"We are going to teach you all a lesson."

Modplug Tracker

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Jump to chapter:
Step by step how to make a song
Entering notes the most important chapter
Sequence and playing the song the song as a whole
Glossary list of tracking terms. various purple words in this tutorial lead to this.

Jump to chapter:
Step by step	how to make a song
Entering notes	the most important chapter
Sequence and playing the song	the song as a whole
Glossary	list of tracking terms. various purple words in this tutorial lead to this.

The structure of module

Upper left frame

after you click "New"...

this is how it looks like
untitled - module name
Sequence - kinda like playlist for Patterns
Patterns - pages with notes
Samples - you play with them in Patterns
Instruments - if turned on, used instead of Samples

gore These are all parts of a module at one place (in the beginning module is empty). It is possible to access (and erase, copy) these parts directly from that frame or via specialized window ( Patterns , Samples ...).

dole Things below don't belong to the module, they are on your hard drive! Instruments and samples are there, which will eventually be loaded into module:

Midi Library - 128+ standard MIDI instruments
neki.sf2 - it is possible to insert some SBK, SF2 or DLS file (File--Add Sound Bank). These are instrument collections.
Instrument Library - access to instruments (XI, ITI...) and samples (WAV) on your hard drive. It works like explorer.

Module format

Modplug can make IT, XM, S3M and MOD modules. IT is default, and that is ok.

The situation described here is when samples are used instead of instruments (we won't make any instruments).

Step by step

how to make a song:

We need to find samples first. These are sounds we are going to make music with.
Click the plus sign near INSTRUMENT LIBRARY

If the instrument folder is not set, library displays Modplug folder, so it is necessary to click a few times on to get out.

Find a folder with WAVs you can make music with. An alternative is to steal some samples from some module. Very simple: modules are seen as green folders.

Now samples and instruments appeared below. Click on one of them. You play it with Enter , and you can also play it with keyboard (QWERTY).
We will insert samples into song now:
If you haven't already, click on icon "New";

In big Modplug window, smaller window will appear in which you create a song.
Click on . Page will appear with options related to samples.
Now drag one of the samples to the black field (on the right).
Click New Sample icon.
Load another sample.
The ordinal number of that sample is two.
Click the plus sign near Samples (). There you can keep track which samples are loaded.
The thing left to do is to combine samples to get a song.
Click . The page where you enter notes opened.
Choose a sample (), then enter notes below.
After you fill one page, create a new Pattern ().
After you fill the new Pattern as well, use this list () to combine them (ie., play pattern no. 0 first, then pattern no. 1). The assembled song is played with F6 key (or play icon on screen).

"Here we go with the song."

Entering notes

Before you enter the notes, you must load samples.
The cursor should be at the first field (... .. .. ... , as seen on the pic). Record button should be pressed. If all fields are not visible like depicted, press .

the look of a written pattern
The look of a pattern
Channels are vertical, rows horizontal.
in intersection of one channel and one row, we see fields that define the sound that will be heard:
C-5 ..  .. ... note (C-5 means C note in 5^th octave)
... 01  .. ... the ordinal number of instrument
... .. v56 ... volume is usually here, but some effects can be as well
... ..  .. Z7F effects - the numbers are hexadecimal
You can also click twice at some of these fields and get some options.
it is not necessary to fill all fields (look at the picture)

The order and duration of notes

When entering notes with computer keyboard, the longer the key is depressed, the sample is heard longer. But when the song is played, it will sound different. (Looking at one channel - column):

When Play button is pressed, notes will play row by row, from up to down. The rows pass at certain speed that can be changed (here).

If there is no new note below the note which has just played, the old note continues to play. Else, new note interrupts the old note.

Notes in different channels don't interrupt each other and those situated in the same row play simultaneously.

This isn't necessarily true if instruments are used instead of samples. The ^^ sign also stops the previous note.

Notes are entered this way:

The sample is chosen
- from the list
- or by typing in the second field (... .. .. ...) and pressing Enter, to remember it.
- or by pressing Ctrl+,
The note is entered in the first field (... .. .. ...). (QWERTYUIOP[]...ASDFGHJKL;'...) Each of the lower rows on keyboard is an octave higher (it is possible to change the keyboard layout in Settings). Octaves are selected with * and /. The numbers change octave of the note which is already entered.

Ctrl+Enter plays only one row, at the cursor
~ (tilde) enters ^^ sign
Insert inserts new row, Backspace removes a row, and Delete erases fields without removing the row.
Enter catches note, instrument, volume or effect; Space inserts the caught thing.

There are several copy/paste key combinations that work in Patterns (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Crtl+L etc.). Look at the help (F1).

Sequence and playing the song

Every pattern has its number (in the upper left corner), for instance 0.
You can jump among patterns (when there are several) with (Num) +/-.

Sequence is like a playlist for patterns.
this is it: patterns in order of playing
It is possible for patterns to exist without being entered into Sequence (all can be seen in upper left frame).

F8/Esc = Stop
sequence (the whole song):
F5 = Play/Pause (plays from the position where the song was stopped)
F6 = Play from start
pattern:
F7 = Replay Pattern
Ctrl+F7 = Play Pattern (from cursor)

Song speed

Song speed can be set at the beginning: click General . There are Speed and Tempo settings.
Bigger the Tempo number, faster the song, but bigger the Speed number, the song plays slower.
(Tempo is the speed of song in beats per minute, when Speed=6. Speed is divisor of the tempo: 3 is twice as fast as 6)

In course of song, speed can be changed with effects A and T. For example A06 sets speed to 6, and T7D sets tempo to 125 (7D hexadecimal).

That is nearly all. In General tab you have some other options, like the number of channels.

(the end)

Glossary:
SBK, SF2	collections of instruments are in these files
PAT, XI, ITI	these files hold individual instruments
WAV	in these files samples, or a whole uncompressed song can be stored (only raw sound)
MP3	in these files the sound is stored, but at a slightly lower quality than WAV, so it is rather used to compress whole songs, rather than samples.
IT, XM, S3M, MOD	these are module formats. MOD is the oldest and most limited, ie. only 4 channels. S3M is a little newer and can have up to 16 channels. XM and IT have more channels, and can use instruments and 16bit samples. Modplug tracker acts differently depending of the format of module being edited. This manual is for IT.
MID (MIDI)	in these files only melody is stored, without samples (so they sound differently on different computers)
modules	songs containing melody and all needed instruments in the same file
tracker	program for making modules
pattern	a note page. columns in pattern represent channels. patterns can be repeated in song, using sequence.
channels	the columns where notes can be entered. traditionally in a channel, new sound (note) interrupts the previous.
sample	a simple sound (like WAV) - most often the recording of some musical instrument which can be used for playing. it can have certain settings bundled in file, like loop and sample rate, which are loaded automatically.
instrument	is more complex than sample. it contains samples as well as various other settings (envelope, filter etc.). the main difference is that you can put several samples in an instrument (ie., for better sounding piano, bind one sample to notes C2-C3, and another to C3-C4). in IT module format, instruments can continue playing after the note is interrupted.
sample rate	frequency in which the sample was recorded (ie. 44.1KHz - "CD-quality"). the bigger the sample rate - more precisely the sound was recorded. sample doesn't have to be reproduced at the same speed. if you change the sample's sample rate number in tracker, on reproduction the sound will be shorter and higher or longer and lower. that is used for sample tuning. when you use a sample to play notes, the tracker plays sample at different speeds.
bit depth, 8- and 16bit samples	is also about precision the sound was recorded with. samples in tracker are usually 8bit and 16bit. 16bit were in each moment (how often the moments happen depends on sample rate) recorded with twice the precision (thus taking up twice the space on hard disk). on newer soundcards, 8bit samples sound noisy. sometimes it is what author had intended, in other situations that can be avoided by playing module with interpolation turned on.
loop	a part of sample which repeats. note played with sample which has a loop will not stop playing by itself, something has to interrupt it (ie. new note).
sequence (order list)	list showing the order in which patterns will be played when you play the whole song (`F6`). patterns not in list won't play.
effects	effects are written in pattern, in the last little column in channel (ie.: ... .. .. F09). they are influencing in many simple ways the note they are next to (fade in, fade out, stereo pan, vibrato, tremolo, arpeggio...), the whole channel (filter), or the whole song (pattern interruption, speed up, slow down, jump to some location in song). try doubleclicking on effects field. the effects markings differ according to the module format.