Polyend Play First impression // Most fluid sequencer yet?

[@LiamKillen]

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[@kathleencoveny3860]

Lots of harmony here .. ambience .. mood .. content .. message .. thanks for sharing your expertise once again in this easy .. breezy flow of information .. cheers !

[@LiamKillen]

You’re welcome as always! 😊

[@motoboy6666]

This looks like the most fun you can have in a hardware sequencer 😍

[@LiamKillen]

It is very fun!!

[@motoboy6666]

@@LiamKillen can you record Note transpositions into a pattern?

[@AgonalRhythm]

Big fan of the play. Of course it has a lot of limitations, but it makes me excited for the evolution of this concept. Maybe one with LFO's, more effects, individual outputs, audio input processing, etc. A big dream, to be sure. A few small tips: - You can disable the double touch knob feature in settings - You can make the knob tweak sound preview to either never be on, be the default you have, or be always on, even when playing - Even though you have limited undo's, you can hit the Save function on any control page that Save doesn't have another use on to store the state of a session. You can then experiment wildly and then safely go back to the entire machine state when you hit it - When doing the Fill and the Randomize, you can hit Reset to keep the setting your on but use different samples (or values, etc) - Chance is greatly leveraged when I use the Play X, Skip Y functionality, where I can set fills that only play in the 4th bar or whatever. This makes the arrangements hard to parse, but really allows for insane complexity combined with the variable bar length and pattern speed - Shift + one of the squares allows for selection of an individual step - Double tap shift unselects all - The last two columns in perform grab the audio buffer of every track, not just the select ones. It also freezes on that audio buffer. One gotcha for me is leaving that option on by accident after navigating away from perform - when I click back, it repeats the audio buffer again, even if I had nothing selected ⚠️

[@CousteauWarrior]

Some fantastic tips here, thank you!

[@LiamKillen]

Amazing I’m screen shotting this for sure! Thanks for all of these additions!

[@LiamKillen]

Amazing additions!

[@svenkund234]

I bought one just recently. I am pretty new to making music, but I already feel like the Polyend play is a good start into this hobby. I also tried an op-1 from a friend, but I come from playing the guitar so never having played a normal keyboard it seems pretty hard. Definitely recommend the Polyend play more for beginners.

[@LiamKillen]

Yeah it’s surprisingly straight forward in terms of groove boxes

[@Kpm1985]

I would have purchased this one if it could sample in stereo. It’s such a cool concept and I hope the next iteration can compete with the octatrack.

[@LiamKillen]

Ah I see yeah

[@briannhinton]

I would have accepted sampling in mono or any sampling. I purchased it to see how much I would l like it. I miss sampling. You can sample and mangle samples on the Tracker. The Play is a sequencer and does it well, but really so does the Tracker.

[@DawlessHouseMusic]

I went Tracker because I didn't want to pay the premium for the Play. I instantly became a huge fan of the Tracker though but I can see things I want on the Play, like step sequencing in the grid.

[@LiamKillen]

Tracker absolutely is also very cool!

[@GirlfightClub]

I have 2 trackers and just got the Play and the play tho limited has higher quality knobs imo. And much simpler

[@krazywabbit]

One of my favorite pieces of gear. Nicely done!

[@LiamKillen]

It has the potential to become one of mine as well!

[@blackbaseballfield1]

I can't wait to own one someday. Looks so fun

[@LiamKillen]

Highly recommended

[@johnchesters81]

Great video. Regarding the capacitive touch issue, you can turn off the double tap function in settings!

[@LiamKillen]

Thank you for this addition!

[@ohnoitsfraa]

Regarding the chance/random, I feel you. What it actually needs is an internal Turing Machine (as in the Eurorack module from Music Thing Modular). It just spits out random CV and gates (aka: note values and note on/off messages) , which you can use as a source for your melodies. If you put these CV signals through a Scaler (like an Intellijel Scaler), you generate some really nice random melodies. This isn't too different from what the Polyend Play does, but the the big difference is that the Turing Machine let's you grab certain loops out the randomness by turning a dial to "lock" it in to a certain loop length. Randomness in a sequencer is nice but having control over the randomness is even nicer.

[@LiamKillen]

Randomness squared

[@thefumigator]

I have the same dust blower, mine been around like for 2 years now and I had to repair it's battery pack twice, and the trigger cracked, I replaced it with a regular button. It's a must have tool, in studio or like in my case, in everyplace

[@LiamKillen]

It's soooo useful for anyone with electronics.

[@8thmyth]

Highly recommend checking out the synthstorm deluge. I havent tried a poly end play but in some aspect they are very similar but deluge is very special an under rated classic.

[@LiamKillen]

I hear nothing but good things about it

[@vinmar_music]

I bought the Play thinking of it as a deluge competitor and was really disappointed at first. However the more I played with it and explored, it became a creative tool and generating things I wouldn’t have thought of on Deluge, or if I just want to dump in a sample pack and quickly get some different percussion to accompany other devices. Deluge is the one device I would never sell.

[@enchanterthetim]

I played with it at MoogAudio and was really turned off by the load times! I literally sat there waiting for over 3 minutes to load a drum pack. Just seemed so off to me. Seems fun to work with once I had a song loaded, but just not good for performance. I'm loving my Synthstrom Deluge, i'll just stick with that one!

[@LiamKillen]

Yeah load times are loooong and lack of LFO s is a bit of a bummer

[@LiamKillen]

Never messed with Deluge yet!

[@briannhinton]

3 minutes? I’ve not seen times that long. What pack did you load in? I believe I’ve loaded in every pack at this point and have averaged around a minute. Which isn’t that bad for loading dozens of samples.

[@enchanterthetim]

@@briannhinton Don't recall which packs I was loading. Tried maybe 5. it was a display model. I was just standing there waiting, was so surprised how long it took. Felt really bad to me. I have a Novation Circuit which can load a new project instantly, same with Deluge. You can literally build a "drop" into a new project. I'm sure the play is super fun to use once you get into it, but as a 3d motion designer, i am already waiting forever for renders, when i want to make music i prefer it to be instant!

[@TheNamrebug]

Liam u absolutely need to review the deluge. Just the best…

[@floridahiker1503]

Happy Thanksgiving Liam.

[@LiamKillen]

To you as well 🍻 🦃

[@Howdy606]

Have they added a metronome and count-in on the Realtime recording on the midi tracks in the update?

[@LiamKillen]

Ummmm i don't have a direct answer on that yet.

[@GirlfightClub]

I look fwd to the tutorial how to use vocals thru the play

[@LiamKillen]

THAT’s gonna be fun

[@benedictjohnson2176]

I wanted a Polyend Seq, specifically to control a Vermona DRM1, but now they’re discontinued. Is the Play a good alternative? Could its 8 rows of pads be configured to be a visual sequencer for the DRM1’s 8 drum channels over MIDI? Thank you : )

[@LiamKillen]

TBH I’m not entirely sure! Haven’t touched a Polyend seq before. I haven’t done much midi work with the play yet because there are currently some bugs that hold me back.

[@LiamKillen]

Hopefully they’ll sort those out with an update

[@14tralfaz]

You sold me by 1:37.. New Subscribe for sure

[@LiamKillen]

Appreciate it!

[@ritchxmusic]

Is the Oxi One better?

[@LiamKillen]

As a sequencer? Absolutely

[@oscarjmg]

Liam, great video! ¿Play meets SPS404?

[@LiamKillen]

Good suggestion! Thanks for watching 😊

[@steveedwards4495]

looks good. Tried a deluge at all?

[@LiamKillen]

Not yet- just got the Launchpad X though

[@aquaticborealis4877]

You have any experience with the Deluge? Just wondering if you would have any comparison

[@LiamKillen]

I do not! The only novation piece I have, which I just got, is the Launchpad X

[@aquaticborealis4877]

@@LiamKillen Ha, ok, thanks. FYI, the Deluge is from Synthstrom.

[@machineagevoodoo2106]

I've had both the play and the deluge. The deluge was great, and a very stable piece of kit (I miss it, its rock solid midi timing as well) - The play felt like a half finished thing that got put on public beta, and tbh that actually made me pretty sour (returned it). If you want to know anything specific, just ask:)

[@GirlfightClub]

@@machineagevoodoo2106 you seem to be a bit more advanced than some of us lol I find the Play perfect fit for myself.

[@machineagevoodoo2106]

@@GirlfightClub well no i mean, you just need to spend 5 minutes in the fb/reddit groups to see that way more people that me have had constant problems with the boxes? The deluge was a delight to own for many years

[@hotelsinus]

Try Sythstrom Deluge

[@LiamKillen]

heard nothing but good things.

[@hotelsinus]

@@LiamKillen yeah its ultradeep and endless tricks inside

[@vinmar_music]

I turned off the capacitive touch right away and it’s much better.

[@LiamKillen]

Yeah I’ll def be doing the same

[@LRonHubbard-um1tp]

one medium, two media. not 'medias'. potato/ potatoe right?

[@LiamKillen]

🥔

[@SonicVibe]

So ya liked it more then the tracker interesting 🧐 it reminds me of the deluge

[@LiamKillen]

Yeah a lot of people say this- don’t know much about the deluge yet!

[@SonicVibe]

@@LiamKillen the weak point of the deluge is no export have to record it somehow otherwise it’s great

[@P-S-T]

Except that they look similar, they are very different. Deluge is a little DAW in a box with pianoroll style, Play is more a performance machine with stepsequencing. I have both. Both great!

[@SonicVibe]

@@P-S-T mainly the grid based workflow people talking about

[@P-S-T]

@@SonicVibe Yes, but perhaps people thinks that they are similar machines because they look similiar which imo they aren’t. I was suprised how different they was when I bought Play coming from Deluge.

[@spacekid5609]

Wait.. so you and Taetro are not the same guy?

[@LiamKillen]

I am certainly not Taetro lol

[@spacekid5609]

Hahah Great content btw 🤘 Play firmware 1.5 (with MIDI Performance Mode) is on the way. Looking forward to your take..

[@postRMO]

you think its a deluge beater?

[@LiamKillen]

Not sure yet ! Haven’t tried the deluge!

[@paslugt4129]

chop=Random

[@LiamKillen]

yea boi -

[@paslugt4129]

Il get one tomorrow. Cant wait. It was cool to see that he blowed your mind a couple of times. When you discovered some new stuf. Awesome. Keep up the good stuff ..