SoundTracker v1.0.5 :: nfo

SoundTracker v1.0.5

Back to the roots -- this is the Real SoundTracker
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http://www.soundtracker.org/
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v0.6.8

Written and (C) 1998-2006
by Michael Krause [ raw style ^ farbrausch & lego ]
mk@soundtracker.org, http://www.soundtracker.org/raw/

WHAT IS IT?
============

short answer:
-------------

SoundTracker is a pattern-oriented music editor (similar to the DOS
program 'FastTracker'). Samples are lined up on tracks and patterns
which are then arranged to a song. Supported module formats are XM and
MOD; the player code is the one from OpenCP. A basic sample recorder
and editor is also included.

long answer:
------------

If you've heard of ProTracker or FastTracker before, you will be
familiar with the concept of 'SoundTracker'. The name of my program
has been taken from the very first program of this type, which was
written by Karsten Obarski for the Amiga in 1987.

The basic concept is simple: you have a number of "sound samples", and
you can arrange them on so-called "tracks". A track (or channel) can
not play more than one sample at the same time. While the original
Amiga trackers only provided four tracks (this was the hardware
limit), trackers for PC's can mix a theoretically unlimited number of
channels (typically up to 32) into one sound stream.

A set of tracks which are played at the same time is called a
"pattern". A pattern typically has 64 entries per track; these
entries are cycled through at equidistant time intervals. A basic drum
set could thus be arranged by putting a bass drum at entries 0, 4, 8,
12 etc. of one track and putting some hihat at entries 2, 6, 10, 14
etc. of a second track. Of course you can also interleave bass and
hats on the same track, if the samples are short enough -- they can't
overlap, otherwise the previous sample is stopped when the next one
sets in.

And to make this introduction complete: A "module" is a compact file
containing various patterns and samples, including a "position list"
which specifies playback order of the patterns, forming a "song". A
word about file names: Original ProTracker modules are /prefixed/ with
"mod." when they come from an Amiga -- ignorant PC users, however,
shamelessly save PT-compatible modules with a ".MOD"
/suffix/. FastTracker modules have the ".XM" suffix. These both are
the most important module types out there and SoundTracker loads them
both.

USING
======

Note that some functions are only accessible using the keyboard. These
are all important key combinations, mostly inspired by the great Amiga
ProTracker (most alphanumeric keys are mapped to a piano keyboard):

TRACK EDITOR
------------

Right Ctrl Play Song
Right Alt Play Pattern
Right WinMenu Key Just play current pattern row
Space Stop Playing; edit mode on/off
Escape Edit mode on/off without stopping playing
Shift - Space Toggle "jazz edit" mode

F1 ... F7 Change editing octave
Left Ctrl-1 ... -8 Change jump value
Two configurable keys Increase/decrease jump value (see Settings->Keyboard->
other keys)

CrsrUp / Down Walk around in current pattern
PgUp / Down Walk around in current pattern, quickly
F9 Jump to position 0
F10 Jump to position L / 4
F11 Jump to position L / 2
F12 Jump to position 3 * L / 4

Ctrl + 1 ... 8 Change "jump" value

CrsrLeft / Right Change pattern column and/or channel
Tab Skip to same column in next channel

Left Shift + first 8 Fast jump to channels 1..8
keys in the first
alphabetical row
(UC-0 ... UC-1)

Left Shift + Ctrl + Fast jump to channels 17..24
above mentioned keys

Left Shift + first 8 Fast jump to channels 9..16
keys in the second
alphabetical row

Left Shift + Ctrl + Fast jump to channels 25..32
above mentioned keys

Holding fast jump keys Mute/unmute selected channel
and pressing SPACE

Left Ctrl - CrsrLeft Previous Instrument (faster with Left Shift)
Left Ctrl - CrsrRight Next Instrument (faster with Left Shift)

Left Ctrl - CrsrDown Previous Sample (faster with Left Shift)
Left Ctrl - CrsrUp Next Sample (faster with Left Shift)

Left Alt - CrsrLeft Previous Pattern (faster with Left Shift)
Left Alt - CrsrRight Next Pattern (faster with Left Shift)

Left Shift - CrsrLeft Previous Position in the pattern order table
Left Shift - CrsrRight Next Position in the pattern order table

Left Ctrl - B Start marking a block
Left Ctrl - C Copy block
Left Ctrl - X Cut block
Left Ctrl - V Paste block and advance to end

Left Alt - Q Transpose block by one half-tone up
Left Alt - A Transpose block by one half-tone down
Left Alt + Shift - Q Transpose block by one octave up
Left Alt + Shift - A Transpose block by one octave down

Left Shift - F3 Cut track
Left Shift - F4 Copy track
Left Shift - F5 Paste track

Left Alt - F3 Cut pattern
Left Alt - F4 Copy pattern
Left Alt - F5 Paste pattern

Delete Clear part of the channel the cursor is over
Shift - Delete Clear all of current track row
Backspace Delete current position and pull rest of track upwards
Insert Shift rest of track downwards and insert a row

Left Shift + Esc Move cusror to Note column (from any other column:
instrument, volume, effect) in current track

Any other keys Play notes on the keyboard.

Mouse Wheel Scroll up and down through pattern (just like Crsr Up /
Down)
Left Shift + M. Weel Scroll left and right through pattern (like a scrollbar
under the tracker window)

If SoundTracker is unable to configure the notes on your keyboard on
its own, you must use the "Keyboard Configuration" dialog to set up
your keyboard. In any case, there you will also have to configure the
key that inserts the "key off" note into a pattrern.

Most of the short cuts can be changed in the usual GTK+ way - go to
the relevant menu entry, put the mouse over it, and just before
releasing the mouse button, hit the desired key combination! The new
key combinations will be automatically saved when quitting
SoundTracker and reloaded the next time you start it.

effects interpolation
---------------------

Suppose you want to do a volume slide from C00 to C40 within 16
steps. What you do is, you enter the C00 effect at row 0, the C40
effect at row 15, mark the track from row 0 to 15, put the cursor into
the effects column, and hit Ctrl-I. This key combo interpolates every
supported effect between block start and block end. Supported at the
moment are volume column and effect column volume slides, and volume
column panning slides.

A similar job is done by the "increment / decrement cmd value"
functions found in the Edit / Track menu. Enter C40, go one row down
(stay in the effects column) and hit Ctrl-minus ("decrement cmd
value") to automatically insert a 3f there.

INSTRUMENT EDITOR
-----------------

In the Envelope editor, use Ctrl + middle mouse button in order to
zoom in and out of the envelope. Use middle mouse button alone to pan
the display. Use left mouse button to move and add points.

SAMPLE EDITOR
-------------

Hold Shift and use left / right mouse buttons to set the loop points
in the sample display.

REPORTING BUGS
===============

If you want to report a bug, please check first if you are running the
latest version of SoundTracker. If the bug is still present there,
send a bug report to the soundtracker-discuss mailing list (see below)
if you want feedback from other users, or send it to me directly
(m.krause@tu-harburg.de).