What Is A Music Tracker?

What is a music tracker is always something that you hear when someone mentions tracker music. Sometimes they are completely dismissed as unprofessional. But what you should know is this:

"Though often associated with chiptune and demoscene music, trackers are versatile enough to handle various genres, from electronic to orchestral compositions. Their structure allows users to manipulate every element of the track, making them perfect for experimental music as well." MusicRadar

Tracker music is something that is created by a music tracker.

A music tracker is a program that lets you create music step wise or flow. In other words you can place and delete notes where ever you like. Or you can play notes.

Trackers look different and they flow slightly differently as well.

A lot of commercial music programs you play notes and the screen goes from left to right keeping up with the notes. A tracker goes from the top down.

So here is an example of a commercial package, it is Ableton and someone has recreated FatBoy Slim's Right Here Right Now:

The different coloured bars are separate sounds- loops, samples, virtual instruments. The thin white vertical line goes from left to right and when it hits a bar it triggers the sound to play. Some bars are long and others are short indicating how long the sound will play for.

Now, lets have a look at a tracker program:

The program scrolls from top to bottom. In this case the loops/ samples or virtual instruments are given a note in which they are played in. Those notes can be messed around and you can manipulate the notes very carefully if you wanted.

Both systems produce professional sounds.

What is a music tracker and what else can it do?

The cool thing about trackers is their ability to edit a note regardless if you know how to play or not. They allow you to:

experiment very easily
they can have community created add ons
they don't need expensive synths to work- many will allow your computer keyboard to become a synth
you can load up commercial synths and apps to them
they are cheap/ free in some cases
they can be easily picked up

"The simplicity of trackers, often reduced to text-based or pattern-based interfaces, has been praised for its accessibility, especially for newcomers to music production. It allows a focus on sound design and arrangement rather than being overwhelmed by more complex interfaces." Create Digital Music, Peter Kirn

"Trackers excel in sample manipulation. The ability to adjust sample offsets, retrigger notes, and apply effects like pitch bends in fine detail makes them powerful for producers who want total control over every element of sound." Rekkerd

But what some people now have done is to try and figure out if they can create music with the older trackers and edit the sounds to make a "fuller tune" and this is what one looks like using an older Protracker:

But it is in their editing and their manipulation of sounds that is their main strength:

"Many musicians favor trackers because they provide a high level of control over every aspect of the sound, from note data to effect commands. This precision is especially useful in genres like chiptune or breakcore, where detailed manipulation of individual sounds is key." The Sound of 8-bit: The Chiptune Revolution, Wired

And then we have...

The Polyend Tracker is a hardware bit of kit that emulates the tracker software.

You can see the tracker software rolling from top down. With this hardware you edit on the fly, apply sound effects and...do the stuff the software trackers do :)

But do you notice something else? The workflow is clean:

"Trackers are often appreciated for their efficient and fast workflow, allowing users to program sequences of sounds without needing to scroll through multiple windows or interfaces." Sound on Sound magazine

So what is a music tracker?

Music making software that is creating awesome pieces of music in bedrooms and in professional studios:

"Modern trackers like Renoise have advanced to the point where they integrate well with other DAWs and plugins, bridging the gap between old-school sequencing and modern digital audio production. This makes them not just powerful standalone tools, but also complementary in hybrid setups." Resident Advisor

Check out how you can start creating music with trackers here.