Trackers: Ie: Renoise, MadTracker2, OpenMPT etc etc

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AK
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Trackers: Ie: Renoise, MadTracker2, OpenMPT etc etc

Post by AK »

Anybody here familiar with music trackers? I have a side project I am starting in the new year with a mate of mine and it's inspired by 90's Jungle and Ambient DnB/Jazzy 2 step stuff in a minimal vein.

I was thinking about getting into a tracker program ( Renoise ) to come in from a completely different angle to see what come out. It might make a refreshing change and I'm a fan of happy accidents too.

I'm just wondering what the learning curve is, I hear people say they can knock out beats and stuff really quick but at the moment it all looks like gibberish. Wont type too long in case I go off on one for too long and it turns out nobody here has used one so I'm just putting the question out first and I'll wait and see until I come with more questions.

Downloaded the Renoise demo and some free trackers I found on the net, so at some point I will try and get into one of them a bit to see what the workflow is like...
djw
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Re: Trackers: Ie: Renoise, MadTracker2, OpenMPT etc etc

Post by djw »

Hi AK,

I started to get into electronic music in my early teens, just as home computers started to be sold at a reasonable price and with a soundblaster card included, so trackers were my first step into music production. So, Scream Tracker, Impulse Tracker and then Fast Tracker, before moving on to Jeskola Buzz (which doesnt really compare though, being a software modular studio more than a tracker) before moving on to Renoise in 2006. Migrated to Ableton the year after, and havent used trackers since, before buying Renoise's Redux plugin, which I warmly recommend.

If you're going down the tracker route, Renoise is the best out there in my opinion, particularly as it integrates a sampler (if you look at the old trackers, you'd mostly have to use other platforms for sampling, i.e. just as we have to nowadays when using kontakt, exs or ableton's sampler). Redux is the sampler component of Renoise in a plugin format, but including a scaled down version of its sequencer, which can be used to track sequences that will play back alongside your other tracks in your DAW. Trackers are great for dnb/jungle breaks, many classic productions have been crafted on these, and you can have that component but without the learning curve that is inevitably involved when moving from a DAW to a tracker (although, Renoise is looking more and more like a standard DAW since the latest version). I use it for sampling - I record stuff via soundflower and will soon get my decks back from repair and start sampling from vinyl again, all from within the plugin. Add the many effects that are included (all from Renoise's standard repertoire) and you have a software recreation of something like a fully expanded s3000xl. My only gripe is that I dont think it is possible to install the many add-ons that are made for Renoise, including a version of Akaizer that can be used from within the program itself to emulate the classic timestretching of Akai samplers. You could of course always run Renoise via rewire, but I suggest you take a look at this plugin (download the demo).

-w.
AK
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Re: Trackers: Ie: Renoise, MadTracker2, OpenMPT etc etc

Post by AK »

djw wrote:Hi AK,

I started to get into electronic music in my early teens, just as home computers started to be sold at a reasonable price and with a soundblaster card included, so trackers were my first step into music production. So, Scream Tracker, Impulse Tracker and then Fast Tracker, before moving on to Jeskola Buzz (which doesnt really compare though, being a software modular studio more than a tracker) before moving on to Renoise in 2006. Migrated to Ableton the year after, and havent used trackers since, before buying Renoise's Redux plugin, which I warmly recommend.

If you're going down the tracker route, Renoise is the best out there in my opinion, particularly as it integrates a sampler (if you look at the old trackers, you'd mostly have to use other platforms for sampling, i.e. just as we have to nowadays when using kontakt, exs or ableton's sampler). Redux is the sampler component of Renoise in a plugin format, but including a scaled down version of its sequencer, which can be used to track sequences that will play back alongside your other tracks in your DAW. Trackers are great for dnb/jungle breaks, many classic productions have been crafted on these, and you can have that component but without the learning curve that is inevitably involved when moving from a DAW to a tracker (although, Renoise is looking more and more like a standard DAW since the latest version). I use it for sampling - I record stuff via soundflower and will soon get my decks back from repair and start sampling from vinyl again, all from within the plugin. Add the many effects that are included (all from Renoise's standard repertoire) and you have a software recreation of something like a fully expanded s3000xl. My only gripe is that I dont think it is possible to install the many add-ons that are made for Renoise, including a version of Akaizer that can be used from within the program itself to emulate the classic timestretching of Akai samplers. You could of course always run Renoise via rewire, but I suggest you take a look at this plugin (download the demo).

-w.
Cheers for the reply mate. This might be the best bet then :) ( Redux ) it looks really slick, I've downloaded the demo but being Xmas eve, wont have chance to have a play with it until tomorrow, it looks really interesting though, I might have to watch a few tutorials to get the hang of sequencing tracker style but this could be exactly what I'm looking for ......Will come back after I have the basics down
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Re: Trackers: Ie: Renoise, MadTracker2, OpenMPT etc etc

Post by hydrogen »

I used to be into trackers too fast tracker, scream tracker and jealous buzz., but I don't think I would go back to it. Even though renoise is pretty amazing and I know people make great stuff wth it. The learning curve is high and I think making music in it can be fast but also very awkward.

Damn tho that redux plugin looks like an octatrack on acid. May have to get my hands on that.
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