Polyend Tracker, Instructions Of Use

Page 1: ...d controls Using the pads as a custom controller Loading saving projects Importing exporting projects Sampler Recording Audio Sample playback Sample editor Sample Loader Preparing Instruments Instrument parameters and automation From step to pattern What is a step Pattern views Pattern editing Step Fill tools Other Pattern tools Real time pattern recording Song mode Master section Performance mode...

Page 2: ... edit mode green frame Important features and information The Tracker runs on 5V 1A and can be powered from a power bank Firmware update go to Config Firmware chose file from SD card Confirm Switching pattern view hold Pattern key one or two of the Note Ins Fx colored keys Off Fade Cut step turn the jog wheel all the way left Changing transposing many parameters at once select steps choose the par...

Page 3: ... arrows Live record pattern Rec Play To switch between step values use four color keys Use the Fill tool to populate tracks with steps automatically Step function adjusts the interval for the incremental value input From Pattern to Song Press Song key add del Slots with patterns for arrangement press Play Song Render song to audio Go to File Export choose what will be rendered From Pattern to Perf...

Page 4: ... mode too Select all steps in the track when on the top of the sequence Shift Up arrow once again to select all steps in all tracks Use Home Shift Insert key shortcut in the Song mode to immediately jump to the top of your composition Copy Paste entire Pattern while in edit mode Rec is on hold Pattern key right to the color keys press Copy go to new Pattern hold Pattern key Paste Shift Copy https ...

Page 5: ...ures an 8 track sequencer Each project you create can hold 255 patterns with up to 128 steps each Every step on each track has dedicated slots for inserting Notes Instruments and 2 Effects Use Song Mode to arrange different patterns together to create a Song Take advantage of the Perform Mode to mangle remix and apply global Fx parameters to different tracks on different patterns Finally render yo...

Page 6: ...ves as a customizable pitch tone input keyboard scalable controller for quick value entering regular QWERTY keyboard for naming files and for many other functions explained below Comes with brightness level control The pads can also visually display the notes instruments used in the pattern track sequences this can be toggled on in the Config menu D The Function keys a dedicated group of quick acc...

Page 7: ...IDI data input port use the included TRS type B 3 5mm jack to MIDI DIN adapter to connect to MIDI Out of an external MIDI device SD card slot use the included 16 GB micro SD card as a data storage The micro SD card needs to be inserted in the port in order to make the Polyend Tracker operational The micro SD card must be formatted as MS DOS Fat32 In order to format larger capacity SD cards with Fa...

Page 8: ...use the Android File Transfer application Some hubs and adapters may cause connection issues Use straight connections only or quality adapter kits if necessary Power switch press once shortly to turn the unit on or press and hold for a moment to switch it off Audio architecture The schematics shown below will help you understand the workflow The first diagram demonstrates the Polyend Tracker s aud...

Page 9: ...function keys and the display corresponding screen keys In most scenarios these controllers can be used interchangeably e g volume Fx1 value can be precisely entered using the jog wheel scrolling for the desired value but also entered with a single press of the pad with the exact value The multifunctional grid pads can have various applications They can serve as Customizable tonal keyboard with sc...

Page 10: ...ons of the Tracker and are mentioned in these particular sections of the manual but few are worth mentioning here at the beginning Master key jog wheel Master volume control Song key jog wheel Song Tempo control Insert Home key always work as the onscreen Enter key corresponding to the selected screen key Delete Backspace key always works as the onscreen Delete key corresponding to the selected sc...

Page 11: ...would be a B1 How the adjacent pads change pitch depends on the chosen Layout from the Config menu Choose a pad and the pad directly to the right will increase the pitch one semitone regardless of the chosen Layout For Layout 1 the pad directly above will increase the pitch 1 semitone For Layout 2 the pad directly above will increase the pitch 2 semitones For Layout 4 see the illustration the pad ...

Page 12: ...Export export song song stems chosen pattern chosen pattern stems export to it file Important The work you do on a project is constantly autosaved When a project is named and ready or even while working on a default blank project everything that is being done is being automatically saved There is no need to remember to save all the time It is normally possible to recover current work even when Tra...

Page 13: ...ible with the Renoise Schism Tracker or Milky Tracker Important Files which you want to import to the Polyend Tracker needs to be placed in the MOD folder on the SD card so they can be accessed Subfolders won t be displayed by the browser When exporting your project to it file the used LFOs settings are transformed into envelopes Note The mod file import is still under the development and its func...

Page 14: ...nge the name of any audio file manually using the grid pads as a QWERTY keyboard or using the auto naming function A metronome can be activated in the Sample Recorder view too Toggle it on in the Config turn off the record monitoring function press Record screen button It s possible to play pads or use sequencer over the MIDI output in the Sample Recorder section in order to capture the audio of e...

Page 15: ...e to slice a sample by manually adding and adjusting slice points or use the auto slicing function which automatically detects dynamic amplitude changes and slices audio file accordingly separate slices portions can be adjusted later on The number of the slice can be accessed via per step Slice Fx S Beat Slicer use to play and record the sample slices per step In this play mode notes represent sli...

Page 16: ...vides an overview of the selected instrument sample Set the sample start and endpoints using a precise zoom tool Use the preview function to hear changes Crop their desired parts and cut out what s not needed to free up the sample batch memory Keeping it tidy is a good habit considering the limited memory The effects can be applied to the entire sample instrument or to their parts selected by the ...

Page 17: ... the SD card Copy a sample from the browser on the left side of the screen to its right side by using the Add or Add next where the browser cursor will jump one position down after adding the sample screen buttons Samples copied to the internal memory becomes Instruments with their own number name and separate settings Instruments can be renamed with the use of a Rename screen button or removed wi...

Page 18: ...he browsed folder Use Shift arrows for batch selection more than one file at a time Use Copy Paste for duplicating the Instrument Use the Insert Home key as an Enter Instrument parameters and automation https www youtube com embed HdwiucFxDZs feature oembed The Instrument Parameters key gives access to two screens marked in the upper left corner of the screen 1 2 and 2 2 Screen 1 2 Instrument Para...

Page 19: ...usical sequences by simply placing steps consisting of Note Instruments Fx1 Fx2 their values as events appearing in time This is the Tracker s main screen the one you will be spending most time working with and probably the most important one the step sequencer view with the classic tracker vertical layout Create project patterns here Store up to 255 of them per project Each pattern consists of 8 ...

Page 20: ...its end pattern number will blink red Grid pads for an immediate pattern change Up down arrows and or Jog wheel for an immediate pattern change Pattern screen buttons Pattern choose the currently edited pattern from 1 to 255 Length set the length of the current pattern each pattern can have different lengths Step set the interval for entering the steps by incremental one by one step data input Fil...

Page 21: ...are explained in details in the sections below What is a step A step is a Note an Instrument number and two Fx These four values are displayed as a line of colored characters that correspond to the colored Function keys located on the right side next to the display Use them to toggle between step properties Each step can be set to trigger the internal audio sample based instrument or an external M...

Page 22: ...e between a note and next note or note off shown as OFF in the pattern To enter a note off value OFF turn the jog wheel all the way to the left When note hits the note off OFF Envelope Release is being run Use CUT cuts the sound immediately and FAD gently fades the sound out Change the currently edited step properties Note Instrument Fx by using the four colour corresponding Function keys to toggl...

Page 23: ...ps manually with the grid pads or the jog wheel or using the tools explained below The current pattern position is marked with a green frame use the jog wheel and or arrow keys to overview track sequences In order to make any changes in the patterns to input change the step values copy steps or patterns etc the Edit mode needs to be activated with a press of the red function Rec key A red frame wi...

Page 24: ... paste Input OFF Fade Cut step turn the jog wheel all the way left Important Set pattern project Tempo in BPM from 40 to 800BPM in the Song section To transpose change multiple values make a selection of steps turn the jog wheel To step input a chord select as many adjacent tracks as many notes you want in your chord using Shift arrow keys while in the edit mode and use pads or external controller...

Page 25: ...own to another step position Use Step with setting from 0 to 32 to set the interval Now each step will be entered exactly in the needed spots without a need of scrolling or navigating to them Fill tool is a sophisticated sequence editing utility that allows entering multiple step values to a selected edited area with a single click Depending on the mode Fill Notes Fill Instruments Fill Fx there is...

Page 26: ...romatic scale is created Use the same trick to populate steps for the selected are on one or more tracks for the Notes Instruments Fx at the same time with one press of a button https www youtube com embed w5WJO9mAVtM feature oembed https www youtube com embed aA iB78ZtbQ feature oembed Other Pattern tools The preview function allows listening to a selected step with all its properties or entire e...

Page 27: ...Copy pattern is copying the entire current pattern Paste pattern is pasting the entire current pattern More is giving access to a set of previous 8 functions https www youtube com embed VyKyLy6gPjE feature oembed https www youtube com embed ft7sAgHzmt8 feature oembed https www youtube com embed Z2bwHuECbww feature oembed Real time pattern recording To start live recording the pattern hold Rec and ...

Page 28: ... the next one to the right It won t overdub the steps with existing notes values The grid pads are not velocity sensitive and the live record mode will record notes with micro moves Fx but won t record the velocity Fx Use an external velocity supporting keyboard to record both unquantized notes and velocity Change patterns by pressing Pattern screen button grid pads arrow keys jog wheel Find the m...

Page 29: ...te a whole song Use the Master screen or the Pattern view to mute solo the song tracks It s important to remember that the clips representing the patterns in the Song mode are directly connected with the patterns from the Pattern mode It s possible to spoil the pattern sequences while fooling around with the clips in Song mode There is a timestamp indicator at the top bar all of the screens beside...

Page 30: ...is looped and a random indicator icon is displayed on the screen header This way the Performance mode indicates that tracks from different patterns can be mixed together Switch back to the Song screen and press Continue song to resume playing the entire song Master section https www youtube com embed FYemJgp7oUE feature oembed Located in the upper right corner Master key give access to three scree...

Page 31: ...er to rename it Screen 3 3 allows control and visual monitoring of the volume in dB and adding Gain for Delay Reverb and Dry Mix Also gives access to their Mute and Solo functions Press and hold one or more screen buttons corresponding to Send fx mixes and use Arrow keys or Jog wheel to adjust their volume Use the screen buttons to Mute them Use the Shift corresponding screen button in order to us...

Page 32: ...osen effects there are four values first is off by default and the remaining three positions are customizable These three are the presets that can be easily turned on by pressing the corresponding grid pad The punch in effects are applied only on the chosen track Use the 8 screen keys to indicate which tracks are going to be affected Processed tracks will be marked in red Important The effects are...

Page 33: ...ontinue song to resume playing the entire song Pattern tracks remixing https www youtube com embed 3JqIIGeaFJ0 feature oembed Performance mode is also a convenient and powerful tool to make breakdowns add live on the fly changes to patterns in a Song mode or even remix entire tracks On the bottom of the Performance mode screen find 8 buttons indicating the pattern number for each track Selecting t...

Page 34: ...offers the functionality of rendering audio files directly to the SD card Choose what is being rendered single patterns separate tracks or entire song mixdown as a one track Only active tracks will get rendered Muted tracks will be ignored Go to File Export and choose what needs to get rendered into an audio file Song Song stems Pattern Pattern stems The Tracker will play the currently rendered ma...

Page 35: ...rendered master track volume is being set in the Master 1 3 section and it s always rendered with the Limiter and its current values There s a Render selection to sample function accessed from Pattern sequencer screen It s a very useful and creative function that allows rendering of a selected step or step selection on one or more tracks at the same time into a single audio file In Pattern section...

Page 36: ... semitones This gives four full octaves with the base note in the first column of each line Pads Root Note from C2 to C4 determines which note is played by the lowest leftmost pad in the pads grid Pads Layout from 1 to 12 sets how many semitones higher should the pad right above the root note pad be The root note pad is the lowest leftmost pad in the grid eg in layout 1 the pad above the root pad ...

Page 37: ...DI Out mode Off USB MIDI Out jack USB MIDI Out jack MIDI Out mode Off USB MIDI Out jack USB MIDI Out jack MIDI Out mode Off USB MIDI Out jack USB MIDI Out jack CC PC Out channel outputs from Ch1 to Ch16 CC Out CC from A to E with available communicate numbers from 1 to 127 Metronome State on off Pre Roll on off Time signature num denum from 1 to 12 Volume from 0 to 100 Firmware check the current v...

Page 38: ...olyend is always keen on hearing user feedback about possible functionality improvements but is not anyhow obligated to bringing such requests to life We appreciate all the opinions a lot but cannot guarantee or promise their appliance Please respect that In order to update the firmware copy the firmware file to the Firmware folder on SD drive go to Config Firmware choose the desired version of Po...

Page 39: ...th a randomly picked firmware ptf file from the SD card Firmware folder Second method download the Polyend Tool download a known working firmware file either from the Polyend website or one of the previous beta ptf files important remove the SD card from the Tracker connect your Tracker directly to your computer with a USB cable avoid USB hubs and dongles power up the Tracker in the Polyend Tool c...

Page 40: ...tive products will be replaced or repaired at the discretion of Polyend Products must be returned directly to Polyend with the customer paying the shipping cost Polyend implies and accepts no responsibility for harm to a person or apparatus through the operation of this product Please go to polyend com help in order to start a return to manufacturer authorization or for any other related inquiries...

Page 41: ... been spilt or objects have fallen into the unit has been dropped or does not operate normally A sound peak occurs on the stereo output of the Polyend Tracker when it s being toggled on off You may like to turn down the volume on all speakers and headphones before Appendix The FX step effects list While in the Pattern sequencer view press and hold one of the Fx keys to show the Fx list using the s...

Page 42: ... in the same step with each sequencer pass For example if the randomizer value is 10 and the affected Fx value is 100 the algorithm will pick the value from 90 to 110 From 0 to 255 v Random Velocity sets the range of randomization for Velocity with each sequencer pass From 0 to 100 r Reverse Sample Playback changes the sample playback direction Values and p Position in relation to the chosen sampl...

Page 43: ...s Delay sets the amount of Delay send effect From 0 to 100 t Reverb sets the amount of Reverb send effect From 0 to 100 a e MIDI CC A E sends MIDI CC Value set to A E in the Config From 0 to 127 f MIDI program change sends MIDI Program Change messages From 0 to 127 Performance mode FX list Volume from 100 to 100 Panning from 100 to 100 Tune from 48 to 48 Low pass filter cutoff from 100 to 100 High...

Page 44: ...Forward Backward Random Custom Pattern length from 1 to 128 List of musical scales filters available for the pads Number Name Abbreviation 1 Chromatic Chromatic 2 Minor Minor 3 Major Major 4 Dorian Dorian 5 Lydian Lyd Maj 6 Lydian Minor Lyd Min 7 Locrian Locrian 8 Phrygian Phrygian 9 Phrygian Dominant PhrygDom 10 Mixlydian Mixlydian 11 Melodic Minor Melo Min 12 Harmonic Minor Harm Min ...

Page 45: ...ta Min 19 Pentatonic Major Penta Maj 20 Hungarian Minor Hung Min 21 Ukrainian Ukrainian 22 Marva Marva 23 Todi Todi 24 Whole Tone Wholetone 25 Diminished Dim 26 Super Locrian SLocrian 27 Hirajoshi Hirajoshi 28 In Sen In Sen 29 Yo Yo 30 Iwato Iwato 31 Whole Half WholeHalf 32 Kumoi Kumoi 33 Overtone Overtone 34 Double Harmonic DoubHarm 35 Indian Indian ...

Page 46: ...he box Polyend Tracker onboard original accessories USB A power adapter with different standard plugs set USB C cable 2 m Audio 3 5 mm jack to 2x 6 3 mm jack adapter MIDI 3 5 mm jack to MIDI DIN adapter 16GB Micro SD Card Micro SD to USB A dongle adapter Warranty and manual information card Dust cloth ...

Page 47: ... the onboard Polyend Tracker demo songs compositions prepared by various artist and samples included in these works are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4 0 International license ...