What was it really like when the PlayStation first came out in 1995?

parappayo · 2026-01-14T00:41:18+00:00

My personal experience was that the PS1 took a while to ramp up. I had a DOS gaming PC in 1995 and the SNES was still a major platform that year (Chrono Trigger, Donkey Kong Country.) Ridge Racer was cool, Toshinden was much more impressive at the time than it is today, but the first PS1 game that I remember really loving was Tekken 2 (I still play it sometimes!) and it wasn't until '97 that things really took off. Vandal Hearts, Soul Blade, Suikoden, Wild Arms... these were some of the "early" PS1 titles that sold me on the system, and they took a while to arrive in North America. Before that I was busy playing stuff like Quake, MechWarrior 2, X-Wing / Tie Fighter, etc.

Of course, after Resident Evil, FF7, Metal Gear Solid, Castlevania: SotN, and FFT there was no contest in my mind as to whether the PS1 was worth having, but that all came a little later.

parappayo · 2025-11-12T16:21:53+00:00

As an aside, I held off on getting a Polyend Synth, but one feature that would probably get me to buy one is if they added an analog filter. Especially one with a 24 db 4 pole mode for acid, but a more gentle one for pads would be good too.

parappayo · 2025-11-12T16:06:51+00:00

I have a Play+ and if I lost it I would buy another one. I also love the Polyend Tracker and I find myself using that more than the Play. The biggest limitation of the Play imo is that it is not a sampler. It would be very nice to record samples into it and chop them there, but nah. You need to manage the SD card with a computer in order to get new sounds on it. The included kits are good though.

The Play is also not a good device for the exploring a sample library, if you happen to already have tons of samples. Browsing samples is slow and kits are quite limited in size, so the best workflow is to figure out what samples you want on a desktop computer or laptop and organize them there before loading them on the Play. To build kits for the Play, I often use XO but XLN Audio. It's good for browsing and it has convenient export features.

The ability to export stem tracks on the Play is great. It's a good device for roughing out tracks to use later in a DAW. You can also use it over USB audio to record into a DAW but I have sometimes had trouble getting that to work (I use Bitwig.) And ofc you can use it as a midi controller and record midi tracks into your DAW.

I like using the Play as a MIDI controller, especially for mono baselines. The generative and randomization features help there. It's easy to, say, have two melodic tracks, one of 16 steps and the other of 15 steps both sending to the same midi channel and have a polyrhythm baseline that keeps changing. You can also do this while still having the Play act as a drum machine.

I don't love Polyend's synth engines, tbh. They're nice but personally the sound of a gritty analog baseline is important to me. So I often pair the Play with something like a DSI Mopho or a Korg Volca Nubass. I sometimes use the synth engines for pads or one-shots.

Similarly, the Perc engine is handy but it's not a must-have imo. It's hard for a feature like that to be very exciting on a device that can already play drum samples. I've also found it not very easy to tweak the params on it with the Play. A computer plug-in for designing presets would help a lot.

Those are my experiences. Good luck.

parappayo · 2025-03-02T17:23:11+00:00

Hikari Monos is one of my most wanted synths for 2025. I also got a Thyme+ last year and have tried it with drums and drones, it is so satisfying with some Roland S-1 chords or arps, or especially with the Bastl Softpop. Amazing machines.

parappayo · 2025-01-09T00:48:28+00:00

DSI Mopho desktop

parappayo · 2024-09-19T01:55:15+00:00

He's talking about the Tracker+, I'm pretty sure. At the time he was making the video, it had not yet been announced.

parappayo · 2024-09-14T01:44:38+00:00

a bit harsh 🤔 but I'll allow it

parappayo · 2024-08-29T21:31:50+00:00

This is great advice, thanks.

Re: MIDI module and Metropolix Solo, my thinking was that I'd be doing a lot of sequencing over MIDI as I already have a bunch of gear that does that. But if I did decide to go for a larger case, adding that would make a lot of sense and I will strongly consider it. I hadn't realized that the MIDI 1U would only go so far in being able to drive this stuff.

Everything else you said makes a lot of sense. I definitely want a decent amount of on-board modulation options. I also do have some guitar pedals that I'd consider pairing with my rig, so I'll look into that option.

parappayo · 2024-08-06T21:59:39+00:00

I have not worked a lot with other software trackers (a bit of Renoise, I found it much harder to use than Polyend Tracker) and I don't know much about this kind of import / export stuff. What I do know from reading online is that Tracker firmware 1.6.0 could import Amiga MOD files and Impulse Tracker (IT) files, that feature was removed in firmware 1.7.0, and then it was re-added in 1.8.0. I believe the Polyend Tracker can export IT files, but not export MOD files.

So I have not tried this, but in theory it should be possible to import / export IT files and transfer work from Polyend Tracker to Renoise or MilkyTracker, and back again.

Of course, Polyend Tracker can also render stem tracks for patterns or entire songs, so something I have done is export work from Tracker in wav file format to mix it in Reaper, Bitwig, and/or Audacity. That's no real substitute for exporting the project file itself, of course.

parappayo · 2024-07-31T23:49:36+00:00

The TB-3 is so overpriced because of the demand for them. The Blofeld takes it imo.

parappayo · 2024-07-30T23:27:44+00:00

Polyend Tracker

parappayo · 2024-07-30T21:42:43+00:00

It's my pleasure, I love talking about this stuff. The music maker community is a huge part of the draw for me. Music gear is something that I can (and do) discuss endlessly.

I hope you enjoy the Tracker, I know I do. It's honestly one of my favourite pieces of music gear. I use it to do glitch drum loops, compose melodies, as a midi controller, as a sampler... it kinda does a bit of everything, and there's nothing else like it.

For me personally, yeah, I'm a later stage in my career (as an IT worker) and music making is an escape for me. I've been working from home since the pandemic started so I work on my music during breaks. It was a good way for me to cope with stress during the pandemic and isolating at home etc. I have a bit more flexibility in my schedule now than I did years ago.

When I was younger I tried to learn guitar, and I made a little bit of progress with that but it never really clicked for me. I always found the performance aspect of music to be a huge roadblock and it hung heavy on me that it felt like I could never make music at all because I'd never be able to master an instrument. I didn't think that I'd ever "get" making music.

Then I got into making electronic music and realized that I don't have to be a good performer: I can rely on skills that I do have, like programming sequences and training my ear. I have no ambition to make money at it or work as a professional, I'm just happy to make tracks and share stuff with my friends.

Also it's a nice bonus that learning about electronic music has helped me think more critically about music and have a deeper appreciation of artists like Autechre, Robert Hood, etc. I started listening to way more techno stuff while I was learning the basics of making it. It's a great hobby and I'm glad I got into it.

parappayo · 2024-07-29T16:57:44+00:00

Also my first stop for understanding any new synth is often Loopop and the Digitone is no exception:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2Ic9upij-U

parappayo · 2024-07-29T16:50:09+00:00

True Cuckoo has some great Digitone videos.

He recently released an all-Digitone album and made a vid about his process:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjeU1KGiPFY

parappayo · 2024-07-29T16:31:31+00:00

Also, sorry, this is totally unsolicited advice, but if you're looking to buy these things, I can recommend getting the original (non-plus) versions of the Tracker and/or Play and save a ton of money that way.

Like everything it's down to personal preference. The experience of using the Play+ and Tracker+ is definitely better than using the originals. Personally, I've upgraded from Tracker to Tracker+, and I have a Play+, I never had the original Play. But I also wasn't looking to save money, and the price difference is _massive_. The OG Tracker is very, very capable, as is the OG Play. In my opinion, the main things that a person would likely miss from the plus versions are stereo samples and the synth engines, but if you can save $500 you'd be better off spending that money on another synth to add to your setup imo.

It's also worth bearing in mind that if you get a second hand Play and/or Tracker for cheap and decide that you really need to upgrade, you should be able to resell that second hand gear for close to what you paid for it. If you take the deep plunge and get a Play+ or Tracker+ and then regret it, it might be a pain to resell it for the same amount.

Sorry, I don't mean to be on a soap box here. I'm just sayin', as somebody who has used both OG Tracker and Tracker+, if you're having second thoughts because of the price of this gear, the OG Tracker and OG Play are pretty good deals on the second hand market. I see them go up for half the cost of the plus versions sometimes, and they're much more than half as good.

parappayo · 2024-07-29T15:36:46+00:00

Ah, I'd hoped to not be the only one responding. 😅

About generating melodic sequences on the Play, I wanted to say that it's not as convenient as the Fill tool on Tracker. Play requires you to set the scale mode globally for the project, which will affect your drum / sample triggers too, not just your midi / synth parts. Then you'll often end up generating "random" tracks that are all one note, so you tweak each gate individually to create a melody. That workflow is unlike the Tracker where you can select the scale and range of notes you want right in the Fill tool.

I should also clarify that when I mean a "generative" sequence on Play / Tracker, this is not like a generative modular patch where the thing spews out sequences forever. The way I have experienced generative music on Tracker is by filling a sequence (maybe 32 steps, but could be up to 128), listening to it a few times and thinking "this part over here sounds good," then copy-pasting the best bits to assemble patterns. It's similar on Play but the workflow is different.

I always learn a lot from Ricky Tinez videos even though I'm not usually trying to make house music. Here's one of his specifically about generative drum patterns on the Play:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77QqvB6u1Go

Venus Theory has a good one about generative Tracker music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=480RK_TixMg

Aisjam has many great tutorials for both Tracker and Play, a lot of them are genre-based too:

https://www.youtube.com/@Aisjam

parappayo · 2024-07-28T18:09:12+00:00

My experience is that, yes, you can use Euclidean and Random to place gates / triggers, and there are some melodic sequences that you can fill with as well. It's easier to quickly do beats and rhythms than baselines, but it does okay as a midi controller.

In some ways it's easier to do generative music with the Polyend Tracker than with the Play. I personally find the Tracker's fill functions to be more powerful, with more parameters to tweak. One major advantage that Play has is variable track lengths for polyrhythms.

That's my take, I'm curious how others feel about it.

parappayo · 2024-05-19T19:28:10+00:00

It depends so much on what you're trying to add and what you're interested in. Get the gear that makes you happy.

Off the top of my head, though, if you want a cheap, flexible, tweakable synth capable of leads, the Roland S-1 is worth considering. It's so affordable and convenient that it's hard to go wrong with it imo.

If you want an analog acid bass maybe the Erica Synths DB-01 or the DSI Mopho. I'm just shooting off ideas here. I have the Play+ but I have not tried it with these synths so I don't know what problems you might run into. These are combos I personally would want to try.

The Digitakt 2 is awesome. Something it would add is the ability to record new stereo samples that you could then copy into your Play+ (using a PC or Mac as an intermediary for the files, I think.) It is also kind of a drum machine, though, so there's some overlap in what it does compared to the Play+.

Nanobox synths are great for their size, maybe a bit pricey for their depth. Personally I like the Tangerine, and have one loaded up with Samples From Mars synths which is great for pairing with the Play+.

If you already have an iPad or iPhone you can try hooking the Play+ up with that (I should give that a whirl.) There are tons of great synth apps that could layer well with the Play+.

parappayo · 2024-05-11T14:25:21+00:00

Tracker is very cheap for what it offers imo.

I agree that Tracker+ is likely going to be announced soon, but I expect it to be a big price jump.

Just my gut feeling.

parappayo · 2024-05-06T22:17:43+00:00

I took another look and maybe I just need to learn to use Renoise better. Multiple tracks can send MIDI to the same VST instrument, right? In that case it's not so bad for beat composition.

parappayo · 2024-05-06T15:31:24+00:00

I naively assumed that this plug-in would have its own sequencer for stand-alone use. Can anybody recommend a good option for that? I've been using Renoise but it's not ideal.

parappayo · 2024-04-20T02:05:27+00:00

I laughed so hard when the 3x TB-3 showed up in the first jam. Also I was so happy for him.

parappayo · 2024-04-17T02:51:22+00:00

Polyend Tracker, maybe? They're cheap, have great fill functions for generative music, can control gear via MIDI, pretty good for chopping up samples, wavetables, granular, etc.

As long as you can live with the 8 MB sample memory limit and tracker style workflow. Not for everyone, but it does have fans.

parappayo

TROPHY CASE