Best sounding 8 channel tracker?

[Vegas]

Hello everyone, every now and then i start up OctaMed Soundstudio on my A1200 (ACA1220 and some FastRam) just for fun. Sometimes i ran out of voices, so i experimented with the different channel modes. However, i always found myself going back to the default 4-channels. The additional voices never seemed to justify the deterioration in sound quality. Also, the 64-channel mode turns out to be a little too resource hungry, resulting in drop outs and other strange behavior.

I am aware, there a quite some alternatives like Art Of Noise, Stonetracker, Digibooster, MusiclineEditor and others but i never did much with any of them. As far as i know, they all use similar methods to play back 8 channels but i am sure, they all have their pros and cons.

So, my questions would be, which experience do you have with 8-channel trackers? Which one works best for you and why? Are there other options that i am missing out on?

And while i am at it, does anyone have some advise on how to optimize sound quality in Soundstudio when playing back more than 4 channels?

I'm looking foreward to your responses, thanks in advance!

[chip]

I personally like Oktalyzer, which can be 8 voices

But i have no experience with this sound tool, so just try it by yourself if you want

[daxb]

For SoundStudio have a look at menu Settings: Mixing Settings, FastMemPlay and Miscellaneous Options. Trying 14-bit output with cybersound calibration can increase quality but needs some CPU time. Or add 16-bit sound card to your A1200.

The main problem with multichannel is that it needs CPU power for mixing. You can get good results with 68030/50 and 8 channels. More then 8 ch needs 040/060 if you want good sound quality. Remap the ROM to fast ram can speed up the system and tracker software. If not already done, try it. ACA cards support ROM remap as far as I know.

[ptyerman]

Never done much tracker type stuff but the one that caught my interest by WOW factor was MusicLine. Even the demo's that come with it are mind blowing for Amiga tracker music and therefore memorable.
Never tried it on less than a 030 with plenty of fastram though.

[Vegas]

Thanks for the feedback!

Originally Posted by chip

I personally like Oktalyzer, which can be 8 voices

Haven't used Okalyzer yet. To be honest, the gui discurages me a bit. Does it have any advantages over other/younger 8-channel trackers that make it worth trying?

Originally Posted by ptyerman

Never done much tracker type stuff but the one that caught my interest by WOW factor was MusicLine.

Yeah, MusicLine sounds awesome and the features are really interesting. I guess i will have to spend some time with it in the future.

Originally Posted by daxb

For SoundStudio have a look at menu Settings: Mixing Settings, FastMemPlay and Miscellaneous Options. Trying 14-bit output with cybersound calibration can increase quality but needs some CPU time. Or add 16-bit sound card to your A1200.

I already experimented with various settings. Not that i really know, what i am doing - it's more try and error. No idea about proper buffer sizes for example.

A long time ago, i used to have a Delfina. But as far as i can remember, i never got it to run properly. At some point i gave up and traded it for some other gear, i guess... Anyway, adding new hardware to the setup is not really an option at the moment.

Originally Posted by daxb

Remap the ROM to fast ram can speed up the system and tracker software. If not already done, try it. ACA cards support ROM remap as far as I know.

Haven't thought about that. Thanks, i will try it!

[A10001986]

Try MusicMaker V8. It's not the usual tracker, but the sound quality is as good as it gets in the standard Amiga hardware.

(Disclaimer: I wrote that thing back then. Sorry in advance for the GUI.)

[Vegas]

Originally Posted by A10001986

Try MusicMaker V8. It's not the usual tracker, but the sound quality is as good as it gets in the standard Amiga hardware.

(Disclaimer: I wrote that thing back then. Sorry in advance for the GUI.)

Wow! To be honest, i never heard of MusicMaker before. Sounds great! ("What is love?!" ). No need to be sorry at all.

Apart from loading a song, i have no idea what is going on though. I will take a look at the manual (german only?). Version 3.0 seems to be uploaded last month - brand new, awesome! Thanks for the heads up.

[A10001986]

The program is not brand new, it's from 1992 in its current form. Previous versions were published by Data Becker (yuck) in 1991 and later by some other German distributor. There never was an English manual. The README (LIES MICH) has some basic info. (The reason for the recent upload to Aminet are only minor changes, eg the installer. There is a changelog in the Aminet-Readme.)

The most important gadgets are

PLAY: START and WATCH

EDIT: ROW

The program uses macros instead of patterns. Macros apply to one channel only. The four/eight rows of numbers you see when you load a tune are the "tracks", ie the numbers of the macros to play on each channel.

Click on EDIT:ROW and move the cursor over those numbers, click again to edit a row of macros.

In the Macro editor: Line one Instrument, Lines 2&3: Note (octave), Line 4: Volume.

Give it 30 mins, you'll understand pretty soon how it works.

There is also a sample editor ("Inst/LFO-Editor" from the track editor).