Polyend Tracker
The Polyend Tracker is a hardware manifestation of the classic tracker software concept, which dates back to Amiga computers in the 1980s. Trackers are programs that use a vertically-scrolling list-based method of entering notes and other info (such as mixer and effect parameters) to create patterns, which can then be chained to make songs. Editing a list may not be rock’n’roll, but it can be surprisingly productive. It’s not like they ever went out of style – trackers are still around, courtesy of software like Renoise and ModPlugTracker. Anyway, back to our hardware version. Can a 2021 hardware version of a 1980s bit of software compete with modern DAW software in any way? Let’s see.
The Polyend Tracker is impressively compact, measuring 28.2 x 10.7 x 3.3 cm, and weighing just 1.2kg. The box also includes a few accessories, in the form of a USB power supply, micro SD card, a 3.5mm MIDI adaptor, a 3.5mm stereo to 2 x 1/4” audio adaptor and a USB/SD card reader. The top panel features a relatively roomy 800 x 480 display, a 4 x 12
