In Love With Trackers - My Experiences And Thoughts On Amiga Trackers & Also Polyend
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
- Website: www.msmadlemon.com
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~Mentioned Links~
Polyend Tracker Review: • Polyend Tracker Overvi...
Amiga Vs Polyend: • Amiga Vs Polyend Tracker
Recording My Album Paradox: • Mastering & Recording ...
TherapSID Exploration: • TherapSID MIDI Synth E...
My Soundtracker Pro 2 Tutorials: • Amiga Music Programs (...
From SID to Paula Music Creation: • From SID to Paula - Tu...
~More MsMadLemon Videos~
My Amiga videos: • Amiga
My Commodore 64 videos: • Commodore 64
My Nostalgia Time videos: • Nostalgia Time
My Audio related videos: • Audio
My Electronics videos: • Electronica
Patreon tier mentions:
Modern Vintage Gamer: / @modernvintagegamer
Team Pandory: / @teampandory
![The Ambiguous Line [music via Polyend Tracker Mini]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/z_I0d4_-LUA/mqdefault.jpg)
what an extremely attractive woman.
you are such a cool lady
Great stuff and do make a wish list for Polyend. If I had the money Id buy you the Mini.
20:05 , I see what You are trying to say about multitracking. We in the Netherlands have this saying "in eenvoud toont zich de meester" translated it say's "in the limitation the master shows itself", I dont know thats a saying in Your place, but if I try to think about a synonym I would say, "Less is More"
When i did return to do music on windoti had to try several trackers before finally feeling the vibe again with milkytracker
I like when you talk about your trackers :)
More of your music please, it was just getting going ( great),and it stopped.
Master! I love you :*
I was mesmerized with midi cables as a teen and creating my own samples and turning them into something totally different than what I recorded! I didnt know crap about music theory but I had a feel for the beat and just loved messing around for hours heck days on and....ah when life was simpler😊
The minute you fired up AHX, I heard Electric City playing in my head. :D
I fell in love with you and the trackers, does it count as well? :D
Bookshelf speakers are very nice, enjoy using them.
I'm in love with all of the music from Robocod if that helps :D
OctaMed V5 was my weapon of choice. I found a company that did 16bit samples and got extra memory. Very advanced. Game changer back then.
Love your wonderful videos!!!🥰
Had so much fun with trackers on my Amiga back in the day. Noisetracker, Soundtracker and OctaMed. Now noodling around with MilkyTracker on my linux box.
trackers were the intro for music for me.
Still no Polyend :D cause still not all Mods or XM or IT or S3M Files running .... cool video :)
It supports IT but its a shame no MOD, XM or S3M.. I'm not sure why they're not implementing it.
And thank you.
@@MsMadLemon maybe we need to write a super whyne Email to them 😂
@@nicci_dee8292 I've hinted at them so much in videos and comments here and there, if I hint any louder, I'd be writing it on my forehead 😂
:) I have been using Renoise for many years. But in the last month I cannot say exactly what happened, but I decided to pull out a complete A1200 that was stored away and decided now is the time to get the rest of my stuff out. I have found my sound enhancer, sound sampler, midi interface, tt303 and roland tr8. I have more stuff to find yet but the point is I want to get back into sampling, like I used to back back in 1989 to 1997. I miss getting the best out of the restricted hardware.
Easily the most comprehensive, and well considered, overview of trackers I've ever seen. I'm gonna need to watch that again.
Interesting how many people are so invested in what they would consider the "best". Who knew trackers could be so controversial? Clearly, as you point out Maddi, there's pros and cons to each and personal preference and familiarity are equally important factors.
Thinking back, I probably tried whatever was on that months coverdisk. Some being easier to navigate, some looking better, and some having more features you might find useful.
Besides, you're all wrong. The best tracker is.... hahah, only joking. 😂
Great stuff Maddi!
Thanks so much Paul!
I think people have this way of making anything controversial, I mean people argue over toilet paper direction lol.
Was it Protracker you used? I used to do the same, I tried MED with that little jumping man mouse cursor :-D...The one coverdisk one I tried made me create music like I do today. Soundtracker Pro 2 🙂So I can relate.
There were some strange ones I remember though..FTM (FaceTheMusic) was one that came with the strangest example song..you may get a laugh at it if you decide to try ..hold on, I gotta find this lol......I couldn't find the exact archive but i found them separately
The tracker aminet.net/package/mus/edit/FTM_Demo
The example song: aminet.net/package/mods/8voic/Padre_IloveYou
You do like mods with sample clips so here's one for you Lol!
@MsMadLemon Ooh, thanks for the links! I'll give those a look later.
Yes, Protracker 2.0 was where I spent most time but also dabbled with some of those others in this video. You had a few new ones, to me at least, in there too.
Lol. Those strange people who argue over toilet paper direction! I mean, there's only one correct way, no point in arguing!
Yes, and what I really like about trackers is that although there are quite a lot of difference in how the sounds can be generated, the concept is pretty much the same. I really loved MML's section on AHX tracker. I had no idea this was a thing on the Amiga, I use DefleMask on the PC and phone, but wow I really love that AHX tracker program.
@@MsMadLemon Update: So I gave FTM a whirl and, um, yeah, it's certainly different! Speaking of UI, it took me far too long to figure out how to load a song. Spoiler alert - it's not with the "Load" button on the main screen, oh no no, that would be too obvious. 😀
Of course, you were spot on about that example Padre song. With it's samples it's exactly the style of module that appeals to me! Hahahah. Thank you.
Out of topic: You're beautiful
My sweetie and I fell in love over ASCII. We didn't have pixels! hahahahaha
This is such a fun video. Summer was so dang busy--I need to update my Polyend firmware and have some fun.
Thanks, Maddi!!
Lol ASCII, well it was at least mutual ASCII 😀
Thanks Corey, Summer has indeed been busy, it still is summer here as it's been really hot, I think i'm the only one not complaining lol..Just be careful of the new Polyend Firmware, 1.7..mine has an issue where it randomly freezes. Shame because I like the updates though.. and nice to know they've not stopped updates for the Tracker.
I spent most of my teenage years with an Amiga 1200 and Octamed Soundstudio. The ability to not only have more than 8 tracks of audio but proper stereo panning and 14 bit sound was revolutionary for me. Fast forward some 25 years later and I'm making tunes in Ableton. I guess some things stay the same.
Some thoughts:
- I really enjoyed hearing more about your history with trackers. My first tracker was Impulse Tracker on the PC. I didn't have a history with commodore or amiga, and it absolutely blew my mind when many years later I learned that the drum and bass producers of the 90s were working on octamed.
- I think you are spot on about how the tools and instruments used to make art significantly change the art itself. I think its very naive of people to only chase the latest technology and hold it up as inherently better for making music.
- I love the Polyend Tracker too! Sadly, I've also been experiencing the freezes on 1.7. I would love if the samples could be stereo, and if i could sample in and edit samples without stopping playback.
Great video. Also a tracker kid from the 90s. I tried buying an Amiga in 2001 to make sample based chip tune but didn't put in enough work to learn Octamed. Been using Ableton Live the last 15 years but am going to buy a PolyEnd Tracker soon and go back down the rabbit hole of the nostalgia. Can't wait.
As someone with no experience making music who has the nostalgia for loading the trackers and playing mods back in the day, I appreciated this video. I don't remember ever hearing about SoundTracker Pro 2, so was confused about whether it was another name for Protracker until you later explained.
Whatever happened to the SIDbox? Is it still available / developed? I saw it in the past but had no money to spare, but now I have the money but it seems to be unavailable, ARRRHHHHGHGHGH. I hope it's still alive.
The project is still alive it's just that Electronscape is struggling with availability of components, it's most frustrating because we're both still really wanting to go ahead with it, I don't even have a prototype of the new SIDBox 5 yet.
@@MsMadLemon Wow, thanks for the quick reply. Love your work and enthusiasm for the old gear. I for one would love one, I know there are mod players on Android / iPhone but this device fills the need for something physical. Please don't give up on this device, I need it in my life. Thank You and keep up the good work.
You are our Amiga! thank for posting this. I only found out about trackers sadly only a few years ago. To my shock, I didn’t know trackers were commonly used for many Jungle/DnB tracks that I had on vinyl. My first computer I ever bought, back in the mid-90’s, was a used Atari Mega ST with Cubase. Later when I attended recording school, I only used ProTools and Opcode Vision. Most musicians that knew, through the years that used music software, were Cubase/Logic/ ProTools users only. Great channel by the way!
Just subscribed too!
I also found trackers far too late, when I started getting interested in actually recording my music everyone my age at the time was like “just use Fruity Loops” (it wasn’t FL Studio then); the teenage version of “just use ProTools/Cubase”! But I just bounced off that.
I'm too dumb for making music. Makes me sad.
Stop thinking you're dumb and just experiment, sometimes it happens when you don't try so hard and when you stop putting yourself down.
Music is in the ear of the beholder, or should I say, composer :) Doesn't matter what other people think, you have to start somewhere and follow your ear. Keep Trackin' 😎
Wish my parents gave me an Amiga and a slightly better brain.
Hiya Maddi ☺️ What a great video this was and l am like the 10 year old versions of you at the moment. Trackers fascinate me on their usage and how they work but l would be clueless on how to use them but the desire is there and it has been for a while.
It amazed me when you mentioned the comment you received of your “perceived preference” of using one tracker because of the guys pixelated face on the screen! Well, l spat my coffee out laughing at that one but ultimately, how sad a comment that was to make.
Also the passively and yet ever so slightly aggressive comments over why you would choose how you make your music over much newer ways. I think the proof was there with the PC vs Amiga track.
They did sound totally different, absolutely, to the point where the PC version sounded so soul-less and stunted. The Amiga version had passion, soul and just felt more vibrant.
And for me that’s the key to it all. What l know about music from a technical stand point is limited but what l get from it emotionally and listening to the intricate workings of a track for me is everything.
This makes your music so enjoyable as l know it was crafted with passion and skill using multiple techniques that blend together so exquisitely.
Anyways, awesome upload Maddi and all the best to you, Rich, Mr Neelix and everyone there ☺️
Hey Jason, thank you! It seems trackers also resonate with you 🙂
The comment from the guy who said I liked the pixels, I think that was more light hearted, he commented on this video saying that he was actually having more of a dig at the guy who put his face there, which to be fair is a bit strange lol. I was having more of a banter about that one.
The second comment however which mentioned music creation on the Amiga being pointless, was yes, clearly passive aggressive. I don't understand the need to try and tear someone else's way of creating down for no real reason, that's far more 'pointless' in my humble opinion.
"What l know about music from a technical stand point is limited but what l get from it emotionally and listening to the intricate workings of a track for me is everything."
Well basically, I know how to use the tracker, but when it comes to music itself, I haven't studied any music theory and can't even read sheet music lol I literally have done it by ear since the beginning. So in that sense I can relate to what you say here. What you get from it emotionally and how it makes you feel, at the end of the say is key.
I'm really happy to hear that you've been enjoying my music and I really appreciate the lovely compliments 🙂
All the best to yourself and Fi 🙂
The thing I love about using samples on the Amiga is that you can chop them up, reverse them and create you own sounds really easily.
The AHX Tracker is similar to Sound Tracker on the ZX Spectrum for the 128K AY sound chip.
I think one of the great things about Amiga trackers are how completely keyboard-driven they are and they're "distraction-free" tools before anyone coined that term. No other apps suddenly take keyboard focus away while you're working (unless you have to swap a floppy).
Loved trackers on my Amiga, always played with them, all through my Amiga ownership, had hundreds and hundreds of samples collected/created. I could never write music though, so nothing useful was ever produced, but MED/Octamed became my favourites. Wish I had spent more time trying to learn music, might have been able to play some of my keyboards back then too!
10:37 you can make your own keymaps in amiga. I dont know in this moment how, but I remember softwares to map your keyboard and command to load this keymaps on your OS
So you can make the same schortcuts on octamed and on protracker 😅
I did a HCI unit at Uni! And I'm sure modern flat design goes against half of the stuff in it! You can't tell what's clickable any more just by looking at it. Anything that requires investigation rather than knowing at a glance is a step back in design.
I'm glad someone noticed that about the flat design, I remember that version of IOS that had flat icons, when it was first released I thought the world went mad when everyone raved about how "amazing" it looks... Everything just looks cheap now.
@@MsMadLemon I thought it was just me! 😂
CAN YOU GET IT ON IBM MACHINES ?? 😊😊😊
I totally agree; Much of the art is in the tools used. There's something wonderful about working with (for example) Pro Tracker, about booting an Amiga, about the whole composition process. Great music can be created in any tool (or using any synth) but certain tools or synths can put us in this wonderful space that's just so conducive to being creative. Great video.
Started on PC and never once had access to an Amiga...I appreciate the hands-on survey of trackers I've never had the chance to try! Thank you :D
This is nice and all, but where is Neelix???
The tracker on the PC, does it use wave tables on a sound card or does it play the samples directly?
Where's the PSU to the right from?
Modplug Tracker (Now called OpenMPT) uses samples.
I assembled the PSU myself, it's one of my past project videos.
Neelix has been obsessed with staying in the garden, I think he loves summer as much as I do.
i see. thanks! will have a lool... @@MsMadLemon
I'm so sad that they removed the .it and .mod import from version 1.7 of the polyend tracker, I stayed in 1.6 just because of that. I hope they will restore the import functionality.
I really don't see a reason to remove it. A lot of people this would appeal to naturally would be those like myself who used the Amiga to create music back in the day or those who used trackers like IT on the PC. I'm not sure what the thought process is on this. Why not just improve compatibility.
@@MsMadLemon I have been using trackers since their appearance at the end of the 80's, especially for demomaking at the time and I bought the polyend tracker because I found it very interesting to have a standalone tracker. The fact of no longer being able to import old projects into the polyend is really annoying for me. Your channel is great and it’s a pleasure to see.
Another amazing video. It's been a long time since you posted one. I'll watch it later.😉
Thanks, it's only been two weeks lol
@@MsMadLemon The previous notification did not arrive... thanks UA-cam 🤬
not Amiga but did you ever dabble with fast tracker II ?
i've seen Fast Tracker II in action but not dabbled with it. It kinda has a similar look to Milkytracker.
2:56 wow, so great music.emotion is there yes! I Love It! where can we hear more of your music?
Thanks! My website links to all what I do msmadlemon.com . Please excuse the delay in response, I've only just noticed some comments on this video.
Still amazing to lions that animals are so hard wired to listen to blocks of 4 measures of 4 beats that all music programs can be programmed to do just that.
I use Renoise.
There's nothing wrong with Renoise, it's quite good, my point is more about the attitude of the commenter who poopoo'd what I use telling me to use Renoise instead.
@@MsMadLemon I wouldn't push you to see Renoise. My first tracker was Noisetracker 2.0 (1991), then came Octamed 3,4, Octamed Soundstudio (bought on CD!), actually every PC sequencer from Cubase, Logic, to Ableton Live. But I stuck with Renoise because it's basically the modern version of the AMIGA soundtracker. 😊
@@Klangraum Thing is, I never got into sequencers either, there's just something about trackers and had I not got into Amigas again and got Polyend Tracker, i'd have probably considered Renoise as it's quite pretty. 😀
@@MsMadLemon I would say you have found Polyend Tracker as your modern version of Amiga tracker. 😉
@@Klangraum This is true, however I can't let the Amiga go, I'm somehow figuring a way to use them together in some crazy sorta way 🙂
These tracks sound amazing ✨ ✨
I love how much you love trackers. They are awesome 😂and so is this video.
Watching trackers is mesmorising. I'm into Jungle music on trackers. So much fun.
i'm a tracker muscian science the mid 90s aswell... all trackers have a special attraction to me in relation of computerscience aswell :) specially soundtracker/protracker/ahx etc.
I don't think Protracker listens to the midi clock, only midi start. Or does it even do that? I think I've only managed to start it by sending a note on a low octave, but I might be wrong :)
Only just saw this comment. Yes you're right, after messing with it more I realised it isnt responsive to the MIDI clock, only the MIDI start, which sucks. Saying that the MIDI start might be exclusive to only this version?. I'm not sure why these programs only made half assed efforts to implement MIDI. There is so much more potential :-)
@@MsMadLemon You're totally right. I'm really used to Protracker, so I've got a hard time switching to another tracker. But I would really like to be able to synchronise Protracker to Cubase, which you can't do well with Protracker.
@@d_vibe-swe The only one i've found that does that is Octamed. Again this is what makes me question why not on other trackers. Soundtracker Pro 2 has zilch when it comes to MIDI out or Sync. Thing is learning a new tracker means re-learning all the commands again and different key shortcuts, which is annoying. I guess the only choice unless someone knows how to break into Soundtracker pro 2 and Protracker to implement these MIDI features. it's times like these I wish I knew how to code and to that level.
@MsMadLemon Yes, and I don't like to make music in Octamed, even though it's superior to Protracker and Soundtracker Pro 2 :)
Hi, I've been following you for a while and I find you quite nice,
can you make a video on how to understand the sid song register of the commodore 64?
I'm 40 years old, and I love these songs, there's an Italian boy who is very good
his name is Fabio Marinelli, who uses tools, the most important of which runs on ms-dos!
it's called siddump,
you can make a guide by choosing a song .sid file
and explain how to use it and how to read the values and report them on a vsti or c64 based programs like sidwizard which is for the same commodore machine,
or programs that emulate like deflemask or Famitracker?
I don't remember well about these two (deflemask or Famitracker) but it is possible to connect the midi keyboard to one of the two, and then saving the project can be in .sid format
as well as saving the program project! :)
I thank you in advance if you make us a dedicated guide!
Thanks
I somehow never got into this. On the C64 I used to download songs and had a player that would have a bouncing ball with the lyrics and stuff like that. I got a Polyend Tracker and wasn’t sure I would get into it because placing everything so methodically was never my style but it ended up being super easy to learn so I liked it more than I expected. It would be interesting to have a video about making a song from scratch, just in general with this workflow.
hello, one thing im super confused about is, are you able to take one of those external samplers and sample right into octamed software?
What a video!!! feels like im standing there infront of you! LOVE that lay out and th feel of the video is incredible!! !
i wonder what this tune is for! ;) ua-cam.com/video/tgiCnJUKhoM/v-deo.html
I started on Soundtracker around 1989, then Noisetracker, then Octamed (the best if you have MIDI hardware)... My first vinyl release (1992) was made on Noisetracker. Sadly lost all my Amiga music disks (about 10 years worth) in a house move...
Next video, Amiga´s multichannel trackers, like Digibooster, Octamed, Symphony...
Maybe a future video, but not the next one. I don't own Digibooster Pro 2 or 3.1 and they're quite expensive just to buy for a video.
Has anyone heard of something called ScreamTracker 3 for the old MS-DOS PCs?
Yes, with the s3m fileformat, I've heard of it but never used it.
@MsMadLemon Back in the 90s, did musicians use a similar method from the Amiga by recording the synths into the SoundBlaster or Gravis Ultrasound cards, or do they need to use the Amiga digitizer first before they convert them into sample files for the Scream Tracker software?
@@ericksamuel6281 I'm not sure what you're asking exactly... To sample into the Amiga.. Or from the amiga? Or onto the pc via soundblaster soundcard? Could you elaborate what you mean.
If you want to sample onto the amiga.. You use a digitizer cartridge. To sample onto the pc.. Via sound card input.
@MsMadLemon What I mean is. What would be the workflow in recording samples from the synths to turning them into 8-bit samples for the Scream Tracker 3 trackers? Would it be a similar process to recording them into the Amiga samplers, but using the Gravis or SoundBlaster to do it?
@@ericksamuel6281 I've not used scream tracker before.. I used an Amiga in the 90s not a pc
No THX/AHX? No MusicLine Editor? No DigiBooster/Digibooster Pro? Shame on you :/
No Ahx? I covered it.. Didn't you watch the video? Shame on you 😝
It wasn't snotty, I was taking the piss, being sarcastic 🙄. It was more a dig at the guy who wrote it being so vain he slapped his mug over most of the screen.
Fair enough, It came across directed at me.. but I took it light hearted. Actually I was hoping you'd see it and comment as I wanted to thank you. What you said actually made me think about all this more and it added to the video, I don't have any hard feelings or anything, actually was more of a friendly bantering with what you said. 🙂
Also btw I agree, I always wondered why he put his face on the front of it.
@@MsMadLemon Re Midi, have you seen David Joiner's medium article about music-x and the midi timer problem via serial?
@@Lucretia9000 Oh i've not actually, i'll have to look that up as I noticed Protracker not quite timing up right with the Polyend Tracker.
What do you say lol? she's such a defiant woman (but I'm probably just as defiant :p) . If I was in the UK I'd send her a Vintage PC setup for demoscene and tracking just for the education. I guess if you were using the Amiga later on (in the mid 90s) you probably missed the entire early PC demo and tracking scene.
@@Jasonsadventures I was using Amigas at around 1989-1990 onwards. Mid to late 90s the Amiga was fading unfortunately. The Amiga Demoscene sorta kicked off at around 1986...Location has a big part to play with regards to what exposure people have, Amiga was big over here and Europe as was it's demoscene but not so much in the US in comparison (I don't know where you are). In the US, IBMs and Apples were more mainstream as far as I know. How long the PC Demoscene went on for I don't know too much about it, i'm not a big PC person.