Credit: https://milkytracker.org
OUR EXPERT
Michael Reed first came across computer music on his Acorn Archimedes in the late ’80s. He’s tracked on every major platform since.
we’re going to take a look at a workflow for creating vintage-style tunes using Linux W tracker software. Best of all, no previous musical experience is required. The tracker method of music construction began on the Commodore Amiga line of computers in the late 1980s. Tracker music programs arrange the notes in a series of columns of numbers and letters. It might sound complicated, but once you’ve got the hang of playing in notes on the QWERTY keyboard, it becomes a quick and simple way of composing tunes.
Tracker files include the samples that constitute the instruments of the tune, meaning that it’s simple to pass the music files around. In fact, the ease with which tracker files can be shared, played and examined is a large part of why the tracker scene is still surprisingly vibrant 35 years after it started.
Of course, not everyone has access to vintage Amiga hardware to run one of the original tracker programs, and there are some modern trackers that run on Linux while greatly alleviating the limitations that were imposed by older hardware. In this case, we’re going to concentrate on the use of MilkyTracker, an open source tracker program. It takes its inspiration from the original tracker applications while taking on many of the improvements from the PC era of trackers, and it even adds a few refinements of its own.
Fresh, healthy MilkyTracker
There are a number of currently maintained music trackers that work on Linux, and sits at the halfway point between the most sophisticated and modern trackers and the traditional Commodoreremoves most of the limitations such as the number of channels and the size of the samples you can work with. The concept of instruments is more flexible than simply working with samples because you can add extra attributes such as a volume envelope. Finally, the interface has been modernised, meaning that some familiar GUI operations such as cut and paste and right-click menus will work.
