New Polyend Tracker sampler/groovebox?

[SLiC]

I've not had much time with mine yet but am really enjoying it so far, it is making me think about getting Renoise too.

I did it the other way around, my PT was delayed 3 weeks so I bought Renoise to refresh my chops, no regrets on either purchase and I think you can load .mod files (I really haven't looked in to this much, but I did but in a FR at Renoise to make PT a supported hardware controller/format )

[Goseba]

I've downloaded the demo, but at the moment I need to find time with the Polyend first .

[DrGonzo]

I had mine for a couple of months without touching it
Every time I see it I say to myself I should power it up and take it for a ride.

What was the most difficult thing for you guys before the workflow "clicked"?

/C

[Goseba]

I had mine for a couple of months without touching it
Every time I see it I say to myself I should power it up and take it for a ride.

What was the most difficult thing for you guys before the workflow "clicked"?

/C

I have only had it for a couple of days and not had much time with it yet, but it seems to have clicked (in principal at least) almost straight away. Remembering short cuts/muscle memory will take time.
I would say check out Loopop's video and work through it with the Tracker in front of you.

[DrGonzo]

Thanks - Loopops video was actually the one that sold the Polyend Tracker to me, so it's a good place to start

[SLiC]

I had mine for a couple of months without touching it
Every time I see it I say to myself I should power it up and take it for a ride.

What was the most difficult thing for you guys before the workflow "clicked"?

/C

Update it to 1.3 first and play some old NES games

It real isn't hard to get started, I started by just using it like a drum machine- load 3-4 one shot samples, select a pattern of just say 16 or 32 and stat dropping the samples in! Press note to set the pitch, Instrument to select the drum type, fx 1 or 2 top add rolls, reverse etc.

[tl]

Tested the Tracker for two weeks now. The device arrived with a cosmetic flaw (three wrong key labels) but I decided to check it out first before i send it back to the retailer...
The workflow within the device is great, fast and well thought out in my opinion. The fill tool is a great addition to the standard idea of "tracking" and the performance mode is indeed great for "breaking the pattern". Even with its limitations it's a great sketchpad but I have some problems with the device...
Number one issue is an annoying background noise through the line-in regardless of what is plugged in and which way I use to power the tracker. The noise gets less if I change the display brightness to "high". I strongly hope this isn't a unsolvable hardware related problem of the device.
The other problem is related to the audio file export: the export takes very long and integrating the resulting stems in a DAW project requires a lot of work afterwards because of timing issues - a gap at the start of the files and slowly drifting tempo.
...
So after nearly two weeks of decision finding I'll return the device to the retailer for now. For me 500 hundred euros are to much for a partly half-baked hardware device which isn't in the condition for a resale because of its fabrication fault. With the current state of the Tracker I prefer to wait but I'll keep an eye on its development, hoping for this device to mature.

Regards,
tl.

[SLiC]

I don't have any noise issues, sound like you had a lemon (or a lot of RF getting picked up from your leads? Were they screened?).

File export has had some love in todays update...

1.3.1b3 beta
Fixes
• Edits on Song screen could crash the device when switching to Pattern Editor (#410, #662, #688)
• Undo actions on Song screen now more predictable with 10 levels of undo (#591)
• Correct stem alignment for tracks beginning with silence (#697)
• Offline song export is now 20% faster and usually faster than wall clock song time (#697)
• Offline stem export now takes around ~2x wall clock song time (#697)
• Drastically improved tempo accuracy in song and stem export (#697)
• Properly reset performance screen after "Continue song" is used (#481)
• Fill mode with beat slice: lighted pads now correspond to slices (#669)
• Notes played with an external controller in Pattern Editor no longer get stuck (#151, #634)
• Notes played with an external controller now use constant velocity if "Velocity" is not enabled in Recording Options (#291)
• Notes played with an external controller passed to a MIDI Instrument are now velocity sensitive
• Protect against pressing "Backspace" accidentally and resetting very low master volume to 0.0 dB
• MIDI OUT messages should not be emitted during offline song export

[tl]

or a lot of RF getting picked up from your leads? Were they screened?

My English related to electric/electronic hardware terminology isn't the best but I think I know what is meant. The cable I used for signal input is screened and has a ferrite core and the noise issue occured even if nothing was plugged in to the line-in.

File export has had some love in todays update...

As I said I'll keep an eye on development because all in all I think the Polyend Tracker is a promising piece of hardware with powerful features and a great workflow.

Regards,
tl.

[SLiC]

My English related to electric/electronic hardware terminology isn't the best but I think I know what is meant. The cable I used for signal input is screened and has a ferrite core and the noise issue occured even if nothing was plugged in to the line-in.

Your English is far better than my German! There are a few posts about this on the Bug Tracker Forum and several people report the noise is linked to the screen brightness. The RF (Radio Frequency) I would say is related to the frequency the screen/processor is being run at, so they may be able to tweak/fix this, or there may be some special sort of screened cable that reject the particular frequency (I am assuming the cable is acting as the antenna if there is no noise when nothing is plugged in).

[SLiC]

New Features 1.4 Beta

Horizontal pattern edit mode
MIDI out latency compensation
Mono support for Line In passthrough
Performance Mode now plays through the entire song (Shift+Play on Perform screen to toggle looping without stopping playback)
New FX: Arp
New FX: Slide
New FX: gate length (note length shorter than a step)
New FX: Swing
"Stop" available in Tempo FX
"Tune" FX in performance mode now also works for MIDI notes
Title bar on the Pattern screen
Tap tempo now needs 4 taps
Allow selecting "middle C" for MIDI in/out: C-3 is Ableton Live, C-5 is Tracker default

Fixes

wrong song slot highlighted for playback when "Continue Song" was selected in edit mode on Song screen #895
freeze in MIDI "Note in" selection in Config
turning off the device without an SD card inserted can be done with the Power Off button

[SpaceBurglar]

Hi team, jumping in on this forum as I would totally appreciate your advice.
I'm totally intrigued by the Tracker but a little confused. Perhaps it's because it's been a while since I made tracks, so need to remember the lingo. So ...
1. If a song has a maximum of 255 steps, what time limit might that place on song duration? It seems limited but perhaps I'm forgetting the potential duration of each step?
2. Can this stand alone without extra hardware such as keyboards and desk?

[SLiC]

Bunch of free packs and songs at Polyend
https://polyend.com/whats-up/tracker-ar ... -projects/

[SLiC]

Nice update!!

1.4.0 Beta 2
.
Behavior Change from Beta 1

• Play on the Perform screen now defaults to looping the current pattern like in firmwares 1.0 - 1.3; use Shift + Play to perform a song; if you want to switch between loop/non-loop without stopping the transport, Shift + Play again

• Switching from Perform to other screens now always resets the performance at the end of the pattern, and not immediately as before

New Features
• Line In passthrough now supports delay and reverb sends
• Transport bar is now more compact, showing both the loop/song playback status and whether Performance mode is active
• Transport bar is now also visible in the Pattern screen
• You can now switch between Perform screen and Instrument Parameters without resetting the performance, allowing for even more live modulation
Bug Fixes
• Improved audio latency
• Mixer RMS meters weren't working on panning -50 (max left)
• Stem export uses proper panning (#697)
• Some CC parameter changes on MIDI Instrument Parameters caused white screen flashes (#1008)
• TAP tempo now works for tempo >= 60 BPM (#1013)
• Pattern numbers on Perform screen only reset when the pattern changes during song playback (#1046)
• Renaming tracks with REC on the Track Mixer screen was flickering when SHIFT was pressed (#987)

[SLiC]

1.4 now out PT is the gift that keeps on giving!

https://www.gearnews.com/polyend-tracke ... ew-levels/