MUSIC MODULES

You're probably saying right about now, "HUH???"... but, I am about to tell all. No, it's not some sordid thing about a certain national leader, a cat, a can of Ezy-Whip and a tuna sandwich but it comes close.

Music modules are self-contained sound files that contain sound data, note data, note pattern data, and sometimes messages for the listener. Music modules are usually very small; this is because the same sound data is used over and over. How? Well, if we postulate that the pitch of a certain sound has a certain frequency, then it is possible to get other notes, both higher and lower, by playing this sound at a higher or lower frequency. For example, if a sound has its C-4 note at 8363 Hz, then the next octave up, C-5, will have a frequency of 16726 Hz. Of course, as the playback frequency is increased, the note does not last as long. For this reason, many modules will include different components for different octaves of the same sound.

These are non-executable files, so you can't just take them home and play them; you need a player. There are many freeware/shareware players out there for most platforms. I personally use Cubic Player, as it is very good quality, very stable, and it's free! Not too long ago, Cubic Player was re-released as OpenCP under the GPL (GNU Public Licence), so that the source code would be freely available for people to alter. The latest version of OpenCP is 2.5.1. It supports the following formats:
Another program I use to play music modules is Impulse Tracker, which was written by Jeffrey Lim (AKA Pulse/PoP), a student at the University of Adelaide. His tracker is very small and very fast, although it is not quite as accurate on playback as Cubic Player. Impulse Tracker can operate successfully under Windows 95, but not under Windows 3.x. The Impulse Tracker module format is set to be one of the most widely used in the computer composing world, because of the tracker's ease of use, similar design and layout to Scream Tracker 3, New Note Actions, instruments and effect envelopes. Users of Scream Tracker will feel very much at home in Impulse Tracker. The latest version of Impulse Tracker can be found at either the Impulse Tracker Homepage or Walnut Creek CDROM. These are the file types it will play: Thus far, I have had no problems running MSDOS module players with Windows 95-B and FAT32. In the beginning I had some minor problems getting Fast Tracker 2.08 to work under Windows 95, until I made sure that Fast Tracker was not able to detect Windows. That fixed everything. I think it may have been an incompatibility between Windows 95's DPMI services and the Triton integrated DOS Extender used for Fast Tracker.

For those who do not really like the idea of running DOS based programs in Windows 95/98 to play modules, there is hope. A program called ModPlug has been written to take care of your module playing needs. It is a very good program, and it is completely free. Also out there is a program called MikIT which is also a very nice little program. MikIT is free for non-commercial use. Unfortunately, many people try playing modules through Winamp. Big mistake. Winamp does the job, yes, but there are too many modules out there that it can't handle.

Very often, remixes of songs are done by musicians out there using a module tracker. This is because they offer the musician a lot of freedom, they can produce many different effects, and because they can give a non-musician a good equivalent of a recording studio in their own home.

Here is a list of the modules I currently have. They are sorted by module type.

I am also now a reviewer for the Weekly Module Review, where it is my job and the job of about 30 other people to review modules from various sources on the Internet. I admit, I am a tough reviewer. We review music of all different styles, from orchestral to funk to techno to death metal. Music caters for a wide variety of people, and so do we.

Where to get module files.
Mod files are available just about anywhere on the 'net these days, and in many different formats. There are also CD-ROMs available with over 3000+ of the things! I think CD-ROMs like this are available from the Hornet archive at Walnut Creek CD-ROM archive. Also, the various Aminet archives around the net have many MOD and S3M files available. The only headache I have encountered with Aminet files is that they are named in reverse, with the extension at the front eg. "mod.thissongname" which MS-DOS machines will parse to "mod.thi" because of the standard "8.3" filename format... this is a real pain when you have gotten other songs that end up being parsed as "mod.thi". Of course, with Windows 95 this isn't too much of a hassle but I think that most non-Amiga module players would have a problem with the extension being at the front rather than the end.

Check the following places for modules and other information:
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Page content Copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999 Peter Calder

 Last update: 1 March 1999, 2:00 GMT +1000.