Tracker Mini first impressions

Tracker
106

totally agree. it’s possibly the number 1 voted wish atm.

vote here :point_down:

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107

Thanks, I did vote and left a comment on it as a suggestion.

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108

I literally just unboxed the mini, and only played the sample tune. Very initial impressions:

  • the getting started manual is a few notches above most synth manuals. I noticed that already with he play+ manual. Excellent work
  • feels wonderfully light in the hand
  • screen quality is good, and such an expanse compared to the minimal screens that most synth producers use.
  • small box is good but will need a small extra box or pouch to bring cords and ps
  • it would have been better for general handholding to have the connections at the top rather than the bottom, in my opinion. maybe good idea for a v2.
  • I like the feel of the soft plastic, I only hope that it will not get awfully sticky over time, which is my experience with soft plastic thus far.
  • the d-pad seems usable, yet I can imagine that for bigger projects ir would be good to have a rotary wheel slightly sticking out from the side. maybe good idea for a v2.

will be trying to use it tonite. First impressions are pretty wonderful and innovative actually

1 Like
109

okay, I have now been trying it out a little, using the manual and looking at a few concise videos.
FYI I have no real tracker experience.

  • I like the general approach. I also have a sonicware lofi12xt which I got via their kickstarter campaign. That is more immediate however I find that I like the more methodical approach of the tracker mini more - purely a matter of personal preference.
  • One minus point however: I don’t find the buttons all that great. Sometimes I need to press 2 times. or I press and hold the menu key and the popup still disappears. How do you all like the buttons?
110

Unfortunately this seems to be a design flaw in general, the buttons need harder squeezing than they give the impression of needing. They give an audible click at the appropriate resistance level, but the actual force to trigger the button seems slightly higher than the force needed to get it to click.

It’s not consistent across all the buttons though, some are easier to press.

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111

I got mine last monday.
This is a great instrument, however I have some remarks / enhancements I’d like to see:

  1. The screen quality is below average. I would have expected a good IPS screen or even better, an OLED one. Angle of view is quite bad. I hope you will create a mk2 with a better screen, or that you’ll provide a screen replacement.

  2. The buttons really need to be pressed hard, if not pressed fully, action will not happen.

  3. I really would have liked to see a mini keyboard somewhere, even with sensitive keys, to easily created melodies on the fly while in record mode (like on the Amiga through the computer keyboard !). This really makes a HUGE difference in composing.

  4. What about adding shortcuts to copy/paste tracks (or dedicated keys in mk2) ?
    Because as I remember it, what made the protracker software on the Amiga so fantastic to use was the shortcuts : one shortcut to copy/paste tracks, to copy patterns, to blank an entire tracks or pattern. That + the keyboard to compose tracks on the fly really made it shine. I think all these basic principles should be replicated to have an experience very similar to the Amiga series of trackers. Of course, I understand the mini has much more advanced capabilities, but we can have the best of both worlds.

  5. Fingerprints can easily be seen everywhere with this plastic. I think another type of plastic should be used in the mk2.

Others than that, I feel quite at home with it, everything is quite intuitive and it’s powerful enough to satisfy most of us.

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112

Just on your second point, the problem with the keys and why it feels like you have to press hard is , I believe due to their depth. They stick out from the base too much, no idea why the design choice was made.

113

I’ve had the OG tracker since release, just got the Mini today. I love it (besides some missing features that are being voted on, sample over usb!)…

But, it seems that the slightest amount of impact on the back (around the top of the label) causes it to immediately lose power. I’m not talking about slamming it on a table, I mean casually tossing it down on a stack of books… but also I stood up while using it and it just kinda tapped my knee… power off. I deliberately tested tapping the back and it’s alarming how little it takes to cause this, like I could easily do this at a coffeeshop just setting it on the table it seems.

So, Is anyone else having this issue? Could you try it and see if yours is this bad?
I know, I know, “just don’t do that!” :smile:, but that is not the point. If this is the build quality, if a truly casual bump around is going to cause power loss, then I’m probably going to return it, because I’m losing confidence in it. This is meant to be a portable device, but it’s seeming about as portable as an egg right now.

If yours doesn’t do this, please let me know and I’ll just get a replacement. I really want to keep this thing, but my gut is telling me that accepting this level of build quality is a form of self-harm :laughing:

114

I’ve never encountered this problem, so, I tried whacking on my knee in various ways using a bit of force and no such problem on my mini. sorry to hear about your problem.

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115

Thank you for checking on it, I appreciate it. My assumption is that there’s a loose connection to the battery. I’ll just exchange it and hope for the best. Cheers!

116

thoughts with the new update 2.0

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