BFEstartrekker the ultimate?DFA
 

for those of you who don't know it,
startrekker is a musicprogram based on
noisetracker v2.0 and coded by exolon of
fairlight. the big difference is that it
has got an eight channel mode and some
other little improvements.

with the mode button (4^8) you can
select the mode you want to work in,
being 4 or 8 channels. when you want
to work in 8 channel mode,remember that
some of the functions have been changed.

you can normally edit the song,but
change between the two sets of four
channels by pressing the tab key. the
computer recognises the eight channel
song because you can only edit the even
pattern numbers,the odd pattern numbers
being the other four channels !!!

when using the eight channel mode,you
can not use the spectrum analyzer and
you also can't see the patterns scrol
ling down one by one. you only have two
commands when editing: the speed and the
volume control. if a song is no bigger
than 32 patterns you can convert it
from four to eight channels.

with the point key you can activate
three new options. the first option
(one press) allows you to play the
instruments on the keypad. the
second option (two presses) allows you
to edit realtime with the keypad. the
third option (three presses) allows you
to use the polyphonic mode. this means
that when you use the keyboard to play,
the program will automatically change
voices. ofcourse you can choose which
voice should be active and which not.

there is also a quantitize option (like
in nt 2.0) which you can set and which
involves the number of lines the cursor
jumps after you have entered a note.

there's a colour selection mode,because
the old colours could get a bit boring
(oh yes do they,exolon?)

the midi option is also still there,of
which exolon says that it's his
invention,but mahoney (the coder of
noisetracker v2.0) stole his routines.
it mainly involves connecting a midi
interface to your computer and con^
necting a keyboard to that interface,
so now you can go out and have a real
time slamming orchest at your neigbours
new stereo with bose loudspeakers !!

unfortunatley,there's no replay routine
coded yet for the eight channel songs.
the explanation exolon gives is that it
uses all available processor time.
this we doubt,because there's also a
replay routine for oktalyzer ???

if you really want to have more channels
you should think twice before deciding
to take startrekker. it's nicely coded
but it's a bit of a prerelease i think,
it could be done much better ...