and was met with accusation by (EDIT) MusicStore and robust denial by Polyend. It took months to receive my unit back and I've only used it for an hour or so since it returned. I was thinking of selling and now I guess I'll have to hang onto it, or lose another £200. It has SO much I love about it but overall, I don't know..... this adds insult to injury, so to speak.
What’s the alternative, though? How should they have handled releasing a new version in such a way that it doesn’t feel bad if you just recently purchased the old model?
They should upgrade the original models for free (perhaps minus shipping). A hardware upgrade in a year is very unusual in this industry. And to do so to add features that they added for free to previous, cheaper products (Tracker) is awful. I understand that--without telling customers--they had to use underpowered chips last year, but that was their decision to launch in that state and if they need to upgrade boards to provide the kind of features they taught their customers to expect, then they should bear that cost.
@@josephjfk4755 I think this just isn’t realistic. If this was a “we fixed a production issue with our first run” and this was a make good, that would be a different story, but that’s not what this is. TBC I’m not saying I think it’s unreasonable to be disappointed. Are you aware of any company that handles hardware upgrades the way you’re suggesting?
Hi Loopop, I'm a big fan of your videos and appreciate the unbiased approach you bring to your reviews. I've been following your content closely and even support your channel on Patreon because I believe in the value of unbiased reviews in our community. As a Polyend Play owner and supporter of your channel, I was a bit disheartened watching your recent video on the Polyend Play+. The new features and improvements are certainly exciting, but I couldn't help but notice that there was little to no mention of the potential impact on early adopters like myself, who purchased the Polyend Play just a few months ago. I revisited the video multiple times, specifically during the pros and cons section where you hinted at comparing the two versions to assess if the upgrade is worth it. However, that part seemed a bit rushed to me, and you quickly moved on to a wishlist for future updates. Moreover, your mention of the former version being at a significant discount currently wasn't addressed in the context of early adopters. This discount is pointless to customers who already bought the initial version, and it adds to the frustration of those who recently invested in the Polyend Play. I understand the need for your channel to stay current with new releases, but your credibility is what sets your content apart. In this particular video, I sensed a bit of bias, and it left me wishing for a more thorough exploration of the implications for existing Polyend Play owners. Additionally, I wanted to draw attention to the upgrade path Polyend offered, which, for international users like myself (I'm based in Brazil), may involve complex logistics, time frames, costs, and taxes. I continue to believe that your honest and unbiased reviews contribute immensely to the synth community, and I hope you continue to address both the positive aspects and potential drawbacks of the products you review. Thank you for your time, and I look forward to your future content.
I'm a recent PP v1 buyer. I was disappointed about the upgrade path. But I also don't see a compelling reason to upgrade for $400 since I just got v1 recently. I'm fine, as is, for now. Maybe a firmware update will add some additional functionality. That will be a good compromise for me.
I'm a native English speaker and the subtext in how he talked in this video sounds to me like he's certainly not biased in favor of Polyend or this product. A couple moments in the video, you can hear he's wanting to be more critical than he is in the video. I think part of his job is to be a "good faith actor" for products and give them mostly-neutral objective delivery and demonstration. I think he sees the obvious here, that Polyend are abusing their customers, but to be fair that's not really something to address in a video like this, other than in the comments like we are all doing. I think it's more important we viewers be vocal about how disappointing Polyend has been, whereas Loopop's job is more to criticize what was sent to him, and serve as a place for us to talk our concerns out as a community
Definitely a bit disappointing. Wish he would mention the subpar quality of the hardware (especially how bad those knobs are) as well as just the quality of Polyend as a company
Hey, I really appreciate your support here and on Patreon, and the kind words. In terms of bias, I went back and timed the pros and cons section - there are 45 seconds of "pros" vs 5 minutes (!) of cons (to me a "wishlist" is also a con, because it references things that one can reasonably expect from the competition), that alongside me pointing out bugs, interface compromises and missing features throughout the video. I also specifically mention that you should be cautious about promises for future firmware updates in general, and with Polyend specifically based on my past experience with their promise to add performance functionality to the MIDI mode. In terms of impact on previous buyers - typically I don't mention it because it seems obvious to me that a company releasing a new version of something hurts the resale value of people who bought something previously - just like I didn't mention it in any other review of a MK2/MK3 I did in recent years (MPC One+, MPC Live II, Analog Heat, various keyboards, etc). I totally agree however, that here specifically the market expectation is that an MK2 doesn't come so soon after a MK1 with zero actual external physical differences - people are rightfully angry, as is very clear from this comment section, and I totally agree with the sentiment. The regarding the upgrade path, I don't think that a company should be faulted for offering one, on the contrary, but here too I agree with people feeling that the cost is high, and you're right that for people outside countries where they have local refurb centers, there can be substantial additional costs (that applies for example to Deluge users too for example). On a side note, the challenge with making a pre-release video, is that there's no way to know for sure what pricing policies will be. I admit that I had a favorable view of their upgrade price because prior to making the video they told me the cost would be $199 for existing users and indeed a saw a $199 coupon offered by Benn but apparently that was, sadly, for a small number of units. I'm very disappointed that they're not offering the $199 price point for previous buyers hope they'll change their mind on that position. You didn't mention it but I saw someone else say I didn't mention the quality of the knobs, I just wanted to say that I did address the issues with the touch capacitive sensing in the video (if you disable that the knobs are actually quite good IMHO), and the overall quality of Polyend's instruments seems quite good to me as well. Anyway... yes for sure I see my viewers as my friends and would never intentionally hide anything from you - in particular I think my sentiment towards the upgrade policy would have been much less friendly if I knew they weren't going to stick to the $199 price for existing users. Thanks again!
@@0xbenedikt 5x less processing power compared to this is inexcueseable for a product that came out in 2022 for $800. Off the shelf SOCs could run fully featured DAWs for 50 bucks yet the Play was incapable of running a few simplistic synth engines?
The original Play OS - even after several updates - has a deal breaker issue and I suspect that it exists in the new version as well. When you grow the project to a bigger size the save and load time is impacted. So much that if you make a project with several rows of patterns the load and save time can be more than 45 minutes. This is a horrible bug that is easy to reproduce and any original owners of the Play can easily confirm it (and have.) Polyend confirmed the issue weeks ago in backstage and has still not solved the issue.
Hi, I use MOscilloscope and MAnalyzer by a company called Melda - they’re free with some limitations in the MFreeFXBundle. Occasionally I’ll use scopes by VCV
Thanks for another great and informative video 🙏🏻 For me you are the channel to go to when making a buy-or-not-to-buy decision 👍🏻 In this case it’s a no-go for me. Not because I don’t like the Plus, but because I’ve bought the OG (on its new, lower price point), using it as a hands-on, performance style MIDI sequencer. It’s great for quickly creating top-loops, creative beats and melodies using its samples, but also sequencing other gear. And, it seems the Plus cannot (re)sample and the new synths take up voices / tracks of the MIDI sequencer… so they are not added as an extra page / part, but they share a room with the MIDI sequencer. In my case it would loose it’s role as a sequencer for external gear.
A brand new piece of hardware and still no ability to play Chords on a single track? This is nuts. I think I’m done with Polyend. They just don’t seem to focus on the important details of workflow on their hardware. It’s very sad because their hardware is nice looking. But i am done. No more Polyend kit for me. 😢 Thanks for a great overview and for always being so concise and clear with your presentations.
There is a chord mode. Use the Sample Start knob to select from a list of 20 different (pre-programmed) chords. This isn't quite ideal but it's been available on the original Play for awhile via FW updates. Current Play FW is 1.4.1
I’ve only had the Play + for 24 hours, but so far, my initial thought is to sell it and get the Sample Version. The limitations on the synth tracks makes them pretty lame, but the sample and MIDI capabilities are pretty incredible. The only other feature that makes a big difference is the multitrack audio over USB, and I haven’t tested this yet. I know everyone has a take here, but the thing that surprises me the most is Polyend’s choice to only wait a year after the OG to release the Play +, in a very unfinished state. I think if they’d waited another year to fully flush out the synth features (performance, editing, patch switching), then offered the same option to upgrade for original users, the response would have been radically different.
such a bummer. I would consider an upgrade, but it's a lot of money and it makes me wonder if they'll only do a couple firmware updates on the new one and then do a new, new one. might as well go to teenage engineering lol
The Play was an unfinished product!! This is very frustrating and a poor direction to allow developers to release unfinished gear.. and then charge for an update! It is just like waves update plan but for hardware. I’ll stick to manufacturers that sell refined finished products in the future
@@harveytherobot no.. actually I went through everything… and these points were just simply not available in the documentation.. again… watch the loopop pros and cons. The play + is still underdeveloped
OK Ziv got my new PE PLay yesterday, issues with previous unit. So I am going through certain features and I have yet to understand how many CC values you can control on one step. I cannot find this info anywhere and since I read the manual, I saw your name attached. Do you know the actual number of CCs per step please? I have asked the forum but never got an exacting answer.
Curious - where was my name attached...? Anyway, if I remember correctly, you've got 8 CCs per channel per step, so I guess if you really wanted you could do 64 on 8 different tracks/channels (note that I didn't test this...)
@@loopop If you go to their website, 1.4 manual, it thanks Benn Jordan and Ziv, I assume there is only one Ziv in the world, say it aint so? 8 CCs per step sounds good, you're the 1st to confirm re this. I guess it has to do with the actual 8 encoders available in MIDI mode. Thank you for your tireless work, I did re-watch this vid, fell asleep, there is so much info lol. The MIDI section was extremely helpful though, things that are not fully explained in the manual and a vid explanation is much better to understand. 🙏
Hi, I'm new to Polyend. Does it make sense to insert Play+ into a HW setup where there are already other synths to sequence (Minilogue, Monologue, Microfreak, J6) or could it be convenient to take advantage of the drop price of the Play OG updated to the latest firmware?
Could you clarify please: When you say people can get an "upgrade" on their original device, would this make said device have both machines' functions (ie. generative elements and new synths) or would it be a swap of one for the other?
Here's a question: How easy is it to copy the work done on an internal synth channel and paste it onto a MIDI channel? So for example, using ACD on a track to get a melody going while on the go, and then copying it all over to a MIDI track to send out to a hardware synth when back in the studio?
Hey loop, you said in the intro that you will do pros & cons vs competition but I guess you skipped the competition part. What would be the closest comletitor to Polyend+ now?
Pros and cons are always relative to the competition - I didn't mention specifics because there are so many flavors of grooveboxes these days, it's just about the preferred workflow. Examples are MPC One, Circuit, Digitakt, SH4d etc... I still think Play is quite special through, so on the generative and performance side, it differentiates quite well, though if you're ticking boxes, MPC would do more.
So many possibilities but out of all the limitations, not being able to change patches within a project is basically a dealbreaker if you want to use this for live sets using the internal synth engines. I really hope they add this since it doesn't seem like it would be that processor or memory intensive - it's just changing parameters.
Hi, no video - I use MOscilloscope and MAnalyzer by a company called Melda - they’re free with some limitations in the MFreeFXBundle. Occasionally I’ll use scopes by VCV
@@loopop ok cool, would be great to see a demo of u playing the internal keyboard, Im all for minimal kit. Hence why I have been waiting for this upgrade in ages
@@LegPuppy you can play the pads on the old version of Play too, but just to be clear, it’s not really a good performance layout since it’s sideways - it’s more for entering notes
Man I asked for sample slicing on day one , the way it chops samples is ridiculous for 2023/24 but they wanted to still make money on the trackers I suppose.
Hello. Thank you for this review. I have a stupid question : can the capacitive knobs be used when wearing drummers gloves (with fingertips covered by gloves). Thank you
I think it depends on the thickness and type of material. I just tried through a t-shirt and it worked, but then I folded it a couple of times and it didn't. BTW you can still use it without the capacitive touch features (I sometimes disable them)
I am very disappointed with polyend's choices...a hardware update of their machine while the software bugs are still numerous. And what a scam for people like me who paid €799 for a beta version of their product. Never again polyend...
Did I miss it or did you not cover how the multi channel audio IO via USB works? Can I plug in a class compliant interface, or is it only transferring multichannel audio to a computer?
Yes, I did cover the channel allocation, and no you can't plug in an audio interface, this acts as an audio interface as far as a computer is concerned
You have been my go-to for comparisons ever since I got into the world of DAW-less production and Grooveboxes. I am looking into stepping up my gear, and the Polyend Play/Plus is one of my options. Thank you for all of your tips and content. One question: can either model natively export MIDI files into a DAW, so I can keep the information while changing the instrument? I saw a video with an online tool that provides a workaround (for the Tracker). Just curious. Thank you.
Thanks for the kind words! As far as I remember that option doesn't exist. Please ask the company to make sure and let us know back here if you can! Note that exporting MIDI from the sample tracks might not make sense because a lot of the magic is the generative stuff. MIDI from the MIDI tracks could be recorded live if an export option doesn't exist.
@@loopop *Update* From Customer Support: "Direct export of MIDI files is not implemented, however, you can transmit MIDI data into your DAW live by running a sequence from Play+. There are currently no plans to implement a MIDI file export function." Well, I'll just have to remake those loops I suppose.
Feels like they should of waited and just released this box over jumping the gun with the PLAY which was a bit of a letdown upon release after the massive teaser campaign they did.
@@milk_bath That's fine, but then offer a free upgrade path to fix an undisclosed problem with the original. They didn't tell users they were selling crippled units that would be unable to receive the kinds of firmware updates they taught their users to expect.
@@loopop do you think there is a chance they add it in a firmware update? I got rid of my OG PLAY because no synths (I use synths more than samples) and no Song Mode. Pattern chaining is cool but you can't save the chainsl I need something for a group I am in. It will sort of be a backing track for percussion and various sounds and synths but I need to save songs so I can easily start the track when playing live shows.
I didn’t understand the original Polyend Play spec choice. A very limited sample player the size of a Deluge for a lot of money. The sample memory, no synth engines and no sampling directly into it or resampling to free up the small amount of tracks is puzzling for hardware coming out in 2021. at a price of an iPad. It just did not feel worth the price. The Play+ fixes some of the limitations but not enough.
