The Polyend Tracker is Weird, but GOOD (2022 Review)

A 2022 review of the Polyend Tracker, a standalone groovebox and sampler with an in-depth sequencer, extensive sound engines, and an... interesting workflow.
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00:00 Intro
00:59 Overview
01:23 Entering and Recording Notes
03:23 FX
04:00 Interface
04:51 “Off” Steps
06:41 Loading and Recording Samples
08:50 Sample Chopping
09:26 Shaping Sounds
10:36 Wavetable and Granular Synthesis
11:38 Sidechain
13:05 Final Thoughts

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Social media:

[Polyend]

Hey Gabe, great video! Thank you so much!

[breadwarandcircus]

Using the limiter you look like you were a little bit heavy on the settings.
When the meter coming from the top of the screen hits the bottom of the screen there is little - if any - of your original signal getting through. Back things off a bit and it will pump things - but not dump things.

Also, if you do want to process parts of the mix and not others; you can always start with the parts you want to process and then bounce them down to a single sample internally with the "pumping" burnt in to the sample.
This way adding the original sound back in lets you control things, by reducing the "pumping".

Creating a little side project with the same tempo and samples and using this as a "sand box" to bounce down short stems is a good way to get around the boxes limitations, and not mess up your main "song"

[sakkemakke]

Midi implementation is a killer also. I sequence softsynths/hardware via tracker, and it works like a charm. Every now and then you might need to sync incoming midi with onboard samples with some Micro-move wizardry. Sample the whole beauty or just use it for getting ”HQ stereo sounds ”out from your tracker - I think we all know sometimes the sound engine might lack a bit, hence midi it! 😏

[audionics]

Hey Gabe - After watching all of your groove-box videos - I think the Polyend tracker is the one for me!

Back in the Mid-1990's I worked at Hollywood Recording Services - doing Audio for TV, Radio, and Motion Picture - music, sound fx, and voiceover recording / editing on the AMS Neve Audiofile - and then went out to sea as a Musician on Princess and Carnival Cruises - Sequencing The band's backing tracks on the Roland MC 80/XP 80 - so I think I will have no issues with the Tracker's work flow. I just ordered one from Sweetwater - should be here soon. I still have the MC 80 - Once I figure out the MIDI setup between the Tracker and the MC80, I will have a multitimbral synth for Midi tracks to get started with.

Thanks Gabe for the in-depth research - I really appreciate your hard work and Expertise. Now I'm gonna need a small playable synth - back to your Videos...

[CrescentRollCarl]

I'd love to see you try out Renoise. I know its a little outside your usual area on YouTube, but would be interesting now that you've gotten used to the Polyend Tracker. Renoise is really powerful.

[synth-studio]

Nice Gabe. I agree with all the things… it has some quirks, but lots of attributes that make it really unique in todays groovebox worls

[mulangira]

I would not call the workflow deliberate at all. ..the fill function is amazing with the Euclidean fill and random fill that uses percentages. Also I think the granular synthesis becomes more complex if you process the same sample more than one way and then build a series of layers that play off each other. Then to free up tracks I just bump them down to one audio sample. I think the tracker lends itself to a more generative approach which is why it was so integral in the development of jungle, hardcore, ambient and idm. It offers more ways to quickly program in less repetitive styles or if you want more nuance since every step can be adjusted quickly with the fill function. Trackers are famous for the speed at which producers can come up with non repetetive compositions. If you want to do four on the floor minimal techno it may be a bit less intuitive.

[saysomestuff]

Wahey first!! I just picked one of these up to compliment my OG circuit, with the developers reference guide it's amazing how much the Tracker unlocks the circuit.

[fcf]

This is an interesting device; glad to see you tried it and got an opinion about it. what the Tracker is falling short is the lack of the sound engines, that make it basically just sample based, and in that area there are a ton of other devices sadly, that offer a better value for the money spent. Maybe Polyend will make a V2 with some decent sound engines and get more memory onboard.

[overthinkink]

Bought one afew weeks ago. I can't put it down! Thankyou for your in depth reviews.

[kurtafterall]

Thanks for the review! I felt exactly the same way at the beginning. It takes some time to get used to. But once you get the hang of it, it's great fun. My tracks done on the Polyend machine sound like nothing else I would have produced on other devices

[inkorrekt.k]

Great review! I've had the Polyend Tracker for almost a year now and I can say my experience is very similar. I can't imagine myself making music without it anymore. But I also had a harder time making a listenable track on it (compared to for example MPC) due to me having to adjust to the workflow and although that has improved, it is still hard to making something decent with the built in Wavetable and Granular synth so I really hope to see an improvement on that in a future update!

And yes.. the sidechain is pretty useless 😅

[teabreakbeats]

My first beat on the tracker was created by accidentally hitting the insert key and nudging all the steps - accidents (sometimes) sound cool!

[luke]

After getting this I sold my Digitakt and MPC One. Those were both very good machines, but the Tracker works really well for me when I want to do something away from the DAW. I think the song mode is the strongest and simplest impelementation amongst all the grooveboxes.

[billfsmusic]

When I first got mine, three buttons stuck. Once I figured out how to fix that, I started liking it again. I might even pull it out and see if it fires up! Thanks for the encouragement.

[francisguyman]

I’m almost 100% set on getting one, i think it’ll be good for Drill. Nice timing on the video

[jordanWAH]

Nice shirt! The Endless Summer is still in my playlist. I can't put it down.

[DaveSmithHayes]

Think of note-off steps as "the end of the note". Like on a piano roll each note ends at some point, that's the note-off step.

[imehesz]

The 100 project limit completely stopped me from using it, simply because it's a pain to deal with. I reached out to them, they said they won't fix it. (There's a solution for it ie: samples, so there's a way). I'm not even a musician and I made over a 100 (smaller projects) within 2-3 months. If it's not an issue for you, get it. It's a great machine.

[milk_bath]

Hope you get your hands on their teased new instrument!