loooooooooooool that AAAAHHHH track at the beginning. That was both hilarious and surprisingly well done. Not to mention that internal mic sounds pretty good. Overall it seems like a pretty neat piece of gear.
Lol we were vacationing overnight with LFB's family and her and I stepped out at like 6am to film all the outdoor shots. I had NO clue what to sample so I just decided to do that in the tunnel. I've done some fun stuff with that sample since filming this video actually, wound up being pretty neat!
Can't wait for my pre-order to be shipped. Thanks for posting such a well paced overview/explainer. Also, that tip about the sound preview in the parameters screen was clutch. Great design choice on Polyend's part. I'm only on chapter 3 of the reference manual thus far, but, I'm absorbing as much as I can before its arrival.
Yeah I was really nervous about auditioning, previewing sounds before getting my hands on it, but those worries were quickly dispelled! I hope you love it, thanks for watching :)
It's a LOT of fun once you get the hang of it. Definitely memorize the "menu" button locations, get your shortcuts setup and memorized, and you'll be flying around in no time!
So what I love about the OG tracker is when I chop up a sample, they get assigned to pads and I can then play different pads like an MPC. Once you chop up a sample, where can I play them that way?
You can scroll through the slices and preview them, or just mess around with different arrangements of them in the sequencer. That's one area where having the pads would definitely be nice. I should have mentioned that I don't really chop samples...ever...so I didn't touch on it in the video. Great question though.
Would you still prefer the Mini for studio use only? I am considering giving the tracker workflow a go, but portability isn't relevant for me personally. The controls on the original look more appealing to me at first glance, but the buffed up engine underneath the Mini and it extra features do make it stand ahead.
Hmmm that's a tough one actually. I'd probably still go with the mini for the added extras, but the jog wheel and pads on the original are very nice for extended use.
Thanks for this. Like you, I’m into more portable synth/groovebox options. It’s a shame a small speaker wasn’t added - it’s one of the reasons I keep going back to my OP-Z!
@@solmare_ that was on my radar back when it came out and they had a long preorder. Should have an easier time finding one now. Thanks for the heads up/reminder!
Thanks for your comments! I like to play my melodies in, mess with the pads until I hear something I like... I'm kinda afraid that the lack of pads in the Mini might get in the middle of my creative process... Do you feel that your process changed at all between the two devices?
Thanks for making this video. It's the first time I've gotten a feel for how the interface flows in your hands. It's not *too* bad but I really miss the organic performance features. Even just one knob somewhere would make it possible to dial up/down a filter cutoff or some other parameter while performing a song. On eg the Digitakt, you have access to endless performance features including the amazing ctrl+all feature. It seems the PTM is more limited there. Regarding note entry, it would be nice if the 8 buttons underneath the screen could function as an in-scale piano keybed in a pinch. That way you could eg select the D minor scale and play one octave live, and use the +/- buttons to switch octaves. Would enable live recording modes on this thing. Another thing I don't get: this thing is built to be portable, yet it won't work with your in-ear buds due to no Bluetooth support. It's such a missed opportunity! Imagine sitting on an airplane and wanting to make a quick beat. Well now you need to unplug your noise canceling ear buds and connect an old pair of 3.5 mm headphones instead, which is going to be at least twice as big in your bag as the PTM itself. One more anti-GAS rant: I really don't like the way the filter sounded when you demonstrated it on the sample preview section. It just sounds lackluster. I wish they would upgrade the filter algorithm since it's been like this on the original Tracker too. The Digitakt filter sounds amazing in comparison. When it comes to sound design on a sampler-based groovebox, that matters more than most things. Again, thanks for the video! It helped me realize it's not for me, and I appreciate seeing your face too.
The Mini is definitely something I'd recommend trying if you can. The lack of knobs and pads was a big concern of mine going into it, but like I said in the video, I just don't miss them at all! Interesting take on the headphones, I always travel with a quality pair of proper wired headphones. Also, keep in mind that I was moving through the filter in increments of 10 there, not sweeping through it smoothly :) Thanks for watching!
@@sinewaymusic it has a mic, both built in and via Line in, that’s made pretty clear. Have you ever tried using Bluetooth headphones while making music in real time? The added latency makes it a useless exercise, a pair of Shure 415 in ears aren’t really going to take up too much space in your pocket. It’s cool if it’s not for you obviously, but it seems like your basis for this isn’t exactly accurate.
@@BigPlasticPlant i think you interpreted my response to @solmare_ as being about the PTM but that was about the M8. I'm well aware that the PTM has a built-in mic. With regards to the Bluetooth audio latency, I simply disagree with you that there's an issue with it. I routinely produce on the laptop using my daw with Bluetooth in-ears and don't mind the slight delay when I do. Of course, if I were in a live jam situation I'd connect proper headphones into an audio interface, but a tracker is inherently programmatic and doesn't require me to eg hit drum pads in real time with perfect sync to a running beat. So I'd much rather have the option of not having to bring an extra pair of corded headphones, no matter how small they are. And it's not just for the lack of cords, it's also because of the reference sound that I've become very familiar with and can use to make many mixing decisions nowadays.
You'd give up ctrl+all though. The amount of creative inspiration that feature alone gives me is *insane*. And the filter sounds great. It seems like a big tradeoff to me in order to get stereo sampling. That said, this is an interesting piece of kit for sure and it's extremely portable.
Hmmm, I think they are too different for one to replace the other actually. They're both samplers, but they both have very different workflows, interfaces, and probably end goals actually haha.
Internal microphone ohhh :X 3:08 already that sounds great with the pingpong delay Beautiful background BTW 4:38 that little menu thing looks really nice ! Ah yes permanent battery marker *mc-101 switches off randomly* 13:06 YES thank you for the onboard speaker team :D It's just fairly convenient ! Looks like a great thing!
I love the original Polyend Tracker - the combination of software and physical controls makes it really convinient and easy to use. Tracker Mini is not my cup of tea I guess. Even though it's cool to see (almost) the same software in smaller form-factor, the lack of pads and jogwheel kills a big part of fun for me, because I just love to fidget with physical controls.
Yeah i feel anything that can fit in my backpack is portable i was looking at the full size tracker then saw this being talked about then held off... I feel that jog wheel and pads would make for much more ease of use...
I really thought I was gonna miss the jogwheel and the pads, but just like I said in the video, I don't miss them at all anymore haha. I'd definitely recommend giving the Mini a shot if you can, the plus and minus system is a surprisingly quick one. Thanks for watching!
@@FreeBeat yeh I can imagine as you say it is absolutely fine withought them but a grid martix where you can determine the intervals between the rows is something special. Layout can hugely influence your choice of notes. Great vid though and thanks for replying 👍
The microphone on a device that is this portable, is so cool! Can’t wait to try it out, but unfortunately have to wait 1 or 2 weeks before it is expected to arrive.
Looks like they solved the UX/UI issue with the smaller device quite nicely. I sold my regular Tracker and got an M8 instead, mostly for the added synthesizers and that the M8's chains/phrases/tables give me so much more flexibility. How is it to have the i/o on the bottom when using it in a casual way (like slumped down in the sofa)?
I haven't had any issues with the UI on the bottom while laying in bed or on the couch, but I really only used the line out with headphones while lounging around. I was sitting at my desk in the studio every time I used more than one port down there.
@@SonicVibeat that point, replace the battery or use on mains only. This mini version is a superior version compared to the original, however, they are trying to play catch up against the Dirtywave M8 which is the superior option still.
@@FreeBeat, cool, but I am looking for expressive (percussive) velocity modulation of parameters (e.g., tuning, decay, attack, sample start point, etc.) that one can control and trigger with velocity sensitive pads, not with LFO and envelopes… as one can for instance do on the 1010 Blackbox, the Razzmatazz, MPC one, etc.
Man, I'd be all over one of these! Too bad that isn't a touch screen though. Does it have swing quantize? How much sampling memory/time is stuck in there?
Trust me, it really doesn't need a touch screen, and I think it would actually make it worse since there's so many entry points on the screen. Yes you can apply swing :) The overall sampling time is only limited to what your micro SD card is, however the sample time per project has been increased from 2 minutes all the way to 8, that's mono btw. So 4 for stereo. Thanks for watching!
Thanks Free Beat 👍, you’ve got me playing with trackers lol. The mini looks great and sounds as good. How do you like the flow compared the more conventional SmplTrek?
Hmmm that's a tough comparison. They're very different. The Tracker is much more about sound design, parameter automation/manipulation, and gives you granular control of just about everything. The SmplTrek feels more organic. There's a lot less sample editing options. To me the SmplTrek wants you to record your already designed sounds straight into it, and then use those to make music. More like a nice arranger that just allows you to carry your instruments with you. Wherease the Tracker/Tracker Mini is the instrument *and* the arranger. Hopefully that helps lol.
Another amazing toy from Polyend… I am new to trackers and seem to enjoy the vertical workflow more now that I have discovered it… Export features would be what I’d like to know more about… I have the Polyend Play and loved it until it came down to exporting stems for DAW editing thats when I started to realize it is just a really cool toy and less of a professional tool… I still enjoy it but i feel it will become a drawer companion to my OPz which I also really enjoyed… anyway not trying to say any of these tools are bad because I think they’re great but the Export features are what have kept my GAS at bay in this one… Currently using Renoise and SunVox for my tracker workflows but would like a hardware tracker… The full-size seemed formidable and then I heard about this so…
@@littlehelix i will have to try it again when im back in the lab but when i exported from the Play the audio files were a bit wonky and useless in DAW... I had to cut and paste just to get patterns to match etc... there was additional audio on some tracks of white noise... It was mostly an undesirable outcome... but i did it once and lost my patience just assumed it would export a clean audio stem for each track at its exact length... Couldn't find any resources besides the most basic explanation on it online... I still enjoy my expensive toy but i think if i knew the export feature would be mostly unusable for me I dont think i would have bought it... I feel it was designed for live play and midi implementation but I have to give the export another try... Maybe i was doing something wrong... I still have faith in Polyend... And love their products... The Tracker mini is on my list of my next piece of hardware to pick up but i just want to do more research this time around...
@@FreeBeat i will have to give the export feature on the Play a second chance maybe i was somehow doing something wrong... But if what i was doing was the way exporting is meant to be done then i found it a very undesirable method... for me anyway... Im a long term DAW musician who has only delved into hardware within the last 10 months or so... I really enjoy the live feel of performance but maybe i am just so stuck in my way of recording from decades of DAW use... I'm just doing much more research this round... Thanks as always for your demos... they have cost me a lot of money haha but have been great help overall...
You still have to dial in every note, but just like on the original Polyend Tracker you can instantly resample that chord into it's own sample. I usually just start off by resampling a major chord and a minor chord, then I can make basic building blocks of a progression until I want to add in extensions and whatnot, and then I'll either use a second track for those, or just resample them into more complex chords. Of course, you can also just sample chords directly from your other gear! I remember it being a major pain point for me with the original Tracker, but as time went on it bothered me less and less. Now it's more fun for me to try and create new chord sounds than it would be to just dial in one with some sort of shortcut. Since each step on each track can have a different instrument, you can get some absolutely wild stuff! Thanks for watching :)
It's definitely not as good as a proper field recording microphone, but I'd say its absolutely a big step up from the mic on my Pixel 6a. More than serviceable for sure!
Does anyone know if this supports stereo recording via line-in? I want to sample my external synths with their amazing reverb. Its the only thing holding me back atm :D:D:D I've read the manual and it says that recording external gear converts it to mono which is kinda weird.
So all tracks share the same pattern length, but that length can be anywhere from 1-128 steps long. So you can do all the odd time signaturing you want haha. If you listen closely to the project I brought over from the original Polyend Tracker, you'll hear a sneaky bar of 6/8 thrown in there, around the 12:19 mark. Thanks for watching!
Looks like a great piece of gear/upgrade from the bigger one. Congrats on being an early reviewer. Are both the line in and out TRS stereo? Can it record samples in stereo?
I *believe* (I could be wrong) but I think it's the old projects that can pop over to the Mini. I'll have to try going the other way and see what happens!
@@FreeBeat Personally I don't have Polyend but considering getting one. Still the old one looks more immediate thanks to pads and jog. The mini can be hard on thumbs, I afraid - looks like it is designed yo be held in hands, but this leaves you only thumbs to operate and it is matter of time when they will be overused and sore, like on the mobile phone.
@@mashoy78 To me it feels no different than holding a gameboy or a video game controller. It's definitely designed to be held, but I haven't had any hand fatigue yet.
There isn't really a scale setting for songs or patterns (Not that I've found anyway). You just sequence the notes you want to sequence. You can use the fill feature and select a scale there though. Hope that helps!
I'm looking at purchasing a polyend mini but I don't quite get the memory layout interms of sequences audio vs midi. Can you tell me if there is a midi note polyphony limitation, or what the note polyphony is, i.e. 8 notes or 64, or 128? I intend on using g an external keyboard to sequence, so if I enter 7th chords will I face any issues internally or to an external synth. I hope you understand my questions. Thanks
Look into a Dirtywave M8 instead. Each midi note for a chord on the PE Tracker Mjni will take up a whole channel, and there’s only 8 channels, so a simple 3 note chord will only leave you with 5 other channels for monophonic notes. Dirtywave M8 had a synth where you can enter chords and it will only take up a single channel.
So technically your polyphony is 8 notes, since you get 8 monophonic tracks. However you can easily resample multiple tracks together to make chords. For example, to make a seventh chord, you could put a C on track 1, an E on track 2, a G on track 3, and a B on track 4. Now hold shift and select those four notes across those four tracks, and click render. Now you'll have a new sample that's simply a 7th chord, and only takes up one "note" of one track. So you could delete those four notes on the first four tracks, and just use one track to play that 7th chord. You can also easily transpose it! One of my favorite tips is to make a whole bunch of chords this way, all based on C. That way, when you're building a song in the future, you have instant access to a bunch of different chord types, all easily transposable, and only taking up one track at a time. You can also make different inversions like this too. Really, your chords could be as big as you want. You could make an 8 note chord (using all 8 tracks), then render that into it's own sample, then put it on one track and add 7 more notes in, render that into it's own sample, etc. It's absolutely endless!
Eh that kinda thing doesn't bother me haha. If I find myself worrying about how my gear looks I just remind myself that it's for making music, not for looking good.
I’m not 100% sure but my guess is because it’s more powerful and feature packed in addition from what they say on their website it seems like this is meant to connect directly to the new polyend tracker+
Yeah I think it really comes down to workflow preference now! I'm definitely interested in trying the M8 too, I'm definitely a fan of hardware trackers lol.
Ah, see that was my big question. How does it compare to the M8. Which is what it looks like it built to compete with. When you get your hands on a M8 please be sure to do a comparison video.
The AM/FM radio was a cool idea but it was a bitch to tune. Could never get a usable sample. It almost never worked for anything but white noise. I'd take an internal mic over that any day of the week..that and an internal battery are 2 major upgrades.
I am trying to follow tutorials made for the original and its not going as well as I hoped. Saying the workflow is the same is an overstatement. They might be very similar and easy to pick up if you know the original. As a tracker newbie the workflow is different enough that i feel totally lost when trying to follow tutorials for the origional.
Chiming in with the obligatory “Dirtywave M8 stomps the PE Tracker Mini in every way” I know you’ve commented you’d wanna try the M8, looking forward to you doing so!!
What would have really been amusing if you had "accidentally" dropped the Polyend off the bridge and then miraculously found a fishing rod and magically managed to hook it up and retrieve it before carrying on with the vid!
They took menu diving on a new level... No thanks! As much as i love the look and feel, this stuff like "move cursor here and enter a number" is getting on my nerves pretty fast.
I wouldn't necessarily call it menu diving (other than holding down the button literally called menu lol), it's just how Trackers operate. To me it feels very similar to working with sheet music (something I did for decades), which I think is the major reason I like them so much. Granular control of what happens on every single step is just too great!
@@FreeBeatdunno bro i can't see any similarities to a sheet music tho, more like guitar pro stuff? But yup, granular control using this is probably the best way. Do you know if they have dedicated granular controller?
Very, very disappointed. I’d go so far to say that the unit I have is beyond poor in terms of built quality. It’s going back for sure. Now, I’m not entirely sure if I just got an a rare poor one or not, or if this is the standard for everyone. The bulging back is so pronounced that the four tiny feet don’t even touch down. The huge amount of transport required for the buttons was a poor design choice, and the buttons do feel rather on the cheap side. There's a gap on the LHS of the screen (not on the RHS), perfect for collecting the elements! The bottom of the screen also has a very wonky gap. The top row of buttons…oh man, press one and you’ll see the others move as well. The seam that runs around the side and holds the two sections together is completely out of alignment, one side over-hanging, and the opposite for the other side/edge.
Dang I'm so bummed to hear that! I'm really hoping you just got a bad unit. I haven't had any issues like yours at all, and I know other folks are starting to get their orders as well, so we'll find out soon enough.
@@FreeBeat it's a let down, but sadly own I almost expected. I held back on pre-orders, waited for the the reviews to come in. Then there was a massive dive, just yours and MLS, two folk I trust (and will continue to). Man, my unit is one wonky, poorly produced mess. After going through the op-z experience I know I'll just end up hating myself for not returning this. It may be a dodgy rare one...but I really don't think that is the ugly puppy. Yours is also warped (some things you can't see on a phone, old lesson re-learned). My go-to comparison is this; the PS standard controller. Something which gets used/abused yet still feels great and works after years of work. The state of my Mini looks dreadful now. Even worse than the day my op-z was unpackaged. I'm not the only one though. This is a real problem. £600 is a lot of money. Certainly to me anyway. So mine is going back. I want it again, but just right. PS: don't turn it on or start using it. Don't fall in love with something you may come to resent.
@@FreeBeat the structure of the case is in two pieces. On mine those two seams do not match at all. I can't see this on yours. But yours is faulty. Trust me, I love your channel and I wouldn't write this without full respect amigo. You'll see my posts on OP-fun Forum, Elektronauts/ polyene Backstage. I hope you don't have the same Quality issues that I've had. But this is defiantly something worthy of flagging up. Let's not have another OP-Z horror show ;)
@@FreeBeat @2.22.Under the Midi Jack the unit is totally sealed. Look at the right side corner. That seam/seal is even worse than this on mine. On one side the top over-laps the bottom, and on the right the bottom juts out beyond the top. But thats just the beginning :(
..699 is just not very mini. You loose the pads, loose the FM radio, rotary encoder and a lot os other useful buttons, it's still not as portable as a Dirtywave M8, not pocketable and costs 700. How difficult would it have been to include a small rotary / jog wheel encoder that You scroll with your thumb where the ++-- buttons are. I gave it the benefit of the doubt, but looking at all the +/- button presses per step, it's clearly an inferior UI to the original. I appreciate Polyend sticking to trackers and offering these rather niche grooveboxes. It's not a big corporation and all the research and product development costs more per unit, but by now we have such a saturation of lowtech portable grooveboxes that no amount of GAS can incentivise me to get another tracker for 700 bucks unless it really does more than any other. And this doesn't. It's trying to sell the idea of making music on the go, and while the videos of someone placing this on a rock next to a lake to quickly populate tracks with monophonic chiptunes look good, it does not have an onboard speaker and can barely be considered more portable than a standard Polyend Tracker with a pocket battery, while sacrificing a lot of buttons. The groovebox scene is getting silly. It's a device with a CPU of a raspberry pi a small lcd and like 10 clicky buttons running mostly text based UI out of the 90's, while not even offering as much functionality as 20 year old tracker software. The hardware costs next to nothing. An M1 MacBook Air costs around 900 and includes Apples extraordinary profit margins. An M1 machine with a battery that can last all day running 4K video editing software on it's super efficient 8GB of ram. This costs a tiny fraction of the hardware cost of a MacBook to make and runs a text based tracker. At 700, for what it is, it somehow seems even more overpriced than the OP-1 Field.
Pretty dope that the only 2 people who did a full video before you were Benn and Bad Gear. Good company
Bad Gear has been new gear lately.
His roast today was great, playpm was evil 😂😂😂.
Yeah I'm definitely honored they included me!!!
loooooooooooool that AAAAHHHH track at the beginning. That was both hilarious and surprisingly well done. Not to mention that internal mic sounds pretty good. Overall it seems like a pretty neat piece of gear.
Lol we were vacationing overnight with LFB's family and her and I stepped out at like 6am to film all the outdoor shots. I had NO clue what to sample so I just decided to do that in the tunnel. I've done some fun stuff with that sample since filming this video actually, wound up being pretty neat!
Can't wait for my pre-order to be shipped. Thanks for posting such a well paced overview/explainer. Also, that tip about the sound preview in the parameters screen was clutch. Great design choice on Polyend's part. I'm only on chapter 3 of the reference manual thus far, but, I'm absorbing as much as I can before its arrival.
Yeah I was really nervous about auditioning, previewing sounds before getting my hands on it, but those worries were quickly dispelled! I hope you love it, thanks for watching :)
The workflow looks pretty sweet! You've got me more excited about getting mine, THANKS! 😁👊
It's a LOT of fun once you get the hang of it. Definitely memorize the "menu" button locations, get your shortcuts setup and memorized, and you'll be flying around in no time!
Terrific video.
Love the idea of being able to grab screenshots with it.
Thanks for watching!
So what I love about the OG tracker is when I chop up a sample, they get assigned to pads and I can then play different pads like an MPC. Once you chop up a sample, where can I play them that way?
You can scroll through the slices and preview them, or just mess around with different arrangements of them in the sequencer. That's one area where having the pads would definitely be nice. I should have mentioned that I don't really chop samples...ever...so I didn't touch on it in the video. Great question though.
@@FreeBeat well I hope to get mine soon so I can do a few videos on it with that workflow. Thanks for your video!
Nice video! I would like to thank you for sharing your impressions with us too.
Of course! More to come :)
Would you still prefer the Mini for studio use only? I am considering giving the tracker workflow a go, but portability isn't relevant for me personally.
The controls on the original look more appealing to me at first glance, but the buffed up engine underneath the Mini and it extra features do make it stand ahead.
Hmmm that's a tough one actually. I'd probably still go with the mini for the added extras, but the jog wheel and pads on the original are very nice for extended use.
I am pretty happy that you have ordered m8 so I now can hope to get good comparison video!
Thanks for this. Like you, I’m into more portable synth/groovebox options. It’s a shame a small speaker wasn’t added - it’s one of the reasons I keep going back to my OP-Z!
Thanks for watching!
Check out the Dirtywave M8, it has built in stereo speakers and is much more powerful than the PE Tracker Mini in pretty much every way.
@@solmare_ that was on my radar back when it came out and they had a long preorder. Should have an easier time finding one now. Thanks for the heads up/reminder!
Thanks for your comments! I like to play my melodies in, mess with the pads until I hear something I like... I'm kinda afraid that the lack of pads in the Mini might get in the middle of my creative process... Do you feel that your process changed at all between the two devices?
Not at all. I usually used the sequencer itself to experiment with melodies already though, I wasn't a big user of the pads.
Awesome vid! Thanks for the impressions. Can't wait for mine to arrive. I guess I'll know whether or not I like the workflow soon enough. :)
Can't wait to hear what you think!
Thanks for making this video. It's the first time I've gotten a feel for how the interface flows in your hands. It's not *too* bad but I really miss the organic performance features. Even just one knob somewhere would make it possible to dial up/down a filter cutoff or some other parameter while performing a song. On eg the Digitakt, you have access to endless performance features including the amazing ctrl+all feature. It seems the PTM is more limited there.
Regarding note entry, it would be nice if the 8 buttons underneath the screen could function as an in-scale piano keybed in a pinch. That way you could eg select the D minor scale and play one octave live, and use the +/- buttons to switch octaves. Would enable live recording modes on this thing.
Another thing I don't get: this thing is built to be portable, yet it won't work with your in-ear buds due to no Bluetooth support. It's such a missed opportunity! Imagine sitting on an airplane and wanting to make a quick beat. Well now you need to unplug your noise canceling ear buds and connect an old pair of 3.5 mm headphones instead, which is going to be at least twice as big in your bag as the PTM itself.
One more anti-GAS rant: I really don't like the way the filter sounded when you demonstrated it on the sample preview section. It just sounds lackluster. I wish they would upgrade the filter algorithm since it's been like this on the original Tracker too. The Digitakt filter sounds amazing in comparison. When it comes to sound design on a sampler-based groovebox, that matters more than most things.
Again, thanks for the video! It helped me realize it's not for me, and I appreciate seeing your face too.
The Mini is definitely something I'd recommend trying if you can. The lack of knobs and pads was a big concern of mine going into it, but like I said in the video, I just don't miss them at all! Interesting take on the headphones, I always travel with a quality pair of proper wired headphones. Also, keep in mind that I was moving through the filter in increments of 10 there, not sweeping through it smoothly :)
Thanks for watching!
Look at the Dirtywave M8 🤣
@@solmare_ no mic, no Bluetooth, micro-usb, too small screen. Not for me.
@@sinewaymusic it has a mic, both built in and via Line in, that’s made pretty clear. Have you ever tried using Bluetooth headphones while making music in real time? The added latency makes it a useless exercise, a pair of Shure 415 in ears aren’t really going to take up too much space in your pocket. It’s cool if it’s not for you obviously, but it seems like your basis for this isn’t exactly accurate.
@@BigPlasticPlant i think you interpreted my response to @solmare_ as being about the PTM but that was about the M8. I'm well aware that the PTM has a built-in mic. With regards to the Bluetooth audio latency, I simply disagree with you that there's an issue with it. I routinely produce on the laptop using my daw with Bluetooth in-ears and don't mind the slight delay when I do. Of course, if I were in a live jam situation I'd connect proper headphones into an audio interface, but a tracker is inherently programmatic and doesn't require me to eg hit drum pads in real time with perfect sync to a running beat. So I'd much rather have the option of not having to bring an extra pair of corded headphones, no matter how small they are. And it's not just for the lack of cords, it's also because of the reference sound that I've become very familiar with and can use to make many mixing decisions nowadays.
This brings the memories of Stream Tracker / Impulse Tracker and the golden age of Demoscene... Those were great times.
Thanks for watching!
I didn't know you guys are from Oregon! So far the bad air has not reach Hillsboro yet!
Yeah Portland area hasn't gotten as bad as a lot of other places so far, fingers crossed that the worst is over. Stay safe!
@@FreeBeat sure looking like a yearly thing!
Just plain stereo samples support is making me thinking about selling digitakt and buying this one ..major game changing improvement !
You'd give up ctrl+all though. The amount of creative inspiration that feature alone gives me is *insane*. And the filter sounds great. It seems like a big tradeoff to me in order to get stereo sampling. That said, this is an interesting piece of kit for sure and it's extremely portable.
Hmmm, I think they are too different for one to replace the other actually. They're both samplers, but they both have very different workflows, interfaces, and probably end goals actually haha.
Internal microphone ohhh :X
3:08 already that sounds great with the pingpong delay
Beautiful background BTW
4:38 that little menu thing looks really nice !
Ah yes permanent battery marker *mc-101 switches off randomly*
13:06 YES thank you for the onboard speaker team :D It's just fairly convenient !
Looks like a great thing!
Sorry, I should clarify, there is no internal speaker on the tracker mini haha, it's on my wish list! Thanks as always :)
@@FreeBeat My bad I'm the one who wasn't clear. I understood there's no onboard speaker, but I appreciate the onboard speaker preaching!
Gotcha! And yes they are haha
Looks really nice. Great demo!
Thanks!
I love the original Polyend Tracker - the combination of software and physical controls makes it really convinient and easy to use. Tracker Mini is not my cup of tea I guess. Even though it's cool to see (almost) the same software in smaller form-factor, the lack of pads and jogwheel kills a big part of fun for me, because I just love to fidget with physical controls.
Yeah i feel anything that can fit in my backpack is portable i was looking at the full size tracker then saw this being talked about then held off... I feel that jog wheel and pads would make for much more ease of use...
I really thought I was gonna miss the jogwheel and the pads, but just like I said in the video, I don't miss them at all anymore haha. I'd definitely recommend giving the Mini a shot if you can, the plus and minus system is a surprisingly quick one. Thanks for watching!
The pads on original were genius .. never used to punch In notes .. I like playing sometimes!
@@FreeBeat yeh I can imagine as you say it is absolutely fine withought them but a grid martix where you can determine the intervals between the rows is something special. Layout can hugely influence your choice of notes. Great vid though and thanks for replying 👍
The microphone on a device that is this portable, is so cool! Can’t wait to try it out, but unfortunately have to wait 1 or 2 weeks before it is expected to arrive.
I hope you love it!
Looks like they solved the UX/UI issue with the smaller device quite nicely. I sold my regular Tracker and got an M8 instead, mostly for the added synthesizers and that the M8's chains/phrases/tables give me so much more flexibility.
How is it to have the i/o on the bottom when using it in a casual way (like slumped down in the sofa)?
I haven't had any issues with the UI on the bottom while laying in bed or on the couch, but I really only used the line out with headphones while lounging around. I was sitting at my desk in the studio every time I used more than one port down there.
my only thing is when the battery goes dead and you have to keep it on the cord all the time will you miss the full size tracker
then use the old one, it's your choice
I'm sure with enough skills it could be replaced (although I'd love for companies to start including easily replaceable batteries)
@@FreeBeat yeah I’d just like a replaceable option is all
@@SonicVibeat that point, replace the battery or use on mains only. This mini version is a superior version compared to the original, however, they are trying to play catch up against the Dirtywave M8 which is the superior option still.
@@SonicVibe the Deluge has a fairly easily replaceable battery and so does the M8, so I don't think it will be that difficult with the Tracker.
I wonder if the mini polyend tracker would work with the Roland MX-1 mixer usb audio port/midi start and stop function?
I'm honestly not sure, I'm not really familiar with the MX-1, sorry!
Nice review. Looks really cool.
Thanks! This wasn't meant to be a review though, that will probably come later :)
Any velocity modulation possible on the Polyend Trackers (mini or OG) ?
Yes you can use an effect lane to change velocity per step, or you can modulate volume with an envelope or LFO per sample.
@@FreeBeat, cool, but I am looking for expressive (percussive) velocity modulation of parameters (e.g., tuning, decay, attack, sample start point, etc.) that one can control and trigger with velocity sensitive pads, not with LFO and envelopes… as one can for instance do on the 1010 Blackbox, the Razzmatazz, MPC one, etc.
Man, I'd be all over one of these! Too bad that isn't a touch screen though.
Does it have swing quantize? How much sampling memory/time is stuck in there?
Trust me, it really doesn't need a touch screen, and I think it would actually make it worse since there's so many entry points on the screen. Yes you can apply swing :) The overall sampling time is only limited to what your micro SD card is, however the sample time per project has been increased from 2 minutes all the way to 8, that's mono btw. So 4 for stereo. Thanks for watching!
Thanks Free Beat 👍, you’ve got me playing with trackers lol.
The mini looks great and sounds as good.
How do you like the flow compared the more conventional SmplTrek?
Hmmm that's a tough comparison. They're very different. The Tracker is much more about sound design, parameter automation/manipulation, and gives you granular control of just about everything. The SmplTrek feels more organic. There's a lot less sample editing options. To me the SmplTrek wants you to record your already designed sounds straight into it, and then use those to make music. More like a nice arranger that just allows you to carry your instruments with you. Wherease the Tracker/Tracker Mini is the instrument *and* the arranger. Hopefully that helps lol.
@@FreeBeat thank you, that makes perfect sense 👍
When you chop up a longer sample is there anyway to play your chops or do you just have to enter them as notes?
You sequence them just like any other note (and there is a dedicated effect for "slice number" I believe. Thanks for watching!
they should release the tracker mk2 with all mini features but original tracker UI and layout. with some improved buttons.
Another amazing toy from Polyend… I am new to trackers and seem to enjoy the vertical workflow more now that I have discovered it… Export features would be what I’d like to know more about… I have the Polyend Play and loved it until it came down to exporting stems for DAW editing thats when I started to realize it is just a really cool toy and less of a professional tool… I still enjoy it but i feel it will become a drawer companion to my OPz which I also really enjoyed… anyway not trying to say any of these tools are bad because I think they’re great but the Export features are what have kept my GAS at bay in this one… Currently using Renoise and SunVox for my tracker workflows but would like a hardware tracker… The full-size seemed formidable and then I heard about this so…
On the Tracker and Tracker Mini you can export stems, samples, full masters, and effect tracks as well!
You can also export tracks with the Play, this function came with an update
@@littlehelix i will have to try it again when im back in the lab but when i exported from the Play the audio files were a bit wonky and useless in DAW... I had to cut and paste just to get patterns to match etc... there was additional audio on some tracks of white noise... It was mostly an undesirable outcome... but i did it once and lost my patience just assumed it would export a clean audio stem for each track at its exact length... Couldn't find any resources besides the most basic explanation on it online... I still enjoy my expensive toy but i think if i knew the export feature would be mostly unusable for me I dont think i would have bought it... I feel it was designed for live play and midi implementation but I have to give the export another try... Maybe i was doing something wrong... I still have faith in Polyend... And love their products... The Tracker mini is on my list of my next piece of hardware to pick up but i just want to do more research this time around...
@@FreeBeat i will have to give the export feature on the Play a second chance maybe i was somehow doing something wrong... But if what i was doing was the way exporting is meant to be done then i found it a very undesirable method... for me anyway... Im a long term DAW musician who has only delved into hardware within the last 10 months or so... I really enjoy the live feel of performance but maybe i am just so stuck in my way of recording from decades of DAW use... I'm just doing much more research this round... Thanks as always for your demos... they have cost me a lot of money haha but have been great help overall...
@@iamYork_ Sorry I can't be more help, I'm not familiar with the Play at all really. Thanks for the kind words!
Is there a user friendly way to program chords, or do you have to dial in every note?
You still have to dial in every note, but just like on the original Polyend Tracker you can instantly resample that chord into it's own sample. I usually just start off by resampling a major chord and a minor chord, then I can make basic building blocks of a progression until I want to add in extensions and whatnot, and then I'll either use a second track for those, or just resample them into more complex chords. Of course, you can also just sample chords directly from your other gear! I remember it being a major pain point for me with the original Tracker, but as time went on it bothered me less and less. Now it's more fun for me to try and create new chord sounds than it would be to just dial in one with some sort of shortcut. Since each step on each track can have a different instrument, you can get some absolutely wild stuff! Thanks for watching :)
Oh my god, the start had me hiding behind the sofa incase you dropped it off that bridge
Haha don't worry, we were VERY careful :)
How would you compare the mic to a proper field recording mic? Is it better than the mic on your iPhone?
It's definitely not as good as a proper field recording microphone, but I'd say its absolutely a big step up from the mic on my Pixel 6a. More than serviceable for sure!
Does anyone know if this supports stereo recording via line-in? I want to sample my external synths with their amazing reverb. Its the only thing holding me back atm :D:D:D
I've read the manual and it says that recording external gear converts it to mono which is kinda weird.
Hmmm it does seem like it converts them to mono. I'm gonna ask Polyend about this. Thanks for the question!
new firmware does this!
Does the tracker mini support odd time signatures or polymetric sequencing?
So all tracks share the same pattern length, but that length can be anywhere from 1-128 steps long. So you can do all the odd time signaturing you want haha. If you listen closely to the project I brought over from the original Polyend Tracker, you'll hear a sneaky bar of 6/8 thrown in there, around the 12:19 mark. Thanks for watching!
Awesome video
Thank you!
Have the fix the bugs in the first tracker
Looks like a great piece of gear/upgrade from the bigger one. Congrats on being an early reviewer. Are both the line in and out TRS stereo? Can it record samples in stereo?
Yes there are and yes it can :) Thank you!
How can it be compatible with the polyend tracker if the old one has much less sampling time and no stereo samples?
I *believe* (I could be wrong) but I think it's the old projects that can pop over to the Mini. I'll have to try going the other way and see what happens!
@@FreeBeat Personally I don't have Polyend but considering getting one. Still the old one looks more immediate thanks to pads and jog. The mini can be hard on thumbs, I afraid - looks like it is designed yo be held in hands, but this leaves you only thumbs to operate and it is matter of time when they will be overused and sore, like on the mobile phone.
@@mashoy78 To me it feels no different than holding a gameboy or a video game controller. It's definitely designed to be held, but I haven't had any hand fatigue yet.
@@FreeBeat Of course this kind of fatigue builds slowly, but repetitive stress injury is well known fenomenon and could be an issue at some point.
@@mashoy78 Definitely. Could probably be said about every piece of gear haha. Or most things in life that we use!
Can you play NES roms on it?
When youre selecting notes are you able to select notes within its respective scale easily?
There isn't really a scale setting for songs or patterns (Not that I've found anyway). You just sequence the notes you want to sequence. You can use the fill feature and select a scale there though. Hope that helps!
Got it thank you FreeBeat!! @@FreeBeat
We love Oregon! 😊
It's pretty great when it's not on fire!
I'm looking at purchasing a polyend mini but I don't quite get the memory layout interms of sequences audio vs midi. Can you tell me if there is a midi note polyphony limitation, or what the note polyphony is, i.e. 8 notes or 64, or 128? I intend on using g an external keyboard to sequence, so if I enter 7th chords will I face any issues internally or to an external synth. I hope you understand my questions. Thanks
Look into a Dirtywave M8 instead. Each midi note for a chord on the PE Tracker Mjni will take up a whole channel, and there’s only 8 channels, so a simple 3 note chord will only leave you with 5 other channels for monophonic notes. Dirtywave M8 had a synth where you can enter chords and it will only take up a single channel.
So technically your polyphony is 8 notes, since you get 8 monophonic tracks. However you can easily resample multiple tracks together to make chords. For example, to make a seventh chord, you could put a C on track 1, an E on track 2, a G on track 3, and a B on track 4. Now hold shift and select those four notes across those four tracks, and click render. Now you'll have a new sample that's simply a 7th chord, and only takes up one "note" of one track. So you could delete those four notes on the first four tracks, and just use one track to play that 7th chord. You can also easily transpose it! One of my favorite tips is to make a whole bunch of chords this way, all based on C. That way, when you're building a song in the future, you have instant access to a bunch of different chord types, all easily transposable, and only taking up one track at a time. You can also make different inversions like this too. Really, your chords could be as big as you want. You could make an 8 note chord (using all 8 tracks), then render that into it's own sample, then put it on one track and add 7 more notes in, render that into it's own sample, etc. It's absolutely endless!
What about Performance mode?
I haven't tried it yet actually! I'll do a separate video when I get around to it :)
Ok Freebeat here is the real challenge- how do you get all the finger smudges off of this thing. Had mine for a week and it already looks old.
Eh that kinda thing doesn't bother me haha. If I find myself worrying about how my gear looks I just remind myself that it's for making music, not for looking good.
It surely can't be as bad as the OG MPC Live with is horrendous rubberized fluff magnet.
Still at the beginning of the video but that hoody is 🔥🔥
Thanks haha, one of my faves.
👍👍👍 Nice!
Thanks for watching!
If it has key scale mode, that would be awesome
Uh-oh. Looks like we have an OP-Z slayer.
It's a very different experience, but on top of that I don't think the Tracker Mini will die in less than two years lol. Thanks for watching!
Why is it more expensive than the full sized Tracker?
I’m not 100% sure but my guess is because it’s more powerful and feature packed in addition from what they say on their website it seems like this is meant to connect directly to the new polyend tracker+
Tempted, but I'll keep my M8 tracker for now - limitless streaming from SD card, 3FX lanes, smaller, tidier work flow, unbeatable customer care...etc.
Yeah I think it really comes down to workflow preference now! I'm definitely interested in trying the M8 too, I'm definitely a fan of hardware trackers lol.
M8 is legit an awesome tracker.
Ah, see that was my big question. How does it compare to the M8. Which is what it looks like it built to compete with.
When you get your hands on a M8 please be sure to do a comparison video.
The AM/FM radio was a cool idea but it was a bitch to tune. Could never get a usable sample. It almost never worked for anything but white noise. I'd take an internal mic over that any day of the week..that and an internal battery are 2 major upgrades.
I am trying to follow tutorials made for the original and its not going as well as I hoped. Saying the workflow is the same is an overstatement. They might be very similar and easy to pick up if you know the original. As a tracker newbie the workflow is different enough that i feel totally lost when trying to follow tutorials for the origional.
Hmm maybe I'll throw together a basics video for the Mini!
Chiming in with the obligatory “Dirtywave M8 stomps the PE Tracker Mini in every way”
I know you’ve commented you’d wanna try the M8, looking forward to you doing so!!
Can definitely tell you're a passionate fan of the M8 haha. IDK if it stomps it in every way, but it definitely does seem awesome :)
@@FreeBeat oh it defintely does lol
What would have really been amusing if you had "accidentally" dropped the Polyend off the bridge and then miraculously found a fishing rod and magically managed to hook it up and retrieve it before carrying on with the vid!
Hahaha that's stressing me out just thinking about it!
I was stressing out that he would drop it!
the aaah sounds like Arny ;D
Tempted purchase nice location
Thanks for watching!
I’ve watched far too many fail videos to be comfortable with you standing on a bridge with the tracker 😬
try dirtwave m8 -its even more powerful
Like I said in other comments on here, I'm very interested in giving it a shot too :) Thanks for watching!
Why are you walking around pretending to use it, when there is no speaker?
That was just a little b-roll shot of me setting up a project while walking to our next filming location, which is easily doable with no headphones.
They took menu diving on a new level... No thanks! As much as i love the look and feel, this stuff like "move cursor here and enter a number" is getting on my nerves pretty fast.
I wouldn't necessarily call it menu diving (other than holding down the button literally called menu lol), it's just how Trackers operate. To me it feels very similar to working with sheet music (something I did for decades), which I think is the major reason I like them so much. Granular control of what happens on every single step is just too great!
@@FreeBeatdunno bro i can't see any similarities to a sheet music tho, more like guitar pro stuff? But yup, granular control using this is probably the best way. Do you know if they have dedicated granular controller?
If you are sent this for free, then of course they are sponsoring you, don't you understand that?
th-cam.com/video/AyRjUd6L4dc/w-d-xo.htmlsi=egxQ3TsUoDe38rz9
How many cups of coffee did you have, before shooting this video? Slow down.
This is useless unless you have a pair of speakers or headphones in your pocket!!
Yep, I always have a cheap pair of wired earbuds on me for my portable gear.
Very, very disappointed. I’d go so far to say that the unit I have is beyond poor in terms of built quality. It’s going back for sure. Now, I’m not entirely sure if I just got an a rare poor one or not, or if this is the standard for everyone.
The bulging back is so pronounced that the four tiny feet don’t even touch down.
The huge amount of transport required for the buttons was a poor design choice, and the buttons do feel rather on the cheap side.
There's a gap on the LHS of the screen (not on the RHS), perfect for collecting the elements!
The bottom of the screen also has a very wonky gap.
The top row of buttons…oh man, press one and you’ll see the others move as well.
The seam that runs around the side and holds the two sections together is completely out of alignment, one side over-hanging, and the opposite for the other side/edge.
Dang I'm so bummed to hear that! I'm really hoping you just got a bad unit. I haven't had any issues like yours at all, and I know other folks are starting to get their orders as well, so we'll find out soon enough.
@@FreeBeat it's a let down, but sadly own I almost expected. I held back on pre-orders, waited for the the reviews to come in. Then there was a massive dive, just yours and MLS, two folk I trust (and will continue to). Man, my unit is one wonky, poorly produced mess. After going through the op-z experience I know I'll just end up hating myself for not returning this. It may be a dodgy rare one...but I really don't think that is the ugly puppy. Yours is also warped (some things you can't see on a phone, old lesson re-learned).
My go-to comparison is this; the PS standard controller. Something which gets used/abused yet still feels great and works after years of work. The state of my Mini looks dreadful now. Even worse than the day my op-z was unpackaged. I'm not the only one though. This is a real problem. £600 is a lot of money. Certainly to me anyway. So mine is going back. I want it again, but just right. PS: don't turn it on or start using it. Don't fall in love with something you may come to resent.
@@sodiumlights Mine is warped? I haven't noticed at all haha
@@FreeBeat the structure of the case is in two pieces. On mine those two seams do not match at all. I can't see this on yours. But yours is faulty. Trust me, I love your channel and I wouldn't write this without full respect amigo. You'll see my posts on OP-fun Forum, Elektronauts/ polyene Backstage. I hope you don't have the same Quality issues that I've had. But this is defiantly something worthy of flagging up. Let's not have another OP-Z horror show ;)
@@FreeBeat @2.22.Under the Midi Jack the unit is totally sealed. Look at the right side corner. That seam/seal is even worse than this on mine. On one side the top over-laps the bottom, and on the right the bottom juts out beyond the top. But thats just the beginning :(
..699 is just not very mini. You loose the pads, loose the FM radio, rotary encoder and a lot os other useful buttons, it's still not as portable as a Dirtywave M8, not pocketable and costs 700. How difficult would it have been to include a small rotary / jog wheel encoder that You scroll with your thumb where the ++-- buttons are. I gave it the benefit of the doubt, but looking at all the +/- button presses per step, it's clearly an inferior UI to the original. I appreciate Polyend sticking to trackers and offering these rather niche grooveboxes. It's not a big corporation and all the research and product development costs more per unit, but by now we have such a saturation of lowtech portable grooveboxes that no amount of GAS can incentivise me to get another tracker for 700 bucks unless it really does more than any other. And this doesn't. It's trying to sell the idea of making music on the go, and while the videos of someone placing this on a rock next to a lake to quickly populate tracks with monophonic chiptunes look good, it does not have an onboard speaker and can barely be considered more portable than a standard Polyend Tracker with a pocket battery, while sacrificing a lot of buttons. The groovebox scene is getting silly. It's a device with a CPU of a raspberry pi a small lcd and like 10 clicky buttons running mostly text based UI out of the 90's, while not even offering as much functionality as 20 year old tracker software. The hardware costs next to nothing. An M1 MacBook Air costs around 900 and includes Apples extraordinary profit margins. An M1 machine with a battery that can last all day running 4K video editing software on it's super efficient 8GB of ram. This costs a tiny fraction of the hardware cost of a MacBook to make and runs a text based tracker. At 700, for what it is, it somehow seems even more overpriced than the OP-1 Field.