Arguably one of the most widespread tracker formats (also due to its use in many computer games and demos), it is also one of the simplest to use, but also only provides few pattern commands to use.
Later, variants of the MOD format that appeared on the Personal Computer extended the number of channels, added panning commands (the Amiga’s four hardware channels had a pre-defined stereo setup) and expanded the Amiga’s frequency limit, allowing for more octaves of notes to be supported. Ultimate SoundTracker was soon superseded by NoiseTracker and ProTracker, which allowed for more tracker commands (effects) and instruments. It was designed to use 4 channels and fifteen samples. A very basic version of this format (with only very few pattern commands and short samples supported) was introduced by Karsten Obarski’s Ultimate Soundtracker in 1987 for the Commodore Amiga. The MOD format (.MOD) The MOD format was the first file format for tracked music. Popular formatsĮach module file format builds on concepts introduced in its predecessors. However, tracker music has the advantage of requiring very little CPU overhead for playback, and is executed in real-time. This is mostly due to effects that can be applied to the samples in the module file and how the authors of different players choose to implement them.
Ī disadvantage of module files is that there is no real standard specification in how the modules should be played back properly, which may result in modules sounding slightly different in different players. The number of notes that can be played simultaneously depends on how many "tracks" there are per pattern.
These patterns contain note numbers, instrument numbers, and controller messages. Module files store digitally recorded samples and several "patterns" or "pages" of music data in a form similar to that of a spreadsheet.