MilkyTracker tutorial #1 - Set Up
Jun. 15th, 2013 12:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
saeruSo recently I had my first experience with a tracker program.
By 'recently' I also mean that two months ago I didn't know that chiptunes were called chiptunes, and I hadn't touched a musical instrument in probably 5+ years. However, I did have the vague idea that it was possible so I did a little research and ended up with MilkyTracker, a music synthesizing program. It was a free download and had some good reviews, so I went ahead and grabbed it.
My path from that point was an interesting one. The interface and its commands reminded me much more of text editing in Linux or programming (in any language) than it did writing music. There were a lot of new steps to learn, and they could be different on every computer.
Thus, this tutorial is a compilation of the trial and error I went through as a complete novice to the Milkytracker program. I'm going to walk through the basics that I learned, and also a few shortcut commands that I found particularly helpful in making my first song.
For reference, I've been working on an ASUS laptop with an i7 processor running Windows 8. The download (available here) does not claim to support Windows 8, but I have not found any system-related problems running it so far.
So here we go!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The first thing I did was open up the Milkytracker program!
And then immediately I realized I had no idea what I was doing, so I opened up a basic tutorial from the website. It took me through a few basic steps that I'm going to duplicate here and then expand upon~
SO! Here it is, and WOW is it tiny. The Milkytracker program supports a number of different resolutions for variable platforms, but on my 15" screen it just vanishes. This is the first thing to fix. Click on 'Config.'
This will open up a new menu to customize the look of the tracker. Click 'Layout' on the left side.
Look at all those options! You can adjust the color of the tracker, the background, the resolution...so if you click on the far right under Resolution, you can select a size for the tracker that would be better for your monitor. I chose 1280x1024. If you're not sure what to go with, start there. You can always size down if that doesn't work.
Once you have selected a resolution (and anything else you want) click on the 'Apply' button. This will pop up:
Just click okay. The program will return you to the main screen, and you can then click the red x to close for restart.
Once the program is closed, open it back up!
TA DA! Now we're talking.
So lets not waste any further time. From here, we can get straight into the meat of making chiptunes.
Continue to MilkyTracker tutorial #2 - Samples and Instruments.
By 'recently' I also mean that two months ago I didn't know that chiptunes were called chiptunes, and I hadn't touched a musical instrument in probably 5+ years. However, I did have the vague idea that it was possible so I did a little research and ended up with MilkyTracker, a music synthesizing program. It was a free download and had some good reviews, so I went ahead and grabbed it.
My path from that point was an interesting one. The interface and its commands reminded me much more of text editing in Linux or programming (in any language) than it did writing music. There were a lot of new steps to learn, and they could be different on every computer.
Thus, this tutorial is a compilation of the trial and error I went through as a complete novice to the Milkytracker program. I'm going to walk through the basics that I learned, and also a few shortcut commands that I found particularly helpful in making my first song.
For reference, I've been working on an ASUS laptop with an i7 processor running Windows 8. The download (available here) does not claim to support Windows 8, but I have not found any system-related problems running it so far.
So here we go!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The first thing I did was open up the Milkytracker program!
And then immediately I realized I had no idea what I was doing, so I opened up a basic tutorial from the website. It took me through a few basic steps that I'm going to duplicate here and then expand upon~
SO! Here it is, and WOW is it tiny. The Milkytracker program supports a number of different resolutions for variable platforms, but on my 15" screen it just vanishes. This is the first thing to fix. Click on 'Config.'
This will open up a new menu to customize the look of the tracker. Click 'Layout' on the left side.
Look at all those options! You can adjust the color of the tracker, the background, the resolution...so if you click on the far right under Resolution, you can select a size for the tracker that would be better for your monitor. I chose 1280x1024. If you're not sure what to go with, start there. You can always size down if that doesn't work.
Once you have selected a resolution (and anything else you want) click on the 'Apply' button. This will pop up:
Just click okay. The program will return you to the main screen, and you can then click the red x to close for restart.
Once the program is closed, open it back up!
TA DA! Now we're talking.
So lets not waste any further time. From here, we can get straight into the meat of making chiptunes.
Continue to MilkyTracker tutorial #2 - Samples and Instruments.
