4 ms·

What's the best tracker currently for Windows or Linux? Googling I found OpenMPT (https://openmpt.org/ https://openmpt.org/), would be curious about others.

AstralStorm 7y ago
The other well known, working and portable ones would be MilkyTracker, Schism Tracker and Renoise. MilkyTracker is UI compatible with FastTracker 2, Schism Tracker is UI compatible with Impulse Tracker and Scream Tracker. Renoise is more of a crossover of digital audio workstation with a tracker.
- geon 7y ago
  Also Sunvox is pretty good and very portable. https://www.warmplace.ru/soft/sunvox/ https://www.warmplace.ru/soft/sunvox/
tomduncalf 7y ago
If you fancy the retro vibe, someone has ported Fast Tracker 2 to modern OS's: https://16-bits.org/ft2.php https://16-bits.org/ft2.php. From what I've heard, Renoise is the most "modern" tracker. Buzz is another interesting one, not sure what the status of that is these days.
- dharma1 7y ago
  > Buzz is another interesting one, not sure what the status of that is these days. Buzz is great software, the modular concept was fantastic. I don't think Oskari has worked on it since 2016 - http://jeskola.net/buzz/beta/files/changelog.txt http://jeskola.net/buzz/beta/files/changelog.txt It still works though, and there is something of a community - http://forums.jeskola.net/ http://forums.jeskola.net/
rob74 7y ago
I used ModPlug Player (https://www.modplug.com/ https://www.modplug.com/), the predecessor of OpenMPT, years ago. I was pretty pleased with it back then, although the alternatives mentioned by the others may be more modern/better nowadays (wow, the latest version of ModPlug Player is from 2002!). I still have an archive of MOD files somewhere in the depths of my hard disk, maybe I should try to find them and indulge in some nostalgia...
severak_cz 7y ago
I recommend you to look at SunVox - https://www.warmplace.ru/soft/sunvox/ https://www.warmplace.ru/soft/sunvox/ It's multi platform tracker with modular synthesizer functionality.
- birracerveza 7y ago
  +1, sunvox is awesome. Also available for iOS/Android, it works perfectly on my Moto G8 Plus, even with the more complex examples provided. It only needs that sf2 compatibility to reach absolute perfection.
dana321 7y ago
Madtracker is a bit better imho. https://www.madtracker.org/about.php https://www.madtracker.org/about.php Has full .xm fasttracker 2 compatibility, plus a more powerful .mt2 format that supports vsti/vst and built-in effects, automation etc. Renoise is the kitchen sink, its probably the most powerful tracker you can get, a bit overwhelming even to someone like me that spent over 10 years every day using them: https://www.renoise.com/ https://www.renoise.com/
newnewpdro 7y ago
SchismTracker is a somewhat maintained GPL ImpulseTracker clone that runs on Mac/Win/Linux (SDL). https://github.com/schismtracker/schismtracker https://github.com/schismtracker/schismtracker
loudandskittish 7y ago
I've recently tried to get back into tracking and I've found OpenMPT to be one of the worst modern trackers. Yes, it adds lots of modern features but its very poorly documented, there are barely any tutorials and what few do exist are more focused on "drawing" samples than actually using the program to make music. I also dislike that I can't quickly go through my samples directory and try a melody on each sample like I could with the trackers of yore. So far, Schism Tracker is more usable I've found, but it feels like running Impulse Tracker in DOSBox, which, granted, it not necessarily a bad thing. In the end, I may just suck it up and pay for Renoise.

AstralStorm 7y ago

The other well known, working and portable ones would be MilkyTracker, Schism Tracker and Renoise. MilkyTracker is UI compatible with FastTracker 2, Schism Tracker is UI compatible with Impulse Tracker and Scream Tracker. Renoise is more of a crossover of digital audio workstation with a tracker.

geon 7y ago
Also Sunvox is pretty good and very portable. https://www.warmplace.ru/soft/sunvox/ https://www.warmplace.ru/soft/sunvox/

tomduncalf 7y ago

If you fancy the retro vibe, someone has ported Fast Tracker 2 to modern OS's: https://16-bits.org/ft2.php https://16-bits.org/ft2.php. From what I've heard, Renoise is the most "modern" tracker. Buzz is another interesting one, not sure what the status of that is these days.

dharma1 7y ago
> Buzz is another interesting one, not sure what the status of that is these days. Buzz is great software, the modular concept was fantastic. I don't think Oskari has worked on it since 2016 - http://jeskola.net/buzz/beta/files/changelog.txt http://jeskola.net/buzz/beta/files/changelog.txt It still works though, and there is something of a community - http://forums.jeskola.net/ http://forums.jeskola.net/

rob74 7y ago

I used ModPlug Player (https://www.modplug.com/ https://www.modplug.com/), the predecessor of OpenMPT, years ago. I was pretty pleased with it back then, although the alternatives mentioned by the others may be more modern/better nowadays (wow, the latest version of ModPlug Player is from 2002!). I still have an archive of MOD files somewhere in the depths of my hard disk, maybe I should try to find them and indulge in some nostalgia...

severak_cz 7y ago

I recommend you to look at SunVox - https://www.warmplace.ru/soft/sunvox/ https://www.warmplace.ru/soft/sunvox/ It's multi platform tracker with modular synthesizer functionality.

birracerveza 7y ago
+1, sunvox is awesome. Also available for iOS/Android, it works perfectly on my Moto G8 Plus, even with the more complex examples provided. It only needs that sf2 compatibility to reach absolute perfection.

dana321 7y ago

Madtracker is a bit better imho. https://www.madtracker.org/about.php https://www.madtracker.org/about.php Has full .xm fasttracker 2 compatibility, plus a more powerful .mt2 format that supports vsti/vst and built-in effects, automation etc. Renoise is the kitchen sink, its probably the most powerful tracker you can get, a bit overwhelming even to someone like me that spent over 10 years every day using them: https://www.renoise.com/ https://www.renoise.com/

newnewpdro 7y ago

SchismTracker is a somewhat maintained GPL ImpulseTracker clone that runs on Mac/Win/Linux (SDL). https://github.com/schismtracker/schismtracker https://github.com/schismtracker/schismtracker

loudandskittish 7y ago

I've recently tried to get back into tracking and I've found OpenMPT to be one of the worst modern trackers. Yes, it adds lots of modern features but its very poorly documented, there are barely any tutorials and what few do exist are more focused on "drawing" samples than actually using the program to make music. I also dislike that I can't quickly go through my samples directory and try a melody on each sample like I could with the trackers of yore. So far, Schism Tracker is more usable I've found, but it feels like running Impulse Tracker in DOSBox, which, granted, it not necessarily a bad thing. In the end, I may just suck it up and pay for Renoise.