A typical tracker will have its lines looking something like this…
C-51--0001234
where
1: Note
2: Instrument
3: Volume
4: Effect
The Notes are pretty straight-forward. “C-5” is the note C in octace 5.
The Instrument is given as a hexadecimal number, and selects the instrument for this specific note.
The Effects are something like this:
| Effect | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0×× | Arpeggio | 037 | At tick #1: Plays C-1 At tick #2: Plays C-1 + 3 notes = D#1 At tick #3: Plays C-1 + 7 notes = G-1 | ||
| 1×× 2×× 3×× | Portamento up | 103 203 | 3 halftones up per tick 3 halftones down per tick | ||
| 4×× | Vibrato «4», rate, depth | ||||
| 5×× | Tone portamento + Volumeslide «5», speed up, speed down | ||||
| 6×× | Vibrato + Volumeslide «6», speed up, speed down | ||||
| 7×× | Tremolo «7», rate/speed, depth | ||||
| 8×× | Pan | 800 880 8ff | left center right | ||
| 9×× | Sample offset 256-sample steps, so «$04»=1024 samples into instrument | ||||
| A×× | Slide volume up/down | A×0 A0× | Slide vol up («A», speed, 0) Slide vol down («A», 0, speed) | ||
| B×× | Jump songposition «B», pos | ||||
| C×× | Set volume $00…$40) | ||||
| D×× | Pattern break Breaks the current pattern, jumps to next pattern and start playing at specified position | D16 | Breaks the pattern and starts then next pattern at position $16 | ||
| E01 | Filter on/off Amiga only. Also, useless. | ||||
| E1× E2× | Fine portamento up Works as portamento up/down, but is only slides once per row | ||||
| E3× | Set glissando control | 0 1 | Glissando (stepless bend) Frequency rounded to nearest half-tone | ||
| E4× | Set vibrato control FT2: Uses only 0-2. If you add 4 to the type, the waveform will not be retrigged when a new instrument is played. | 0 1 2 4 5 6 | Sine Ramp down Square Continuous sine Continuous ramp down Continuous square | ||
| E5× | Set fine-tune (× = tune) This command should be used together with a note. It will cause another fine-tune value to be used. | ||||
| E6× | Pattern loop FT2: A bug starts the next pattern at the row where the previous pattern had the E60. Use D00 as work-around. | E60 … E6× | Loop starts here Loop × (non-zero) times from start to here | ||
| E7× | Set tremolo control Like set vibrato control, but the tremolo waveform will be changed instead | ||||
| E8× | Set note panning position Rarely implemented. Try 8×× or P×× instead. | ||||
| EA× EB× | Fine volume slide up Works as the usual volume slide, but it will only slide once per row. | ||||
| EC× | Note cut Cuts the note at the specified tick. Highest effective value is song speed. Note that it will only set the volume to zero, and the sample will still be played. | ||||
| ED× | Note delay Delays playback progression for × rows. If × is higher than song speed, the note will not be played. | ||||
| EE× | Pattern delay Delay the pattern the selected number of notes. | ||||
| F×× | Set song speed/BPM (BPM is correct at speed $06) | 01…1f 20…ff | Sets Speed (ticks / row) Sets BPM (Beats Per Minute) | ||
| G×× | Set global volume ($00…40) | ||||
| H×× | Global volume slide («H» + upspeed + downspeed) One of the speeds should be zero. Really. | ||||
| K×× | Key-off Tick precision, so effective value range is 0…song speed. | ||||
| L×× | Set volume envelope position | ||||
| P×× | Panning slide («P» + Right speed + Left speed) One of the speeds should be zero. Seriously. | ||||
| R×× | Multi retrig (extended version of retrig command) «R» + Interval + Volume change; vol | 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | None -1 -2 -4 -8 -16 *2⁄3 *1⁄2 | 8 9 A B C D E F | Unused +1 +2 +4 +8 +16 *3⁄2 *2 |
| T×× | Tremor («T» + Ontime + Offtime) | ||||
| X1× X2× | Extra fine portamento up Four times the precision of E1× / E2× | ||||
The Volume tab goes something like this:
| Volume | ||
|---|---|---|
| 00…40 | Set volume | |
| +×× | Slide volume up | ×× = speed |
| -×× | Slide volume down | |
| U×× ▲×× | Fine slide volume up | |
| D×× ▼×× | Fine slide volume down | |
| L×× ◀×× | Panning slide left | |
| R×× ▶×× | Panning slide right | |
| S×× | Set vibrato speed | |
| V×× | Vibrato | |
| P×× | Pan | $00=left, $ff=right, $80=center |
| M×× | Tone portamento |