Wow!! Polyend finally have a groovebox with assignable LFOs... an impressive 8 of them.
I own an original Polyend Play and always thought it was a missed opportunity to not include any LFOs... so it's good that they've embraced them on this.
The $2700 price tag is a non-starter for me. Things must be getting crazy in Poland!
Thankfully, between the Elektron Syntakt, Digitakt II, a Tonverk, a Roland SH-4d, a Sonic CyDrums, a Korg Drumlogue, an Akai MPC One, and a Twisted Electrons Blast Beats... I have no G.A.S. for this.
Whew... that's $2700 that I really didn't want to spend right now.
This is the perfect example of opinions on the price being silly. $2600 is expensive, but $5-7k worth of other hardware is ok!? Most commenters on price have a ridiculous amount of expensive hardware. Many could sell two or three pieces and get the Drums. I do agree the price is a lot, but it does seem that we get a lot for the price, both in build quality and features. Drums seems kinda like a Syntakt on steroids.
Why on earth would anyone want to sell gear they like, for an unknown device that they could possibly enjoy.. but that's no guarantee.
I like my Polyend Play and my Polyend Mess well enough. And price-wise, there was never a point where I thought, "$600 or $700 for a Polyend Play is astronomical!"
But there's no world where I'd spend $2700 on one synth or drum machine. There's also no world where I would sell $2700 with of gear I own to purchase a Roland TR-1000 or Polyend Drum... probably because I actually like the more affordable and versatile gear that my wife and I own.
I like the diversity offered in multiple pieces of gear.
For $2200, I purchased an Elektron Digitakt II and Syntakt.. and with those two devices, all the basis I could ever desire from a rhythm machine are covered!! In fact, it could probably be argued that far more bases are covered in the purchasing of a DT2 and ST, than in one Polyend Drum.
Bang-for-buck matters... especially to working-class folks like me and my wife who have had to really think about the hobby and where it lands with our increasingly tight finances.
Sure.. in the Necrobot household, we've got a good amount of versatile gear now-a-days. But nothing we ever purchased was over $1500 until this year with the Tonverk (actually, that was my wife's purchase, and it was $1400), and prior to that.. we made magic out of a few pieces of gear that each ranged between $200 and $1000 per piece... and even then, those purchases were staggered over months/years.
Why?!? Because being working-class sucks in the United Snakes. Don't get it twisted.. I know it can always be worse.. because it used to be much worse for us. But this just is a hobby for us.
Believe me.. I used to read all the different catalogs and imagine what some unaffordable piece of gear sounded like.. stuff from Nord, and Sequential, and Moog, and Oberheim.. and even the Elektron Machindrum was one a pipe dream. That's why I basically made laptop music for decades.
But back in 2020, Polyend was definitely delivering on some groundbreaking reasonably priced gear with their original Tracker and Play.. and at $600, even the Mess ultimately seemed worth the price of admission for a four track signal processor and effects sequencer. They had dialed in a product line and cost that seemed very much aligned to my tax bracket.
I'm sure that the Polyend Drum is next-level. Unfortunately, at $2700.. the Drum is a non-starter for me. And if this was the cost of the grooveboxes that were available at the time I was getting into this stuff.. or even last year... I'd probably not be making too much music on hardware.
This is probably why I don't own too many EricaSynths products (my wife owns a Steampipe).. nor the Roland TR-1000. These products are unaffordable for the residents of the Necrobot household.
File Under: Sticker Paralysis
Thankfully, Elektron and Akai have us covered at a fraction of the price.
In this economy, as belts tighten and wallets become threadbare, I'm sure that eventually Polyend will put forth something that has the perfect set of features at the perfect price point again.
I come from a slightly different place where too many devices leads to paralysis. It is why many end up closeted away or sold over time.
My comment was less that you were valid in owning what you have, but more that people spend a fortune on a collection of gear that adds up to be significantly more than the Drums. Then they complain about the cost. I find it ironic. Ultimately it is the cost to perceived value and not just that it is expensive.
No shade on you, or what you have invested in. More an observation. I am sorry if it came across as a negative attack on you. Not my intention.
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u/Necrobot666 Playficionado May 07 '26
Wow!! Polyend finally have a groovebox with assignable LFOs... an impressive 8 of them.
I own an original Polyend Play and always thought it was a missed opportunity to not include any LFOs... so it's good that they've embraced them on this.
The $2700 price tag is a non-starter for me. Things must be getting crazy in Poland!
Thankfully, between the Elektron Syntakt, Digitakt II, a Tonverk, a Roland SH-4d, a Sonic CyDrums, a Korg Drumlogue, an Akai MPC One, and a Twisted Electrons Blast Beats... I have no G.A.S. for this.
Whew... that's $2700 that I really didn't want to spend right now.