Yep. Phrase (a bar say) has 16 steps by default and you chain them up in chains. There can be an arbitrary amount of chains up to 16 in each block you see on the song view in my photo. So you could have a block with 3 chains in and one with 5 that resolves every 15 bars for example
Although there are 16 steps you can use ‘commands’ on any step to do all sorts of stuff. This is where the real power of trackers is. Those commands can be stuff like affecting fx sends, reversing samples, arps, there are dozens. There’s also one called HOP which you can use to jump to an arbitrary position in the phrase. So if you wanted, say a bar with only 10 steps, you could put a command on 10 to HOP to 0. The tracker doesn’t care about resolving anything it literally just follows things stepwise.
You can also edit the ‘duration’ of each step. By default its synced to the midi clock which use 6 ticks per step. You have a groove table where you can change that. That becomes ludicrously complicated and powerful. You can do simple stuff like swing, or mad stuff like compound times.
thanks for this - it seems really powerful & fun. The initial workflow barrier seems like probably at least a few hours of muddling, but I keep hearing that it gets very efficient very quickly
Yeah. Bit of a curve but it really quickly becomes muscle memory and it’s just like playing a gameboy. In fact, the interface is based on the gameboy layout, it being the spiritual successor to lsdj
I have one! Despite never really using lsdj or other trackers before getting it, it’s probably my favorite music device, close followup by the organelle
they seem so fun, quite expensive, but with the feature set it doesn’t seem real unreasonable!
i don’t know anything about that kind of tracker interface - does anyone have recommendations on software that would help me get familiar with it? i’d be interested in saving up for one if the interface & workflow seemed like something i could use well…
But that’s my point, what exactly is that “feature” USB-C is so important. I’m not trying to say you’re wrong or anything like that I’m just curious about what make USB-C so important that it’s a dealbreaker for you? Mostly in the hopes that I’m missing something and learn something new.
Well, sure I can explain why it’s important to me.
The main reason is that every single piece of tech I own uses the same cable. And I mean everything. Laptops, monitors, phones, controllers, speakers, MIDI keyboard. You name it. I stopped buying non-usb-c devices a long time ago.
Thus, I have a USB-C charging cable in several rooms, and my desk has about half a dozen ready to pop in and out. Everyone I know has USB-C cables handy as well, if I need to charge a device while I’m out or in their car. If I want to pack stuff up and go jam somewhere, I already have cables in my go-bag, so I simply disconnect whatever equipment I want to take and pack it. Totally effortless.
The result is a cohesive ecosystem of tech in which every piece universally works within the entire system, rather than being forced to associate each device with a specific cable.
As for the USB-C cable itself? It’s just really nice. My laptop connects to my setup with one [1] cable, that simultaneously handles power delivery, connecting to my external monitor, and connecting to my USB hub to hook up all of my synths and recording equipment.
So in conclusion, no, I’m not going to make special accommodations for a brand new device that inexplicably decided to use a trashy flip phone charger from two decades ago. Especially since Polyend also just released a handheld tracker at the same price point, and sure enough, they have USB-C. It’s really not a big ask in 2023
Do you compose music direcly with it or just enter data of already composed track?
If I understand correctly, interface is very similar to LSDJ. So for long melody few 16-step patterns should be “chained”. Does not it feel cumbersome?
Yeah as a composition tool it’s amazing. You grow muscle memory with it really quickly. Also, it had midi in, so if you prefer to noodle on a keyboard, you can
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