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Frequently Asked Questions
Schism Tracker currently responds to MIDI Start, Continue, Stop, and Reset messages by starting/stopping the song. However, Schism Tracker does not respond to MIDI clock tick events, nor does it broadcast its own ticks. This is somewhat tricky to implement, since tracked modules generally have a very different concept of speed and tempo from MIDI, and most effects are dependent on the song's speed.
Note: if all you want to do is record live MIDI into patterns, try Ctrl-Z on the pattern editor. This turns on a MIDI-trigger mode that starts the song/pattern and enables playback tracing when a MIDI note is received.
Sure! If you set up a console framebuffer, it should run just fine. Try adding
vga=768 to your boot line for a 640x400 video mode with 80x25 text and no
letterboxing effect. (This doesn't work on all video cards, unfortunately.)
DoubleCommand might be of interest to you. Also, if your keyboard has a "Fn" key, you can use that along with backspace and the arrow keys to get Home, End, Page Up/Down, and Del. Use "Fn" and M (which is 0) for Insert key! Scroll Lock is additionally mapped to Ctrl-F, and the normal + - * / keys should work identically to the ones on the number pad.
Various reports have suggested that the Insert key might also be tucked away under Fn-Shift-M, Fn-0 (that's zero), or Fn-Return.
Of course, the easiest answer is to get a cheap USB keyboard and use it instead.
Not really, no. There's a config option
to change the font file, but it's limited to within Schism Tracker's settings
directory. It might be possible to "trick" it, e.g.
font=../../../../../../../../dos/it214/font.cfg, but whether this sort of
hackery will actually work, and continue to work, is a crapshoot.
By the way, making the font editor respect the default font is on my personal TODO list.
Use the Source, Luke! Check near the bottom of include/fmt-types.h for a list of each file format.
(And yes, I recognize that this is a completely lame answer, and plan to make a cute little table of supported file types in the future.)
That paintbrush is so quiet it's useless! How do you expect to paint a picture with something that quiet?
(Or more seriously: stop looking and start listening. Make a rough guess, type it in, play the sample, and use the + and - keys to adjust until it sounds good. Works great, and with practice you can get really fast at it. I usually take less than ten seconds setting a sample loop.)
Tell the Milky Tracker guys to add NNAs ;)
Alternate answer: press Alt-Y and type some stuff. (No, it's still not sample drawing, but it's just about as useful for generating a "throwaway" sample.)
Why would anyone ever use Schism Tracker? (Renoise, OpenMPT, Logic, Ableton, LSDJ) is so much better!
Well, the good news is no one's forcing you to use Schism Tracker. Most of us who use the IT/ST3 style trackers use them because we're most comfortable and productive with this style. VST effects and shiny gradients aren't everything, you know.
A lot of people unfamiliar with the IT way of thinking don't "get" the interface at first, and are turned off by the multitude of highly nonstandard keyboard shortcuts. It's often described as unintuitive and outdated. And really? That's fine! There are tons of trackers out there, and one of them is bound to be the right one for you. Maybe that right one is Schism Tracker; maybe it isn't. The world would be a boring place indeed if there was only one tracker.
If you give it some time and learn the interface – admittedly a daunting task – it becomes apparent that it is a very efficient and comfortable way to work, and lot of thought was put into the design. This isn't really apparent at a glance, especially if you try to take knowledge of other applications and try to fit it into Schism Tracker. It's a round peg in a square hole, keys like Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V definitely do not do what you "want" them to do. (I must admit, I have the opposite problem sometimes: after a lengthy tracking session I find myself trying to press Alt-L Alt-C to select all and copy, or press F2/F3/F4 in a web browser expecting to switch tabs. :)