1. how frequently do you use a midi controller when tracking?

2. how frequently do you use a computer mouse when tracking?

3. which trackers do you commonly use?

i'm thinking about this because i'm likely to start another round of faunatone development soon, and may experiment with the UI.

1. never
2. rarely (sometimes selecting, instrument config)
3. famitracker almost exclusively, rarely renoise

1. always if possible. note input is a mix of midi controller input and copy/paste, never keyboard input. liveplay w/ editing off just to test stuff out is also huge for me

2. i always use the mouse to move the cursor if i can (unless it's some very simple up or down type thing), for choosing instruments, and for selecting regions (i also have some mouse buttons bound to stuff like transpose, copy and paste but don't use them 100% of the time)

3. openmpt, furnace, bambootracker, famitracker(, lsdj which is not especially relevant here probably)

1. never (never knew that was a thing until now LOL)

2. like, half mouse half keyboard

3. OpenMPT, Fasttracker II

1: never
2: pretty much always (unless it's a small jump, in that case i use the keyboard)
3: OpenMPT, Famitracker, Furnace i'd say are my main 3 at the moment, but I have all kinds of trackers.

1. Never, but I'd like to try when I actually have space for a giant device on/near my desk
2. Pretty much never, tracker must allow fully keyboard based operation (especially navigation, selection and manipulation of selection)
3. I use my own noftware that is not yet fit for public consumption and occasional RF1 Systems MIDI Tracker

1. never; i dont have one. instead i use my computer keyboard (and i prefer isomorphic layouts to piano-esque ones (which faunatone already has, so i'm happy))
2. i dont use it for menus once i've memorized the shortcuts (if i haven't, though...) but if i can select/reposition/etc intuitively with the mouse (buckybinds like ctrl+click are perfectly fine for this) i do so exclusively
3. faunatone (i havent yet learned others :P)

1. never, i can't play any anyway
2. constantly. i use plenty of keyboard shortcuts but the arrow keys like once in a blue moon; moving around, menuing, selection, etc are 99.9% mouse. step size 0 always 🙃
3. these days almost exclusively openmpt

1 -- rarely! mb once last year or two ago

2 -- as little as possible! just so much faster moving around on computer keys. it's cool to have a mouse option to get me unstuck

3 -- Furnace whenever I can! OpenMPT's huge too. Dn-FamiTracker for NES. AdlibTrackerII, BambooTracker, Snesgss, and Renoise a lot. VortexTracker and GoatTracker sometimes

my fav setup's Furnace bc I can keymap so many keys! strict isometric left to right; 1, q, a, 2, z, w, s, 3, all the way to the = key and beyond. microtonal music rules w this! the septimal minor pentatonic in 22et plays so smooth w this setup in FL Studio

1 I usually connect a MIDI keyboard, then use it for some things but use the keyboard for others.

2 I use the mouse a lot.

3 MaxYMiser, TTRAK (both Atari ST) and LSDj, so far.

1- sometimes, but not directly - when doing it, i use munt for capturing some "scratches", and then import the saved .mid file in openmpt, and eventually save it as .mod and open it on furnace, or use some conversion for famitracker and so on - (btw, being able to play "chord progressions" directly is essential for me - ( i think that some trackers only accepts inputs note by note in just one channel (like what furnace does when not crashing? (and only crashing there...) ), which is hugely boring for me ))
2- a lot, also because i use a lot of copy/paste (to/from text editors specially, and in this case by import/export as well, specially on famitracker derivatives)
3- almost everything (because some are really painful to be used, like deflemask, renoise, etc. - and also most of those native c64 ones...), and i'm always looking for more trackers to try that i didn't know yet - for me is also important being able to interoperate between 2 or 3 trackers/daws/etc. or even more

> 1. how frequently do you use a midi controller when tracking?

Occasionally. Mostly for noodling and planning out chords -- I'll usually do the actual input by (normal computer) keyboard, but being able to play and experiment with the synths by music keyboard is often handy (and fun!) I do this sometimes in famitracker, and especially in furnace when I'm using FM chips with 6+ channels (so playing chords is practical.)

It's also sometimes useful having a DIFFERENT music program open that talks midi (or just an actual mini piano or some such) to practice chord sequences and melodies before programming them in, especially on stuff like famitracker where I'd end up converting them to arps in the actual track.

This track actually just started with me playing a 5 note chord on the megadrive (on midi keyboard over several octaves), noticing that it sounded pretty cool, then desperately trying to shove everything else into the last FM channel -- something that never would have occurred to me without MIDI: https://battleofthebits.com/arena/Entry/Lo-Fi+16-bit+Funky+Fresh+Beats+To+Chill+and+Jazz+Out+To/47158/


> 2. how frequently do you use a computer mouse when tracking?

Fairly rarely. My first was Impulse Tracker, which basically didn't use mouse at all (except envelope editing). That being said, mouse is very useful when switching trackers, especially if I don't have time to sit down and memorise ANOTHER set of keyboard shortcuts. I probably mouse most in Famitracker


> 3. which trackers do you commonly use?

Famitracker, LSDJ, Furnacetracker, Schismtracker (effectively Impulse) and Reality Adlib Tracker (RAD!)

I only use a midi keyboard if I’m trying to jam out and see what I can come up with a song. When I actually have to track it, I almost always exclusively use the keyboard.

As for the mouse, I use that pretty frequently as well, to navigate across the tracker/pattern editor. It’s pretty hard to learn shortcuts for a program that can do so much, in my experience.

I use Furnace, Milky Tracker, klangfreude DIGITAL SINE CRAFTER, sometimes Famitracker, I dabble in OpenMPT, and use GoatTracker2 sparingly. (There are some others like FMComposer and SunVox that I play around with and hardly ever use to make an actual composition)

btw, months ago i tried to start to develop my own microtonal "tracker", based on csv and vgm formats (and inspired from klangfreude somehow), perhaps some ideas from there might be useful... https://notabug.org/nitrofurano/vgm2vortextracker/src/master/microtonalcsvvgmtracker

1. Sometimes. Mostly keyboard input for notes but depends. I sometimes open a separate program and use the midi controller there to try something out before doing the input in the tracker

2. Almost always when possible. Tried experimenting with mapping all mouse actions to the controller in OpenMPT and it worked fine but was just slower.

3. OpenMPT, Dn-Fami, AdLib Tracker II, Furnace

1. in renoise i've occasionally used my MPD218 for performance w/ instruments that have velocity layers, and for knob turning/automation cuz that's always fun. it's a very midi mappable tracker, tho it could go even further! never for note input; however, i've been thinking there's potentially a better method for stepped multichannel midi input, but it likely requires additional specialized behaviors that i haven't explored yet

2. i dual wield keyboard and 26 button gamer mouse, tactically splitting shortcuts between them.

3. openmpt, renoise, bambootracker, famitracker

1. Never. I used to, but the only MIDI controller I have is a full-size piano keyboard I got secondhand forever ago. It's just not practical for me.

2. Constantly.

3. Furnace, almost exclusively now. Sometimes OpenMPT and DN-FT for submitting to non-VGM formats on BotB.

1. often
2. often
3. mod pug tracker, renose

1. Basically never -- I've tried on a couple of occasions but have gotten accustomed to the computer keyboard and find it more convenient.
2. A decent amount -- generally I'll stick to keyboard when entering notes, but I often select chunks of events and drag them around, and I use the mouse to navigate the large-scale structure of tracks.
3. OpenMPT and SunVox.

1. VERY rarely, mostly because it's a hassle to set up my physical space to work conveniently like that. _{i also left my MIDI keyboard with a friend while i was moving, so I don't even have one right now.}

2. depends on the program. in Renoise i'd say i'm 90% keyboard, making exceptions only when using the mouse actually *is* more efficient/the only way to perform a certain function, but in OpenMPT it's as low as 20-30%. _{its keyboard shortcuts are frightening and arcane to me.}

3. Renoise, OpenMPT, Furnace, 0cc-famitracker. _{i would use bambootracker more, but i can't figure out how to make it not hurt my eyes. snestracker development seems to have stalled out too early to be a mainstay like i wanted it to, and i'll pop into MilkyTracker/SchismTracker/ProTracker2 for a lark, but i don't do too much serious composition in them.}

1. when using tracker software almost never (pretty much the only time i use one with trackers is openmpt, is just better to use midi keyboard than the weird keyboard layout which i don't know how to change lol)
2. Basically i use mouse for anything that isn't sequence editing
3. Most of the time i use Famitracker, Milkytracker, Bambootracker

1. Don't have one other than a piano keyboard, but I haven't used it for tracking other than one time when I was just curious to see how it worked if at all.
2. Pretty often, probably half/half between keyboard and mouse? This is maybe just me not having developed a strong feel for a keyboard-only workflow for trackers, despite being a Vim user of all things lol
3. Main OpenMPT and FamiTracker, slowly ramping up on Furnace and Renoise, sometimes will use more obscure trackers like klystrack, GoatTracker 2, NTRQ, etc (can thumb through my entries to see more).

1.
very few times, but that hasn't been conventional - mostly just for the sake of generating mindless values for volume-effects with key-velocity.

2.
50% of the time

3.
OpenMPT.
Famitracker has been touched, but I've never finished any (proper) tunes, at least what I can recall.

VGM_MusicMaker for a while back in 2014.

Deflemask after VGM_MusicMaker, up until 2019-2020 because of I bet you know what by now.

I've given Furnace some tries earlier, not so much lately.
I've had annoying workflow halts caused by unsimilarities with navigation in and between the order-/pattern-editor in deflemask and some other trackers. Certainly because that I'm still a rookie at it, and I haven't worked out the full keybindings yet or something lol. Almost certain that the mouse there has been used 75-80% of time.

I've installed Klystrack and taken a look at it some months ago, but that's it. No use yet.

never, sometimes, and dn-ft/ft-alikes

1.) Maybe half the time, at least?
2.) About as equally as I use my keyboard, so pretty often :)
3.) Mostly Famitracker, OpenMPT, and Furnace :3

1 if I want do something very very good then yes but it's infrequent and mainly for brainstorming ideas rather than directly recording.
2 started first three years of tracker life not using a mouse but some trackers make that impossible or impractical so mouse gets used most of the time
3 openmpt and any famitracker-alike

1. rarely, but useful in some circumstances (mostly if there is some limitation in the key input e.g. lack of polyphonic input)

2. yes (except for AT2), for UI elements, highlighting and instruments. for example, i think something like trimming samples would be hard via keyboard only. always nice to have the option to have hotkeys for people who want to be extra efficient, i usually use both

3. these days mostly renoise, milkytracker and AdlibTracker II

1. never
2. I use the mouse a lot in trackers
3. OpenMPT

1. dont have one
2. i use mouse very often, i think i rarely use arrows
3. famitracker most of the time
please note that i dont do a lot of music

1. I don't use a MIDI keyboard with my tracker. But it also doesn't retain a lot of the subtle humanization that makes playing notes in advantadgeous, so I don't have a reason to. There are two other things that trackers I've used lack which seal the fate of this approach: no lead-in count and no metronome. As someone who's not very good at keys, this is a huge accessibility issue.
2. I use mouse and keyboard together.
3. OpenMPT, and a bit of Famitracker.

The keyboard and mouse is my preferrrred solution. Been thinking of getting a korg micro keys and see if I can get the best of both worlds that way.

60 / 40 mouse to keyboard.

OpenMPT, Famitracker 0.4.4, Bamboo, Furnace

1. Use a midi controller to jam on ideas and record automation, but rarely to actually record notes with.

2. 60/40 Keyboard/Mouse

3. Renoise primarily, occasionally Milkytracker.