Hi guys, so I’m looking to get back into the Polyend gear after selling my Tracker Mini a while back - I’m really missing the speed and creativity I got out of that box. So I’m coming back.
The question is, whether to go just purely Tracker+ (which combines many of the best bits of all devices) perhaps a pair?
Tracker+ is going to be the main device as I think I’ll even open up my old projects on there and pick up where I left off.
I’ve always liked the look of Play, because I really enjoy hands on sequencing. However, if the same synth engines are on both Play+ and Tracker+ I can’t see that being needed. I could however see a use for a Tracker (OG) for making loops to export and use on Tracker. The main benefit of Play seems to be the fun sequencing, and give that Tracker+ has stereo samples, then maybe Play OG would work better for that supporting role since there’s not much feature overlap.
I also like the look of Synth. Again there’s some overlap, but Synth gives the synth engines an interesting engine and again, an interesting option for resampling. The one downside to this (not sure if the Play is the same) is that the macros can’t control the performance effects. If they did, I could see Synth as both a sound source and a control surface for Tracker.
Would either of these approaches be redundant given that Tracker+ has synths, and sequencing, or could one of these boxes offer an interesting counterpoint to the Tracker+?
As far a synth engine overlap goes between Tracker+ / Play+ / Synth:
Tracker+ and Play+ have the same synth engines
Synth has additional synth engines (but lacks the PERC drum engine)
So i think Tracker+ is definitely a good choice, if you loved the Tracker before.
If you are looking at a Play for the more playful kind of sequencing, then i think the regular OG Play would probably be perfectly fine if you can find it.
Synth has some nice engines that you can’t find on the Tracker+ or Play+.
It does also have a MIDI Engine nowadays, that can send MIDI CC so you could map the knobs to performance effects on the Tracker+ (or any other MIDI device really). So that is absolutely possible.
Tracker+ and og play is the way to go. I use my tracker mini to run the ship and a play+ for on the fly sequencing magic. It’s fun to be able to mix the onboard synths (especially PERC), with your external gear or DAW. It really brings the whole family together😂
Thanks. Ah interesting! I reached out to Polyend about this and they said the knobs wouldn’t work but the pads would in controlling Tracker. The thing is, I feel like the one thing I needed was a device to hook up to the Tracker for performance. What got me thinking on this was that Synth with the bigger velocity sensitive pads and the ability to perform with the knobs would be a very useful combo.
So let me know what you think on this. Maybe the Polyend rep wasn’t right on the knob thing. Can Play and Synth all do the same > control Tracker+ with the knobx? This might help me finalise which box to get alongside.
That’s pretty conclusive guys, thanks! I figured perhaps too much overlap with Play+ is Tracker+ would be the main show in town, so that confirms my thinking that Tracker+, and either Play or Synth (depending on the control surface stuff above a bit) would be the best combo. (Edit: Annoyingly the Play OG I saw is now sold, but hey there will be others no doubt.)
OG Tracker and Synth. You can MIDI from tracker to control synth and then get to do fun knobby twisting on synth. Can also MIDI from synth to tracker, allowing you to come up with parts on the synth and record the MIDI triggers into tracker, OG tracker gives you 8 tracks, PLUS 4 MIDI tracks to control Synth. You can also sample synth parts into tracker and then slice them up. Just lots of options for different workflows. Used OG trackers are a steal right now too. I have this setup, plus the tracker mini. Only down side is the mini and OG tracker aren’t fully compatible.
