======================================================= MOD-FAQ part 1 of 2 == FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ) LIST FOR ALT.BINARIES.SOUNDS.MODS official release v2.8 dated 25.08.97 (DDMMYY) READ THIS BEFORE POSTING A QUESTION TO A.B.S.MODS, IT MIGHT BE ANSWERED HERE THIS IS THE FIRST OF TWO PARTS OF THIS FAQ, WHICH HAS BEEN SPLIT BECAUSE ITS LENGTH MIGHT OTHERWISE OFFEND SOME NEWSREADERS. Maintained by jester (Tobias Reckhard),jester@fmr.maschinenbau.th-darmstadt.de Copyright notice: This FAQ is copyright (c) 1994-1997 by jester (Tobias Reckhard), all rights reserved. Sections not written by myself are copyright (c) by the respective authors. This FAQ may be posted to any Usenet newsgroup, on-line service or BBS as long as it is posted in its entirety, includes this copyright statement and is the most recent version (reasonable effort to obtain this is required). This FAQ may not be distributed for financial gain. It may not be included in commercial collections or compilations without express permission from the maintainer. Disclaimer: The information contained in this document is believed to be correct, but the originators will not be held responsible for any negative effects of its contents. Anything positive is, of course, our doing ;) (Main sections are separated by a line of 78 equal signs (as below), subsections by 78 minusses, sub-subsections by 39 times "- " (corny ;) ) =========================================================================== === [0] Table of Contents [1] General [1.1] Motivation/Purpose of the FAQ [1.1.1] Submitting to the FAQ [1.2] Modules [1.3] Terminology used in this FAQ [1.4] Commonly Used Abbreviations [2] Types of Modules [3] Playing Mods [3.1] Amiga [3.2] Atari ST [3.3] Mac [3.4] MS-DOS [3.5] OS/2 [3.6] UNIX (Sun/Linux/NeXT) [3.7] Windows [3.8] Apple II GS [4] Creating Mods [4.1] Trackers [4.1.1] Amiga [4.1.2] Atari ST [4.1.3] Mac [4.1.4] MS-DOS [4.1.5] OS/2 [4.1.6] UNIX (Sun/Linux/NeXT) [4.1.7] Windows [4.2] Converters [4.2.1] from MIDI [4.2.2] Mod Format Converters END OF PART 1, START OF PART 2 [5] Samples [5.1] Acquisition [5.1.1] Sampling [5.1.2] 'Ripping' [5.1.3] Conversion From Other Formats [5.2] Sample Editors and Converters [5.2.1] Amiga [5.2.2] Atari [5.2.3] Mac [5.2.4] MS-DOS [5.2.5] OS/2 [5.2.6] UNIX (Sun/Linux/NeXT) [5.2.7] Windows [5.3] FTP Sites with Samples [6] Obtaining MODs [6.1] FTP Servers [6.2] BBSs [6.3] Newgroup(s) [6.4] WWW [6.5] CD-ROMs [7] Distributing Mods [7.0.1] Compression [7.1] Usenet Posting [7.2] FTP Uploads [7.3] BBS Uploads Appendix A: Contributors/Credits/Greetings Appendix B: Common Properties of Module File Formats Appendix C: Mods and MIDI Appendix D: Musicians Appendix E: All-Time Faves Appendix F: the MOD Charts Appendix G: Availability of Compressors/Archivers Appendix H: Table of Note Frequencies Appendix I: Overview of Effects Used in Digital Music Modules Appendix J: Answers to as yet Unanswered FAQs =========================================================================== === [1] General This is the official FAQ for the UseNet Newsgroup alt.binaries.sounds.mods. Should the date on this document be over a month old, you might want to check for a current version. Availability: - It is posted to alt.binaries.sounds.mods, alt.answers and news.answers every two weeks, on Mondays. When this is not possible, the next possible day will be used. - You can also obtain the most recent plain text version of the FAQ by Internet finger, dumping the answer to a file, as in: finger jester@fmr.maschinenbau.th-darmstadt.de > modfaq.txt . If your system fails to find my host, try specifying a specific host machine in my address, such as jester@chapel.fmr.maschinenbau.th-darmstadt.de instead (If chapel doesn't work, try sarek or sulu). You can also use a finger-by-mail server. Send the following message: Subject: FINGER jester@fmr.maschinenbau.th-darmstadt.de To: infobot@infomania.com Message Body: *none* and you will receive the latest plain text version of the FAQ in your mailbox. Of course, what I just said about conventional fingering applies here too, so if my address turns out unresolved try specifying a machine. Note that you will receive the complete FAQ (i.e. both parts), even if the header states otherwise. I have simply concatenated both text files. - Zigg (Matt Behrens) maintains a WWW HTML version of the FAQ at http://www2.gvsu.edu/~behrensm/absm-faq/index.html (This version is always at least slightly behind the ASCII FAQ) - It is archived at rtfm.mit.edu as /pub/usenet/news.answers/sound-file-format/mod-faq/part1 and /pub/usenet/news.answers/sound-file-format/mod-faq/part2 Changes from previous version (v2.6): - updated Fast Tracker II to version 2.06 & 2.05 (4.1.4) - updated CapaMod to version 3.06 & 3.03 (3.4) - updated Inertia Player to version 1.22 (3.4) - updated Cubic Player to version 1.7 (3.4) - removed PMP because there are enough XM players by now, IMHO (3.4) - resorted section 3.4 as DMP's importance is declining rapidly (3.4) - updated PlayerPro to version 4.5 (4.1.3) - updated MacMod Pro to version 4.15 (4.1.3) - updated Meditor to version 0.63delta (4.1.3) - updated "How DO I play S3M on a Mac" (3.3) - corrected a typo in the URL for EasyMod for Windows (4.1.7) - its existence has not been verified though. - added Impulse Tracker 2.02 (4.1.4) - added Apple II GS playing information (3.7) - updated DOSEMU version to 0.60.4 (4.1.6) - modified section 5.2's title to Sample Editors and Converters (5.2) - added Awave 3.0 Windows sample converter (5.2.7) - updated CapaMod to version 3.12 (3.4) - updated address for Matthew Centurion's ftp archive (6.1) ToDo's (contributions on the following topics are either present or in preparation, but didn't make it into this release): - check up on sample sites. Reportedly, most of them don't exist anymore. - AWE32 players ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [1.1] Motivation/Purpose of the FAQ The newsgroup alt.binaries.sounds.mods (hereafter referred to as a.b.s.mods) is being flooded by a lot of questions lately, most of them cropping up over and over again. These, commonly referred to as Frequently Asked Questions (hence the term FAQ, but you knew that already), are pretty bugging after a while, so this is an attempt at answering them. What is the purpose of this FAQ? Well, it is centered around a.b.s.mods, of course, and deals with the problems that are usually encountered there. It is supposed to help new readers of the group find programs and modules, decode the posts, make contributions of their own and give pointers on where to find further information. This FAQ does NOT attempt to teach you how to make music. As of now, I am also not planning to devote sections of this FAQ to the explanation of certain editors/trackers/players. Should a question concerning a specific program come up very frequently, it would of course qualify as an FAQ, but I do not consider it my job to teach you how to use ScreamTracker, for example. That's the .DOC's job. Keep in mind, please, that I manage this FAQ in my private time, which isn't much anyway. I only know my own hardware platform (MS-DOS/Windows/GUS/SB), so I am dependent on your feedback and contributions. If you have something you feel belongs here or any other form of constructive criticism, don't hesitate to email me with it (see 1.1.1). I check my mail folder almost every day, except on weekends, when I don't have Internet access at all. You can reach me at: jester@fmr.maschinenbau.th-darmstadt.de (Note: I am NOT Jester/Sanity). If you've contributed to the FAQ, your name and address (optional) will be listed in the contributors section. You will also be entitled to a list of your favourite mods and composers (might be dropped in the future if it becomes too large). Thank you. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [1.1.1] Submitting to the FAQ As I already stated, the information included in this FAQ is believed to be correct. If you happen to find errors, inaccuracies or out-of-date information though, don't hesitate to inform me of it. The same applies to suggestions you may have concerning additions or omissions. When submitting to the FAQ, be sure to include all information that is necessary. The easiest way for me is if you take the present FAQ as a guideline. Pre-written and ready-to-use submissions are a lot less prone to errors I could make in editing and summarising your information, helping both of us. Be sure to state which version of the FAQ and which section you are referring to. I archive all versions since beta v0.7. Chances are that if you are submitting to an old version of the FAQ, the information may already be there. So if you think you have something to say, try to obtain the most recent version before going to the trouble of writing a submission. Expect me to ask you to give me more information than is in your submission. So please supply me with a valid email address if my simply replying is not reliable. If an email of mine containing further questions bounces, I will not attempt to find you. I might try some other address specified in your email's header, but don't count on it. Suggestions implying complete rewrites of sections will be considered, but you'll need some damn good reasons. Thanks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [1.2] Modules (What are mods?) Modules are digital music files, made up of a set of samples (the instruments) and sequencing information, telling a mod player when to play which sample on which track at what pitch, optionally performing an effect like vibrato, for example. Thus mods are different from pure sample files such as WAV or AU, which contain no sequencing information, and MIDI files, which do not include any custom samples/instruments. Mods are extremely popular in the demo world and offer a way of making music of an acceptable level of quality rather cheaply. With the advent of high-quality sound hardware, new generations of mods may even rise to a sound quality nearing that of professional equipment. Mods' sequencing information is based on patterns and tracks. A pattern is a group of tracks with a certain length, usually 64 rows (see 1.3). The tracks are independent of each other, meaning that a four track mod can play four voices or notes simultaneously. The patterns can be sequenced in a playlist, so that repeating the same sequence of patterns doesn't require rewriting of them. This makes mods a hybrid between pure sample data files such as WAV, VOC or IFF/8SVX and pure sequencing information files like MIDI. One of the most frequently asked questions is "how do I convert a WAV to MOD?". This can be done, but is rather senseless. The other way around might be interesting for people with enormous hard drives, so they could listen to what used to be a mod at higher quality than before at the cost of several megabytes of drive space (10 MB/min. at 16 bits, 44.1kHz, stereo), or for those who want to show off a mod to others who don't have a mod player (or worse, can only play 8kHz AU files.. ;) ). SoundApp for the Mac, Multiplayer 2.0 for MS-DOS and the upcoming Mod4Win 2.20 are programs that do this. For SoundApp and Mod4Win, see the appropriate sections in this FAQ. The URL for Multiplayer is: ftp://musie.phlab.missouri.edu:/pub/trs/tandy1000/sound/multip20.zip It runs on any 286+ PC (not just Tandy). Numerous mods have been released in the past year that were basically huge samples off a CD (is there a connection to CD-ROM drives gaining increasing popularity?), the only parts actually sequenced were the chorus bits. Most of these mods were some form of top ten hit. These are, in effect, WAV to MOD conversions. I don't mind them floating around, but it is a widely acknowledged opinion that these kinds of mods defeat their own prupose. I therefore don't recommend their making (but this is my opinion). Note that this is NOT the same as using sampled drum loops or riffs in mods. While I don't like these myself either, these do require a lot more sequencing than huge 64KB chunks of a complete song. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [1.3] Terminology used in this FAQ - Throughout this FAQ, modules will be referred to as 'mods'. This term will be used for all types of modules, be they M.K., 8CHN, ULT, S3M, XM or anything else. IMPORTANT: Note that the term MOD (i.e. capitalized) refers to the group of mods that have this filename extension. - A 'track' is a module voice. The number of tracks denotes the number of notes/instruments/voices that can play simultaneously. - A 'pattern' is the largest sub-unit modules are composed of. Patterns are arranged in an order or sequencing list, so a pattern can be played several times within the same module. Patterns have a fixed length in most formats, but can also be of variable length in others. The standard M.K. pattern is 4 tracks by 64 rows, for example. - A 'row' is the smallest unit of time measurement in which notes can be placed on tracks. A M.K. pattern has 64 rows. OKT and FAR, for example, can have patterns of differing length in the same mod. - A 'slot' is an element of a row, dedicated to hold a specific piece of information. These are notes, volume and effects, for example. - A 'column' is an element of a track, such as the note column, the volume column and the effect column. A 'column' is a group of 'slots' of one type in a common track. - A 'sample' is a digitized sound included in the mod, which serves as an instrument. As mods don't use a fixed instrument set (as General MIDI does), anything can be used as an instrument, including noises or human voices. - A 'channel' is a source of emitted sound. Channel and track are often used interchangeably in the mod community. I'd prefer to define a channel as one of a few sound sources, as in stereo or quadro channels, but this would only prove confusing here. - A 'player' is a program that decodes mods and ouputs these on a sound device. - A 'tracker' is a program that enables creation of mods. Trackers usually feature a 'player'. - A section saying 'NHY' isn't there yet (NHY = Not Here Yet). I don't have any information on the topic. If you do, get back to me immediately! (see 1.1.1) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [1.4] Commonly Used Abbreviations (see section 2 for mod type abbrevs) BPM - Beats per minute. When used in mods, this usually refers to how many groups of four rows are played per minute at default tempo (i.e. ticks per row) settings. This default tempo is 6 in MOD and S3M. Setting the tempo to 3 means that as many groups of eight rows are played per minute as set by the BPM set command. CxSpd - Sampling rate at which a sample is reproduced by a tracker/player when it encounters the note C in octave x. DAC - Digital to Analogue Converter. Digital sound output medium used with the parallel port of a computer. DMA - Direct Memory Access (method of transferring data quickly across the computer's bus, DMA channel is a sound card parameter) FM - Frequency Modulation sound synthesis (used by Adlib and SB in FM mode) FT1 - Mr.H/Triton's FastTracker 1.xx, MS-DOS MOD tracker FT2 - Triton's FastTracker II GUS - Gravis Ultrasound (sound card) Hz - Hertz, metric unit. 1 Hz = 1/sec. Used to express frequencies. IRQ - Interrupt (not only, but also a sound card parameter) PAS - Pro Audio Spectrum (sound card) PT - ProTracker (Amiga tracker) SB - SoundBlaster (sound card) ST3 - PSI/Future Crew's Scream Tracker 3.2 =========================================================================== === [2] Types of Mods This is a brief summary of mod types. For further information, see the documentation of file formats and/or the associated trackers' documentation. This is probably the best place to mention that the most common filetype today on the Amiga is still MOD, while S3M and MTM have taken over on PC's. XM is expected to gain popularity pretty quick. In this list, Name refers to the identifier string found in modules of this type or a term, which unambiguously identifies the module format type. The Default Extension is the filename extension typically given to the mod type. Note that, even though they are often used, extensions do not clearly define formats. The No. of Tracks is pretty obviously the number of tracks mods stored in this format can have. The No. of Samples states how many instrument (sample) slots are available in the format. The Sample Properties denote the no. of bits (i.e. the resolution) the format can store and wether the CxSpd is fixed or variable. The Associated Tracker entry is only meant as an example. Name Default No. of No. of Sample Associated Extension Tracks Samples Properties Tracker M.K. MOD 4 31 8 bits/fixed ProTracker xCHN MOD 6/8 31 8 bits/fixed FastTracker 1 FLTx MOD 4/8 31 8 bits/fixed StarTrekker NST MOD 4 15 8 bits/fixed Noise Tracker 669 669 8 64 8 bits/fixed Composer 669 UNIS 669 8 64 8 bits/fixed UNIS669 MTM MTM 1-32 31 8 bits/fixed MultiModuleEdit 1.01b (63)*** (16 bits)*** STM STM 4 31 8 bits/var ScreamTracker 2.xx S3M S3M 16+9** 99 8 bits/var ScreamTracker 3.2 (32)* (255)* (16 bits)* ULT ULT 1-32 64 8/16 bits/var UltraTracker 1.6 XM XM 2-32 128 8/16 bits/var FastTracker II FAR FAR 16 64 8/16 bits/fixed Farandole Composer 1.00 WOW WOW 8 31 8 bits/fixed Grave Composer OKT OKT 4-8 255 7/8 bits/fixed Oktalyzer DMF DMF 32 ?? ?? X-Tracker 0.3 MED MED 4-8**** 32 8 bits/fixed MED/OctaMED**** * - The S3M format is capable of storing these, but there isn't a tracker there yet to implement them. ** - S3M can store 9 FM-based channels (Adlib). *** - MTM supports these, but the current version of MMEdit doesn't allow for them. **** - There are several versions of MED (MMD0, MMD1, MMD2 and MED). MED is the file format prior to OctaMED. All MEDs can be saved as so-called song files, i.e. w/o actual intrument sample data. =========================================================================== === [3] Playing Mods This section only features a maximum of 6 players per system. These are selected mainly by popularity, but the amount of information I receive also plays a big part. Players with special, unique and useful features may be favoured (such as those which play rare file formats). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [3.1] Amiga This section supplied by Steven Innell , Christian Stieber and Heikki Kantola . All of the following players can be found on aminet in mus/play/ (see 6.1). All of the following players are proper applications, i.e. they use windows and don't hack the hardware (except for the sound hardware). All of the following players use external players to allow for an unlimited number of formats (provided that somebody writes a player). All of the following players support Pro/Noise/SoundTracker, ScreamTracker, FastTracker. I believe that most of the players support MultiTracker and TakeTracker as well (DeliTracker does). - Delitracker V2.14 As with Eagleplayer, a majority of the program has been re-written to speed it up, as well as adding several new players (Deli-AY being one), and improved S3M support. There are also a host of new "Genies", such as the Christmas Snow-Scene, and The Dr-Who genie. Fast Tracker II XM support has been added in version 2.14. This player is my personal favorite (editor's note: Steven Innell speaking), having a better gui, and nicer "feel". It too is a shareware production, costing around $20 (or 20 DM) again to register for. All features are available in the demo version. FTP: mus/play/Delitracker214.lha (757K) - EaglePlayer1.54c This player now has been re-written in areas, making it faster, and better looking. It also added several new "eagleplayers" which has increased the number of mod/music formats which it will play. It currently supports a majority of PC mod formats (S3M, MTM, FastTracker V1) and many Amiga style mods (too numerous to mention). You can also use some of the players from Delitracker, although some do not work, or are already included with the distribution archive. This is a Shareware production, and most features are available (except saving of configs, and mods) in the demo version. The registration fee is around $20. FTP: mus/play/Eagleplay1.54c.lha (807K) - D.A.S.ModulePlayer 3.5b Plays M.K., NST, 6CHN, 8CHN, MTM, S3M, Quadracomposer, MED, FutureComposer, SoundMon 2.0, FRED, MusicAssembler and David Whittaker mods. New formats may be added via external player libraries. Requires MUI for its GUI. Requires AmigaOS 2.0+. Crippled shareware 25 AUD, 70 FIM, $15. FTP: mus/play/DMODP35b.lha (449K) - PS3M V3.12 V3.12 of this player is now the first player to support the PC Fasttracker2 XM style mod. It also supports the other PC favorites (S3M - hence the name, MTM and Fasttracker V1), as well as the standard Amiga MOD format, and also PlaySid format, providing you have the playsid.library in your LIBS: directory. FTP: mus/play/PS3M312.lha (32K) - Hippoplayer V2.12 This is the second player to support the FastTracker 2 XM mods. It is also one of the only players that will uncompress ZIPped files (as well as LHA - as do Eagle/Deli, and LZX'ed files) saving you the bother of having to do it 8*). The sound quality from this player in most cases is IMO the best for the higher channel numbered PC mods (8-16 Ch in XM and S3M formats). It also supports the standard protracker format, and Playsid (providing you have the Playsid.library as with PS3M). In fact, the XM support was taken from PS3M, and so the player routines for the PC format mods are nigh on identical to those from PS3M, the difference being Hippo has a better front-end, making it nicer, and easier to use. Hippoplayer now incorporates directory opus Right Mouse Button selection boxes and external "Scopes" such as the PT-Note scope and various equalisers. Several enhancements and additions have been made to the program in this latest release. FTP: mus/play/HiP212.lha (118K) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [3.2] Atari Thanks to Dan for this information. Note: To the best of Dan's knowledge, the programs mentioned here can be downloaded via ftp from atari.archive.umich.edu/pub/atari/ and its mirrors. A lot of them are also available from micros.hensa.ac.uk, but gopher of WWW access to this site is mich preferred to ftp as they have a weird directory structure. Atari ST: This machine is very bad at playing MODs 'cause its sound basically isn't up to it. However, a player does exist. It is called Paula and is now at version 2.4. In order to run on the base ST you also need a driver called Petra, which is distributed with Paula. This will handle 4 track PT MOD format. Atari STE/TT/Mega STE: These Ataris have massively improved sound abilities, roughly equivalent to the Amiga. You can use Paula (mentioned above) to playback 4-track PT MODs at a very respectable quality. Other 4 track players are DeskTracker and StarTracker. Atari Falcon030: This latest of Atari's computers has a sound system as standard which blows away all but the most expensive of PC soundcards. It has 8-voice 16-bit stereo sound at 50kHz. This means it is very good at mod playback. It also has a Motorola 56001 DSP chip installed as standard - this chip can mix voices very fast, making 32 track mod playback possible at unbelievable quality. There are literally hundreds of 4-track MOD players out there, ranging from Paula through BSW, CPU_MOD and many more. There are fewer 8-track players and only one 32-track player. The best players for sound quality are: CPU_MOD - Handles 4-track PT MODs only, but gives the best sound quality I've heard. Will run in the background but is expensive on CPU time. BOBTracker - Handles 4, 6 or 8-track mods in a variety of mod formats (not S3M or MTM though). Sound playback uses the DSP for mixing and quality is good and very little CPU time is used. The DSP is also used to improve the sound quality of the samples in realtime and boost the bass and/or treble if desired MegaPlayer - Handles up to 32 tracks, virtually and mod format ever, including S3M and MTM. DSP is used for mixing, so little CPU time is used. Distributed with MegaTracker (see 4.1.2) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [3.3] Mac See below (i.e. after the descriptions of the players) for solutions to the "Mac and mod" FAQ par excellence, "how do you play S3M on a Mac". For a description of Player Pro and Sound Tracker, the obviously most popular Mac programs, see section 4.1.3 Rich "Akira" Pizor notes: * The Macintosh-tracker. This freeware program plays MODs compatible with the Mar Epsie's Tracker, Player-Pro and the Sound-Tracker. It also features icons courtesy of Skaven and the Future Crew. * Alpha-Tracker. This system extension is a tiny, faceless application that automatically plays randomly selected MODs in the background while you work. Slightly old, supports most 4-track formats. * MusicBox XCMD. This XCMD for HyperCard adds a very functional MOD player to a HyperCard stack, allowing the more adventurous Mac owner to quickly and easily design their own MOD player. Supports most 4-track formats. * Mod Player 1.3.1. Newly added to the info-mac archives, this program is designed to play mods with as small a footprint in the system memory heap as possible. There are no bells and whistles, but this little gem is great for anyone running a low-end system. Compatible with most mods that work with Sound-Trecker. Lyman Green adds on 21 Dec 1994: * SoundApp 1.5.1 by Norman Franke will play or convert sound files dropped onto it. Currently, it supports: SoundCap, SoundEdit, AIFF, AIFF-C, System 7 sound, Sun Audio AU, NeXT SND, Windows WAV, Creative VOC, Amiga MOD (including Oktalyzer, MED/OctaMED and some other variations with up to 32 tracks), Amiga IFF/8SVX, Sound Designer II, DVI ADPCM, Studio Session Instruments and any 'snd' resource file. SoundApp can convert all of these formats to System 7 sound, sound suitcase, AIFF, WAV and NeXT formats. SoundApp can also convert QuickTime soundtracks and audio CD tracks to AIFF, System 7 sound or suitcase formats. Mod playback is PowerPC-accelerated on Power Macs. The following paragraph is from the SoundApp help file: Amiga MOD: This is not really a sound format but a music format. it stores digitized instruments and contains a musical score which produces a lengthy composition with a very small amount of data. There have been various extensions to this format, but SoundApp only supports those which Sound Trecker 2.2 supports. These include Amiga SoundTracker, StarTracker, NoiseTracker, ProTracker (4-track), Amiga StarTracker (4- and 8-track), Oktalyzer (4-8 track), Amiga MED/OctaMED (4-16 track MMD0/1/2 formats), IBM FastTracker (4-, 6- and 8-track), IBM TakeTracker (1-32 track). SoundApp does not support MTM or S3M formats. Native code will be used for MOD playback on a Power Macintosh. Righto, here we go, "how DO you play S3M on a Mac?". What follows contributed by Rich "Akira" Pizor on 22 Apr 95, updated 04 Feb 96: Yes, S3Ms are the current standard for mods. No, there's not a lot of support for them on the Mac. So, without getting into platform politics, here's what you need to know. As of this writing (2/4/96), your options are: 1) Use PlayerPro (see above). For those of you looking for a cheap way to download a free S3M player though, think again. PlayerPro only handles S3M files via import and until you pay the shareware fee, the import feature is disabled. 2) Mod Player Pro (can be downloaded from any info-mac mirror, same as all the other programs linked on this page) is supposedly a freeware program that will allow the playing of S3Ms directly upon download. The one time I tried it, it didn't work. Your milage may vary. If anyone is successful, I'd appreciate hearing about it; send mail to pizor@lclark.edu. ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/info-mac/gst/snd/mod-player-pro-202b2.hqx NOTE: I'm not positive about the version number in the filename! 3) A program called MacMikMod (same URL as above; I don't know the exact filename, though) supposedly allows PowerMac users (sorry, it's native only, not fat binary) to play S3Ms for free. Not having a PowerMac, I can't verify the accuracy of this at all. 4) Find a friend with a different platform of computer, one that supports S3Ms. Give them the file you want. Have them save it in a format compatible with the player you prefer (Safest is M.K. or M!K!, but most Mac Players also support MED and a few other formats). (Note by jester: This is a way, *but* converting S3M to MOD will most definitely irrevocably lose you information, if it is at all possible, as S3M is a more advanced format than MOD.) 5) A handful of Mac models have an option for a DOS compatibility card, essentially putting a PC clone in the same box as your Mac and allowing you to start up in either OS. If you're a technonerd with bucks to spend, this may be an option. MacModPro has been promising S3M support since version 3.0.1. As of 4.15, it still doesn't support the format. Myself, I've given up hope. A note about SoftWindows: For those of you with monster systems, $200 laying around and 23 megs of disk space, you can get a DOS/Windows emulator called SoftWindows. However, a machine slower than an 80 MHz PowerPC, trying to play an S3M in a DOS or Windows program in SoftWindows will not be terribly attractive to listen to. If you've got access to SoftWindows, you can take advantage of S3M -> MOD conversion, but not much else. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [3.4] MS-DOS Randy K Abel has put together a document "IBM MOD Players Compared", the most complete listing I have seen so far. It is posted to the Usenet newsgroups comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.music, comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.misc and alt.binaries.sounds.mods and can also be subscribed to by emailing the author. WWW users may wish to check out the "IBM MOD Players Compared!" WEB page at http://www.portal.com/~rabel1 - Cubic Player v1.7 A protected mode player for XM, S3M, MTM, MOD/NST/WOW, OKT, 669, ULT, DMF, PTM, AMS, MDL (and MIDI, using GUS patches, also on SB!) on SB/2/Pro/16/AWE32, GUS/DB/MAX, PAS, WSS, quiet. It is also possible to record the player's output to a WAV file. This player is exceptionally large in program size. Supports archives (ZIP, ARJ and RAR 2), has an integrated fancy file selector, echo/reverb and filter effects. Cubic is very popular nowadays. As of release version 1.6, only what was formerly called the 'lite' version is released, i.e. the essential files are included, but only a few animation and background picture data files, if any. Version 1.7 features INI files and gives you the chance to customize your background pictures. Freeware. By pascal / doj / ?hook. ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/music/programs/players/cp17.zip - Inertia Player 1.22 IPlay plays MOD, STM, S3M, 669, FAR, MTM, UNIS, ULT, WOW on GUS, PAS16, Windows Sound System, SB16(ASP), SB Pro, SB, Covox(DAC8) on LPT1, Stereo-on-1 on LPT1, Adlib, PC Speaker, General MIDI. Looks pretty spiffy and features 256x oversampling. Has a built-in file selector and playlist support. As of version 1.21, most (if not all) of the formerly ignored enhanced S3M commands are supported (Sxy commands). Freeware. By Stefan Danes and Ramon van Gorkom of Inertia. ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/music/programs/players/iplay122.zip ftp://irz301.inf.tu-dresden.de/.4.1/vol4/ms-dos/sound/modplay/iplay122.zip - CapaMod 3.12 CMOD plays MOD, S3M and XM files. Gravis Ultrasound ONLY! Claims to be the most ProTracker-compliant MS-DOS player. S3M support has been added in version 2 and is pretty good by now (S8x and Xxx panning, mono/stereo detection), and Fast Tracker II XM is supported as of version 3. It now supports DMA transfer and a file selector capable of reading ZIPs. The selector can also read directories in ZIPs. A CapaPlay II unit for Assembler, C, Pascal and Basic is included for coders. By Heikki Ylinen (flap/Capacala). ftp://irz301.inf.tu-dresden.de/.4.1/vol4/ms-dos/sound/gravis/player/... ...cmod312.zip ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/music/programs/players/cmod312.zip - Dual Module Player 4.00 DMP plays MOD/NST, STM/S3M, 669, FAR, MTM and AMF on PAS16, SB16, SB Pro, GUS, GUS MAX, Windows Sound System. Has software filters (reverb/echo, lowpass)and quality mode, supports both flavours of MOD and S3M stereo panning, now has a 'handy module file selector'. Archiver support has been removed in v4.00. The overall accuracy of DMP's playback seems to have improved a great deal. Careware and/or cardware. By Otto Chrons. ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/music/programs/players/dmp400.zip Note: The archive contains both the 'normal' and the 32-bit protected mode version of DMP. - Starplayer 2.22 A protected mode (i.e. 32-bit coded, 386 or higher required) MOD, S3M and MTM player for the GUS and SB (mono, 44kHz). Starplayer can load up to 64 (!) songs into expanded memory and these can be flipped even from a DOS shell (background playing). Starplayer now features a sile selection menu and volume bar displays. You can load modules from within a DOS shell. Built in MOD / MTM -> S3M conversion is also featured. The executable is only ~20KBytes in size. Freeware. By jedi / oxygen. ftp://peace.wit.com/kosmic/oxygen/starp222.zip http://kosmic.wit.com/~kosmic/oxygen/starplay.html - OmniPlayer v0.99 Plays MOD/NST, WOW, OCT, MED (MMD0), STM, S3M, MTM, ULT, FAR and 669 on GUS, SB, SB Pro, SB16 and PAS. By Edward Schlunder and/or Zilym Limms (I dunno..) ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/music/programs/players/oplay099.zip ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [3.5] OS/2 This section from David E. Wach on 10 Nov 1994, DMPlayer part updated by Doug White 2 Sep 1995: Digital Music Player 1.3 by Keith Murray : Digital Music Player is a native, multithreaded OS/2 Presentation Manager application that plays MODs, MIDs, WAVs, AVIs, and any other format that MultiMedia Presentation Manager/2 (MMPM/2) supports. Supports any soundcard that works with OS/2 (which is most). DMPlayer can play sounds at a maximum of 16-bit 44.1kHz stereo output. Output is placed in a buffer to keep the music playing during high system activity, and contains priority management to increase priority when the buffer drops below a specified point, and drop it down when the buffer is increased. DMPlayer plays from a songlist, which supports drag-n-drop and saveable songlists with a variety of sort and display options. The songlist can contain any playable format, as well as archived files. DMPlayer comes set up for gzip and zip files, but any archiver that can extract files to standard output is supported. DMPlayer's main screen looks like a CD player, with a songlist, buffer size, current and total tracks, and song title. DMPlayer contains a sub-panel for adjusting the volume, balance, bass and treble for drivers that support it. An info panel displays the sample names/message, module format and source filename. DMPlayer supports 4 track, 31 and 15 instrument Protracker/Noisetracker modules, 4 and 8 track Startrekker modules and 6 and 8 track Fasttracker modules. The shareware version can't save the settings or playlists, registration is $25 and the key is sent back via EMail. I've (editor's note: 1st person narrator is Doug White) used DMPlayer extensively and, unfortunately, it isn't very tolerant of broken MODs, archives or errors. It usually ends up locking and requiring a system reboot to unfreeze. Hopefully these problems will be addressed in the next release. ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/os2/mmedia/dmplay13.zip There is also ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/os2/2_1/mmedia/tracker.zip which is another .mod-only player, but it is rather buggy. However it includes the source code, so it might be of interest to hackers. One last thing at hobbes.nmsu.edu in /os2/2_1/mmedia is pmixos2.zip which is a Pro-Audio Spectrum 16 mixer for os/2. Don't know how good it is, i have a SB16! By the way, i was a little mis-leading. I CAN run Mod4Win in a WinOS/2 session. DMPlayer is the only NATIVE OS/2 mod player i know of. The only thing i have to do to Mod4Win to make it run with os/2 is to reduce its number of buffers. And I usually run it in a full-screen WinOS/2 session (which makes some win apps. a little more stable). -dave Eric Lowe told me on 18 April 95: DMP v4 (see section 3.4) runs correctly under OS/2. I use DMP32.EXE, though DMP will run too, just not as well. The catch is that you can't run DMP32.EXE from an icon directly, for some reason OS/2 doesn't recognize it as a valid executable, so I created a dummy batch file DMP32S.BAT that I put in an icon that just shells and runs DMP32. In fact, DMP32 runs better under OS/2 in a VDM than the native Presentation-Manager DMPlayer and supports a heck of a lot more formats. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [3.6] UNIX (and Sun, NeXt, Linux) Thanks to Aaron J. Luz , Mike Muuss and Andrew Robinson for this information. The players mentioned here are ftp'able from sunsite.unc.edu (and probably its mirrors) in /pub/Linux/apps/sound/players. A Sound-HOWTO is in it's alpha stages at tsx-11.mit.edu, which mentions mod-players. - GMOD 2.0 GMOD is a music module player for Linux and the GUS. Supports MOD, 669, MTM, ULT and S3M. Requires a GUS and VoxKit v3.0-proto or later sound drivers. Xgmod adds an X interface. By Andrew J. Robinson . Freely distributable. ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/apps/sound/players/gmod+x-2.0.tgz - S3MOD 1.05 This is a trackered music player. It is capable of playing S3M files in addition to 4, 6 and 8 track MOD files. Requires either a /dev/dsp compatible device or a GUS (/dev/sequencer) and the VoxWare sound drivers by Hannu Savolainen. By Daniel L. Marks . Freely distributable and usable source code, copyright retained. ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/apps/sound/players/s3mod-v1.05.tar.gz - Tracker 4.31 This is a fully-fledged protracker/soundtracker module player that is mostly portable. It now runs successfully on the Amiga, Silicon Graphics, Sparc, Linux... ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/misc/unix/tracker-4.31.tar.Z - PGMOD (version number not contributed) Linux player (XM, MOD, S3M, 669, MTM) for the Gravis Ultrasound (Max), comes with GUS low level driver, very good quality and low CPU overhead, still under development. ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/apps/sound/players/(filename not contributed) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [3.7] Windows - MOD4WIN 2.30 Plays MOD/STM/S3M/669/FAR/MTM/UNIS/OKT/WOW/XM on a Windows asynchronous wave driver (no PC speaker) or GF1- (GUS/MAX/ACE) or OPL4-based card (direct support). Direct to Disk Recording is also available (WAV recording of a mod). Up to 16 bits, 48kHz. Features surround sound (also with GF1 for mods with up to 8 tracks), IDO2, panning, integrated file selection, playlists, file management and archiver support. Perhaps the most accurate player for PC's. A 'light' archive is available, which contains only the English help file and only one example mod to save download time.By Kay Bruns, Uwe Zaenker and Jens Puchert. Shareware $30 (new user fee, update prices range from free to $15), runs for 30 days. ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/music/programs/players/m4w230sx.zip ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/music/programs/players/m4w230sl.zip - MIDAS for Windows 1.03a Plays 4-track MOD and (up to) 16-track S3M files using the Windows WAV device for output to any Windows compatible sound card. Supports the GUS directly. Supports 16 bit mixing and stereo. Supports mixing rates of 11.025, 22.05 and 44.1 kHz. Supports Dolby (TM) surround sound panning for S3M files. Supports Microsoft Windows Media Control Interface (MCI). By Petteri Kangaslampi, Jarno Pannanen and Benjamin Cooley. Freeware for non-commercial applications. ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/music/misc/wmidas13.zip - WinMOD Pro (current version 0.04a) This information supplied by Frenchy (Tim Fries) : Plays MOD/NST/STM files in Windows 3.1 or greater through a sound card's asynchronous sound driver (most cards except PC Speaker and AdLib Drivers). Plays up to 44,000kHz in Stereo. Features playlists, drag and drop and archive support. Doesn't run too well in the background, especially at anything over 8,000kHz, mono. Postware (send a postcard to the author). Written by James Holderness (holderne@beastie.cs.und.ac.za). ftp://ftp.cica.indiana.edu/pub/win3/sound/wmp004b.zip - WinMOD Very simple player capable of playing MOD (which subtypes is unknown to me) files on 386SX and better computers running Windows 3.1 and equipped with a sound card capable of playing digital samples and an according driver. This is a very small, rather basic and absolutely no-frills player. Programmed by Norbert Unterberg. ftp://ftp.cica.indiana.edu/pub/win3/sound/winmod10.zip =========================================================================== === [3.8] Apple II GS This section supplied by Peter F. Handel (Zelix) , with special thanks to Ian Schmidt (IRSMan) , Kris Olsen and Frank M. Lin (PoTTy) . The Apple IIGS is equipped with the Ensoniq 5503 chip, the 8-bit predecessor to the GF-1 and 5506 chips found in modern PC soundcards like the Gravis Ultrasound and Ensoniq Soundscape. - MODZap v00.90b3 (115853 bytes): One of the best mod players available for the Apple IIGS. It boasts such features as a half screen oscilloscope, full screen oscilloscope (for people with a Zip Chip accelerator), and a 4-Channel "QuadraScope". Also has option for a graphic-less display, good for multitasking. Arguably the best sounding mod player, supporting nearly all effects. By Ian Schmidt . ftp://cco.caltech.edu/pub/apple2/music/modplayers/modzap90b3.shk ftp://grind.isca.uiowa.edu/apple2/apple16/Music/Applics/Modzap.v090b3/ mz90b3.shk - NoiseTracker (522714 bytes): One of the more interesting mod players. Originally by Oliver Goguel and the FTA (Free Tools Association), 1WSW has released further "updates" (1.3, 1.4, 2.0). Many programmers have disassembled these so-called "updates" and have found little to no modification to the actual code, often changes actually harming sound quality. Most people recommend sticking with v1.10. This program runs under 8-bit mode, is written completely without tools, and therefore does not adhere to the Apple Human Interface. This program has a lot of Easter Eggs! By Oliver Goguel. ftp://cco.caltech.edu/pub/apple2/music/noisetracker/noisetracker12.shk ftp://grind.isca.uiowa.edu/apple2/apple16/Music/Applics/Noisetracker.v1.40/ NT1.40.SHK (only has 1.4??) - ShellPlay v0.71 (23639 bytes): Approximately equal to MODZap in sound quality. As the name implies, this player runs from any shell (like the Apple IIGS's UNIX flavor- Gno, or ORCA/M) and works well in the background (even with a high-speed modem connection). By Brian Bening. ftp://grind.isca.uiowa.edu/apple2/apple16/Music/Applics/Shellplay.v071/ shellplay0.71 - soniqTracker v0.6.3 (73441 bytes) : The only desktop program that comes close to ModZAP Features include a soniqAlarm, that plays a mod or list of mods at a selected time. Display is similar to MODZap's full screen oscilloscope. The source for soniqTracker was recently released to the public. By Tim Meekins . ftp://cco.caltech.edu/pub/apple2/music/modplayers/soniq63.shk ftp://grind.isca.uiowa.edu/apple2/apple16/Music/Applics/Soniqtracker.v063/ sT063.SHK - Sonobox (22141 bytes) : A new mod player based roughly on shellPlay, but with a NDA (New Desk Accessory) interface, making mod music available to just about any GS/OS application that adheres to the "Apple Human Interface". By Tony Morales. ftp://cco.caltech.edu/pub/apple2/uploads/sonobox.shk ftp://grind.isca.uiowa.edu/apple2/apple16/Music/Applics/sonobox.shk By no means is this a complete list; I did not include the NoiseTracker mod player (the real NoiseTracker imports & converts mods into its own internal format). Also worth mentioning is SoundSmith. It's an excellent music program in which you can write your own music pieces, but it only supports its own internal format. It does have an incredible intro, and comes with some very good songs. SoundSmith supports 14 tracks. =========================================================================== === [4] Creating Mods I consider it pretty normal for most people to tire of simply listening to the tunes others have made after a while and to decide to use (perhaps waste) some time in composing some of their own. This is where you need a tracker. You might also want to convert this fabulous MIDI arrangement you downloaded from someplace to a mod so you could muck around with it a bit, or simply to be able to listen to it with digital instruments (if you're stuck with SB/Adlib FM MIDI). You then need a converter and probably a tracker for post-processing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [4.1] Trackers - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [4.1.1] Amiga This section supplied by Steven Innell on Thu, 24 Nov 94, updated/corrected by Sir Fitz on Fri, 10 Feb 95: - Protracker V3.15 ( / V3.10b - see the note below) Probably the most used tracker until recently (with people using versions of Octamed in preference). This tracker is the most up-to-date mod creator for the amiga, based on the original Soundtracker interface (although highly upgraded). This version was re-written by Cryptoburners, and has plenty of editing options including simple sample manipulation (sampling, reverb, reverse, cut/paste etc.), but, as of yet, does not have a midi option, nor does it support any form of synthetic sound generation. It does however have an option for using 14-bit samples, although these are few and far between. It is a daunting program to use at first, especially if you have never had the experience of using any tracker on the amiga (e.g. Soundtracker/Noisetracker/ Protracker V1-2.3), since this version uses the sample effect commands found in those older version...and unlike the older versions, this does not have on-line help listing the effects, and what they do. Protracker is Freeware, with no form of registration/shareware fees to be paid. A new version (3.20) was supposed to be out, but as of yet I have been unable to find it. It can be found on Aminet under mus/edit/pt315.lha. NOTE: On Wed, 17 May, Markus Weichselbaum contacted me (jester), saying (excerpt): "The last official version was PT3.10b, available on ftp.funet.fi. PT315 is an internal version never meant to be released (...). PT3.15 has been removed from Aminet, however there is a PT2.3 available. There are simply no '14-bit' samples released. The so-called 'DYN 14bit' system was working to some extent, but since the 'DYN' system was entirely rewritten, the development of PT315 was stopped. Only 2 or 3 test mods have been released, but no samples or documentation (...). I recommend use of PT310b which essentially has the same features as PT315. PT310 is indeed freeware, but PT3.15 is NOT." When I (jester) asked Steven Innell about this, he replied (excerpt): "I've had the program for 2 years. (...) I know U4IA, who once was a member of Cryptoburners, and also tested a lot of the original trackers out, and he has never said that PT3.15 was a leaked version never intended for release...in fact, a while back he told me they were working away on a commercial V4." Finally, on 28 Sep 1995, Steven Innell mentioned the subject again, saying (excerpt): ".. and I can now confirm that the release of most of the V3 series were not intended to be available as soon as they were (the exception being V3.00). However the programmer of V3.15 didn't seem to be worried (...) that PT was available, ... BTW, V3.10 is very unstable and unusable on accelerated machines but if you (or anyone else) feel that V3 should not be available, then the next best valid release that works is V2.3b AGA, which was fixed to run on AGA machines." Now, all I (jester) have to say is that I don't mind anyone using whichever version they wish and I hope the above, especially the last note, clears up any confusion that may have been created. - OctaMed (V6) This is the latest version of this series of Trackers by Teijo Kinnuen. Several changes have been made to the program, the first and most notable being that OctaMed now opens its screen on the WorkBench screen, using whatever ScreenMode was being used by the WB. Amongst the many features added are better/or new SoundCard support (Aura/Tocatta) improved 8 channel handling, completely new interface (as mentioned above - sortof) The New features are numerous, and if you are a med fan, you are advised to Download the demo of Version 6 from Aminet, and read the large documentation that comes with it. Note that OctaMed is a Commercial Program, and can be Purchased from Ray Burt-Frost software at: RBF Software 169 Dale Valley Road HollyBrook Southampton SO1 6QX England (01703) 785680 - Voice/Answerphone (01703) 703446 - Fax Email: rbfsoft@cix.compulink.co.uk (c) Teijo Kinnuen & RBF Software (FAQ editor's note: the rest of the OctaMed description is retained from the former entry concerning V5, as it offers more details) This tracker started way back as a clone of Soundtracker 2.5, and was called MEDV1.13. It grew and changed till V3 became the basis of octamed (an 8-channel tracker). Med all versions up to OctaMed V4.00g are freeware. This program (V5) is now fully protracker compatible, in that it now imports protracker modules, and will play them at the correct speed. It also has the option for using some of protrackers shortcut keyboard commands. This version of Octamed also now has a vastly improved front end. It opens its own window on the Workbench, and uses proper intuition gadgets/menus. It is very easy to work around, and comes with on-line amigaguide help. (There is also the manual on disk - as a guide if you wish to look up something). Octamed allows for the creation of synthetic sounds via its own special editor, which may take a while to get used to. It also has good sampling capabilities and editing of samples. This program also allows for the use of midi equipment, providing 16-channels of midi on to of the 4/8 amiga channels. However, be warned...using 8 channels slows the machine, and reduces sample quality..it is not advised. There is a High Quality mode which tries to increase the quality of samples when played in 8 ch mode, but it requires a 68020 or higher to be in your machine (030 really at least). Octamed also has the ability to vary the length of patterns up to a maximum of 999 rows/pattern. This allows for better structuring of the way you create your tune, so whereas before you may have had to shove a patternbreak in a few rows before the end of the pattern, now you can just increase the length of the pattern et voila!. Octamed has a variety of ways of saving the tunes you create in it. It can save as its format (MMD2), Octamed2-4 (MMD1) or Protracker. You can also use compression, the two modes being offered are LH (requires Lh.library) or Powerpacker (requires Powerpacker.library v35 at least). You can save with/without instruments, although you'll probably end up saving as a tracker mod, as this is more widely playable on other formats....be warned however...protracker doesnt support some of the commands available in Octamed (8 ch mode - midi - extended/shortened patterns - synthetic sounds) so if they are used, they will not appear in the tracker version, and so the mod will not sound/behave as you may have expected. A freely distributable version of Octamed can be found on Aminet under: Octa5.lha mus/edit 618K - demo of V5 OctaMedv4.lha mus/edit 299K - Music editing software, 8 voices - Noise/Soundtrackers - see above on protracker, as these are all alike except v2.6 of soundtracker..which used a different approach to making the mods. - StarTrekker (Vers unknown sorry ;-) This is a mod editor in the same vain as Octamed. It has a layout the same as the old sound/noisetrackers, but also has the ability to use 8 channels...hoever 8 channel mode sounds really bad, and you are better off using octamed, or protracker. Availability of the above: almost nill....some PD houses may still stock them - FTM (Face The Music) This is an 8 channel mod editor. The mods it produces are usually of very good quality (even on a straight A500), although the program itself is very fiddly to use. I cannot say much about this program as I havent really used it much at all. There is a demo of it on Aminet though, under: FTM_Demo.lha biz/demo 381K It is a shareware demo...and I cant remember the Reg. fee...sorry =8*) - Future Composer V1.3/4 This is a wholly synthetic mod editor (saying that..it does allow the use of samples). It does not import/export tracker mods though. This program is very old (1989 ish) and is very fiddly to use..even with the manual printed out and In front of me. The tunes this "tracker" generates sound a lot like the 8-bit machines tunes (eg C64 music). Some of the tunes are however very nice sounding, its just a shame the program is so damn hard to use ;-) Availability: almost nill...some PD houses may have them...but apart from that I cant say where they can be obtained... They are freeware though. - Art Of Noise This is a recent mod Editor for the Amiga. It is a shareware demo of the program, the full version costing 79 DM (available only from the author). First of all, it is 100% protracker compatible (load-format !) That means, that you don't have to get used to new shortcuts to old (protracker) functions ! But that doesn't mean, that this tracker is just another protracker clone! You might already have noticed, that AON has got dozens of new functions. If you load AON for the first time, you might be slayed by all these new functions, but it's worth taking a look at them. I think it would be the best to list up a few of them: + OS-2 graphical environment ! Reqtools-Requester ! + Supports euro-72 monitors !! + 8 channels! But in contrary to startrekker/octamed/oktalyzer this time REAL 8 channels, that means free volume/pitch-settings on EVERY channel, loops ofcourse also possible (achieved by real-time Mixing of channels) + maximal number of instruments increased to 61 ! + maximal number of patterns increased to 128 ! + maximal number of positions increased to 256, including restartposition !! + wavetable & sampleinstruments. + 'macro' instruments possible: E.g. 10 instruments can share the same waveform, but the samplestart (for example, there is certainly a greater number of possibilities offered by this feature!) can vary from instrument to instrument ! Wavetable instruments can be used to create 64er-like sounds, but they are also great for big resonance-pads etc. !! + number of player-commands increased from 28 (protracker) to 45 ! And there are ofcourse a lot to come in future versions ! + Supports powerpacker and STONECRACKER (the best cruncher around!) + Arpeggio (maximal 7 notes!) + any other effect, arpeggio speed changeable + Remark (normal textfile/ansi) linkable to module !! + FM-Synthesis ! + Drumsequencer! Make your own drumlines with up to 16 tracks !! + Big sampleeditor ! Features samples>128k, multisampling, sample-trigger digital-filter with selectable depth, flanger, phase-distortion, direct 'freestyle' sampleediting: paint your own waves ! + supports external-synchronizing, e.g. for demos or other presentations! + Player is easy to build in in own programs. + Turbo-Player available, takes about 1-2 rasterlines (faster than any other player!) + Update service for future versions! The whole handling has been changed ofcourse, so just check out the preview ! If you like this program, please don't copy it. A program worth using is a program worth buying ! Contact me at the following address: BASTIAN SPIEGEL TRUPERMOORER LANDSTRASSE 17A 28865 LILIENTHAL GERMANY or call: 04298-30731 or 04298-4873 (16h-22h) (if other line is busy or nobody picks up) The full-version will cost 79DM and features a very nice printed manual plus 4 disks (program/workshop/instruments/demomods) ! The preview version lacks of save-routines, but all effects and functions are useable! Demo Available on Aminet As: FTP: mus/edit/ArtOfNoise.lha (1.3M) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [4.1.2] Atari ST Thanks to Dan for this information. Note: To the best of Dan's knowledge, the programs mentioned here can be downloaded via ftp from atari.archive.umich.edu/pub/atari/ and its mirrors. A lot of them are also available from micros.hensa.ac.uk, but gopher or WWW access to this site is much preferred to ftp as they have a weird directory structure. Atari ST: There is a port of ProTracker from the Amiga. This will allow you to create 4-track MODs. Atari STE/TT/Mega STE: To create mods on these machines, you basically have a choice of two programs - ProtrackerSTE or Octalyser ProtrackerSTE is an upgraded port of ProTracker from the Amiga. It handles only 4 tracks, but has the full PT command set and gives good quality playback. (Note there are also a bundle of PT clones for these machines, such as Esion) Octalyser is an 8-track tracker. You need a fast STE or a TT to playback all 8 tracks though. Octalyser will let you create or play back 4, 6 or 8 track mods. It will load many different mod formats, but not S3M or MTM. Sound quality is quite good. Atari Falcon030: For creating mods on this machine, there are basically three main choices: Octalyser (mentioned above) has drivers for the enhanced sound system, thus giving good quality playback, but only 4, 6 and 8 track mod formats, not S3M or MTM. MegaTracker - 32 track tracker. All tracker commands and practically all mod formats are supported including S3M and MTM. Unbelievable speed and quality are produced by the DSP mixing. Unfortunately, the instructions have not yet been translated from french, but it is only a matter of time. Digital Tracker - 32 track tracker. Supports almost all tracker commands and formats, although it hangs on some S3Ms. this is commercial software and only a demo is available, which has certain restrictions. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [4.1.3] Mac This section by Barry Nathan and Rich "Akira" Pizor . Barry writes on Thu, 17 Nov 1994: The programs mentioned here are available from: info-mac: ftp://ftp.sumex-aim.stanford.edu/pub/info-mac/ umich: ftp://mac.archives.umich.edu/pub/ However, sumex (info-mac) itself is hardly accessible, and one of its mirrors (like ftp://ftp.hawaii.edu://mirrors/info-mac/snd/util) will be better. Player Pro 4.5: Can access the sound chip directly, so it takes less processor time than SoundTrecker. It'll still work when new Macs with new sound chips come out, because it can also use the regular Sound Manager 3.0 if necessary, like when the PowerMacs came out and Player Pro didn't support their sound chip. Only edits its own format, MADF, but it can import and export MOD, S3M, MIDI, XM, 669, OKTA and MED (as of version 4.5 the S3M import filter is out of beta stage). Version 4.5 also supports multiple samples in one instrument. PlayerPro has a very mixed track record for some of its more obscure import and tracking options, but reportedly plays many of the basic mod formats better than the other Mac heavyweight, Sound-Trecker 2.2. PlayerPro is shareware and until you pay the $20 registration fee, most tracking/editing features are turned off (including import and save) and it will automatically quit after having been open for 20 minutes. A CD-ROM version is also available for $40, which comes with a library of mods and instrument samples. Upgrades are free, except for the upgrade from the disk to the CD-ROM version, which will cost $20 for an upgrade. Unlike Sound-Trecker, it is fully PowerMac-native, which means it FLIES by on a PowerMac. Sound-Trecker: $40 shareware. Partially, but not fully, PMac native, but it can do simulated surround sound for headphones or (I think...) Dolby Surround decoders. However, with the Surround option, the fact that it's not fully native really shows, as you hear clicks when you try to do other stuff. However, the slowdown isn't that severe on normal Macs. The two other advantages are that it can play (Okta)MEDs, which Player Pro can't handle, and some MODs play better with it than Player Pro. Keep in mind that with the extra features and bug fixes with Player Pro 4.2, most MODs play -much- better with Player Pro, though, and PP is cheaper. Rich "Akira" Pizor adds: Sound-Tracker is a shell program which plays formats based on plug-ins, providing for maximum flexibility, since plug-ins can easily be written whenever a new format is introduced. Currently, most of the standard 4- and 8-track MOD formats are supported. Also available is a plug-in that makes it PowerPC native. It is also known for having one of the better interfaces of Mac MOD players. The resoucres for creating/editing MODs are present, yet the appropriate menu items are geryed out. I've not met anyone who could explain this anomaly to me. The two theories I've heard are that you get editing capabilities if you register the program (German ReadMe not too well understood) or that the resources are simply sitting there while the author learns how to integrate the corresponding features into a later release of the program. MacMod Pro is now in version 4.15 and has received a MAJOR overhaul. The staff editor works and it works pretty well, though it takes a little getting used to. One nice feature is the ability to record in realtime from the soft keyboard, a feature which isn't (to the best of my [editor's note: this is Akira's] knowledge) supported by any other Mac tracker. It supports anywhere from 4-32 channels and up to 39 instruments. It also allows you to set preferences linking it to specific directories for various files, so when you try to load a new instrument or mod or file, it goes straight to the appropriate directory, rather than having the user navigate to the right place. S3M support has been promised since version 3.0.1, but the format is unsupported as of version 4.15. [FAQ maintainer's / editor's notes: There is no confirmed information about MacMod Pro's native file format yet (I suppose Akira simply forgot to mention it). I also *assume* the program marketing status hasn't changed, so here's the information from the last FAQ revision:] MacMod Pro is shareware. A $25 registration fee is required to unlock the Save option, but all other functions work off the shelf, so you can get a good feel for how the program works and for what it takes to make a mod. ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/systems/mac/info-mac/snd/util/mac-mod-pro-322.hqx [Note: This URL is, of course, WRONG! I need to get Akira to tell me the right one. Or I could go look for it myself.... Anyhow, just cd to the directory and you should be able to find the file.] Meditor, a freeware Mac tracker, is currently on version 0.63delta. It supports all the mod formats supported by Sound Trekker, as well as its own format that can be played only through Meditor and Sound Trekker and through the latter only viy a plug-in module provided with Meditor. There is no PC support for this file that I know of ('bout time we had one that PC-people didnt! ;). Version 0.63, the latest release, has become a LOT more stable...you can still only have one document open at a time, but at least it doesn't spontaneously crash any more...well, at least as much. :) Still only a classical editor, but still free. Meditor can be downloaded from any info-mac mirror. Don't ask me why, but they put it in the /gst/snd/midi directory. Don't let this fool you -- MEDITOR IS NOT A MIDI SEQUENCER! The info-mac moderators just screwed up; hey they're only human. ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pun/info-mac/gst/snd/midi/meditor-d63.hqx - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [4.1.4] MS-DOS MS-DOS users have quite a few trackers available to them nowadays, with capabilities superior to first-generation mods. Beta releases and unpopular trackers are not mentioned, the ones listed should suffice to get you started. That'd include: - Scream Tracker 3.21 - programmed by PSI of Future Crew. Supports GUS, SB, SB Pro. Edits up to 32 digital tracks (but plays only up to 16), 99 instruments (S3M format supports 255), features a superset of the ProTracker command set (but some effects are handled a little different), 8 bit samples with adjustable C4Spd (S3M format allows for 16 bit ADPCM packed stereo samples), 9 Adlib FM channels (only playable on SB or SB Pro) and 8 octaves. Features separate volume column (and track panning available in most players). Extensive block commands and editing capabilities make this one of the best trackers around nowadays. Version 3.2 is extensively bugfixed over the previous release. Writes in S3M and MOD formats (but S3M to MOD conversion is NOT recommended!). Reads S3M, STM (perfect), M.K., 6CHN, 8CHN, Oktalyzer MOD, 5 to 10 track MOD (pretty good MOD loader) and a proprietary import format. Has an own sample format, which it shares with Advanced Digiplayer, but ST3 can also read raw 8-bit samples (signed and unsigned). MOD samples (signed 8-bit) can be imported by loading a MOD that uses them into ST3 (all information is retained). Freeware. ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/music/programs/trackers/s3m/scrmt321.zip - FastTracker II - programmed by Mr H and Vogue of Triton. Supports GUS, SB and SB Pro. Edits up to 32 tracks, 128 instruments, multi-sampled intruments (up to 16 samples per instrument), volume and panning envelopes for instruments, instrument panning, 4 GB maximum sample size, bidirectional looping, variable pattern length, built-in sample editor, sampler and CD dumper, 256 patterns, separate volume/panning/vibrato column, claims full MIDI support. Imports MOD, STM, S3M type mods, GUS patches, raw samples (signed and unsigned) and IFF samples. Samples can be 8 or 16 bits. Sample tuning by finetune and relative note value. Shareware $20. ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/music/programs/trackers/ft206.zip There exists the Fast Tracker II Resource Web Page, offering guidance on getting started with FastTracker, obtaining it, help on keyboard commands, effects, sample sources and links to other pages at: http://huizen.dds.nl/~freeze/ - Impulse Tracker 2.02 - programmed by Pulse (Jeffrey Lim). Supports SB16, GUS, SB Pro, SB and PC Speaker. Features a Scream-Tracker-3'ish interface. Edits up to 64 tracks, 99 instruments, multi-sampled instruments, volume, panning and pitch envelopes, bidirectional looping, 8/16 bit samples with variable C5Spd (higher tuning range than ST3). Uses a (slightly altered) superset of the S3M commands. Boasts the so-called New Note Actions. Imports S3M, MTM, MOD and IT type mods, ST3 and IT type samples / instruments (anything else is interpreted as raw data). Mod files can be used as instrument libraries. Writes IT and S3M files (S3M with restrictions). Non-crippled non-obliging shareware. ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/music/programs/trackers/it202.zip Impulse Tracker also has three Web sites; the American, Australian and European HQs are at: http://www.citenet.net/noise/it http://cuburbia.bns.com.au/pages/clients/impulse.html http://huizen.dds.nl/~im-pulse - MultiTracker Module Editor 1.01b - programmed by Daniel Goldstein aka Starscream of Renaissance. Supports GUS, SB and SB Pro. Edits up to 32 tracks, 31 instruments, features the PT command set (which is not completely compatible), 8 bit samples (MTM format can store 16 bits). Features track panning. Imports raw samples and GUS patches (only registered). Loads MOD, 669, MTM and FAR mods, more formats planned. Right now, loading anything but MTM is not recommended (FAR and 669 sound bad). Shareware $24.95 ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/music/programs/trackers/mtm101b.zip - Farandole Composer 1.00 - programmed by Daniel Potter of Digital Infinity. Supports GUS only. Edits 16 tracks, 64 instruments, an own command set (does not claim to be PT-compliant), 8 and 16 bit sample support, sample size up to 1 Meg, imports MOD, 669, GUD PAT and ST3/Digiplayer samples. Features separate volume column and track panning. Loads MOD, 669, ULT (buggy) mods. Uses SVGA to display all tracks on screen simultaneously in 132x50 mode. Has a built-in sample editor. Shareware $15. The FAR format is not very well supported (outside this tracker). ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/music/programs/trackers/far100.arj - UltraTracker v1.6 - programmed by MAS of Prophecy. Supports GUS. Edits up to 32 tracks, 8 and 16 bit instruments, variable C2Spd with finetune, bidirectional looping, instrument panning, 255 patterns, subset of the PT commands, two effect slots per note. Built-in sample editor. Imports S3M, MOD, 669, FAR and MTM mods. Imports IFF, PAT, WAV, FSM, SND and raw sample types. Mouse driven. Shareware $20. The ULT format is not very well supported (outside this tracker). ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/music/programs/trackers/ultra160.zip - FastTracker 1 - programmed by Mr H of Triton. Supports SB, SB Pro, Soundplayer, DAC, Internal Speaker. Edits 4, 6 or 8 tracks, 31 instruments, 8-bit samples of 64KB maximum size, ProTracker command set, track panning supported by external players, 100 patterns. Relatively simple, easy to use tracker, which is good for starters, but it suffers from its output formats' deficiencies. Partly mouse driven. Freeware. ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/music/programs/trackers/ftracker.zip - ModEdit (current version reported to be v3.01) - programmed by Norman Lin. Supports SB, DAC and the internal speaker using Mark J. Cox's playing routine (it runs even on 286 PC's). Edits only M.K. format. Mouse-driven menu interface. This editor's main quality is its sort-of-musical notation. Whereas almost all other trackers display the tracks vertically and notes are only discernible by their key character, ModEdit displays the current pattern horizontally and the notes on a vertical spread. This editor is old but could suit some people to get started on. It has a very good documentation, which can unfortunately be a bit misleading at times, however. Shareware $?? ftp://ftp.uni-jena.de/pub/msdos/mix/modedit.zip - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [4.1.5] OS/2 NHY - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [4.1.6] UNIX (Sun/Linux/NeXt) Thanks to Andreas Schiffler for this information. With the new version of DOSEMU (ver. 0.60.4), quite a number of trackers work under Linux. As of this version, DOSEMU supports Soundblaster emulation and basic DMA, which should get most trackers working with it. It is available at ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/emulators/ ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/ALPHA/ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [4.1.7] Windows - EasyMod for Windows 1.0 The features of this seemingly only Windows tracker are unknown to me, as I couldn't maintain a link to the ftp site. All I know is that it's coded by Captain Apathy <75713.2012@compusrv.com> for PlayItSoLoudItHz Productions and that the URL is: ftp://ftp.iinet.com.au/pub/users/bsouth/ezmod.zip ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [4.2] Converters Conversion between mod formats and especially conversion from/to non-mod music file formats is pretty sure to lose some information of the original piece. In most of the cases, there is no way around this. You can't, for example, convert a 16-track S3M using Qxy and excessive volume commands to a 4-track M.K.. The M.K. just can't hold the information. It is possible, on the other hand, to convert a M.K. to S3M very accurately. There are a few minor incompatibilities, but these would hardly be noticeable by many. Conversions to and from MIDI are also very difficult to get done right with today's mod formats. MIDI files, while seemingly similar, have a very different command set from mods. Only one of the differences is that the MIDI output device 'knows' how to process its sounds when it receives commands from the MIDI file/player, for example how fast to decay a piano waveform. This information is not stored in the MIDI file itself, but a mod would have it included. A converter has no means of asking the MIDI device how it would handle a certain situation (this is not completely correct, at least when using a GUS, the patches could be parsed), so it has to assume certain things. I suppose, however, that better converters could do the trick if they were programmed for certain situations (I think a converter that creates mod instruments by itself from a GUS' patches, for example, could accurately convert from MIDI to an advanced mod format such as S3M, XM or ULT). But did you want to know any of this? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [4.2.1] from MIDI - PTMID 0.3 - converts General MIDI files to MOD (i.e. M.K., 6CHN and 8CHN) and MTM files. To do this, it relies on a configuration file which specifies the samples to be used, the number of tracks to generate and the resolution to use. A careful setup is therefore absolutely necessary if anything good is going to emerge. The resulting mods will generally still require some re-editing in a mod editor. Seems like it's freeware. By Andrew Scott (ascott@tartarus.uwa.edu.au) ftp://x2ftp.oulu.fi:/pub/msdos/programming/convert/ptmid3.zip MS-DOS ftp://ftp.mm.se/playerpro/ptmid_0.3_folder.sit.bin Mac - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [4.2.2] Module Format Converters Amiga (this subsection supplied by Heikki Kantola ): There's several "exotic" mod formats for Amiga which are usually just differently packed ProTracker variants and therefore pretty easy to convert to normal PT format. There are at least the following mod converters on Aminet (see section 6.1; unless a path is given, the files mentioned below reside in mus/misc/): - Perverter-V1.41.lha - Converts exotic mods to MOD - Pro-Wizard.lha - Convert many music formats to PT - xmodule26b.lha - Music module converter v2.6b And then also a bit weirder ones: - mus/edit/smus2mod.lha - Convert SMUS music files to MOD files - mus/midi/Mod2Midi10.lha - Convert MODs to General MIDI type 1 files MS-DOS: - Mtm2S3m 0.91a - converts MTM to S3M modules. Doesn't convert samples >64K yet, but this is planned for the future. By Zab/DA ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/music/programs/converters/m2s091b.zip - M2AMF - supplied with DMP (see MS-DOS players), this generates an AMF file from all file formats understood by DMP. AMF files are generally smaller than the corresponding MOD files. However, DMP is the ONLY player for these files and conversion of AMF to other formats isn't possible yet, so it's a one-way street. And we all know that DMP, versatile as it may be, doesn't play anything (except AMF) right. By Otto Chrons. ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/music/programs/players/dmp400.zip - ScreamTracker 3.21 contains the option to save mods as M.K., 6CHN, 8CHN, S3M. MOD output is, however, slightly inaccurate, since S3M commands are not fully ProTracker-compliant. Another deficiency arises from the variable C4Spd available in S3M. ST3 tries to finetune the samples, but doesn't perform any resampling or note adjustments. This means that an instrument with a C4Spd of above 8795Hz or below 7902Hz (or integer multiples of these) will sound off tune if the note isn't adjusted in the resulting MOD. By PSI/FC. ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/music/programs/trackers/scrmt321.zip - 669 to MOD v1.0 - converts 669 to 8CHN mods - (c)1993 by Kenneth Galbraith ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/music/programs/converters/6692mod.zip - MOD to 669 - converts PT mods to 669 - (c)1993 by DTown Inc. ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/music/programs/converters/mod2669.zip - MTM to MOD v1.1 - converts MTM to MOD - (c) Daniel Goldstein (StarScream) ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/music/programs/converters/mtmmod11.zip (also packaged with MultiModule Editor 1.01b) - STX2STM v1.0 - converts STX (STMIK 0.2) back to STM - (c)1994 by Lutz Roeder ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/music/programs/converters/stx2stm.zip - TOAMIGA - converts STM to PT MOD. Comes with the old MOD-Player MP219b by Mark J. Cox ftp:?? ============================================================= end of part 1 ==