Music Banter - View Single Post

~~MicShazam~~ · 03-19-2018, 04:21 PM

I don't know how much experience anyone in here has with old school tracker style music programs, but those are what I'm used to making music in.

OpenMPT

The above is a screenshot of the program I'm currently using and have been using for years. It probably looks a bit confusing, but I find it much easier to write in than modern programs like Reason.

The screenshot is from the file I finished last (Katy17.it). The screenshot above shows 19 out of 22 tracks on screen, so it scrolls a bit more to the side. Each of these play along side each other, scrolling downwards and changing pages as the piece goes on. All the numbers and letters in these black columns indicate what instrument, note and octave the program should plan on that position. Tracks 11-22 are basically doublings of melody patterns. Tracks 1 to 10 are drums, bass and those crunchy synth "chugs" I like using so much. Each track also has its own volume, effect and panning settings and you can really define each of them however you want, plus add more if you want. I rarely go beyond 20-24 simultaneous tracks (or call them layers, if you will).

The long horizontal row of numbers above the pattern editor shows the individual pages that play and in what order.

Honestly, this kind of software is archaic as hell, but I use what software is the most fun for me, not what's the most state of the art.

Reality Adlib Tracker

Above is a screenshot of an even older program that I used to use to write my music many years back. My entire first album exclusively utilized this program. It runs 100% in DOS and is pretty primitive. It's not playing .WAV samples like the program I use now is, but instead sounds that are generated by the ADLIB soundcard format. A lot of early 90's DOS games used this technology for music. It's basically even more primitive than MIDI and predates it as a standard for DOS game sound, but I like how it sounds. I've never wanted to write music in a MIDI program.

I've given modern music creation programs a try here and there, but nothing ever caught on for me.
I'm sticking to the old school for now.

03-19-2018, 04:21 PM	#68 (permalink)
~~MicShazam~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Aalborg Posts: 7,636	I don't know how much experience anyone in here has with old school tracker style music programs, but those are what I'm used to making music in. OpenMPT The above is a screenshot of the program I'm currently using and have been using for years. It probably looks a bit confusing, but I find it much easier to write in than modern programs like Reason. The screenshot is from the file I finished last (Katy17.it). The screenshot above shows 19 out of 22 tracks on screen, so it scrolls a bit more to the side. Each of these play along side each other, scrolling downwards and changing pages as the piece goes on. All the numbers and letters in these black columns indicate what instrument, note and octave the program should plan on that position. Tracks 11-22 are basically doublings of melody patterns. Tracks 1 to 10 are drums, bass and those crunchy synth "chugs" I like using so much. Each track also has its own volume, effect and panning settings and you can really define each of them however you want, plus add more if you want. I rarely go beyond 20-24 simultaneous tracks (or call them layers, if you will). The long horizontal row of numbers above the pattern editor shows the individual pages that play and in what order. Honestly, this kind of software is archaic as hell, but I use what software is the most fun for me, not what's the most state of the art. Reality Adlib Tracker Above is a screenshot of an even older program that I used to use to write my music many years back. My entire first album exclusively utilized this program. It runs 100% in DOS and is pretty primitive. It's not playing .WAV samples like the program I use now is, but instead sounds that are generated by the ADLIB soundcard format. A lot of early 90's DOS games used this technology for music. It's basically even more primitive than MIDI and predates it as a standard for DOS game sound, but I like how it sounds. I've never wanted to write music in a MIDI program. I've given modern music creation programs a try here and there, but nothing ever caught on for me. I'm sticking to the old school for now. Last edited by MicShazam; 03-19-2018 at 04:33 PM.