POLYEND TRACKER

An old-school tracker… in hardware

The Polyend Tracker is a hardware manifestation of the classic tracker software concept, which dates back to Amiga computers in the 1980s. Trackers are programs that use a vertically-scrolling listbased method of entering notes and other info (such as mixer and effect parameters) to create patterns, which can then be chained to make songs. Editing a list may not be rock’n’roll, but it can be surprisingly productive. It’s not like they ever went out of style – trackers are still around, courtesy of software like Renoise and ModPlugTracker. Anyway, back to our hardware version. Can a 2021 hardware version of a 1980s bit of software compete with modern DAW software in any way? Let’s see.

The Polyend Tracker is impressively compact, measuring 28.2 x 10.7 x 3.3 cm, and weighing just 1.2kg. The box also includes a few accessories, in the form of a USB power supply, micro SD card, a 3.5mm MIDI adaptor, a 3.5mm stereo to 2 x 1/4” audio adaptor and a USB/SD card reader. The top panel features a relatively roomy 800 x 480 display, a 4 x 12 grid of silicone pads, 33 buttons, and a large rotary jog-wheel. At the back there’s stereo/headphones out, line input, microphone input, MIDI in and out, a micro SD card slot, a reset button, USB C port, and a power switch. That USB C port will serve up power via the included adaptor, but it also can power the Tracker from a computer’s USB port, and convey MIDI data while it’s doing so. Furthermore, the Tracker can be powered from a USB power bank – add a pair of headphones and you’ve got a very portable setup! We love the compact nature of this and the fact that it can operate in a self-contained way, with sequencing, sampling, effects, or expand out into a bigger system.

This machine has the look of classic Yamaha sequencers, and we know the Polyend folks like those machines, because there’s a Yamaha RM1x MIDI groovebox in one of their product shots. We also can’t help but think how the Tracker would pair nicely with another retro/future music device – the pleasurable nerd-bait that is the ever-popular Teenage Engineering OP1.

For this review, we powered the Tracker from an iMac, via a USB cable; that’s one mains plug less to deal with. Before anything else, we recommend checking online for firmware updates; it seems Polyend are very active with these, and you’ll need to use a micro SD card like the one included, to install them (you can swap this for a higher capacity card if you prefer).

We began by transferring some of our samples to the Tracker. Samples must be in .wav

“Adding your own samples is what brings the Polyend Tracker to life”

format, and the project total sample memory is 133 seconds mono, or double that if the low quality setting is used, with the longest possible single audio file being about 45 seconds. Because the Tracker has a microphone input, a line input, and an on-board FM radio, it’s easy to record samples, rather than importing them, although sadly there’s no built-in microphone like on the Roland MV-1; that would’ve been the icing on the cake for this thing.

While we’re talking of importing things, we should just mention that yes, the Tracker can import .mod files, and export .it files, used by tracker software. To play a sample, it first has to be loaded as an instrument – there are 48 instrument slots available per project – then it’s ready to play from the pads, sequence, or subject to various editing and effect processes, including wavetable and granular synthesis, slicing, and delay.

We loaded a bunch of individual mono drum hits, and programmed a beat, which works fine as long as you’re crafty about allocating resources – you only get one hit at a time per track (all Tracker tracks are monophonic). A one-bar drum loop sample was then loaded and sliced successfully. Then we loaded some single-cycle waveforms, which made the perfect starting point for keyboard-based instruments, being easy to work with. We were creating a sustained sound using the available loop and playback parameters, and adding filter, reverb, and delay, as send effects, and all requiring very little memory, coming in at only a few kilobytes for each sample. The principle of using tiny samples suits the minimalist philosophy of the Tracker experience.

Different scales and note layouts can be applied to the pads for each project, so, for example, they can conform to a harmonic minor scale, with a root note of C3. Truthfully, we felt that playing notes from the little pads was the least rewarding input method for live playing, but everybody has their own preferences; a

MIDI keyboard connected via a USB hub could do a slightly better, but less portable, job of it. However you shake it, there are enough ways to get your parts in, we just happened to prefer drawing steps in the pattern editor. Navigate to the step where you want to add something, and use the coloured buttons to choose a parameter – Note, Instrument, FX1, FX2.

There are eight tracks, and a pattern can have up to 128 steps, while a project can hold 255 patterns. You won’t use time signatures as such; pattern lengths are based on the number of steps, as just mentioned, so it’s based on choosing the appropriate length rather than typing an x/4 value.

Press and hold one of the FX buttons to see what’s available for the current step, including

volume, micro tuning, chance (that a note will play) and then the randomisation options – note selection, instrument, FX value, volume, and then on to audio effects and much more. Entering steps for non-note info can be used to create ‘automation’, where a value evolves over time, even if the note remains the same. Each track is monophonic: one note at a time, as we mentioned earlier, but there are MIDI chord FX available, although they’ll take a separate track for each note in the chord. There are useful tools like the fill command, where a number of steps in a pattern can be filled with the same parameter values at once.

Sequencing with the Tracker can be robotic and clinical (good), or unpredictable and organic (also good). It’s surprising how fast and dynamic this kind of programming gets – it’s not exactly like live coding, but it’s not like using a regular DAW either. Ultimately, it’s really just another way to write music – position in the bar, note, duration, instrument choice, effects, that’s all. You can leave it there, with a pattern that loops forever, or create more patterns, then press the Song button, where you’re presented with a vertically scrolling list of slots that represent each of the eight tracks in the project. This is where the Tracker gets closer to taking on the big DAW boys, as you chain together the patterns you’ve made. It’s another process that feels clinical at first, and is unarguably retro, but there’s more than that to it, because patterns can have different lengths in the project, it’s possible to depart from a smooth flow of steps and create unusual or disruptive breaks, with odd lengths and extreme parameter changes.

All the way through the process, the Tracker stays fun (and that’s before we even mention the very old-school games that are included with the factory content, and can be accessed through the File page). A music device being ‘fun’ means nothing if the results aren’t there, but they are. There aren’t tons of multifunction buttons and menus to navigate, it’s all fairly toplevel stuff, and it’s very like using an older sequencer product, but with the benefits of USB, SD, and a much improved display. Of the products reviewed in this feature, the Tracker is the fastest to get going with.

It may not look it, but the Tracker makes a brilliant live performance device. Not only can you get very fast at entering new pattern steps mid-jam, pressing the Perform button as mentioned earlier brings up a customisable screen that contains favourite parameters that can be tweaked in real time, with up to 12 effects available. What was really interesting to us was the ability to mix in tracks from other patterns as we played, adding more depth and sonic complexity, taking the performance beyond simple playback, beyond effects – this is great if you like restructuring in real time.

You can experience the entire conception/ production/mixing workflow with the Tracker, as you finish up with mixing and mastering your arrangements. The master track includes reverb and delay send effects, EQ, space (stereo enhancement), and a limiter – it’s also possible to bring a connected external source into the mix. A final stereo file can be exported to the micro SD card, but also as separate mono audio files for each track, send FX mono files, for songs or individual patterns. ‘Freeze’ the project there, call it done, or else import the bits into a DAW for more work.

All of the machines reviewed here represent the best of what’s around, and the Tracker holds its own, by being a modern take on something that Elektron might have done in their early years, which is nothing but a compliment. To be honest, the worst thing we can say about the Tracker is that the audio-out adaptor cable flapping around at the back got a bit annoying. By merging retro and modern, Polyend have created a beautiful piece of industrial design, with a very logical interface.

After some time using it, it felt like the Polyend Tracker’s value for money increased: discovering and implementing the tools on offer (and not getting too sidetracked by the games), and figuring out how to integrate it with our favourite working methods. It’s kind of mysterious at first, but it gives up its secrets without too much trouble, and button presses and navigation become second nature, as they should with any well designed machine. Load it up with samples, hook it up with your favourite outboard, and all is well.

Can you make entire tunes with this, as Polyend claim? Yes you can. Feature-limited, bit of a throwback, quality industrial design… we couldn’t be more excited.

“It may not look it, but the Tracker makes a brilliant live performance device”