New portable tracker!

Dunno if you guys have seen this?

https://www.musicradar.com/news/dirtywaves-super-stylish-portable-tracker-could-be-your-new-best-m8

Wondering if a laptop is considered a "portable tracker".

Doesn’t look that ergonomic, really? Dunno

lots of infos+development in the twitts..well, trash80 is a bona fide chiptune legend and game boy aficionado, hence the form factor

  On 4/7/2021 at 11:10 AM, pizza said:

Doesn’t look that ergonomic, really? Dunno

Doesn't matter, it has tactile mechanical action buttons. Needs some more rainbow LEDs and the keyboard nerd segment is basically locked in.

@iococoi I didn't look through all those tweets but looks like this thing owns.

I wonder if the touchscreen is difficult to use or not.

To me the tiny displays in this and Polyend look super frustrating. Using Renoise even on a small laptop screen instead of a big monitor is already painful. And without a mouse and a full keyboard? oof.

But I have never tried these devices in reality so I don't know how well they work. Just seems like needless hardware when I can do the same thing better on a computer and use VSTs and external controllers? 

  On 4/7/2021 at 11:46 AM, thawkins said:

I wonder if the touchscreen is difficult to use or not.

So it’s a small portable device with a touch screen.

Hmm ... 

  On 4/7/2021 at 12:32 PM, rhmilo said:

So it’s a small portable device with a touch screen.

Hmm ... 

Might be a good time to start calling my phone and laptop a tracker so that I will be cool.

I am 1000% getting one of these this time around.

I deeply regret not being a part of this first batch.

  On 4/7/2021 at 1:26 PM, thawkins said:

Might be a good time to start calling my phone and laptop a tracker so that I will be cool.

No, I think it's very important that it has fewer buttons than a laptop and a smaller screen than a phone.

I've been looking at the Polyend and at this thing with great interest and desire and to talk myself out of spending money on one I've decided that putting a piece of software that was specifically made for a large computer screen, a mouse and a full computer keyboard inside a box with a small screen and a limit number of keys is Stupid (tm).

  On 4/7/2021 at 2:41 PM, rhmilo said:

No, I think it's very important that it has fewer buttons than a laptop and a smaller screen than a phone.

 

I've been looking at the Polyend and at this thing with great interest and desire and to talk myself out of spending money on one I've decided that putting a piece of software that was specifically made for a large computer screen, a mouse and a full computer keyboard inside a box with a small screen and a limit number of keys is Stupid (tm).

I am kind of mixed on this.

On one hand, these small things for small fingered people have something like a toy feeling to them - after all, Gameboy and Nanoloop are probably sources of inspiration here. Want some more hands on control for some functions? Good luck, start mapping MIDI or OSC or 5v control voltages.

On the other hand, I spend my day working on a computer, and I guess a lot of people do that nowadays. I feel it kind of messes up the brain's creative abilities if you have mentally associated the computer and the keyboard with work. This sucks and it should not be like this, but for some people the best way to break this mold is to pick up a different device. Even though there is a computer in most digital/analog gear, the different user interface is enough to force your head to work in a different creative mode, and that's were all the "hardware is more intimate" impressions also come from.

  On 4/7/2021 at 12:32 PM, rhmilo said:

So it’s a small portable device with a touch screen.

Hmm ... 

It looks like something made out of a Raspberry Pi but can't seem to find the complete specs of the device..

  On 4/7/2021 at 2:52 PM, thawkins said:

On the other hand, I spend my day working on a computer, and I guess a lot of people do that nowadays. I feel it kind of messes up the brain's creative abilities if you have mentally associated the computer and the keyboard with work. This sucks and it should not be like this, but for some people the best way to break this mold is to pick up a different device. Even though there is a computer in most digital/analog gear, the different user interface is enough to force your head to work in a different creative mode, and that's were all the "hardware is more intimate" impressions also come from.

highly relate to this after having been stuck in home office for 1 year+. I've always been into hardware synths and sequencers, but now even more so. last place I wanna be after work is at the comp

I checked a bit how people generally use these hardware trackers and it seems at least some use them for sketching new ideas, then saving the work in some format like .it that is supported by Renoise or other computer based tracker and then finishing the work on a computer. Which kind of makes sense.

But personally I'm over buying new hardware. More like I'm trying to find some way to get rid of the old devices I have. They are just collecting dust in a storage room.

  On 4/7/2021 at 2:52 PM, thawkins said:

On the other hand, I spend my day working on a computer, and I guess a lot of people do that nowadays. I feel it kind of messes up the brain's creative abilities if you have mentally associated the computer and the keyboard with work. This sucks and it should not be like this, but for some people the best way to break this mold is to pick up a different device. Even though there is a computer in most digital/analog gear, the different user interface is enough to force your head to work in a different creative mode, and that's were all the "hardware is more intimate" impressions also come from.

True.

Strange enough, for me that does not happen with Renoise. I never feel like I'm connected to something resembling work when that boring, boring screen with all the numbers pops up. Even now when all my life takes place through a screen. Ableton I can't stand but Renoise is no problem at all.

  On 4/7/2021 at 2:54 PM, zkom said:

It looks like something made out of a Raspberry Pi but can't seem to find the complete specs of the device..

Teensy, apparently.

  On 4/7/2021 at 11:46 AM, thawkins said:

I wonder if the touchscreen is difficult to use or not.

The touchscreen portion is supposed to be used like a kaos pad. Just a big xy modulation thing. All controls are done via the keys similar to LSDJ

I was a big LGPT fan and gave up trying to proselytize anyone a long time ago, so I'm glad it finally has a good spiritual successor made by someone who gets what it's all about. I don't know if I'm going to pick up one of these. I'm leaning towards not, but I'm glad it exists.

  On 4/7/2021 at 10:09 AM, thawkins said:

Wondering if a laptop is considered a "portable tracker".

Only if it's running AmigaOS

  On 4/9/2021 at 12:26 PM, TubularCorporation said:

Only if it's running AmigaOS

What if I run it in an emulator? 

Portable means you do the running. 

Man if the M8 can run a braids dsp, I feel like they can pack a little bit more into the polyend.

I’m kind of happy as is, but the wavetable mode could def be tuned up a bit. 

I've got one and it's awesome. Sound-wise on par with Elektrons. The wavsynth and FM engines sound brilliant, with great filters and multiple types of distortion to get deep with sound design. And then there's a Braids port on top of that! It's almost like having a pocket monomachine. But with better reverb. 

Extensive MIDI implementation, including assignable CCs, control of song row position and even navigation. Can control and record external instruments too, even create stems from externally sequenced gear. 

The keys are amazing, it's so nice having high quality keys on a gameboy form factor product. It looks way less comfortable to use than it is, it actually fits really nicely in my hands.

Screen-wise, it's based on the LSDJ style of tracking which has been constantly developed over the past 20+ years, so is pretty optimised for small screens, and allows for quick movement between levels of detail so it doesn't feel too menu divey. Obviously trackers are great on bigger screens but it really isn't such a big deal here. 

Also, there's a "headless" version of the firmware that is freely available, which you can load onto a Teensy 4.1 and use via USB and a web interface (or a Touch Designer sketch). I thought this was a super generous move from trash80, it means you can try it out without having to buy a unit. 

I know people like to completely fucking shit on things here (it's why I rarely come here anymore), but the M8 is fkn incredible, and worth twice the money imo. 

  On 4/7/2021 at 2:52 PM, thawkins said:

small things for small fingered people have something like a toy feeling to them

They're full size Kailh switches with low profile choc keycaps. If you can type on a computer keyboard, you can use this. 

  On 4/7/2021 at 12:08 PM, zkom said:

To me the tiny displays in this and Polyend look super frustrating. Using Renoise even on a small laptop screen instead of a big monitor is already painful. And without a mouse and a full keyboard? oof.

I snagged a Polyend recently just out of curiosity and it’s awesome. fwiw, the Polyend anyway is not a particularly small device. It’s got the footprint of my 13" MBA, for example. So the screen is smaller than a computer screen, but it’s not as small as you might think. 

And they’ve thought through the UI enough so that you can zip around and get into the flow really good. Imagine a clicky, satisfying keyboard that only has exactly the keys on it you need to control the tracker. You can move quite fast around it.

An even smaller device focused on synthesis (as opposed to sampling), like this, seems really intriguing. But, I probably need to stop buying gear for a while!