Storm SoundTracker

About

Courtesy of David Oakley of ASTRAsoft, the ST and its chums finally have a decent program for creating .MOD files and playing them back. StormTracker is a sub‑£25 product that not only looks good on your screen but is eminently easy to use. In fact, it's aimed at musicians because data can be input on‑screen in terms of musical notes, and the whole shebang is pattern‑based, much like a MIDI sequencer. Any ST computer can be used — even the Falcon and TT — subject to a minimum memory requirement of 1Mb.

For starters, there's a decent GEM interface. The main screen consists of the pattern and effects control windows, a horizontal 'menu' with simple icons, and a large song creation area. This sports two clefs (treble and bass), an effect line at the top, and a drum line at the bottom.

If any of you have ever tried to work with a .MOD creator before, you'll be forgiven for being highly cynical when I state that StormTracker is an absolute doddle to use: select one of the four voices, choose a sound sample and enter a note on the stave by left‑clicking. Sharps and flats are accessed through a double‑click, and a right click deletes an entry.

StormTracker is no slouch when it comes to effects either, especially for those of you who are well‑versed in analogue synths. Amplitude effects include sliding from one value to another and setting a vibrato depth — or both together. Similar effects are available for pitch, and there's even a dedicated section for arpeggio, vibrato and tremolo, each effect being shown by a different symbol above the staves. If you consider the power of that lot put together, you certainly start to lose any misconceptions you might have had of trackers!

Screenshot(s)

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