Polyend Tracker 3-stars Reviews

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