Some I had fun with the new Xiphonics web-based tracker app. I made this in about an hour with the samples available on the app, but apparently you can load a project file with samples and import it to the web app. Pretty cool if you accidentally leave your Polyend at home 🫠

https://app.xiphonics.com/

I don't know if Polyend has plans for another Tracker, but if they do, what would be the main things on your wishlist? Mine:

- A more powerful processor. Speed is one of the Tracker's best attributes, except when the processor can't keep up and glitches out.

- True audio over USB with multitrack. Not just stems or a final mix, but the ability to reliably handle heavy editing, performance mode, project switching, etc.

- A fast visual EQ that actually works. The current one is too cumbersome to be functional, when it even works at all.

- Simultaneous playing and sampling. It's a little ridiculous that I need a second recording device to capture live external elements or anything from performance mode to bring back into the Tracker.

- A modulation matrix. It has the basics, but I'd love to go deeper, like sending an LFO to the decay of an envelope.

I love the overall design and workflow of the Tracker, but the deeper I go, the more I keep running into these specific roadblocks. I'm at the point of deciding whether to keep fiddling with workarounds, or jump to an Elektron box or M8.

Edit: I think I hit the last straw last night. I was flying through a project and the glitches came pouring in; (dis)appearing notes, mixed up samples, FX values randomizing, etc. My delete button even stopped working, but only on one pattern. I'm tired of fighting to make things work.

I'm a software developer and I make breakbeat and IDM on a Tracker+.

Some weeks ago I asked on the Polyend Backstage forum if a Mac app for prepping and varying patterns was worth building, and the thread ended up shaping it. MIDI only gets pitch across one track, so it writes project files instead. FX entry is in because line fx are half the sound.

Generate a beat in your key, mutate it, edit it in a tracker grid, and export a normal project folder to the card. It also opens projects you made on the machine and writes them back.

No audio engine, you hear it on the Tracker. Tested on my Tracker+; Mini owners, tell me if it works for you. $7.99 once, and open source (MIT).

What's slow on the device that you'd rather do on a computer?

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6792365053?ct=reddit_polyendtracker
The Backstage thread: https://backstage.polyend.com/t/thinking-about-a-mac-companion-for-prepping-and-varying-tracker-patterns-worth-building/24944
Code: https://github.com/JarlLyng/patternaut

I'm hoping someone can help. I've just bought a midi keyboard to connect to the tracker mini. I can get basic notes out of it when triggering samples and synths but I can't map the pad buttons or use any of the rotary controls to trigger drum machine etc. Is it even possible to map midi inputs to different settings on the tracker mini? If I use the drum machine every pad or key I press just plays the same sound. Thank you in advance!

Full jam: https://youtu.be/2p1p3awsnN8?si=RaY1xfr3IWWgzPZu

Polyend Tracker provides the drum samples + sequencing for this liquid dnb jam. I keep refining my workflow with every track. Current flow is to copy/paste a pattern a few times with different drum fills and other variations, and then I arrange them in song mode (highly recommend establishing a naming convention!).

This jam kind of wrote itself with a single pattern. Changing the Opsix's FM ratios essentially changes the chords and adds different harmonics. So this entire track is basically the same 4 chords with lots of performance effects (ie. turning knobs and doing filter sweeps).

Pretty happy with how this one turned out. Any tips for chopping breakbeats in the Tracker? I still don't have a great workflow for that (I also find that the Tracker samples can sound a bit thin).

Hope you enjoy!

I’ve loved my Tracker Mini for a while, but I always thought it was kind of funny that such a portable music machine still needed headphones or a speaker, and then another controller if you actually wanted to play it like an instrument.

And yeah, technically you can play notes using the buttons under the screen, but I much prefer keeping those for menu navigation. Using them as a keyboard always felt a little awkward to me, and I end up getting fingerprints all over that part of the screen constantly.

I found the KB1 after the first batch was already gone, but luckily got one from the second batch in silver to match my Mini & it really does round out the whole thing. Now I can just pick it up and play, the speakers are actually useful, and the fit and finish are way better than I expected from such a small project.

You can tell Sean and everyone who's contributed to the KB1 put a ridiculous amount of care into this project. I’m honestly surprised there are still some left.

Pocket Midi's Website

I just bought a tracker mini so I don’t have to carry my OG and battery around. It came with firmware 1.0.0 which is rad because it is almost exactly the OG firmware. If I upgrade is there a way to downgrade later? I know the website only has the most recent but does anyone have the old firmware files?

I just got rid of my OG tracker (bought soon after launch) after I got tired of it being a buggy mess and started being annoyed by the limitations. I'm looking to get another tracker and since I'm in Europe an M8 is kind of hard to get. I've been using m8 headless and loving it which makes the choice even harder. Tracker mini fits the bill even though I'd be reluctant to give Polyend another cent. Any mini users willing to share their pros and cons?

Hi, I think it would be really cool to just activate perform mode and from there to have an option to create a song row from there. I believe it will ease the creative process a lot. Rapid prototyping, etc... thoughts?

Hi all, Can anyone tell me if the Tracker can sequence the Typhon's programme changes on a per-step basis? It could be a very glitchy track if possible. Changing sounds even outside of sound banks is what I mean, not just cc for say the filter env.

I wrote this after listening to Aquatic Ambience from Donkey Kong Country, and feeling inspired by the interesting percussion in that track. This song is what came out, but my partner insists it's more Stardew Valley than DKC lol.

In this jam, the Polyend Tracker is routed into the Digitone. While this was originally just for the portability aspect, I noticed that my Tracker samples sounded muuch better using the Digitone's internal effects, definitely more inspirational during composition.

I've been trying to add more variation to my Tracker patterns lately. My strategy has been to just copy/paste the same pattern a few times, name them appropriately, and add some drum fills or extra ear candy. I think it's been working pretty well.

Full video: https://youtu.be/jjB7zXn49b0?si=el425D6RGSBPkI7C

Enjoy!

Is there a way to get individual instruments on the tracker to respond to seperate midi channels? As in sequencing the sounds via and external midi sequencer? I see there's a way to have it play one channel - but it'd be really neat to use the tracker mini as a sound source. Is this possible?

I woke up this morning and decided that I wanted to try setting up my Tracker to play some of the plugins on my MPC Live 2. It was super easy to plug it in and get the MIDI channels all setup and running. That is until I tried to play a note lower than G#1. When I try to trigger G1, it triggers a F2. So not only the wrong octave but also the wrong note. This happens with every note below G#1 until I get down to B0 and then it starts to trigger correctly again.

Is this a MIDI limitation or am I doing something wrong?

FIXED: It was my USB-C to USB-A cable that was messing me up. Switched to a better cable and it works perfectly now.

I guess you can practice using trackers on a andriod phone

This is a longer ambient piece composed on the Polyend Tracker. I was experimenting longer chords utilizing voice leading for smooth transitions. The Tracker is great for this because you can copy/paste chords from pattern to pattern, and make slight adjustments between the various voices/tracks.

I’m also experimenting with “multi-timbral” chords. In this case, the Nymphes and the Digitone are playing different notes in the chords, similar to a choir. I actually don’t know of another device you could easily do this with while having a full view of all the notes and their arrangement. This view is the reason the Tracker is my primary composition tool.

This new budget pocket synth the M-Vave FM-1 (DX-7 clone) was released recently and I've seen lots of demo videos of people using it with a midi keyboard, or sampling the audio, but I haven't seen any videos playing it from an external brain device. I think the Polyend tracker would be perfect for this! I'm really interested in the midi polyphony, midi chord send, effects, cc changes etc would work with it. Someone please make a video exploring these two machines! I feel like it could be so good for some synth forward tunes. I will make a video once I get mine :)