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Your mod file example is great. It's a now archaic format which is no longer in vogue.

Fortunately the LPT port nonsense was a hardware specific nonsense completely independent of the format, and open source code which can reproduce the music on any modern platform is readily available. http://mikmod.raphnet.net/ http://www.modplug.com/ (sourcecode for modplug is availble, believe it or not)

There are also closed solutions: http://www.un4seen.com/

And there are industry standard sound libraries that do the job fine: http://www.fmod.org/

So, it seems that these antiquated technologies (mod dates to 1987) tend to get supported just fine.

A certified fan of Andrew "Necros" Sega (of Five Musicians) in the hizzouse. [...] The music industry benefitted greatly from his efforts in the group "The Alpha Conspiracy".

I read this and just had to listen to FM-RIFF.S3M again. Coincidentally, 'Aura' by The Alpha Conspiracy has been in the car CD player for the last week or so :-)

For anyone wondering what we're yabbering about:

Selection of modules by Necros (use MODPlug Player on Windows)
The Alpha Conspiracy

We're sooo going to get modded 'Offtopic' for this little aside. But it's all about the sceeene!

I think you're looking at the wrong technology. Some of those linked sites to the hacked up MIDIs are cool and everything, but MIDIs have their limitations and they seem like a particularly clumsy technology to me.

What MIDIs these days do is work with a set of digital samples then apply fancy transformations to the PCM data to give you instruments with different pitches, frequencies, etc. My first big problem with this is that MIDI is pretty much stuck with a single set of samples for the instruments unless you use something like Creative's SoundFont where you can change the sound of every instrument in the set. The problem being is that now you can't distribute the original MIDI and expect a consistent listening experience from all of your users. You're forced to record the audio to an MP3 or something on your machine before distributing it.

Which leads me to my next point. Incase you were not aware, a new type of music has existed since the days of the Amiga that fixes the problems of the gimped MIDI standard. I'm talking about digital modules (MOD, S3M, IT, XM, 669, etc.) These modules work on the same priniciples as MIDI but they have some distinct advantages:

• Runs on the cheap hardware and low end systems. Just needs a sound card capable of.. Outputting sound..
• The digital samples used for the music are saved within the file itself. Sounds the same on everyone's system.
• Better quality than MIDIs if they're done right. Some formats (XM and IT especially) have some pretty slick advnaced features for instruments.
• The audio processing for most of these is fast enough to be run in real time alongside some other processor consuming task. (Doesn't really matter these days, however.)

My second largest problem with MIDI back in the day was that by comparison, the software MIDI emulators drained the computer of most of its resources.

So there you have it. I recommend diving into this world instead and stay clear of those icky MIDIs. Here are some resources if you don't know where to get started:

• MODPlug Central popluar player and tracker. And yes, you can use your MIDI keyboard to compose music with a lot of these trackers.
• Nectarine Shoutcast streams of a lot of these modules
• The Mod Archive Could forget the good old MOD Archive! A modern repository for this type of music.
• chiptune.com A great resource for Chiptunes! (really, really small modules.) And music in other formats (including Adlib music.)
• Aminet Has a lot of the older ("classic") modules that first appeared on the Amiga with the popular ProTracker
• Fasttracker 2 Just for completeness. The trakcer that introduced the XM file format. The same functionality is in ModPlug tracker.
• Impulse Tracker Included for completeness. Another excellent tracker like Fasttracker. Introduced the IT file format. The same functionality exists in ModPlug tracker.
• ScreamTracker Only including a link to information about it because of the nostaliga involved with it. It's lacking in the features that Fasttracker and Impluse Tracker have but it's really easy to use.
• The Hornet Archive Another nostaliga site. Music and programs from the Demoscene.

Also, if you're interested, there has been some development relatively recently with "Buzz trakcers"(?) I don't have as much knowledge with these but from what I saw with Jeskola Buzz, it's really very

A couple of guys who did, erm, a bit better than me, are Lagoona. I don't actually think they sold a million copies either, but at least they sold some, and they had millions of downloads, for sure. If they hadn't had had problems with MP3.com they might have done even better...

Basically, musicians distributing their music themselves is the nightmare of the RIAA bosses. That would reduce their record companies to studio renting services, copyright holder companies and online music salepoints (woops. Apple took that market - two out of three ain't that bad though).

Sounds like you're looking for a tracker to me.

MODPlug Tracker - really completely free and even allows to save your song as a WAV file. and MODPlug Player - plays modules correctly.

MODPlug Tracker - really completely free and even allows to save your song as a WAV file. and MODPlug Player - plays modules correctly.

It's not been updated since 2001, but can perfectly play just about every MOD, XM, S3M, IT, UMX, etc. I throw at it. It even plays zip encapsulated files without having to decompress them.

I actually tracked up an S3M format rendition of an ice cream truck playing "Do Your Ears Hang Low?", recorded it on a casette, and blasted it in my friend's car while we were driving through a suburban neighborhood. We got some weird looks.

I've used Modplug Tracker (Windows) for years, to create .it files. It can also load mod files, s3m, it, xm, midi files, and some other mod variants (mtm, okt, mdl, 669, far, psm, and others I've missed).
(As far as I remember, you can also edit and re-save mod/s3m/xm back to their original format)

It's another "free as in beer" one.

I haven't *downloaded* any of those files in ages though. Anyone know where one can find good ones?

The Mod Archive, Scene.org and Nectarine Radio are good places to start.

Though I recently converted much of my mod/XM/s3m/IT collection to mp3 format, since it will play in my car/portables that way.

I'm trying to do the same to transfer my entire module collection to my iPod. Question: What do you use to do it? I'm currently outputting the tunes to WAV with Modplug because it's a fairly accurate player (but not 100%) and the wav writer is of pretty good quality. This is a bit of a headfuck because there is no batch converter and I have to reselect the options every time. I then have to convert everything to MP3 with CdEX. There must be a more straightforward way to do this... any ideas?

I hereby award you +1 from my phantom mod points! You may be interested in the WSP Module Player Plugin for Winamp 5 which improves the accuracy of music module playback.

To play tracker modules I'd still opt for Modplug Player over a mysterious Winamp plugin, because from the composer's perspective, the crucial thing is that the listener hears their tune as it was intended to be heard. It's one of the problems inherent in module formats that although the size of the files are relatively small (which allowed the scene to take off in a big way over BBS's), the output depends so much on the player you use (unlike MP3 for example which uses standard decoding algorithms across players).

In fact, if I'm gonna play the role of a total purist, the only real way to listen to a module is either:

1) To play it in the tracker in which it was originally composed (Fast Tracker 2 for XM's, Impulse Tracker for .IT's, etc.)

2) To play an MP3 version of the tune, which was created from a WAV file that was output in said tracker

Many composers (well before the scene kinda died :) release their stuff in both MP3 and the original tracker format. PLUG ALERT: As do I (MP3's / modules.

--screamager [previously of the KFMF, now just reminiscing]

Since version 2, Winamp has been notorious for playing MOD, XM, S3M, and related files inaccurately. It fudges up a lot of the effects, particularly portamento (note slide) and key-off commands. You all should be using ModPlug Player to play these formats! It ain't perfect but it's the best Windows player there is.

Why get this player? So that you can drink deeply from the cup of BBS\Internet history! Check out some MOD sites and dig some chippy goodness!

SHAMELESS PLUG -- Be sure to scope out my MODs as well!

>Damn you mod player haters.

Especially those who hate ModPlug

Nuff respect to groups like ACiD and ICE for doing what they do with pride. While these two are arguably the biggest players in the ANSI and now "VGA" scene, they're certainly not the only ones still doing it and actively discussing it.

Be sure to check out telnet BBS's - same as the old POTS equivalent but with way more lines and generally better bandwidth (althogh displaying ANSI's is smoother via dialup). A list of active telnet BBS's can be found at The BBS Corner.

Before there was ANSI art there was ASCII. It's a little cheesy and rudamentary but it takes a lot of talent to represent visual art as typographic characters. IRC-ers will dig the ASCII block fonts. For some info on the history of PC art check out Textfiles.com Art.

Parallel to the art scene were the MOD (music module) and demo (megademo\intro\loader) scenes. These disciplines all began in the C64 days, most often seen accompanying cracked games with chippy SID tunes. Warez and demo began together as a sort of cyber-Pangea and though they have separated and flourished in their own way, they still occasionally accompany oneanother to this day. Thanks to products like Sk@le Tracker and ModPlug Tracker the MOD scene is still kicking.

While the popularity of ANSI has declined over the years, megademos are more popular than ever (particularly in Finland, Belgium, Germany, and thereabouts). Demo parties are bigger and badder than ever and are even covered on national television. For a very entertaining primer on the demo scene pick up a copy of the Mind Candy DVD Vol. 1. It's the best $16 you'll ever spend.

ANSI and demos seem to have shared a similar fate. ANSI, in all its blocky glory, is a testement to the speed and limitations of its time - the very definition of zeitgeist. As artists grew in number and in skill, more advanced techniques such as shading and emulating texture were implemented, but there's only so much that can be done with the medium. Demos, by definition, have much more freedom and were, in earlier times, a competition to code the newest, coolest, most efficient realtime effects. 3D video accelerators all but destroyed this pursuit and now the megademo has become more of a demonstration of design than coding. For all the demos you could ever hope to watch, check out The Hornet Archive.

And check out my MODs!

Vocals aside, there are a couple options that composers can use to produce nice sounding mp3s of their songs. Finale lets you compose on a staff very easily, and it can make midis that sound much better than any that I've heard before. Then there are the trackers, for example Modplug tracker, which can use any samples you wish, and are generally more quick to compose with.

Besides that, I would presume (since Sony is one of the core members of DVD Forum) that this will automagically region code any video-format DVDs' you create, unless such coding is already required in the writable DVD specifications.

Each DVD Video title contains a set of flag bits that determine whether to block playing the title on a particular region. If your encoder software requires you to specify a region set, tell it to encode for the following set of regions: {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}.

unless such coding is already required in the writable DVD specifications.

DVD Video is an application of DVD. I don't think the writable DVD specifications say anything about the applications, except that the Key Area (used to hold digital restrictions management keys) shall be burned with 0 bytes during manufacture.

It sucks that for DVD's there won't be a company that can readily capitalize on the market and the product like MP3.com did with music

That's because the price of producing a feature film still hasn't fallen to consumer level. (Music arrived when 16-channel trackers and wave editors came out.) Very few Flash movies you can find on the Internet are feature-length.

But downloading music and then getting paid to play it out is evil. Not a cent goes to the artist.

The club already pays ASCAP and BMI for the right to publicly perform music, and most of that goes to the songwriter's publisher, who in turn cuts a check to the songwriter. And in electronic dance music, the lead songwriter is usually the same person as the artist because that kind of music is generally composed on modplug or some MIDI sequencer anyway.

I'm less concerned about the RIAA

By USA copyright law, the record label isn't owed anything for a public performance over loudspeakers.

Making great music takes BIG money, that's why CDs cost $20+.

CDs cost $20 not because of production costs but because of Clear Channel's near-monopoly on bandwidth into a moving vehicle. Clear Channel Communications Inc. controls both XM and FM radio in many markets, through "independent" promoters who charge exorbitant fees for getting a recording aired.

How much does it cost for a tracker, a wave editor, a couple sample CDs, and a brain?

If you want to dabble with mods, the modplug (modplug.com, I believe)software is the best. If you want samples, RPGamer has a whole bunch of s3m/mod/xms, in addition to the stuff at modplug. Just some handy links.

I second this. This is how I got into Electronica to start with. (A Born Slippy mod remix is how I found Underworld) I've still got all of my old favorites on disk and ready to be played. Here's a short of some of my old-school mod favorites:

Wonderful Theme II
Makina
Abandon
At the Top
Bad Gun
Barnyard Rave
A Better World Remix
Capital Punishment
Celestial Fantasia
Under Blue Sky ...And Tears Apart
Catch That Goblin!
Johnnys Guardian
Rave Two
Faraway Love
Feats of Valor
Good Disco Beat
Bytes
Pinball
We have to try...
Get Ready 4 This
Check the Sound
Discovery
Beyond Heaven
Flight Over the Earth
I Need a Drink
Jump and Run
Interphase
More Than Meets the Mind
Kiss Me You Fool
Kingdom of the Sky
Colors of Neptune
Pawn
Misery
Pusher '99 South Park Mix
I Can't Ever Face...
Unreal2 Scirreal Mix
Apollo 440 TAD Rmx
Virus of Pain

(Sorry for the lack of artists, I ripped these straight from a playlist... These titles should be enough to find the files in the archives mentioned in the parent post, though.)

Though, if you're going to play mods, you might as well go all the way and make them sound good as well by using Modplug instead of Winamp. I *think* XMMS comes with a mod input plugin based on Modplug code, but if not, you can download it from the xmms site.

Cheers and happy listening.

...it's not that hard if you really want to.

While programs out there like Acid, Rebirth (ugh), Fruityloops etc. aren't that bad, they are usually too "make 31337 music really easily even if you have no musical talent whatsoever". Even worse, they don't give you as much control over your music.

So, if you want to make music on your computer without spending any money on big commercial software packages or sound hardware, I suggest you look into tracking. Tracking is basically a way to arrange sound samples (wav, raw, etc) into channels which are played simulataneously. These arrangements form patterns, which you can sequence together to make songs (of course, it can get more complex than this if you want it to). If you've ever listened to a MOD, S3M, XM, or IT file, you've listened to the work of a tracker.

I've been tracking for about three years now on and off and it's really quite enjoyable. Definately a nice (creative) break whenever I need one. There are quite a few free trackers out there, though unfortunately some of the best ones are for DOS -- Impulse tracker, Fast Tracker, etc. The Windows ones are alright but for people like me who are used to Impulse Tracker it's a pain in the ass to get used to. If you really need a windows tracker, I suggest checking out Modplug Tracker. For those of you in Linux, there's a great new tracker under development called SoundTracker. Besides being free, programs like these give you quite a bit of flexibility as far as the style of your music goes. You can make techno, trance, ambient, rock, whatever -- you're only limited by the samples you download (which you can find anywhere on the internet).

There is content out there that down right takes a lot of money to create. Movies.

Movies. For free. An animated movie takes about 10 hours per minute to make using Macromedia Flash software (based on the time cost of making Irrational Exuberance). Now we've reduced the cost of producing a film by an order of magnitude or more without reducing its ability to tell a story.

Music that uses an orchestra or session players.

I understand that for sound recordings. But it should be cheaper to compose (at least some genres of) music in a tracker. I'll forgive you this time because many people confuse the copyright on a musical work with the copyright of a particular recording of that work.

Video games.

It doesn't cost very much to develop a Game Boy Advance game. The costs of GBA games lie largely in replication, marketing, and promotion. (Join gbadev@yahoogroups.com and read the last week of discussion to see why.)

Content that would not exist in a world without copyrights.

Some areas of the world without strong copyright protection have a thriving motion picture industry. Know how? Product placement is one way.

I like what they did w/ the first unreal. It was kind of like midi, except it had samples of the sounds used right there in the file.

That's called mod. It's commonly used on Game Boy Advance games too. The UMX files are actually renamed XM, S3M, and IT files, and you too can make those with Modplug Tracker.

Modplug is far more robust IMO.

Thanx for the tip, I'm certainly going to test it. Looks neat.

(And BTW, I'm not Adam :-)

So if Howie Day uses his PC to record his acoustic guitar performances, the resulting recording is "techno"?

No. Syrinx wrote "most people I know like the sound of a guitar as opposed to computer generated beeps," and uebernewby wrote "Support these independent electronica artists" who need only a cheap PC, a wave editor such as the free Audacity, and ModPlug Tracker to make music. Uebernewby suggested techno; syrinx just complained that eir friends don't like techno.

Would that work for Zamphier too? Techno fucking pan flute!

Just look at Morpheus and see if somebody has done a dance remix.

For Amiga music, I'd recommend DeliPlayer, which plays tons of old Amiga formats (190 according to the home page) very accurately. Newer PC formats (such as Impulse Tracker) are best handled by the ModPlug player.

Module music in the "scene" carries samples of the instruments along with the file. Yet Discover magazine thought an MIT researcher's work in the field was so novel that he was a finalist in their 1997 Discover Awards (see "Bringing Music to the Web"). A project (whos name escapes me) combines audio data with the music to play it, and calls it a new format.

Anyway, there are plenty of players out there if you want to listen in. For MS Windows users, there's Winamp, although I personally prefer Modplug over Winamp, hoping that my favorite player of all time, Cubic, will be worked on again and make a comeback.

Linux users have their choice of a variety of players. XMMS has a plugin available with the engine from modplug. Several others also exist as well.

Dude ... music is enormously expensive to record

Bull. All you need to record techno are a computer, a tracker, a sample set (start with GM.dls that comes with recent Windows), a player that writes wav (Winamp), and a Vorbis encoder.

modify the last few bars of Beethoven's Ninth to include the Coca-Cola jingle

This is already happening. Witness "Summer Girls" by LFO (the "Abercrombie and Fitch" song). But jingles don't even have to mention the product name anymore; witness licensing of popular songs in commercials such as "Da Da Da" by Trio (used in a VW commercial) and various golden oldies used in Burger King commercials.

Why don't you just pay the artists so it doesn't have to come to this?

Because the labels don't provide an efficient way to buy the two good songs on the album without buying the ten filler songs.

Most musicians get the vast majority of thier money for live performance, not for records sold. Selling CDs or singles is a way to get people to want to see them live.

Your argument seems to discriminate against artists in genres that don't have a concept of live performance. For instance, do electronic artists perform live? Most of their music is generated by a computer program (e.g. Modplug Tracker or some other sequencer); what is there to watch?

To find more MIDIs on the net, you could try Midifarm or Cowdance.

But look at the difficulty in making MIDI's (or NES music, or .ST3 .IT .MOD etc).

All you need is a background in music, software (Modplug Tracker for MOD/XM/S3M/IT, the NT2 tools for NES music (email Memblers at the NESdev site to obtain them), or Jazzware for MIDI), and a sound card, and you can cover any song.

although there's a 99% chance the RIAA made them just as illegal

Pretty close. Re-performance rights in a musical work, live or in studio, are managed by composers' and publishers' organizations such as ASCAP, SESAC, BMI, and Harry Fox Agency.

To sum up my point is that no politician could justify a tax if their was no sample coding. It would be like imposing a guitar tax, since you're probably going to play songs you didn't write.

And ASCAP/SESAC/BMI will probably go after that next.

Why bother waiting for cubic? Granted it was a nice player, but Modplug is presently the module player that's turning out the best output, and has the most features, and it's player engine has already been ported as an XMMS plugin.

Of course, neither Modplug nor XMMS are particularly demostyle, but I don't think Linux is a particularly scene oriented system. All those things that make it a "modern, secure, robust" operating system just get in the way of old-fashioned bare-metal coding.

NE1 know of any 31337, scene based projects for Linux?