Impulse Tracker is a multi-track

music tracker A music tracker (sometimes referred to as just tracker for short) is a type of music sequencer software for creating music. The music is represented as discrete musical notes positioned in several channels at discrete chronological positions on ...

( music sequencer). Originally released in 1995 by Jeffrey Lim as

freeware Freeware is software, most often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for t ...

with commercial extensions, it was one of the last tracker programs for the

DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...

platform. In 2014, on its 20th anniversary, Impulse Tracker became

open-source software Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Op ...

and the

source code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the w ...

was released.

History

''Impulse Tracker'' was authored by Jeffrey "Pulse" Lim for the

x86 x86 (also known as 80x86 or the 8086 family) is a family of complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel based on the Intel 8086 microprocessor and its 8088 variant. The 8086 was intr ...

- PC platform. ''Impulse Tracker'' was coded in Assembly language, and the

GUI The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...

was heavily influenced by that of ''

Scream Tracker 3 ''Scream Tracker'' is a tracker (an integrated multi-track step sequencer and sampler as a software application). It was created by Psi (Sami Tammilehto), one of the founders of the Finnish demogroup Future Crew. It was written in C and assemb ...

''. The first version was released in 1995 and included example music, provided by Jeffrey Lim and Chris Jarvis. The software was distributed as

, though extra features, such as support for stereo

WAV Waveform Audio File Format (WAVE, or WAV due to its filename extension; pronounced "wave") is an audio file format standard, developed by IBM and Microsoft, for storing an audio bitstream on PCs. It is the main format used on Microsoft Wind ...

output and a personalized version of the driver for co-editing songs over

IPX Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX) is the network layer protocol in the IPX/SPX protocol suite. IPX is derived from Xerox Network Systems' IDP. It also has the ability to act as a transport layer protocol. The IPX/SPX protocol suite was very p ...

networks, were provided for a fee. After the stereo WAV writer plugin was publicly

pirated Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...

, the original author announced that he would discontinue development after version 2.14. The latest version was v2.14 Patch #5 released on April 8, 1999. On February 16, 2014, Jeffrey Lim announced that he would release the complete source code of Impulse Tracker as part of its 20-year anniversary. On October 19, 2014, the first part of the source code was released on a

Bitbucket Bitbucket is a Git-based source code repository hosting service owned by Atlassian. Bitbucket offers both commercial plans and free accounts with an unlimited number of private repositories. Services Bitbucket Cloud Bitbucket Cloud (previ ...

repository. On December 25, 2014, the missing parts (sound drivers) were added and the code was officially released under the

BSD license BSD licenses are a family of permissive free software licenses, imposing minimal restrictions on the use and distribution of covered software. This is in contrast to copyleft licenses, which have share-alike requirements. The original BSD lice ...

Functionality

Like in most

module Module, modular and modularity may refer to the concept of modularity. They may also refer to: Computing and engineering * Modular design, the engineering discipline of designing complex devices using separately designed sub-components * Mo ...

editors, music is arranged on a grid of ''channels''. Each supports note on and note off instructions similar to

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and ...

. ''Impulse Tracker'' modules use the

.IT .it is the national top-level domain (ccTLD) assigned to Italy. Registration is open to organisations and individuals of legal age who are citizens or residents of/headquartered in the countries of the European Economic Area (EEA), the Vatica ...

file extension. New Note Actions (NNAs) is a feature that handles commands received on the same channel as another instrument which is still playing. NNAs allow the user to customize the subsequent action: * Cut: The new instrument replaces the current instrument. * Continue: The old instrument continues to play using its ADSR curve. * Off: The old instrument begins the release section of its ADSR curve. * Fade: The old instrument fades out to 0 volume at a designated rate overriding the ADSR curve. ''Impulse Tracker'' supports hardware MIDI channels on the Gravis Ultrasound, InterWave and Sound Blaster 32 card families (provided enough

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

is available).

IT file format

The .IT file format is the format native to Impulse Tracker. It is similar to older formats such as .MOD, but features new additions such as new note actions which allow the user to customize subsequent actions on receiving commands from the same channel as the one playing. Some player software supports the .ITZ format, which is a renamed zip file that contains a .IT file.

Compatible software

Other music-playing software that supports the IT file format include '' Cowon jetAudio'', ''

Windows Media Player Windows Media Player (WMP) is the first media player (application software), media player and media library application that was developed by Microsoft for playing sound reproduction, audio, video and viewing images on personal computers runnin ...

''*¹, '' MikMod'', '' ModPlug Tracker'', ''

OpenMPT OpenMPT is an open-source audio module tracker for Windows (with an intended Wine-functionality for UNIX and Linux x86-systems). It was previously called ModPlug Tracker, and was first released by Olivier Lapicque in September 1997. ''Compu ...

'', ''

Renoise Renoise is a digital audio workstation (DAW) based upon the heritage and development of tracker software. Its primary use is the composition of music using sound samples, soft synths, and effects plug-ins. It is also able to interface with MID ...

'', '' Schism Tracker'', '' ChibiTracker'', ''

XMPlay XMPlay is a freeware audio player for Windows. Initially released in 1998, it is often used as a reference player for tracker audio files. Overview Developed by ''Un4seen Developments'' in 1998, it originally only supported the XM file for ...

'', '' TiMidity'', '' VLC'', ''

Winamp Winamp is a media player for Microsoft Windows originally developed by Justin Frankel and Dmitry Boldyrev by their company Nullsoft, which they later sold to AOL in 1999 for $80 million. It was then acquired by Radionomy in 2014. Sinc ...

'', and ''

XMMS X Multimedia System (XMMS) is an audio player for Unix-like systems released under a free software license. History XMMS was originally written as ''X11Amp'' by Peter and Mikael Alm in November 1997. The player was made to resemble Winamp, which ...

''. *¹ - Supported only on x86(32bit) versions of application.

Usage and impact

Erez Eizen of

Infected Mushroom Infected Mushroom is an Israeli musical duo formed in Haifa in 1996 by producers Erez Eisen and Amit Duvdevani. They produce and perform psytrance, electronica, dream trance and psychedelic music. They are one of the best-selling groups in I ...

and Shiva Shidapu composed his first trance music on Impulse Tracker. Ian Stocker used IT with other software in his collaboration for the music in the Nintendo DS version of ''

The Sims 2 ''The Sims 2'' is a 2004 strategic life simulation video game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It is the second major title in ''The Sims'' series, and is the sequel to ''The Sims.'' The game was released for Microsoft Windo ...

''. The

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

s '' Pocket Tanks'' and '' Grid Wars'' use the IT format for some of their songs. Various games by Epic Games such as the first ''

Unreal Unreal may refer to: Books and TV * ''Unreal'' (short story collection), a 1985 book of short stories by Paul Jennings * ''Unreal'' (TV series), a 2015 television drama series on Lifetime Computing and games * ''Unreal'' (video game series), ...

'' and ''

Unreal Tournament ''Unreal Tournament'' is a first-person arena shooter video game developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes. The second installment in the '' Unreal'' series, it was first published by GT Interactive in 1999 for Microsoft Windows, and late ...

'' as well as ''

Deus Ex ''Deus Ex'' is a series of role-playing video games, set during the mid 21st century. Focusing on the conflict between secretive factions who wish to control the world by proxy, and the effects of transhumanistic attitudes and technologies in a ...

'' used the IT format in a " UMX" container format. The

video game composer Video game music (or VGM) is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was once limited to sounds of early sound chips, such as programmable sound generators (PSG) or FM synthesis chips. These limitations have led to ...

and demoscener

Andrew Sega Andrew Gregory Sega ( ; born May 20, 1975), also known as Necros, is an American musician best known for tracking modules in the 1990s demoscene as well as for composing music for several well-known video games. He was a member of the synthpop d ...

(Necros) used Impulse Tracker extensively in his

demoscene The demoscene is an international computer art subculture focused on producing demos: self-contained, sometimes extremely small, computer programs that produce audiovisual presentations. The purpose of a demo is to show off programming, visual ...

days.

C418 Daniel Rosenfeld (born 9 May 1989), better known by his stage/online name C418 (pronounced "see four eighteen"), is a German musician, producer and sound engineer, best known as the composer and sound designer for the sandbox video game ''Minec ...

began making music in Impulse Tracker, before moving to

eJay ''eJay'' is a series of musical arrangement software, and video games, primarily for Microsoft Windows. The first edition, ''Dance eJay'', was released in 1997. It supports eight tracks of audio and, as with its successors, permits the arrangemen ...

, MTV Music Generator and eventually

Ableton Live Ableton Live is a digital audio workstation for macOS and Windows developed by the German company Ableton. In contrast to many other software sequencers, Ableton Live is designed to be an instrument for live performances as well as a tool ...

, which he used to compose the Minecraft soundtrack. Trance producer

Sean Tyas Sean Tyas (, born November 8, 1979), is an American DJ and electronic music producer based in Switzerland. His productions and DJ sets are mainly based upon trance music. Career Sean Tyas was born in Massapequa Park, New York in 1979. He beg ...

began his music production career using Impulse Tracker.

Electronic rock Electronic rock is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s, when rock bands began incorporating electronic instrum ...

musician

Blue Stahli Blue Stahli is an American electronic rock project by Bret Autrey. Blue Stahli has appeared in a number of movie trailers, shows and games. History Musical beginnings and VOXiS (1997–2006) Autrey started music at a young age, learning through ...

has revealed to have used Impulse Tracker and other trackers in the past.

Deadmau5 Joel Thomas Zimmerman (born January 5, 1981), known professionally as Deadmau5 (stylized as deadmau5; pronounced "dead-mouse"), is a Canadian electronic music producer and DJ. He mainly produces progressive house music, though he also produce ...

's career began in the mid 1990s with a chiptune and

movements-influenced sound with Impulse Tracker. Machinedrum used Impulse Tracker for many years before switching to

References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.users.on.net/~jtlim/ImpulseTracker/

Sound examples

Pale Dreams (by Chris Jarvis) - included with an early release of Impulse Tracker(.IT module)

IndusTree's Homesick (ogg)

Come To Dreamland (MP3)
http://modarchive.org/data/downloads.php?moduleid=38308#come_to_dreamland.it (.IT)] Free audio software Audio trackers 1995 software Assembly language software Formerly proprietary software Software using the BSD license