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1

Tracking / Re: Trackers for Android

« on: November 22, 2017, 23:06:41 »

Well, just as a heads up, I will probably be making a purchase of SunVOX in the near future; not just for tracking, but for it's synth modelling as well; Some folks have made some really cool standalone synthesizers with it, it's been giving me some ideas.

Just to prove my point however, I've been making a project only using PixiTracker. I'll post it up when it's done so you can hear what can be done with it. Many may not view Android as a viable platform, but I believe it has a place in the creative process, even in the tracker scene.

2

Tracking / Re: Trackers for Android

« on: November 19, 2017, 02:04:09 »

I suppose if you have a keyboard and mouse, it would be easier, but it sort of defeats the purpose.

Isn't using a touchscreen kind of defeating the purpose of a tracker? Without the speed of keyboard interaction available, you can just as well use a regular sequencer, of which there are plenty on Android.

While your opinion is duly noted, I beg to differ. There are a few platforms that use tracker interfaces that neither utilize keyboards or mice, for example:

NanoLoop and LSDJ both made for the gameboy, utilizing the standard controls (dpad, A, B, Select and Start keys) many people have used them to track with no complaints.

Furthermore there's the NerdSEQ http://xor-electronics.com/nerdseq/
which is a tracker-based modular sequencer that uses a similar interface to the gameboy.
Of course you can expand the module to use a Sega Genesis / Megadrive gamepad instead. it's a nice bit of kit!

Check it out in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TquD64S8v0
They also have the NerdSynth project which operates on a similar principle.

As I said, it's not meant to be a primary solution, but it would be good to use whenever inspiration hits. PixiTracker as I said works really well for being touchscreen based.

I still appreciate your opinion, though. nothing beats using a PC, unless of course you don't have your PC handy.

3

Tracking / Re: Reverb, Delay, Filter (cutoff) effects in oldschool trackers?

« on: November 18, 2017, 22:46:03 »

A delay can be achieved by pasting the same channel data into another channel but with a slight... delay. This is easiest in IT format where you can set the channel volume for this echo channel to e.g. 30% and hence do not have to adjust all volume commands manually.

Old topic I know. I just wanted to add my two cents:

I'm very familiar with the "ping-pong" technique by copy/pasting channels for delay. I've done it in the past using as many as four channels. while it does have limitations, it does work well. Believe it or not, the Carpenters invented this trick using vocals to create depth and harmony and called it Ping-ponging (which is why I use that term).

The most important trick however has to do with actual sample creation. Prior to plugins, you applied effects to your samples prior to importing them into a project. In many cases, they couldn't be looped, so you would opt to record a long sample, as long or short as the instrument would need to be sustained in a given song or track.

While the audio editing software back in the day was quite limited, even in the days where .VOC files dominated the .WAV format, many audio editors allowed you to apply effects to samples. When I didn't have that option for a particular effect, there was another option... My brother is a guitarist, and he has (and had in the past) a LOT of effect pedals. I would sometimes borrow them to chain for effects when recording a sample off a line source or a microphone. Delay, reverbs, distortion, echo, wah wah, flangers, ring mods, you name it.

Nowadays, a lot of audio editors and DAW's support VST or MAX plugins so it's becoming a lost art, but pedals are always an option, still to this day!

I think I actually used a desk fan in front of a microphone a couple of times when making samples. Nothing is off limits when actually making the samples you use in a project and it helps a lot when using old school trackers that don't support pliugins.

4

Tracking / Trackers for Android

« on: November 18, 2017, 22:13:11 »

Hey everyone.

Just wanted to talk about Solutions for tracking under Android.

I tried the MilkyTracker port, but it's not very controllable with the touchscreen. I suppose if you have a keyboard and mouse, it would be easier, but it sort of defeats the purpose.

I recently paid for a full copy of PixiTracker. While not a full blown tracker, it's easy to use, and can export to XM format, so it's pretty easy to create "sketches" on the go and then finish up work on a PC using a proper tracker. You can load your own samples, but features like effects, looping samples and proper table-based editing is absent. Still very useful though!
The same person who created SunVOX made PixiTracker. I've considered actually using SunVox as well, since it's also available for android. Anyone know how useable it is in android? It looks pretty good feature-wise. Feedback on this would be appreciated.

Lastly, NanoLoop is available too; I have had a little experience with it from years ago when I worked with it in the Gameboy scene. Not my cup of tea, but still putting it out there.

At one time 8Tones was an option, it's no longer on the Play store, and I don't have a source to safely get a copy to sideload.

If anybody knows of any other trackers for android, feel free to chime in.
Aside from that, any input on the subject would be appreciated. Android seems to be a platform that doesn't get a lot of love, but it's useful when out and about; I can't always bring my Notebook PC along, but I always have my smartphone.

5

Help Support Topics Archive / Re: I need a song removed

« on: November 11, 2017, 18:37:12 »

Thanks! 

6

Help Support Topics Archive / I need a song removed

« on: November 11, 2017, 04:36:29 »

I apologize in advance.

I accidentally uploaded the wrong version of a module after which I uploaded the correct version. They were both the same filename (rave669-SpiderFunk.mptm). I guess I was hoping the later file would overwrite the incorrect file, but it seems to have appended Rave669_ to the beginning.

If you could just delete the earlier upload, and keep/review the 2nd one I'd appreciate it. If for whatever that can't happen, just delete them both and I'll re-upload the file.

The first file wasn't the final version of the song, and has some minor differences. I grabbed it from my working directory rather than my upload directory. My bad.

Thanks.

7

Help me find that... / Re: Looking for ANY of my old tracks...

« on: February 17, 2017, 19:05:31 »

  Awesome News!!!

I was able to boot the old laptop up, and with a lot of dicking around, and trying three times to burn a Driver CD that the thing could read...

I was able to get the thing to recognize a thumb drive, and move a lot of my old stuff.

I was able to find a few of my older tracks in 669 and S3M formats. some of the tracks are old, unfinished WIP stuff, so I may revisit those.

Needless to say a couple tracks are NSFW, so they may not make it in here, a couple used unlicensed samples too (C'mon, we're talking about songs I tracked in 1993-1996 for goodness sake, before people forgot what fair use was) but I found a couple that are decent and don't violate any rules, so I'm going to start submitting them.

Also recovered was one of my old sample libraries, and the whole working directory from my old Impulse Tracker install.

Still have more things to check; I also remembered I have an old 486 PC at my Mom's place that might boot up, and reveal a few more... the trick is transferring the files (floppy drives don't always age well)

Slowly but surely... I'm beginning to have a little luck. My tracking skills have definitely improved over the years

8

Help me find that... / Re: Looking for ANY of my old tracks...

« on: February 17, 2017, 03:19:25 »

I've been having just as much trouble finding our old demos; The thought also crossed my mind.

Didn't help that I moved to another state about 8 years back either.
Come to think of it , I did have some floppies at my mom's place; Maybe some of those are still readable.

I'll be sure to post an update If I find any of my older works. I'd ask anybody else out there to do the same, just on the off chance anyone has one or two of my old tracks somewhere.

9

Project / Coder's Corner / Re: Any good Unity asset for playing Modules?

« on: February 17, 2017, 03:13:53 »

Thanks for the info; I checked out the link re: compressing modules. I had already run the module through a cleanup which brought it down to half the original size; It's now at 11MB. If I strip the stereo samples down to mono, and maybe lower the sample rate a little I can probably get it smaller.

I'm not adverse to trying to write code to get another player to work with Unity; but I've been writing a LOT of code lately in regards to the game I'm developing. I may have to revisit that in the future; I could always put the end result up on the Unity asset store for others to use If I come up with another solution.

I'll be doing some more testing in hardware; I'll see how good I can get my app to perform with unity's module engine. Worst case scenario, I stick with MP3's as there isn't too much of a performance hit on Android.

Thanks for the input 

10

Project / Coder's Corner / Re: Any good Unity asset for playing Modules?

« on: February 16, 2017, 22:51:02 »

Quick update on this topic:

Okay, I've tried it out; Converted an .mptm song to .IT format; dropped it into my project and there are some issues. If you're interested on my findings regarding modules in unity, read on...

Unity apparently supports .MOD .XM .S3M and .IT formats... Here's why:

Firstly the Unity engine uses FMOD for module support; needless to say, the module used didn't quite sound right in-game. Some samples, volumes and effects were a bit "off" but it would be passable if I worked around it with my composition. Seems to run good on the PC, I still have to compile and test on actual hardware to find out about the performance hit.

Next is file size. Unity's Module support would go a long way if you were using formats that would save space, such as old school MODs or other formats where you use fewer tracks, or if you are using only a handful of short, simple samples but in my example, My Module was almost 26MB, way larger than if I were to convert it to an MP3, which would probably be less than 3MB (almost 10x smaller)

However, if you keep your modules small, you can use scripting in the game to do things like change track volume, or enable/disable  tracks, etc. although I'm still looking at the docs to find out how to use these features. This could make for some interesting in-game features.

However, Seeing as to how playback is not accurate to how I intended it to sound, and the smaller size of an MP3; it looks like that's the route I'll be going. At least if I mix it to an MP3 in OpenMPT, it will preserve all the VST effects and playback will be accurate, not to mention make the final APK smaller.

Maybe I'll try to make some tiny modules for certain parts of the game where the track loops and such, while other parts use MP3 files instead.

Just thought I'd share my experience with this so far. Feel free to share ideas and input on this; I'm all ears!