I hope that’s a core principle in your medical practice 
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Man thats funny now I have to correct it 
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I must say this personally touches me as I bought the Tracker mini mainly to use it in specific context, and with the hope that it will “evolve”.
Did I get my money worth? Yes. Is it a device I can use without rely on other devices? Not at all.
The concern mainly is due to how Polyend (and any other company for what matters) focus more on new devices instead of refine the old ones, but this is a result of our times sadly. There is virtually no interest in supporting for years a device, when you can release a new one, as people buy it.
Just look at phones and other consumer electronics market: you get new devices before people even learn how to actually develop on a specific version of a chip (micro-controller, ARM cpu, x86-64 or what not); because it is easier to start a new product than solve problems on old ones. This is not a critique to Polyend, but to the entire industry sadly. And the fault is in our hands that buy products rewarding specific behaviors.
It is no use to say “it does not work for me” if then you go out and buy the new version of [put whatever product you buy every year or two]. As it is no use to say “it is perfect for me” just because something never crashed or broke down wasting your precious time. I never seen a war but people die every day in one… That does not mean that war does not exist, just that if something does not touch us directly and/or personally, we are inclined to ignore it or minimize it at best.
I don’t mind if something is “abandoned”; have been a Roland customer for 3 decades now, so I am used to how things run around certain devices; but I can also say that I prefer to support a company that after 10 years still continue to support their 1-3 devices and does only that, instead of flip the script every now and then and release something new which is a variation over what they did.
Example: I support Electron as they do not make a new device every other year, and still release updates for old devices. There are other examples but this is the one I am more familiar with.
This does not mean that Roland or Polyend or whoever not is a bad company; a company does what makes profit, and if people buy new devices they make new devices. If you want to change things, simply make it your personal objective to support only the behaviors you agree with, and that will result in you opening your wallet only when you feel like it is right to do so.
Problem is, most people have 0 restrains for certain things, which is their right in the end. Hate how much gas cost at the pump? Don’t use the car that often… But then you get a hassle so you say “screw that, it is not like my money make anyone rich”. And yet, 100 pennies makes a dollar; you get the gist. Not blaming anyone; you do you, but we need also the coherence and intellectual honesty to not complain then.
Personally I am fine if the Tracker is done for, I can always sell it if I feel like it does not fulfil my needs; and to be honest, there are a lot of variants for trackers these days, from emulating it on an Amiga on a portable device, to a gameboy running a tracker software to similar devices with a similar workflow (you can even make your own if you are so inclined). I was happy to see the new engines coming to the tracker mini, and while it is not perfect as some of you may say, it does a great job at what is on the tin, so the only thing I could have asked for it was just a better support for mod/med and other old formats; considering that the tracker format used on the devices is not something you can convert to and from easily.
Another gripe of mine is that you cannot make “instruments” and have to carry over entire projects just to get that sample modified in that specific way. And yes, I voted for these features, but clearly they were not high in the list, and it is fine in the end. There are options, so I am glad I can use my Tracker mini for what it does good, and use other products/devices for what it does not do well.
Still grateful to Polyend to make this device; considering that the only real competitor is the M8 which cost more, is hard to find and in terms of features is more of a hobby project than a real product (if you like the M8 nothing against it, I had one and sold it before getting the tracker mini, and it was not for me).
I hope Polyend will focus more on few devices and carry those forward for long time with software updates. I know you make no money out of these once you sell the device the first time, but you gain in customer loyalty. And I am aware that with the speed that tech goes these days, old hardware is harder to support; but this is not a concern that average customers do have I am afraid; I am only incidentally aware of it because I work in the field.
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I can’t believe I actually decided to reply in this thread. It’s striking to observe the dichotomy in perception surrounding Polyend’s engagement with its community. On one hand, there’s a strong sense of active support and collaboration; on the other, a narrative of abandonment and pervasive issues.
I have always only seen a sense of engagement from Polyend. The Tracker was released on March 18, 2020, and has seen consistent dedication from the beginning. It was released missing a lot of features, but they worked hard to build and expand its feature set. A substantial firmware update arrived in Fall 2024, introducing significant new features and bug fixes. This wasn’t an isolated event; Polyend has typically released several firmware updates annually, often more frequently, demonstrating their ongoing commitment. And in comments on videos, forum posts, emails, etc. have repeatedly affirmed their intention to continue supporting the original Tracker and existing hardware with future updates.
Furthermore, Polyend has fostered community involvement through numerous beta releases over the years, directly incorporating user feedback. This collaborative approach has led to the implementation of new features and the resolution of reported bugs from this forum. The Play+ drum mode, and Synth pad colors are two recent ones that come to mind. This level of active engagement—where a company builds both to its own vision and to the desires of its user base—is exceptionally rare.
It’s also important to acknowledge that Polyend’s release of new products is a natural and expected part of a thriving company. It’s highly improbable that a single individual is solely responsible for developing all of their devices, requiring constant context-switching. Moreover, my understanding is that Polyend has developed a common platform, meaning that advancements and developments made for one device can often benefit others to some extent, fostering efficiency across their product line.
And to suggest that any of Polyend’s devices are so riddled with bugs as to be unusable for production is, frankly, inaccurate. While bugs exist, these devices are fundamentally functional, genuinely inspiring, and fully capable of professional output.
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I see too the engagement from polyend. I really don’t get the frustration, they’ve been working on tracker original a lot, they have released a huge update to mini… the problem is as someone said before, the instant gratification, the demand for more and more, etc. What do you want? An upgrade every week? Do we know the amount of work that requires to make a firmware upgrade?
Polyend has done more updates than Korg in a lot of devices together on recent years. I’m not a fanboy. It just that for me tracker works perfect. I can do entire songs with it. It just work for me.
Sorry but “Abandonware”? I don’t get it.
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No instant gratification.
Polyend gave us beta releases, which are mostly bug fixes. As a software engineer, I understand beta as something that needs some finishing touches and could go live within a month at most. And there are even no merged betas for mini after 6 months. That’s why it feels a bit like an abandoned 
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From my point of view, it’s a small handful of serial complainers, they come on here, and reddit just to complain and that’s it.
On reddit they’re complaining about how backstage is just an echo chamber followed by constant complaints about bugs or acting like it’s unusable and it’s abandonware (which we all know is a complete lie).
I got muted here briefly too, but that was only because I said what I thought about a particular individual and his serial complaints (that went outside the community guidelines). I’m not mad at polyend or the moderators for it, It is what it is.
I’ve had bugs in the past, but they’ve been fixed just as others will be eventually fixed. My Tracker+ & Mini are doing fine without any serious issues.
Personally I think they’re not genuine users, I feel they are just out to try and hurt the company name with their BS narrative, I’m calling them for what they are.
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The reason why many do not see the issues is because they do not use the device in a way that trigger these issues. If this was a videogame, you would have people screaming because their game will crash their computer after playing for a bit, while other people would scream “it is all right, it works for me”.
Happy if it works for you, but that does not remove the issue nor make it less “real”, so to speak. Nor you can dismiss complains just because you “think” that some people just love to complain (some do, in the same way some are biased and toxic-positive about something)
The focus is not much in how Polyend as company has supported something, as that is expected (unless a company has a history of making devices and abandon them as pattern). To many I say “buy the device that does what you want at the moment you buy it”, and this apply to everything really, as support and improvements are never a given in any product.
I feel like depending on which category you fall in, either you get a good experience and are happy, or you hit bugs (or just don’t use the device as it should be used, and accept its limitations) and are unhappy. Either side is legit in expressing their satisfaction if it works, or dissatisfaction.
Defending one side or the other does not bring anything but confusion; the community should simply accept that not everything is working as they experience, and be more empathic about others that spent hard earned cash to not get the best experience they wish they had, when they paid for a device. As the other side of the community should understand that the device is what it is, so either learn how to use it in its limits or sell it and buy something else.
Polyend in the specific case does what they believe is best, that is their decision to make, as customers simply decide if they are OK with something and buy the product, or move on. In the end it is a simple matter of understanding that if you sell a product, cirtics and legit questions will come and they are totally valid as people pay for devices.
It is really that simple: if you are happy you won’t see the issues, until something touches you personally. This is human nature, and even worst, when people lack empathy they totally fail to see the problem. Nothing that can be done for such people, in the same way that you can’t do much about people that just complain (without reasons)
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I am excited for the fixes and improvements that are coming. I hope they bring some of the visual language UI from the Synth, Mess, etc to the Play and Tracker devices. Color would be very welcome in the interface.
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This! 
The GUI looks like it was designed by a programmer, i.e. is functional, but not really pleasure to look at or intuitive (except for the pattern page itself - this one is surprisingly OK).
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Which it probably was haha. I think the UX of it is pretty good with the buttons to jump to pages quickly. I would appreciate more color.
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Sure, it’s functional. But it could use some icons, animations (e.g. for filter cutoff, envelopes), and - indeed - colour although Electrons or Push do well without it. It should be easy without reading the labels to know what you’re adjusting.
How cool would it be if the tracker could handle 16 tracks in a way that all of them could be samples, or you could choose whether each one supports MIDI or samples
Impossible idea?
I’ve tried, it got rejected…
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I guess you weren’t an early adopter of the Play+ 
. and did not experience the joy of waiting nearly a year for an update while there were plenty of bugs. I think many of the complainers were in that camp.
FWIW the OP-XY was utterly unusable when it came out; couldn’t go 5 minutes without a panic and reboot. Took them 4 months to fix that, finally in April (launch was last November). At least the Play+ wasn’t that bad.
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I guess you weren’t an early adopter of the Play+
I actually was an early adopter. I swapped out my OG Play on launch. It really depends how you are using it. I never had issues, but I just use samples and the synth engines. I don’t generally use midi. I like to stick with one device, or sample from others. Most of the issues I have seen have been midi related.
FWIW the OP-XY was utterly unusable when it came out; couldn’t go 5 minutes without a panic and reboot. Took them 4 months to fix that, finally in April (launch was last November). At least the Play+ wasn’t that bad.
I also had the XY from day one. It was definitely usable at launch. I made 2-3 tracks on the original firmware. I am still 2-3 firmwares back. Most of the issues with it were related to loading in external samples. I just avoid what doesn’t work.
Software is complicated and combine that with hardware it is more challenging. My vibes is just make music. I have an old ukulele that I love the sound, but it loses its tuning after a song. Not much I can do about it without some major work, and then I risk losing that sound. I just play it and deal.
That’s interesting because I did not do much at all with my XY; every time I took it out and tried doing something really basic it would crash. I didn’t load samples, just used the basic synths and tried to sequence asimple loop. I filed multiple bug reports with TE between mid January and late March, and it mostly sat in the drawer as it was pointless; I pulled it out after each firmware update to see if it was better but it wasn’t. I really was not pushing it hard at all. Sometimes it crashed right after power up before I did anything. The March 21 firmware with “critical crash fixes” was the big fix that cleared up those issues.
Sorry for the off topic. I definitely didn’t experience anything like that. I am at I think 8 or more full tracks at this point. I wonder if you have a hardware issue? Are recent firmwares ok?
I haven’t used it much; I need to get back to it. The instability soured me on it a lot. But the few times I have used it it was fine, whereas before it was terrible. At least one crash had a reliable repro and that is definitely fixed.
Genuinely curious if you talked with people who were having similar issues? Did you ever try an RMA or some replacement for your unit?
I’m curious because it’s a similar scenario that is seen often with Polyend devices. Not discounting the known bugs, but often people really experiencing constant crashes and those types of issues either have a defective device, or are not powering it properly.
I know I’ve been there myself with Eurorack gear where I went through a long time thinking everyone had the same issues as I did, but turned out I just had a defective unit.
Again, I’m not saying at all that was your case, just curious if you ever looked at having it replaced if others were not having the same experience.