I don’t think it is possible with the Tracker. A workaround is to have a pattern with 1step and CUT on every track. Instead of double stop, you Pattern + X number and go back to the pattern you were on.
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Currently thinking about replacing the DT with a Tracker. I’d love to try the workflow and after watching some tutorials i think i could adapt to the world of excel-sequencing. Since i am currently a little bit bored of 4-to-the-floor techno and making more UK-Bass/IDMish stuff, the slice feature sounds nice, too.
I jam and play live mainly, so this is my focus. The performance mode looks promising, specially because you can switch to another pattern per track, that makes smooth transitions easier. My biggest concern is: It has 8 Tracks compared to DTs 8+8, and with ~3 Synths that want to be sequenced - that leaves me with 5 Drum-Tracks. Is that enough in you experience?
- Did somebody made the switch from DT to PT as a setup-brain and can tell me about the experiences?
- Is it correct, that after an update chords are only using a single track or does a three note accord still use three tracks?
- I usually get a drum track running, then i play my synths via an external keyboard and record the played sequence into my DT. This is also possible with the PT, right?
- Since there is no individual out option via overbridge: Exporting stems means that every track will be exported to .wav (except for MIDI tracks), right? Is it possible to export a whole song or only a pattern?
Thanks!
I did not but have a Tracker and OT here. You have to perceive the Tracker a permanent P-Lock mode with monophonic track. PT have only 8 Tracks but can covers 16 midi Instruments also.
Correct for midi chords only (btw no midi loopback trick or live resampling possible on the Tracker)
Depends. You can record midi input notes while playing in Record mode. You can not record sound while having a pattern playing (ie the drum seq running while sampling the synth you are playing).
Because sound trigger and midi trigger are mixed together in the same tracks, it would be interesting how they are rendered. You can render a full song/patterns/selection in all or in stem also (with 2 stem for delay and reverb if I remember clearly). It is possible to export a whole song into one stereo wav file or by track.
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I don’t have a DT so I can’t compare, but I’d recommend keeping the DT until you have got used to the PT as some people love them (Like me) and others hate them.
Midi chords are fixed intervals only, but only take up one channel.
You can record into the PT, but you can’t record and play at the same time which is the biggest limitation in my view (As well as needing separate MIDI tracks like the DT)
You can export a song or a pattern as a mix down, or stems and both work really well and let you finish a track off in a DAW if you wish.
I find 8 tracks fine, but then I don’t usually use the PT for anything super complex. You can highlight an area and bounce it down to a sample to move it down to a single track if you wish.
Thanks you both for the answers, very helpful!
Does that mean i can’t play any accord i wish for but for example have to stick to a selection of chords? If yes, what chords are possible?
EDIT: i found it! Seems like a lot, but as a fan of atonal stuff it’s a little bit sad… https://help.polyend.com/658924-Can-you-playrecord-polyphonically-in-the-Tracker
…that sounds smart, i just have to be careful to not accidentally keep both 
0 – MIDI Chord sends many MIDI notes. Numbers represent semitones above the base note. Eg. C-4 047 will play a major chord: C-4 (base note), E-4 (base+4), and G-4 (base+7). This is a MIDI exclusive step fx unless used with ARP.
MIDI Chord Step FX List
- Sus2 – 027
- Sus2 #5 – 028
- DimTriad – 036
- Min – 037
- Maj – 047
- AugTriad – 048
- Sus4 – 057
- Stack4 – 05A
- Open4 – 05C
- Sus #4 – 067
- Open5 – 07C
- Stack5 – 07E
- Sus2add6 – 0279
- Sus2 b7 – 027A
- Sus2Maj7 – 027B
- Dim7 – 0369
- HalfDim – 036A
- Min b6 – 0378
- Min6 – 0379
- Min7 – 037A
- MinMaj7 – 037B
- Maj6 – 0479
- Dom7 – 047A
- Maj7 – 047B
- Aug add6 – 0489
- Aug b7 – 048A
- AugMaj7 – 048B
- Sus4 b7 – 057A
- Sus4Maj7 – 057B
So quite a few chords, but annoying that you don’t have access to inversions or an additional octave down bass note.
A chord editor would be an extremely useful addition.
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I’m not sure - but it sounds from your description like you are looking to play the same way I do, building up jams/beats by playing and recording live/in real time and then manipulating on the fly?
That is what I like to do and the way I like to ‘play’ with my set up. I used to own the tracker, but ultimately sold it as I found it a little limiting for the way I like to play.
It is a great device for creating really interesting sequences/patterns and the song mode is fantastic and makes composing pieces of music a breeze (as opposed to 4 bar loops which I am guilty of!!). Once you have a beat going perform mode is good and really playable. However, what I found was that creating a pattern in the first place was much more ‘programming’ than ‘playing’, lots of stopping and starting. It may be that is fine for you, but your workflow description (particularly the way you talk about using the midi channels) made me think this may not be the perfect fit.
I do miss the tracker at times, but ultimately for me it was too much programmming. The best devices I have found for the live jamming with external and internal synths and sounds over a drum pattern is the new MPC or Force range (I have a Force currently). If you’re looking at the tracker the MPC One would be in your price range as a potential alternative….
It’s the first time in my life that I buy a second piece of gear for backup. I’ve bought a B Stock Tracker from Thomann, 120 EUR cheaper. A little bit disappointed that it came without original box but… It’s a backup unit so I’m happy.
The PT can only send PCM messages, not receive them
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Yes, and I can’t understand why not. Every piece of hardware that I have has PChIn, but not tracker
I’ve been vocal to them expressing how great it’d be to have… it has the ability to do instant pattern changes via the unit itself, if we could do this externally, we could use something else as an even better song mode. Fingers crossed they get around to doing it as when they were still using GitHub, it was on their to do list
Maybe try using it to send them instead. I’ve done this with the DT/ST and it works fine.
so it should be better to set the PT as a master in a MIDI chain to change Ableton scenes?
Yes why not, you might need to set the PCM a little early but easily done on the PT as you can decide which step it is sent
I made this on the Tracker. It’s my first proper go at the device. I recorded the stereo out into the DAW and applied a liitle EQ, multi-band compression, and limiter. The mix is probably shit, but I’m not so precious about such things (at least not after a few cocktails…)
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Do you like it?
Apologies if this is a stupid question as I promise I had a google and tried to figure it out, but does the Tracker have a decent MIDI CC implementation? I previously owned one and I didn’t get on with it as a standalone box but I now have a Faderfox PC-12 knobby controller and I wonder if it’s easy to map common controls on each track like volume, pan, filter cutoff, res, filter env depth, delay send amount etc?
I’m tempted to give it another go as the Faderfox is great and I was hoping they might make a good pairing. I recently sold my Digitakt so this might seem like a strange choice but I grew up on trackers and there is a lot I like about them, and what’s missing might be filled by a good knobby controller which I now have!
Looks amazing
Yeah they’re great
I was never much of a tracker sequencer guy back in the day (I used Cubase) but the rest of the workflow is straight out of old Soundforge and Recycle
I already have a regular Polyend Tracker so this one will be for sale I guess
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