POLYEND Tracker
Key features
• Eight-track sequencer
• Performance mode
• MIDI-in and MIDI-out
• Sampling from audio input
• Offline sample processing
• Master and stem audio export
Contact polyend.com
Named after 1987’s Ultimate Soundtracker, a music program created for the Commodore Amiga, trackers are a flavour of sequencer, intimidating to look at but relatively straightforward to use. Trackers present the user with a vertically scrolling multi-track alphanumeric step sequencer that triggers samples much like a futuristic pianola.
Ultimate Soundtracker was created as a way to quickly compose music for videogames of the era. The software it inspired, which includes OctaMED and NoiseTracker, became popular with budget-conscious electronic musicians, and trackers maintain a cult following today thanks to modern iterations such as the powerful Renoise and the freeware OpenMPT. Following on from these programs, and decades after the birth of the original tracker program, comes Polyend’s entry into the pantheon.
The Tracker is a dedicated self-contained hardware tracker unit. It has limitations but boasts a few innovations to compensate for them.
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The Tracker’s form is satisfying. Its lap-friendly 357 x 245 x 16mm dimensions are roughly on a par with those of a Native Instruments Maschine Mikro MK3. It feels solidly built at 2kg, and the attractively cold metallic body lends it a further sense of quality. The unit is USB-C powered, and comes with a USB-C to USB-A cable, as well as
