Bad Gear - Tracker Mini

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Welcome to Bad Gear, the show about the world's most hated audio tools. Today we are going to talk about the Polyend Tracker Mini. Does this successor to the original Tracker and compact sampler, sequencer, groovebox and dawless centerpiece with its gameboy controls and compact form factor even make sense or is it another hipster toy with its field recording features? Is it the "Tracker Field" as Teenage Engineering might have called it?

Thanks to Polyend for sending me a demo unit as a long term loan.

Chapters:
00:00 Intro tune
01:00 Overview Tracker Mini, Original Tracker vs. Mini
01:31 Built-in Microphone, Internal Battery, Stereo Sampling
01:46 Tracker Workflow #1
02:18 Sequencer Features
02:34 Tracker Workflow #2 (Step Jump, Fill, Scales, Euclidean, Random)
03:23 Synth Features (Filter, Overdrive, Bitcrush, Modulators)
03:44 Sample Playback Modes (Slicing, Wavetable, Granular)
04:08 FX (Reverb, Delay, Master Bus FX)
04:22 Mixer, Performance Mode
04:35 Non-realtime FX (Sample Editor)
04:44 Instruments
04:50 Micro SD Card, Loading Times, Additional Features
05:02 Playing Nintendo NES Games
05:12 What else??? (Connectivitiy, Build Quality, Pricing)
05:34 Hate
05:58 Jam 1 (Walk in the Forest)
06:49 Jam 2 (Bedroom Studio Setup)
07:46 Finale (Foley Artist Techno)
08:16 Verdict

[andrewdoucet]

nothing can stop this man. first he does the gear I already have, and now he does the gear I want.

[lairdkilbarchan]

I wonder if several years after the wheel was invented, a handful of weirdos had a nostalgic hankering for the good old days when we just dragged things through the mud with a vine.

[donaldpriola]

You have to love Polyend for having the guts to (again) do this.

[LovevonMelenEkman]

Dear lord that final jam with the found sounds and the perc grooves, the atmosphere, the mix 👌 🔥 👌 🔥

[ropeburn]

I love how they're selling stereo samples as a big thing. Like they finally reached the technological level of the early 90s 😂

[birdieuk]

Cat: What is it?

Rimmer: A sequencer that was popularized by software created for computer systems in the '80s, such as the Commodore 64 and Amiga 600. Traditionally, these programs had a number of key characteristics that distinguished them from other types of music arrangement tools; perhaps the most obvious being that the timeline would run vertically.

Cat: What is it?

Lister: Tracker software would often represent parameters such as note, instrument, and FX values through the use of hexadecimal characters, laid out in rows of individual "cells." Tracker software would often represent parameters such as note, instrument, and FX values through the use of hexadecimal characters, laid out in rows of individual "cells." This distinctive appearance is often described by those coming across it for the first time as looking something like a spreadsheet.

Cat: What is it?

Rimmer: One powerful features of trackers is the granular level of control made possible by their cellular layout. Changes to almost every element of a composition can be enacted on a per-step basis—and sometimes even further than that, right down to micro-step divisions . This depth of functionality came about long before Elektron introduced their popular "parameter lock" system, which you can find to this day in the Digitakt, Octatrack, and other instruments.

Cat: What is it?

Lister: A magic Gameboy

Cat: Well why didn't you say???

[neonvoid]

bottom line: you can all buy all the gear you want, but you can't buy talent. @AudioPilz is simply just an amazing musician, no matter what is being put in front of him, his talent shines through.

[xtalviper]

2:56 "Fill" - shows the Phil Collins puppet from the "Land of Confusion" video.

It's these kinds of obscure references that have my inner Patrick Bateman saying, "Nice."

[Bodzi]

I’m always watching Bad Gear on my smart TV.
Do you know how hard it is to pause the memes?
It’s a minigame on itself 😂

[mytrackmachine]

Tracker users UNITE 🙌 Nice overview. This clarifies a lot about how the simplified UI works compared to it's bigger sibling. How you interface with a tracker really makes or breaks the workflow. The new button layout makes a lot of sense and seems fast to work on. A lot of the videos I have seen don't cover this.

I have a lot of muscle memory with M8, Little piggy tracker, and LSDJ so using a PC/amiga-style tracker workflow was always a bit slow. I feel like this UI would be much easier to adapt to. I might have to swap my big Polyend tracker for the Mini 🤔

Also great tracks on this one. I really enjoyed this set of demos!

[DonLuca]

Man, I'm super happy companies have finally realized that this is not a show to mindlessly diss gear.
Hope to see more people sending you stuff to review, because no matter the instrument, your innate skills will make anything sound amazing: that last jam was fire!

[CrescentRollCarl]

Waiting on the M8 episode now. Great work as always!

[irlWIKKO]

As an avid Junglist, I love your tendency to include my favourite piece of music in your more recent episodes: drum breaks. Keep 'em coming.

[apoplexiamusic]

I think the last jam in this video was really cool with how you filmed and edited your performance in a really original way

[ericvernooij]

That foley track needs a proper release! Awesome!

Also, this thing is close to my dream instrument, as it's so portable, but I also think I have enough stuff already.

[HailSagan_]

Congratulations on 100K+ subscribers!! Glad more people are finding your awesome videos

[tc-bladeofgrass]

That track at the end is probably the best thing you've done, wanted to keep it going for 10 mins

[jltep]

I love you dude 😂 your working really hard on all this content and I want you to know. It’s helpful and awesome!🎉

[JuanDale]

Oh hey! That's my Tracker repair video!
That foley jam was great.

[FLUFFYCAT_PNW]

Very excited for this one! You really are at the top of your game lately, and there isn't a better synth/gear review channel on all of YouTube. Endlessly entertaining, and honestly you've saved me so much money! I hope you're well and look forward to seeing what awful gear you make sound great in the future! Hope you're well!