Music tracker

A music tracker (short version tracker) is a type of music sequencer software for creating
music. The music is represented as discrete musical notes positioned in several channels at
discrete chronological positions on a vertical timeline. A music tracker's user interface is
usually number based. Notes, parameter changes, effects and other commands are entered
with the keyboard into a grid of fixed time slots as codes consisting of letters, numbers and
hexadecimal digits.[1] Separate patterns have independent timelines; a complete song consists
of a master list of repeated patterns.

Later trackers departed from solely using module files, adding other options both to the sound
OpenMPT, a tracker running in Microsoft
synthesis (hosting generic synthesizers and effects or MIDI output) and to the sequencing Windows.
(MIDI input and recording), effectively becoming general purpose sequencers with a different
user interface.

Music trackers like DefleMask and FamiTracker are commonly used to createchiptunes.

Contents
History
1987: origins on the Amiga
1990s: MS-DOS PC versions
2000s: Multiple platforms
2010s: Current state
Terminology
Use in professional music
Selected list of music trackers
Windows, macOS, and Linux
Interpreted platforms
Atari ST / STE / Falcon
Commodore 8 bit machines (C64 / Plus/4 / C16)
Amiga
DOS
Other operating systems
See also
Further reading
External links
References

History

1987: origins on the Amiga

The term tracker derives from Ultimate Soundtracker; the first tracker software.[2] Ultimate Soundtracker was written by Karsten Obarski and released in
1987 by EAS Computer Technik for the Commodore Amiga.[3] Ultimate Soundtracker was a commercial product, but soon shareware clones such as
NoiseTracker appeared as well. The general concept of step-sequencing samples numerically, as used in trackers, is also found in the Fairlight CMI
sampling workstation of the early 1980s. Some early tracker-like programs appeared for the MSX (Yamaha CX5M) and Commodore 64, before 1987,
such as Sound Monitor, but these did not feature sample playback, instead playing notes on the computer's internal synthesizer. Later, in Rock Monitor 3
and 4 they implemented sample player, usually with short drum samples loaded in RAM memory
.

The first trackers supported four pitch and volume modulated channels of 8-bit PCM samples, a limitation derived from the Amiga's Paula audio chipset
and the commonplace 8SVX format used to store sampled sound. However, since the notes were samples, the limitation was less important than those of
synthesizing music chips.[4]
 1990s: MS-DOS PC versions
During the 1990s, tracker musicians gravitated to the PC as software production in general
switched from the Amiga platform to the PC. Although the IBM and compatibles initially
lacked the hardware sound processing capabilities of the Amiga, with the advent of the Sound
Blaster line from Creative, PC audio slowly began to approach CD Quality
(44.1 kHz/16 bit/Stereo) with the release of theSoundBlaster 16.

Another sound card popular on the PC tracker scene was the Gravis Ultrasound, which
continued the hardware mixing tradition, with 32 internal channels and onboard memory for
sample storage. For a time, it offered unparalleled sound quality and became the choice of
Schism Tracker with a classicaltext mode
based GUI, typical for trackers of the 1980s and discerning tracker musicians. Understanding that the support of tracker music would benefit
1990s, playing a module from the video game sales, Gravis gave away some 6000 GUS cards to participants. Coupled with excellent
Bejeweled by Finnish composer Skaven. developer documentation, this gesture quickly prompted the GUS to become an integral
component of many tracking programs and software. Inevitably, the balance was largely
redressed with the introduction of the Sound Blaster AWE32 and its successors, which also
featured on-board RAM andwavetable (or sample table) mixing.

The responsibility for audio mixing passed from hardware to software (the main CPU), which gradually
enabled the use of more and more channels. From the typical 4 MOD channels of the Amiga, the limit
had moved to 7 with TFMX players and 8, first with Oktalyzer and later with the vastly more popular
OctaMED (all Amiga programs), then 32 with ScreamTracker 3 and FastTracker 2 on the PC and on to
64 with Impulse Tracker (PC) and MED SoundStudio (Amiga and later PC). An Amiga tracker called
Symphonie Pro even supported 256 channels.

As such, hardware mixing did not last. As processors got faster and acquired special multimedia
Screenshot of Scream Tracker 3.21,
processing abilities (e.g. MMX) and companies began to push Hardware Abstraction Layers, like
a popular Tracker for the PC during
DirectX, the AWE and GUS range became obsolete. DirectX, WDM and, now more commonly, ASIO, the 1990s
deliver high-quality sampled audio irrespective of hardware brand.

There was also a split off from the sample based trackers taking advantage of the OPL2/OPL3 chips of the Sound Blaster series. Adlib Tracker II and
many others survive to this day. All Sound Tracker was able to combine both the FM synthesis of the OPL chips and the sample based synthesis of the
EMU-8000 chips in the Sound Blaster AWE series of cards as well as MIDI output to any additional hardware of choice.

2000s: Multiple platforms

Tracker music could be found in computer games of the late 1990s and early 2000s, such as the Unreal series, Deus Ex, Crusader: No Remorse, Jazz
Jackrabbit and Uplink. Tracker software continues to develop. Some of the early Amiga trackers such as ProTracker and OctaMED have received various
updates, mostly for porting to other platforms. ProTracker having resumed development in 2004, with plans for releasing version 5 to Windows and
AmigaOS, but only version 4.0 beta 2 for AmigaOS has been released. Other cross-platform trackers include
Renoise, MilkyTracker and SunVox.

Buzz, OpenMPT, Renoise, Psycle, and others offer features undreamed-of back in the day (improved signal-to-noise ratios, automation, VST support,
internal DSPs and multi-effects, multi I/O cards support etc.).

In 2005, FamiTracker, a tracker for the NES and Famicom, was officially released. As of version 0.5 beta, it is so far the only tracker for the system with
full expansion audio support including theSunsoft 5B.

During 2007, Renoise and OpenMPT were presented in Computer Music Magazine as
[5]
professional and inexpensive alternative to other music production software.

2010s: Current state

In 2010, Modplug Tracker (OpenMPT) and Renoise were two of the most popular and
actively developed trackers.

Four new trackers, Aodix, Buzé, Radium, and SVArTracker, had extended the tracker
concept with new features such as piano roll, tickless events, and graphical automation.
Renoise, a popular tracker in the 2000s and
2010s.
The development of Jeskola Buzz was resumed and regularly updated until January 2016.[6]
In 2011, DefleMask was released, a multi-system chipmusic tracker, supporting SEGA Genesis, SEGA Master System, Nintendo Game Boy, Yamaha's
SMAF, among other systems.[7]

Sonant Live and Bassoontracker are two trackers running in the web browser.

Adlib Tracker II has been steadily updated and has becomeopen source.[8]

Trackers have also appeared as plugins for other DAWs. Two examples of this are ReViSiT which can serve as a general purpose VSTi and the open-
source Hackey-Trackey which serves as a plugin forREAPER.

Terminology
There are several elements common to any tracker program: samples, notes, fects,
ef tracks (or channels), patterns, and orders.

A sample is a small digital sound file of an instrument, voice, or other sound effect. Most trackers allow a part of the sample to be looped, simulating a
sustain of a note.

A note designates the frequency at which the sample is played back. By increasing or decreasing the playback speed of a digital sample, the pitch is raised
or lowered, simulating instrumental notes (e.g. C, C#, D, etc.).

An effect is a special function applied to a particular note. These effects are then applied during playback through either hardware or software. Common
tracker effects include volume, portamento, vibrato, retrigger, and arpeggio.

A track (or channel) is a space where one sample is played back at a time. Whereas the original Amiga trackers only provided four tracks, the hardware
limit, modern trackers can mix a virtually unlimited number of channels into one sound stream through software mixing. Tracks have a fixed number of
"rows" on which notes and effects can be placed (most trackers lay out tracks in a vertical fashion). Tracks typically contain 64 rows and 16 beats,
although the beats and tempo can be increased or decreased to the composer's taste.

A basic drum set could thus be arranged by putting a bass drum at rows 0, 4, 8, 12 etc. of one track and putting some hihat at rows 2, 6, 10, 14 etc. of a
second track. Of course bass and hats could be interleaved on the same track, if the samples are short enough. If not, the previous sample is usually
stopped when the next one begins. Some modern trackers simulate polyphony in a single track by setting the "new note action" of each instrument to cut,
continue, fade out, or release, opening new mixing channels as necessary
.

A pattern is a group of simultaneously played tracks that represents a full section of the song. A pattern usually represents an even numbermeasures
of of
music composition.

An order is part of a sequence of patterns which defines the layout of a song. Patterns can be repeated across multiple orders to save tracking time and file
space.

There are also some tracker-like programs that utilize tracker-style sequencing schemes, while using real-time sound synthesis instead of samples. Many
of these programs are designed for creating music for a particular synthesizer chip such as the OPL chips of the Adlib and SoundBlaster sound cards, or
the sound chips of classic home computers.

Tracker music is typically stored in module files where the song data and samples are encapsulated in a single file. Several module file formats are
supported by popular music player programs such as Winamp or XMMS. Well-known formats include MOD, MED, S3M, XM and IT. Many of these
formats can also be imported into existing trackers, allowing to view arrangement, instrumentation and the use of effect commands. This also makes the
[9]
self-teaching of music composition using trackers easier and allows to extract instruments for later use in own songs, which was very common.

Use in professional music

The hardcore techno scene has had many releases originally written using trackers and released on CD and vinyl.[10] Notable artists include Nasenbluten,
Noisekick, Neophyte and Deadmau5.[11][12][13]

Also in video game soundtracks tracker music was used by notable artists as Andrew Sega, Alexander Brandon, Dan Gardopée and Peter Hajba. Video
game developer Nicklas Nygren used Fast Tracker 2 in his early works (e.g.Knytt Stories[14] ) to compose the video game music.[15]

Selected list of music trackers

Windows, macOS, and Linux

 Latest OS versions File format support VST Modular
Name License
update Windows macOS Linux MID MOD XM IT S3M support mixer

2016-
Buzé GPL / BSD Yes No No Load Load Load Load Yes Yes Yes
01
2016-
Buzztrax LGPL No Yes Yes Load Load Load Load No Yes Yes
01
2017-
Klystrack BSD Yes Yes Yes No Load Load No No No No
09
2013-
Hivelytracker BSD Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No
05
2006-
MadTracker Commercial Yes No No Load Load Yes Load Load Yes No
02
2018-
MilkyTracker [16] GPL Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Load Load No No
02
2018-
OpenMPT BSD Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
05
ProTracker 2018-
WTFPL Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No
v2.3D clone 06
Fasttracker II 2018-
WTFPL Yes Yes No No No Yes No No No No
clone 06
2013-
Protrekkr BSD Yes Yes Yes No Load No No No No No
10
2017-
Psycle GPL Yes No No No Load Yes Load Load Yes Yes
07
2018- GPL /
Radium[17] Yes Yes Yes Load Load Load No No Yes Yes
08 Commercial
2016-
Renoise Commercial Yes Yes Yes Load Load Load Load No Yes No
01
2018-
Schism Tracker GPL Yes Yes Yes Load Load Load Yes Yes No No
05
2006-
SoundTracker GPL No No Yes No Yes Yes No No No No
02
2017-
SunVox Freeware Yes Yes Yes Yes Load Load No No No Yes
11
2016-
SVArTracker Commercial Yes No No Load Load Load Load Load Yes Yes
05

Interpreted platforms
These trackers run in virtual machines.

Frinika – Java[18]
Jeskola Buzz – .NET Framework
PulseBoy – Adobe Flash[19]
ZeeTracker – Java

Atari ST / STE / Falcon

ST SoundTracker (Equinox, 1990)
Audio Sculpture (Synchron Assembly, 1990)
Protracker STE (Equinox, 1991)
Octalyser (Code & Alan F, 1992)
Megatracker (Simplet & Axel Follet, 1994)
DBE-Tracker (ST-Ghost, 1995)
Digital Tracker (Emmanuel Jaccard, 1996)
Graoumf Tracker (Laurent de SORAS, 1996)
Digital Home Studio (Emmanuel Jaccard, 1997)
FlexTrax [20] (Thomas Bergström, 2000)
ACE Tracker [20] (Thomas Bergström, 2002)
 maxYMiser (Gareth Morris / gwEm, 2005)
Hextracker (Paulo Simoes, 2011)

Commodore 8 bit machines (C64 / Plus/4 / C16)

JCH-editor by JCH - a well-established C64 tracker from the 90s still in use today by professional SID-composers
SDI by 6r6 - resembles JCH-editor, it suppors some MIDI-interface types too
X-SID by Jeff - has JCH-style interface as well, withmany instrument settings
Ninjatracker by Cadaver - a simple but powerful tracker with low CPU usage (a few rasterlines' time)
SID-Wizard by Hermit - a full-featured C64 tracker with big UI and MIDI file & input support
1raster-tracker (Hermit) - produces music in the timeframe of a single rasterline (cca. 63 microseconds)
TEDzakker (Hermit) - tracker for the TED chip of Plus/4 and Commodore 16 with innovative sound tricks

Amiga
Ultimate Soundtracker(Karsten Obarski, 1987)
Protracker (Lars Hamre, Anders Hamre, Sven Vahsen, Rune Johnsrud, 1990)
OctaMED (1989, Teijo Kinnunen)
NoiseTracker (Pex Tufvesson, Anders Berkeman, 1989)
Audio Sculpture
Radium[17]
DigiBooster

DOS
Screenshot of the multi-platform
Scream Tracker (Sami Tammilehto, 1990) Protracker clone program
Modedit
Fast Tracker (Triton Demo-Crew, 1995)
Impulse Tracker (Jeffrey Lim, 1995)
Sound Club (Priit Kasesalu, Ahti Heinla, Jaan Tallinn: Estonia, 1993) .SN.MOD .MIDI modules
Digitrakker (Prodatron)

Other operating systems

Allows users to create music for one system on another. Usually uses emulation to produce sound, some
of trackers also can use real sound chips connected to host system.

ChibiTracker (2006, Juan Linietsky) – ChibiTracker has a GNU open-source license and
runs on FreeBSD, BeOS and Nintendo DS.[21]
HoustonTracker (2015, irrlicht project) – An open source tracker for the exas T Instruments
TI-82, TI-83/82STATS, and TI-83+/84+/SE calculators.[22]
LittleGPTracker (2009) – LittleGPTracker is aimed at the GP2X hand-held console, but
also runs on PSP, Windows, macOS and Linux.[23]
Little Sound Dj (Johan Kotlinski) – Game Boy.
Soundtracker
MilkyTracker (2008, pailes et al.) – MilkyTracker has a GPL open-source license and runs
on Linux, FreeBSD, Windows, Windows CE, macOS, Xbox 360,AROS and AmigaOS
4.[16] An unofficial port for Android is available onGoogle Play.[24] It supports .MOD and
.XM module files, and attempts to recreate the user experience ofFasttracker II.
NitroTracker (Tobias Weyland, 2006, GPL) – Nintendo DS[25]
Propulse Tracker (Joel Toivonen, 2016-2017, GPL) - Linux, macOS, Windows. https://github.com/hukkax/Propulse
Schism Tracker (2003, Mrs. Brisby, Storlek et al.) – GPL licensed for Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD,Wii, Pandora (console) (and
further platforms with GCC4 and SDL support). Based on a highly modified version of the ModPlug engine as a reimplementation of
Impulse Tracker for modern operating systems.[26]
Soundtracker (Jarosław Burczyński, 1990,public domain) – Soundtracker sequenced the three channels of the Y A-3-8910 audio chip
on the 128K models ofZX Spectrum. Though the instruments were referred to as samples, they were chip-generated sounds. The user
is able to modify each sample via use of amplitude envelopes, noise frequency envelopes and pitch modifications. When these
[27] A second program, ST
"samples" were played in the tracker they could also be modified by arpeggios (referred to as ornaments).
Compiler, allowed Soundtracker songs to be integrated into other code. [28]

SunVox (2011, Alex Zolotov) – SunVox is freeware for Windows, Linux, macOS, Palm OS and Windows Mobile (Windows CE); and
available commercially for the iPhone/iPod touch/iPad and Android.
GoatTracker by Cadaver - targets the Commodore 64 SID chip, highly optimizes the exported files
CheeseCutter by Abaddon - based on the format of JCH-editor for the Commodore 64
Bassoon Tracker - A tracker running in the web browser. http://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/
See also
Category:Tracker musicians
Computer game music
Modular software music studio
List of music software

Further reading
René T. A. Lysloff, Leslie C. Gay (2003).Music and technoculture(illustrated ed.). Wesleyan University Press. pp. 37–38,50 58.
ISBN 978-0-8195-6513-6.

External links
Andrew 'Necros' Sega: Taking Tracking Mainstream, Tracker history presentation on theNotacon April 27, 2007
Tracker History Graphing Projectlineage of music trackers by Claudio Matsuoka (accessed April 2013)
The Tracker's Handbook, an introduction to tracking

References
1. Gallagher, Mitch (2009). The Music Tech Dictionary: A Glossary of Audio-Related Terms and Technologies (https://books.google.com/b
ooks?id=EfgLAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA217). Course Technology. Retrieved September 10, 2014.
2. Olga Guriunova. Art Platforms and Cultural Production on the Internet(https://books.google.com/books?id=svTOmgMUGW0C&printsec
=frontcover&hl=es&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false) . Routledge. p. 162. ISBN 978-0-415-89310-7.
Retrieved 2014-09-13.
3. Matsuoka, Claudio (2007-11-04)."Tracker History Graphing Project"(http://helllabs.org/tracker-history/). helllabs.org. Retrieved
2011-01-29. "Tracker History Graph (http://helllabs.org/tracker-history/trackers.svg)"
4. Commodore's SID or General Instruments' venerableAY-3-8912 and Yamaha's compatible YM2149.
5. "Top Trackers" (http://www.musicradar.com/computermusic/computer-music-june-issue-cmu113-on-sale -now-246001). Computer Music
Magazine. Future Publishing Ltd (113). June 2007. Retrieved 11 January 2017. "Tracker! The amazing free music software giving the
big boys a run for their money."
6. "Buzz changelog" (http://jeskola.net/buzz/beta/files/changelog.txt)
. jeskola.net.
7. DefleMask Tracker (http://www.deflemask.com) DefleMask Tracker.
8. "Adlib Tracker II code repository at GitHub"(https://github.com/ijsf/at2). www.github.com.
9. Leonard, Andrew (1999-04-29)."Mod love" (https://web.archive.org/web/20121025040018/http://www .salon.com/1999/04/29/mod_track
ers/). Salon.com. Salon Media Group. Archived fromthe original (http://www.salon.com/technology/feature/1999/04/29/mod_trackers/in
dex.html) on 2012-10-25. Retrieved 2010-05-17. "You get to see exactly how the song was puttogether: what samples were used, how
they were played, what instruments worked together to create certain sections.
"
10. "Index of /deadnoise/MOD FILES"(http://www.apocalypse-recordings.com/deadnoise/MOD%20FILES/). apocalypse-recordings.com.
11. Reynolds, Simon (4 July 2013)."Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture"(https://books.google.com/books?i
d=CXPZyYHLd-kC&lpg=PT290&ots=Kb6GmfV usR&dq=amiga+music+nasenbluten&hl=de&pg=PT290#v=onepage&q=amiga+music+n
asenbluten&f=false). Faber & Faber – via Google Books.
12. Noisekick Interview (http://www.ccpar.com/noisekick-interview-hardcore-halloween/)"How did you get into your djing career? I started
producing in 1995 when I was 14 years old with Fastrracker 2."
13. Burns, Todd L. (2008-09-30). "Deadmau5: It's complicated"(http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature.aspx?972). residentadvisor.net.
Retrieved 2014-09-03. "I was in my Mom's basement tooling away on Impulse rTacker on a 386 just doing Nintendo music until some
Loop Library company hired me as a producer ."
14. Nifflas (ftp://ftp.modland.com/pub/modules/Fasttracker%202/Nif
flas/) on modarchive.org
15. Gaj Capuder (2004-05-02)."Interview with Nifflas – CTG Music Community" (http://www.ctgmusic.com/community-interviews.php?
id=7). Ctgmusic.com. Retrieved 2015-02-26. "I quit the lessions, and created no music until early 1999. This was the year I found out
about Fast Tracker 2."
16. Kirn, Peter (2008-03-14)."MilkyTracker Pan-Platform Tracker Now Open Source, with New Features"(http://createdigitalmusic.com/200
8/04/14/milkytracker-pan-platform-tracker-now-open-source-with-new-features/)
. Create Digital Music. Retrieved 2010-05-17.
17. Matheussen, Kjetil (3 May 2014).Radium: A music editor inspired by the music tracker(http://lac.linuxaudio.org/2014/papers/22.pdf)
(pdf). Linux Audio Conference. Karlsruhe. pp. 1–8. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
18. "Frinika homepage" (http://www.frinika.com).
19. Hamilton, Kirk (2012-10-04)."Make Chiptunes In Your Browser With This Awesome, Simple Sequencer"(http://kotaku.com/5949117/m
ake-chiptunes-in-your-browser-with-this-awesome-simple-sequencer). Kotaku. Retrieved 2013-06-09.
20. "new beat productions"(http://nb.atari.org/main.php?page=productions)
. nb.atari.org.
21. Kirn, Peter (2008-04-11)."Chibitracker on DS; Favorite Trackers on the Road?" (http://createdigitalmusic.com/2008/04/11/chibitracker-o
n-ds-favorite-trackers-on-the-road/). Create Digital Music. Retrieved 2010-05-17.
22. "HoustonTracker 2" (http://irrlichtproject.de/houston/index.html). irrlichtproject.de.
23. "LittleGPTracker Hits 1.0; Free, GP2x, Linux,Mac, Windows, Does Lots of Stuff" (http://createdigitalmusic.com/2008/05/29/littlegptracke
r-hits-10-free-gp2x-linux-mac-windows-does-lots-of-stuf
f/). Create Digital Music. 2008-05-29. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
24. "MilkyTracker – Android Apps on Google Play" (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.milkytracker.sdl&hl=en).
play.google.com. Retrieved 2016-02-14.
25. "NitroTracker, DS Music Tool, Now Open Source" (http://cdm.link/2010/04/nitrotracker-ds-music-tool-now-open-source/)
. cdm.link. 13
April 2010.
26. "Schism Tracker" (http://schismtracker.org). 2017-08-10.
27. "Your Sinclair" (83). Future. November 1992:6 and 22.
28. "Your Sinclair" (84). Future. December 1992:5.

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