surface mount components are not as easy. why re-engineer when you can just release a new one? to save you money? whats the point in that? youve got money! the OG works fine for what it is, the first version of a franchise!
but honestly all youd need to do is offer PCB only and replace the entire PCB but keep the button layout. but then you would be stuck making new firmware that extended the button layout to include the new capabilities. but im confident it could be done. but wheres the incentive?
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Well, i cant say would it be money saving or not -card, delivery, service, thats cost valuable. But sell/buy another device for update doesn’t sound too exciting for me.
From the other side, if it would be almost full inside replacement that wouldn’t have a lot of sense, i agree.
Cause the idea was to save device with projects, settings etc.
So i guess I’d go for voting NO.
Also if Polyend would do this with chords, stereo samples, extra reverbs, versatile arpeggio… mmm … That sounds tasty, but at least Id like to get full backward compatibility with old projects.
Otherwise i definitely go to opposition.
Yes please. “Tracker Studio” with a bigger screen than the OG. More fx lanes. The ability to load 2 projects at the same time would be dope too but maybe a stretch.
That or some kind of dock in expansion for the mini could be another approach.
I just got my OG tracker a week ago, but I can definetly see a roadmap where I combine it with a tracker+ in a couple of years. Besides, releasing a 2.0 hardware product is bound to happen at some point anyway if you want to keep the markets interest for it.
USB over audio would be my number one wish (Or at least USB audio out). I like to monitor my PC into the track while working on music (can lead to fun sampling when looking at youtube tutorials and such) so it would be not have to use one of the input channels for that.
Secondary wish would be to have USB charging and USB data ports separated. I would like to be able to charge my PT while also using it with other portable synths or software synths in android. It would give it more portability to have them separated.
Another solution for android would be to include bluetooth for midi. I have no idea if that would more costly or less costly. But having the USB ports seperated does seem to give the best versitile experience for more users.
Separated stereo headphones and output. I want to be able to pre-monitor my PT while also routing them into FX processors into the mix on the go.
A couple of extra encoders and/or faders for performance mode maybe? It would be fun to be able to manipulate two performance tracks at the same time.
That being said, the OG PT is still so good that Im not really rushing to upgrade it. I still have a loooot of creativity to take out of this machine. Thank you for making such a cool product. Gives me nostalgia from my childhood trying out DOS trackers.
Just to be transparent we don’t have any plans to do an upgrade option like the Play+ again, or a hardware update on the original tracker.
6 Likes
Ok…hopefully you guys have enough energy to read what I’m about to type.
I’m a recent PE Tracker user. I’m rocking a flashy MK3, and I’m loving it. How well integrated and thought is the UX/UI to allow for fast edition and beat creation is just incredible when you couple it with the amount of feedback that the screen allows. I’m enjoying exploring ideas faster than I could ever do even in a DAW (considering only sequencing and not sampling).
But the main reason that pushed me to choose the tracker over other platforms was that it felt like an instrument…a timeless, very powerful instrument and ideas platform.
And that is very important, being an instrument. The difference for me between an instrument and a gadget is that if the instrument is good if it allows you to create whatever is in your head and enjoy the process, it is completely disconnected from time…is like an old 70’s Stratocaster…or a Stradivarius, fuck time and tech progress.
We live in a time when everything has to die. All objects have to expire to leave place for new objects with more/improved features. Is true that the tracker, being a digital electronic device running software, is somehow tied inherently to progress. But in any case, just looking at the amount of processing power, interactivity and connectivity that we carry in our pockets every day, I will venture that using current technology and the tracker form factor, an update of the platform, if done correctly could create the definitive instrument (in a tracker format).
If you don’t shrink it (like Apple loves to do with their laptops) you have enough room there to create a definitive digital instrument that will last…forever. How do you monetize it…that is a different story. But in a world where ecology has managed to disconnect itself from the huge problem of expiring technology, this kind of move and decision will speak volumes of Polyend.
I think that the original tracker was born at a time when dawless setups were starting to emerge and mature, and hardware and software were yet evolving…but today’s state-of-the-art is just enough to fulfil the craziest idea in tracker music workstations that you guys could come up with.
My proposal for the tracker+ is just to take a deep breath and put all the effort into creating that timeless infinite machine.
- Pump up the hardware specs to support real-time interaction with any step in the creative process..
- Keep all components that would require replacement over time external and detachable (storage, power supply, etc).
- Make improvements in the parts that the user smashes every day (bullet-proof encoders and keys, durable enclosure, beefier connectors) and/or make them easily replaceable.
- Focus on making performance mode an integral part of the flow, providing tools and UI adequate for it to happen (for instance run several projects at once, provide an A-B fader/encoder OT fashion, etc).
- Allow users to hack it via API. For instance, providing a Script FX that allows users to call scrips or link externally run processes that could alter a track or even create/arrange it on the fly. Think about the unlimited soundscape creation possibilities and how integration with other media like sensors or cameras could make the tracker the most incredible digital instrument on the market. In the end, the cracking/hacking is at the core of tracker culture from the very beginning, just use it for your benefit…and everyone else’s too :P.
- Add more generative tools like conditional triggers/calls that could be triggered by events or even specific frequencies/output volume, etc. The reason for this is that generative tools will allow for theoretically unlimited new structures, as complex as the user can imagine.
- And the most important one…don’t build tracker+ thinking on tracker++…just make tracker+ the last one that you will ever need to design and disconnect from the tech/consumerism craze. Build an instrument, not a gadget.
My idea of jumping dawless was the idea also of disconnecting from all the tech craze…to be able to freeze it in the form of a box with all the tools that I could need to create and perform music. If in 20 years my daughter keeps making beats with my tracker or tracker+ (in the same way that she could with any of my guitars)…it will make me very happy and I think that will be the sign marking that you made it right.
And jumping out of Wonderland, of course, you guys have to pay bills and make money…that’s probably one of the reasons why you started Polyend too…but I think that there are ways of keeping it alive and healthy without having to release a new device every year. Let the rest do that…you focus on creating an atemporal tracker machine that inherits from the beginning of electronic music through a long and well-rooted legacy. No one else is in a better position than you guys.
If you made it here sorry for the gibberish and the unapologetic butchering of the English language.
I hope that this helps.
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I am quite happy with my OG unit and wouldn’t be interested in a Tracker+. I would however be very interested in a new machine in OG tracker format with significant hardware updates. 8 sample tracks, 8 midi tracks, 8 CV tracks, 8 audio in tracks (all in separate sequencer windows that can be easily accessed with buttons on the front panel). Full CV/gate integration with outputs and inputs per track, separate audio outputs per track, more fx lanes (maybe another separate sequencer window), audio ins and radio can be live streamed and recorded live into the sequencer and be manipulated live with effect automations, overdub, seamless switching between different projects, manipulate tracks individually in performance mode, recording of motion sequence in performance mode, no more stopping the sequencer for sample editor, EQ’s per track accessible in the mixer window. No seemingly unnecessary cpu/ram, sample length, project size etc limitations. Freely assignable crossfader on the front panel. All of this housed in the OG tracker format, wouldn’t mind it being twice as thick. Probably a lot to ask, but this machine would keep me happy for long time. Anyway, thanks for keeping my tracker awesome!
Word, the OG has been really pushed since it’s original release, come on… its practically a whole new machine.
Bravo Team Polyend, you’ve rinsed the 50 shades of shite out of the original Tracker.
I’m expecting just bug fixes with the OG now, which is sweet and dandy.
I think Polyend will focus on rinsing out the mini because it has newer beefer tech inside waiting to be let off the chain.
I plan on eventually purchasing a little one for final spice, mix down and final render.
OG for writing, sequencing because frankly it’s lovely to interact with those awsome clicky full size buttons, data wheel, bigger screen for sequencing 7 mins of ill behavior before the gimp takes over ta add some stereo spice in places. .
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My Digitakt 2 post got deleted, sorry if it was inappropriate to share the release and look at the features they’ve added, i think it’s highly unlikley Tracker users aren’t aware of competitor products but I shall take note. 
Nothing inappropriate whatsoever. The issue was an update to the Forum Software.
See:
Feel free to post your previous post regarding the Digitakt again 
Ah!! I didn’t see this. Apologies!
I can’t remember entirely what I said now, but basically it looks like a solid upgrade to the Digitakt - 16 tracks, stereo sampling and lots more. Interesting to see how Elektron have approached it.
Downsides - clearly doesn’t have the tracker workflow, UI and lovely screen we all know and love.
I’ve also subsequently found out sample slicing is quite limited in Digitakt which is strange.
AFAIK they’ve kept the same form factor and seemingly just upgraded processing power, which I am assuming Polyend might do? Would love to see more outputs on a Tracker+ though, similar to the 1010 Blackbox.
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I was gonna mention the new digitakt update but…for me electron product segmentation seems at times a bit… convenient (for them). I get that when creating unique instruments there has to be a limit in what one instrument does that other instrument doesn’t…but it should be in a more fundamental way than just features easily implementable in software that doesn’t affect the character/identity of the instrument. For instance, that sample chopping constraint, that you also mentioned, looks quite arbitrary TBH.
On the other side I completely understand that Polyend doesn’t bring sample edition to the play as it’s form, character and focus is a bit in a post sample edition/extraction point (small screen, hands on sequencing experimentation focus…). But see…not sample mangling at all. But if you can chop samples in a DT…why the heck don’t allow you to place the cuts wherever you want? I don’t get it.
id be all for this. 
Very nice.
Id second the performance enhancements - so that you can manipulate set performance macros while in the same page as being able to switch patterns.
I use my tracker as live performance tool and previously suggested the idea of switching patterns with the jog wheel and then jumping to said pattern after the pattern finishes (as opposed to using the arrows) this would be powerful.
Multiple outs would be ace.
effects per track would be cool as in switchable delay parameters.
All that said , i love the tracker as is , but , have no doubt that a + version would be ace.
The mini doesnt have a jog wheel and thats a deal breaker. Its the crux of the pace of the workflow.
filters from the play+ synths 
only if it gonna be LW or AM, not FM.
tbh, I just want a tracker mini rev2 with better build quality - the buttons especially.
[and maybe a row of pads for note input] 
Only been on the Tracker a week, but some of the omissions I have found so far are all software updates, not hardware updates.
Sample mapping.
- Set root note for sample.
- Set key range for sample
- Set velocity range for sample.
- Multiple sample in a single instrument, see 1-3
- Crossfade for sample loops, to remove any clicking.
Playback modes
- Beat Slice Wrap, the same as current Beat slice, but when slice is triggered, rather than stopping at the end of the slice, the sample continues playing to the end of the entire sample, this is great for loading a breakbeat and just creating slices at the first snare and first hi hat, it is just a much more convenient version of sample position FX (p) using set positions.
- Linked instruments, link two or more instruments so that they play the note/fx data from the same pattern column, as a simple example a simple sawtooth instrument, create three linked, detune two and you have a nice phat start point for playing a synth line, which you can then resample down to get your tracks back.
Audio Editor
- Fit to tempo, this is just a simple tuning based on sample length vs project tempo, basically it is just a one click version of using tune and fine tune, but is destructive.
- More destructive effects in general, do them as a small payware, say $5 for an effect, I doubt anybody would complain about supporting future updates in this way.
Pattern data
- Slices to pattern, just a super simple way to send the pattern data from a sliced sample to the pattern column, so it would assume the sample is the same length as the pattern, then add triggers in to the pattern accordingly for each slice, so that the sample plays back normally.
- Import MIDI file, this is super useful if you have sliced an audio file before putting it on your SD Card, just so that you can load the pattern data as erm pattern data, this could actually be done as a webpage or super simple desktop app.
Export
- Contact the Renoise guys and make sure you have perfect export of a Renoise project, even if it is a web or desktop app, it is in both of your interests.
Phantasy world
- Ableton Link, what it says on the tin.
- Audio editor effect API
Sorry if any of this is already there and I have missed it, like i say I am only a week in but come from tracking since the original release on Amiga.
The above updates are all software based, so a plus seems pointless to me right now, maybe make some of the bigger feature updates a small payment (Not bug fixes obviously) and get the actual software superb before moving to new hardware.
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Hey @bungusmonkage welcome to backstage! 
I’m an old Protracker Amiga Head as well, glad to see we are mostly still all alive and kicking! 
As i’m a bit pressed for time right now i can’t link you indivdually to all the things that already have been requested. But a lot of it has come up before and may already have a wish, which you can go vote on. So go do that. 
There’s still a lot of things that can be done software wise, but when it comes to realtime processing, i think the cup is pretty much full on the OG Tracker. As Polyend has stated before, it is close to running at its max capacity for the chip that they’ve put inside.