While reading the specs of the NTS digital kit mk2 released by Korg in January, I was astonished when I realized this is the best companion to the Polyend Tracker mini we could ever dream of.
Mk1 was already a quite suitable companion but lacked MIDI-out. Mk2 basically provides whatever the mini doesn’t have (see the full specs page here)
Now here is the list of the capabilities it brings when connected to the mini :
a mini keyboard to live perform/record notes
ability to send cc values from its knobs
a full fledged arpeggiator with latch
ability to sequence the traditional way (up to 8 steps), then record on the tracker as a sample or as a tracker sequence
an unlimited amount of open source synth engines with sound design capabilities (including renowned ones such as Plaits, Braids ports, Volca Bass, JP8000 Saw emulation)
an unlimited amount of open source FX (including the renowned Sinevibes FX for Korg)
Scales & chords composer (Tweeeeeak working on porting their J6 emulation they had on the og Korg SDK)
Clock I/O.
In case you still don’t realize, here is a list the Tracker mini posted wishes the combination with the NTS pretty-much materializes:
Right now though, in terms of hardware, the integration will require the following :
powering the NTS-1 through its USB-C port (probably with a small battery bank, unless the mini can provide it power, but I’m not sure of that)
connecting the audio out of the NTS to the audio input of the mini (and the opposite if NTS is used as an FX unit)
connecting the midi out of the NTS to the midi input of the mini.
Seems fine on a desktop usage but probably clunky on a mobile/handheld usage, so maybe some DIY hardware integration of the two could be fun, considering the Korg NTS line-up is already “assemble yourself” units which can pretty easily be modded.
Out of all the things I’ve tried, the Roland S-1 is my favorite thing to pair with the Tracker Mini.
The key pads are decent and definitely playable. 2 octave keyboard.
Tracker Mini automatically assigns slices to notes C2 onwards, so you can play and live record drum patterns.
It’s battery powered.
4-voice polyphony and great-sounding Sh101 pads and basses to sample.
Knobs send MIDI CC.
Built-in reverb and delay.
Thinking of picking up the J6 too for simpler ways to play chords and bigger pads for tapping in live beats.
I found a super cheap TRS type A to DIN male cable and plugged that into the included DIN female to TRS type B Polyend adapter. Works flawlessly both ways.
Korg uses MIDI TRS-A. This means you need a converter for TRS A to TRS-B if you plan on pairing it with Polyend devices.
Korg is notorious for USB humming issues and the NTS is no exception. As long as you power it through a USB powerbank though, you should be fine.
NTS-1 volume ouput was incredibly low when processing incoming audio. Hopefully they fixed that as well.
Thanks @Sandroid for the notes and clarifications :
Haven’t received mine yet but I guess it still is TRS-A, not sure why Polyend chose to stick with B as the MIDI association has decided on TRS-A since 2018 (see article here)
On the Og NTS-1 I’ve never had this issue because I always powered with a small independent power bank.
For the output volume, it’s true that the NTS has never been very loud, let’s see if they improved it, otherwise it means we’ll have to make use of “normalize” a lot
Can’t wait for this to ship, looks like it could take a couple more months, but I’ll post back here as soon as I can test these two.
Just adding to the mini midi keyboard recommendations: the Donner N-25 is cheap as chips, very small, USB-C and Type B midi output so just connect a mini jack cable to your tracker from its midi output. I got one off eBay for £10 and use it with my OG tracker and it’s good fun. The key feel is as expected (pretty awful) but it serves a purpose for a tiny portable setup.
Just adding to the mini midi keyboard recommendations: the Donner N-25 is cheap as chips, very small, USB-C and Type B midi output so just connect a mini jack cable to your tracker from its midi output. I got one off eBay for £10 and use it with my OG tracker and it’s good fun. The key feel is as expected (pretty awful) but it serves a purpose for a tiny portable setup.
I use their 16 PAD controller and it’s pretty well built, with a TRS MIDI out as well. Would be nice if Korg updated their nanoKeys/nanoKontrol series with some USB-C and why not TRS.
Of course I don’t expect the tiny keyboard of the NTS to be the ideal performance tool but still that would let us sequence pretty easily.
Maybe one alternative/simplified version would be just a connectivity interface to put between the mini and the NTS-1 mk2 (which happens to have all its ports on the back !)
That unit would :
connect the midi I/O in both directions
connect the audio I/O with a switch to be able to change the direction (for either NTS synth out to mini or mini out to NTS FX routing)
would provide a small battery compartment for 3 or 4 AAAs under so as to power the NTS itself.
In the meantime, I will try with very short crooked mini-jacks and a tiny power-bank. Less sexy, can’t be handheld, but will do the job.
I kinda like your keyboard better, but for the sake of simplicity I can live with the NTS tiny capacitive keys.
I can recommend using the iphone with a music app of your choice as an external source. iphone and tracker are a very potent pairing in my workflow. Also for sampling garageband, youtube, spotify etc.
I can recommend using the iphone with a music app of your choice as an external source. iphone and tracker are a very potent pairing in my workflow. Also for sampling garageband, youtube, spotify etc.
@merlin for this use case, I’ve raised the following wishlist item :
For now you need to go though minijack if you want to sample, and if you want midi in order to sequence with the mini and sample the sequence in it, you need to connect both minijack (for audio) and usb (for midi).
So that would strongly simplify the connexion with the host device (be it a mobile/tablet/computer), as the sampling would work directly with a simple USB-C cable connected.
They make custom length (and color) “crossover” cables. Both sides are 3.5mm, one is 90degrees and sleeve on the wire with “CROSSOVER” in large font on it.
I like the idea of not needing/having yet another adapter that can disconnect or something clunky… and with shipping it was about as much as getting a dongle/adapter.
: