Amiga Music Tracker in JavaScript(stef.be)
stef.be
Amiga Music Tracker in JavaScript
https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/
96 comments
When I opened it I swear I got teary eyed. Things were so much harder that when you finally got something decent it just made you feel like you were king of the nerd hill.
I was bummed when I clicked on "Space song" thinking "Cool, they have the demo tune by the Silents!" and got something else instead. Luckily, it took just a few clicks to get to the real thing by Jesper Kyd (who later scored Hitman and Assassin's Creed):
https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
And so's 4mat's classic 28KB chiptune, aka L.F.F.:
https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Memories! All that's missing is a way to build a playlist, although, of course, a lot of MOD songs never end, technically speaking...
[I wrote a MOD player back in the day, IIRC it supported most of the standard commands and it was less than 8KB of 68K code.]
https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
And so's 4mat's classic 28KB chiptune, aka L.F.F.:
https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Memories! All that's missing is a way to build a playlist, although, of course, a lot of MOD songs never end, technically speaking...
[I wrote a MOD player back in the day, IIRC it supported most of the standard commands and it was less than 8KB of 68K code.]
> Things were so much harder that when you finally got something decent it just made you feel like you were king of the nerd hill.
I first started making music using a tracker (PlayerPRO on the Mac) before later moving to Pro Tools and Reason, and I actually found it much easier to finish songs using a tracker. The quality wasn't as good, but the limitations and structure helped me get a song done. With Reason, I find myself just twiddling knobs for hours and at the end of the day all I have is a few bars of something.
I first started making music using a tracker (PlayerPRO on the Mac) before later moving to Pro Tools and Reason, and I actually found it much easier to finish songs using a tracker. The quality wasn't as good, but the limitations and structure helped me get a song done. With Reason, I find myself just twiddling knobs for hours and at the end of the day all I have is a few bars of something.
Though I agree about the structure (and keyboard shortcuts) being helpful, derping around endless is still how I use trackers.. and after hating it for a long time, I actually now love it to not ever consider anything "finished", and trackers are perfect for that.
Instead of a mess of giant files of things bounced from various programs or even hardware, it's just a file... and though with Renoise the VST matter a lot, since I still have those I still can load up and work on things I made over a decade ago. I can try to touch it up some, or steal parts I like to make something new, with filesizes ranging from a few hundred kilobytes to a few dozen megabytes at most. That's my bliss. I know the listener doesn't and shouldn't care about that, but it's a trade-off I make gladly. I think my music became much simpler, too, maybe "worse", but more fun for me, because instead of layering instruments that play the same melody in another octave and a lot of effects, I now remove things with equal glee as I add them with. The less I use to achieve something I can shake my butt to, the more I like it... having a rich sound is nice, but seeing all columns on one screen is awesome, as is rendering a 5 minute song in 20 seconds instead of 3 minutes. I like the agility of this one-person studio that starts up in like 1 second too much, and even if I had the ability to master well, I wouldn't want to render tracks from Renoise to then master them in another program. Other than denoising samples, I do it all in Renoise. Considering what other people are doing with it and the legacy of tracking in general, I don't feel like a king of the nerd hill though, but I do feel like the captain of my bathtub.
I recommend it to everybody, and I recommend sticking through years of feeling completely useless at it. It's what I did, and I think if you like music enough to enjoy it, and if you are making it to entertain yourself, practice might not make you perfect, but it will gift you some things you wouldn't have thought you have in you. As far as hobbies go, this is like owning a dog, it does everybody good (should they have any affinity for it at all, that is). I say that because a friend of mine thinks making music is somehow translating the music we can compose in our heads into reality, and at least for me, that's not the case. I can sing in the shower, or "think music", but when I sit down with a tracker, I'm still surprised by the results, like, I didn't come up with this, I just found it. I think the key is to not be shy... if in doubt, just don't show it to anyone (yet), but do make music regardless. It's one of the most wonderful things you can do with a computer, IMO.
Instead of a mess of giant files of things bounced from various programs or even hardware, it's just a file... and though with Renoise the VST matter a lot, since I still have those I still can load up and work on things I made over a decade ago. I can try to touch it up some, or steal parts I like to make something new, with filesizes ranging from a few hundred kilobytes to a few dozen megabytes at most. That's my bliss. I know the listener doesn't and shouldn't care about that, but it's a trade-off I make gladly. I think my music became much simpler, too, maybe "worse", but more fun for me, because instead of layering instruments that play the same melody in another octave and a lot of effects, I now remove things with equal glee as I add them with. The less I use to achieve something I can shake my butt to, the more I like it... having a rich sound is nice, but seeing all columns on one screen is awesome, as is rendering a 5 minute song in 20 seconds instead of 3 minutes. I like the agility of this one-person studio that starts up in like 1 second too much, and even if I had the ability to master well, I wouldn't want to render tracks from Renoise to then master them in another program. Other than denoising samples, I do it all in Renoise. Considering what other people are doing with it and the legacy of tracking in general, I don't feel like a king of the nerd hill though, but I do feel like the captain of my bathtub.
I recommend it to everybody, and I recommend sticking through years of feeling completely useless at it. It's what I did, and I think if you like music enough to enjoy it, and if you are making it to entertain yourself, practice might not make you perfect, but it will gift you some things you wouldn't have thought you have in you. As far as hobbies go, this is like owning a dog, it does everybody good (should they have any affinity for it at all, that is). I say that because a friend of mine thinks making music is somehow translating the music we can compose in our heads into reality, and at least for me, that's not the case. I can sing in the shower, or "think music", but when I sit down with a tracker, I'm still surprised by the results, like, I didn't come up with this, I just found it. I think the key is to not be shy... if in doubt, just don't show it to anyone (yet), but do make music regardless. It's one of the most wonderful things you can do with a computer, IMO.
> derping around endless is still how I use trackers.. and after hating it for a long time, I actually now love it to not ever consider anything "finished", and trackers are perfect for that.
I've definitely had many satisfying evenings twiddling knobs in Reason, but after a while it loses its fun for me if I don't feel I'm eventually getting to something worth sharing with others.
> I say that because a friend of mine thinks making music is somehow translating the music we can compose in our heads into reality, and at least for me, that's not the case. I can sing in the shower, or "think music", but when I sit down with a tracker, I'm still surprised by the results, like, I didn't come up with this, I just found it.
Yes, I absolutely agree that the instrument affects the music in profound ways. Music is such a physical act that what you'd compose with a keyboard (piano or typewriter) is different than what you'd compose with a guitar in your hands instead.
I love everything about your comment.
I've definitely had many satisfying evenings twiddling knobs in Reason, but after a while it loses its fun for me if I don't feel I'm eventually getting to something worth sharing with others.
> I say that because a friend of mine thinks making music is somehow translating the music we can compose in our heads into reality, and at least for me, that's not the case. I can sing in the shower, or "think music", but when I sit down with a tracker, I'm still surprised by the results, like, I didn't come up with this, I just found it.
Yes, I absolutely agree that the instrument affects the music in profound ways. Music is such a physical act that what you'd compose with a keyboard (piano or typewriter) is different than what you'd compose with a guitar in your hands instead.
I love everything about your comment.
One thing that really helped me is to realize that many of my favorite songs are probably not that special to most people. This is, no joke, still one of my favorite little ditties:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Io5l0YgNko&t=34m20s
I actually sometimes still listen and maybe even dance to the Amiga version of this ^^ And I'm not saying this isn't a great song, musically, but most people wouldn't want to hear this on the radio or in a club, while I would absolutely go apeshit if that ever happened. I know having heard it first as a kid is a part of it, but the end result matters. I love this tune, even though most normal people might not enjoy it, and would at least prefer "normal instruments". (And don't even get me started on L.F.F. by 4mat :D)
So I try to shift my standard from "is this really good, does this make me look awesome", to "is this too embarrassing, or really just a pointless amusical waste of time", and try to raise the bar for what embarrasses me... because even something I might not like that much, might be the jam for someone else, who knows. What would I tell that imaginary person, that they never got to hear their jam, because I was afraid of what other people might think of it? I also know songs where I like the demo or some dirty live version much more than the perfectly produced studio version, so I try to tell myself, the more the merrier.
I think what really helped in my case is that it all became coupled with lyrics that are either very personal or very political, and it took me so much.. wrestling, not being able to sleep well doing it, but also not being able to let it go for good... and also the world (and rap music) becoming a lot more crazy, and probably me getting older, to become less inhibited -- and being embarrassed about too simple music was completely overshadowed by that. It used to be a concern but it got lost along the trek :) And I also discovered that as far as "beats" go, less really is more, at least, very little is more than enough. The same goes for chip style melodies, and those two are all I need to be happy musically, basically forever.
Well, that and compos with small sample packs becoming more of a thing again. Nothing more fun than that IMO :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Io5l0YgNko&t=34m20s
I actually sometimes still listen and maybe even dance to the Amiga version of this ^^ And I'm not saying this isn't a great song, musically, but most people wouldn't want to hear this on the radio or in a club, while I would absolutely go apeshit if that ever happened. I know having heard it first as a kid is a part of it, but the end result matters. I love this tune, even though most normal people might not enjoy it, and would at least prefer "normal instruments". (And don't even get me started on L.F.F. by 4mat :D)
So I try to shift my standard from "is this really good, does this make me look awesome", to "is this too embarrassing, or really just a pointless amusical waste of time", and try to raise the bar for what embarrasses me... because even something I might not like that much, might be the jam for someone else, who knows. What would I tell that imaginary person, that they never got to hear their jam, because I was afraid of what other people might think of it? I also know songs where I like the demo or some dirty live version much more than the perfectly produced studio version, so I try to tell myself, the more the merrier.
I think what really helped in my case is that it all became coupled with lyrics that are either very personal or very political, and it took me so much.. wrestling, not being able to sleep well doing it, but also not being able to let it go for good... and also the world (and rap music) becoming a lot more crazy, and probably me getting older, to become less inhibited -- and being embarrassed about too simple music was completely overshadowed by that. It used to be a concern but it got lost along the trek :) And I also discovered that as far as "beats" go, less really is more, at least, very little is more than enough. The same goes for chip style melodies, and those two are all I need to be happy musically, basically forever.
Well, that and compos with small sample packs becoming more of a thing again. Nothing more fun than that IMO :)
Oh man, this is amazing. I'm teary-eyed with nostalgia, too.
For anyone who is unfamiliar with the demoscene and tracker music, here are some recommended old-school tunes to spin up to get a feel for the art at the time. (Someone more in touch than me will have to lead you to the new school!) Just keep in mind the technological limitations on some of these songs: 4 channels, maybe 100k all-in for such wonderful music. Truly amazing.
My recommendations, running from 1986-1993ish: Karsten Obarski - Crystal Hammer Firefox - Galaxy 2 Uncle Tom - Poseidon Jester - Elysium Captain - Space Debris Tip + Firefox - Enigma Mantronix - Act Of Impulse 4-mat - Red Sector Theme Romeo Knight - Cream Of The Earth Greg - Odyssey Part 2 Jugi - Onward Ride Laxity - Desert Dream
I'm sure others can add more. What amazing times!
For anyone who is unfamiliar with the demoscene and tracker music, here are some recommended old-school tunes to spin up to get a feel for the art at the time. (Someone more in touch than me will have to lead you to the new school!) Just keep in mind the technological limitations on some of these songs: 4 channels, maybe 100k all-in for such wonderful music. Truly amazing.
My recommendations, running from 1986-1993ish: Karsten Obarski - Crystal Hammer Firefox - Galaxy 2 Uncle Tom - Poseidon Jester - Elysium Captain - Space Debris Tip + Firefox - Enigma Mantronix - Act Of Impulse 4-mat - Red Sector Theme Romeo Knight - Cream Of The Earth Greg - Odyssey Part 2 Jugi - Onward Ride Laxity - Desert Dream
I'm sure others can add more. What amazing times!
The in-game metal-ish music for Psygnosis' The Killing Game Show, by Ray Norrish:
https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Tim Wright's percussion-rich Shadow of the Beast 2: https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Frederic Hahn's Dear Rob, quintessential chiptune dedicated to Rob Hubbard: https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Fleshbrain's Graveyard #2, kinda spooky, kinda Art of Noise: https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
The Alibi, originally by Laxity: https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Then there's Chris Huelsbeck's music for Turrican and co., but he had his own format, TFMX.
Tim Wright's percussion-rich Shadow of the Beast 2: https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Frederic Hahn's Dear Rob, quintessential chiptune dedicated to Rob Hubbard: https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Fleshbrain's Graveyard #2, kinda spooky, kinda Art of Noise: https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
The Alibi, originally by Laxity: https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Then there's Chris Huelsbeck's music for Turrican and co., but he had his own format, TFMX.
That shadow of the beast track ... oh man!
I'm just going to throw in my recommendation of virtually -anything- by Moby:
https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Damn - this player is awesome; I was never someone who could make tracker music, but I loved to listen to it back in the day on my Amigas (both of which I still own). Getting new MODs from Fred Fish and other ways was always a treat.
Ah...and Octamed...this has brought a touch of nostalgia, etc - for me. Those times are long past, but a bit of them can still be enjoyed with this software.
So - thank you, exogeny.
https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Damn - this player is awesome; I was never someone who could make tracker music, but I loved to listen to it back in the day on my Amigas (both of which I still own). Getting new MODs from Fred Fish and other ways was always a treat.
Ah...and Octamed...this has brought a touch of nostalgia, etc - for me. Those times are long past, but a bit of them can still be enjoyed with this software.
So - thank you, exogeny.
My favorite by Moby was Knulla Kuk : https://elmobo.bandcamp.com/track/knulla-kuk
I thinks he calls himself Elmobo these days.
I thinks he calls himself Elmobo these days.
I thought you were talking of Richard Melville Hall. I did not know about this other Moby ;)
Added links to your titles (not BassoonTracker integrated) (at this time, modules.pl was down, I assume from HN flood)
Karsten Obarski - Crystal Hammer (couldn't find module, only Youtube: https://youtu.be/FN1Km1rEbLs)
Firefox - Galaxy 2 https://modarchive.org/module.php?42781
Uncle Tom - Poseidon https://modarchive.org/module.php?75579
Jester - Elysium https://modarchive.org/module.php?40475
Captain - Space Debris (part of Bassoon's example tracks! Also:) https://modarchive.org/module.php?57925
Tip + Firefox - Enigma https://modarchive.org/module.php?42146
Mantronix - Act of Impulse https://modarchive.org/module.php?32865
4-mat - Red Sector Theme https://modarchive.org/module.php?56673
Romeo Knight - Cream Of The Earth https://modarchive.org/module.php?120017
Greg - Odyssey Part 2 https://modarchive.org/module.php?98947
Jugi - Onward Ride https://modarchive.org/module.php?50820
Laxity - Desert Dream (found 3 rips on ModArchive, not sure which one's the best. Here's one of them:) https://modarchive.org/module.php?36889
Karsten Obarski - Crystal Hammer (couldn't find module, only Youtube: https://youtu.be/FN1Km1rEbLs)
Firefox - Galaxy 2 https://modarchive.org/module.php?42781
Uncle Tom - Poseidon https://modarchive.org/module.php?75579
Jester - Elysium https://modarchive.org/module.php?40475
Captain - Space Debris (part of Bassoon's example tracks! Also:) https://modarchive.org/module.php?57925
Tip + Firefox - Enigma https://modarchive.org/module.php?42146
Mantronix - Act of Impulse https://modarchive.org/module.php?32865
4-mat - Red Sector Theme https://modarchive.org/module.php?56673
Romeo Knight - Cream Of The Earth https://modarchive.org/module.php?120017
Greg - Odyssey Part 2 https://modarchive.org/module.php?98947
Jugi - Onward Ride https://modarchive.org/module.php?50820
Laxity - Desert Dream (found 3 rips on ModArchive, not sure which one's the best. Here's one of them:) https://modarchive.org/module.php?36889
If we're dropping recommendations, three talented artists from the early 90s here:
Bjørn Lynne - 12th Warrior https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Jogeir Liljedahl - Suspiria https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Purple Motion - Shadowrun https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https3A%2%2Fapi.mod...
Bjørn Lynne - 12th Warrior https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Jogeir Liljedahl - Suspiria https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Purple Motion - Shadowrun https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https3A%2%2Fapi.mod...
Karsten Koch - The Blue Valley (darn, S3M can't be played on Bassoon) https://modarchive.org/module.php?37685
Skaven - Catch that Goblin!! https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu...
Skaven - 2nd Reality (from the absolute classic demo) https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu...
Uplink, the hacking video game, actually used a bunch of classic tracks as its OST: https://youtu.be/8Esv7RPM--c
Skaven - Catch that Goblin!! https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu...
Skaven - 2nd Reality (from the absolute classic demo) https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu...
Uplink, the hacking video game, actually used a bunch of classic tracks as its OST: https://youtu.be/8Esv7RPM--c
Catch that Goblin was amazing, when it started playing at the partyplace, everyone sort of stopped not paying attention to the compo, and turned their heads with a "wtf" face. IIRC some of the samples got Skaven in trouble with Disney.
Catch that Goblin!! and 2nd Reality were so amazing to me when I was into trackers.
Yeah Skaven had some tracks in Bejeweled as well :)
Thought I'd post some favorite later-1990s and early 2000s tracker tunes:
Radix / Mosaik / Jakob Svanholm - Yuki Satellites (32-track, 1999) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3aBbUL32oo
Norfair / Carl Åborg - Obtuse but Smooth (32-track, 1999) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Doxmc1W7WNI
Norfair / Carl Åborg - Chillzone (32-track, 2000) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6OR3zKUq7s
Hunz / Hans van Vliet - Sarah's Song (year unknown, early 2000s?) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYQUlUXQxR8
-----
Hans and Carl did a collab on The Flame (also early 2000s): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZe8thnsr1M
Hans and Jakob did a collab on No Way Out but the Sky, released on Jakob's (Mosaik) Aerials album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew2Qe3-YCdQ
https://mosaik.se/album/aerials
Radix / Mosaik / Jakob Svanholm - Yuki Satellites (32-track, 1999) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3aBbUL32oo
Norfair / Carl Åborg - Obtuse but Smooth (32-track, 1999) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Doxmc1W7WNI
Norfair / Carl Åborg - Chillzone (32-track, 2000) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6OR3zKUq7s
Hunz / Hans van Vliet - Sarah's Song (year unknown, early 2000s?) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYQUlUXQxR8
-----
Hans and Carl did a collab on The Flame (also early 2000s): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZe8thnsr1M
Hans and Jakob did a collab on No Way Out but the Sky, released on Jakob's (Mosaik) Aerials album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew2Qe3-YCdQ
https://mosaik.se/album/aerials
Two of my favorites:
Madness took me from Mental Hangover by Scoopex:
https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Global Trash 3 v2 from Hardwired by The Silents:
https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.s...
Both demos where trendsetting and truly ahead of its time.
Madness took me from Mental Hangover by Scoopex:
https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Global Trash 3 v2 from Hardwired by The Silents:
https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.s...
Both demos where trendsetting and truly ahead of its time.
Audiomonster's music on Ice by TSL was phenomenal. https://youtube.com/watch?v=JaG1vIkmhk4 the first track was worth removing the disk to be able to listen the whole thing. I believe he now scores movie soundtracks.
One of my all-time favourite chiptunes from 1996:
Funky Stars aka Hybrid Song
https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu...
Funky Stars aka Hybrid Song
https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu...
One more to add - Hired Guns soundtrack, amazing. Still Listen to it regularly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AddWUtIuFu0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AddWUtIuFu0
> Captain - Space Debris
Actually part of the sample set on this tracker :)
Actually part of the sample set on this tracker :)
For me, part of the fun was finding and fetching mods on BBS's before getting to hear them.
Stéphane Picq - Fremens https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Stéphane Picq - Wormsign https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Stéphane Picq - Jumping Jack'son https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fmodla...
> "I think this is the mellowest classical tune around. Pachelbel must have been smoking some good shit."
https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Martin Iveson - Bubba'n'Stix Level 2 https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Jester - Crack the eggshell! https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fmodla...
Jester - Harm me with harmony https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fmodla...
Jester - Spice it up https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fmodla...
Uncle Tom - Occ San Geen+ https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fmodla...
Chorus & Sid - Killing Floor 2.1 https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fmodla...
Chorus & Sid - Coffee Blues II https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fmodla...
Chorus & Sid - Coffee Blues III https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fmodla...
4mat - Wizardry https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fmodla...
4mat - Chuck Rock title https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fmodla...
I wanted to also link Economy 5 by XTD, the hidden track for Technological Death by Mad Elks IIRC, but the player seems to choke on the hashes, or I did something wrong: http://modland.com/pub/modules/Protracker/XTD/
Stéphane Picq - Wormsign https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Stéphane Picq - Jumping Jack'son https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fmodla...
> "I think this is the mellowest classical tune around. Pachelbel must have been smoking some good shit."
https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Martin Iveson - Bubba'n'Stix Level 2 https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Jester - Crack the eggshell! https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fmodla...
Jester - Harm me with harmony https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fmodla...
Jester - Spice it up https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fmodla...
Uncle Tom - Occ San Geen+ https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fmodla...
Chorus & Sid - Killing Floor 2.1 https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fmodla...
Chorus & Sid - Coffee Blues II https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fmodla...
Chorus & Sid - Coffee Blues III https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fmodla...
4mat - Wizardry https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fmodla...
4mat - Chuck Rock title https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fmodla...
I wanted to also link Economy 5 by XTD, the hidden track for Technological Death by Mad Elks IIRC, but the player seems to choke on the hashes, or I did something wrong: http://modland.com/pub/modules/Protracker/XTD/
Nice to see Space Debris as a selected demosong. A few other favourites:
Oldschool classics:
heatbeat/rebels - street jungle https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Banana/TeK - Echoing aka demosong.nst from the Sound Blaster 2 disk https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
4mat/anarchy - 4mat's madness (manic chiptune) https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Game music:
Nation XII featuring John Foxx - theme from Gods (gods17/into the wonderful) https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.s...
Allister Brimble - px.bladswede remix! (theme from Project-X) https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
More techno-ish styles from the mid/late 90s:
vim!/mono - call me persephone (shimmeringly creaky mo'wax-style trip hop) https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
twilight/mono - inevitable (junglish rave breaks subside into orbital-esque arpeggios) https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
randall / suburban bass - in complete darkness (jungle/happy hardcore) https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
superna0+dreamfish+thefoxii/mono - tri buta gaz (intensely minimal acid techno) https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
dune/orange (later brothomstates on Warp Records) - mark a.j. pisses off (idm/techno, distorted kicks all over the place) https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Yep, I miss the Mono netlabel: http://www.simoncarless.com/monotonik-a-net-label-1996-200/
Oldschool classics:
heatbeat/rebels - street jungle https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Banana/TeK - Echoing aka demosong.nst from the Sound Blaster 2 disk https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
4mat/anarchy - 4mat's madness (manic chiptune) https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Game music:
Nation XII featuring John Foxx - theme from Gods (gods17/into the wonderful) https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.s...
Allister Brimble - px.bladswede remix! (theme from Project-X) https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
More techno-ish styles from the mid/late 90s:
vim!/mono - call me persephone (shimmeringly creaky mo'wax-style trip hop) https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
twilight/mono - inevitable (junglish rave breaks subside into orbital-esque arpeggios) https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
randall / suburban bass - in complete darkness (jungle/happy hardcore) https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
superna0+dreamfish+thefoxii/mono - tri buta gaz (intensely minimal acid techno) https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
dune/orange (later brothomstates on Warp Records) - mark a.j. pisses off (idm/techno, distorted kicks all over the place) https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Yep, I miss the Mono netlabel: http://www.simoncarless.com/monotonik-a-net-label-1996-200/
Yes! I miss the tracking scene. Some amazing music came out of that format.
Since it plays modules made for the Amiga, linking this is mandatory:
https://bel.fi/alankila/modguide/interpolate.txt
https://bel.fi/alankila/modguide/interpolate.txt
I coded a modular software synthesizer as my final year project in high school, without any previous knowledge of digital signal processing. C++ with a simple GTK+ user interface, sound output via JACK, and MIDI input via ALSA.
The difficulty of just generating correct square waves really surprised me. I thought you would just flip between 1 and -1 at the desired frequency, but of course that sounds awful because of aliasing. So I followed the paper by Tim Stilson and Julius Smith, Alias-Free Digital Synthesis of Classic Analog Waveforms, which presents the "band-limited impulse train" method, and got it working nicely.
Then I added a simple delay line, a convolution reverb, a resonant low-pass filter, a flanger, a compressor, all pluggable through the UI. That project was one of the most educational and fun months I've spent in my whole life... Playing a synth that you understand from the waveform level is really cool!
Some other guys in my class built an electric guitar which is also cool... Maybe I'd be more interested in that kind of project now that coding is my day job...
The difficulty of just generating correct square waves really surprised me. I thought you would just flip between 1 and -1 at the desired frequency, but of course that sounds awful because of aliasing. So I followed the paper by Tim Stilson and Julius Smith, Alias-Free Digital Synthesis of Classic Analog Waveforms, which presents the "band-limited impulse train" method, and got it working nicely.
Then I added a simple delay line, a convolution reverb, a resonant low-pass filter, a flanger, a compressor, all pluggable through the UI. That project was one of the most educational and fun months I've spent in my whole life... Playing a synth that you understand from the waveform level is really cool!
Some other guys in my class built an electric guitar which is also cool... Maybe I'd be more interested in that kind of project now that coding is my day job...
This isn't just some subtle implementation detail; the aliasing noise is obvious and IMO it's an important part of the sound. I personally like it, because it adds some extra high frequency content that would otherwise be lacking in many Amiga modules because of low quality samples. libopenmpt supports Amiga-style resampling with the render.resampler.emulate_amiga option. Although it's not documented in the man page, you can enable it in openmpt123:
openmpt123 --ctl render.resampler.emulate_amiga=1 amiga_module.modThis bit made me go "wat" out loud.
> Additionally, it is possible to engage a low-pass 12 dB/oct Butterworth filter tuned at approximately 3.2 kHz by turning the Amiga power LED brighter with a special protracker command.
> Additionally, it is possible to engage a low-pass 12 dB/oct Butterworth filter tuned at approximately 3.2 kHz by turning the Amiga power LED brighter with a special protracker command.
This didn't happen on the earliest Amigas. It just changed the power LED brightness.
I had one game (Psygnosis "Baal", otherwise fairly unmemorable) that flickered the LED with the beat of the title track just because it looked cool. It sounded awful on anything besides an A1000.
I had one game (Psygnosis "Baal", otherwise fairly unmemorable) that flickered the LED with the beat of the title track just because it looked cool. It sounded awful on anything besides an A1000.
This is a classic "you ran out of pins / wanted a convenient debug feature, didn't you" design indication.
I'm slightly unclear on what the Paula pulse train would have looked like; is it what would normally be called a "1-bit DAC", or is it PWM at the PAL frequency?
I'm slightly unclear on what the Paula pulse train would have looked like; is it what would normally be called a "1-bit DAC", or is it PWM at the PAL frequency?
That would be E00/1 for filter on/off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8d_OInQkLc&t=8m36s
IIRC when the machine crashed while playing sound, with the well-known blinking of the Power LED, you could hear the filter going on and off, too. And most games that had polished music turned the filter off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8d_OInQkLc&t=8m36s
IIRC when the machine crashed while playing sound, with the well-known blinking of the Power LED, you could hear the filter going on and off, too. And most games that had polished music turned the filter off.
I graduated from Amiga trackers to a full fledged studio, with hardware mixers, synths, effect racks etc. And then, years later, back again to just a computer. Full circle.
I messed around with the Amiga trackers back in the day. When I look at the software available today, e.g. on my iPad, I have a hard time getting anything useful out of it. Which software are you using now?
My favorite tracker-like DAW is Renoise: https://www.renoise.com/
Cross-platform, can use VSTs and samples, lively community, lua scriptability. It's pretty awesome all the way around.
Cross-platform, can use VSTs and samples, lively community, lua scriptability. It's pretty awesome all the way around.
SunVox is a fantastic modern tracker that runs on pretty much anything.
True, but SunVox is so much more than just a tracker. In my experience with (PC) trackers they rely mostly on modifying pre-recorded samples. SV on the other hand allows you to chain together a crazy array of synth modules to produce sounds "from scratch".
Well there's Renoise, there's Jeskola's Buzz (the changelog starts at 2008 but I'm sure I used it well before that), Noise Trekker had a synth as early as 1999. Adlib Tracker? You're still right in that for the most part, for a long time, tracking on the PC meant FastTracker or ScreamTracker, and those just used samples. But we've come a long way since then in the early 2000s.
Buzz was around in 1999 (I think - I first used it in 2000/2001) but circa 2001 the coder had a hard disk crash and lost his code, and finally resumed work on it in 2008 from a much older codebase or possibly from scratch. I assume that's part of why the changelog starts in 2008.
I miss the 1998-era softsynth with built-in tracker Analogic, later called AXS (or was it the other way round?). http://www.pouet.net/topic.php?which=11012&page=1
I miss the 1998-era softsynth with built-in tracker Analogic, later called AXS (or was it the other way round?). http://www.pouet.net/topic.php?which=11012&page=1
True. I think SunVox is a superset of what normal trackers can do: you're fully able to limit yourself to samples.
I personally have left trackers. They are fun but the learning curve! I use Waveform 9 from Tracktion. (Tracktion open sourced the engine and it works on Linux, Win and Mac.
This is the fastest DAW from nothing to something like a song, and for people just starting it has pretty much everything you need to make some kind of song. https://www.tracktion.com/products/waveform
This is the fastest DAW from nothing to something like a song, and for people just starting it has pretty much everything you need to make some kind of song. https://www.tracktion.com/products/waveform
Post trackers, I've been using Cubase since it was delivered on a single Floppy disk. Had about 13 years of silence (sold my gear, had kids) and then got back to it a couple years ago (shameless plug: https://soundcloud.com/earlofwoffington).
Superb! The second song, Stardust, was in the demo "World of Commodore 1992" (EDITED). Excellent track.
https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=demomods%2FStardust...
https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=demomods%2FStardust...
Sanity - World of Commodore 92
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u43uH-kQpzk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u43uH-kQpzk
Thanks!
One of my favorite demos from Sanity remains Arte:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFh07lXfxTY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFh07lXfxTY
Great demo.
Not as good as the best ever though :-)
"Kefrens: The meaning of life is to become a legend"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jziQBWQxvok
Not as good as the best ever though :-)
"Kefrens: The meaning of life is to become a legend"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jziQBWQxvok
Omg. Man, https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=demomods%2Fspacedeb... really brought back memories.
Modarchive and modules.pl API support under Files -> Load is brilliant.
Yep! It's an amazing trip down memory lane.
Also super eerie to listen to tunes I wrote in 1999 when I was sixteen on a mobile browser 20 years later.
That said, there's some things not entirely right with the XM mixing. Something with the volume or the effects is off here or there, haven't pinpointed yet. Some songs sound perfect, others sound totally wrong. Nothing a PR or two won't fix I bet :)
Also super eerie to listen to tunes I wrote in 1999 when I was sixteen on a mobile browser 20 years later.
That said, there's some things not entirely right with the XM mixing. Something with the volume or the effects is off here or there, haven't pinpointed yet. Some songs sound perfect, others sound totally wrong. Nothing a PR or two won't fix I bet :)
Weird, I can't find Skaven on their integration of either modarchive.org or modules.pl
Writing a .mod player is a fun recreational programming project. I kind of want to get an Amiga so I can hear the sound of the Paula chip doing resampling by changing the audio clock rate instead of my PC doing digital resampling to 48kHz.
Load the "Lotus 2" music, and disable channels 1, 2, and 4, to hear their attempt at subliminal messaging in the first few seconds of the song.
"You will not copy this game!"
Amazing project, thankyou :)
Notable artists who started their careers on trackers: aphex twin, machinedrum, axwell, darude, deadmau5 +many more
Notable artists who started their careers on trackers: aphex twin, machinedrum, axwell, darude, deadmau5 +many more
I've been trying to get into trackers for sequencing for a while, but the learning curve is very steep. Has anyone got resources to learn how to sequence one of these beasts with a keyboard? They seem to be the key to making lots and lots of intricate breakbeats.
With "keyboard" you mean, a musicians keyboard, right? I assume you need a midi interface to the software but I don't know of any tracker that supports midi.
My personal favourite tracker is Fast Tracker II, but it also don't support midi. However, it has some really good documentation that might help you get into working with trackers:
https://milkytracker.titandemo.org/docs/FT2.pdf
My personal favourite tracker is Fast Tracker II, but it also don't support midi. However, it has some really good documentation that might help you get into working with trackers:
https://milkytracker.titandemo.org/docs/FT2.pdf
Actually my understanding is that you can use a computer keyboard to very rapidly enter lots of notes quickly and precisely without relying on your own human limitations as you would with a musical keyboard. I've seen it billed as sort of like Vi for music.
Yes, I'm pretty sure you can set FT2 in a record mode and then "play" notes on your computer keyboard, but I don't think that's what OP is asking.
How I understand OP's question is; you make a drum pattern in FT2 which you can trigger to play by pressing a key on a musical keyboard. I think the context of OP's question is for during a live/real-time performance.
How I understand OP's question is; you make a drum pattern in FT2 which you can trigger to play by pressing a key on a musical keyboard. I think the context of OP's question is for during a live/real-time performance.
Not sure if you're already aware, but tracker keyboard shortcuts for note entry typically mimic a piano keyboard:
2 3 5 6 7
q w e r t y u, etc.
Not only has the author collected a great library of classic mod files to play back, they compiled a fantastic starter library of mod samples for composing new work. These have such a delightfully retro sound to them, I'd love to use them in other software as well, such as the sampler in my primary DAW – anyone know how to extract a WAV file from these vintage Amiga DMS archives?
Cute! Sadly it doesn't handle my .it or .s3m files.
I'd been using https://github.com/defrac/defrac-sample-8bitboy 8bitboy for a while, but alas it seems that most things block it from playing music these days.
Thanks for the trip back in time to Octamed and a £20 sampler. This is one of the best tunes produced on an Amiga IMHO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L36m5sobhOE
This takes me back!
But it feels kinda wrong to have that mouse cursor and have it not move perfectly smooth.
But it feels kinda wrong to have that mouse cursor and have it not move perfectly smooth.
> But it feels kinda wrong to have that mouse cursor and have it not move perfectly smooth.
So you get the full immersive experience. :)
So you get the full immersive experience. :)
The "immersive experience" would have that cursor move at a solid 60FPS and negligible latency. Amiga had hardware sprites, and even software-managed sprites had comparable performance.
You also need a CRT or at least some sort of strobing refresh display to eliminate smearing from persistence of vision.
This tracker seems to resemble a PC tracker such as Fast Tracker II. Did Amiga play 16bit 32 channel XM files? Hardware mouse cursors on PC were fast, software (custom graphics cursors) were much slower.
Just for information, it just crashed on the Space Debris song for me (FF on linux), had to close my browser for the sample to stop looping.
Retried on chromium, no problem, and it's cool !
Bringing back memory from when I was a student :-)
I'm going to open an issue if it can help
Retried on chromium, no problem, and it's cool !
Bringing back memory from when I was a student :-)
I'm going to open an issue if it can help
I love this. Like many people here, I mucked around with modules on the Amiga using OctoMED. I could never match the great songs that came with the games and demo of the time but I had a lot of fun.
Well this brings me back a few decades. Funny how music does that.
This brings back memories. For the life of me though, I cannot remember what the music format was that I could use to play background music in turbo pascal. Happy days.
This is great.
I remember listening to Axel F, and attempting to make my own mods, but basically just changed the instrument samples.
I remember listening to Axel F, and attempting to make my own mods, but basically just changed the instrument samples.
I did that for years, too :) On the Amiga, that's all I did music wise, rip modules (I still miss that) and listen to / look at them, first in trackers and then with EaglePlayer and DeliTracker and their visualizations. Then on the PC, I made painfully short stubs, like 10-30 seconds, for a long time, with FastTracker (painful because I just didn't know how to make them longer, they were little rhythmic or melodic figures I guess). Then I got into Renoise, and I guess for the most part sampled and looped things I liked, and added speech samples to that. If I count from the first moment I fell in love with Protracker at age 11 or so, and me making something I would call a song in my 20s, it took me over a decade to even begin sucking at music, before that it wasn't even music. And I feel I owe so much to the Amiga, and the people who made music for it, and cared about playing back music for it.
This video is for you then:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlyK_elUmIw
Not the author - just wanted to add to your nostalgia kick.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlyK_elUmIw
Not the author - just wanted to add to your nostalgia kick.
Good grief, he did that with just 4 tracks! Sounds exactly like I remember it too. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you. Ah, the memories...
This is really good. It takes me back to my Amiga days !
BTW: VLC can also play MOD files.
Just amazing and brings back a lot of memories. Now I just need to find the music I did
It works incredibly well even on my Android cellphone... I am surprised.
OMG, the memories.... .mod files, right? I used to have thousands
This is fantastic. I love the demo tunes. Runs pretty smooth too.
Wow. Respect. Amiga represent !!
I am really impressed by the responsive layout -- the UI adapts to different window sizes! Nice touch :)
Some favorite modules to check out. First link is link to modarchive site, second link is direct link to Bassoon Tracker with the module pre-populated so you can listen instantly! So handy!
Matrix Cubed - Fluff https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu... | https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
DeusEX - Joy https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu... | https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Sybaris - Welcome to the Gods https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu... | https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Mindwalker - Evoke '98 https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu... | https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
xerxes - hesse's sovesang https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu... | https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
"me and kenet" (unsure of artist) - Beautiful or not? https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu... | https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
drax - repeating patterns https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu... | https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Tim Wright - Agony (intro) original version https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu... | https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Unfortunate some mega favorites like Skaven's "The Alchemist"[0] and Vincenzo's remix of 2nd Reality[1] are Impulse Tracker modules and won't play in Bassoon Tracker. Maybe .it support will be added? :)
[0] https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu... [1] https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu...
Some favorite modules to check out. First link is link to modarchive site, second link is direct link to Bassoon Tracker with the module pre-populated so you can listen instantly! So handy!
Matrix Cubed - Fluff https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu... | https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
DeusEX - Joy https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu... | https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Sybaris - Welcome to the Gods https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu... | https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Mindwalker - Evoke '98 https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu... | https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
xerxes - hesse's sovesang https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu... | https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
"me and kenet" (unsure of artist) - Beautiful or not? https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu... | https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
drax - repeating patterns https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu... | https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Tim Wright - Agony (intro) original version https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu... | https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Unfortunate some mega favorites like Skaven's "The Alchemist"[0] and Vincenzo's remix of 2nd Reality[1] are Impulse Tracker modules and won't play in Bassoon Tracker. Maybe .it support will be added? :)
[0] https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu... [1] https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&qu...
this thing is gorgeous.
holy f. well done
Everything about this makes me giddy with excitement, from the cursor to the faded out numbers in the digital display. I "miss" these times, yet I was born too late to enjoy it in real time. I hope the demoscene lives on forever and we keep seeing it pop up in future tech.