Protracker For Complete beginners: I advise people to Print this article:

By Converse:-


Fancy yourself as the next Mike Oldfield eh? But you don't want to spend a

fortune on equipment? Well, you don't have to buy expensive Mac's

keyboards and sequencers, all you need is some time, 

samples, a lot of disk space and a tracker program, in this case 

Protracker 3.10.

 So where do I get all this stuff from?

A visit to your local P.D library should sort you out with most of

the above, apart from the disk space that is! Unless you want a stacker.

There are loads of protracker clones around, but I recommend that you

look specifically for Protracker 3.10. You will find out later

on in the tutorials just why I recommend Protracker 3.10.

So, now you need a small collection of samples, preferably some

vocal samples, keyboard samples, sound effects, drum loops, backing 

samples, to err, go in the background funny enough.

If you own a CDROM drive then I strongly suggest you find 20 pounds

and go out and buy either Sounds Terrific or Music Workshop, both

of these CDs contain almost a life-time worth of samples and modules.

From now on, I assume you have are using Protracker 3. 

Try not to use OctaMed, not because it isn't good, but mainly because it 

will confuse things later on.

Owners of disk drive only Amigas will be able to use Protracker to the

full extent, but they will have a harder time due to the fact that

they will have to swap disks more often! I definitely recommend a

reasonable sized hard disk, to store samples and modules on.
>1
Please note: In order to take part in this tutorial, you must have
the A.F Music Disk which contains the module tutorials.
If you haven't got it, then get yours now, by sending a blank disk
to the following address: 

>2Paul (A.F)
59 St Mary's Road
Kettering
Northants
NN15 7BP
>3
ProTracker:

First of all, we need to load a module. Just to make sure we're all

working on the same module, I have included a module on DISK2 of

THIS Issue of Amiga Frontier, aren't I generous eh?

To load up this module you must load Protracker, ensuring that

you have the Powerpacker.library in your libs drawer of workbench or

whatever disk you are using to boot Protracker.

Once this library is installed you will be able to decrunch the 

module and participate in this tutorial! The path (location) of the

module is on the root directory of the tutorial disk.

The mod file name is Mod.Jack the ripper 1.0

Got it??? Alright then.


Load the module by selecting DISK OP on the

main menu followed by selecting the path of the module.

Place disk2 into your DF0: drive (internal drive) and select df0:

on the menu. (top rightish) In the selection box you will now see

something saying, 

mod.Jack the ripper 1.0. >6 <<<<-select this one!>3
mod.Kukoo
mod.Extra

>3

Once loaded, simply select MAIN MENU (top left) and then click on

PLAY.

You really should read the docs that came with Protracker if you are

completely new to the program. It does take some getting used to.

Anyway, you should now hear the module playing. 

What a cool little tune it is!!

I have selected a very basic short module to start with, for obvious 

reasons. (cos I'm a short and basic kinda person)

Once you have listened to the tune and have had enough, it's time

to start learning how the module actually works.

Come ON, I know it looks weird but I'll have a country full of

Mike Oldfields in no time. Well in a few issues time actually.

Select stop from the main menu. Now select Position 0000.

To do this look at the top left of the screen, you will see a

load of numbers. Just look at Pos. ID and you will see four digits

just click on the down down arrow until ALL of these number read:

0000

I should mention now that there are loads of short cuts to speed

things up in Protracker, but we will deal with these later.


To make sure you have done everything correct, look next to the word

pattern, (under Pos.ID) you should see the number 0006. Got that?

O.K so everything is running tickety boo!!

Now we move onto what is the most important part of the song.

I know I should have said this earlier, but if you are having difficulty

setting the song back to 0000, try selecting disk op and loading

the module again, this time don't play it just go straight to the

next section.... (below)

 The Sample Tracks


The four sample track columns.

This is the section in the centre bottom of the screen which

normally counts from 00 to 64. (in this module it only counts to 46).

This is where things get a little more complicated.

Take a look at the four tracks; you will see that above far left

track it says Channel 1, under the next Channel 2--- and so forth.

Let's take a look at Channel 1:

You will see that there are a few zeros lined up together.

This is where the note, pitch and pro-tracker commands are stored.

I will talk about these in more depth later.

Channel 1 at the moment is empty due to the fact that the author of

this song has chosen to keep this sample track free for the lead 

accordion, which starts playing later on in the 3rd Pattern.

So, now look at channel 2, because this is being used.

Look down the track a bit and you will see the the numbers:

C-3010000. Don't worry if this looks complicated because it really isn't!

Look at the beginning: C-3, this means that the composer has put in

a C note which is basically the Q key on your keyboard.

Don't worry about the 3. 

Now look at the next set of numbers 010000.

Forget the last 3  noughts because they will be discussed in part 2.

Now, you are left with 010. The `010' simply means that sample number

1 has been selected... That's it. If sample number 5 was selected

then it would read: 050, or for those of you awake today who feel clever:

C-3050000. It really isn't hard is it???

By pressing the down arrow key a few times you will find that

your Protracker will scroll down the track until it reaches Pos 64.

Don't worry if you go past 64, Protracker will simply go back to 

position 00 again.

Let's get a bit adventurous, click on PATTERN (located under PLAY at 

the centre top of the screen).

Listen for a moment...  Notice that Protracker keeps on playing the

same part of the song all of the time? .... Well it does anyway.

Select STOP, to err, STOP the song. Using the left and right arrow

keys this time, you can move from channel to channel. Go on.

Hold the right key down until you reach channel 3. 

Ensure that you are at the top of the 1st pattern.

You should now see (in channel 3) another mix of numbers & letters:

000F04

This time, the numbers that I said to ignore earlier are in use.

This is F04. This is what's known as a Protracker command.

I will explain all of the useful commands in full NEXT MONTH, but

for now, just keep on ignor'in it as it will complicate matters.

Finally lets look at Channel 4. Ahh Brookside is on.

NO NOT THAT CHANNEL 4!!

Use the right arrow key to move the red block.

Again, make sure you are at the top of the pattern and you will see

an even more complicated set of numbers ARRGHH!! What's he doing!!

It should read:

C-2020C35 

You should be getting good at this by now!

C-2 is the note, 
020 is sample number 2 
0C35, is another protracker command


So now, you should have an understanding of how Protracker records

notes, how it uses specific samples and you should know that Protracker

has a large set of commands which control things such as:

Speed, effects, volume, filter control, pattern select etc etc.


It is all very clever, but easy. When you know how.


Finally now that I have told you about how protracker knows which

sample to use, I had better tell you how to insert a sample!

First select DISK OP, located just to the right of the name of the

tune (Jack the ripper) you will see a selectable box saying `MODULE'

click on this until you see the word SAMPLE appear (three clicks).

Now, if you have a collection of samples you will be able to load

them in by selecting the appropriate directories.

Once the sample is loaded, use your Amigas keyboard to play notes.

Remember the Q key is the C note.

For those of you who haven't got a sample collection, use the

samples from the jack the ripper song.

There are three in total. All of which are different accordion chords.

Sorry, but I did tell you to get hold of a few samples.

Now click on Main Menu (top left)

Take a look at your numeric keypad.

If you imagine each of these keys to represent a sample number ie:

( = Sample 1
) = Sample 2
/ = Sample 3
* = Sample 4        and so on...

You will be able to select a sample by pressing one of those keys.

In the tutorial song, there are only three samples so only the keys:

( ) /

maybe used.

Now you can play notes by using the following keys:

    qwertyu
    sdghjl;
    zxcvbnm,./


Happy composing!                                       


Check out part 2 (under this article) to carry on the tutorial...