NAMM 2025: Billed as “the first fully programmable drum machine in guitar pedal form,” Polyend’s Step is the beatmaking box that you can control with your feet.
Already known for its grooveboxes - the likes of Play+, Tracker+ and Tracker Mini - Polyend says that Step takes a fresh approach to rhythm creation. It's designed to be used both for live performances and as a practice tool, with the simple controls ensuring that musicians - and guitarists in particular - can focus on their playing.
If you want to really take the creative load off, you can make use of the 350 preset rhythms, but there’s far more to Step than these. You can also design your own beats from scratch, making use of the 200 built-in drumkits. Your 16-step patterns can be looped or combined into 16-pattern songs, and up to 1,000 songs can be stored on the hardware.
You have four tracks to work with, each of which has controllable swing, speed, step probability and more. Other humanisation features include velocity control and micro-move, but you can also lock things to the grid if you want machine-like rhythmic precision.
You can use up to 16 effects per song - delays, repeaters, rearrangers and more - selectable from a palette of more than 50, and these can be punched in with your foot. Other stomp switches enable you to change patterns and adjust the tempo.
Polyend has also added plenty of connectivity to ensure that Step plays nice with all your other gear. This includes MIDI I/O for easy syncing.
Step is shipping from right about now and is priced at £499/€499. If it sounds like a bit of you, you can find out more on the Polyend website.
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