Newbies
This part is reserved for tracker newbies and beginners in music to learn some basics about
ways of composing music using a tracker and/or hardware equipment, what trackers really are,
where they come from, what the alternatives are to tracker-style composing etc. Users already
familiar with trackers can safely skip this part, although they might want to take a look if
they lack something in their knowledge.
So... what is a "tracker"?
A tracker is a program designed for composing music. The name tracker refers mostly to
the 'pattern editor' which consists of numbers and notes sorted into rows and columns,
unlike musical score notation. This makes it easier for people to compose even without
knowing much musical theory - only basic theory is required: knowledge about note names,
octaves and a good pair of ears. Usually in trackers columns represent tracks and rows
represent pattern lines (notes on different tracks but in the same row are played at the
same time).
Trackers have integrated features for loading and storing samples, some way of editing
samples and the pattern editor where you edit your music notes. Finished songs are saved
as files commonly known as modules. Such modules (also called 'mods') contain all the
samples and patterns you created and used. They contain information about arrangements
you've made. In other words, they are finished songs that can be loaded and played with
all required stuff packed in, unlike MIDI songs that require additional sets of samples
and/or hardware to play the song. Of course, this is the reason why modules are a little
bit longer in file size when compared to MIDI files. Furthermore you can extract
instruments from a module, replace them with other instruments/samples unlike final
products - such as MP3, CD Audio or WAV files. Modules are in most cases shorter than
MP3 files and can sound very very good (or bad if you are a lousy composer). As an
exception, my modules are way bigger than average MP3s ;-)
So in short, generally anything that shows notes as patterns in column format with many
numbers and "---" lines is called a tracker. Dots, lines and numbers - that's all it is!.
Tell me about the history of trackers!
There are many trackers. The first tracker appeared on a miracle of a computer called the Amiga
in 1987. Its author, today a legend and father of all trackers was Karsten Obarski. His program
was called Soundtracker I. It was a commercial product and very soon became so popular that
clones were inevitable. It came with a set of sample disks called ST-01 and ST-02 with lousy
8-bit samples sampled from various synthesizers or sample CDs. Sure, they were great at the time
- because we never knew of anything better. In fact those samples were so terrible and so many
composers used them that all of the songs sounded alike. Yeah, those were the days - you could
recognize which ST disk a song was using simply by listening to it. "You make me feel so
gooooood!!!"... "This is a journey into a sound".... yeah...bring it on! Soundtracker also had
"powerful" effects like setting sample volume and pitch slide. Wow, wasn't that some time?
Yeah, but in 1987 it was a miracle, a dream come true. Terrible! But history!
However the history of trackers goes even deeper than Amiga times into times when 8-bit machines
ruled the world. The name of one legendary machine was the C64 (Commodore 64) and software that
looked like trackers originally appeared on it. Software like Rock Monitor, Synth64 or Future
Composer used some kind of number notation. However the original tracker concept and especially
the module concept as we know it today originates from the Amiga. So don't let me hear you
youngsters saying that modules and trackers began their life on PC because it ain't true and you
better learn history lessons well :-)
After that came Noisetracker (now does that name ring a bell...hmmmmm) and Protracker.
And many, many other clones. They increased the number of effects, added some new features
but basically they were the same 4-channel trackers as the first Soundtracker was. And mostly
related to the Amiga. Did you know that songs and modules were called "mod.something" instead
of "something.mod"? The Amiga made it possible, while the PC was still struggling with 8+3 DOS
names. Nevertheless, although compared to today's standards only 4 channels was bad, I can't
deny the fact that people managed to compose such unbelievable musical masterpieces in those
4 channels (and with 8-bit sound).
Another tracker revolution happened on PC - there were great trackers on PC too and many people
are still addicted to some of them, claiming to be the best ones ever made. One of the best was
FastTracker 2 although some people claim Impulse Tracker (or whatever else you want to put here)
was the best but we won't discuss this here (we know FT2 was better :-). Anyway it's a similar
topic to one of those "which is better Zx Spectrum or C64, Amiga or Atari ST" arguments etc...
etc... (C64 and Amiga are better heheh ;-) These DOS tracker were really good. Not only could
they play samples, set a volume or such simple effects they could do much more. They could do
volume and panning envelopes. You could load 16-bit samples and work with them actually like on
real hardware sampler but within a much tighter budget. You could compose more complex stuff with
the 32 or 64 channels they supported. Some of these became standards for creating music. These
were for DOS and do not work correctly with today's Windows like Windows XP or Windows Me (they
were made in 1996 or so...). So the trackers moved to Windows, unlike some people who continued
to live in 1996 and still use FastTracker 2. There are also trackers for other platforms too other
than Windows... but most are for Windows.
And today we have probably a third revolution in trackers. Trackers are now doing heavy Digital
Signal Processing and add real-time effects to tracks. They also can synthesize sounds with
built in synthesizers. Only the best though are worth a look. A lot of bad software is out there.
Renoise supports all you can find in all those other trackers and adds a professional touch to it.
What is the alternative to trackers?
Well... according to those other "pro" composers trackers are alternative... but with such processing
power we have today in our PCs there is less and less need for professional MIDI equipment (personally
I don't use any, except MIDI keyboard). I see more and more DJs and producers using such software-only
tools for creating music, and many of them are getting publishing contracts. It was possible even with
FastTracker2 and now it is even more possible. However Reason, Rebirth, Cakewalk, Cubase (these are not
trackers) and similar pieces of software are more popular with professional producers... they all use
"Cubase"-style interface and try to emulate rack components. Many "professionals" are used to this
interface and no matter what you say to them they will never like trackers no matter how good the sound
quality is. On the other hand some people believe that FastTracker 2 is still a state of the art program
today, and simply refuse to believe there is better software available. Tracking is in many ways a better
way of composing though. There is no real reason not to become professional just because you use a tracker
- listen to the demo songs for Renoise and compare them to commercial songs (it doesn't matter if you
don't like the music style, sound quality is what counts). You can learn how to use a tracker much faster
especially if it has a simple GUI like Renoise instead of the other style of "bars" interface. But you
will have to spend some time to really get your tunes together and produce some quality sounding stuff
(not because of the tracker's sound quality but simply because you may be inexperienced).
So don't give up!
Anyway off topic, Cubase-style software is mostly meant for use with MIDI hardware although they can
work with good sound cards like SB-Live or similar. Using a tracker often assumes you might not have
the money for such (expensive) equipment. But the times are (as always) changing and the fact is
becoming more and more obvious: No need today for MIDI synths! Just a good piece software.
Today there are many trackers. Many of them are unfinished, many of them are only semi-functional
and it can give trackers a bad reputation as non-professional software. But if a tracker is programmed
and documented correctly there is no reason it shouldn't compete with (or even beat) such so-called
"pro" music software.
The program itself is actually not limited to any particular musical style. We know that some software
makers name their software after certain music style but that is only for marketing reasons. You can
make modern styles like Techno, Trance, House, Hip-Hop, Drum'n'Bass, R'n'B, Club, Dance, Goa,
Psychedelic, mixed ones like Acid Jazz, New Age or more traditional ones like Reggae, Rock, Blues,
Metal, Hardcore and even Classical orchestral type of music... you name it! Of course, these are only
examples (add your own favorite styles here) - you can compose anything you can think of!
Renoise is really great for many modern music styles which utilize synthesizers and samplers but also
good for Rock or similar styles where you can use it as a drum-machine or a player for looped samples.
In this case you have to sample such sequences (guitar sequences are harder to play in a tracker than
using a real guitar and they will also sound better on a real instrument). These sampled sequences are
called "loops". But sequences like strings or synth leads are easier to play in a tracker or using
keyboards. The program supports really large sample sizes and you can arrange them as loops, add
effects etc. Also you can make any music that uses loops from sample CDs using the Beat Sync option
in the Properties window / Instrument Settings. Controlling external
devices via MIDI is as easy as working with samples.
Can I compose professional quality music with this program? Do I need any professional equipment?
Can I publish something I make with Renoise, are there any royalties I have to pay for?
Do I need "Cubase" or similar software?
Yes, you can make commercial and professional quality music with Renoise. No need for other equipment,
as it is an all-in-one solution - synth, sampler, effect processor, mixer, sequencer...
there are no limits.
If you really want to be a true professional, you can buy a MIDI keyboard to simplify input of notes
or maybe some additional pieces of equipment like a mixer, an effect processor, a better sound card
etc. You might also want to get some sample CDs to work with.
But you will have grow naturally, and walk before you run. Don't expect your first song to be perfect
and don't give up. Use the program for a while and listen to experienced people's opinions about
your music. As for "Cubase" - read about the alternatives to trackers elsewhere in this document.
You can publish anything you make with Renoise and you don't have to pay any royalties as long as
you own a legally registered version of the application. We would also be glad to see on your CD
or LP cover that you mention if Renoise was used in making of that album or any songs. We also
reserve the right to use this information to promote your producer/DJ name and our software.
How can I compose anything with this? How to start? It is complicated...
You haven't seen synths and samplers... They have dozens of buttons. And large amounts of wires
behind them. And samplers usually have a very small screen for showing information...
something like 100x50 pixels. Compare this to Renoise's 1024x768. And by the way, software on
hardware samplers can "crash" too. Seems they are not perfect after all :-) We believe that
composing can be simpler than this! The point is that using standard equipment you have everything
in many components and you have to switch from one to another all the time. In Renoise you have
an all-in-one solution.
But to get you started start see the Quickstart section of this
documentation. It will help you a lot in the beginning even if you haven't used any trackers
before. Then you can progress to the more advanced topics that are also described in this manual.
It takes only a few hours of playing to learn almost everything in a tracker. And you only
initially need to learn what to read, and what to ignore, when looking at the pattern or
effect displays. It's that simple! It's like a pilots control panel where there are hundreds
of buttons but only a few of them are really worth watching all the time. Start by introducing
yourself to basics like patterns and samples. First trackers only had that so it's a great
start. Load the tutorial songs. Look at the tutorial texts in this
help. Play with them. Click the buttons - they don't bite! But obviously be careful with those
saying "delete" or "zap" etc...
I see only dots and numbers and I see a LOT of them!
Now this may sound weird but it is really NOT complex! This is where trackers actually have a
strong point compared to other ways of composing. Compared to MIDI software + hardware devices
you need to know less. You have everything, and I mean everything, in one program. Instead of
showing a simple line going through bars (as in Cubase-style sequencers) trackers show the
whole pattern scrolling as the song plays.
To clarify the way a pattern looks, lets divide it into sections. A pattern is divided into tracks.
Each track is divided into columns. The first column represents a musical note and it is often the
only one you will care about. The others are used for various effects - which is inherited from
previous trackers like the ones on the Amiga. In Renoise you can also control effect playback with
many other parameters like envelopes, track envelopes, filters etc...
Here is a little example how a pattern track line in Renoise looks:
| C-4 04 00 00 0210 |
C-4 is the note. You can insert it in Renoise by pressing any key on the virtual piano keyboard
(i.e. the qwertyuio keyboard in front of you) - or a MIDI keyboard - while you are in edit pattern
mode. Next, 04 tells us its instrument number. The second and third columns are showing volume
and pan respectively. These can control the volume and stereo position of the note C-4
(on instrument #4). Lastly, 0210 is effect number 02 and parameter for that effect is 10.
Simple?
You don't have to remember all of the parameters in the last effect column because you have a
reference to all effect commands in this help file. And if you are in record mode and tweak track
parameters they are recorded to the pattern automatically so you don't have to remember track effect
numbers at all actually.
What are loops, samples (and samplers), synthesizers, MIDI?
MIDI
stands for 'Musical Instrument Digital Interface' - a general standard
for connecting various instruments together, often to be used with
a computer as a sequencer, where notes are played over MIDI protocol
on the instruments themselves. So sound quality depends on the quality
of MIDI equipment and the computer is only used as a sequencer (for
arranging notes). There are generally 2 types of MIDI - In and Out.
MIDI In is used in keyboards, sound modules etc. to control notes,
filters etc. MIDI Out sends note and effect parameters data to other
MIDI equipment. Examples of MIDI equipment are synthesizers, samplers,
effect processors etc. Today, MIDI is arguably becoming obsolete
as a standard and there are many extensions to it that extend for
example number of channels. General MIDI (GM) is on other hand standard
that defines the first 128 MIDI instruments that all instruments
supporting GM should have. Many sound cards also implement the GM
standard. These instruments are various pianos, strings, basic drum
set etc. Synthesizers
They generate sounds by producing waveforms with one or more synthesizing
units inside them. These waveforms usually start from basic waveforms
like sinus, pulse, triangle, random noise, saw etc. After they are
mixed together and when you add some effects to them they can sound
like strings, 303 basslines, basses and so on. Many instruments
can be synthesized - however some sound better if played as (multisampled)
samples. One difference between analogue synths and digital ones
is that analogue synths are older and therefore use analogue circuits
to generate sounds. Digital synths use chips that generate and mix
sounds. Renoise uses the computer's CPU and therefore works much
like a digital synths, but it is also a sampler, effect processor
etc.
Samplers and samples
This is another way of producing sound. Instead of synthesizing
waves, sound 'samples' are taken from original sound - e.g. piano
- at periodic intervals and if such periods are quick enough ear
won't hear the difference between the original sound and the sampled
sound. These are stored as digital values. A sample is defined by
two basic parameters: amplitude and sampling rate. Amplitude varies
over time units which are sampling periods. The shorter the sampling
period - the better the sound quality. Same goes for amplitude resolution
(number of values defined for amplitude storage). Samples are usually
8 or 16 bit. 8 bit are older and offer less quality but are satisfactory
for some purposes (like voice or phone, as it requires less space
for storage). 16-bit is enough for the human ear although it would
be better to use something in the order of 24-bit to cover all purposes.
The trick is to offer enough resolution to cover the whole dynamic
range of human hearing which is about 80 dB (I think...) and CD
quality offers about 90 dB so it should be enough - but you also
need to cover enough range to allow even tiny volume variations
- this is where 24-bits come into play.
CDs are 16 bit and some sound cards also support 24-bit sound. 16 bits gives you resolution
of +/- 32767 values for sample volume. Sampling rate is how fast audio samples are taken.
CD quality is 44100 samples per stereo channel per second. That means 88200 16-bit samples
for 1 second of audio (or 176400 bytes). Also, your speakers need to be able to reproduce
a wide frequency range. Samplers are hardware devices that utilize this principle and can
add effects to sampled sounds, as well as simple playback.
Multi sampled instruments for example use one sample for each octave (one musical scale),
or even more than one per octave, or even a different sample for each note. So for an
instrument that is multi sampled once per octave you have one sample for C-3, C-4, C-5 etc.
Such instruments sound more natural, and take more space.
Renoise works internally with 32-bit floating point samples for high quality mixing and
supports sample splits for multi sampled instruments.
Loops
This is a sampled sequence. It can be a drum sequence, piano sequence,
string sequence, bassline sequence, guitar sequence... anything.
You arrange loops so that when you insert them and match the appropriate
speed (BPM - beats per minute (bassdrum kicks, that is)) they sound
natural even though they are repeating themselves. This is because
the repeat points are similar and sound alike. With different loops
you can make a complete piece of music. You can find many commercial
loop CDs for various styles of music. Using these is simple - you
just find loops you like for bass, strings, drums, etc. insert them
and play them all together and they sound like complete music. Today
a very popular way of composing is using drum loops as the basis
of a song as they mostly repeat themselves and there is not much
difference if you play them as individual samples or use loops.
On top of a drum loop you can add other sounds and play them along
with the drum loop. Drums are probably the most popular type of
loop because they make the basis of song while other song parts
like leads, strings etc. can be more easily played.
Renoise supports all of those methods to produce audio. It doesn't need external hardware
like MIDI but it can work equally well with MIDI.
How can you play different notes out of a sample of a single note?
It's quite simple. This requires a little bit of music theory. When
you play a note exactly as it was sampled it will retain its original
pitch. Now, if you skip every other sample (and therefore it will
play faster) it will play one octave up. If you repeat each sample
twice it will play slower and be one octave down. So if you have
an A-4 note at 440 Hz it will be A-3 on 220 Hz and A-5 on 880 Hz.
It is logical to assume this will degrade a sample when you exceed
more than a few octaves and you can easily hear that this is true.
However in Renoise we use floating point calculations called a "spline"
to calculate the appropriate speed of sample playback and resample
each sample to the correct speed. It is very CPU intensive. Old
machines like 386 PCs could barely handle it. Today it is not a
problem with 1GHz+ machines. Some synths also use floating point
to resample samples in their hardware.
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