I like it at the bottom because at the top the cable is always flopping around somewhere it shouldn’t. I have that happen with the m8 all the time.
Yeah maybe but I imagine that to could be fiddly when in write mode when you want to navigate to some cell without accidentally adjusting some other cell on the way there.
don’t get on well with front facing headphone jacks, wish it was on the side, especially on a mini device seems like it would impede the resting balance on your lap or other surface
I don’t find it annoying.
If you have midi and line in then it can get a bit of a faff.
I’ll cop it but first I need to see the power button
bro life is not that good. don’t indulge in this type of wishful thinking. 
you’e talkin to a guy who just puts incredible sh*t together… polyend needs to hire him.
Software is way easier to make than good hardware devices, I traded in my Polyend tracker and tracker mini when they said they were never going to add phrases/tables, more than one play head (outside of the perform page), or allow more than two “fx” lanes.
The M8 has all my wants for a portable tracker, and then Renoise on the computer.
Gonna say nah, I hold tend to hold it like a paperback whenever I’m using it. Really nice size for that too, feels good. Definitely feels like what it’s designed for rather than putting it flat on a desk. So they’re pretty much downwards facing jacks - works for me. Jacks on the side would get in the way of holding it, jack on top is likely to get in the way of the screen.
unfortunately the M8 having the formfactor I dream about , has less heart when it comes to sampling workflow… not about what it’s capable of but how it’s capable of and honestly, the main supporters aren’t really with the workflow I’m after, hell they don’t like it when someone suggest another model in the future that does go in that direction which would give the dev even more money to put back into the m8 but I digress… polyend is the closest thing in formfactors to a sample based sample chopping workflow so that’s what I’m considering… … I get it don’t mess with the M8 okay, but can bro even develop another beatmachine without losing subscribers if he wanted to (sounds like he doesn’t) lol… everyone is so sensitive…
but holding it standing up on your lap or table isn’t a pain?
that’s good news if it isn’t
Nah. I also want to hold it like that because i can do pretty much any button combination or parameter adjustment with my thumbs. This clicked really quickly for me - think I said it in my first post after getting it, muscle memory started kicking in pretty much immediately. Don’t think I’ve ever used it lying flat and tbh I don’t really see why you would - Ilike I say, I hold it like I’m reading a book.
I actually think the M8 might be a bit too small for this, although it’s looking kinda inevitable that I’ll eventually grab one to try it out.
not flat, standing up… you know like the weight on the lap or the desk, but standing up… the uneven-ess of the phones sticking out the jack would annoy me
not a deal breaker but it would probably bother me each time I encountered it
There is basically no weight to it. Pretty much the same size and weight as an average paperback book. Doesn’t need to be rested on anything even for long sessions, it’s more comfortable to hold it vertically - edit, actually probably more at an 45-60 degree angle - and away from your body. Or idk, maybe I have a weird way of reading books, but that’s what it feels like to me.
I get that, the beauty of the age we live in where there’s literally too many options to choose from!
There is lazy chopping for samples now on the M8 - every ounce really is squeezed out of the teensy powering it. The biggest issue I had with the Mini was a high pitched whine when the screen brightness was not set to max, tried two minis and both did the same - probably just got unlucky with my units, but it put me off a third try and by then I’d started to get to grips with the M8 headless enough to order one of those instead.
I think I’m gonna always wonder about the m8 until I try one, might have to go headless and take it from there.
But I’m feeling like despite the obvious comparison that they’re both trackers, they’re actually pretty different devices? I feel like having multiple tracks on the same page - even if you have to scroll - is going to make it way different vs going in to phrases. Getting some of this from having tried LSDJ.
I’m probably just looking to justify eventually having both though - can’t see myself parting with the Mini either way.
Yeah, they’re both very different takes. The Mini is more of a “one big grid” fairly simple tracker implementation, and as you say, M8 is heavily inspired by LSDJ, with 8 free running playheads (one per track) - switching from Song to Live mode gives you Ableton Live session view like clip playback, with conditional hops per phrase to greatly vary its playback - it’s heaps of fun and can get very complex, where I found the Polyend way to be more linear.
Headless is a great way to try it out for cheap to compare the different approaches, I think you either like one or the other ways of creating, neither is bad, just different.
I had both the mini and M8.
Both are great in their own ways. But what i really like about the m8, is the song arrangement. Its starts with it when opening a new project and its extremely flexible. Also the synth engines i find a nodge better sounding on the M8. Overall, trackers are fun. I just wish, and thats for both devices, that there is a global song automation lane. Not per pattern.
For me the headphone at the top it’s very uncomfortable. The cable is always dancing, I don’t know. I prefer to let gravity do his job in a most natural way. I really think that at the bottom is the most logic decision.