Best New Groovebox In Ages?! (POLYEND PLAY)

[@aradder]

Been scouring Play videos, just now found this! Hope the algorithm picks this up soon because you've got great musical chops, a good instructional tone and awesome production values. Thanks for the info! Would love to see a MIDI sequencing / 1.4 Firmware update video sometime too!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thank you so much!! Really appreciate you watching, I usually cover synths but the Polyend stuff is super intuitive for me. Will have to check out the new firmware

[@kuanjian]

Sounds great. I just picked up a used unit and this confirms my choice for my travel groove box. Of course its mainly your talent at making music that makes it shine!

[@kuanjian]

I see this as a great sketch pad to use while away and then bring back to the studio to add other bits. It would be great as a follow up to see you bounce out those tracks into the DAW to finish it off .

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thanks so much! And congrats on getting a Play! It is indeed such a fun creative tool but I feel it’s more than a sketchpad cause of how unique the generative / Euclidean sequencer and play modes are. Very hard to do that in a daw!

[@AdamPearceMedia]

You are my favourite youtuber!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Much love for watching!

[@jedfriesen]

def the best tutorial/out there. they should put this as the first video to learn play!! hey, did you change button color? love that look....subbed to yer channel!!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thanks for the great compliment Jed! Appreciate you watching. Nope, the color change is just the color correction I add to my videos.

[@SonicVibe]

Excited for the tracker mini they revealed today

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Yea that looks amazing! Just saw!

[@datAero]

love the blank stare at the start

[@RenoFriends]

Saw you video a couple months ago and took me a while to find it again. This review made me want to have this device so far.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thanks so much! This is still my favourite groovebox, it’s just so unique. Did you see my recent Polyend Tracker Mini video?

[@RenoFriends]

@@MilesAwayOfficial Not because I'm not too much interested in the Tracker tbh, but I'm seriously thinking on buying this one. I just think the Play could be improved in a future iteration making it recordable on separate tracks for example

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Totally! It has huge potential. Play is seriously fun and does something that I can't really do in my DAW, which is rare@@RenoFriends

[@RenoFriends]

​@@MilesAwayOfficialI came from the future where just after a couple of weeks after this comment Polyend released the Play+ with the futures we were talking about 😂 Received mine today and I'm enjoying it a LOT! It's so intuitive and fun to use, very inspiring also. If ir only has a built-in battery and a small speaker... But maybe that will be on Play 2 XD

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

@@RenoFriendsamazing how do you like it? Did you see my recent Play+ video? Check it out!

[@cinephenomena]

THE JAM!!! EFING FIRE!!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thank you so much! Always try to do musical jams for my reviews :)

[@DreamscapesMusicCinema]

Awesome! Thank you for this cool demo. Very well presented. Mark Bensette Aux Bois 🇨🇦.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thanks for watching Mark!

[@DreamscapesMusicCinema]

@@MilesAwayOfficial Always my Pleasure to watch your wonderful videos 📹❤

[@Goldlion973]

New play + still has a very limited memory for samples. Weird. Such a cool product.

[@BoopPOPO]

cool thing - i really hope they have the chops to improve it and not give up. so close to perfect

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Have you seen my new video on the Play+?

[@Jason_Drums_]

Really enjoyed this 🤩 What an Awesome Groovebox 👌 Brilliant Demo as Always 💯 Super Like 👍 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 😍 🙌

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thanks Jay! Appreciate you watching, even if the video is different than usual!

[@Jason_Drums_]

@@MilesAwayOfficial This was different 💯 but I loved it 👌 seriously considering buying one of these 😊 have a fantastic weekend 🙏🏼 😍 🙌

[@CalebKasper]

Your music goes crazy! Came from Niko

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thank you so much!!

[@aquaticborealis4877]

So you think this is more accessible than a Deluge? The Deluge does have a new Oled screen, has synth engines, and seems to be more powerful. The Deluge is more expensive though. And doesn’t have as many knobs. Just wondering how else you might compare them. I think Deluge is harder to use with a DAW?

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

So here’s the deal with the Deluge. It’s amazing and easily the closest thing to a DAW in a box. It’s also battery powered and has synths, which this isn’t. But for me, after a certain point I realized I was wasting my time with it because the workflow is so much like a DAW , but much more limited. I was basically making worse versions of the same kinds of songs I make in Logic. Why I fell in love with Play is the workflow and possibilities are so different it makes me more creative by helping me come up with stuff I wouldn’t inside DAW, and that’s special!

[@aquaticborealis4877]

@@MilesAwayOfficial Hm, interesting, thanks for that. The hands on piano roll concept of both are appealing. I wonder what it is about the Play, the workflow algorithms maybe? More generative? More idea-inducing? Not sure if the Deluge has the same algorithms to help people get going with musical ideas. I need to do some digging.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Exactly ya! Deluge is better for traditionally making songs, but the magic of Play is how insanely powerful it is for musical randomization/generative, Euclidean stuff. Check out the section at 16:07 as a great example, but there’s lots of examples in the walkthrough

[@ToumalRakesh]

@@MilesAwayOfficial I think where this shines over the deluge is stuff like being able to just load in an entire pack of samples and then just working with that, and of course the bigger color screen which makes things just easier to get in to. Buuuuuuuuuuut I don't neccessarily agree with your statement about Deluge being "traditional". Everything you can do here you can do on the Deluge, especially euclidean sequencing and randomization. Polyend Play seems to do some things a bit more intuitively, and being able to load in predefined patterns looks quick and easy. Overall I'm super happy with my Deluge which I just recently had upgraded to the (tiny but better than the LED stuff) OLED screen. The scrolling is just so nice and hands-on, the synthesis is just deep enough and having no sample size limit and zero sample load times (and almost zero load times anywhere!) definitely makes it the definitive dawless battlestation. You get less with the Polyend Play, but as you noted you also pay half the price so both have their place, depending on ones budget and needs.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

@@ToumalRakesh fair! My deluge did not have an OLED screen, that would have been huge I think. I sold it before they added that. I found it much more complex to do the random generative stuff without a screen than the Play.

[@ReinoRankaisija]

The mini I/O ports are a massive missed opportunity here. I'd much rather have a bigger box with proper connectors. I'm still getting one though :D

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

AFAIK the unit comes with the adapters you need! But yea enjoy if you get one :)

[@sinewaymusic]

Great showcase! For the first time I'm actually intrigued by the Polyend Play. Have ignored it before. Just so I'm clear, it doesn't sample though, right?

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed! It does not sample no, it just loads whatever samples you want it to on SD, and it has a huge factory bank

[@TheShadowvaultAwaits]

instead of putting the notes one by one is it possible to play lets say a pattern/melody and record/loop the sequence (and then quantize it)?

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

If I understand what you are saying, yes you can play this in live keyboard mode, either by clicking on the grid to punch in notes (no velocity) or with an external midi keyboard. However if you want that workflow I'd suggest getting Deluge!

[@TheShadowvaultAwaits]

@@MilesAwayOfficial oh yes thats a perfect example. Deluge lights up even with e specific scale in mind and you can play and record that without having to punch notes one by one. Wish the play+ had that

[@JamesReedy]

...welp your con of no synth engines has been fixed. You getting the Play +?

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

yea! they sent me one for a video a few weeks back, video coming soon. It's great! but the magic of the Play is still the generative/algorithmic manipulation samples, so I think its a great time to grab an original cheap as well

[@JamesReedy]

@@MilesAwayOfficialjust got mine back from the upgrade; haven’t had much time to play with it tho.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

@@JamesReedy nice! Well hopefully my vid can inspire ya. I’ve been making lots of jams. I really enjoy the new stereo samples too

[@JohnMark61355]

On the melodic track for example, if later I want to know what note is on let’s say the first step, how would I determine that note? My understanding is that if I push the button for that step, the note will change to the note, and parameters, that currently exists on the screen.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

I'm not sure if I follow your question sorry, but if you are asking how to see the Note that is selected, each of those 8 knobs is touch sensitive. Simply hold down the step you choose, gently touch the note/pitch knob and it will tell you the note. Then you can turn it to change it.

[@JohnMark61355]

@@MilesAwayOfficial Thank you. I wasn’t exactly sure how to ask the question, but I think you answered it. I think the key is pressing and holding the button. I was concerned that touching the button changes the note what is on the screen, but the press/hold action displays the note previously assigned. I appreciate your help.

[@AlbertSodylicious]

What do you think of Play+ ?

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

It’s awesome! Got a video coming soon , stay tuned

[@TwinCitiesOxygen]

Can you do microtiming to make a step a little early or late?

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

I believe so but not 100% sure

[@ameeqalli4248]

Oh my goodness this could have been a complete game changer if they would of added a basic sampling feature on this thing where you can just sample random stuff..

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Sampling would have been sweet! Maybe Play 2?

[@j-julien]

A lots of the internals patterns don’t sound great to me. Yours are 🔥

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thank you so much! Hyped you enjoyed!

[@MrTubeman007]

Like all these so called show how it works videos, nothing is explained, just mega jumping at knobs with no real use or explanation to a non user. I am watching because I don't have one and I am still without any more know how than when this vid started. Please more explanation of just what is happening.

[@dracul74]

Enjoyed the video. It is a cool product, but not for me. I guess I enjoy my own current mangling routines, lol.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Fair enough! Thanks for watching :)