Name
Screenshots
ACCU Music System
Not a tracker, a musical score program, couldn't get it to make sound, wants hardware adlib soundcard or something?
Adlib Tracker
Not much to say. Early adlib tracker, seems rudimentary, hard to use for a nub like me. 'C64-style' (no patterns).
AdLib Tracker 2
THE MOST ADVANCED OPL3 TRACKER EVER!...This is the most capable OPL3 tracker you can found and it sounds even better than EdLib:)
--Malfunction
Apparently better than edlib even. Got 2 versions off above site, latest is same as on modland, the other is last version to still support opl-2, filename didn't match ML
Adlib Visual Composer
Built by Ad Lib Inc for the Ad Lib Music Synthesizer Card, uses the ROL format. Piano-roll style composer. Needs hardware adlib card emulation and drivers to work, so it's a no for the mvp setup. Last version was 1.52, but you can't use that version from ML as a standalone bc it inherits resources from an earlier version. 1.51 is on Intranet Archive, and comes with a bunch of demo songs, a standalone instrument maker, bank editor and a full-colour (EGA) 'jukebox' player.
Akord 2.3 Demo
Great looking tracker, amazing sounding demo song. Worth keeping just for that. But, it's entirely in Polish, and apparently a demo vesrion (not sure what limiatations are due to language barrier).
All Sound Tracker
My holy grail. Does midi, opl AND wav samples, but made specifically to leverage the EMU80000 chip on AWE32 soundblaster cards, which dosbox doesn't emulate. CURSES! Building a virtual box with 86box seems to be the only option, but apptly 86box's AWE sounds crap, and besides, that's not exactly mvp
Amusic
Highly rated by Pouet, the 'FT2 of adlib trackers'.
AT Editor alpha
OPL tracker. According to the docs it loads rad, hsc, cmf, ctr, sat, kmd, saves rad. Couldn't get it to load anything. Seems unuseable.
AXS
a ravey softsynth with integrated tracker. Haven't played with it properly. According to Rez on Pouet, it's "a kind softsynth recreation of the Roland JP8000 with a cute little protracker-like tracker". Sounds promising, manual is immense. Sampler is mostly for drumkits, you're supposed to use the synth for melodies, so functionality is a bit limited - there's a function to populate and repitch a sample over 1 octave, i suppose you could replicate that ad nauseam, but it'd use up your sample slots pretty quickly.
B's Pro Tracker
Not usable. Apparently has its own module format, can't find any existing examples. Doesn't seem to load any standard mod files either.
Beni Tracker v1.3/v1.8
"Adlib tracker programmed in pure Quick BASIC 4.5 utilizing standard QB library and nothing else", as an exercise in QB programming. V1.8 can't open v1.3 PIS files without crashing, and all the files at https://sembiance.com/fileFormatSamples/music/beniTracker/ seem to be 1.3. Those sound very cute, but playback on 1.3 is SLOOOW.
Boom Tracker
Adlib Tracker. Very pretty, but doesn't display song files in the loading screen on jdos, can't be bothered making sound with it to see whether it's any good.
CDFM Tracker
AKA Composer 670, as it's effectively 667 and 669 combined. A combination FM and sampeltracker, the tool Tran used to write the music for Zone 66. It's definitely a dev's tool not a tracker's tool, it's configured by switches at runtime so you're recommended to create a batch file, and it loads and saves files in different formats so there's a converter for them. Maybe one day i'll have a look at this one, but for now maybe just stick with ST3...
Composer 667
Adlib tracker by Tran of Renaissance. Launched with COMPOSP <filename without extension>, whole UI is a single screen, that plus adlib means probably a fair bit of referring to documentation required to scale its learning curve.
Composer 669
8 channel sampletracker by Tran of Renaissance. Gotta disable ems and xms to run it - meh. UI is much more finished than776, it's a little noisy on jdos.
Compoz
Musical-score composer for early Soundblaster's "FM Music Driver", won't run without sbfmdrv.com
Creator
Powerful tracker for the MOD format by Thomas Holl of DELUSION (later authors of X-Tracker). Comes with sample library manager and VGA display mode sampler (which i couldn't get to load any samples). Unfortunately all UI and doc in German.
DamTracker
GUS only tracker, supposedly loads modules via CLI, except it doesn't.
Dark-Tracker
pretty basic single-screen mod tracker. I like how it looks. Sound playback is utter shite - there's a constant clicking which might just be jdosbox, or a terrible sound routine.
Davey W Taylor's FM Tracker
Supposedly good FM tracker. No tracker executable in the archive. there's an instrument editor, and a tantalising img file Screenshot is of the instrument editor.
Defy Tracker
OPL3 tracker - uses stereo but no new waveforms. Nice interface.
--Malfunction
Delta Music
Has filter effects, waveform-based syntheis, got a great
90s aesthetic, reliably accesses directories in jdos. Works in freedos too. This could be
the one.
***edit***
or maybe not because I'm a fussy little prick.
doesn't support many protracker-equivalent effects - no fineslide, no
sample offset, NO NOTE DELAY which suuuucks, so there go the wonky rhythms,
unless I wanna work at crazy high resolution. Maybe some "Atomic Tracking"
will be required.
Digistudio (demo / cracked)
Protracker clone for MS-DOS. Demo version, but found a cracked version on chipmusic.org. Demo and cracked version both hang when loading mod in JDOS. Keeping it just to have the cracked version.
Digital-FM
Tracker with instrument editor and bank of instruments.
--Malfunction
Digitrakker
Supposedly very advanced tracker. Wish the "synthesis" tab wasn't greyed out, sounds fascinating. Got 2 versions, one modland one pouet, both display text weird, and crashes after intro nag screens on JDOS.
DigiTrekker
Pre-release version of seemingly v. powerful tracker. Has own DTA format, demo song is a BANGER. Has a weird video mode which requires a VGA fix allowing virtual widescreen, and the mouse only operates in the top 2/3rds of the screen if you don't manually select VESA video card in options menu. Super-intrigued by it though, has built in sample library although it appears there should be a whole bunch of .nti files, whatever they are, bundled with it that aren't there. Also in the library manager there's a button for "sampler" which gives Unable to invoke sampler! errno=2.
Disorder Tracker 2.0 (alpha)
Holy ████ this mf jus invented MSDOS fruityloops! This beast allows layer-based pattern arrangement a-la modern daws, dt2setup.exe enables svga 132 column mode to support the screen real-estate required to make it practical. It's an alpha version, so many features are undocumented, and saving samples and s3m are disabled.
Dynamic Studio Professional - Demo
Extremely pretty GUS-only tracker. Looks kinda like protracker. Demo songs sound nice. It is *very* pretty though. Did I mention how pretty it is? It's a demoversion, no saving, no manual and if you use it for more than 14 days you're a criminal. Has its own DSM format, no idea what its features are, they're undocumented.
EdLib
2nd-best FM tracker ever, apparently. If AMusic is the FT2 of adlib, Edlib is the IT. Included is a hack from Malfunction's site which adds opl3 capability.
Extreme's Tracker
Great sounding tracker, GUS only, and comparatively processor-intensive. It's a bit much for this cereal box when it's feeling sluggish.
FM Tracker 1.45
Tracker that supports melody and PERCUSSION mode! A LOT of commands.
--Malfunction
FM Tracker 2
Another AdLib tracker written in BASIC :)
--Malfunction
FM Tracker, The 1.1b
Tracker that supports HSC modules. Loads DFM tunes too.
--Malfunction
FM-Kingtracker
Supports OPL3 (2/4-operarator modes, 18 channels, stereo, 8 waveforms)! ST3-like interface.
--Malfunction
Farandole Composer 0.96r11 / 1.0r12
Fascinating GUS-only tracker released as a semi-finished v1.0 and never actually finished. Suffers slowdowns on JDOS, but super interesting. Wacky 132col video mode to display all 16 channels on the one screen, the beginnings of a single-cycle-waveform synth, a graphical wave editor (removed before 1.0 release). Dev had huge plans including adlib FM instrument generator, custom wave instrument designer (tantalising screenshot included), full midi support, a mixer and more. Woulda been a game changer had he had time to finish it.
FastTracker
One of those rare birds that doesn't work in dosbox, plus by definition not as good as FTII so meh. Works in FreeDos with SBEMU, but it's pretty noisy.
FastTracker 2
nuff said.
Only quirk I've noticed is that it crashes on save sample in JDOS which is a pain because it's usually my go-to for extracting samples from mods.
Frankus Tracker
Simple AdLib tracker written in QBASIC.
--Malfunction
Ooh, this one's not even on modland, but i'm not yet super into fm tracking so i don't need to keep it
Faust Music Creator
Small AdLib tracker with 8 (why?) sound channels. Player source (ASM) included.
--Malfunction
FunkTracker
Great looking tracker, has its own .fnk format, but can't get it to play any songs - just goes to play screen and doesn't start running the patterns or making sound. Pity.
Future Composer 0.3 (demo)
definitely not the same as the famous Amiga Future Composer. Looks bad, no idea what format it loads, can't save b/c demo.
Galliasoft Mod Editor
Incredibly laborious graphical mod editor. Author reckons it's the first of its kind, which is i guess why it's so unintuitive. Gotta set up the INI file med.inibefore you first run it, and once you DO run it, the pattern and sequence editor screens are incomphrehensible. Loads some 56 images in .gip format, solely for the purpose of adding little thumbnails to the instruments in the instrument list. Playback works, but by "conveying' - ie writing a new modfile and playing it with an external player. Screenshot is MPlay, the player it had in the ini file. It's pretty broken but i kinda like it.
GTS v0.9
Unusual score-based tracker with its own GTS format. Saves samples separately to track data. Comes with a utiliy to convert mod files to said format. Froze on loading a converted mod. Very little doc, so i couldn't even figure out how to add a sample. Also came with a voc2sam.exe which I've kept, seems super noisy.
Game Music System
Interesting tracker that supports AdLib/SoundBlaster (OPL2), Sound Blaster Pro I (2xOPL2- stereo), Sound Blaster Pro II (OPL3 - stereo). Can load RAD modules.
--Malfunction
Gustrack
VGA tracker, gus only. Edits 4ch mods, plays 8ch. Takes .smp files as samples. Seems to break when trying to load a mod or sample, probably JDOS's implementation of the filesystem striking again.
HSC-Tracker
The one and only HSC tracker! Old but it starts AdLib scene (...in my opinion...). Look at oldsk00l!
A LOT of example modules!
--Malfunction
IMAGO Orpheus Music Editor
Has its own .imf format. Supposedly has some really good features and effects if you have a awe32. Without that, it seems like a slightly unfinished impulse/screamtracker clone.
Impulse Tracker
I do like this tracker. Unfortunately the . and .. entries in the fs don't display in JDOS so navigating directories is unmanageable.
Ken's Adlib Music
No idea how to use this. Detailed documentation on the .KSM file format, none on the tracker. Can't even figure out how to load a song - can get to instrument editor, but then it freezes maybe? Comes with a player, plays songs via cli, the songs are pretty good. Not enough reason to keep it around.
Ken's Digital Music/
Can't even get it to open
KingMod
Another one of those inexplicable score-based trackers. Loads mod files, plays them back (sounds a bit tinny and grainy), maybe works fine but i hate it..
Liquid Tracker (DEMO)
what is an 'echo pool', and how does it work? Can't wait to find out...!
MFED
Master Tracker
Rather strange AdLib tracker...--Malfunction
Looks like a protracker-layout adlib tracker. Might be a foot in the door.
Metal Tracker
miditracker
Mlat ADlib tracker 1.3
Simple AdLib tracker written in PowerBASIC.
--Malfunction
Not on modland, like how it looks but not enough to keep a copy
ModEdit
Modimod
Modulator
Monotone
MultiTracker Module Editor
Musical Editor
Musician
NerdTracker 2
Note
Somebody can tell me how it works?! Documentation is Korean?? Looks like a MIDI sequencer with ST3-like interface...Supports OPL3 (4-operator synthesis can be enabled!) in percussion mode - 20 channels (15 tone + 5 percussion channels). Supports SOP files.
--Malfunction
kept this under c:\sound\ because it looks like pxtone, note to self, run the doc (korean) through a translator
Protracker For GUS
RamTracker
Real Tracker
Reality Adlib Tracker
Nice, small tracker. Can read AdLib type S3M modules.
--malfunction
I like how this one looks, and it's pretty small
SB Studio
Tracker that can do samples and midii simultaneously - the possibilities are endless! Only runs with EMS and XMS off in JDOS (works fine with ems and xms in dosbox and freedos). That'd involve changing config before starting JDOS though so it's not a daily driver.
Scream Tracker 2
Scream Tracker 3
Sonic Sequence
Sound Club
Surprise! Adlib tracker
Tracker with instrument arpeggiators.
--Malfunction
TC 669 Trekker
TakeTracker
Tetra Compositor
Tetra Music Editor
Trackjoy
Ultra Tracker
Unis669
VangelisTracker
Velvet Studio
Ft2-style interface, with some very interesting features including an fx builder which applied script-based transformations to wav files. Comes with a good pdf manual, which is a rare touch of polish. Doesn't work on JDOS, which sux - seems to get as far as trying to load protected mode with some dos extender then it dies. On Freedos it loads the gui but then freezes. Not sure whether due to mouse driver issues or sound issues.
Whacker Tracker
X-Tracker
My white whale. The successor to D-Lusion's earlier tracker Creator, it has built-in sample editor, IBM Common User Access menu and keyboard shortcuts, inputs multiple sample and mod formats. Demo version has saving and sampler disabled, and doesn't include the library manager.
XMS Tracker
A triumph of style over substance. Docs are all exes with sweet ascii art and choons, but it's a ripoff of amusic - format documentation on the Modland FTP is labeled "AMusic ripp-off (.xms).txt"
Looks like unfinished, cracked Amusic! Hmmm...
--Malfunction
