i got to thinking about this - there's so many cool or niche features here and there that would be incredible to have access to with other software

my first one would be: step macros! each value in your envelope macro (or whatever) gets read one at a time, and moves to the next value on the next note. this lets you create/design note patterns easily, such as moving through volumes on arpeggios, changing duty cycles each note, or potentially other things, like how LSDJ tables let you macro whole strings of effects (with stepping being one option for their behavior). actually LSDJ tables in all trackers would be incredible too

a simpler pipe dream for me is the .it Ixy command (tremor, off/on volume changes for x and y ticks) in every tracker ever, please let me do that, thanks

a simple one for me is overflow on paste to the next pattern -- it's so easy to get boxed into a pattern as the largest compositional unit for things like beats

Fami-style playback where both "play pattern" and "stop pattern" are on the the Enter key

Literally the worst part about using OpenMPT is that it doesn't have this

one little convenience i miss when not using faunatone is the ability to drag-select multiple channels and place note offs in all of them at the same time

another one is "place selected events evenly", which afaik is only natively supported by sunvox

macros seem awesome and underutilized for sure

ofc i wish all trackers had something like faunatone's keymaps too but that's a bigger ask

I second overflow pasting. Also mix pasting, I am a fan of this and a few trackers have it but they all need it.

Shrink/Grow selection too.

Also OpenMPT's interpolate volume/effect commands. I think I learned about these watching dami's vlog once and now use it all the time for effect sweeps and manual volume changes (although I also like MPT's Amplify dialog where you can manually do volume fades by percentage, another cool one)

@Blast_Brothers I wanted this feature too in OpenMPT and it got added somewhat recently through a new keybind.

A feature I like in s3xmodit missing in other trackers is that there are no lingering effects. I always waste a ton of time trying to find where I left a volume slide running, and using way too many FX columns so I can stop multiple commands at once.

export mp3

effect command interpolation

also reverse selection

renoise Yxx and Sxx commands, but for dpcm

openmpts shift+v is so useful

I've been praying for a "show channel state" feature since FamiTracker beta 5 had it and no other fork or iteration ever integrated it again ;_; .

That's especially useful for Pxx or low Axx/4xx, where you don't notice they're still at some value other than 0/default until it's too late (the lack of this feature makes me paranoically add A00-400-P80 at the beggining of some patterns every once in a while).

• Context menu for selecting effects. A useful alternative to having an effect reference on the side.
• Having multiple note lanes on the same channel. Saves screen space if several channels are used for one instrument with the same effects.
• Arranging patterns like blocks instead of through numbers. Being able to work on patterns outside of the song (like in SunVox).
• In sampler channels - showing the waveform of the sample superimposed on the channel. For one, it'd be easier to adjust the speed of a breakbeat to match the tempo.
• Automatic fake echo.

I love Furnace’s settings>visualizer thing. Great and fairly intuitive way to catch those unintended effects, I run through a song with this turned on at the end for fixing stuff. I’d love something similar elsewhere

loop crossfading, finally figured out where is it located in openmpt

being able to change values with command+scrollwheel

- import/export .txt files (like famitracker)
- import/export .mid files (like openmpt)
- import/export .mscz files (we all know who will love it! ;p )
- import/export to s3xmodit formats (furnace imports .mod, not bad... xD)
- enter chords from midi controllers and text-keyboards (still lacks in furnace... :S - what is supported there now is totally useless... :S )
- poliphonic pianoroll edit (like domino/sekaiju - famistudio is useless, still monophonic - )
- microtonality (as .vgm is indeed a microtonal format!!! ;) )
- lock or snap notes to scales (custom or predefined) (i have no idea how this would work on microtonality... xD)
- konnakol support! \o/
- run script plugins (made from us or anyone else, publicly available - in languages like lua, python, or whatever) - so we could extend the trackers we use to make "crazy" stuff their developers couldn't even imagine! ;)
- import vgm files (i tried to share to furnace community at discord about this, since i started coding some converters that eventually might help that )
- guitar/bass/etc. input pad (besides piano input pad as found in furnace and delekmask)
- optimizer (like milkytracker)
- etc...

- Effect tables like LSDJ and Renoise

Perfect for having the benefits of speed 1 tracking, without the burden of speed 1 tracking.

Also not needing to type or ctrl+c-ctrl+v recurring effects like vibrato every time.

- Option to use LFO and ADSR instead of value table for instrument settings

Being able to do crazy dami-like value tables for cool sounding instruments is great, but most times I just want a simple ADSR fade, and value tables makes them so much more cumbersome to create and edit than it should...

Furnace has them which is cool, but ideally it would account for the limitations of every table instead of being a general one which makes it still kinda annoying to use. It would be also nice if the LFO was real time instead of calculated too, so it could also do Noise LFO but oh welp...

--

I also wish it had some MML-like effects like automatic transposition or automatic note cut before the next one, or things like how GoatTracker allows for pattern desync but I know at this point im just wishing for trackers to change their whole driver structure so ill take my leave

I want effect codes and values to stop being so goddamned esoteric.

I want a level of abstraction between me and the madness that is 0058 E004

there's no reason (aside from tradition) that can't just be expressed as something more like a function with arguments - ARP([0,5,8],4) - the first three numbers are note indexes, the last one is always the speed. There's no reason I shouldn't provide negative offsets either - ARP([-5,0,4,7],2) should start a fifth down from the root, then continue upwards through the values provided, at speed 2.

in milkytracker you have an equalizer for samples and a sample generator that you can use for fm and noise and simple waveforms and stuff. I think it sucks ass that other trackers like openmpt haven't really added anything like that

also in beepbox and pxtone and in plugins like sytrus and vital you have a harmonic editor. that would be real nice to have for making cool bell sounds and little waveforms for mod4k

and better tools for downsampling and getting clean loops are always appreciated

Impulse/Schism tracker maps the two 'missing' black keys ('4' and '8' on the keyboard) to "play the note under cursor and step" and "play the row under cursor and step" -- perfect for inspecting complex patterns.

you know how with furnace you can export a wave file of every single channel so you can render it via correscope? sure would be nice if it didn’t export the hidden/unused channels.

can't you checkbox which ones you want to export?

We need trackers to have different arp speeds in the arpeggio command, 1 tick sounds bad most of the time. Also, more notes in the arp, why do we need just 3? Why not more?

6op fm support (specially from furnace - and dx7 patches (instruments) support as well)

per-track EQ (thank you renoise)

this maybe should go in the hot takes thread but i don't care

@nitrofurano: I would love that too, but it seems to go outside of furnace's already wide scope, since DX7 used a conjunction of two types of chips - one for operators, the other for envelopes.

FastTracker II allows you to choose whether to display accidentals as sharps or flats, which is such a common-sense improvement, I find it totally baffling that it's just kind of faded away. I've learned to think of everything in terms of sharps well enough, but I've considered donating to milky and/or LSDJ and trying to get the ball rolling for support... does anyone else care about this?

@Max_Chaplin i imagined that as well, but would be interesting seeing that included even as a "fantasy chip" xD - (anyway i think that issue of dx7 needing 2 chips when manufactured was a technical/design limitation that time, might be possible to combine these 2 chips as 1 on emulation somehow)

There's this idea I've been thinking about that I'm gonna call virtual channels. The particular example I have in mind is how on the 2A03, Game Boy, or SN7 chips, a common drum programming technique is to pair the triangle/wave/pulse channel with the noise channel, and also have the drum play in between the bass line. In trackers today, this usually requires either doing something like:

01 bass (tone)
02 kick (tone)
03 kick (noise)
04 snare (tone)
05 snare (noise)

   | tone   | noise

---+--------+--------

00 | C-4 02 | C-4 03

01 | A-2 01 | ... ..

02 | A-3 01 | ... ..

03 | ... .. | ... ..

04 | C-4 04 | C-4 05

05 | A-2 01 | ... ..

06 | A-3 01 | ... ..

07 | ... .. | ... ..

OR

01 bass (tone)
02 kick + bass (tone)
03 kick (noise)
04 snare + bass (tone)
05 snare (noise)

   | tone   | noise

---+--------+--------

00 | A-2 02 | C-4 03

01 | ... .. | ... ..

02 | A-3 01 | ... ..

03 | ... .. | ... ..

04 | A-2 04 | C-4 05

05 | ... .. | ... ..

06 | A-3 01 | ... ..

07 | ... .. | ... ..

This is annoying to deal with. I have to manually make sure that I put both notes in both channels and that they line up, which sucks if I end up changing the bass or drum pattern and have to remember to adjust both channels. It's also harder to musically read what's going on in each channel.

What if I can create a virtual channel + instrument that maps to the physical channels on the chip? I define one instrument for the drum that plays on top of the tone and noise channels when it's active. So now this becomes:

01 bass (tone)
02 kick (v:drum -> tone+noise)
03 snare (v:drum -> tone+noise)

   | tone   | noise  | v:drum

---+--------+--------+--------

00 | A-2 01 | ... .. | C-4 02

01 | ... .. | ... .. | ... .. 

02 | A-3 01 | ... .. | ... .. 

03 | ... .. | ... .. | ... .. 

04 | A-2 01 | ... .. | C-4 03

05 | ... .. | ... .. | ... .. 

06 | A-3 01 | ... .. | ... .. 

07 | ... .. | ... .. | ... .. 

The tracker/engine would automatically translate this to something like the second option above, but in the pattern view this is cleaner, easier to edit, and easier to musically read.

Virtual channels could be set up to go the opposite way too, e.g. have some softer background string/chord channels that are only active when the main physical channel is not active.

The only tracker I've seen that kind of does something like this is, of all trackers, TIATracker with its overlay percussion instruments.

(This is sort of thematically following on from my rambling in the hot takes thread, with the whole abstractions concept. I think trackers could use more abstractions beyond just what happens on the chip layer.)

I can't believe I'm saying this, but - inspired by NTRQ - it's fun to be able to use the same pattern across different channels.

I don't want to be forced to do this, ENTRACK, but I do like having the option.

@Stupe, openmpt can do flats

(though i'm so used to sharps now that even in typically "flat" keys, seeing a Bb instead of A# would flip me out...)

probabilistic effects
aleatoric music ftw

YES YES YES

probabilistic effects? You might like pure data >:]

Also does sunvox have this or am I just sleep deprived?

sunvox has, to my knowledge, the most extensive probabilistic effect suite of any tracker!

LSDJ's Zxy randomizer and Bxy maybe-play/maybe-hop commands are pretty sweet though

m8 tracker has a cmd you can put immediately after an arp cmd that specifies the arps direction, speed and how many octaves it spans, it freaking rules.

m8 has many great features - the new instrument EQ, and like robotmeadows said the ARC command (which can also go before the ARP command), it's like LSDJ's instrument command/rate setting but better. m8 and LSDJ also have channel-independent grooves so you can run channels at different speeds. m8 also has an incredible hop command called SNG that lets you jump channels to a specified song row as well as a global groove command to reset the groove. so this means you can go absolutely wild with random grooves and do ambient de-synced insanity and then BOOM, bring everyone back together on cue, which i am excited to try

@Luigi64 I see what you mean with clean loops - the sample-editor in Polyphone (sf2-editor) has the ability to auto-loop samples, which always results in click-free loops. For the ones happy to have the click gone, the problem's solved.

Though for the ones looking for a perfect loop, well then there's a harder problem to be solved: non-smooth dynamic artifacts in the cross-fade, caused by bad phasing, can still happen, which requires the end of the looped section to have the same root-frequency shape and phase as the beginning of it. Polyphone's auto-loop I believe does not take that into account. Most of the times, that can be fixed with making the cross-fade 50% of the loop, but that ofc requires the sample pre-loop to be longer than or equal length to half of the loop. Otherwise it's impossible to avoid this if the sample lacks matching loop ends, which means you have to prepare samples for looping :)

It would be awesome if sample-based trackers had a auto-looping tool that took account of both those issues - that would essentially halve the amount of manual loop editing.


Another thing I've wished for in at least openmpt, is more advanced envelopes. Most importantly keyscaling.

I also support the wish on having a wavegen in openmpt as well.

vim-like multiple "mode" style editing so i have one rich set of navigation keys to let me fly around the module, another to input notes/cell data, and other modes. so I'm not forced to use 40000000 modifier keys or the mouse

i didn't use a tracker for nearly 3 years but did a good amount of coding and now using a tracker (and most music software) really feels like scratching nails on a chalkboard.... probably doesn't help that i was doing things inefficiently for years lol

Implementing a simple per-note probability feature in openmpt seems like it would be easy

[goluigi's post] oh yeah I feel ya. I remember I came across a tracker that did that, but it was still in early stages and I don't quite remember the name anymore.
I do wonder how note input would work under that, though. I've gotten used to using the arrow keys while inputting notes.

something i really enjoy about famitracker is how i can select the top of a channel's pattern and press ctrl+a and then very easily copy the entirely of a channel's notes in a pattern, and i kind of wish something like that existed in openmpt. it just makes it soo much easier to copy notes to add to another pattern, a lot easier than trying and failing once or twice to drag-select the entire pattern and then ctrl-c ctrl-v

@dsm5 i think you want "Select Channel / Select All" in the openmpt keyboard shortcut settings? for me this is bound to ctrl+L, i am unsure if that's default. this is separate from the main "Select All" global key, but if you press it a second time, it selects every channel instead of the active one

there's also settable shortcuts for select row and select column

^ I CANNOT BELIEVE ONLY KNOW I REALIZE THAT'S A THING SOB thats so useful thank you

Trackers with a mixed piano roll/ traditional tracker input system.

THEY EXIST. THEY JUST SUCK

also no IT support so useless for SNES :(

In a few trackers (literally all of them are discontinued and unoptimized) you could place notes in a piano roll style and apply effects in tracker format.

https://github.com/vanjac/aodix-enhanced/

http://www.bluemoon.ee/history/scwin/

This lets you blend both methods of composition in what I think might honestly be the best future for chiptune. When my c700 vst stopped exporting one day mysteriously, I switched to snesmod with openMPT. But my mind was still used to DAWs.

So now my process is to make the notes and instruments in FL using my nonfunctional c700 vst, then convert the song data by hand to IT, then convert to .SPC

A proper DAW-tracker hybrid would make everything so much easier. If it supported both tracker and DAW methods of input, it would pretty much be the objective best way to make chiptune overnight.

LSDJ-style fixed-time portamento

simple things like a Master Volume.

On the topic of flats I'd like them but configurable on a per note basis. My brain works on C# Eb F# G# Bb and my MML usually match, all flats would be just slightly worse than all sharps for me

ctrl scroll

keys to expand/contract selected notes is pretty handy (ctrl w/ctrl e in defle iirc)

I don't think someone already mentioned this but there is this thing in FamiTracker: when you are at the bottom of a pattern and you move one row down, it brings you to the beginning of the next pattern instead of moving you back to the beginning of the same pattern like most trackers I know.

Of course there is also a similar behavior when you move to the previous row at the top of a pattern.

A keyboard shortcut which dials the number of a restaurant of your choice. That'd be pretty cool I think.

This is an easy thing to pick on a tracker for but if you could just highlight any group of 4 notes and click a "make triplet" button that turns them into 3 even notes, that would go a long way towards not making people be chronically stuck in their time signature with no variance. I suppose that logic could extend to having little subdivision popouts where a single note slot on an entry had 3 notes in it at once as a sort of triplet, but really at that point I'm just asking a tracker to be a DAW where you zoom in to see smaller subdivisions.

Actually, maybe that'd actually be a crazy good idea: Have a normal tracker view with the typical 16th notes or whatever, but you can "zoom in" on the tracks to show more subdivisions with normal or triplet mode, and then you can zoom back out to just see the basic stuff without it feeling too cluttered. I'm sure there'd be a lot involved in making that not look or flow horrendously, though.

I kinda really like (in certain contexts) the model of GOAT and LSDJ where channel-patterns can be different lengths and speeds, and get out of sync. It adds a TONNE of 'ah crap why is this getting out of sync' possibilities, but a lot of creative moments, too.

> simple things like a Master Volume

Oh my, that's a very good one, th4 D34D. At least in FamiTracker and its forks I always have to adjust the volume directly from my amplifier/headphones before writing or listening to anything, otherwise, it ends up sounding super loud compared to whatever else I was hearing before.

With this, I only mean the volume for "monitoring" purposes. It'd be a cool feature being able to change this volume without affecting the actual module/song.

piano roll

@tothejazz
real

@Da Flarf @tothejazz
BeroTracker has piano roll, apparently. Its interface has a similarity to OpenMPT. It can open classic DOS module files, MT2 (MadTracker2) and BRT (standalone file).


(Didn't expect to be big img sorry.)

-----------

On Topic: Skale Tracker has NNA note-off and note-cut features while being a derivative of Fast Tracker 2. I wish it could convert .skm (Skale module file) to .it.

Speaking of Fast Tracker 2, the program has save instrument envelope, where instead of copy-paste envelope, they save it from the program itself. Why doesn't OpenMPT has this feature? That would be convenient.

If it can neither
1. open and make files that can be converted to .it
2. let me look at its source code

Then I have been saddened by its existence

(edit) OpenMPT can open .FT2. I'm not sure what the output module is yet, but I'm praying it's .it or something more primitive that can be converted to .it

@Da Flarf
- Well, Bero can both import and export to .it. Easy to say it's s3xmodit tracker that can open and make those file formats.

- I dunno though, but Bero is not much open source. Because it's an executable file. (BeRoTrackerClassic.exe and setup.exe)

thanks for letting me know about the .it export. I'm going to try and get familiar with the program. If I don't like it, then I'll keep trying to make my DAWtracker in godot

what the actual living spaghetti is .ft2

FamiTracker 2 (shadow drop)

Hey guys, this is flarf from the future. It's actually FlarfTracker 2

insane concept