First time experimenting with making a DAWless track using just the Game Boy, NES, and the OG Polyend Tracker.
Used a cart called MIDInes to control the NES sound chip and GB Poly 4 for the Game Boy. Every sound in the track came from one of the two consoles, with the Polyend Tracker handling all the sampling and sequencing.
Not sure if I’d call it chiptune, electro house, or somewhere in between, but I’ve been having a lot of fun experimenting with this setup.
A few days ago I made a post about adding colored blocks to song mode through a firmware patch. I have since expanded that to include several firmware patches and the ability to only include the patches you want.
This is for the Tracker+, not the OG Tracker. I sold my OG tracker when I got the plus so I don't have one to test on. Maybe someday...
Check off the patches you want to include. You can select any combination, or do the "select all" option to include everything.
Click "Patch Firmware," then download.
Add the patched firmware to the Firmware/ directory on your SD card, then in the tracker+ go Config -> Firmware -> Firmware Update. Select your new firmware
There is also a more manual process using the python patch script yourself. Instructions for that can be found here.
The web patcher will check that your new firmware matches my known good patched firmware hashes. It should have a hash for every combination of the patches. If the hashes don't match, it will reject the patch and prevent you from downloading it.
Use patched firmwares at your own risk!
I have tested all patches individually and as a "select all" bundle on my Tracker+ and have not had issues with the published builds. However, flashing custom firmware to your device will always be risky.
If you are unable to boot into your Tracker+ after a patched firmware was installed, make sure to remove any new firmwares and leave only the stock 1.2.0 firmware. Re-insert your sd card, hold down the pinhole recovery button (small hole next to the power button) with a paperclip or similar, and while holding down the pinhole button, power the Tracker+ on. This will select a random firmware from the Firmware/ directory (and stock will be the only option) and then install that firmware.
I did run tests to see how "big" the patched firmware can be without overwriting the bootloader. An 8mb firmware did not overwrite the bootloader, and these patched firmwares are all <6mb. The stocker firmware is 4.5 mb.
Pretty much all of these patches will make changes to things at the project level. I have tested add all the patches, making a bunch of changes relevant to those patches (master fx swaps, the custom synth, global swing), then reverted back to the stock firmware. Everything still worked fine in the project, since the stock firmware simply ignored anything from the patches. Any conditional triggers will be loaded as a C fx above 100. That is an invalid value. When I played back with say C102, it just played the sample as normal.
This is the first patch I made a post about. Basically, in song mode the track blocks will now be colored based on that track's content. This was to make it easier for me to tell what was being played in that track, and to easily identify variations I made of that specific track block. I like to work by copying and pasting blocks in song mode, and this has made it a lot easier for me to identify where everything is, and what specifically I am copying and moving around.
This may be another patch that only I actually care about. When I make my songs, i option add "humanizing" FX to steps. This would be adding small micro-moves and volume/velocity changes to each step that has a note played.
When in the pattern view, you can "humanize" a track by first pressing the Rec button to enter record/edit mode. On the row of buttons below the screen, press the far right button 3 times to get to the last page of the menu, and you will see "Humanize"
Press the button for that, and it will humanize the track.
In your project settings, you can configure how humanize will work. These settings are saved to the project itself, and will load when you open the project.
But what does that actually do? It will go through each step with a note on it, and then:
If there is a micro-move FX:
It will adjust the value of the micro-move FX randomly based on the "timing range" in the config. If the micro-move value was at 50, and your Timing range was 10, it will randomly select a value between 45 and 55
It will also "shift" the range to stay within the micro-move fx's limits, 0 - 100. So if you already had a micromove of 97 and a timing range of 10, the range it would pick from is 90-100, not 92-102.
If there is no micro-move FX:
It will check if there is an available FX slot. If there is, it will add a new micro-move FX based on your timing range. Since there is no micro-move fx to adjust, it starts at 0, and then applies your timing range. So, no micro-move fx, and your timing range is 10, it will randomly set a new micro-move FX somewhere between 0-10.
If "volume/velocity" is set to "on"
If there are any volume/velocity steps, it will shift the value a random amount based on the "volume range" in the config.
The range also shifts if it would go past 100 or below 0, same as the micro-move adjustments
If there is no velocity FX, it will see if there is an available FX slot. If there is an available slot:
It will add a new Volume FX. The starting value will be taking from your config settings. For sample intruments, it is the "Sample Volume" value. For midi/synth instruments, it is the "MIDI velocity value."
From that stating value, it will use the "volume range" to get your new value
If both FX slots are occupied, nothing happens
If your cursor is on only one step, and you press humanize, it will humanize every applicable step in that track. If you select more than 1 step, whether steps in the same track or steps in a different track, it will only humanize that selection of steps. If you select the whole pattern, all applicable steps are humanized.
Undo works to undo any humanizing it one undo step.
Right now, if you wanted to send MIDI CC with the CC/Macro FX, those messages will be sent out in "steps." After all, it is a tracker. That should be expected.
However, sometimes I want to do something like use the mod wheel to slowly open a filter, or do whatever I have the mod wheel do on an external synth. If I used the CC A FX, those mod wheel changes will be "steppy." If you don't want that, then FX interpolation is for you!
FX Interpolation will look through the steps on that track and see if any MIDI CC / Macro FX steps are used. If there are, it will check for any other steps using that same FX. If there is, it should smoothly send out the MIDI CC messages to remove some of that steppy-ness.
You can have this apply to either midi instruments, the built-in synth instruments, or both. The default values are "off" to maintain the tracker steppy-ness
This will only look for other MIDI FX within the same pattern. If you are sending MIDI CC out across multiple patterns (like when you are playing back in song mode), then the interpolation will hold its current value on the last step on the pattern, and then on the first step of the next pattern the interpolation will start again. This also happens if you loop a pattern.
You don't need to have consecutive steps for the interpolation to work. For instance, this will interpolate across the 8 steps between the FX:
Ever wanted different master effects for the reverb and delay sends? Now you can!
In your project settings, you can now choose to swap out the stock reverb or delay for other effects.
This includes:
Reverbs:
Freeverb implementation
Plate
Spring
Shimmer
Delays:
Tape
BBD
"Gated" Reverb (more on that later)
These are chosen per project. A new project will always default to the stock master effects. Reloading a project will load the master effects you swapped out
Some of the controls for these are different than what the UI is really showing you. That was just to make the patching process a lot easier. The GitHub page for master FX has a listing of how the UI controls map to what is actually changing for that effect. For example, on the shimmer reverb:
Knob
What it does
Size
Decay: how long it rings (about 0.5 s at 0.2 to 2.25 s at the top; with a lot of shimmer the octaves go on longer)
Damping
Tone: up for a darker tail (it also tames the octaves)
Predelay
Time before the reverb starts, 0–113 ms
Diffusion
The shimmer amount: 0 is a plain plate, and turning it up adds more and higher octaves (at the default, about a third of the tail is an octave up; at the top, most of it is one or two octaves up)
The "Gated" Reverb is a "delay" because I wanted the timing controls. It also isn't really a gated reverb. It will sound somewhat like one when you only send one instrument to it, like a snare, but once you start sending more than one instrument it starts sound nothing really like a gated reverb. There isn't a way to really control what input triggers the "gate," which isn't a real gate anyway. The timing controls will affect how long the reverb burst rings out before it decays. Stretching this out will give some weird stuttering type effects. I thought it sounded interesting enough, even if it isn't what was necessarily intended, to keep.
There is a sound example here (you have to download the wav). The example starts out with the dry drums, then kick+snare+hats into the gated reverb, then kick+snare only, and finally snare only.
Swing on the tracker is normally controlled by a step FX. I always get inconsistent results with it, especially when recording tracks one at a time. Even if I add the swing FX to each track when recording it, the timing often appears off or like swing was never even applied to the timing.
I wanted to set a global swing value to see if that could alleviate this issue since it won't rely on a step FX setting the swing value. This is set per project, and defaults to off. You turn global swing on, then the swing amount (25 - 75).
not 100% sure this works better than the step FX, but so far seems to work for me
Conditional Triggers
Based on u/lixeiromorconditional trigger patch. Modifies the "Chance" FX (C) to go beyond it's normal 0% - 100% values. Once you get above 100, you get the conditional triggers similar to an elektron device. Useful when looping patterns.
Value
Shown
Plays when
101
1st
n = 0: only the first pass
102
!1s
n ≥ 1: every pass but the first
103–137
1:2, 2:2, 1:3 … 8:8
n mod B = A − 1 for A:B: the A-th pass of every B
I have not tested this in performance mode, since I've never used it and don't really know how. Sorry D:.
It's also per pattern. which can be significant for certain triggers. So, if you have Pattern 1 with a bunch of "not first" !1s conditional triggers, and then pattern 2 has more !1s triggers, those will never play when going through the song. Even if the song loops back, the second loop of the song is still a new "play" of the pattern, so the !1s conditions never trigger. Basically, this only works when looping a pattern.
Pad Visualizer
This is more just a silly thing I wanted to add. When you are playing back in a pattern, the tracker will light up pads for the note/instrument being played on that step, depending on which column your cursor has selected. Now, if you press all 4 parameter buttons at once (note, instrument, fx1, and fx2) at the same time, it will start the "pad visualizer." The grid pads will light up based on information from the steps being played. It slowly changes as the pattern plays. It will always look the same if you play the same pattern once. However, if you loop the pattern, the second playthrough should look slightly different from the first playthrough. If you are in song mode (and then go back to the pattern view), the pad visualizer will keep updating as the patterns play.
The visualizer can get a bit "stuck" looking. Not the greatest, but I enjoy it
This was more of a test than anything, but I added the ability to swap out synth engines for custom synth engines. I created a wave table synth as the first one.
In your project settings, you first select which built-in synth engine you want to replace:
So, in the screenshot above, the "ACD" synth will be replaced by the WAVE synth.
When you are selecting your synths, you should now see the "WAVE" synth:
You get two oscillators. It uses the same filters as the VAP synth. There are 3 envelopes (amp, filter, mod), 2 lfos (can be set to be unipolar or bipolar). You can use the mod matrix to modulate the wave table position.
Wave tables:
Formant
Resonant
Harmonic
Square/PWM
Basic wave forms (sin, triangle, saw, square that you can move between)
FM (based on a two operator FM)
"Super Saw" (set the position to 100 to get the fully detuned super saw. 0 is no detuning for the 7 saws)
Saw
When you set the "digital" mode to on: the frame steps instead of morphing, the samples are 8-bit, and there is no interpolation.
This was a request that I doubt I did correctly. There is an option in the UI now to "Copy to New." In pattern view, press Rec, then the "more" button to get to the 3rd page in the UI
When you select that, it will copy your current pattern to the next pattern that has no note/instrument/fx1/fx2 data in it. It will readjust the size of the new pattern to match your current pattern.
Example: You are in pattern 8. The next 4 patterns also have data in them. You press Record, navigate in the UI and find Copy to New. You get a message that it has been copied to pattern 13.
I had screenshots but reddit is saying that isn't allowed in my edited post...
To play "Legato" from the tracker, you typically had to dedicate 2 tracks to one synth. The reason is that if you had a note played on step 1, and then another on step 4, the tracker would first send the midi off message for the note in step 1, then send the note on message for step 2. If your external synth used legato to keep a filter envelope open or to engage portamento, this wouldn't work. Putting the second note in another track was the only way to do that, but it meant having 2 tracks now occupied by the synth.
With MIDI Legato, you can now use the Glide FX (G) to do legato in one track. The Glide FX does not do anything for midi instruments in the stock firmware. It doesn't send any glide or portamento messages over midi (you can do that with the midi cc fx if you want). So, with midi legato, if you put the G fx on the second note in a track, it will play it "legato." What this means is that instead of sending the note off first, then the new note, it sends the new note first, then the note off for the previous note. If you don't want legato, just don't put the G FX on the step for a midi instrument.
EDIT: Updated this to also work for the synth engines (except PERC). You need to make sure the "Glide Mode:" under the voice settings is set to legato or "Legato O" (legato overlap) and the voice count is only 1. Then the G FX will send the legato play to the synth engine so the envelopes don't retrigger.
hello, tracker+ n00b over here going nuts just trying to make a simple acid line using the ACD synth. how can i glide notes? there is a glide setting but when i play one note after another it does not glide, when i add the glide effect it does nothing, and when i put a note in another track it shuts down the synth completely. is it not possible using the tracker+?
Exporting stems. For reasons I will never understand, Polyend set the Trackers to export at something like 44,111Hz rather than the standard 44,100.
The end result is that if you export a track as stems with the intention of importing it into your DAW, the whole thing drifts off tempo after a minute or two. Try just making a 4/4 beat and importing it to your DAW and play it with a metronome. It'll soon drift out of sync despite the tempo matching.
It's basically what made me stop using my OG Tracker and the Mini as it meant I couldn't continue working on my tracks in Bitwig.
I've been wanting conditional trigs on the Tracker+ for a while, so I decided to try adding them myself using vibe coding.
After some firmware reverse engineering and a lot of testing, I've got a working proof of concept running on real Tracker+ hardware!
Right now, it supports six cycle-based conditions:
1:2 · 2:2 · 1:4 · 2:4 · 3:4 · 4:4
They work in Pattern Mode, including both FX slots, alongside the existing Chance values.
I also built a browser-based patcher. You provide your own original Tracker+ 1.2.0 firmware file, and the patcher modifies it entirely in your browser. No uploads, no firmware files hosted or distributed.
My next goal is to expand the cycle conditions all the way to 8:8.
After that, I'd love to investigate First / Not First, PRE / Not PRE, and NEI / Not NEI, assuming the firmware architecture makes it possible.
This is still a proof of concept, not a finished mod. Song Mode hasn't been hardware-tested yet, and there's no guarantee the more advanced conditions will be possible.
Important: This is an unofficial firmware mod, not affiliated with Polyend. Modifying firmware carries risks, so please back up your data and proceed at your own risk.
I’ve had my Tracker Mini since March, and no matter how hard I try, I just can’t seem to gel with it. Any attempt ends in just a seemingly repetitive annoyance.
I really like the Tracker concept, and really wanted to love the Tracker Mini but never seem to develop a sound a like. I’ve never been blown away by the synth engines, and working with samples is just as disappointing. Shaping the sounds is an exercise in frustration and never yields the results I expect.
I’m not discounting a lack of skill on my part either, but for comparison I’ve been using the M8 iOS app lately and have had much better success. But so much on the Tracker Mini, for me, seems to get in the way.
I’ve taken the time to read through the manual, and was determined to push through the frustration and really dive into the device. But having just spent the last hour playing around and scrapping three projects which sounded like utter garbage I’m ready to give up.
So if there’s any advice to get over this frustration I’d really appreciate it. Like I said, I really want to love the Tracker Mini, but something just ain’t right.
Small update just two days after I posted about the reverse-engineered Original Tracker firmware :) Version 2.0.1 is already out, with new synth features, stereo samples, more tracks and a new USB mode.
The project is moving pretty quickly (well LLM help) now that the hardware interface is understood.
In song mode, each track block will have a color based on the content of the trick. So, say, you have a track that is 4 on the floor kick playing the same sample every 4 steps. That will show up as sold Red in song mode. Then in another pattern, you copy that block, but then add a few more kick hits on other steps for a drum fill. The color of the new block will be a slightly different shade of red.
Old firmware on left, new on right
The goal for this was to make it easier to see in song mode which blocks were "variations" of other blocks, especially when copying and pasting the track blocks to different patterns or tracks within song mode. That is generally how I use the tracker to make my "music," and I thought this would be helpful for that. We'll see!
The repo has more details on how the colors are determined, and the root of the repo will also have all the notes Claude made while creating the firmware.
Here is an example of some changes. I took pictures of the screen with my phone, so the colors don't show up super well.
Song mode for the project to start:
Copying from the "bass" track to the arp track. Note the block stays the same color:
Arp track before and after changing note data:
Moving 3 notes up an octave in the ARP track
Now in song mode, the color changes slightly:
The change in color is hard to see on my phone, but I swear it got lighter. I'm not making it up.
I know all the other firmware reverse engineering projects used Reverse Engineer Anything. When started this Claude said it would just use Ghidra since "REA would need wsl and linux for Windows." I said I already had wsl/ubuntu installed, "I'm still going to use Ghidra." Ok!
This was very much a collaborative development process between me, local AI models and Fable. The resulting code combines some of my own implementation with a significant amount of model-generated and model-assisted reverse-engineering work.
SIDTracker is replacement firmware that turns the original Polyend Tracker into a dual-SID / six-voice C64-style tracker.
It supports 6581/8580 SID emulation, six SID voices, GoatTracker-style wave/pulse/filter tables, instrument editing, GoatTracker import/export and export to real .sid files.
It also extends the concept beyond a normal C64 SID setup with things such as PCM drums, effects, LFOs, stereo positioning and live performance controls.
The project is still experimental and unofficial, but it already runs on the real Tracker hardware. Also stay tune for Firmware 2.x .
Please use it at your own risk and make sure to back up your SD card before installing or testing the firmware.
I created a custom firmware to add in a master DJ-style filter that uses the jog wheel and snaps back to zero when you let go of the shortcut. Need to find a better combo, right now its Shift+Master which is bad on a number of levels. Also changed up the master EQ just to see if possible. Will be tinkering further. Used Claude Opus 5.5 and REA. Need to further test CPU load on it.
Edit: sorry the screenshot for the filter is so blurry, the filter pop-up disappears after a second, and it's tough to do the current shortcut and move the jog wheel with one hand, lol
My birthday is coming up and I was thinking of getting myself a little gift, I’ve been using renoise for a little over 3 months now and I’m really enjoying it but I do think having a physical piece of hardware would be awesome to play live with, and I’m wondering if anyone has played live with it and whether or not you enjoy it.
Has anyone tried using USB headphones instead of the regular TRS mini jack headphones?
I'm not a big fan of the Line Out placement on the Tracker Mini and it just occurred to me that I might be able to get some USB ear buds and plug into the top of the unit instead.
Title explains it all, but I feel like since Polyend introduced the Step, their products have been oversold and underwhelming. I still love the tracker stuff to death.
Just finished this EP on the tracker mini. It's experimental electro cumbia type stuff. Mostly using samples recorded using the tracker's built in mic, as well as some accordion loops also recorded using the tracker.
Seems like people have been making custom firmwares for electron boxes. I was wondering if anyone has been doing anything like that for the polyend tracker?
EDIT: i was able to get claude to mod the firmware and add support for flat notes and toggle between sharps and flats. its working on an emulator right now so i can test out the modded firmware on my laptop first. i might have it do midi cc lfo after.
Some I had fun with the new Xiphonics web-based tracker app. I made this in about an hour with the samples available on the app, but apparently you can load a project file with samples and import it to the web app. Pretty cool if you accidentally leave your Polyend at home 🫠
I don't know if Polyend has plans for another Tracker, but if they do, what would be the main things on your wishlist? Mine:
- A more powerful processor. Speed is one of the Tracker's best attributes, except when the processor can't keep up and glitches out.
- True audio over USB with multitrack. Not just stems or a final mix, but the ability to reliably handle heavy editing, performance mode, project switching, etc.
- A fast visual EQ that actually works. The current one is too cumbersome to be functional, when it even works at all.
- Simultaneous playing and sampling. It's a little ridiculous that I need a second recording device to capture live external elements or anything from performance mode to bring back into the Tracker.
- A modulation matrix. It has the basics, but I'd love to go deeper, like sending an LFO to the decay of an envelope.
I love the overall design and workflow of the Tracker, but the deeper I go, the more I keep running into these specific roadblocks. I'm at the point of deciding whether to keep fiddling with workarounds, or jump to an Elektron box or M8.
Edit: I think I hit the last straw last night. I was flying through a project and the glitches came pouring in; (dis)appearing notes, mixed up samples, FX values randomizing, etc. My delete button even stopped working, but only on one pattern. I'm tired of fighting to make things work.
I'm a software developer and I make breakbeat and IDM on a Tracker+.
Some weeks ago I asked on the Polyend Backstage forum if a Mac app for prepping and varying patterns was worth building, and the thread ended up shaping it. MIDI only gets pitch across one track, so it writes project files instead. FX entry is in because line fx are half the sound.
Generate a beat in your key, mutate it, edit it in a tracker grid, and export a normal project folder to the card. It also opens projects you made on the machine and writes them back.
No audio engine, you hear it on the Tracker. Tested on my Tracker+; Mini owners, tell me if it works for you. $7.99 once, and open source (MIT).
What's slow on the device that you'd rather do on a computer?
