This is the basic information that I've learned about mods, and should be enough to help anyone else who's new.  If you find something wrong on this page, or have a question that you think should be added, let me know.  For more webpages about mods, look at my links page.

You can read the entire page, or click on a link to go directly to a specific topic-

Are mod files like midi files?

What program do I use to listen to mods?

I thought these were called "mods."  What are s3m, xm, and it?

What program do I use to write mods?

How do I write mods?

 

Mods are similar to midi, except that the instruments are recordings of actual instruments (for example, wav files), so they sound much more realistic than midi (and can have sounds that midi can't, like voices). Another feature that makes them better than midi is that you can add comments to mods, by editing the names of the instruments (or, if you use IT files, by writing in the comments area.).  Mods are also usually a lot larger than midis.

What program do I use to listen to mods?

I recommend ModPlug Player for Win95. The reason I feel that ModPlug is one of the best mod players is because it can play IT files (for some reason, a lot of mod players can't.)   It also plays mod, s3m, xm, mtm, 699, stm, and many other formats (including zip files!)  The only problem with ModPlug is that it's not automatically set up for stereo (in other words, you can't hear panning with the default settings), but you can fix that by going to setup and checking "Stereo."

Most mod-writing programs (called "trackers") save mods in their own format.   For example, if you save a mod that you wrote on Scream Tracker 3, it will be saved as a "s3m" file.  The reason for this is because each tracker has changed the way mods can be written (for example, xm can have more tracks than s3m).  s3m are from Scream Tracker 3, xm are from Fast Tracker, and IT are from Impulse Tracker.   There are also less common ones (such as stm, from Scream Tracker 2) but mod, s3m, xm, and IT are the four most common file extensions.  Because mods were the first type of mod file, "mod" is a generic term for any type of mod file. 

What program do I use to write mods?

Mods are written on programs called "trackers."  Most trackers are DOS programs, but there are also Windows-based trackers.  Modplug Tracker is probably the most popular Windows tracker.  For DOS, the most popular are Scream Tracker, Fast Tracker, and Impulse Tracker.

  Before I started using ModPlug Tracker, I tried using Impulse Tracker and Fast Tracker.  Impulse Tracker completely confused me (I almost never use DOS.  It was weird to try to use a program that used keyboard commands instead of a mouse).  I've heard that Impulse Tracker looks like Scream Tracker, so the concept was probably to make it easy for people who were used to Scream Tracker to adapt to Impulse Tracker.

Fast Tracker is easier to understand because, unlike IT, it's not completely text-based.  It even has a computer game built into it :-).  The only thing I noticed about it that seemed like it could be a problem is that it can only load xm (fast tracker files), s3m (ScreamTracker files), and mods.

If you're going to use ModPlug Tracker (which, in my opinion, is better than the DOS trackers), you can choose what type of file to save your mod as- mod, s3m (ScreamTracker mod), xm (Fast Tracker mod), and it (Impulse Tracker mod).  You'll probably want to make IT files since ITs have more effects, support most types of samples and instruments, and have the "comments" space.  (I know, I just wrote two paragraphs on Fast Tracker being a better tracker than IT, and now I'm trying to convince you that IT files are better! ;-)).   If you download ModPlug Tracker, the help file has more info on the file types.

First, you need to know some music theory.  Maybe someday I'll write a webpage about music theory, but until then the Zen of Tracking is the best page to visit (even if I created a theory page, the Zen of Tracking would still probably be the best place to visit :-P).

If you're reading this and thinking "Music theory?  I can't even read music!" don't worry.  All you really need to know are the basics so you have something to start with.  The more you experiment with tracking, the more you'll discover on your own.  There are some trackers (Pirate Pete, for example), who write mods without knowing any music theory.

In "The Tracker's Handbook," Cools said "The most important thing to remember at the moment is NEVER publicly distribute your first couple of tunes."  Learn how to use the tracker, and write at least a few songs on it before you decide your music is good enough for others to hear.  You can always edit your old songs if you think they could be improved, and release them later (or release them without changing them if you think they're good enough).  

Okay, now you know about writing music, but you still can't write mods because you don't know how to use a tracker.  First you need to download a tracker (read "What program do I use to write mods?" if you haven't already).  I use ModPlug, so everything I say is based on ModPlug.  It should work the same on any tracker though. 

The first part is samples.  Samples are the instruments used in mods (there are also types of samples called "instruments" but I'll explain that later).   Samples are wav files (or recordings similar to wav files, like .raw) of instruments.  For example, if you have a piano close enough to your computer that you can record middle C (or any of the keys on it), you can have a piano in your mod.   You don't need to record your own samples though.  There are samples that you can download off the internet, and you can take samples from other mods.   Taking samples from other mods is known as "ripping," and some people don't think this is a good way to get samples (even though it's one of the most popular ways to get samples).  In my opinion, it's okay to rip if you say that you ripped it and give credit to the person and mod that it came from (like, if you take the guitar from Ballad of Darkness, you should say "Guitar sample ripped from "Ballad of Darkness" by AKA") and don't rip from a mod if the person who wrote the mod says "Don't rip these samples" or something in the mod. 

Fast Tracker, Impulse Tracker, and ModPlug (when creating an XM or IT) can use "instruments" as well as samples.  These have the file extention xi.   They can be used as samples, or can have other things that normal samples can't.   For example, on IT (I track with IT files so I don't know what works on xm and what doesn't) you can do what's called "New Note Action" where you can make a note fade out when another note blocks it on a track (I'll explain this better later).   You can use "envelopes" to make the volume, panning, and pitch change while the sample is being played.

I found two problems with samples when I started tracking.  First of all, not all samples are tuned to the same note.  To tune them to the same note (usually C, but it depends on what key you want the song to be in) adjust the frequency ("freq. (Hz)") on them until they all play the same note.  Not all songs are tracked with samples that play the same note though, so don't assume that just because two samples are from the same song that they'll sound right together.  The second problem was that some samples have set panning, so you might have a sample that sounds like it's coming from a different direction than the other samples. Either check off the "Set Panning" or change the panning number to the panning you want (128 is the same as not having set panning).

Another problem with panning is that, like ModPlug player, the default settings for ModPlug tracker aren't set for stereo.  You can change this by going to setup (under "player") and checking stereo.

Okay, now you have samples and you want to track.  You use your computer's keyboard to enter in the notes (you can also use a midi keyboard, but I don't have one so I don't know how it works).  In "options" (on ModPlug.  I'm not sure about other trackers) you can change what key represents what note.  On the toolbar you can change what the lowest octave on the keyboard is (most instruments seem be in the 4 and 5 or 5 and 6 octaves).

Once everything is set up, you can start tracking.  You track in "patterns," which look sort of like spreadsheets.  Each row looks like this- ... ..  .. ...  The first space is for the note (C-5, G-4, etc.).  The second space is the number for the sample or instrument that you want to have play that note.  The third space is for volume effects, like changing the volume or panning for the note.  The fourth is for other effects.  

Each track (also called a "channel") can play one note at a time, unless the sample is of an entire chord.  (Chord samples are usually used in mods in the .mod format.  Most "mod" mods could only have 4 tracks, so trackers would use samples of entire chords.  With formats like s3m, xm, and it there are enough tracks so that you can make chords out of individual notes).  To create a chord, you can have the same sample playing different notes in different tracks at the same time.   If you put a note on a track, the note that came before it on the same track will stop playing when the new note starts.  If you don't want that to happen, you can use what's called "New Note Action" (if you're writing IT files) to get the note to continue playing or fade out.  The other way to get a note to stop playing is by using the note cut command, which looks like this- ^^ ..  .. ...

I guess that's all you need to know to start tracking.  Like I said at the beginning of the page, e-mail me if you have a question that should be added.