Copyright: ModPlug Tracker Alpha Help


ModPlug Tracker Help Index

Introduction

Menu commands:

•	File Menu

•	Player Menu

•	Edit Menu

•	View Menu

•	Insert Menu

•	Window Menu

•	Help Menu

Pattern Window

Sample Window

Instrument Window

Keyboard Shortcuts

Music Module File Formats

Frequently Asked Questions


File menu commands

The File menu offers the following commands:

•	New

•	Open

•	Save

•	Save As

•	Pack As

•	Save as Wave

•	Exit

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New command

Use this command to create a new module in ModPlug Tracker. A new sample-mode IT module will be created, but you can later change the module type. If you want to use instruments, volume envelopes, and NNAs, you have to manually add an instrument. It is not recommended to convert a S3M/IT/XM module to a MOD module, since a lot of features are not supported in the MOD file format. See also the Music Module File Formats section.

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Open command

Opens an existing song. The song will be converted to a MOD, S3M, XM, or IT module. The following file formats are supported:

•	*.669: UNIS 669, 669 Composer modules.

•	*.FAR: Farandole Composer modules.

•	*.IT:  Impulse Tracker modules.

•	*.MDL: DigiTracker 1.x modules.

•	*.MED: OctaMed modules.

•	*.MOD: ProTracker modules (4-32 channels, 15/31 samples).

•	*.MTM: MultiTracker modules.

•	*.NST: NoiseTracker modules.

•	*.OKT: Oktalyzer modules.

•	*.S3M: ScreamTracker III modules.

•	*.STM: ScreamTracker II modules.

•	*.ULT: UltraTracker modules (buggy).

•	*.WOW: Grave Composer modules.

•	*.XM:  FastTracker II modules.

•	All the above when zipped (*.MDZ, *.S3Z, *.XMZ, *.ITZ, *.ZIP).

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Save command

Saves an opened song using the same file name. You can save the song as a MOD, S3M, XM or IT module.

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Save As command

Saves an opened song to a specified file name.

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Pack As command

Saves an opened song to a specified file name, compressing the samples. You can setup the sample compression in "Player/Setup/Packing". Use this option only if the size of the file is more important than the quality (ie for Internet distribution). To further decrease the file size, you should compress the packed module using PKZIP or WINZIP. (You can rename the zip file to .MDZ, S3Z, ITZ, or XMZ, if you want to keep them associated with your favorite mod player)

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Save as Wave command

Saves an opened song as a Wave file (Direct-to-disk recording). The wave file will be saved with the same attributes than the ones defined in the Player/Soundcard Setup dialog. (Using the same mixing rate, and player options). The "Advanced Soundcard Setup" options have no effect on the wave file quality.

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Exit command

Exits ModPlug Tracker.

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Other File menu commands


Player menu commands

The Player menu offers the following commands:

•	Play

•	Stop

•	Pause

•	Setup

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Play command

This command starts playing the current song. If you are in the Global dialog (where you can edit the pattern sequence), the song will start playing fron the selected position in the sequence (unless you paused the song before).

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Stop command

This command stops the current song, and reset the song position, so that the next time you play, it will play from the beginning of the song.

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Pause command

This command stops the current playing song. The next time you play it, it will continue from where it was paused.

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Setup command

This command will bring a setup dialog, where you can control the player options for sound quality, real time effects, configuration of your sound card, default song directory, and packing information about the current song. If you are using ModPlug Player as your default player, you can also associates the music module extensions with ModPlug Tracker. In this case, when you right-click on a module in the shell, you will see a 'Edit' command, that will open the file in ModPlug Tracker.

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Other Player menu commands


Edit menu commands

The Edit menu offers the following commands:

•	Undo

•	Redo

•	Cut

•	Copy

•	Paste

•	Select All

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Undo command

Use this command to reverse the last editing action, if possible. The name of the command changes, depending on what the last action was.

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Redo command

Use this command to cancel the last undo command.

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Cut command

Use this command to delete the currently selected data. In the pattern screen, this will clear the current selection. In the sample screen this will cut the selection in the sample. If there is no selection, or if everything is selected, the sample will be removed.

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Copy command

Use this command to copy selected data onto the clipboard. This command is unavailable if there is no data currently selected.
Copying data to the clipboard replaces the contents previously stored there.

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Paste command

Use this command to insert a copy of the clipboard contents at the insertion point. This command is unavailable if the clipboard is empty.

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Select All command

Use this command to select the entire pattern, or sample.

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Other Edit menu commands


View menu commands

The View menu offers the following commands:

•	Globals

•	Patterns

•	Samples

•	Instruments

•	Options

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View Globals command

This command will activate the global settings window for the current song. In this window, you can edit the pattern sequence, set the default pan/volume for each channel, change the module type, remove/add channels, and add comments to your song.

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View Patterns command

This command will activate the next Pattern window. If there is no Pattern window already opened, it will open a new one.

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View Samples command

This command will activate the next Sample window. If there is no Sample window already opened, it will open a new one.

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View Instruments command

This command will activate the next Instrument window. If there is no Instrument window already opened, it will open a new one. This command is available only when editing a XM or IT song.

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Options command

This command will display a dialog where you can customize the colors of ModPlug Tracker, and customize the keyboard so that you can assign a note to a key. You can have up to 3 octaves on the keyboard, but all notes assigned to the spacebar will be ignored (You can use only 2 octaves if you map all the notes in an octave to the spacebar).

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Other View menu commands


Insert menu commands

The Insert menu offers the following commands:

•	Pattern

•	Sample

•	Instrument

•	Remove all instruments

•	Cleanup instruments

•	Cleanup samples

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Insert Pattern command

This command will create a new pattern in the song.

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Insert Sample command

This command will insert a new sample in the song.

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Insert Instrument command

This command will insert a new instrument in the song. This command works only with XM and IT modules. If there is no instrument in the file ModPlug Tracker will first ask you if you want to convert all samples into instruments.

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Remove All Instruments command

The Remove All Instrument command will remove all instruments in the file. The song will be a sample-mode song.

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Cleanup Instruments command

This command will remove all instruments that are not used in the song.

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Cleanup Samples command

This command will remove all samples that are not used in the song and not referenced by any instrument.

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Other Insert menu commands


Window menu commands

The Window menu offers the following commands:

•	Cascade

•	Tile

•	Window 1,2,...

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Cascade command

Use this command to arrange multiple opened windows in an overlapped fashion.

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Tile command

Use this command to arrange multiple opened windows in a non-overlapped fashion.

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Window 1, 2, ... command

ModPlug Tracker displays a list of currently open document windows at the bottom of the Window menu. A check mark appears in front of the document name of the active window. Choose a document from this list to make its window active.

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Other Window menu commands


Help menu commands

The Help menu offers the following commands:

•	Help Index

•	Using Help

•	About

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Help Index command (Help menu)

Use this command to display the opening screen of Help. From the opening screen, you can jump to step-by-step instructions for using ModPlug Tracker and various types of reference information.
Once you open Help, you can click the Contents button whenever you want to return to the opening screen.

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Using Help command (Help menu)

Use this command if you have trouble using the help.

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About command

Use this command to display the copyright notice and version number of your copy of ModPlug Tracker.

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Other Help menu commands


Frequently Asked Questions

•	IT Filters and Pitch envelopes don't work
ModPlug Tracker doesn't support these effects yet, but you can already  edit them. These effects are not very common, so I didn't feel the need  to implement them. It will come in one of the next release.

•	When I save my song as a MOD, the default tempo is lost
The MOD file format doesn't include tempo information. The default  tempo is always 125bpm, and the default speed is always 6. You need  to use a Set Tempo and Set Speed command at the start of your song.

•	How can I record samples in ModPlug Tracker?
There is no built-in sampler in ModPlug Tracker. The easiest way to record  samples is to use any Windows-based sound utility (like Sound Recorder), record  whatever you want, and then use the Edit/Copy function. You can then create  a new sample in ModPlug Tracker, and select the Edit/Paste command.

•	Why is the note being played a long time after I pressed the key?
This is due to the latency of the wave device. You can reduce this delay by  reducing the number and length of sound buffers in the SoundCard/Advanced setup,  but there will always be a small delay until I implement DirectSound mixing.

•	Could you add more sample formats for import?
Well, I don't have the time to look all over the net for files and technical  specifications of a lot of file formats, but you can help me a lot if you want  to see support for a particular file format by sending me the technical specs  of this format (file structure), or if you can't find this information, you can  always send me a small file in this format, and the same file converted to a  WAV file (I'll try to figure it out by myself in this case).

•	How can I load the left or right channel of a stereo WAV file?
Although undocumented in alpha releases of the tracker, you can open a WAV file  through the main file open (not from the sample screen): it will convert the  WAV file, and create a MOD with 2 samples (left and right channels). You can  then open the sample screen, copy the sample corresponding to the channel you  want, and then paste it into the sample screen of your song.


Music Module File Formats
Module File Formats

The following formats can be edited by ModPlug Tracker:

•	MOD: ProTracker / NoiseTracker Music Modules

•	S3M: ScreamTracker III Music Modules

•	XM: FastTracker II Music Modules

•	IT: Impulse Tracker Music Modules

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MOD: ProTracker / NoiseTracker Music Module

The MOD format is the most widely supported music module file format. If you heard about "Only Amiga makes it possible", you probably know the story of MOD music. Anyway, this is probably the oldest music module file format, and has a lot of limitations: you may be able to edit some features in ModPlug Tracker, but you'll lose some information after saving the song to disk. Here is the limitation of the MOD format:

•	No instrument support

•	Maximum of 31 samples

•	Sample size is limited to 8-bit, 128K

•	Fixed number of 64 rows per pattern

•	Maximum of 64 different patterns

•	Maximum of 128 patterns in the pattern sequence

•	No volume column (You can edit it, but it won't be saved)

•	No note off/note cut support in the note column

•	Effects not supported: Global Volume, Global Volume Slide, Key Off,   Panning Slide, R-Retrig, Tremor, Fine Portamento (Only MOD/XM effects   0-F are supported).

•	Comments are not saved in the file

•	Initial Speed, Initial Tempo and Initial Volume are not saved

•	Fixed default panning for each channel

I personnally don't recommend using MOD files. If you're familiar with MOD effect syntax, you should edit XM modules, which have pretty much the same effects, and a lot more features. XM songs are also quite popular on PC.

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S3M: ScreamTracker III Music Modules

ScreamTracker III is probably the first big impact in mod music on the PC platform. It has all the features of the mod format, and introduced a lot more features. It's still limited compared to XM or IT modules, especially since it lacks volume envelopes, but is still a very powerful format. One of the big advantage of S3M modules is that it's almost as popular as MOD songs, and will be played by any decent mod player. The only thing S3M songs don't allow is instruments and everything that comes with it (envelopes, note mapping), and have the same mod limitation of 64 rows per pattern. Song comments will not be saved in S3M modules, and there is a maximum of 32 channels. Besides that, it's still an excellent format, although some older players may not recognize the new S3M effects introduced by Impulse Tracker, like Tempo Slide (T0x, T1x), Channel Volume (Mxx, Nxy), Panning Slide (Pxy) and PanBrello (Yxy), and won't play S3M with more than 16 channels.

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XM: FastTracker II Music Modules

XM modules are a superset of MOD modules. You can find everything you have in MODs, but there is more effects, no sample size limit (Well, ModPlug has a sample limit of 16MB/sample), support for 16-bit samples, a variable number of rows per pattern, up to 64 channels, and the introduction of a powerful new feature: the instruments. Before, instruments and samples were quite the same thing. In XM and IT modules, an instrument can have more than one sample. For each note, you can associate a different instrument, a volume/panning envelope, and a fadeout volume. The only problem with XM modules, is that samples can't be shared by different instruments. So when you associate a sample in two different instruments, ModPlug will save the sample twice, in order to preserve XM compatibility. The advantage of XM compared to IT modules is that they are more supported on PC than IT modules - which not a lot of players support yet. But I personally recommend the IT module format, especially with the introduction of New Note Actions (NNA).

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IT: Impulse Tracker Music Modules

Like XM modules are an extension of MOD modules, IT is a superset of S3M. Impulse Tracker Modules represent a major improvement over the other ones. If you never used instruments with FastTracker, IT songs could be considered exactly as S3M songs. However, the major improvement, besides the fact that, like FastTracker II, it doesn't have the 64-rows limits in patterns, and can have comments in the song (No need to edit sample names anymore), is the support for volume/panning/pitch envelopes and especially NNAs. The New Note Action option means that when you play a new note, the old one doesn't have to be cut abruptly, but can fade in the background, for example. If you are just starting to write your own mod music, I recommend starting with S3M modules (Or IT modules with no instruments), and then get yourself used to the volume envelopes and NNA effects.


Keyboard shortcuts

•	Basic shortcuts

•	Keyboard shortcuts in the Global window

•	Keyboard shortcuts in the Pattern window

•	Keyboard shortcuts in the Sample window

•	Keyboard shortcuts in the Instrument window

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Basic keyboard shortcuts

Ctrl+N: New song
Ctrl+O: Open song
Ctrl+S: Save song
Ctrl+A: Select All
Ctrl+C: Copy
Ctrl+V: Paste
Ctrl+X: Cut
Ctrl+Y: Redo
Ctrl+X: Undo
Ctrl+Ins: Copy
Shift+Ins: Paste
Esc: Stop song
F5: Play song
F8: Pause song
Alt+G: View Globals
Alt+N: View Instruments
Alt+P: View Patterns
Alt+S: View Samples

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Keyboard shortcuts in the Global window

Insert: Insert pattern in sequence
Delete: Remove pattern from sequence

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Keyboard shortcuts in the Pattern window

Shift+Arrow Keys: Select
Home: Move cursor to channel 1. Pressing Home twice will jump to row 0
End: Move cursor to last channel. Pressing End twice will jump to the last row
Tab: Move cursor to next channel
Ins: Insert a row in the selected column(s)
Del: Cut the selection
Shift+Del: Delete a row in the selected column(s)
F7: Play pattern
See also: Pattern Window .

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Keyboard shortcuts in the Sample window

Cut: Cut the selection

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Keyboard shortcuts in the Instrument window

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Other Keyboard shortcuts


Base Octave and Pre-Amp
Main Window controls

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Base Octave

This number represent the base octave used for editing notes. The dialog in the View/Options menu allows you to customize your keyboard, so that the keys are mapped on up to 3 octaves: Base_Octave-1, Base_Octave, and Base_Octave+1. The initial Base Octave is 5, which means that if you type the D# key for Base_Octave+1, the note played will be a D#6. You can set the Base Octave from 1 to 8.

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Pre-Amp slider

This slider controls the overall volume of the song when it is played.


Pattern Window

The following commands are available in the pattern window:

•	New Pattern

•	Play Pattern

•	Stop Pattern

•	Follow Song

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New Pattern

This command, available in the pattern toolbar, creates a new pattern in the song.
There is a limit of 200 patterns in a song.

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Stop Pattern

This command stops playing the current pattern.

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Play Pattern (F7)

This command will keep playing the current pattern (looping).

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Follow Song

When this option is used, the cursor in the pattern window will follow the music. It will display the current playing pattern, and highlight the current row.


Sample Window

The following commands are available in the sample window:

•	New Sample

•	Import Sample

•	Export Sample

•	Test Sample

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New Sample

This command, available in the sample toolbar, inserts a new sample in the song (It doesn't overwrite the current sample).
There is a limit of 99 samples in a song.

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Import Sample

This command allows you to import a sample from a WAV,PAT,XI,SND file. (You can also load any file as raw sample data).

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Export Sample

This command allows you to export the current sample as a WAVE file.

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Test Sample

This small button plays a middle C (C-5) using the current sample, or stops it if the sample is currently playing.


Instrument Window

The following commands are available in the instrument window:

•	New Instrument

•	Import Instrument

•	Export Instrument

•	Test Instrument

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New Instrument

This command, available in the instrument toolbar, inserts a new instrument in the song (It doesn't overwrite the current instrument).
There is a limit of 99 instruments in a song.

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Import Instrument

This command allows you to import an instrument from a XI file.
It will also create new samples, since an instrument can have one or more samples associated with it.

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Export Instrument

This command allows you to export the current sample as a XI file.

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Test Instrument

This small button plays a middle C (C-5) using the current instrument, or stops it if the instrument is currently playing.


Introduction

•	Software Information

•	System Requirements

•	Contact / Technical Support

•	Technical Information

•	Tracker features

•	History

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Software Information

ModPlug Tracker is a freeware and may be freely distributed. As it is a freeware, I am not responsible for any problems that could be caused by the usage of this program.
THIS PROGRAM IS ONLY INTENDED FOR NON-COMMERCIAL USE.

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System Requirements

* Minimum Requirements:
- Pentium 90MHz
- 8MB of memory
- Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0 or higher.
- A 16-bit soundcard with 32-bit drivers.

* Recommended configuration:
- Pentium 166MHz or above
- 16MB of memory

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Contact / Technical Support

For any technical questions, or bug report, you can contact me at "olivierl@jps.net". Also check often the ModPlug Central web site for the latest releases: "http://www.castlex.com/modplug". (I usually also have beta versions on my home page at "http://www.jps.net/olivierl", but it might be buggy, and the site is quite slow).
If you want to contact me by postal mail, my mailing address is: Olivier Lapicque
470 Oak Grove Dr #306
Santa Clara, CA95054
USA

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Technical Information

ModPlug Tracker is a 32-bit Windows 95/NT4 application, currently not using any hardware acceleration, but featuring a lot of options to create the best possible output (Up to 48KHz, 16-bit, stereo):
- 32-bit internal precision for mixing, dithered to 16-bit.
- Up to 32-bit,96KHz internal precision with MultiPoint oversampling   selected (2x internal mixing)
- MultiPoint cubic spline resampling with MultiPoint oversampling   selected.
- Support for MMX acceleration
- Volume Ramping option, to suppress pops and clicks due to sample offsets,   and big volume changes (Also creates more realistic volume slides).
- Digital Bass Expansion digital low-pass filter (filter range and depth   customizable in Advanced Player Options)
- Dolby Pro-Logic Surround support with custom delay and 100Hz-7KHz filter depth.
- Basic Reverb Option, also with a 100Hz-7KHz filter with customizable depth   and delay (2 delay lines are used).
- Noise Reduction: attenuation of the very high requencies in the sound.
- Stereo Separation option (25%-400%), useful for headphones.

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Tracker Features

- Up to 64 channels supported for editing (up to 80 virtual channels)
- The following formats are supported for import:
- *.669: UNIS 669, 669 Composer modules.
- *.FAR: Farandole Composer modules.
- *.IT:  Impulse Tracker modules.
- *.MDL: DigiTracker 1.x modules.
- *.MOD: ProTracker modules (4-32 channels, 15/31 samples).
- *.MTM: MultiTracker modules.
- *.NST: NoiseTracker modules.
- *.OKT: Oktalyzer Modules.
- *.S3M: ScreamTracker III modules.
- *.STM: ScreamTracker II modules.
- *.ULT: UltraTracker modules (buggy).
- *.WOW: Grave Composer modules.
- *.XM:  FastTracker II modules.
- All the above when zipped (*.MDZ, *.S3Z, *.XMZ, *.ITZ, *.ZIP).

- ModPlug Tracker can save in the following formats:
- IT:  Impulse Tracker modules.
- MOD: ProTracker modules (4-32 channels, 15/31 samples).
- S3M: ScreamTracker III modules.
- XM:  FastTracker II modules.
- WAV: Wave Files (Direct-to-disk recording)

- There is two display modes, to respect FT2/IT notation: MOD/XM (commands   are displayed from 0 to X) and S3M/IT (commands are displayed from A to Z)
- You can edit multiple songs at the same time.
- The following sample formats are supported in the current version:
- *.WAV: Uncompressed Windows Wave File (PCM 8/16bit, mono/stereo).
- *.XI: Samples from XI instruments.
- *.PAT: UltraSound GF1 Patches (8/16-bit mono)
- *.S3I/*.SMP: ScreamTracker 3 / DigiTracker Samples
- *.RAW: Support for importing any file as RAW sample data.
- FastTracker II XI instruments are supported for import/export.
- Copy/Paste between different songs. It also allows you to use a windows-based   sample editor, and paste the samples directly into your song.   (I recommend using tools like Rebirth RB-338 and CoolEdit)

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History

•	1.00a - alpha

This is the first alpha release of ModPlug Tracker (October 15, 1997). A lot of features are still missing, but the copy/cut/paste, and support for XI instruments makes ModPlug Tracker good enough for an alpha version. I have to work on the help too.
•	0.0xa - pre-alpha:

This is the first public release of ModPlug Tracker (09/19/97). This is a pre-alpha under development version, and a lot of features are missing, so please don't send me any e-mails to tell me how much it sucks, and don't expect me to answer you if I receive too many e-mails.