Polyend Tracker

Really cool piece of hardware

From time perspective I really regret I sold it. If you are looking for classic amiga like tracker experience this is the best piece of steel you can buy. It has its learning curve but it is very inspirational. Manufacturer still provides updastes whis is really cool.

One small thing - casing was a bit wobbly but it stabilised over time.

Tracker Quickly became my main sequencer

I love the tracker workflow and features very much I've also use it to control other gear and it works like a charm, best sampler sequencer I have and is very powerful and flexible for the price, money very well spent

Great instrument

I wanted something that I could take with me on the train or bus and use to create music. I needed more interactivity and feedback than other tools that only offer illuminated pads & knobs coupled with a tiny (or absent) screen. The polyend tracker gives me that. I'm more familiar with the tracker workflow than modern DAWs so I was confident I'd get on well with the user interface and in fact it's better than I thought it would be - it's been something that's been a pleasure to learn and master. The buttons, knobs and case all feel solid and well-built, and the sound quality is great.

My only quibble is the limit on the sample bank size. I understand what they're saying about limits inspiring creativity, but 120 seconds total means you can't make certain types of music with this - specifically anything with a lot of vocals. If we were still working on Amigas with 2MB of RAM I'd be happy but these days that restriction seems silly.

If you can live with the sample memory limit it's the perfect on-the-go tool for a great price.

My favourite new toy!

Incredibly fun to play around with straight out of the box. Intuitive design with simple menus. Perfect addition to anyones studio!

Nice, but I'll resell it as soon as a V2 arrives!

It is overall a nice machine, with (almost) everything you need.

I am using v1.5.0 at the time of the report

PROS:

- Well, it's a tracker, and by itself it is very fun to play with!

- I confirm not having a touch screen isn't an issue at all since almost everything is easily accessible once you passed the learning stage which is very quick (about 5h for me with no background on sampling machines).

- The embedded radio is an absolute a good idea! I challenged myself to make an entire song from a random spoken phrase. From there I extract, slice and modify samples to create a drum-kit and some granular and wavetable synth, it's very cool... EXCEPT! Yes, except that after a few hours I already hit the wall of not having enough options/effects... My bass drum could be way better with a compressor/limiter that can actually really be usable or a drawing envelope... The ADSR values are rounded to 10ms! what??? guys we need 1ms increments!!! Having an aHdsr would be nice too

I can't find a way to give more attack to my kick, and it's not the comp/lim nor the ADSR that will help me... but I don't want to use my computer, this would be a workflow annihilator!

- The random fill is a very nice addition but... (see IMPROVEMENTS)

- It is a toy you can have a lot of fun with!

CONS:

- You can have a lot of fun with but it sometimes feels like a toy... (but at this price, a nice toy indeed, so no complaining)

- There are a lot of bugs here and there, some small ones, some more annoying...

- The level management is horrible, so when you edit a sample you almost lose an ear, and when switching back to pattern/song mode the level drops drastically. I have to see if I can counteract this, but not sure... That is probably because the level the sample is played isn't reflected to the the editor mode. I think I can reduce the sample amplifier and raise the instrument level, but it's a pain... BE CAREFUL TO YOUR EARS!

- I'd like to have more control on the effects as a lot of people are asking. the fades for instance aren't editable, so the whole length is affected. the ADSR increment goes by 10ms, awful...

- I'd like to see more effects in the Instrument Parameters than just having overdrive, bit depth, and rev/del sends... More than a bit light in my opinion. I know there are ways to use the other effects (permanently edit the samples or as FX1/2 on each notes, but having them as Instrument level would be nice)

- I don't like resorting to SHIFT to COPY/PASTE or heading to HOME. Add more buttons in the V2 please :)

- The pads are tiny, don't expect to use them to play in real time! That won't be possible once you grew above the age of 8!

- In song mode, I'd like to be able to mute a track without reflecting this to all similar patterns, and not having to delete the track for the pattern... Because you quickly end up by duplicating patterns as soon as you want a track to be muted, making a mess in your pattern list... Knowing that you can't give them a name, go deal with a messed up number list little boy...

- granular and wavetable engines are very limited

- When you manually play instruments, sometimes the level changes, sometimes the reverb doesn't play, sometime another glitch... Not very pro...

- When the power is OFF, the ground seems to be hanging so be prepared for a horrible buzz in your speakers/heaphones. I have to plug/unplug it to/from my studio preamps each time I want to use it, not ideal...

IMPROVEMENTS:

- The random fill could benefit from more options. The Euclidian mode is nice, but I'd like to see more options imported from the Polyend Play for instance.

- I'd like to have more octaves for the pads (something like Note+Shift+Up/Down...)

- I'd like to "pre-unmute" track until the pattern goes to step1 (this has a name but I can't remember...) so you unmute but it takes effect only when the pattern loops...

- Effect quality, especially compressor and limiter definitely need improvements. More controls/colours for the overdrive. different reverb colours...

- Ability to Mute tracks in song mode without affecting all related patterns

CONCLUSION:

Will I buy it again? YES, if they decide to fix the bugs and properly update the product...

Is it enough for what I intended to do with? NO, because I felt frustrated after only a few hours playing with it. But keeping in mind that it's a TRACKER, that part is really fun to play with by itself and I really like it! And if you intend to import your own samples, then go for it. If you want to create the samples inside the machine, you'll feel quickly frustrated too...

So I'm not used to using machines (more a studio/rec/mix background), and here's how I answer the "Is it for me?" question:

- You want to have fun with a tracker or discover what a tracker is, and don't intend live playing (except using the performance mode when the song is already written) -> YES

- You want to compose a backround and play live above it (using the pads) -> NO

- You want to import your samples -> YES

- You want to create the samples inside? it depends, be aware you might get frustrated quickly... For me it's a NO because I'm already frustrated after a few hours, but one can find it good enough... Be warn!

You want good quality effects -> NO

You want something that's easy to use -> YES

Music Productivity Machine For Precision Sequencing

The benefit of the tracker workflow is the way it compresses information in a way similar to a spreadsheet. Key shortcuts, instrument params, playback modes, randomization, data fill tool, with the performance effects mode layered on top, provide a lot of creative power. The sound engine can take getting used to, might not be for everyone, but if you favor experimenting over total perfection, it's a great tool.

I'm legit obsessed with the unit

Polyend Tracker changed everything about music-making for me. It became my holy grail, and I've completely switched to using it for production, and I don't feel like there is a way back, at least in the observable future. I've been using it for a year now, and 100% of tracks I've finished over the past year, I did on PT. It's not for everyone, but as soon as it clicks, if it clicks at all, tracking starts making so much sense that going back to piano roll feels like a cumbersome and pointless process. Total score - 5/5.

It takes time to learn it, but when muscle memory kicks in, everything falls into its place, and your ideas translate into music in seconds. I wish there were more shortcuts to navigate longer patterns, but other than that handling-wise it's great, so 5/5.

PT is built with a lot of limitations by design, so it's hard to compare with, let's say, Akai MPC, since they have very different philosophy. Compared to classic trackers, PT is loaded with features, both classic and modern ones. Wavetable synth, granular synth, loads of step effects, reverb (huge thanks to Émilie Gillet from Mutable) and delay sends, loads of sample editing effects, etc. For what PT is, I'd say it's definitely 5/5.

Again, keeping in mind what PT it, sound-wise it's good. It has its quirks, you have to battle gain staging at times, you have to accept all samples are mono only (probably the biggest bummer for me initially), mixing can be challenging, but when you know how to use it properly, it can sound great. Especially after additional master effects were added, such as Space, Bass Boost and a limiter. I'd still export stems sometimes to further mix them in a DAW, but mostly I'm working towards mixing 100% in PT, and only mastering the final mix in a DAW before uploading it. So, it takes time to learn, but it can sound good, so 5/5.

Hardware itself it great, except one big issue that a lot of users experience - excessive lubrication of a jogwheel. In order to fix it you have to unscrew it and wipe the shaft from time to time, removing the extra lube. If you don't do it, the jogwheel keeps spinning on the shaft with values not changing, or changing randomly. Easy fix, with a step by step guide on youtube, but it's annoying. Software-wise there are bugs, and while Polyend fixes them, they clearly don't have a huge staff, and their priorities were shifted towards developing new products, so bug fixing process is slow at best. With this being said, so far they were providing new features couple times a year, making it a much better product, as well as fixing some major bugs. Overall, you can definitely use PT as it is right now, but you have to work around some issues, which is also a bit annoying. So, quality-wise it's 4/5.

I'm very thankful for Polyend for making Tracker. Not only it changed my workflow completely, provided me with new ideas and inspired me, it introduced me to a wonderful community of PT users, that is the most friendly, helpful and fun community I've seen so far. I'm having tons of fun with PT, and I don't see myself switching to anything else as a center piece of my music-making process.

Excellent!

Great 8 track ,tracker ,with wavetable synth,sampler editor,and FX! in one portable device.

Very clever designed ,an alternative way to make music away from Akai Mpc,s or Elektron stuff.It is nice priced ,and even contain a beautifulll cloth to cover it!

Polyend Tracker is an awesome piece of gear

The tracker workflow really refreshes the creative mind. It's been a long time I had so much fun playing an instrument. The perform mode is such a great live performance feature. Now, with firmware 1.4 you can use the perform mode throughout the entire song in stead of a repeating pattern. Love this device.

i like it but firmware and limitations could use some more improvement

its a nice overall machine. I like the workflow but dislike some limitations of the firmware that may be improved. If polyend could borrow a bit from elektron machines I think this would turn into a magnificent machine. E.g.,

- why no conditional triggers? should be very easy to implement with a few lines of code

- only two FX per track - at least allow using a neighbouring track to share the FX. In elektron products FX (locks per step) can be virtually unlimited

- copy and paste settings in menus (e.g., I want to change reverb or instrument settings and then switch back quickly by pasting the previous settings)

- duplicate loaded instrument

- the limiter w sidechaining is not that nice. Why not a compressor?

- tracks with different lengths to create polyrythm/meters. Or at least have a command that sends the track to the first step. Again should be straightfwd to implement

etc.

Overall, nice machine but with some limitations that don't make much sense in my head

note: when my machine arrived, there was a sticky button. But it seems that this goes away with use: pressing the button just a few times quickly in a row seemed to fix this.