Mikester's Computer Music and Euro Demo Info Page
This will eventually be a paged devoted to Computer music in the
form of tracker style files such as .mod, .s3m, .xm, and .med files. I
hope to also have some material on the people behind this format and just
a bit on the euro demo scene. Take this info in a very general sense, I
am a hobbyist in this area and by no means an expert.
Tracker Music
What is tracker music?
Tracker music was built upon a foundation laid by the old Commodore
64 and early Atari computers had some ingenious software that allowed
their user to compose single track music. When the Amiga and Atari ST
computers came out their multivoice stereo output attracted music fans and
composer hobbyists to their respective platforms. With the release of the
Ad Lib card we were joined by PC users and on a limited basis and recently
we have seen a handfull of Mac and Unix folks jump in as well. Now, with
these preliminary historical bits revealed it is time to say just what
trackers are. The following music file formats are often referred to as
Trackers or Mods in a general sense and can be described as all being
digital music files made of samples that are sequenced. The sequencing
information is based on patterns and tracks. Mods are really a hybrid of
sample technology like .wav, .au, .iff files and .midi type files. This
whole phenomina has been of great interest to me because it allows people
to share music at very close to proffesional quality and to learn how to
compose very inexpensively. Final bit of historical relevance, the mod
format seemed to fuel the euro demo scene and the demo scene seems to have
also increased interest in mods.
MODS
Modules - 4 voice stereo (filter and very minor effects)
Players: Info coming in the near future.
MED
MED - 8 voice stereo (limited effects and mostly found on the Amiga)
Players: Dos and Windows = OctaMedPlayer by Teijo Kinnunen
Amiga: OctaMedPlayer
For more information about the commercial player creator go to the
Octamed homepage.
S3M
Scream Tracker - 32 voice stereo surround(some effects)
Players:
XM
eXtended Module [aka Fast Tracker] - 32 or more voices, stereo
surround(full effects)
Players: Dos and Win 3.1 use Fast Tracker
Amiga: Aplayer or Delitracker
MP3
Mpeg Audio Layer 3 - A popular new media for original music
as well as a tool used for archivial and portability purposes.
Players:
It is worth noting that a slew of other formats are in existance
but would take too long to cover so I am sticking to the major formats on
this info. page.
PEOPLE
This area might be ready late Fall 2006. Expect sections on...
The Future Crew
A Finnish Demo group know for graphics but they also impacted the way
sound was applied to the PC.
Members by handle or nickname: PSI, Trug, Wildfire, Liquid, Pixel,
Marvel, Skaven, Purple Motion, Abyss, Gore, Henchman, and Jake.
Purple Motion and Skaven were perhaps the most prolific musicians of this
group and ones who really got my ear. From the last word I got these guys have gone on to work in the current pc and console game industry.
CSM
I believe his name was Carlo San Mateo, and he was Brazillian fellow, lost
contact with him, hope to find him again and fill in all the blanks.
Musical Links
Coming Summer 2006.
Also check out Decapolis.
This page was last modified May 22, 2004 and is maintained by
Michael Lynn.
To contact Michael Lynn, click on the envelope=> 
To Return to the Mike Lynn's homepage 
Unlike my other pages this page will probably have some special effects
and features that will NOT make it load quickly like my other pages.
This page is being done with Digital Quill Amiga.
