KVR Audio

Tomdini · Post by **Tomdini** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 5:16 am

Hello,

I have my roots in tracking, but these days I use a combination of sequencers and trackers to get my work done... FL Studio/Orion working in tandem (an unholy alliance for some!) for my sequencing needs, and over the last twelve months, a definitive shift to a modern, actively-developed tracker - Renoise - from FT2 and, of late, Modplug.

I was recently drifting about the tracking scene, and discovered a couple of gems I was curious about. I remember Skale and Psycle from some time ago, but they weren't nearly as fleshed out then as they are now. They both look pretty cool, with some solid features, but my first impressions were that development had slowed to a crawl (which tends to scare me away... I like active, energetic, perpetually-busy development teams!).

MadTracker just doesn't do it for me, I dunno. I can't explain it, but it feels "old" and needlessly clunky for nostalgia's sake (or something), when compared to Renoise. I just could never get into it, and I can't quite justify why. But it's probably the next most competent modern tracker, and development is still ongoing and exciting. I'll keep my eye on it.

And now... two new artifacts I never knew existed before. One is Aero, which seems Buzz-like but more aesthetically appealing/polished in appearance. Its power certainly seems well established. And Aodix, which looks like a direct competitor to Renoise for the tracker/sequencer hybrid prog (Renoise has lots of neat stuff that mostly only sequencers have, like the obvious VSTi support, for instance... yet it's undeniably a tracker).

These are all brief thoughts on what I consider to be the most optimal line-up for the best of today's trackers. I consider Renoise to be the best of them all (on the surface, Aodix doesn't appear to be vastly superior if at all, but I've yet to play around with it). So... I'm wondering if the trackers in the KVR community would mind sharing their thoughts on any/all of these progs?

I'm always looking for another great piece of software to add to my arsenal... the most important things to me, after using Renoise and becoming submerged in its community, is ASIO and VST support, as well as a strong commitment from the development team (I just hate the thought of becoming wrapped up in another tracking niche, only for it to dissolve soon thereafter).

Basically... for the very straightforward characteristics I need out of a tracker (things like a solid integrated sampler and automation are just bonuses), is there a better tracker than Renoise out there?

Thanks,
-Tom

hjack · Post by **hjack** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 5:31 am

Tomdini wrote:... for the very straightforward characteristics I need out of a tracker (things like a solid integrated sampler and automation are just bonuses), is there a better tracker than Renoise out there?

aren't Renoise or Sk@ale enough? ... for what it is

i think both are very good, i don't remember how's renoise sampler but remember skales to be some kindva limited, tho quite nice on automations... are you expecting to have a sampler that is a professional editing sample tool or a sampler that is just a sample player?
... tho can allways be an idea to get the companies again temporarily active, energetic, busy

ouroboros · Post by **ouroboros** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 5:37 am

Some may laugh, but seriously, ModPlug Tracker is soooo simple, and windows based. It is mod/xm/it/s3m compatible and the tracker I use almost exclusively now: I tend to track melodies and fx and then sequence them in FL5.

Minimal VST support, and I don't know that it is developed any longer, but it is stable and gets the job done quickly.

It's minimal and effective: kind of the hammerhead of the tracker world.

hjack · Post by **hjack** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 5:45 am

just checking madtracker
http://www.madtracker.org/screenshots.php
MadTracker inside Cubase with ReWire

dczx · Post by **dczx** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 6:14 am

Psycle is my favorite tracker of all time

http://psycle.pastnotecut.org/

rokkon · Post by **rokkon** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 6:25 am

The youngest player in the game is BeRo Tracker, still early alpha, but check it out, it might be your thing.

And then there's reViSiT, that's basicly a spiced-up IT2 as VST plugin.

hjack · Post by **hjack** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 6:29 am

rokkon wrote:The youngest player in the game is BeRo Tracker, still early alpha, but check it out, it might be your thing.

And then there's reViSiT, that's basicly a spiced-up IT2 as VST plugin.

both suck my p2 500, bero tracker doesn't even let me load it... and i don't plan to upgrade

hjack · Post by **hjack** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 6:30 am

megalomaniacs devs, don't know how to do things on the easy way

rokkon · Post by **rokkon** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 6:38 am

well they aren't made for oldschool computers.

though i agree, bero is a bit ressource hungry, but on my slightly faster XP2000+ it's quite usable.

hjack · Post by **hjack** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 6:47 am

removedz

quincy · Post by **quincy** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 2:34 pm

I've been a tracker user for 10 years or so, admittedly a bit more irregular lately, but my honest opinion is that Renoise is by far the best tracker at the moment.

That said, Aodix looks to be a pretty decent alternative and one i haven't tried if i'm honest.

Of the current lot though renoise is by far the most complete, the most well supported and in active development so can only get better.

its also a total bargain at $45 given that it can do 99% of what "traditional" sequencers can do, especially if you bolt in something like EnergyXT to give it those extra "traditional" sequencer capabilities.

Ronny Pries · Post by **Ronny Pries** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 3:19 pm

after climbing the latter via sidmon, protracker and fasttracker II i think i found my home until the end of days. buzztracker is my weapon of choice since 5-6 years, its modularity is still unbeaten. the second thing that makes me love it are the machine developers around it. whenever i need a machine i find somebody to write it

last not least the vst support is dope (hrhr).

i bet my second choice would be renoise for the sake of ft2 feeling.

quincy · Post by **quincy** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 3:32 pm

Ronny Pries wrote:after climbing the latter via sidmon, protracker and fasttracker II i think i found my home until the end of days. buzztracker is my weapon of choice since 5-6 years, its modularity is still unbeaten. the second thing that makes me love it are the machine developers around it. whenever i need a machine i find somebody to write it last not least the vst support is dope (hrhr).

i bet my second choice would be renoise for the sake of ft2 feeling.

I heard a track of yours recently ronny, very impressive and you obviously know how to use buzz.

Out of curiosity though, do you ever have stability issues? One thing that seems to have dogged buzz for a few years is the lack of active development since the source was lost and its stability issues.

I always used to get more done with buzz than any other host a few years ago, maybe i should ty it again!

Ronny Pries · Post by **Ronny Pries** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 3:59 pm

I heard a track of yours recently ronny, very impressive and you obviously know how to use buzz.

thanks a lot.

Out of curiosity though, do you ever have stability issues? One thing that seems to have dogged buzz for a few years is the lack of active development since the source was lost and its stability issues.

the host itself doesn't cause crashes, only bugged machines may cause instability issues. it's not that easy sorting those out that may crash buzz since those vary from installation to installation. apart from that the machine interface lets machine developers do any kind of weird stuff with the host (i.e. the peermachines). it would have been nice to get an undo button, but well - it also works without

I always used to get more done with buzz than any other host a few years ago, maybe i should ty it again!

i could zip my installation and send it to you since its quite stable.

ronny

waveriderarts · Post by **waveriderarts** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 4:24 pm

Tomdini wrote: is there a better tracker than Renoise out there?

Hello! haven't tried Renoise yet, but will sometime... I am actively using Buzz for a year now, among other programs, and I am still impressed by what I can do with it. In fact I am debating if it is not the best audio tool ever.

It has been substancially improved with Peer control machines, good VST/VSTi support, and I just discovered liveJUMP tool, witch permits you to jump from looped section to another live using MIDI notes...

Took me a while to learn, never done trackers before... still want to try Renoise, Aeodix, Plogue Bidule... all seem very powerfull too.

A tracker better than Renoise...?