![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
saeruMilkyTracker tutorial #1 - Set Up
~
MilkyTracker tutorial #2 - Samples and Instruments
~
After creating a sample and an instrument, we're ready to begin making a basic song!
As a note, all of the keyboard shortcuts I use are available for reference in the MilkyTracker Manual. When you start up MilkyTracker, it is in FastTracker II mode, so be aware if you look at the Manual that you'll want to go with the FastTracker 2 edit commands.
If you want to change to MilkyTracker edit mode, go to Config >> Misc. Then select the box next to the editor you want to use. Most of the commands are the same for both modes, but there ARE differences so if something I say isn't working out for you, check out Config and find out what mode you're in, or look at the manual for an alternative. (Mac OS will have different commands, for instance.)
To begin with, if either of my editors (samples or instruments) are open, I usually close them by clicking on 'Ins. Ed.' or 'Sam. Ed.' again at the top of the tracker (or just click the big EXIT bar in the editor). This will leave me with a larger dot field in my view so I can see more of what is going on in my song.
If you feel more comfortable having the Instrument Editor open (since you can see the keyboard notes there), you can easily do these next steps with it up--it just won't be showing in my pictures.
Click on the button marked 'Rec'. Once clicked on, it should turn red.
This means you are now in recording mode. Anything you hit on your keyboard from this point will be imprinted on the dot field as part of your song.
You can stop or start recording at any time by hitting the spacebar on your computer. The Rec button should go from black to red as you do this.
Automatically your 'cursor' in the dot field will be at position 00 in the first channel. You can click around with your mouse to move the position bar to other channels (the vertical columns labelled 1, 2, 3, etc) or other positions within the same channel (which we'll talk about more in advanced song making.) You can also scroll using arrow keys and tabs.
For now, however, lets return to position 00 in the first channel and set record to ON (IE the REC button is red). Hit the 'z' key (or middle C, if the Instrument Editor is still open.)
This inserts the first note of your song, labelled C-4.1. Each of these characters is important. The C is the note played (with reference to whatever Hz you entered in sample creation), the 4 is the octave (4th octave up from the bottom is middle C), and the 1 is which instrument you're using (in this case Squaretest.)
You can hit Play Song(or simply 'Enter') at this point to hear what you've recorded (be aware of where Stop is before you begin.) Play Song/Enter will always play the song starting at the beginning of your song (regardless of where your current position bar is). Since I added a sustain mark when creating the Squaretest instrument, the single note at the beginning of the song will continue playing FOREVER. This is why it's a good idea to know where the stop button is (or to hit your spacebar--this will also stop a song while it is playing.)
Important: The Spacebar has a dual function: it will bring you in and out of RECORD mode, and it will also stop a playing song. When it stops a playing song, it will NOT bring you out of RECORD mode (or into it), so hitting the spacebar at any point is pretty much safe--just make sure you're in the mode you want to be after everything is done.
Since leaving a note to play forever doesn't make for a very good song (in most cases), it's a good idea to add a note-stop (also called a key-off).
There are MANY ways to stop a note while recording using commands or using the volume envelope in the instrument editor, but if you're looking for the simplest note-stop you'll find it in your CAPS LOCK key. I scrolled down to line 08 (three beats into the song. Beats are marked by the yellow numbers along the side of the dot field.) and hit the CAPS LOCK key, which shuts my sustained note down on the third beat.
Now, if I hit Enter to play the song, the note will end at the note-stop.
Tip: Depending on the layout of your keyboard, inserting a note-stop will be either the key to the right of the left-shift button or the Caps lock, or it will be the number 1 (for MAC OS). If you're like me and are stuck with the Caps lock, be VERY aware that hitting this button while in MilkyTracker will still affect your system outside of MilkyTracker. I almost always exited the program with my caps on, and every time wondered why my internet passwords weren't working. x-x
Continuing down the dot field, I want to enter some more notes.
Since I'm forming the basic baseline of the song in this first channel, I'm going to need more than one octave of notes to work with. Say, for instance, that I'd like to now enter the same C note, but one octave down.
To change octaves, I hit the F-key that corresponds with (the octave I want) +1. Since I'm looking for a C-note one octave below middle C (which is C-4) then I'm going to need C-3. For a note in the third octave, I'll hit F(3 + 1)...so F4. Then, since I'm still in record mode, I just scroll on down to where I want to put my note (16), and type in the note I want (z for C).
Alternatively, of course, you can just click with your mouse on the note you want in the instrument editor.
So what if you make a mistake?
Say, what if you type in F6 instead of F4 and the note you just inserted is a C-5?
There are two easy ways to erase notes, and they're pretty intuitive. You can highlight the note you want to erase and hit delete, or you can highlight right below the note and hit the backspace.
Important: Don't use the backspace. While you CAN remove notes this way, the backspace actually removes that line, which slides up all the other lines beneath it. Backspace can be used if the note you're removing is at the end of your song (IE there ARE no other important lines beneath it) or if you're specifically aiming to slide up the entire rest of the song.
For now, I'm going to fill in notes down to the bottom of my dot field using this handy keyboard shortcut.
Note that the +1 and +2 in red annotate any increase in octave. Z might be a C-4, for instance, but if it is then Q is going to be a C-5, and I a C-6.
Also there is some irony to labeling the capslock in this picture as a note-stop when the keyboard is a MAC and would use the 1 key for a note-stop.
What happens, however, when we reach the end of our dot field? The first track opens with only 64 spaces (0-63), which comprises exactly four measures of a 4/4 song. If your song sections repeat in phrases longer than four measures, then you're going to need to increase the length of your dot field.
This is pretty easy to do. Above the dot field there are a number of options that have + and - next to them. Increasing the Len. (Length) by one will add one new line into the dot field, as pictured above. Note that the Len. is now at 41, and the dot field counts up to 64 instead of 63. You can increase the length up to 100...
Which isn't what it seems. As soon as you scroll up past 9, the hex value 'A' is shown instead of the numeral '10.' Hex values make the most sense here, as it allows for 16 representations within one field. Since so many pieces of music are written with repetitions in various squares of 2 (four beats per measure, four measures per repetition, four repetitions per stanza, 2x2x2x2 etc and oh god my terminology) the hex values are really handy for sticking with a basic song structure.
100 Len. will give you 256 lines to work with. If you need more at that point you can increase your track number, which I'll talk about in advanced editing.
For now, I'm going to add in the rest of the notes of my bass line. I left the note-stops off of the second repetition so that you can hear how the volume envelope in the instrument can really affect how the longer notes sound.
Important: You can let notes go without note-stops sometimes since whatever note comes AFTER the note will supplant it. However, it is VERY important to remember to add a note-stop at the end of each of each channel at the end of every track, because notes WILL continue playing into the next track if not stopped or supplanted. Heck, they'll even keep playing if the song just loops!
I put my last note-stop at line 144, which would technically be the first beat of a new measure if I were continuing the song.
You can listen to the song now(Enter to start at the beginning, Spacebar to stop). It's boring, but the basic structure is there for me to build something much greater.
At this point, I'd highly recommend saving your progress. The little 'Save' button at the top will do the trick, and I've saved my file as 'Squaretest.' Since I don't have any other programs that need to read this file, saving it as a FastTracker2 type is fine for me.
In the next installment, I'll go over some 'advanced' editing tactics like using tracks and using some other handy keyboard shortcuts, and also getting your song saved as a .wav file.
Continue to MilkyTracker tutorial #4 - Advanced Techniques
~
MilkyTracker tutorial #2 - Samples and Instruments
~
After creating a sample and an instrument, we're ready to begin making a basic song!
As a note, all of the keyboard shortcuts I use are available for reference in the MilkyTracker Manual. When you start up MilkyTracker, it is in FastTracker II mode, so be aware if you look at the Manual that you'll want to go with the FastTracker 2 edit commands.
If you want to change to MilkyTracker edit mode, go to Config >> Misc. Then select the box next to the editor you want to use. Most of the commands are the same for both modes, but there ARE differences so if something I say isn't working out for you, check out Config and find out what mode you're in, or look at the manual for an alternative. (Mac OS will have different commands, for instance.)
To begin with, if either of my editors (samples or instruments) are open, I usually close them by clicking on 'Ins. Ed.' or 'Sam. Ed.' again at the top of the tracker (or just click the big EXIT bar in the editor). This will leave me with a larger dot field in my view so I can see more of what is going on in my song.
If you feel more comfortable having the Instrument Editor open (since you can see the keyboard notes there), you can easily do these next steps with it up--it just won't be showing in my pictures.
Click on the button marked 'Rec'. Once clicked on, it should turn red.
This means you are now in recording mode. Anything you hit on your keyboard from this point will be imprinted on the dot field as part of your song.
You can stop or start recording at any time by hitting the spacebar on your computer. The Rec button should go from black to red as you do this.
Automatically your 'cursor' in the dot field will be at position 00 in the first channel. You can click around with your mouse to move the position bar to other channels (the vertical columns labelled 1, 2, 3, etc) or other positions within the same channel (which we'll talk about more in advanced song making.) You can also scroll using arrow keys and tabs.
For now, however, lets return to position 00 in the first channel and set record to ON (IE the REC button is red). Hit the 'z' key (or middle C, if the Instrument Editor is still open.)
This inserts the first note of your song, labelled C-4.1. Each of these characters is important. The C is the note played (with reference to whatever Hz you entered in sample creation), the 4 is the octave (4th octave up from the bottom is middle C), and the 1 is which instrument you're using (in this case Squaretest.)
You can hit Play Song(or simply 'Enter') at this point to hear what you've recorded (be aware of where Stop is before you begin.) Play Song/Enter will always play the song starting at the beginning of your song (regardless of where your current position bar is). Since I added a sustain mark when creating the Squaretest instrument, the single note at the beginning of the song will continue playing FOREVER. This is why it's a good idea to know where the stop button is (or to hit your spacebar--this will also stop a song while it is playing.)
Important: The Spacebar has a dual function: it will bring you in and out of RECORD mode, and it will also stop a playing song. When it stops a playing song, it will NOT bring you out of RECORD mode (or into it), so hitting the spacebar at any point is pretty much safe--just make sure you're in the mode you want to be after everything is done.
Since leaving a note to play forever doesn't make for a very good song (in most cases), it's a good idea to add a note-stop (also called a key-off).
There are MANY ways to stop a note while recording using commands or using the volume envelope in the instrument editor, but if you're looking for the simplest note-stop you'll find it in your CAPS LOCK key. I scrolled down to line 08 (three beats into the song. Beats are marked by the yellow numbers along the side of the dot field.) and hit the CAPS LOCK key, which shuts my sustained note down on the third beat.
Now, if I hit Enter to play the song, the note will end at the note-stop.
Tip: Depending on the layout of your keyboard, inserting a note-stop will be either the key to the right of the left-shift button or the Caps lock, or it will be the number 1 (for MAC OS). If you're like me and are stuck with the Caps lock, be VERY aware that hitting this button while in MilkyTracker will still affect your system outside of MilkyTracker. I almost always exited the program with my caps on, and every time wondered why my internet passwords weren't working. x-x
Continuing down the dot field, I want to enter some more notes.
Since I'm forming the basic baseline of the song in this first channel, I'm going to need more than one octave of notes to work with. Say, for instance, that I'd like to now enter the same C note, but one octave down.
To change octaves, I hit the F-key that corresponds with (the octave I want) +1. Since I'm looking for a C-note one octave below middle C (which is C-4) then I'm going to need C-3. For a note in the third octave, I'll hit F(3 + 1)...so F4. Then, since I'm still in record mode, I just scroll on down to where I want to put my note (16), and type in the note I want (z for C).
Alternatively, of course, you can just click with your mouse on the note you want in the instrument editor.
So what if you make a mistake?
Say, what if you type in F6 instead of F4 and the note you just inserted is a C-5?
There are two easy ways to erase notes, and they're pretty intuitive. You can highlight the note you want to erase and hit delete, or you can highlight right below the note and hit the backspace.
Important: Don't use the backspace. While you CAN remove notes this way, the backspace actually removes that line, which slides up all the other lines beneath it. Backspace can be used if the note you're removing is at the end of your song (IE there ARE no other important lines beneath it) or if you're specifically aiming to slide up the entire rest of the song.
For now, I'm going to fill in notes down to the bottom of my dot field using this handy keyboard shortcut.
Note that the +1 and +2 in red annotate any increase in octave. Z might be a C-4, for instance, but if it is then Q is going to be a C-5, and I a C-6.
Also there is some irony to labeling the capslock in this picture as a note-stop when the keyboard is a MAC and would use the 1 key for a note-stop.
What happens, however, when we reach the end of our dot field? The first track opens with only 64 spaces (0-63), which comprises exactly four measures of a 4/4 song. If your song sections repeat in phrases longer than four measures, then you're going to need to increase the length of your dot field.
This is pretty easy to do. Above the dot field there are a number of options that have + and - next to them. Increasing the Len. (Length) by one will add one new line into the dot field, as pictured above. Note that the Len. is now at 41, and the dot field counts up to 64 instead of 63. You can increase the length up to 100...
Which isn't what it seems. As soon as you scroll up past 9, the hex value 'A' is shown instead of the numeral '10.' Hex values make the most sense here, as it allows for 16 representations within one field. Since so many pieces of music are written with repetitions in various squares of 2 (four beats per measure, four measures per repetition, four repetitions per stanza, 2x2x2x2 etc and oh god my terminology) the hex values are really handy for sticking with a basic song structure.
100 Len. will give you 256 lines to work with. If you need more at that point you can increase your track number, which I'll talk about in advanced editing.
For now, I'm going to add in the rest of the notes of my bass line. I left the note-stops off of the second repetition so that you can hear how the volume envelope in the instrument can really affect how the longer notes sound.
Important: You can let notes go without note-stops sometimes since whatever note comes AFTER the note will supplant it. However, it is VERY important to remember to add a note-stop at the end of each of each channel at the end of every track, because notes WILL continue playing into the next track if not stopped or supplanted. Heck, they'll even keep playing if the song just loops!
I put my last note-stop at line 144, which would technically be the first beat of a new measure if I were continuing the song.
You can listen to the song now(Enter to start at the beginning, Spacebar to stop). It's boring, but the basic structure is there for me to build something much greater.
At this point, I'd highly recommend saving your progress. The little 'Save' button at the top will do the trick, and I've saved my file as 'Squaretest.' Since I don't have any other programs that need to read this file, saving it as a FastTracker2 type is fine for me.
In the next installment, I'll go over some 'advanced' editing tactics like using tracks and using some other handy keyboard shortcuts, and also getting your song saved as a .wav file.
Continue to MilkyTracker tutorial #4 - Advanced Techniques
