OpenMPT Manual Help Document And Function Reference 1 Introduction Acknowledgments This manual, like OpenMPT itself, was created by a group of voluntary contributors to be able to offer a single, well-written, consistent and up-to-date help document for OpenMPT. It is largely based on the original works of Harbinger and his Offline Help Manual [1], which he wrote over the course of many years. It is very well possible that this manual still contains wrong facts, incomplete or hard to understand sections. Errors do not fix themselves, so you are invited to join our wiki at http:/ / wiki. openmpt. org/ where you can edit, fix and extend the manual’s source. OpenMPT is or has been maintained by: Name Years of activity Contact (@opеnmpt.өrg) Johannes Schultz 2008 - 2012 sagamusix Ahti Leppänen 2005 - 2011 relabs Robin Fernandes 2004 - 2007 rewbs Sergiy Pylypenko 2007 pelya Eric Chavanon 2004 - 2005 ericus Trevor Nunes 2004 plastik_s Olivier Lapicque 1997 - 2003 olivier Further code has been contributed by coda, kode54 and xaimus. This manual has been generated on September 22, 2012. References [1] http:/ / forum. openmpt. org/ index. php?topic=4387. 0 About OpenMPT 2 About OpenMPT What is Open ModPlug Tracker? To put it simply, Open ModPlug Tracker (OpenMPT) has always been and will always be an application that makes it easy to compose music. Using mostly a text-based event editing system, plus several expanded features including MIDI input and VST plugins, this free software has enough user-friendliness and flexibility to please all composers from the EDM tracker to the experimentalist to the classical composer. OpenMPT is first and foremost tracking software (self-contained, not a plugin), but many features have been added to give it a few sequencing capabilities. It can play software plugins that adhere to Steinberg’s Virtual Studio Technology, called VST for short. It’s also possible to not only set up external MIDI devices for both input and output, but also chain together many sets of output routes that lead to the Master Audio. Feature Overview • It’s totally free! • The workspace is intuitive and efficient, with a simple Windows-oriented interface, plenty of tooltips on most interactive items, and separate specific sections of work into tabs. • It allows for a rich set of options and preferences, including: • Ability to customize the GUI colour (but no skins yet), including loading and saving color schemes. • Full mixing capabilities, including a global equalizer and other effects, up to 127 channels for pattern data (each with their own volume, pan, and plugin settings, as well as customizable channel names), and separate volume controls for sample playback, instrument plugins, and global output. • Customizable event detail (ticks per row), audio playback detail (sample and bit rates), polyphony, and latency buffer. • Ability to automatically save the current file at intervals — and to a location — of your choosing. • Ability to customize most actions with keyboard shortcuts, including navigation, input, and opening dialog boxes. • It has a side panel with expandable directory view to locate relevant files quickly. • It can open or import a wide range of tracker formats, including backward compatibility with files saved under previous versions of ModPlug Tracker. • It can export to .wav or .mp3 audio formats, as well as render individual patterns, channels or instruments. • It can use General MIDI instruments installed with Windows, or loaded from other sources. • There is a decent MIDI implementation through channel effects, including input and playback with external MIDI devices. • It can make full use of VST technology, with support for the VST specifications up to revision 2.4. • It can process audio through many different sound drivers, including ASIO, which is OpenMPT’s default sound driver if available. • It can apply alternate tunings (including scales and temperaments) to sample playback. • There is ongoing development and improvements. About OpenMPT 3 Limitations • Limited control for editing of sample data. • Inability to directly load program banks for VST plugins. • Alternate temperaments cannot be applied to VST instruments. • Can only use a text-based editing system; no piano-roll or musical score editing. • Only available as a native Windows program, but can also run in Wine on Mac computers and Linux. History The ModPlugin was originally developed in the mid-90s by Olivier Lapicque as a plugin for Internet browsers to listen to tracking files (such as .mod and .it files). From this plugin, he developed the ModPlug Player and the ModPlug Tracker. ModPlug Player can play a very wide variety of tracking files, and uses many different audio effects, such as graphic equalization, reverb, and Surround Sound. Although it is still available, the Player is not open-source nor is it being developed. ModPlug Tracker became completely open-source in 2004, allowing the actual application to be developed and the code altered for the correction of long-standing bugs and the implementation of new features, such as the advanced use of VST plugins and alternate tunings. It has been rated as one of the top five free music trackers by the Computer Music Magazine, and has a vibrant community [1]. References [1] http:/ / openmpt. org/ community System Setup System requirements System requirements are few. All you need to run and use OpenMPT is: • Pentium 1 or a better CPU • Working sound card, the newer the better • Windows 98 SE or newer (KernelEx [1] is required on Windows 98 SE / Me) • A display resolution of 800x600 or higher. Expandability Other options to make OpenMPT a great user-friendly application: • MIDI-compatible external device, with the correct plug into your computer. See the MIDI Reference for setting up a MIDI device for use in OpenMPT. • External speakers or headphones, including Surround Sound or Quad-Stereo systems for soundcards that can allow those send configurations. • Software plugins (either VST or DirectX plugins) that are compatible with your computer and operating system. Please note that OpenMPT itself is very modest when it comes to system requirements, but many plugins come with their own system requirements and you will need a much more powerful rig to run some of them. System Setup 4 Installation 1. Download [2] OpenMPT. The application and its supplemental files are offered in an installer as well as a .zip file. 2. If you are using the installer software for OpenMPT, you will be asked where you wish to create the OpenMPT folder. If you are updating a previous version, the installer will replace the old files and folders with any new ones by default as well as update the registry (for file associations) if necessary. In case you are using the .zip archive, unzip the archive to the folder of your choice; usually this would be “Program Files” but you are free to choose your own accessible folder. Note: As with all software, updates may not be as stable as their previous versions, or features that you have become accustomed to may have been reworked in the new version. Although the Installer will keep the old user files (by giving the files a new extension), it is recommended you backup your previous version of OpenMPT until you are satisfied with the upgrade. 3. When you run OpenMPT for the first time, the Options dialog will appear automatically to allow you to set up how you want OpenMPT to run. There are many ways to customize OpenMPT, but the main thing you want to start out with is setting options for the Soundcard. Click on the Sound Card tab, and consult the Reference section on Soundcard Options for determining how best to set up for your computer system. For most Windows systems, you should be able to use the default settings and jump right in, but you might be able to improve your OpenMPT experience by changing them to what you machine is capable to do. Portability If you would like to use OpenMPT on a flash drive or other removable media, there is an option to keep OpenMPT self-contained so that it does not leave a footprint on the computer’s system; this is called “portability.” Normally, using OpenMPT’s installer affects the system registry and creates a new folder in the Settings directory. Portable Mode bypasses all of these. Here is how to achieve complete portability for OpenMPT: 1. If possible, use the OpenMPT Installer software to create a new OpenMPT setup on your removable drive. There is an option for installing a portable version of OpenMPT, which will not touch the registry (unless you choose to set up file associations in the installer) and use the application’s directory for saving configuration files. 2. If you need to do this manually, however, you will need an existing installation from a non-portable drive. Copy all of the files in the original OpenMPT folder to a new folder on the portable drive. 3. If you do not need to use previous configurations and settings that were already created, simply create a new text file in the portable OpenMPT folder, open it in a text editor, and enter the following two lines:[Paths] UseAppDataDirectory=0 Now save the file as mptrack.ini, and close it. Skip to (5). 4. If, on the other hand, you do want to import your previous configurations (like keyboard shortcuts, tunings, and other preferences), you will need to navigate to OpenMPT’s setting folder by using the “Configuration files” shortcut (if you have used the installer) or the file "open_settings_folder.bat" (if you have used the .zip archive). You may also use the “Show Settings Folder” option from the Help menu. In all cases, you will be redirected to the folder %APPDATA%\OpenMPT.