This page is read from MIDI Instrument Definitions, a Python library used in the author's other projects, in which every number is traced to a document its maker published. Its source is on GitHub.

Polyend Tracker MIDI implementation

The MIDI implementation of the Polyend Tracker: what it answers to, and the 80 controls it offers, on firmware 1.9.2.

At a glance

Firmware: This page describes firmware 1.9.2.
MIDI channel: Any one of 1 to 16.
Modes: standard.
MIDI Synthesizer.
Parts: Selected instrument: on the base MIDI channel, taking controls, with how notes reach it not recorded, in MIDI Synthesizer only.
Voices: 8, shared by the parts that play notes.
Note range: Not recorded.
Velocity: Sent and received.
Aftertouch: Sent. Whether it answers to any is not recorded.
Pitch bend: Not recorded.
Program change: Sent.
MIDI clock: Sent and received.
Start and stop: Sent and received.
Control change: 80 controls, in the tables below.
NRPN: None.
System exclusive: Not recorded.

Controls

In the order the definition gives them, by part and group. Under each control is the name a program calls it by, once pymidiinstrumentdefs.load("polyend/tracker") has loaded them.

On the base MIDI channel

Performance effect

Control	CC	Values
Performance Effect Track 1 Pattern Select `track_1_pattern_select`	41	0-127 Received, never sent
Performance Effect Track 2 Pattern Select `track_2_pattern_select`	42	0-127 Received, never sent
Performance Effect Track 3 Pattern Select `track_3_pattern_select`	43	0-127 Received, never sent
Performance Effect Track 4 Pattern Select `track_4_pattern_select`	44	0-127 Received, never sent
Performance Effect Track 5 Pattern Select `track_5_pattern_select`	45	0-127 Received, never sent
Performance Effect Track 6 Pattern Select `track_6_pattern_select`	46	0-127 Received, never sent
Performance Effect Track 7 Pattern Select `track_7_pattern_select`	47	0-127 Received, never sent
Performance Effect Track 8 Pattern Select `track_8_pattern_select`	48	0-127 Received, never sent
Performance Effect Slot 1 Value - Top Row `slot_1_value`	51	0-127 Received, never sent
Performance Effect Slot 2 Value - Top Row `slot_2_value`	52	0-127 Received, never sent
Performance Effect Slot 3 Value - Top Row `slot_3_value`	53	0-127 Received, never sent
Performance Effect Slot 4 Value - Top Row `slot_4_value`	54	0-127 Received, never sent
Performance Effect Slot 5 Value - Top Row `slot_5_value`	55	0-127 Received, never sent
Performance Effect Slot 6 Value - Top Row `slot_6_value`	56	0-127 Received, never sent
Performance Effect Slot 7 Value - Top Row `slot_7_value`	57	0-127 Received, never sent
Performance Effect Slot 8 Value - Top Row `slot_8_value`	58	0-127 Received, never sent
Performance Effect Slot 9 - Top Row `slot_9`	59	0-127 Received, never sent
Performance Effect Slot 10 Value - Top Row `slot_10_value`	60	0-127 Received, never sent
Performance Effect Slot 11 Value - Top Row `slot_11_value`	61	0-127 Received, never sent
Performance Effect Slot 12 Value - Top Row `slot_12_value`	62	0-127 Received, never sent

Master

Control	CC	Values
Master - Track Mixer Track 1 Volume Level `track_mixer_track_1_volume`	71	0-127 Received, never sent
Master - Track Mixer Track 2 Volume Level `track_mixer_track_2_volume`	72	0-127 Received, never sent
Master - Track Mixer Track 3 Volume Level `track_mixer_track_3_volume`	73	0-127 Received, never sent
Master - Track Mixer Track 4 Volume Level `track_mixer_track_4_volume`	74	0-127 Received, never sent
Master - Track Mixer Track 5 Volume Level `track_mixer_track_5_volume`	75	0-127 Received, never sent
Master - Track Mixer Track 6 Volume Level `track_mixer_track_6_volume`	76	0-127 Received, never sent
Master - Track Mixer Track 7 Volume Level `track_mixer_track_7_volume`	77	0-127 Received, never sent
Master - Track Mixer Track 8 Volume Level `track_mixer_track_8_volume`	78	0-127 Received, never sent
Master - Global Mixer Delay Mix `global_mixer_delay_mix`	79	0-127 Received, never sent
Master - Global Mixer Reverb Mix `global_mixer_reverb_mix`	80	0-127 Received, never sent
Master - Global Mixer Dry Mix `global_mixer_dry_mix`	81	0-127 Received, never sent
Master - Global Mixer Line Input `global_mixer_line_input`	82	0-127 Received, never sent

Selected instrument

In MIDI Synthesizer only.

Instrument

Control	CC	Values
Tune `tune`	5	0-127 Received, never sent
Finetune `finetune`	3	0-127 Received, never sent
Volume `volume`	7	0-127 Received, never sent
Panning `panning`	10	0-127 Received, never sent
Filter Type `filter_type`	9	0-127 Received, never sent
Cutoff `cutoff`	1	0-127 Received, never sent
Resonance `resonance`	11	0-127 Received, never sent
Overdrive `overdrive`	12	0-127 Received, never sent
Bit Depth `bit_depth`	13	0-127 Received, never sent
Reverb Send `reverb_send`	14	0-127 Received, never sent
Delay Send `delay_send`	15	0-127 Received, never sent
Wavetable / Granular Position `wavetable_granular_position`	16	0-127 Received, never sent
Wavetable Window / Granular Length `wavetable_window_granular_length`	17	0-127 Received, never sent

Volume

Control	CC	Values
Volume Automation Type `volume_automation_type`	20	0-127 Received, never sent
Volume - Attack - Shape LFO `volume_attack_shape_lfo`	21	0-127 Received, never sent
Volume - Decay - Speed LFO `volume_decay_speed_lfo`	22	0-127 Received, never sent
Volume Sustain `volume_sustain`	23	0-127 Received, never sent
Volume Release `volume_release`	24	0-127 Received, never sent
Volume Amount `volume_amount`	25	0-127 Received, never sent

Panning

Control	CC	Values
Panning Automation Type `panning_automation_type`	26	0-127 Received, never sent
Panning - Attack - Shape LFO `panning_attack_shape_lfo`	27	0-127 Received, never sent
Panning - Decay - Speed LFO `panning_decay_speed_lfo`	28	0-127 Received, never sent
Panning Sustain `panning_sustain`	29	0-127 Received, never sent
Panning Release `panning_release`	30	0-127 Received, never sent
Panning Amount `panning_amount`	31	0-127 Received, never sent

Cutoff

Control	CC	Values
Cutoff Automation Type `cutoff_automation_type`	83	0-127 Received, never sent
Cutoff - Attack - Shape LFO `cutoff_attack_shape_lfo`	84	0-127 Received, never sent
Cutoff - Decay - Speed LFO `cutoff_decay_speed_lfo`	85	0-127 Received, never sent
Cutoff Sustain `cutoff_sustain`	86	0-127 Received, never sent
Cutoff Release `cutoff_release`	87	0-127 Received, never sent
Cutoff Amount `cutoff_amount`	88	0-127 Received, never sent

Wavetable position

Control	CC	Values
Wavetable Position Automation Type `wavetable_position_automation_type`	102	0-127 Received, never sent
Wavetable Position - Attack - Shape LFO `wavetable_position_attack_shape_lfo`	103	0-127 Received, never sent
Wavetable Position - Decay - Speed LFO `wavetable_position_decay_speed_lfo`	104	0-127 Received, never sent
Wavetable Position Sustain `wavetable_position_sustain`	105	0-127 Received, never sent
Wavetable Position Release `wavetable_position_release`	106	0-127 Received, never sent
Wavetable Position Amount `wavetable_position_amount`	107	0-127 Received, never sent

Granular position

Control	CC	Values
Granular Position Automation Type `granular_position_automation_type`	108	0-127 Received, never sent
Granular Position - Attack - Shape LFO `granular_position_attack_shape_lfo`	109	0-127 Received, never sent
Granular Position - Decay - Speed LFO `granular_position_decay_speed_lfo`	110	0-127 Received, never sent
Granular Position Sustain `granular_position_sustain`	111	0-127 Received, never sent
Granular Position Release `granular_position_release`	112	0-127 Received, never sent
Granular Position Amount `granular_position_amount`	113	0-127 Received, never sent

Finetune

Control	CC	Values
Finetune Automation Type `finetune_automation_type`	114	0-127 Received, never sent
Finetune - Attack - Shape LFO `finetune_attack_shape_lfo`	115	0-127 Received, never sent
Finetune - Decay - Speed LFO `finetune_decay_speed_lfo`	116	0-127 Received, never sent
Finetune Sustain `finetune_sustain`	117	0-127 Received, never sent
Finetune Release `finetune_release`	118	0-127 Received, never sent

Where these facts come from

Source documents

Tracker Manual, 1v9v2a, dated October 2025, its user manual, read on 4 October 2026 (the file read).
Tracker downloads • Polyend, its download page, read on 4 October 2026.

How they were read

Tracker Manual (308pp, October 2025, for OS 1.9.2a): chapter 11 is MIDI, and the two tables every number here but one comes from are at pp. 262 and 267. Beside them: the MIDI configuration at pp. 251-252, an example setup that lists the first table's numbers at p. 255, the MIDI instruments at p. 256, velocity at p. 258, the CC out slots at pp. 259-260, program change at p. 263, the mode headed "MIDI Synthesizer" (manual p. 264) at pp. 264-266, performance over MIDI at p. 279, the mixer's controllers at pp. 185-186, the voices at p. 236 and the tracks at p. 18. And the release notes on the maker's download page, which say of the mode what the manual does not: when it arrived, a shortcut into it, and a new name.

THIS MANUAL IS NOT WRITTEN BY POLYEND. Its colophon reads "Manual Produced in the United Kingdom by ... Synthdawg" (manual p. 307) - the ellipsis is the typesetter's web address, which the page sets below the name and the text layer returns between the two, so the words a reader sees in one line are not one string in the file. Its cover calls it "An Official Reference for The Polyend Tracker" (manual p. 1). So it is a third party's book that the maker publishes and serves from its own download page as the manual. That is worth knowing before weighing it against the instrument: where this book and the Tracker's own screen disagree, the screen is the instrument and the book is a description of it.

AND THAT IS NOT HYPOTHETICAL HERE. The "Synthesizer Mode - MIDI CC Configurations" (manual p. 267) table lists forty-seven controller numbers and has no row for panning, although it carries the whole panning automation at 26 to 31. Two pages earlier, a picture of the Tracker's own display lists the same parameters in the same unusual order - Tune, FineTune, Volume, Panning, Filter type, Cutoff, Resonance - with their numbers beside them, and gives "Panning = 10" (manual p. 265). The picture shows thirteen lines of a list that scrolls, and the twelve other pairs in it carry the table's numbers. So the table has dropped a line the screen has, and CC 10 is recorded below on the screen's authority, marked. The picture runs from Delay Send at 15 straight to Volume Automation Type at 20, so the table's 16 and 17, the wavetable and granular pair, rest on the table alone.

THE OTHER THING THE TABLE IS SHORT OF, AND THIS ONE IS NOT RECORDED. Five of the six automation blocks have six rows - Automation Type, Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release and Amount - and Finetune has five, ending at 118 Finetune Release with no Finetune Amount. By the pattern that would be 119. Nothing published says whether the parameter exists and was left out or does not exist, so nothing is recorded for it; unlike panning, no second printing settles it.

TWO ROWS OF EACH BLOCK CARRY TWO NAMES, because an automation is an envelope or an LFO: "The modulator can be an LFO or an Envelope" (manual p. 115). So "Volume - Attack - Shape LFO" (manual p. 267) is read here as one number that sets an envelope's attack or an LFO's shape, by the block's Automation Type, and the Decay row as doubling for the LFO's speed the same way. No page says so of the controller.

NOT RECORDED: which value of Automation Type, or of Filter Type, selects which. No page gives a controller's values for either.

WHAT A VALUE DOES IS SAID FOR THE PERFORMANCE NUMBERS ONLY. For the effect slots, "The CC range on the controller is 0-127 which will be reflected across the range of the effect" (manual p. 279), and for 41 to 48, "The value will represent the pattern" (manual p. 279). Nothing is said for the mixer's twelve. Of the second map the manual says only that "The instrument parameters will adjust when controlled by the external MIDI controller" (manual p. 266).

WHAT THE TRACKER SENDS IS A SETTING, NOT A MAP. Each of its sixteen MIDI instruments carries six controller slots, A to F, and the player puts any number in each: "Six CC parameter slots A-F exist in tracker that can be allocated a CC and then used in FX1 or FX2 of a step" (manual p. 259). The list offered when filling a slot is the MIDI specification's own names, not this instrument's parameters, and it runs past 127: "the Program Change 128, Channel Aftertouch 129 and Polyphonic Aftertouch 130 can also be configured here" (manual p. 260). So the Tracker transmits program change and both kinds of aftertouch as step effects, and none of them on a fixed number.

AND THE MANUAL CONTRADICTS ITSELF ABOUT WHICH NUMBER PROGRAM CHANGE IS. Page 260 gives 128, and page 263 says "Program change is configured as a CC parameter using number 129" (manual p. 263) - which is the number p. 260 gives to Channel Aftertouch. Neither is recorded.

NOT RECORDED:

whether the Tracker answers to a program change at all, because the configuration menu enumerates its four inputs - clock, transport, notes and CC - and program change is not among them, which is an absence of mention rather than a stated no;
whether it answers to aftertouch, for the same reason;
its note range, which no document states, and which the Middle C setting shifts anyway;
and system exclusive, which appears only as a glossary entry explaining what the term means.

PITCH BEND IS A CHECKED ABSENCE: the words "pitch bend" do not occur anywhere in this manual's 308 pages, in either case, and neither does MPE.

THE MANUAL SPELLS THE MODE'S NAME BOTH WAYS. "Synthesizer" (manual p. 264) twenty-five times across twelve pages, five of them about wavetable and granular synthesis and not the mode, and "Synthesiser" (manual p. 265) twice - both on one page, in the two paragraphs that explain the mode. A British author writing for a Polish maker in a document whose own headings are American. The heading's spelling is kept wherever this file names the mode.

THE MAKER HAS RENAMED IT SINCE, AND THE MANUAL HAS NOT FOLLOWED. The release notes on the download page call it "MIDI Synth Mode (press the Shift + Instrument Parameters keys shortcut to enter" (downloads) when it arrived in 1.6.0, and say of 1.9.0 that "Instrument Synthesizer functionality (on Instrument Parameters/Effects screen) was renamed to Instrument MIDI Mapping" (downloads). This file describes 1.9.2, and its manual still prints "Instrument Synthesizer" (manual p. 265) on the pictured screen. So a player on current firmware should look for Instrument MIDI Mapping on the instrument, and in the manual for the heading this file takes the mode's label from. Whether the 1.6.0 shortcut still exists the manual does not say: it names no shortcut. The one route it gives is to the mode's page, "Select [Instrument Parameters] page 1/2. Screen Button [More] then Press [Instrument Synthesizer]" (manual p. 265), which the 1.7.0 notes record as "Added access to the Instrument Synthesizer page in Instrument Parameters > More" (downloads), and it says that page need not be displayed.

ONE LINE OF THIS MANUAL BELONGS TO ANOTHER INSTRUMENT. The settings table at p. 50 explains Clock Out as "Sets the Tracker Mini clock output" (manual p. 50) - in a book about the Tracker, whose cover, running head and every other page say Tracker. It is the only such line, and the same setting is described without the Mini at p. 251. Recorded because a manual that carries a sibling's text in one place may carry it in others.