Is hardware killing software

It could be said that the Polyend Tracker looks quite unassuming, but there’s a huge amount of sequencing and sampling creativity lurking below the surface…

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 listbased 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 2x 1/4” audio adaptor and a USB/SD card reader. The top panel features a relatively roomy 800 x 480 display, a 4x 12 grid of silicone pads, 33 buttons, and a large rotary jog-wheel. At the back there’s stereo/headphones out, line input, microphone input, MIDI in and out, a micro SD card slot, a reset button, USB C port, and a power switch. That USB C port will serve up power via the included adaptor, but it also can power the Tracker from a computer’s USB port, and convey MIDI data while it’s doing so. Furthermore, the Tracker can be powered from a USB power bank – add a pair of headphones and you’ve got a very portable setup! We love the compact nature of this and the fact that it can operate in a self-contained way, with sequencing, sampling, effects, or expand out into a bigger system.

This machine has the look of classic Yamaha sequencers, and we know the Polyend folks like those machines, because there’s a Yamaha RM1x MIDI groovebox in one of their product shots. We also can’t help but think how the Tracker would pair nicely with another retro/future music device – the pleasurable nerd-bait that is the ever-popular Teenage Engineering OP1.