Hi polyend, don’t know if you’ll read this but please please please mak your granulator polyphonic - it would make this instrument the perfect musical hardware out there
as an old ModPlug Tracker afficionado i must say that I hate myself for being too poor to buy your wonderful apparatus! i dont mean its too expensive, it cant be, just that i wish i could afford it but I accidentslly bought a Roland Phantom before i learned about your device from a video about which software and hardware aphex twin used
Glad you're digging it! I've had a harder time really getting into the flow with the Tracker myself, but the features built into this thing are surprisingly powerful.
I got one,and I am in love..It's NOT what you think if you have MPCs and DAWs,and you can take it anywhere.You can take it on a bus/train,sit in the park,and use a powerbank..amazing...
I love the tracker it literally has been my go to for making tunes and music when I don't have time to get stuck in! I also take it on walks and jam in the countryside which is super refreshing, sometimes even bringing a microphone to record stuff. Really great review and you made so e lush stuff straight away, would dig a Blofeld and tracker performance full video!
I dont know how one would want to stretch the word sounddesign, but for me its the righ tool for it and recently i decided to buy the mini to, its even better and to have them both is a creative inspiration for me, that will last a long time.
For people with little time for composition; there is an in-unit mod option. You just have to compose with octomed, renoise or others via your computer / convert it / upload in tracker and let's go. I think tracker with tempera (granular) can be a great combination.
Agreed. Polyend is criminally underated. Their hardware is top notch, the features are interesting, the support is great. They are the real deal. I resisted getting the Tracker at first, but man I'm I glad I took the plunge. Got me excited about recording again.
Only had mine a couple of weeks and I've only had limited time on it although I'm getting my head around it quicker than i thought. I used Octamed as a kid in the late 80s on my Amiga so the workflow isn't totally alien to me. The best thing out it is ironically it's limits. When i used a DAW with limitless, channels, fx, plugins etc, etc I'd get lost tweaking superfluous stuff for hours. With the Tracker you know when the limit has been reached and you don't end up going down a rabbit hole needlessly tweaking stuff like you would on a DAW.
It took me a while to unlock the power of the tracker, but once I figured everything out, I really love it. To get the most out of the wave table synth, you have to assign an envelope or a LFO to the wavetable position.
@@hiding_my_name I recently saw a great video/ tutorial showing how to get the most from the granular by using multiple tracks, each with different settings. Can use it as a single timbre instrument like that or resample into a single track.
Always superb content, thank you. Also, it's cool that you mentioned Ricky Tinez - I had no idea that you knew one another but strangely I always list Venus Theory and Ricky Tinez as two of the best youtube music production channels, you both have different styles but both share the same superb energy and top quality content which is often way ahead of the game when compared to other youtubers in the same category. and always with the super pro tech details and pro opinoons that we all love. Thank you
Learning the Elektron workflow made the transition to the Tracker much easier, also the Polyend YT tutorials are clear and quick per function. I can create some really whacky/bizarre sequences, very keen to hook it up to other midi synths to see what comes out and resample live into my 1010 Blackbox and OT Mk2
I love the Polyend Tracker... got it just before firmware 1.4 dropped... I was holding off since I was also considering the the Dirty Waves M-8 tracker... the larger screen and Performance Mode won me over to the Polyend Tracker. Still throwing side glances at the M-8 as it has the Mutable Braids engine... and has a 3 FX slots and is much more portable/pocketable... the support for tracker tables is also a big addition. I was using NitroTracker 0.4 on the Nintendo DS-Lite a whole bunch on the go... and decided I wanted a tracker with actual MIDI connections. Performance Mode is the Polyend Tracker's killer feature that ultimately pushed me over the edge. I'm in the 7.6% of your demographic chart... so I remember the 80's. NES ROM support might also have given the Polyend a slight edge... but in that regard the DS-Lite will play Kirby's Adventure while the Polyend Tracker said "Defender 2 and Joust are good enough for you, now go make some music."
if you're curious about the m8 but unsure about pre-ordering you should look into the headless option as a way to try it out. I recently received mine though and it has actually become my preferred workflow to my daw and I definitely would say it was worth every penny and minute i waited.
Just got one and I really love it! I approach it as a sequencing machine for my hardware that has the "bonus" of being able to play samples. The V1 being so cheap at the moment, it seems worth it. Enjoy!
The performance features of the tracker are really dope! I come from Elektron devices and it definitely reminds me of the Octatrack how you can completely go nuts with fx performance!
For a non Music noob who just bit the bullet........wow... I am still so excited and happily surprised at how my 'F#-"*- Ups' can still come together. Mistakes can be magic and the standalone Tracker is a wonderful product for doing just that. Explore and be amazed...
I cannot believe it has taken me a year to watch this vid!! really great coverage of one of my most beloved magickal gadgets. bravo, polyend!! bravo, cameron!! yaaaay!!
version been updated to 1.51 and I hear is very good. I just got it yesterday and so thrilled with it. I love that its so portable, that it could be use for busking a back track for your performance, and that it has 8 assign Midi command for the Midi foot switch. Looking forward to try that. I cant wait to try the chord mode. Which was the main reason I wanted this.
I will say. I love their aesthetics. It's very modern and clean with some warmth to it. It looks like a modern art piece. I love the colors they chose. You really want to make something with it.
For me personally, the kind of microscopic control the Tracker workflow is offering is exactly what I was kind of craving for on other devices (like the MPC). I mean, I also enjoy jamming intuitively with analog instruments in a band, or digital ones in the studio, and give myself away to just let music evolve. Yet, when it comes to actually arranging a song idea, I really enjoy to go into all those nitty gritty details. Maybe it satisfies a slight OCD tendency inside myself 📎 + there seems to be something inherent in the workflow + randomization features etc. which facilitates reproducible happy accidents; which one can then decide to eliminate OR to evolve further. I really like that.
OK. Take note, Polyend. And thank you Mr. Theory. I’ve watched more than several videos about the tracker and THIS is the video that made me purchase it. Should be arriving within 18 hours. Like a lot of others here, a tracker will be a whole new dimension for me. I have always resisted DAWS and I am hoping that with its seemingly more intuitive (albeit unique, ahem) interface and all of its creative and tactile mangling capabilities, my inspiration will once again ignite. Though a whole different animal, don’t pardon the pun, I recently returned the Pioneer Toraiz Squid because, despite all of its sequencing possibilities, not having any on board sound design tools just killed the creative flow for me.
Did you ever give reason a try. This was the obvious step for me moving from trackers. I liked the fact everything was built in like the tracker and better still, every knob on every instrument could be programmed. It was very familiar however, instead of using effect commands, you woukd draw the envelopes using the mouse.
@@bluebull399 Sorry I didn’t respond earlier. I forgot to mention that I am pretty fiercely anti-software as far as music creation goes. I’ve always needed the tactile surface of hardware.
@@audiosourceunknown2673 Thanks for asking. I do love the tracker and I find it very inspirational. As others have mentioned, its “limitations“ are a source for great creativity. When I feel like just flipping on a unit and banging on some keys or twisting some knobs, I have my hardware synths. When I am in a mood where I’m down for some in-depth creative sound design where I have very precise control, I can utilize the tracker AND those synths all at once to achieve a sort of balance in my technique.
As someone who used trackers religiously. I can confirm, you absolutely need to have 16 tracks. One way round it would be to sample your chords (as they did in the amiga 4 channel days). However, this was very limiting and a lot of tracker musicians would not want to go back to these limitations. I'm really surprised at the 8 channel limitation as there's no reason why modern hardware couldn't do more.
I don't think you mentioned what is imo the biggest limitation of the Tracker: sample record stops playback. So when you're doing that generative vibe on the Blofeld, you would not be able to capture it and manipulate it in the Tracker without some additional recording device. Overall I agree with your review, the Tracker has become my go-to music gear to take on the go despite its limitations. As a sample-based production device, it makes more sense to me than an SP-404.
In Renoise (its Software!) for example you can have up to 12 Note Events per Track (Column) and an infinite amount of tracks in the project (maybe its not inf. but you can go way beyond 8). The Polyend Tracker has a certain amount of CPU Power and Memory. So they have to limit the Trackcount and everything else. Its a different approach to a DAW but once you figured it out it can help your creative processes. I do like it... . Cheers
Regarding "polyphony" in a tracker, I once heard someone saying that you can make "fake chords" by creating really fast arpeggios with the notes. I never used a tracker (although I know what they are and how they work), so I don't know how good are the results, but suddenly a lot of video game music from the 8 and 16-bit eras started to make sense.
Some trackers let you make small arpeggios per step, that was often used in game music of the olden times. A lot of the weapon sounds as well. They're just chromatic flurries often.
I'm thinking about sampling Your voice and using it as a bass source on my next track... You have more bass than any of analogue tracks on my Syntakt...
As of the time of this writing, they are on sale on Reverb (with the new Mini on the way). Looking forward to working within the confined spaces of the hardware tracker (get hit with paralysis quite a bit when there's too many options going on)
Sick to see someone shout out the Nerdseq when discussing the polyend as i feel the nerdseq had gotten a bit overshadowed, and I dig their rack version with it's expansion modules. However, (and perhaps you're still waiting to get your hands on one) but the Dirtywave M8 tracker is definitely very powerful, fairly unique, and deserving of a mention if not an entire video. I definitely recommend looking into the m8 headless option to try it out if you're either not keen on waiting or are currently waiting for one. Digging your videos, man. Cheers!
The option of another hardware tracker like the polyend is great, good that it exists. I had high hopes for it, but the workflow with the pads and stuff just isn't for me. That's why I probably get a M8. I'm also really familiar with LSDJ so I guess that helps too.
It's like a hardware version of the old scream tracker.. man the good old days of trying to sample notes of all the greats . I spent a long time getting Randy Roads' guitar into a sample to make iron man. Lol. I just realized that subconsciously I'm making a midi version of this exact thing. Multiple notes/midi events for step..
Def concur on that. I thought it would be like my circuit but its a box of surprises and I am writing 70% worth of a song on it before bouncing to a daw
I was very close to purchasing one and then I checked their website and see that it even though it has midi capabilities you cannot load standard midi files and they also state there are no plans to implement that. I have a slew of midi files from my now defunct Yamaha QX3 that I would like to import, but I guess I'll keep looking. Oh, I thought about getting another QX3, but so far the ones I've found are priced similar to this tracker, and most QX3' have the crap beat out of them. I do have a pre-order for Dirtywaves M8, but that is more for mobile use.
Just watched this (2 years late). Great overview. Do you still have/use the Tracker? Just bought mine again for the 2nd time, metal gray version; also thinking of trying the Polyend Play as well. Thanks
Nice video , relly like the way you aprroached. Due to the fact you are user of hooktheory, what do you think about creating like melodies and chord progressions there and them some how reflected here, do you think is it something doable? any suggestion to use it in tandem with hookpad?
You absolutely can. But not for long periods of time. 45 seconds max. But it’s not really designed for recording long tracks. You can sample external audio and chop up loops (or not) or sounds to turn into instruments. But you can also sequence external hardware and run the audio through the tracker in stereo.
@@BendApparatus I never sold my Digitakt, still in a box in my closet. I still like trackers, though I spent some money the Bitwig 4 upgrade and I'm into that at the moment. The Polyend Tracker would be awesome if it were sitting on my desk.
@@channelite lol yeah I want a polyend myself. I've never owned an Elektron device. I've heard their workflow is completely different than anything else. I have a Novation Rythm and a Circuit. I'm hesitant on the tracker because like mentioned it supposedly makes more sense to people who are decent at math... something I'm trash at... But I would like a more powerful tool than the 2 aforementioned devices... Like apples and oranges, the 2 I'm heavily considering between is the Polyend and the Akai Force... The force supposedly uses a simple clip/loop based workflow... The only thing I've ever produced an entire song in was that old MAGIX studio software...which was basically editable loops... Of course...1 is $500 the force is 1k...😬
Instead of more tracks I feel like an ability to play different patterns at the same time would be welcome. So you can combine one pattern with just drum elements with another pattern of synth elements. I think you could do some cool live things that way. Would be especially cool if you can assign these patterns to the pads (activate/mute or unmute them that way).
People over here complaining that 8 tracks ain't enough.😂 Look at all the amazing Commodore 64 music that's out there! That's all done on THREE TRACKS and sounds like it's on 8! Trackers can be incredibly powerful if you know how to utilize the power they're presenting you with. If you can't do what you want in 8 tracks, then most likely you're wasting space in your tracks with stuff you don't need.
I'm sorry. If you can please show your face a bit more often. Your voice and face match really well for me so it really makes me want to watch. That is the reason for my like. Thanks for the tracker review. Very useful.
Is it possible to sequence midi and record the incoming external audio at the same time? One of my frustrations of sampler workflow is having to prepare everything on a computer beforrhand
I suppose you could by sending it to a synth and outputting the synth to the line-in with an adapter. Not sure how that works in practice as I haven't tried it, but I'd assume it's possible.
Not having the possibility to out the project at higher resolution than 16bits 44.1 khzs makes the machine not really usable for professional lets say album making... So sad, since this issue is really keeping me not buying the Polyend Tracker.
That's a pretty damn good deal I'd say haha - the only 'word of warning' with the tracker that I can think of is that you just need to be fairly open-minded to alternative approaches and workflows especially if you've never used a tracker before. Very fun device though, and I really love using it for some generative sequencing stuff with my other hardware!
