Synth jam with Polyend Tracker Mini and Polyend Play+
Музыка
Please support my work on Patreon: / jayhosking
A live synthesizer jam performed entirely on hardware.
I recently bought the Polyend Tracker Mini; even though I have (and love) the original Tracker, the allure of stereo samples and a battery made me curious. I wasn't sold on its design at first glance, but travelling around with it over the last couple of weeks, I've really come to love the overall philosophy of it. While I still miss the FM radio sampling of the original Tracker, and the performance page is a little less fun, the Tracker Mini has really hooked me. It's been the perfect companion while I'm switching studio spaces and travelling around a lot.
That's why when Mitch from Polyend reached out and asked if I wanted to try the Play+, I immediately said yes. (They sent me the device to try but that's the entirety of our arrangement.) I had, and sold, the original Play, which I thought was fun for drums but always felt like it was missing stereo samples and internal synths. With the addition of these in the Play+, it definitely feels more like a fully-featured groovebox, with eight stereo sample tracks and eight synth voices across three timbres. I still think it needs some work to be a perfect standalone, namely more integration between the synths and the perform page, but it's a much more well-rounded device now. That said, I got the device for free, so take anything I say about it with a grain of salt.
After playing with the Play+, the thing that stuck out to me the most was the quality of the synths. I expected them to be serviceable, but I was actually surprised with how much personality they had. Specifically, there are multiple filters on each synth, and they have some really interesting sweet spots (especially in the ACD synth). As such, I decided to focus on synths alone since they were what I was most curious about.
As ever, thanks for listening.
Polyend Tracker Mini - sequencing, drums, five melodic samples, drum performance
Polyend Play+ - seven voices across two synths
Performed and recorded live, with eq, compression, and limiting on the master.
jayhosking.bandcamp.com
Пікірлер: 51
Polyend was nice enough to send me the plus as a free upgrade because I bought the OG one new about 10 days ago with a terrible return policy from the company I bought it from. I feel bad for them with all the backlash, it seems they are trying their best and have amazing machines. Anyhow sick track man can't wait for my plus to be shipped in!
@harveytherobot
8 ай бұрын
Good to hear!
@Morenook-mn3zq
8 ай бұрын
I got my 31day new OG . I asked for big discounted upgrade, they give 50%off. I'm still struggling around. I love use it with my blofeld. Should I upgrade it for 200 euro? I don't know what to do.
@nickheadlee1027
8 ай бұрын
@@Morenook-mn3zq I guess that depends on if the new features are worth it to you? For me the audio over usb and the synth engines were the big deal breaker that I was like “I need the upgrade” lol
@nickheadlee1027
8 ай бұрын
@@Morenook-mn3zq but in my opinion the OG is still a awesome groove box, and if the upgrade was never even a thing I’d still happily use mine and make music with it!
Great track as usual. Glad to see someone just showing a solid use case for the device instead of joining the chorus of entitlement that has surrounded the launch.
Wiw. So nice vid. It’s refreshing seeing people who works with the play+, after all this hype with TE PE133, and all the unfair hate rage against PE and Ben Johnson. Hope more videos showing the potential of this groovebox.
Wonderful steady build on this track! Also, these two boxes together could easily cover an album of tracks. Great job!
Such a beautiful track Jay!
Lovely tune as always, would love to see more videos with these two
Brilliant as always
Super soulful jam , kudos!!
I really enjoyed that. It builds really nicely.
sounds great 🔥
Wow!!! Great track!❤
Another banger! 👏👏
This track was beautiful
I love the track!! wow! ❤
OG tracker OG play (Eol Medusa) here. Great track Jay, but have to remind people, on the play plus every synth track uses a midi track, with the extra HP of the plus kinda expected 8 sample tracks 8 midi tracks AND 8 synth tracks. I’m back to the iPad until the emotion calm down.
Nice jam. Very pretty. And huge with all that stereo!! … grateful do a follow up vid showing how you did the drums!
lovely track !! ... Now that stereo samples and synths are available on the Play+, I couldn't resist and ordered one too. It doesn't look like much fun to edit the synths, but I've seen worse things in the old days. Good to hear that these seem to have character.
MOAR PLEASE!!!!
Very nice
Damn…when this picks up it really starts hittin the feels. 😢 Great work. Btw, I think Polyend’s next logical move would be an update to the full size Polyend Tracker with the polyphonic synth engine and stereo sample from the Play+. Polyend Tracker+. And enough time has passed from the og release, they won’t face backlash like they did when they dropped the Play+.
@JayHosking
7 ай бұрын
I agree. A Tracker+ with stereo samples and the synths would be very welcome. Here's hoping they keep the FM radio, too! And thanks.
did i just cry?
Jay how much time do you spend learning new equipment? Is there a creativity trade off with new gear?
Great stuff, reminds me of aphex twin
Very nice performance and tune, which is pretty standard during the years :) Lovely sound, liked Tracker Mini in action, but still love OG Tracker much more for its size - better for performance IMHO.
@JayHosking
8 ай бұрын
Yeah, the OG Tracker is just such a great setup. I hear you.
This is very cool. I ordered the Play+ upgrade. So all the drums were coming from the Tracker, right? Would you mind elaborating on the connections? I'm struggling with the proper way to connect gears. It's MIDI OUT to the MIDI in of the Tracker? And USB Audio Out from the Tracker to... a DAW? Thank you.
@JayHosking
8 ай бұрын
Yes, all drums from Tracker Mini here. Connections: This is MIDI out from Tracker Mini to MIDI in of Play+. You need to set Tracker MIDI to send out clock and transport (start/stop messages), and set Play+ MIDI to receive clock and transport. Stereo output from each of these into an audio interface (4 outputs total, i.e. L/R out for each device). Hope that helps. And thanks!
@sebastienbarre
8 ай бұрын
@@JayHosking Thanks! Would you mind sharing which audio interface you are using? I know there are plenty on the market, but just to be aware of one that at least seems to be working with this setup (and it's Black Friday here in the US, after all). Thanks again.
how does the play+ compare to a deluge in song mode? I definitely don't regret going deluge (arranger is insanely valuable to me) but Im curious as the play seems to be geared more towards performance.
@JayHosking
8 ай бұрын
You can easily pattern chain with the Play, but I agree that it's more set up to be a performance device, and for sketching. The Deluge's arranger mode didn't work as well for me, personally, but the Deluge has a lot going for it (I like its grid a lot more than the Play's). I also enjoy using samples on the Play more than the Deluge, but I never had the Deluge OLED screen, which might have made a huge difference.
@illuminate4
8 ай бұрын
@@JayHosking makes sense. I'm coming from a non-OLED model as well.
Just ordered a Mini! Do you think the play+ synths could make their way over to the Mini? I’d be so happy if that happened
@JayHosking
8 ай бұрын
There's a lot of overlap between the Polyend products, so the synths could migrate to the Mini, but I honestly have no idea. Enjoy the Mini! It's been great for me.
Tracker Mini vs M8?
@JayHosking
Ай бұрын
These days, I'm leaning Tracker Mini. M8 has great, long, sophisticated sequencing, but Tracker Mini has great performance effects. It also has more dedicated buttons, ultimately leading to a better workflow for me. Both are great, though!
Is it possible to assemble a beat like this just on play+ ?
@JayHosking
7 ай бұрын
Probably, sure, but you can only be on the page where you're tweaking synths or the page where you're playing the samples.
Love these things. Hope the next one has bluetooth headphone support.
@Toshfunk
8 ай бұрын
Latency bro
@benjamindover4337
8 ай бұрын
@Toshfunk the latency involved wouldnt mean much in this kind of production. Its not like playing a piano or something where its critical.
@Toshfunk
8 ай бұрын
@@benjamindover4337 Respectfully disagree :)
Nice jam i'm still team m8 all day but polyend kinda did polyend OG users dirty with the plus
@harveytherobot
8 ай бұрын
No they didn’t
@johncarter2741
8 ай бұрын
Yes they did
@harveytherobot
8 ай бұрын
@@johncarter2741 As a Play owner, I disagree. I bought one knowing what it had, and I’m satisfied with that. A new version doesn’t make mine suddenly bad. Only gear and feature addicts who expect everything to be free or who buy something to just resell it are upset because they think for-profit companies owe them something. Take responsibility for your own purchasing decisions. If it didn’t have what you wanted to begin with you shouldn’t have bought it.