Polyend Play: Make Insane Beats And Songs In Minutes

It's an IDM life hack. Q&A stream starting at noon ET: • Weeklystream68: Polyen...
You should soon be able to pick up the Play at Perfect Circuit, and this link will also include other things I'm using in my videos: link.perfectcircuit.com/t/v1/...
Special thanks to Nicola Claudine and Mark Petty for helping w/ the intro sequence!
💗 Support this channel and join an amazing community: / bennjordan
⚡Those lovely custom acoustic panels in the background: psyacoustics.com
#musicproduction #groovebox #polyend
Timespampses:
0:00 - SYNTEZATOR MIAMI
0:58 - Monologue
3:58 - Overview of features
19:14 - Interlude
20:18 - Polyend Tracker
24:23 - MIDI OUT
25:20 - MIDI IN + Making a quick beat
27:40 - Wrap up, Pros and Cons

[@loopop]

Thanks for the shoutout and what a lovely set of performances!

[@ThelemicMagick]

Both your channels are a joy to watch, very inspiring

[@dasczwo]

Please compare it to the all new featurepacked op1 field. Also consider beardfactor and $ per feature

[@shambles07]

@@dasczwo I've been saying this for years

[@stretchbrah5627]

You two are my favourite people to watch gear videos from. I can't even think how much time I've spent watching y'alls videos

[@user-gg7pr3wu7r]

@@dasczwo funny

[@RedMeansRecording]

Great walkthrough my dude

[@roiju_]

I’ve curbed my gear acquisition syndrome for a good 2 years, but this sold me. Been itching for the Polyend Tracker for sometime now after playing with a friend’s and ReNoise, but this is 100% more what I’m looking for, and a Day 1 buy for me. Big fan from Miami, come back soon! Would love to book a Flashbulb show. 🙂

[@BobbyGeneric145]

Justin, I did too, but then had to get the new boos space echo, an RK-008,and a moog grandmother! All the other gear is going in the closet whilst I master the grandmother! By then ill have more space for setting all my gear out nice and ordered

[@K0r0n1s]

So cool to see polish titles in this video :-) Super filmik, pozdro z niemiec^^

[@DerekRobertsteig]

Man, the pattern editing and chance/random functions, along with the intelligent musicality of repeats and fills sold me. AND THEN you mentioned it played with a Tracker. I'm like...I'm REALLY jonesing, Benn. At the very least, it's a sketchbook you can output later via stems to muddle around with, but you're right that it definitely adds some push to really fleshing out ideas and not just make boring loops. Cheers, and thanks for the video!

[@najnacisi]

yeeeees, this is the thing for me. BTW does Deluge also have these randiomizers? Deluge vs Poliend play?

[@patch6306]

I am someone who is an extremely avid consumer of music (yours especially) but has ZERO knowledge about music production/theory. And yet, for perhaps the first time in my life, I find myself fantasizing about making my own music with the Polyend Play. This is just mesmerizing!

[@Zetaphor]

I felt the exact same way after watching this. I've already placed my preorder. This device is the first time I've felt like this world was approachable. I highly recommend checking out Loopops video where he goes into much more detail on operation.

[@geraldhenrickson7472]

OMGoodness. The sequencer I have been waiting for. I cannot believe I had no idea this was available. Thanks for this video.

[@andycordy5190]

Hugely exciting. How you focussed this down in the way you have is a great achievement. If I wasn't already overwhelmed with the learning required by the kit I already own, Maschine, Kontact et al, I would be right there with you on it. I can see it generating a whole new world of rhythm at the very least. I can see why you were so explosive with excitement about what you were about to present. It finally is that one box composing tool. In my 'Afterlife ' project, it will be my companion for long journeys. No wait! The go anywhere, compositional tool of my dreams needs a power pack or a socket (ok lots of trains and even buses have sockets) but if this modest machine was double thickness it could have a wonderful laptop type battery and charging system. Total independence. It's the next evolutionary step, surely. Many thanks

[@ResonanceRebel]

Amazing! Ordered. Thank you for showing this!

[@allegro_manontroppo]

Listening to other videos I was not convinced about Play, seeing and listening to your video I definitely changed my mind.

[@minimal.camera]

That intro was so good! I would love to watch a feature length film starring you, in that style. Polyend is continually raising the bar, very impressive sequencer, and cheaper than the Hapax!

[@praveensharmanyc]

You’re leveling up. Loved this deep dive! Now I really want one of these 😂

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

So good Benn! You consistently kill it with these walkthroughs.

[@Scopolia1]

Definitely the most musical demo of this thing, so far. ❤️ Well done!

[@deaddog936]

Excellent enthusiasm and review! The way you bounced all over is proof enough for me that you were having so much fun playing with Polyend you lost focus on review! Earned a sub and looking forward to hearing what you create!

[@deepsynth3495]

Undoubtedly the best intro to one of your videos

[@deepsynth3495]

Thanks for the heart. Really love your work

[@jeremybarnes7873]

Enticing, in a word. Well done getting this edited and out the door. This message will self-destruct in five seconds.

[@jasmeerlabeer4591]

great video! This thing looks awesome. And love that interlude diddy

[@ffmdotcom]

what a great time to be alive! nice vid man!

[@theelectronicrat]

Another wonderful device. I am a recent Polyend Tracker fan. Great video, btw. Thanks, this helps a lot in understanding what the device (devinstrument, as I like to call the Tracker) is all about.

[@adamjerzyrodewald5752]

Great I am from Poland and I approve this message 🇵🇱👍

[@harry1010]

Woah those live visual effects are blowing my brain!

[@midigate]

Thanks to both your vids, I got the polyend play. I am so so stoked to play with it when it arrives.

[@Pyllon]

Thanks man. Love your work and it’s much appreciated :)

[@von_Apa]

I use a little bit to much of my time looking for interesting things for my home studio and boy am I glad to find Mr Benn Jordan today introducing this phenomenal gear! Wow! I´ll subscribe to the channel!! Thanks! 😇

[@sodiumlights]

wonderful video, what a beautifully cool machine. Looks like pure joy to play.

[@ElectronicazMusic]

Beautiful presentation. As ever. Beautiful piece of kit!

[@MrMarcLaflamme]

Variations are amazing. It allows you to get so much more out of 1 pattern than having to waste full patterns for changing individual elements.

[@JM-yu8sb]

Great vid my man, really enjoy your productions! Got to say Poly not selling me on this seq, their tracker though is another world and reminds me of my childhood.

[@cicchettimulti-mediainc.1082]

Been looking at this and the OP-1 field as my next studio purchase, this has been a big informant on that decision

[@JWhitty]

you jsut sold me on this. will be getting one asap to accompany my handpans live

[@rayflux]

Love this Video, im so happy ordering this instrument, it arrives tomorrow, cant wait.

[@WINTERMUTE_AI]

SOLD! Almost had me ready to buy the Polyend Tracker, but Dirtywave M8 is still gonna be in my future... But I think this might come first.

[@wiegraf9009]

Really like the play modes, this is kind of what I've wanted in a generative sequencer

[@SolKonstrukt]

Wow.. Thank you... I got the polyend play a few months ago and was overwhelmed in a good way with it's feature.//. thank you for this tutorial , this gave me a better understanding on how to use it..

[@BigCrashTrackLoop]

Wow! Fascinating device! So my dream of generative drum machine has been realised. Way back in the mid-to-late 90s I was using a tracker called OctaMED on the Commodore Amiga A500 computer to sequence MIDI hardware. I was also attempting to write software that would generate "random" 16-step drum patterns and save them as little MIDI "clips" that I could load into OctaMED. Of course, I didn't want just totally random, but have some kind of "feel" to it. So say it could take in an existing pattern and process it. Probability was easy - just drop a percentage of the existing notes. Swing too by shifting a certaining percentage of notes around. Reversing, MIDI "echo", randomise panning, etc. But, 25 years later, the Polyend Player is in a totally different universe!!! AMAZING.

[@swomps3100]

dude your videos just keep getting better. Been a but since I last peeped one, but this was great. Love the little Benn above the Play, much better than just Hans.

[@Decoy303]

I'm sold on this piece of kit.

[@remyvegamedia]

Dang.... I just stumbled onto these instruments and this video got me SO hyped. I'm a keyboardist primarily and have been looking for a fun way to get back back into electronic production and this or the tracker are definitely the way I wanna go. Great video. Just realized you plugged in a midi keyboard so I gotta finish watching haha. I commented about midi controlling before seeing it.

[@benitoe.4878]

The intro to this episode is awesome.

[@crunchygods]

Your deductive description made me LOL. THANK YOU

[@Skavengeful]

kinda like a monome for people who aren't full on wizards :D great video and insight, thanks

[@bahutu802]

What I love about the Polyend devices is that they will happily produce randomly generated sequences/patterns for you (which is what I did a lot at the beginning with the Tracker). But at the _same_ time it's really intuitive and extensive to manually arrange, tweak and sound-design whole tracks on it. I always wondered how a step sequencer by Polyend would look like (I've not been around when the SEQ was a thing), and I think they absolutely nailed it; integrating the best features from both the tracker- and step-sequencer world

[@iskariot3180]

So, they put all of my favourite electronic artists in a box you say? Takes me back to the reason 4 days. Not that I was any good at it, but I did doodle with some breakcore producing back then. This nifty little box and your tutorial gave me a nostalgic urge to revisit doing that. Might pick this one up, although i have a digitakt and a pyramid. Damn these sequencers demos :p

[@MIHAO]

Love the intro. Great review as well :)

[@harveytherobot]

Dammit, Benn. I’ve been back here 3 times swearing I wasn’t going to buy this but I think you got me this time.

[@teddybearasaurus]

Daaaaang this looks so fun

[@Philtho]

Looks like they went the Elektron route for sequencing and added some generative stuff. The problem with fully generative is that they all sound the same after a while. It's hard to describe, but when you're composing a rhythm on your own, even if you're trying to do randomness, you still have those happy accidents that might be something like an off key note, or a sequence that just sounds random but goes into a fantastic hook. I have yet to have that happen with my marbles or various vsts that produce generative sequences like the play does here. It just sounds sort of ok? What you did here in the video is what it usually ends up as in my DAW. If someone were blindfolded they could probably tell you X is generated. A good starting point? Maybe. Just an observation. I've found randomness is cool for slower delay/reverb filled trippy notes over long pads and such. And hihats. Everything else beyond that, I couldn't find a place for it. Still, I've been pushing equipment producers to include a probability function for every step in their sequencer. I think it helps more than hurt. Fully blown random? I've dabbled enough to know it's not my cup of tea.

[@jnny7182]

Thanks for sharing!

[@valdir7426]

"The problem with fully generative is that they all sound the same after a while." they are many unique ways to do generative and semi-generative. You're still the one controlling what's random and how much; and you're still getting happy accidents this way. personaly I use it for rythms (and sometimes use the random function of an arp); and this is where I've got the most interesting results compared to the process of carefully crafting a pattern (which I often find tedious). Still not convinced it's an interesting tools for melody/harmony though, but I'll have to dig more on that front.

[@ShanevsDCsniperr]

📠

[@ToyKeeper]

Agreed. It's nice to have the option to do generative sequencing... but I don't often find it useful. It's nice for auxiliary parts, sprinkling randomized texture on top of a solid foundation, but a generative foundation usually sounds pretty bad. This will probably improve when AI makes its way into sequencers, but... for now, it's still pretty primitive.

[@brianr5975]

Interesting observation. I haven’t used randomizing enough to recognize a “sameness“ in the different rhythms or patterns it produces, but the problem I have with it is that it just feels like I’m cheating. I like to create those “happy accidents“ completely on my own and not just save something that the machine comes up with. That being said, I do understand that the Play has this “deterministic“ randomizing which gives you a bit more control and as Benn says if it just jumpstarts your creativity and songwriting, then power to it. I am interested to see more opinions about this unit as time goes on. I do love my Tracker I will say.

[@howlinberry1645]

Preorderd!!!

[@simonc8265]

I definitely feel a tangerine dream moment coming on....thankyou for a spot on demo.

[@i.syntaxerror]

Bardzo zabawne rozpoczęcie filmu. I like yours reviews.

[@thefoxfamily341]

Nice thanks for this great overview

[@junglejon74]

Looks like another cool device from Polyend :)

[@AsherBKNY]

Great review thank you

[@MrDannyLaRusso]

16 channels of lovin

[@antoineguilbeault8025]

nice video Benn you gave me a good old g.a.s feeling in the stomach

[@RichardGroulx]

Lol! Absolutely love the intro!

[@Stazma]

That intro killed me hahaha. I aslo had a pre-release unit and have my video up, wich is quite different in use of yours !

[@rrrobart9]

Can’t wait to never glance at a manual! Excellent video! Tons of fun!

[@DokterRyConn]

Great coverage as always! Long live The Flashbulb!

[@ldmdesign5610]

that looks powerful indeed!

[@FroggyVids]

Ok you got me hooked at the very moment you mentioned idm/breakcore/glitch/afx/vsnares...

[@ThelemicMagick]

The little music video at the start reminded me very much of Otto von Schirach's 'Tipo Tropical' Ofcourse also not a stranger to Miami bass and breakcore

[@arcavius01]

Love Otto

[@xn-triq7607]

Polyend are really changing the game, so intuitive, fun, and inspirational to use.

[@ghostpaper]

PLEASE HELP! :) what is the LOVELY PWM pluck instrument that plays at 21:25 ??

[@cityandmoonbacklineltd3685]

Great video as usual, I would point out though that (only because you mentioned you've not seen it elsewhere) that the Elektron seqences, Digitakt for example, can ratchet across multiple steps, so you can program 10 ratchets across 3 steps if you like.

[@virgilsstudio]

Love all of this.

[@sanzansansan]

U´ve really nailed this KZbin thing.

[@marc.lepage]

Love that intro!

[@nebula0697]

Haha, as soon as I saw this I knew Benn Jordan would love it. Super nerdy but cool, like everything polyend does. But so many buttons on such a freakishly small form factor was necessary?

[@timdanyo898]

I think I really like this thing.

[@alexnoble2465]

Great video!!

[@MrMarcLaflamme]

Duke Nuke! Quite possibly the best name for a parameter to date.

[@treesurgeon2441]

I would've killed for this when I first got into IDM.

[@SUPERCLUBVIDEO]

AHHHHHHHHHHHH 💖

[@Iggxzy]

This certainly looks like a step up from my Circuit Tracks.

[@davewebster689]

What a great review. I really want this now, being able to chop the beat up that finely and add velocity ramps so easily is something thats not been possible easily outside my DAW before! I've never felt I would get along with the Polyend Tracker before because of how the sequences are written, but would it be worth buying the Tracker solely to go along with this and make use of its soft synth polyphony? I love granular as well, which makes it a very big plus for me

[@earlsfield]

Arriving tomorrow, maaan!

[@RosssRoyce]

Akai MPC one is infinitely more powerful, plasticity capable, sound shaping and sequencing incl. This thing is good for randomizations.

[@kostoglotow]

so is my laptop, and that's not a single purpose low-end computer running a clunky ass, legacy workflow DAW wrapped in a midi controller. in fact for less than the One I can get the primo version of any major DAW out there which will run circles around that MPC. Does that mean the MPC is bad? Nope. To each their own :)

[@Garethduffy707]

Cool video loved this

[@pixeltarian]

Thinking about selling my deluge to snag one of these. Deluge does more but this workflow looks so much better to my eyes. If it had a synth engine it would be a no brainer.

[@finitesound]

I think I'll keep my Deluge, but this is pretty cool.

[@aaroncarter8845]

More knobs, mechanical keys and decent screen, plus advanced step randomization/automation though. My Deluge is versatile but it takes a bit of work to get to the point of sounding good, I spend half the time trying to figure out what animal I have to sacrifice to get it to record an audio clip without time stretching it. You can't really leave it for a week and come back to beautiful sound, it's always that flat first synth preset that greets you when you boot it up, which always starts me off exhausted.

[@iambillions]

@@aaroncarter8845 modify the 0 synth and save it..?

[@trader4239]

Things explaining is a talent of you very good!

[@diaryofasynthnoob2050]

The drop on that intermission was choice 👌

[@talldarkstrangerpr]

Brilliant!

[@iamrocketray]

You have done it AGAIN! I bought a Polyend Tracker because of YOU, I didn't get on with it unfortunately so I sold it. BUT this is more up my alley. I was impressed with the build quality of the tracker so I am assuming the Polyend Play will be the same. So I now have to find £700 or so, and its ALL your fault, I hope Polyend are paying you a big commission because I bet this video sells shedloads of them.

[@gobowwoewow3752]

The Tracker would be great if it had more than 8 tracks. Chords take up three or four, bass takes one, melody takes one, then there's nothing left for drums

[@touarec]

​@@gobowwoewow3752 isn't it the same with play though? only 8 tracks so chords take at least 3 of them... imagine that might be rather limiting

[@gobowwoewow3752]

@@touarec Probably. I use a Korg sequencer with only 4 tracks but they have 6 note polyphony

[@iamrocketray]

Now you have me wanting the mini tracker, I mean, I didn't get on with the OG tracker, so why would I get on with the mini tracker. BUT I still want one GRRRR

[@iamrocketray]

@@touarec 8 audio AND 8 midi😎

[@Jxnxdoe]

Why does this remind me of my elektron boxes so much 😮 and definitely a step further with the play modes

[@aquaticborealis4877]

The intro to this is pretty funny. I wonder what you would think of the Deluge, which just got a sizeable new update (added wavetable synthesis, mpe, Euclidean sequencing, other stuff). I like that this has a reasonable display and looks easier to get up and going. Deluge seems to have less constraints though, also has a sampler mic and battery.

[@barrierloss]

Has he never used a deluge??? that's absolutely insane to me

[@aquaticborealis4877]

@@barrierloss Maybe I’ll offer to lend mine. But he’s pretty busy.

[@mrrafsk]

@@aquaticborealis4877 yeah synthstrom never loan review units..

[@parmarmanishkumaramrutbhai3279]

thank you, perfect

[@nosville22]

that was more polish text than I expected

[@Percussionists]

hahaha what an intro, well done

[@fleshtonegolem]

That's some SNAZZY tech sir!

[@EannaButler]

Insane. 10/10. Glad it happened.

[@olaholstad]

Great video! How does scales works in relation to the base pitch of the samples? Is there some kind of audio analysis going on there or does the play assumes that all samples are in eg c ?

[@NickVu]

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this vs the Torso T-1

[@okeribok]

me too

[@louisgoldberg1755]

I gotttaaa gotta have oneeeeee

[@g3cd]

Wow, I watched Loopop's video first and was disappointed by the things the Play CAN'T do. Then I watched your video and you start by showing just how much more than the Seq it can do (which I own and I love) and it's AMAZING! I will probably still stick to the Seq for a while since I only just started with electronic music, the Seq is in its reducedness very straightforward and I feel a bit overwhelmed by the Play. But in the long run, I might get a play (haha, if they add audio in and stereo samples, that is).

[@MeskDaKrull]

yeah all i could think during loopops vid was how i looked forward to seeing benn jamming on this thing. No offense to loopop

[@eriklee909]

Keep in mind that there are only a couple of videos out so far. It's impossible to cover everything Play CAN do in just a few videos. There will be more and more informatoin in the coming weeks about all of the great features of Play.

[@greyaltaer8788]

more polyend play vids pls ty

[@Kablehead]

Now i just have to study electric bass for 20 years and then i'll finally be like Squarepusher. :)

[@JoshuaPatrickGarrett]

Didn't expect the intro 🙂