Trying to make House Music on a Tracker // I've Slept on Beat Slicer Mode

[@user1756]

I appreciate that you're showing every step of the way. Other KZbinrs would cut this video down to 8 minutes and be done with it. Thanks!

[@RickyTinez]

Thanks for watching user! I really appreciate it

[@Polyend]

Very cool video, glad you jumped on this one! Best,

[@MrMarcLaflamme]

Tracking is what got me into music back in 95. When you think about it this is what modern grooveboxes do but they hide the parameters behind friendly controls. A Digitakt sequencer is basically a tracker at heart. Happy to see you using it!

[@RickyTinez]

Yeah it’s hilarious to think about it that way. It’s as if you are looking under the hood of modern groove boxes. At this step do XYZ. Then ABC

[@chrisdorsch9754]

I love your T Shirt 👕 respect.

[@MrMarcLaflamme]

I’d love to get one!

[@extrinsicpenguin614]

Hey Ricky! Love seeing you doing stuff with the Tracker. I’ve had mine since January, didn’t know about the mute to unarm tracks while live recording. Thanks for that! Now to return the favor. You can set a scale on the pads by going into Config, project Settings, Pads Scale. Hope this helps! Cheers and keep the good vibes coming.

[@RickyTinez]

Wooo that’s why I love all y’all. Thanks for the tip Extrinsic Penguin

[@TGod2k]

Hey Ricky, been watching you for about 2 years now and you are a huge inspiration for me! Altough i produce trap music, i think the stuff you do on an mpc or any other machine is applicable to all kinds of music and i always look forward to you dropping a new video! Thanks for always staying active, appreciate you!

[@RickyTinez]

Hell yea! that means a lot to me Patrick, I’m glad you find my videos of some use :)

[@GradyNickel]

I'm glad you're still doing videos on Tracker. I still love mine! Play looks cool too. Wish I could get one. Keep doing the occasional Tracker vid!

[@AniccaCollections]

Seriously the best video I've seen of someone working on this instrument. Thanks a lot for this. I was enamored from beginning to end

[@apostatatheprovost3041]

The Sax-Sample is great, Dude. Lovely ❤️✌️

[@rsal137]

Watching this on Sunday noontime (utc +8) and it felt so timely cause of the track's vibe. Your production chops are excellent! Peace

[@jasonfnorth]

I LOVE THE TRACTOR… and that you keep teaching us what you’re doing with it… I’ve also slept on beat slicer so far… thank you 🙏

[@mus3equal]

Ordered my tracker yesterday, just went for a ride and listened to some Otis Redding. Got home and your vid just popped up as I jumped on my workstation. Otis Young gave me some Redding vibes, thanks for the spectrum shift, always a fan of your sound and your knowledge!

[@haydnr1631]

Awesome tutorial! The big screen is what helps make the PT so versatile!

[@noisevector]

I've always loved this chopped house style. Great vibe!

[@jasonblank617]

Your videos are the realest production videos on the Internet. Say what? House music all night long

[@shannonia81]

It's just fun watching you chill out and play with cool stuff, especially when you're genuinely caught by surprise when you make something awesome 😁

[@bahutu802]

I'm so happy to see another video of yours with the Tracker ❤ Apart from the general sequencing workflow (which is absolutely my cup of tea) I discovered that on the Tracker it is really engaging to do sound design - filters, LFOs, envelopes, mixing... Although the display looks retro and minimalistic at first glance, I'd almost say, to work with, it is as intuitive as on a desktop PC (to a certain amount ;) ). I guess that video is also a perfect preparation for a potential future video on the Polyend Play. As I understand, Polyend integrated some signature features from the Tracker into the Play and hence raises the bar for the step sequencer world. I'm really looking forward to see you jam on the Play 👀

[@lofilukelukoala8121]

I love that your videos are as long as they are... I always watch them while lighting one up before a sweet session

[@bahutu802]

Cheers 💨

[@RickyTinez]

Haha niice! Thanks for the views and hangs

[@johncole7177]

That was the bomb. I love tgat groove. Mystical,eerie and dope.

[@muthaphukkin_H8]

Hell yeah Ricky is using a tracker ❤️ Iam playing around a lot with my DirtyWave M8 headless, till the real device will arrive in September.. iam so hyped 🔥

[@yellowecho]

I LOVE the tracker - thanks for the video bro!

[@StefanWolfrum]

Love seeing you making more videos with the PT! I got mine just a few weeks ago and love it so much! Please do continue inspiring me/us Polyend-Tracker-wise!! ❤️

[@russellwoodstechno]

i own two Trackers and absolutely love the workflow. i make electro and it makes creating music so easy.

[@elliefishburn6645]

Sorry if someone else mentioned this, but 1 cool thing I found out on the tracker the other day that saves time on filling out hi-hats for every 2nd step is to just fill it as normal from the top on every 2nd step, and then use the Insert key to push every note in that track down by 1. Both that and Backspace have been a real lifesaver for speeding up the workflow. Peace and love ✌

[@Jbrunel510]

Pattern four was the fuego, super dope man

[@choppertownnation]

The tracker was great, had two weeks of pure joy out of it despite its small memory limitations . But that jog wheel is such a let down. It’s gonna break and after several repairs so will the motherboard, back to renoise and never looked back. Ps polyend support forget it.

[@zeenagual1962]

Renoise is just the best , I use it with Ableton (to record audio tracks ) , perfect combo . I also GAS and brought the tracker , meh , I did expect more from it . Next I'll be hooking the tracker to drive Digitakt and Digitone to see how that can turn out

[@eos777]

So nice to watch ... thank you!

[@jvedra9041]

I feel silly pointing this out, but 15-25% swing is a lot. 50% is straight. I’m not sure what happens when you set tracker to 15-25 because the docs say it’s range is 25-75. My guess is it just set everything to 25%. Anyway, thanks for the tracker content. I love seeing talented people get into the PT, it’s a really fun piece of gear.

[@reflexivmusic]

Effortless as always, I could listen to the stuff you come up with for days!!! When can we expect a new release for Ricky Tinez/VCF?

[@PFSTR]

That sax definitely made it. Great stuff, as always.

[@moinlabs]

Nice choice with the shirt! requiescerat in pacem

[@maxsmart9116]

That's a dope track!

[@sullyroams]

SAUCYYYYYYY! Love my tracker!

[@oldskooldeano]

Inspiring! Now I gotta find something to sample and chop!

[@jerrypizzini]

Man. Ur a genius

[@GreatistheWorld]

Most hangoutable channel of all time

[@DrLaemmerbein]

This track is awesome!

[@landonh3535]

Love the Tracker. I think I messaged you on IG about this, but I hope you can get your hands on a M8 soon. I think you will flip out.

[@jasoncaldwell0613]

now i want to sell my push 2 and grab a polyend tracker. it looks a lot more fun to produce with.

[@IhorMedia]

Tracker mindset is weird. I can relate!

[@RickyTinez]

haha does that mean my mindset is weird?! hmm..

[@JamesRamboPearce]

Ace to see you using the tracker a lot more comfortably than the earlier vids! One thing I do is change the scale/mode and change the layout to 7, which gives you octaves per line but you're still in key.

[@RickyTinez]

Oh that’s awesome! I’ll have to try that out. And yes, I’m feeling a lot more comfortable with it now. It’s funny to watch myself get used to this piece of gear because it reminds me of when I was learning the Octatrack for learning the MPC 4000 for the first time. I would use it for about a week and then put it on the shelf for a couple months and let all the information digest and then come back at it and learn some more and I would do that a few times until I got really fast at it. I feel like I’m at level three out of six with this thing

[@JamesRamboPearce]

@@RickyTinez Yeah man give it a spin! Haha I'm the same it takes a while for the ol' noggin to pick things up but it sticks once it's done!

[@DubFreakuencies]

Ahhh…trackers.That’s how it all started.Yes I’m that old.Thanks Ricky.

[@StefanWolfrum]

Oh, and btw, in case you didn’t know (bonus edition 😂): If you hold down Pattern you can then press not just one, but up to two of the colorful buttons to see 8 tracks and up to (those) two track parameters at once. Crazy, right? I know! 🤪

[@pirateradioFPV]

I use Renoise all the time, love that with the trackers you're all ears instead of being distracted by the UI. The workflow is extremely fast, too. For electronic music they're perfect; to me they've always felt like hardware samplers with graphical interface and the modern trackers allow you to use all your favourite plugins, too. So, they've grown extremely powerful. Ofc the workflow isn't for everyone but once you have the keycommands and shortcuts in your backbone, composing a track is almost as fast as grabbing a guitar.

[@RickyTinez]

Yea hilariously I love the workflow. Makes you think! It’s an itch my brain had that I didn’t know I needed to scratch

[@pirateradioFPV]

@@RickyTinez Yup, they're so much more than the chiptune tools people used to consider them as. Though you can still make chiptunes with them, too 😄

[@StefanWolfrum]

Don‘t know if you know this or if it‘s of any relevance for you: you can rename the tracks to your liking. Instead of having „Track 1“, „Track 2“ etc. it helps me to see them as „Kick“, „Snare“ etc. This can be done via the Master button in the 2nd screen, the „Track Mixer“. Just press the Rec button here and you get a red „Edit“ for each of the 8 track buttons. Press them to be able to rename your tracks. 😉

[@RickyTinez]

Dude Stefan!! Coming in hot with the super useful tips. Thank you for the support and the knowledge :)

[@StefanWolfrum]

@@artisans8521 How ‘bout naming them „BD+SN“ or at least s/th like „Drums1“ etc. Be creative! 😉

[@StefanWolfrum]

@@RickyTinez 😂 Dude! Ricky! Your answer made my day! 🤗

[@bahutu802]

Yeah that really helps. Would be even better if there were optional track names _per_ _pattern_ . Or pattern names. Like being able to name a pattern 'intro', 'bridge', 'break' or so. Would be super useful in song mode. Or to orient oneself after a longer time not working on a project. But well, maybe that would disrupt the somewhat minimalistic Tracker experience.

[@GeorgeLocke]

I like to think Sr. Tinez honestly forgot about that sax sample.

[@KarlSadler]

I've put the Tracker aside for a while, so I can focus on learning some other bits of gear I have, but thanks for creating this, it reminds me how unique and special this sampling groovebox can be. For me though, I feel like this machine might be one of those that unlocks quite a different style of music I'm used to creating. It definitely challenges you to think about production differently. Have you thought about a detour or adventure it could take you to another place?

[@LuvingToryChristman]

Just ordered the Tracker+ \o/

[@varde6965]

would love to see some talanted people do a 1hr tracker competition with this machine :). would be so nostalgic !

[@JacobPadlock]

Gold Panda ish vibes

[@JacobPadlock]

Or maybe like his DJ Jenifa side project

[@jerrypizzini]

It’s so cool how this thing comes whit some cool games. 😂

[@MetatronsCube23]

not just any games, it can play any NES game roms that you load on. I have Contra, River City Ransom, Double Dragon, and a few others loaded on mine.

[@jerrypizzini]

@@MetatronsCube23 I know!! That’s insane!!!!

[@burstthurston]

shift + insert/home to go to the top

[@jthek2000]

Love the tracker, but the Polyend Play will soon be the most highly regarded groove box for the foreseeable future, just watch.

[@TWENTYELBRIDGE]

yeah man, this guy is good..

[@genesis_tracks]

Oh man I'm getting Nujabes nostalgia from this yo...

[@rsbohn]

Wish I understood half of what is going on here. Best chunk of my Saturday.

[@cadetesespaciales]

Ricky, have a question for you. I'm looking to add a new piece of gear to my workflow, which is mostly computer-based (MacBook, Bitwig, Apollo Twin). My style of music is kind of indie-something: regular verse/chorus/bridge structure, mix of acoustic (drums/bass/guitar) and electronic instruments (drums, keyboards), with vocals. Mostly "linear" composition. My main goal would be to have an "all-in-one" portable solution for creating beats on-the-go, exploring sound design, use as a sketchpad, etc. Something to inspire me to come up with new ideas, away from the computer. I was looking at the OP-1, because it offers a sampler (with built-in microphone), several synth engines, etc, but its way out of my budget, and I'm not convinced of the "tape" workflow. I came across the Polyend Tracker, and it seems to tick several boxes, PLUS I know how trackers work, as that's how I started making music back in 1990's (Fast Tracker II). Would you say the Polyend Tracker would work for my use case? I'm particularly looking at the Polyend Tracker Mini, which also has usb audio, built in microphone, larger capacity for samples in memory, etc. Note that, even though my music definitely has an "electronic" flavor, I'm not a dance music producer. That's the key element. Most videos I've found seem to focus on using the tracker for dance/electronica/chiptunes kind of music. Appreciate your well-informed opinion. BTW: Subscribed!

[@devioustrip5728]

I miss my tracker i just had to sell it for rent 💀 whoever bought it got all beats on that SD card

[@duketranslucent3rd]

Great job, Ricky. This vs. MPC One? Or, taking it further, vs.404 MKII or Digitakt? All very different, of course, but curious for your take.

[@russellwoodstechno]

goddamn instrument parameters. thank you for reminding me of another part of the Tracker i need to use more.

[@brainbox9219]

Wonder if something like a keystep or beatstep would be useful to use with the tracker, do you have any experience using midi controllers with it?

[@kuciferr]

when you dropped that Sax sample it sounded like Shing01

[@DirtleTilbury]

#Shiftpasste Good vid here

[@MrMarcLaflamme]

Volume in a tracker should have its own column.

[@bahutu802]

Indeed. Depending on what you want to achieve, sometimes it's really bitter to sacrifice a whole FX column for it. Sure there might be workarounds, like using several instruments, same sample but varying velocities. But of course it introduces an other layer of complexity, like remembering which inst has which velocity assigned etc.

[@luissantiago1517]

Love the tracker! Wish it had a swing option on the instrument parameters page. Thanks for all the great content!

[@MetatronsCube23]

needs some roll and slide effects

[@TheFlippertube]

Have you messed with the "swing" effect?

[@SonicVibe]

Have you messed with the polyend play yet?

[@harveytherobot]

He said he hasn’t right at the beginning of the vid.

[@jimlampshady]

Dude - first off, gotta say I've never used a tracker and I'm very interested in jumping down that rabbit hole - shaking up your workflow is defo very healthy. Your section on adding swing is I think probably confusing for many novices. You've delayed every other 1/8th beat high hat, whereas the "normal" thing would be to delay every other 1/16th beat hat. Of course there's no rules, but a beginner trying to get their hats to swing might watch this vid and think every other 1/8th beat was the standard way to do it, and it ain't. Keep up the good work, fella!

[@chosenone543]

there is no normal way to swing your hats, if the man wants to swing every other hat he can. just cause someone taught you the way to swing your hats doesnt men its the "standard" way.

[@jimlampshady]

@@chosenone543 It's not a secret or a mystery, but there is absolutely a normal way to swing hats, which is to delay every other 1/16th beat (the ones off the down beat). If you don't know, now you know).

[@chosenone543]

@@jimlampshady thanks you now told one of the many different ways i could arrange my hats

[@earlsfield]

I wonder why do you find tracker weird. It is perfectly logical way to program music (yeah it goes from top to bottom, but you can even change that left to right). Trackers were the first software that would allow us to monitor the progression of the song in a linear way, and to visualize how our track looks like. It was the first time visualisation of music was done in such a way and modern DAWs and sequencers like Elektron's are heavily influenced by trackers. Also, this selection edit was ofc needed - its like you select the last bar in a 4 bar event to add a fill or whatever.

[@AndrewPRoberts]

Sequential shirt 😔

[@1dkappe]

The swung beat sounded kinda janky.

[@victorpalerm6638]

What would you prefer MPC One or The Polyend Tracker? Thanks much appreciated

[@CampariVibez]

Can’t this all be done with push + ableton a lot faster? Why Tracker?

[@RickyTinez]

Makes you think a little different at times :) this 100% can be done on almost anything nowadays. It’s just how you get there that changes. I like this workflow

[@OlehSobolev]

3rd

[@toslinked]

first!

[@OlehSobolev]

big up dude

[@andrewkeller2842]

You know you are saying the artist’s name right because you do the thing with your hand…

[@claycowartisamazing]

lmao........ how to make a soggy ass jam.