Desktop Tracker is based on the earlier Tracker application, with enhancements given by the feedback generated by users such as yourself. Tracker in turn was based on SoundTracker® for the Commodore Amiga®. If you have had experience with this, then this may be useful, but there have been a few additions to this in Desktop Tracker. SoundTracker was unique in that anyone could create great musical works, without being musically minded.
The newer Desktop Tracker can recognise and edit tunes created in both SoundTracker, and Tracker, but due to the enhancements offered, it is not possible to convert these back into their native formats. Desktop Tracker files are often smaller than their other counterparts, and also compress more efficiently.
Some of the improvements offered over Tracker are:
Insert the floppy disc labelled ”Desktop Tracker - Main program and utilities• into the floppy disc drive. Click on the floppy icon on the bottom left hand corner of the icon bar. A window will appear, showing you what is on the disc. It will look like:
Double-click with the SELECT mouse button on the ”!DeskTrckr• application. After a couple of seconds, a message will appear briefly, and after that, the Desktop Tracker icon will be visible on the bottom right hand side of the icon bar. Also, another three windows will be displayed, which look like:
The left hand window is the main editing window. To load an example tune, insert the disc labelled ”Desktop Tracker - Tunes disc 1•, and click on the floppy drive icon. Then, double-click on the tune called ”Kantoni•. After a few seconds, the tune is loaded, and now you can play. The other two windows are the player window (top), and the sample window (bottom).
The option you require is ”Play•. If you move to the right, then the play menu will be displayed:
If you choose ”Show player•, then a window will appear. It looks like:
As you can see, there are several pieces of information displayed on the window. The seven icons at the top are ”push buttons• that allow each of the modes to be selected. A fast forward button is available when in play mode. They look like the cassette/CD player equivalents, or a pictorial representation of what they do. They are: Stop, Play, Pattern, Edit, Record and Chord. The bottom area displays information on the current play position. If you click SELECT on the ”play• icon, then the tune will play.
Okay, so now you've learnt how to play, stop and load a tune, let's now do something with it.
For people not used to those packages, then here is a description of how tunes are made up.
A Desktop Tracker tune consists of a number of patterns, each of which contains a number of events.
The number of voices is the number of tracks. If you are using 4 voices, then you are using a four track tune, 16 voices is a 16 track tune etc. Track 1 is voice 1, track 2 is voice two, and so on.
An event can consist of one note, and up to four effects per track. Each note has an accompanying sample, or sound. Each event is separated by a certain time interval, which can be defined in units of 50ths of a second. This is also the tempo, or speed.
Each pattern can have up to 256 events in it, and you can arrange these patterns into a particular order, or sequence. You can think of a pattern as a phrase, and you can play these phrases in a certain order. This sequence can be as long as you want, and it is possible for you to jump back at the end of the tune, or just stop.
As an example, if you wanted to play pattern 0, then pattern 1, then pattern 2, then pattern 1 again, and then pattern 2, then 3 and finally 4, then position 0 will hold the value ”0•. Position 1 will be ”1•, position 2 will be ”2•, position 3 will be ”1•, position 4 will be ”2•, position 5 will be ”3• and finally, position 6 will be ”4•. The music length is 7, because we are using 7 positions (0 to 6). Thus, the tune will go 0,1,2,1,2,3,4. If you want to add, or remove parts of the sequence, then it is possible to do so at any stage, as you'll find out later.
It might seem complicated at first, but after a few goes of creating a tune, it will become easier to follow.
Currently, the tune goes 4,0,0,1,1,2,2,3,0,0,1,1,2,3, and then back to the beginning again. If we want to make it go 4,0,1,1,1,2,2,3,0,0,1,1,2,3 and then back, then position 2 needs to be changed, so that instead of playing pattern 0, it plays pattern 1. If you set the current pattern to 2 (by clicking SELECT or ADJUST on the current position icon), you can change the pattern number by similarly clicking on the pattern number icon. You can now play your edited tune.
You can also do this for several other positions. If you want to insert a position, such as to change the original tune from 4,0,0,1,1,2 etc. to 4,0,0,3,1,1,etc. then select the position at the one to be inserted, and press Ctrl-Insert. Make sure the window is highlighted before you do this. In this example, go to position number 3, and press Ctrl-Insert. It will automatically copy the current pattern into the inserted one, so the only difference you'll see is that the music length is incremented. Before you change this, it will run 4,0,0,1,1,1,2,2, etc. If you want to insert at the end, then just increment the music length, and change the new last position. It will default to the old last position's pattern number.
If you want to delete a position, then select the position you want to delete, and press Ctrl-Copy.
You may enter your name (or whatever you want) in the Author field, and the name of the tune in the Tune field. This information is saved whenever you save your tune.
However, if you want to change a sample, then select the sample slot, by clicking SELECT or ADJUST on the sample number icon in the sample window. Then, drag your chosen sample into any Desktop Tracker window. The sample will automatically be loaded into that slot. There are 63 slots to choose from, numbered 0 to 62. It is very unlikely that you will want more!
For example, if you wanted to change the ”FunBass• sample in the example tune to ”FlickBass•, then you would choose sample slot 2 (which contains the FunBass sample), and then drag the FlickBass sample file into Desktop Tracker. The tune can be played with the new sample.
Sustain is similar, except that there is a specific effect that needs to be called before it is used.
The volume can be set. The loudest is 127 for Tracker volume, or 40 for Amiga volume. The quietest is 0.
The sample note is the note the sample was recorded at. For most samples, this is C-2, which means that a C was played when it was recorded. Increasing this value decreases the pitch.
The note part shows both the note and the sample number for each track. The first three digits are the note and octave number, so that, for example, ”C#1• would mean C-sharp on octave 1, and ”A#2• would be a A-sharp (or B-flat) on octave 2. The next pair of digits (separated by a space) is the hexadecimal number of the sample. For an explanation of hexadecimal, see Appendix B at the back of this manual. There can be 63 samples, so this number will run from 00 to 3E (hex). The next digits are for the next voice, and follow the same format.
The format of the effects part is similar, except that each track can have 4 effects allocated to it. The top left hand digits in this part are the first effect number in hexadecimal. There are 32 effects, numbered 00 to 1F. The next two digits are the effect data value. This is a byte value, that can range from 00 to FF. The next two pairs of numbers correspond to track 2's effects. The line beneath shows the numbers and data bytes for effect number 2, and similarly for the third and fourth lines. Effect ”00 00• means no effect. If the last three effects are ”-- --•, then these also have no effect. For a list of effects, see later.
The middle part is the track selection area. Only tracks that are selected can be edited, or even heard.
If you highlight the editor window (by clicking on the tune display grid), you are ready to proceed to actually editing the notes, but before you do, it's a good idea to learn about the keyboard layout.
Each key on a musical keyboard is denoted by one key on the computer's keyboard. There are 3 full octaves available on the keyboard, from C1 to B3. The first octave (C1 to B1) is located on the bottom two rows of the keyboard, with ”Z• as C1, ”S• as C#1, ”X• as D1, ”D• as D#1 and so on, up to ”J• as A#1, and ”M• as B1. Then, the top two rows are used, with ”Q• as C2, ”2• as C#2, ”W• as D2, ”3• as D#3 and so on up the keyboard, until ”<-• as A#3, and ”Delete• as B3. Here's a pictorial layout of the keyboard.
| SD FGH 23 567 90- £< | Black notes |
| ZXCVBNM QWERTYU IOP[]\Del | White notes |
Before you go and create a new tune, we'll have to clear the old one. Double-click on the ”Clear• icon (in red) on the Player window. This clears everything in memory, including the samples and patterns.
Load in the ”Piano• sample, which is on the ”Desktop Tracker - Samples disc 1• disc.
Set the position and sample number to 0, and press Ctrl-Up. This brings you to the top of the current pattern. Now press Ctrl-Left to put you to track 1. If you press the ”Q• key, then a note will be played, and the note ”C 1• will be placed in the window, which will automatically scroll up to the next event. Now, if you press the ”W• key, the note will be ”D 1•, and will be played also. If you press Down, the display will scroll, and you will leave a gap (or rest, in musical terms!). Now press the ”R• key, which is ”F 1•. You have created the first four events of your tune! If you want, you can finish off this track, and some other tracks as well. Note that cursor left and right select the corresponding track. You may also load in more samples, if you desire.
You can play the pattern you've created, by either using the ”Play• mode, or the ”Pattern• mode, which just plays the current pattern continuously.
While playing, if there is no note, and there is a sample number there, then it means that the last note played will be repeated now. If there is no sample, but there is a note, then it means play the note with the sample last played. Here is an example to show what happens:
| C 2 13 | Play a C on octave 2, with sample &13 |
| --- 14 | Play another C2, but with sample &14 |
| --- 13 | As the first line |
| C#2 -- | Play a C# on octave 2, with the last sample (&13) |
| D 2 -- | As above, but with a D#2. |
Each effect is given a different number, from 00 to 1F (in hexadecimal). Each effect has a data byte, which is from 00 to FF (also hexadecimal). Initially, the cursor will be in the top left hand effect number of the current track. Cursor right will move right, cursor left, left, cursor up, up and cursor down will move down. If you want to change the event, then Shift-cursor up will move up an event, and shift-cursor down will move down.
If you press one of the hexadecimal numbers (”0• to ”9• and ”A• to ”F•), then it replaces what was under the cursor, and the cursor moves on. There are a few numbers that are not allowed, but these are listed in the library at the back. If you do try to enter a ”bad• value, then nothing will happen.
Here is a summary of the effects that can be utilised in Desktop Tracker. A more complete list of effects, with their data fields can be found in Appendix B.
| 00 | No effect, or Arpeggio. |
| 01 | Portamento up |
| 02 | Portamento down |
| 03 | Tone portamento |
| 04 | Vibrato |
| 05 | Play note on another channel, after a time delay |
| 06 | Play end part of a sample |
| 07 | Tremolo |
| 08 | Phasor effect #2 |
| 09 | Phasor effect #1 |
| 0A | Volume slide |
| 0B | Position jump |
| 0C | Set volume |
| 0D | Set stereo |
| 0E | Stereo slide |
| 0F | Set speed (tempo) |
| 10 | Set arpeggio speed |
| 11 | Fine portamento |
| 12 | Clear repeat |
| 13 | Not used |
| 14 | Set vibrato waveform |
| 15 | Not used |
| 16 | Loop in pattern |
| 17 | Set tremolo waveform |
| 18 | Set fine tempo |
| 19 | Re-trigger sample |
| 1A | Fine volume slide |
| 1B | Hold (sustain) |
| 1C | Note cut |
| 1D | Note delay |
| 1E | Pattern delay |
| 1F | Call linked code |
If effect 00 (arpeggio) has data 00, then this means there is no effect. Press space on any of the four effect numbers to clear it to this value. Note that effect#1 cannot be arpeggio, so if you do press space on this effect, then it will be set to 0A (set speed) and data 00.
For example, if you want to make the pattern 48 (&30) events long, then you would go to event 47 (&2F) and press Ctrl-B. If you want to extend this, then you have to go to the bottom event in the pattern, and press Ctrl-B. This automatically makes it 255 events long, and you can then select the correct pattern length. The minimum event length is 1.
Pressing F10 will produce a window into which you can type the value. You can also change the default length in the options window.
Warning : If you do set the pattern length, then any data after that is lost.
Blocks can be defined in a number of ways, and there are several editing facilities that can be performed on the block.
If you want to clear a block, then press Shift-F7. This also means that no block editing can be performed. The block is shown, by different colours in the event number window.
Cut and paste Copy, Insert
The defined block is copied into a temporary ”clip-board•. When you require it back again, it can be stored into another track, or pattern. If you press Shift-Insert to paste, then the block is merged with the current data..
All the notes from 00 to 0F are to be copied from 10 to 1F, in the same pattern.
Define the start of track at 00, and the end of track at 0F. Then press Copy. Move the cursor down to 10, and press Insert.
Again, define the start and end as 00 and 0F, and press Copy. Then, move the cursor down to 8, and press Shift-Insert.
Shift up/down Ctrl-F1,Ctrl-F2
All the notes and effects are shifted up or down one line. If any ”fall off• the end, then they are lost.
Echo
All the notes are repeated afterwards, with half the volume as before. The number of events between each echo is defined as the data field. If there is another note playing, where Desktop Tracker wants to place an echo, then this note takes priority, and no echo is placed.
Remove effects Ctrl-F4
All the effects within the defined region are removed.
Clear
Everything within the region is cleared.
Transpose
All the notes in the defined region are shifted up or down in pitch, depending on the data entered.
Fade in, Fade out Ctrl-F7, Ctrl-F8
This inserts set volume effects (&0C xx). The start (for fade out), or end (for fade in) volume can be set, and the volume will progress between the two, between the two blocks.
Copy effects Ctrl-F9
This duplicates the effects in the current line into the events between the two blocks. The number of effects are also copied, and any effects are overwritten. The current line does not have to be between the two lines.
As you press the required block-edit key, then a window will pop-up, which will look like this:
The data field is used for Shift up/down, Echo, Transpose and Fade in/out, while the bottom four icons are used to set which form of edit to take, and also a CANCEL, just incase you pressed the wrong key! If you click on ”Track•, the block edit will only occur on the current track. If you click on ”Sel.•, the edit will occur on the selected tracks. ”Pattrn• will affect all the tracks.
The left hand side is another window which shows the various options that can be modified. The right hand side allows you to restore, save, or okay these options.
The left hand window is split up into different sections, each one describing one aspect of the Desktop Tracker operation. The top two are the window colour icons.
There are 2 different text styles used in Desktop Tracker - Normal and Highlighted. The normal style by default, is black background, with a dark-blue shadow, with light-blue main text. If you click on either of these, then the corresponding colour in the main window is changed. The highlighted style by default, is a cream background, with yellow shadow, and a red main body text. These can be similarly changed. If you have found a style that you like, or is very clear on your monitor, then you can save it, by clicking on Save on the bottom left hand corner of the window. If you want to restore it, then click on the restore icon on the bottom right hand corner. This is also true of all the other options.
The next option box down on the left is the compatibility section. You can set the volume instruction (either Amiga or Acorn), and the portamento instruction (Amiga/Tracker, or Desktop Tracker).
The next box down from this is the number of voices. This can be from 1 to 16, and is incremented by clicking on the ”up• icon and decremented by clicking on the ”down• icon. If you clear the tune, then this number is used as the number of voices. The ”Apply• icon is used to set the current tune to this number of voices. Warning. Any data on any voices after the maximum is lost. A warning will be displayed if this is going to happen.
The next box is the MIDI status section. You can use a MIDI keyboard with Desktop Tracker, if you have an Acorn compatible MIDI interface. If you do not have one of these, then a Leading Edge Sampler/MIDI interface can be purchased from your supplier. If the MIDI software is installed, and you click on the ”On• icon, then you can edit the MIDI channel the data is received on. Most MIDI keyboards set this to 1, but consult your keyboard's manual.
The next box is the convenience box. This allows you to set Desktop Tracker up into your favourite style.
The first option is ”SPACE scrolls down•. If this is enabled, then when you press the space bar, the cursor will scroll to the next position. If this is disabled, then the cursor will remain in the same position.
The second option is ”Notes deletes effects•. If this is enabled, and you enter a note on top of an effect, the effect is removed. Otherwise, the effect remains.
The third option is ”Play notes when scrolling• which allows the notes to be played when you scroll the screen down while using the scroll keys, if it is enabled.
The fourth options in this part is ”Automatically increment sample•. If this is on, then when you load in a sample, the current sample number is incremented. Otherwise, when the sample is loaded, the number remains the same. This may not seem useful, but if you want to load a group of samples, you can select this option, and then either load them in one by one, or you can select several files, and drag them in ”en mass•.
The fifth and final option is ”Entering numbers move cursor•. If this is clear, when you enter a number, it does not move the cursor along. This means that you can change a whole line of sample numbers, by pressing the number, and then Cursor-down. If it is set, then the cursor will move automatically to the right, so you can enter a string of numbers into the effects, without having to press Cursor-right inbetween each number.
The next box is the Auto-opened windows. This allows you to select which windows will be opened when you load Desktop Tracker. See later for descriptions of the Effect summary, Sample list and the Score windows.
The next box down is the Default stereo box. It allows you to set the default stereo positions for each of the 8 Acorn voices. Click and drag the knobs to the required stereo positions.
Default pattern length is the next box. It allows you to set the default number of events per pattern. 64 is the factory default, as it is the same for SoundTracker and Tracker. A user value can be entered into the second option, and finally, it can be the same as the length of the clipboard.
The second to last box is the 15/31 SoundTracker selection box. There are 2 different ways of distinguishing between 15 and 31 sample SoundTracker files. If one doesn't work properly (the tune will look corrupted - DON'T PLAY IT IF IT IS), then try the other. If that doesn't work, then it is a new format.
The last box is the Score window box. It allows various parameters to be set for the score window. See later for a description of this window.
Make sure the MIDI status is On, and the correct MIDI channel is selected, using the Options window.
If you press a key on your keyboard, then Desktop Tracker will act as if you have pressed the corresponding key on the keyboard. Note that if the musical note was too low, then ”C 1• is used, and if it is too high, then ”B 3• is used.
You can set the current sample number, by pressing the instrument number selector on your keyboard (this depends on the keyboard, but most have a bank of voices). If you try to select voice 64 or above, then voice 63 is used.
You can save the tune in a compressed format, if you wish. The typical compression size is around 60-80% of the original size, depending on the samples (mainly). There are a couple of drawbacks to this, however. You cannot use the new format in your own programs, as the decompression has to be done by Desktop Tracker; Users of earlier versions will not be able to use these files, as they will not have the necessary decompression algorithm.
There are 2 basic modes for this window - Track and Sample. In Track mode, each track has its own pair of staves, and only 1 note is displayed in a stave in any 1 event. Sample mode uses a pair of events for each sample, so if a chord of samples is created, then the chord will actually be displayed:
You can change the number of beats per bar, by pressing MENU on the window, which will produce the following menu:
Move to the right of ”Beats per bar•, and you can select the number of beats in the bar. You can set the beat size, by moving to the right of ”Beat size•, and selecting the required size:
Desktop Tracker assumes that each event is a beat, so in a 4/4 time signature, after every 4 events there will be a bar.
The score window will automatically update whenever the pattern is changed, or any data is changed in the notes. This includes in Play mode. This update can be slow on an ARM2 based machine.
The score window does not take into account the effects, so if you use effect 05 (play note on another channel after a time delay), or effect 1D (play note after time delay), then the notes are not shifted.
Ctrl-F3 Ctrl-F5 Ctrl-F6 
Options window
There are a number of options that can be set, such as the number of voices, MIDI status, and even the colours of the windows can be defined. This is located on the Desktop Tracker icon menu, under the name ”Options•. If you click on this, then a window will appear. This looks like:
Using a MIDI keyboard
This can only be done, using an Acorn compatible MIDI interface, and a MIDI keyboard. Connect the MIDI Out from your keyboard to the MIDI In on your computer, using a MIDI interface lead. This is the minimum connection level for Desktop Tracker.Saving your tune
This is done by pressing menu on the editing window, and using the RISC OS standard Save window that appears to the right of the Save option on the menu. Type in the name, and drag it to a filer window, or click OK to save on top of the source file.
Extra voices
The Acorn range of computers only has a maximum of 8 voices, but by using clever techniques, we have been able to squeeze 16 voices into this system, but there is a loss in quality (but not in processor bandwidth!). If you are using unfiltered sound, then this becomes apparent, as aliasing occurs. You may be able to use your graphic equaliser to remove this, otherwise you may have to use the filtered sound from the computer's stereo headphone socket.The effects summary window
This is a window that shows you a summary of what effects do what. Using this window, you do not have to refer to this manual all the time to see what effect you need to use.
The sample list window
This is a window that shows you what samples have been loaded into each slot. You can also select the sample to use from this window. A sample displayed with a cream coloured background has no sound data (ie. it has either been cleared, or it has not been loaded). If it is white, then there is data present, and you can play the sample.
The score window
This window displays the current pattern in a more traditional musical notation. Various aspects of the display can be set:
Limitations of the score window
Each note is assumed to last 1 event.