Microtone

About

Microtone is a music tracker for microtonal composition, first released in July 2026 as a web application. Since October 2026 it has also been available as a desktop application for Windows, macOS and Linux.

Its editor follows the ScreamTracker 3 and Impulse Tracker tradition: hexadecimal pattern columns, lettered effect commands, instrument envelopes and New Note Actions. Effect arguments are 16 bits wide rather than 8. Every pitch sits on a grid of 4096 steps per octave, so 19-TET, 31-TET, Bohlen–Pierce, just intonation and the twelve lü are written in their own notation, not as detuned semitones.

Some limits are kept on purpose: samples are 8-bit, at most 64 KB each, in a shared 8 MB pool, and the final mix keeps a dithered 8-bit character.

Each lane is a sound source at an angle and a height, auditioned binaurally over headphones while the song is written. Instruments can modulate one another in FM racks, with any waveform as carrier or modulator. Besides tracker modules and MIDI, Microtone imports Korean AdLib music: Iyagi Music Sound (.ims) and Note (.sop) files, and the .imac collections of The IMS Archive.

In October 2026 the author added Microtone Touch, a companion sketchpad for phones, which has its own entry.

Key features

• Pitch grid of 4096 steps per octave; built-in notations from 2-TET to 96-TET, 53-TET in Kite and Pythagorean spellings, Bohlen–Pierce, the twelve lü and ProTracker's period tuning
• 16-bit effect arguments; 32 or 64 lanes per song
• FM racks and layered metainstruments
• Export as stereo (folded or binaural), quadraphonic, 5.1, 7.1, or ambisonic B-format up to third order
• Mastering chain stored inside the song; stem export per instrument or per lane
• Imports MOD, S3M, XM, IT and Monotone (.mon) modules, MIDI files with SoundFont (.sf2) instruments, and AdLib .ims, .sop and .imac files
• Sample lab with microphone recording, slicing and a chord maker
• Projects kept in browser storage; up to 8 more online with a SceneID account
• Desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux, with automatic updates
• taudplay player library in JavaScript and C99, under the LGPL
• English and Korean interface
• Distributed under the GNU General Public License version 3

Official links

• Website: microtone.cc
• Documentation: Microtone Documentation
• Patch notes: Patch Notes
• Desktop downloads: GitHub Releases
• Source code: GitHub Repository
• Player library: taudplay-c
• Microtone Touch: Microtone Touch
• Author's site: curioustorvald.com

Screenshot(s)

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