Modplug help page for beginners

(This page will explain some of the basic of Modplug tracker)

Modplug is a tool that can be used to create music. It can be used to create mod, xm it and s3m files.

When you select a new song choose the XM format. I will explain some of the basics.

You can switch to different screens in Modplug. These being the General screen, Pattern screen, Sample screen, Instrument screen and the comment screen.

The main screen.

This screen is the most upper bar on your screen. Here are the buttons like stop, play, play from start.

You can also set the octave here. A octave is a section of musical notes. Musical notes go from low to high. Low notes are of a low octave and high notes are from a high octave.

The general screen.

Here you can make some general adjustements to your song.

The tempo is the beats per minute at which your song will be played. Some styles of music has their own tempo. 125 is the default value.

The speed is also used for the speed at which your song is player. The default value is 6.

There are also some effects you can set. Bass expansion, reverb, surround, graphics equalizer, agc. They will not be saved with your song.

You can set loop song if you want your song to restart from the beginning. (Some music players do not support this)

With song type you can set the number of tracks your song will be. The default value is 16 channels or tracks. You can change this at any time. Note that you can erase tracks when going back to less channels. The more tracks in a song the more instruments you can use at any time. There are a lot of techniques you can learn to utilize more channels. More of this later. You can also set/change the song type with this function.

In the bottom of the general screen we have something we could ignore. When saving your song all the settings you make here are not saved. Also when creating a wav or mp3 these settings will be bypassed. They are only handy for when you have some recording device that can record from your computer.

The patterns screen.

In this we do the actual composing. If you have started a new song press with the right mouse button on the zero you see somewhere on the middle of the screen. There are a number of commands you can use to insert, remove, create, duplicate, copy and paste patterns.

Above this pattern section we see the instrument panel. Currently there is (nothing) no instrument selected. You need some instruments to use this panel. More on this later.

The spacing is handy with editing. The default value is 1. When set to 2 the cursor will skip a spacing when tying a instrument. I find this function anoying for I always forget te set the value back to it's default position.

Follow song when activated will move the pattern up to down when you play the song. You can see what is actually being played. Very handy indeed.

A standard pattern is 64 lines in size. In the top of the screen you can expand and shrink the pattern size (read the tooltip text to find). No need for doing this for most songs are 64 lines in size.

Also in the top of the screen we see a recording button. This button enabled allows us to edit.

The samples screen.

Here we can load and paste instruments into our song. I use the instruments screen to paste instruments in the sample window.

We can set the default volume of a instrument. 0 is no sound 64 is maximum sound.

Finetune is used to finetune a instrument. If your instrument sound a little false then use this one to adjust it.

Transpose is used set the tone of a instrument to the keyboard. If you for instance have a instrument (a drum) that sounds very low then you can adjust the sound of this instrument until it sounds just right.

The samples screen can also be used to edit the sample.

The instruments screen.

In this screen we can set the name for the instrument. This will be showed in the patterns screen. More on the instruments screen later.

The comments screen.

In the comments screen you can put anything you like.

Let us start with editing.

Go to the instrument loading section. This is the screen to the most left. We will be using the DirectX GM.DLS instruments. Open Gm.dls and then open melodic. Here we can choose from 128 different instruments. If you move down the list you will eventually see the Drum kits. Open this and choose a drum kit to fit your style.

Select a instrument and press a key. You will hear it play.

Go to the sample screen and move a drum sound onto the sample window. You will have inserted a instrument into modplug.

Go to the pattern screen and be sure you have enabled the record button. Select instrument 1 from the instrument panel. Go to channel 1 and press a key on the keyboard. You have just edited you first note. The edit screen is something like a word processor. You can move with a cursor to the left, up, down ect. You can delete, insert, copy and paste.

Let me first explain how a single line in a channel works.

When you are on the beginning of a line you can move your cursor four times to the right. Each cursor position can hold different information.

--- -- -- ---

The first cursor position holds the note.

The second cursor position holds the instrument.

The third cursor position can holds a number of commands.

The fourth cursor position can hold a number of commands.

For commands you will be using the fourth cursor position the most. Read the help section in modplug for the commands.

Techniques.

A sample sounds like you play it. There is a way to make it sound different using the Instruments screen. If you have pasted a instrument into modplug using the sample screen you can do some settings to the instruments screen. Press the vol button and you will see that there is a line in the instrument window. On each side of the line there is a point. Take the right point and move it all the way down. Now play the instrument and see what it does. If you move the line more to the left the instrument will sound shorter. You can add more points. Now try this : The first point (left) should be on the top left side. The second point should be all the way down and a little bit to the right. The third point should be more to the right and about 4/5 of the screens height. The fourth point should be further to the right and be all the way down in the instruments window. You have created a sound with a little echo. (For more instrument screen settings you should take a look at different XM songs and see what kind of sample is used and what kind of settings they have used for the instrument. Experimenting can also be great to learn this volume feature. You can play a pattern and edit the points. This way you can finetune everything until it sounds the way you want it to sound.)

Using more then one track/channel for a single instrument. A way to do this is to first create a track and then move the notes to other tracks in good order. Being the first note on track 1 the second note on track 2 the third instrument on track 3. Then go back to track 1 and skip a note. Then do track 2 and three again. You will end up with three tracks using a single instrument/sample. This makes you music sound more full. You can also create some echo's with the instruments screen and your music will sound even better.

Try this : Create a pattern and duplicate it. Then select each track that does not contain drums ect. and press CTRL-Q two times. You will have raised all selected notes by two. This is a easy way to make your music longer without having to compose a complete new pattern. Be sure for this technique that you separate the drums from the other samples. I usually place all the drum sounds on the higher channels and the rest of the instruments on the left side. This makes it easier to higher the notes by +2 or -2.

Beginning a song can be hard if you don't have a song in mind. Start with a bas sound and go to channel 1. Select a note and place this note at four line intervals. This is a simple bas line. Try this : go to the top of the channel and press insert two times. You have altered the bas line and it sounds different. Add a drum, snare, hat, openhat and load in a lead instrument. (piano ect.) Then add a string.

By R.v.Etten in 2001