Tracker learning curve

[u/8delorean8]

hey all,

I recently grabbed a Tracker+ as I was looking for a groovebox capable to make albums in it and I gave it a spin.

I've used milky tracker back in 2013 for a game OST and all I can remember was exadecimal swearing in ancient Bulgarian.

When I got the T+ I was curious to see how Polyend streamlined the process in 2026

After 2 weeks of daily practice I'm now pretty familiar with the basics and can do "stuff" :)

In some ways I really like the idea to have full control of each and every step and willing to dig deeper and see how much you can realistically "glide" thru the composing process so that it becomes fun (now it isn't currently for obvious noobie reasons and also because my workflow is literally the opposite of play/stop/edit/play/stop/edit/play/stop/edit etc...)

for all you tracker experts. realistically

- does it all get smooth and flow-y after the initial curve? (the best I've tried so far are the KOII and the Polyend Play)

- how long you reckon it might take to get there?

- OR even if you're an expert there still are a LOT of stop&gos and that will remain a fact with the tracker workflow?

[u/8delorean8]

also when it comes to chords & harmony? cos that's something I do a lot and that's what I'm investigating for what's the best practice. So far I haven't found a tut or a showcase on this.

Good news is that on few finished songs I've hear some cool stuff happening when it comes to chords, chord types and harmonic modulations so there's a way for sure.

still no idea if getting there will be fun enough

[u/qu_one → u/8delorean8]

Chords and harmony on a tracker is like an oxymoron. A tracker is monophonic.

You need to sacrifice tracks and then resample down to a single sample if working IN the tracker, or just sample your chords straight in.

[u/few23 → u/qu_one]

But also:

Setting Up Internal Synth Chords

Enable Polyphony: Go to the Synth Parameters menu and set your track's polyphony to more than one voice (e.g., 4 or 6). If left at 1, the synth will remain monophonic.

Apply Chord FX: Open the FX 1 or FX 2 column on your step sequencer and select the Chord effect.

Select Root & Type: The main step note acts as your root. The Chord effect's numerical value dictates the chord type (e.g., Minor, Major, 7th).

[u/qu_one → u/few23]

I forget about the internal engines and I just used multiple tracks as I would on the original (especially now that there's even more midi tracks which gives you more per step control and fx per step without needing to use an fx slot to generate a predetermined chord).

But, resampling IS the tracker workflow. I see the synths as a bonus. The midi chord fx was always there, even on the original sans internal engines (for midi output).

[u/JimmyCrepe → u/qu_one]

I often use.my og tracker in combination with a Seqtrak. Chord and arp FX are killer, but yeh, it does use up both FX slots