If you are a novice or if you come from MIDI world

This part is for people for whose the "soundtacking" method is not really understood. It will be useful for the ones coming from MIDI and the ones who usually use a piano roll or a score.

The soundtrack work method, quite different from any you may have used before, is more SIMPLE !....

How works the Pattern Editor / Sequencer

When you launch Digital Tracker, You can see, at the center of the screen, the PATTERN EDITOR. Watch this picture :

Here are the fundamental notions you have to know :
- The time, unlike a piano piano roll or a score, is represented VERTICALY. Each horizontal numbered line (here from 18 to 34) that you see corresponds to a half-quaver. There is, by default, 64 lines. So 64 successive half-quavers numbered from 01 to 64. It's on these lines where we're going to put our sounds (note + sample). Please read the documentation to know how to set a quadruple-croche.
- The tracks are aligned HORIZONTALY (each one is beside the others). Exactly as on a mix table. You can have up to 64 tracks. All tracks are played simultaneously.

This group TIME+TRACKS is called a PATTERN. Remember this word, it's important.
So, if you have 13 tracks, you can play simultaneously 13 sounds each half-quaver (1 sound a line and a track).

Note this :
- If we put a sound on each line of the track 1, then, when playing (by pressing PLAY), we'll hear 64 half-quavers
    (i.e : one half-quaver with a sound, followed by a half-quaver with a sound, followed by a half-quaver with a sound, and so on).
- If we put a sound each 2 lines (line 01, 03, 05 etc...), then we'll hear 32 quavers.
    (i.e : one half-quaver with a sound, followed by an empty half-quaver, followed by a half-quaver with a sound, and so on).
- If we put a sound each 4 lines, (line 01, 05, 09 etc...), then we'll hear 16 crotchets.
    (i.e : one half-quaver with a sound, followed by 3 empty half-quavers, followed by a half-quaver with a sound, followed by 3 empty half-quavers, and so on).

In conclusion, we can say that a pattern includes 64 half-quavers, or also 32 quavers, or also 16 crotchets (or 16 beats).
You also understand that there is no need to indicate the duration of each note, because a sound is played until another one comes to off it on the same track (see the Pattern Command in the documentation to know how to off a note).

NB: a track can, by itself, play many sounds at the same time if you have activated the polyphony of this track. See the documentation to know more about it.

Differences from midi

Unlike MIDI, a track do NOT represent a channel. Each track of Digital Tracker can play any instrument, at any frequency, resolution or note.
You have not to configure any channel in the sampler of Digital Tracker. The sampler is fully connected with the sequencer.
An exemple : if you have 12 sounds in the sampler, you can play any of these 12 samples on any track without having to setup anything. it's automatic. You can play the same sample on many tracks at a time, and at different notes. Nothing prevent you to compose a melody with only 1 single sample of a piano (This sample can be played at C octave 2 (C2) on track 6, at E3 and G4 on track 2 etc...).
There isn't, by the way, any disturbing delay between the tracks, as it can happen on MIDI. Then, 2 samples placed respectivly on line 01 of the first track, and on line 01 of the last track are played simultaneously (zero milliseconde delay).

Representation of sound in pattern.

A sound caracteristics are :
- A note (C, D, E, F, G, A, B), (French notation : Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si)
- An octave ( -2 to 8)
- A sample number (which has to be loaded in the sampler).
- An alteration command (volume, vibrato etc...).

An exemple :
- I have in my sampler a piano sound, it's the second sample. It has, then, the number 02.
- I want to play a D# (French: Re#) at the octave 4, the note is D#4.
- I don't want to alter the sound. (for alteration commands, see the documentation in the Pattern Command section).

My sound will then look like this : C#4 02 - - -
(First the note C#, followed by the octave 4, followed by the sample number 02, followed by no command - - -).

Writting a sound in the pattern.

To do so, you have a squared cursor that represent the place where you are going to write your sound (see the QUICKSTART to know where is the cursor).

You can write a sound on any line of any track. You have just to place the cursor, where you want, using the keyboard arrow keys. You can also use the mouse to click anywhere on any track.
Your cursor MUST be at the extrem left of the track where you want to put a sound. use TAB or SHIFT+TAB to move quickly from a track to another.

Here are the correspondances of your computer keyboard with a piano.
AZERTY keyboard

QWERTY Keyboard

(pictures from the Quickstart)

- At the begining, you have a squared cursor :
If you press a key of your keyboard (or of your MIDI keyboard), you hear the CURRENT sample (displayed in the sampler) being played. To change the current sample, press + or - on the numeric pad. While your cursor is squared, the sample is played but not written on the track. To do so, you need your cursor to be ROUNDED, if so, it will mean that you are in EDIT mode.
- To have a Rounded cursor (EDIT mode) :
There is two ways to activate/desactivate the EDIT mode: Either by clicking on the round "ED" button placed at the up center of Digital-Tracker, or by pressing the "page down" key (this key is placed above the arrow keys, it can also have a symbol of a "double arrow" pointing downward).

Now, you cursor is rounded (you are in EDIT mode). Each time you press a note, this one is written on the line where is your cursor, and the cursor moves down to the next line (the next half-quaver). You can also set the cursor to move down 2 lines or more each time by changing the "Jump Y" parameter which is above the pattern (center of the screen). "Jump Y" is like "quantize".

When you write a note on a line, the (current) sample number and the (current) octave are automatically written.

Desactivate the EDIT mode using the same way you activated it. Then click on PLAY (see QUICKSTART), or press "." (of the numeric pad) to play the pattern.

Loading a sample (instrument) in the sampler

You need to use the DISC PANEL. It is at the top right corner of the screen. If you don't see it, click on the Floppy icon in the toolbar at the top right corner of the screen.

(picture from QUICKSTART) You see above what is the disc panel like.
To load a sample, ACTIVATE the SMP button (next to the SAVE one), and choose a sample in any directory you want (click on BACK to go up in the disc tree).Click on the sample name then click on LOAD.
Now, the sample is loaded in the sampler, at the current emplacement. For instance, if the sample number displayed in the sampler was the number 02, then sample you just load has replaced it. (To change the current sample number displayed in the sampler,click on its number or use the +/- keys of the numeric pad).
To listen to your new sample (instrument), click on a track where you want it to be played, then press a key (see the piano correspondance above).
That's all.

To go further

We strongly recommend you to read the QUICKSTART.
You've got now the basic notions, see the documentation to know more.