pouët.net

I'd like to learn tracking, but I don't know where to start :S
I'd like to know stuff like :

what software do I use?
how to get timing right
how to make samples...
effects?

whatever you're more comfortable with.
try them all and see which one you like best.



listen and practice



recorder, microphone, audio editor, whatever sound synths you can find



most music software already comes with those, or supports VST plugins.
if you don't know what the names mean you can try using them to see what they sound like and google them up if you want to know what they do internally.

Adlib Tracker is the truthest way. Go and make me proud, son.

OpenMPT, as ugly as it looks like - but the documentation seems to be okay - sincerely a graphician :D

Everyone will tell you that their favorite tracker is the best. Go download some mods, and load them in different trackers, then see what works for you.

For my part I'll put in a plug for Schism. There is even a manual
http://archive.org/details/SchismTrackerUsersManual

Good luck!

Good way to learn IMO is to load up your fave module in a tracker of your choice, then run your tracker of choice again and load up the same module, clear the patterns and try to imitate that module with the same samples, step by step, listening after every edit trying to understand what you made ...and maybe reading some documentation too ;)

Everybody seem to talk about a "tracker of your choice".
You know that great choice makes you lose time choosing.

Restrict yourself to one of the more popular tools.

OpenMPT.
MilkyTracker.
Klystrack.

Choose one of them. Read a bit on each of them and listen to things that can be made in them, but not too much. Roll a d3 die if you cannot be bothered with that.

Once you have made the choice, stick to it as if it was your first computer that, however crappy or weird, was your only choice at the time.
Learn how to make melodies with it: look how examples are built, find a few tutorials (that are plentiful!). Do not be afraid to make something you can't publish -- you'll scrap that, but keep the experience.
And -- again. Once you have made the choice, do not look at the other tracker programs and think: "What if I chose wrong?" -- because that hits your determination, and you know that a child who does not want to walk will never learn to walk.

I am not a musician, but I am under the impression that Renoise is a decent tool.

You could use this, read this and listen to a lot of this for inspiration. Have fun!

also, how much musical knowledge do I need?

Renoise cannot save songs in classic tracker formats such as .mod .xm .it and so on (it uses its own .xrns format instead) and playback of those modules is very poor at best. So if it's classic tracking that you prefer and you are using a windows machine, I'd recommend OpenMPT. This will also ensure a certain compatibility with other tracker programs. Renoise is much more advanced however and more comfortable to use.

In any case I recommend a midi-keyboard for typing in your notes, it is so much easier than with a standard keyboard. As for musical knowledge, if you're able to imagine beats or melodies in your head, you should be good to go .. just practice and have fun :)

"...playback of those modules" = the classic ones .. playback of .xrns is fine of course ;)

If you do not have a clue about music, you'll need at least one year of experimentation if your goal is to make something "not bad".

A year full of fun doing tracking each day. Just relax and take it easy.

Load some samples, learn how to play simple melodies with your keyboard (I mean the keyboard of your computer). Then load some great mods and dissect them channel by channel and learn the tricks. Concentrate on the WHYs and the HOWs. Do this each day during a few months and, at the same time, try to put in practice what you are learning and do your first mods. These will be horrible mods but you'll learn a lot.

Use Milkytracker or OpenMPT and start making modules with few channels (4 or 6) and few samples (less than 16). That way you'll learn many tricks.

Do not publish your first mods. They are horrible no matter what your friends said. Take one or two years learning how to track properly and them send make something for a demo or intro.

Courage and constance!

*and them make something for a demo or intro* (stupid typos)

And do visit a demoparty too. Find someone there, that uses the same tracker, you decided upon. They're almost certainly happy to show you neat little tricks, how they do stuff and give you pointers on do's and don'ts.

Creativity won't kick in hard, before you reach a level of expertise, where the tracker isn't of any importance and doesn't slow you down while figuring out how to do stuff. But as ham rightfully states - don't expect this a short trip to fame. Consider it a wonderfull journey that will take you far, and where every part of the trip will be worth pausing to enjoy. It'll be a long one, so do bring snacks and plenty of beer! ;)

Oh - and DO visit a demoparty and talk to other musicians :D

force yourself to track something for atleast 15 minutes every day and everything else will come together, use google to figure out more music theory if you feel the need, and don't forget to RTFM, tracker manuals are the key to using them prolifically. when you got enough experience ask other tracker guys about their workflow, you'll learn new shortcut and production tricks, but not until you've practiced enough on your own.

other folks already mentioned some trackers worth checking out: renoise, openmpt, schism and buzz are good starting points. then if you want to do 8bit/16bit machine stuff you'll need to learn some other trackers, but the basic concepts are mainly the same (sample, instrument, pattern, sequence)

best is to start with an elephant trail. they are big and heavy so they leave good footprints. once you feel comfortable tracking elephants you can scale down to smaller animals or humans. food leftovers or droppings suggest the animal has rested for a bit. Be warned that a big rainstorm can wash away tracks but light rains may leave tracks undisturbed.

i hope my quick advice will turn you into an awesome tracker and i wish you all the best.

Brandon Walsh / Genesis Project is publishing a series of MilkyTracker tutorials on YouTube. He's currently up to part 3 now I think. In all honesty I haven't actually WATCHED it but the man knows how to write tracker modules, win compos and is an overall good guy so I'm sure it's fine. Check it out if you want: (part 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2s04YYO0Wg

go true chipsound!!! :)))
try and use vortex tracker II with the help of this tutorial and you already have a gig. ;)))

And, just for comparison, here is a chart that shows how anime artists improve over a span of six to ten years.

http://nya.sh/pic/1722

If you want to improve over it, try and try and do not be discouraged.

try milky tracker and see this tutorial for beginners.

Start with renoise, it's actual and won't make you feel forced to go through various tracking tricks. Then, if you want to go oldschool, hardcore, whatever, you'll just have to switch and learn a new interface but at least, in the meanwhile, you would have already done some tracks.

But it depends what you really want to do: make music or get scene appreciation.

If you want to make music, don't listen to others, tracking tricks are just plain silly and are far from "making music" if you ask me, it's only making sense knowing them if you started decades ago.

Also, you might want to check the tracker handbook

tracker wiki has some info, needs filling out though.

Still, some scenemusicians use OpenMPT and achieve professional quality.