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How To Use Trackers To Make Music
What even is a tracker? Seems a bit dry and a bit too much like coding to be particularly creative right? If you're like the majority of the music-producing masses, you'll probably be used to a conventional sequencer. But there are a group of musicians who think there is merit in having limits. Crazy right?! Well, let's hear them out. Enter the tracker musicians...
It's quite simply a music sequencer that allows a user to arrange samples (or more recently synthesis as well) in steps across several channels. Generally, they rely on purely keyboard input, utilising loads of shortcut keys to speed up the workflow. These arrangements are then strung together to form complete songs.
Before computers were powerful enough to handle Pro Tools or Logic, they had to make do. Ultimate Soundtracker was the first piece of software and it grew from there as computing power grew.
They've been used for video games for years and were widely used in the early 90s. They required hardware cards when used with PCs, as they didn't have good enough sound quality. However, as the processors grew powerful enough to handle higher quality audio processing, they were superseded in most respects by conventional sequencers.
If it's an old format, what is the benefit, right? Well apart from the novelty of using old software for new music (Chiptune producers love trackers!), the loop-based approach makes it ideal for electronic music producers and many argue that once you get your head around them they're much faster to work with than regular sequencers. There's also a load of free and cheap trackers out there, making them really accessible.
If Pop is your thing, try on Calvin Harris for size! If you're into more obscure and intricate stuff, Venetian Snares proves that the limiting layout doesn't limit what you can accomplish with them, switching from time signature to time signature and breaking beats in ways you never thought imaginable. In fact, he's a really good advert for what you can do with trackers.
You can go for a free music tracker to get a taste for it - one such piece of software being ModPlug Tracker (just give it a Google) and if you're hooked, moving up to something more substantial like ReNoise is perhaps on your horizon! Polyend have also released their own standalone tracker instrument in 2020.
So don't just take your software for granted - maybe you'd be more comfortable typing your tunes than playing them on a MIDI Keyboard!
What is a Tracker?
It's quite simply a music sequencer that allows a user to arrange samples (or more recently synthesis as well) in steps across several channels. Generally, they rely on purely keyboard input, utilising loads of shortcut keys to speed up the workflow. These arrangements are then strung together to form complete songs.
When Did They Originate?
Before computers were powerful enough to handle Pro Tools or Logic, they had to make do. Ultimate Soundtracker was the first piece of software and it grew from there as computing power grew.
They've been used for video games for years and were widely used in the early 90s. They required hardware cards when used with PCs, as they didn't have good enough sound quality. However, as the processors grew powerful enough to handle higher quality audio processing, they were superseded in most respects by conventional sequencers.
Why Would I Use It?
If it's an old format, what is the benefit, right? Well apart from the novelty of using old software for new music (Chiptune producers love trackers!), the loop-based approach makes it ideal for electronic music producers and many argue that once you get your head around them they're much faster to work with than regular sequencers. There's also a load of free and cheap trackers out there, making them really accessible.
Who Uses Trackers?
If Pop is your thing, try on Calvin Harris for size! If you're into more obscure and intricate stuff, Venetian Snares proves that the limiting layout doesn't limit what you can accomplish with them, switching from time signature to time signature and breaking beats in ways you never thought imaginable. In fact, he's a really good advert for what you can do with trackers.
How Can I Get One?
You can go for a free music tracker to get a taste for it - one such piece of software being ModPlug Tracker (just give it a Google) and if you're hooked, moving up to something more substantial like ReNoise is perhaps on your horizon! Polyend have also released their own standalone tracker instrument in 2020.
So don't just take your software for granted - maybe you'd be more comfortable typing your tunes than playing them on a MIDI Keyboard!