(Amiga fans, there’s also a ProTracker clone.) But we live in a world where FT2 again runs on our machines. Unfortunately this world is nothing like that.” If this was an ideal world, where there was infinite time and no need to make a living, there would definitely be a multiplatform Fasttracker3. Heck, the thing was even buried with this note: And it was never supposed to even happen. The clone is built in SDL, a cross-platform media library, the work of one Olav “8bitbubsy” Sørensen, who apparently got permission to do this.
MIDI in is great, too, though MIDI out will “never” happen (in a message from the 13th of April).īut it’s kind of amazing this thing even exists. It’s not a bad introduction to the genre. In fact, firing up this build (in 64-bit on Windows 10, no less), I’m struck by how friendly and immediate it is. FT2’s doubling up of mouse and keyboard shortcuts also makes it quick to learn and still quicker to use once you’ve mastered it. In the case of FastTracker II, you program every note and timbral change via mouse or keyboard shortcut, and it’s represented compactly in characters onscreen. That makes trackers uncommonly quick via the computer interface. Its paradigm is simply about a vertical grid, with shortcuts for entry (represented as numerals) via the computer interface. But unlike other sequencer concepts – piano rolls which represent time visually like pianolas and music boxes do, multitrack recorders and DAWs modeled on mixers and tape, or notation views – the tracker is a natively computer-oriented tool.
Like all trackers, the fundamental use of the tool is as a sequencer.
If you haven’t, but you’ve used other trackers – even up to modern takes on the genre like Renoise – you’ve used software influenced by its design. If you’ve used it, I don’t really have to say more.
The clone project started last year, but it seems to have picked up pace – a new set of binaries are out this week, and MIDI input support was added this month.įastTracker II is a singular piece of software that helped define trackers, demoscene, and the music produced with it.
But now it’s back: one of the greatest chip music trackers of all time has been cloned to run on modern machines.įastTracker II will now run on Windows and Mac (and should run on Linux). It ran natively in MS-DOS, then died by the end of the 90s.