41–50 of 97 posts
This is great. I remember listening to Axel F, and attempting to make my own mods, but basically just changed the instrument samples.
This video is for you then: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlyK_elUmIw Not the author - just wanted to add to your nostalgia kick.
Oh man, this is amazing. I'm teary-eyed with nostalgia, too. For anyone who is unfamiliar with the demoscene and tracker music, here are some recommended old-school tunes to spin up to get a feel for the art at the time. (Someone more in touch than me will have to lead you to the new school!) Just keep in mind the technological limitations on some of these songs: 4 channels, maybe 100k all-in for such wonderful music…
Karsten Obarski - Crystal Hammer (couldn't find module, only Youtube: https://youtu.be/FN1Km1rEbLs)
Firefox - Galaxy 2 https://modarchive.org/module.php?42781
Uncle Tom - Poseidon https://modarchive.org/module.php?75579
Jester - Elysium https://modarchive.org/module.php?40475
Captain - Space Debris (part of Bassoon's example tracks! Also:) https://modarchive.org/module.php?57925
Tip + Firefox - Enigma https://modarchive.org/module.php?42146
Mantronix - Act of Impulse https://modarchive.org/module.php?32865
4-mat - Red Sector Theme https://modarchive.org/module.php?56673
Romeo Knight - Cream Of The Earth https://modarchive.org/module.php?120017
Greg - Odyssey Part 2 https://modarchive.org/module.php?98947
Jugi - Onward Ride https://modarchive.org/module.php?50820
Laxity - Desert Dream (found 3 rips on ModArchive, not sure which one's the best. Here's one of them:) https://modarchive.org/module.php?36889
Notable artists who started their careers on trackers: aphex twin, machinedrum, axwell, darude, deadmau5 +many more
Modarchive and modules.pl API support under Files -> Load is brilliant.
Also super eerie to listen to tunes I wrote in 1999 when I was sixteen on a mobile browser 20 years later.
That said, there's some things not entirely right with the XM mixing. Something with the volume or the effects is off here or there, haven't pinpointed yet. Some songs sound perfect, others sound totally wrong. Nothing a PR or two won't fix I bet :)
Since it plays modules made for the Amiga, linking this is mandatory: https://bel.fi/alankila/modguide/interpolate.txt
The difficulty of just generating correct square waves really surprised me. I thought you would just flip between 1 and -1 at the desired frequency, but of course that sounds awful because of aliasing. So I followed the paper by Tim Stilson and Julius Smith, Alias-Free Digital Synthesis of Classic Analog Waveforms, which presents the "band-limited impulse train" method, and got it working nicely.
Then I added a simple delay line, a convolution reverb, a resonant low-pass filter, a flanger, a compressor, all pluggable through the UI. That project was one of the most educational and fun months I've spent in my whole life... Playing a synth that you understand from the waveform level is really cool!
Some other guys in my class built an electric guitar which is also cool... Maybe I'd be more interested in that kind of project now that coding is my day job...
Oh man, this is amazing. I'm teary-eyed with nostalgia, too. For anyone who is unfamiliar with the demoscene and tracker music, here are some recommended old-school tunes to spin up to get a feel for the art at the time. (Someone more in touch than me will have to lead you to the new school!) Just keep in mind the technological limitations on some of these songs: 4 channels, maybe 100k all-in for such wonderful music…
Radix / Mosaik / Jakob Svanholm - Yuki Satellites (32-track, 1999) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3aBbUL32oo
Norfair / Carl Åborg - Obtuse but Smooth (32-track, 1999) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Doxmc1W7WNI
Norfair / Carl Åborg - Chillzone (32-track, 2000) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6OR3zKUq7s
Hunz / Hans van Vliet - Sarah's Song (year unknown, early 2000s?) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYQUlUXQxR8
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Hans and Carl did a collab on The Flame (also early 2000s): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZe8thnsr1M
Hans and Jakob did a collab on No Way Out but the Sky, released on Jakob's (Mosaik) Aerials album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew2Qe3-YCdQ
I graduated from Amiga trackers to a full fledged studio, with hardware mixers, synths, effect racks etc. And then, years later, back again to just a computer. Full circle.
I messed around with the Amiga trackers back in the day. When I look at the software available today, e.g. on my iPad, I have a hard time getting anything useful out of it. Which software are you using now?
Oh man, this is amazing. I'm teary-eyed with nostalgia, too. For anyone who is unfamiliar with the demoscene and tracker music, here are some recommended old-school tunes to spin up to get a feel for the art at the time. (Someone more in touch than me will have to lead you to the new school!) Just keep in mind the technological limitations on some of these songs: 4 channels, maybe 100k all-in for such wonderful music…
Bjørn Lynne - 12th Warrior https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Jogeir Liljedahl - Suspiria https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.m...
Purple Motion - Shadowrun https://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/?file=https3A%2%2Fapi.mod...