::|CONTENTS
- Basic Information
- Questions:
- How do I...
- Key Commands
- it2panda Conversion Utility
- See Also
The PandaTracker project started around 2007 by BotBr Alex "
setrodox" has been abandoned long ago. The sources for the project have also long been lost. The "final" version of Pandatracker known is version "pre8".
setrodox has disappeared and will not be around for further development of this project.
Pandatracker "pre8"
Mirror of Pandatracker "pre8"
(important: Pandatracker "pre8" doesn't run on Wine - please help reporting it at WineHQ database, so hopefully Wine will support it soon)
Older versions:
Pandatracker "pre6" (not working anymore)
Below is the documentation for Pandatracker written by
setrodox:
Basic Information
Pandatracker is a very simple, easy to use Windows tracker that uses preset instruments hard-set to each channel for sound. The main purpose of PandaTracker was to orient n00b-n00bz to the tracker format so that the shortest learning curve possible is scaled. There are 8 channels. They are divided up as follows:
Channels 1-6 are melodic channels each with their own preset sound. Channels 1 and 5 are sort of a rough leady sound. Channel 2 is an octave arpy sound. Channel 3 is a plucky sound. Channels 4 and 6 are a sort of organ sound.
Channels 7 and 8 are percussive channels. Only notes C and D (any octave) make sound. C-x is sort of a bass drum sound (though at the higher octaves it sounds more of a sliding down effect). D-x is a noise sound. At every octave, D-x will sound the same.
Here is the layout of panda note data:
---------
N-o vv
---------
N: note, standard tracker notes
o: octave, range 0x0-0x0f
vv = volume, range 0x00-0x40 (but hex digits can't be entered…)
The last 3 columns in the note data are just dummy columns that do not do anything. They were probably meant for effects but they were never implemented so rip.
Questions:
- How do you navigate to the orderlist?
Press Ctrl+Tab. This puts the cursor in the orderlist section of the screen. You can now use the arrow keys to seek through the orders and press number keys to put orders in the list. Orders range from 0x00-0x40, but again, hex digits cannot be entered in the UI.
- What is the right hand side of each channel used for, are they effects, and if so, what form do they take?
Currently, these columns are just dummy columns! There are no effects in pandatracker and they probably will not be implemented since setrodox has abandoned the pandatracker project long ago (rip in piece).
How do I...
...add a new pattern?
Just add a new pattern in the OR(orderlist), to do that move to the order list, and write a number(the pattern number) below the current pattern number(the first --).
...do i copy and paste?
Press F7 when the cursor is in the track(a single channel in a single pattern is called track), then move the cursor to the target track and press F8. To copy a whole pattern at once move to the OR and choose the pattern you want to copy and press F7, then move to the pattern you want to paste it to(warning, replaces whole pattern, so usually you want to paste in a new blank pattern) and press F8.
(Copy/pasting seems to sometimes crash the tracker! Back up your work first!)
...make drums?
The last two channels are drum channels, they don't work like usual channels. A "C" note in that channel is a kick, while a "D" note is a hihat/snare thingie(just noise really). The kick sounds different on different octaves, the noise thingie doesn't.
Key Commands
All known key commands are in the upper-left corner of the tracker screen.
F1 and F2 are supposed to be BPM control, but BPM is not implemented so your only way of controlling song tempo is through speed.
F3 and F4 control speed of the song. Speed ranges from 0x01 to 0x0f.
F5 and F6 control the current octave your keyboard is on. Octave ranges from 0x00-0x0f (yes, there are hexadecimal octaves in Pandatracker, though these are normally too high and out of tune for real usage). The Pause key mutes the current channel your cursor is on.
F7 copies the entire current pattern you are on to the clipboard. If there is a pattern copied into the clipboard, F8 will paste the clipboard pattern data onto the current pattern you are on.
F9 exports your song to a .wav file.
F10 loads a song in the same directory as Pandatracker. You will need to type in the filename to load a Pandatracker file so if the .panda file you want to open has spaces in it, you might want to rename the .panda file with _ characters so you can type it in Pandatracker. F11 saves your song to the Pandatracker directory.
F12 is to quit, but you'd never want to do that! ;)
Scroll Lock cycles through different color themes for Pandatracker. :)
it2panda Conversion Utility
BotBr
Slimeball was able to reverse engineer the Panda format and create an it2panda conversion tool! Now you can also be a hax0r and track your panda songs in OpenMPT or schism!!! ^o^
NOTE: Separators will break your export. Also, pattern size limit is most likely 256 (pattern of length 384 makes the conversion fail.
***New link***
Executable
Source
Demo songs are included.
See Also
panda (format)
athtune
List of trackers
