schismtracker - Online in the Cloud

PROGRAM:

NAME

schismtracker - tracked music editor based on Impulse Tracker

SYNOPSIS

schismtracker [options] [directory] [file]

DESCRIPTION

schismtracker is a tracked music module editor that aims to match the look and feel of
Impulse Tracker as closely as possible. It can load most common tracker formats, supports
saving as IT and S3M, and can also export to WAV and AIFF.

OPTIONS

-a, --audio-driver=DRIVER[:DEVICE]
Audio device configuration. driver is the SDL driver to use, e.g. alsa (ALSA), dma
or dsp (OSS); device is the name of the device itself, for example hw:2 or
/dev/dsp1.

-v, --video-driver=DRIVER
SDL video driver, such as x11, dga, or fbcon. Note that this is different from the
video driver setting within the program, and is unlikely to be useful.

--video-yuvlayout=LAYOUT
Specific YUV layout to use: YUY2, YV12, RGBA, etc. This is probably best left
alone under normal circumstances.

--video-size=WIDTHxHEIGHT
Set the size of the video display.

--video-stretch=VALUE
Fix the aspect ratio. (Probably does nothing!)

--video-gl-path=PATH
Specify path of OpenGL library.

--video-depth=DEPTH
Specify display depth, in bits.

--video-fb-device=DEVICE
Specify path to framebuffer. Typical value is /dev/fb0.

--network, --no-network
Enable/disable networking (on by default). Used for MIDI over IP.

--classic, --no-classic
Start Schism Tracker in "classic" mode, or don't. This is mostly cosmetic, although
it does change the program's behavior slightly in a few places.

--display=DISPLAY
X11 display to use.

-f, -F, --fullscreen, --no-fullscreen
Enable/disable fullscreen mode at startup.

-p, -P, --play, --no-play
Start playing after loading song on command line.

--diskwrite=FILENAME
Render output to a file, and then exit. WAV or AIFF writer is auto-selected based
on file extension. Include %c somewhere in the name to write each channel
separately. This is meaningless if no initial filename is given.

--font-editor, --no-font-editor
Run the font editor (itf). This can also be accessed by pressing Shift-F12.

--hooks, --no-hooks
Run hooks. Enabled by default.

--debug=FLAGS
Enable some debugging flags (separated by commas). You probably don't need this.

--version
Display version information and build date.

-h, --help
Print a summary of available options.

A filename supplied on the command line will be loaded at startup. Additionally, if
either a file or directory name is given, the default module, sample, and instrument paths
will be set accordingly.

USAGE

A detailed discussion of how to use Schism Tracker is far beyond the scope of this
document, but here is a very brief rundown of the basics. Context-sensitive help can be
accessed at any time while running the program by pressing F1.

The F3 key will bring you to the sample list. Press enter here to open a file browser,
navigate in the list using the up/down arrow keys, and hit enter again to load a sample.
You will likely want to get some samples to work with. You can also "rip" from existing
modules; see for example http://www.modarchive.org/ for a very large selection of modules.
(Keep in mind, however, that some authors don't appreciate having their samples ripped!)

Now that you've loaded a sample, press F2 to get to the pattern editor. This is where the
majority of the composition takes place. In short, the song is laid out vertically, with
each row representing 1/16 note; to play multiple notes simultaneously, they are placed in
different channels. The four sub-columns of each channel are the note, sample number,
volume, and effect. A list of effects is available in the pattern editor help, but you can
safely ignore that column for now. Assuming a US keymap, notes are entered with the
keyboard as follows:
(Note) C# D# F# G# A# C# D# F# G# A# C# D#
| | || | | | || || | | | || | | | || || | | | || | |
| | || | | | || || | | | || | | | || || | | | || | |
(What you | |S||D| | |G||H||J| | |2||3| | |5||6||7| | |9||0| |
type) | '-''-' | '-''-''-' | '-''-' | '-''-''-' | '-''-' |
| Z| X| C| V| B| N| M| Q| W| E| R| T| Y| U| I| O| P|
'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'--'
(Note) C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D E
(Octave 0) (Octave 1) (Octave 2)

The "/" and "*" keys on the numeric keypad change octaves, and the current octave is
displayed near the top of the screen. Try typing "qwerty" into the pattern - it will enter
an ascending note sequence, and you'll hear the notes as they're entered. (of course,
assuming you loaded a sample!) Press F6 to play your pattern, and F8 to stop.

Other important keys for the pattern editor include Ins/Del to shift notes up and down
within a channel, Shift-Arrows to mark a block, Alt-C/Alt-P to copy and paste, and Alt-U
to clear the mark. There are well over a hundred key bindings for the pattern editor; it
is well worth the effort to learn them all eventually.

Now that you have something in your pattern, you'll need to set up an orderlist. Press F11
to switch to the orderlist page, and type 0 to add the pattern you created. Now press F5
to start playing. The song will begin at the first order, look up the pattern number and
play that pattern, then advance to the next order, and so forth.

Of course, having only one pattern isn't all that interesting, so go back to the pattern
editor and press the + key to change to the next pattern. Now you can write another four
bars of music and add the new pattern to the orderlist, and the next time you play the
song, your two patterns will play in sequence.

You may wish to give your song a title; press F12 and type a name in the box at the top.
You can also adjust the tempo and a number of other settings on this page, but for now,
most of them are fine at their default values.

To save your new song, press F10, type a filename, and hit enter. You can load it again
later by pressing F9.

This tutorial has deliberately omitted the instrument editor (on F4), for the purposes of
brevity and simplicity. You may want to experiment with it once you have a feel for how
the program works. (Select "instruments" on F12 to enable instrument mode.)

HISTORY

Storlek began studying Impulse Tracker's design in 2002, noting subtle details of the
design and implementation. Posts on the Modplug forums about rewriting Impulse Tracker
were met with ridicule and mockery. "It can't be done," they said.

Schism Tracker v0.031a was released in July 2003, though very little worked at that point,
and it was more of a player with primitive editing capabilities. File saving was hard-
coded to write to "test.it" in the current directory, and there was no way to load a
sample.

The first version that was more or less usable was 0.15a, from December 2004.

From 2005 through 2009, Mrs. Brisby did most of the development, and implemented tons of
features, including MIDI support, mouse support, and disk writing.

Storlek "took over" development again in 2009, and has been incrementally rewriting much
of the code since then.

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