TRACKER

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: 15 March 94
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NAME

tracker - play soundtracker modules on a Unix machine.

SYNOPSIS

tracker [-help] [-new|old|both] [-speedmode [old | normal | finefirst | normalfirst]] [-verbose] [-quiet|scroll] [-sync] [-picky|tolerant] [-mono|stereo] [-mix percent] [-frequency hertz] [-oversample n] [-speed hertz] [-transpose halftones] [-repeats number] [-loop] [-start pattern] filename ...

DESCRIPTION

tracker plays soundtracker music modules on a Unix machine. Soundtracker modules originated on the amiga, where several composing playing programs are available, that give results mostly compatible with each other. tracker just plays the specified files in sequence according with the current options.

OPTIONS

Options can usually be abreviated, and are case-insensitive, so that -Over will stand for -oversample, for instance.

-help: Displays a small useful help message.
-new|-old|-both: Selects which soundtracker format to read. Old trackers had only room for 15 samples, instead of the more modern ones with 31 samples. -both is the default behaviour, which tries to choose automatically between the old and the new format.
-speedmode [old|normal|finefirst|normalfirst]: Selects the way speed commands are observed. old means that all speed commands change the tempo, finefirst and speedfirst mean that the finespeed (resp. normal speed) command takes precedence when two change speed commands occur on the same pattern position, normal gives you the default behaviour, where both are obeyed. You don't have to understand how this option works to use it. If a module gives you some trouble, fiddling with this option may just work.
-verbose: Shows a dump of the module samples section on loading.
-quiet|-scroll: Selects whether a scrolling event table is displayed while the module is played. Default is to stay quiet.
-sync: Tries to keep the audio output in sync with the scrolling display at the expense of more processor power.
-picky|-tolerant: Selects tracker's behaviour with regard to erratic problems in some modules. If you select -picky, only really clean modules will be played. If you select -tolerant, almost anything will get through tracker, including pure binary files not related with modules which will sound as so much white noise. Default behaviour lies somewhat in between.
-mono|-stereo: Selects monaural or stereo output (provided your system has stereo capability). Keeping in mind that some amiga composers don't have stereo output, some modules will seem to float between the speakers when played in stereo. Also, stereo needs twice the output bandwidth and can consume much more cpu power.
-mix percent: Sets amount of mixing between the left and right channels in stereo mode to percent. Varies between 0 percent (spatial stereo) to 100 percent (monaural).
-frequency hertz: Sets output resampling frequency to hertz, in hertz. That frequency can be clipped according to your audio equipment ability. The useful range lies between 8000 and 48000 hertz. It's useless to go any higher since the amiga is limited at about 33000 hertz, and the human ear doesn't know the difference anyway. Default depends upon your equipment.
-oversample n: Sets oversampling to n. Resampling is used to pitch the sampled sounds at the right frequency. Oversampling can be used to smooth out aliasing problems, at the cost of more cpu power. Useful values lie between 2 and 4. Defaults to no oversampling.
-speed hertz: Sets playing speed to hertz ticks per second. The default value is 50, but 60 may be appropriate for pieces composed in the united states. Note that changing the playing speed does not change the pitch.
-transpose halftones: Transposes each note of the module by halftones halftones up. This migh not work with some modules, or give out strange results since some effects will be approximate.
-repeats n: Repeats each module n times before playing the next. Default is to play each module once. 0 makes the next module play indefinitely.
-loop: Repeats the whole module list. Together with repeats, this is a dumb jukebox. Each module is played n times. Then it starts again.
-start pattern: Starts playing module at pattern number pattern instead of the default 0.

RUNTIME COMMANDS

At play time, some keystrokes effect a limited control on tracker.

n: Skip to next module.
p: Skip to previous module / restart current module.
x, e, q: Exits.
s: Set speed to 50.
S: Set speed to 60.
>: Skip to next pattern in current module.
<: Restart current pattern / Skip to previous pattern.
?: Toggle event scroller on.
!: Toggle event scroller off.

BUGS AND FEATURES

Since the soundtracker format is not a real format at all, some music modules may not sound as originally intended.

tracker only supports soundtracker modules for the time being, not soundtracker songs with external samples, nor MED or TFMX or StarTrekker8 nor any other amiga-originated format.

Send all complaints/praise/real bug reports to Marc.Espie@ens.fr

AUTHOR

Marc Espie

This document was created by man2html, using the manual pages.
Time: 13:04:23 GMT, February 12, 2023