''S3M'' (Scream Tracker 3 Module) is a

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 * Modul ...

file format, the successor to the STM format used by the original Scream Tracker. Both formats are based on the original MOD format used on the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore International, Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and sign ...

computer. The S3M format has many differences compared to its predecessors. * The format is a hybrid of digital playback and synthesized instruments. The official format specification document covers space for 16 digital channels and 14 synthesized ones with two unused slots out of a total of 32. * Separate volume channel in pattern data. * Supports more instruments than MOD or STM (99 instead of 31). * Default panning of channels can be specified by the composer. * Extra-fine pitch slides are added * Instruments are not limited to a fixed sample rate for a given note. The format stores the instrument's sample rate at middle C. The period table used by S3M is smaller than the one used by the MOD format (only 12 entries, compared to between 36 and 60 for the MOD variations) and uses larger values in order to be able to compute the extra-fine pitch slides. The playback routines, however, use relatively straightforward formulas to get the final period values used in playback. The key formula for this takes into account the instrument's stored sample rate at middle C. One feature of the S3M format which is seldom used, is the format's support for FM instruments. These were designed to be played back on sound cards that included an

OPL2 The OPL (FM Operator Type-L) series are a family of Sound chip, sound chips developed by Yamaha Corporation, Yamaha. The OPL series are low-cost sound chips providing frequency modulation synthesis, FM synthesis for use in computing, music and vid ...

or compatible

FM synthesis Frequency modulation synthesis (or FM synthesis) is a form of sound synthesis whereby the frequency of a waveform is changed by modulating its frequency with a modulator. The frequency of an oscillator is altered "in accordance with the amplitud ...

chip. More recently, with the necessary CPU power available, it is possible to perform the same synthesis in software. Two examples of such software are the Adplug plugin for the

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for se ...

audio player

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. Since ve ...

and the

open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized so ...

audio module tracker OpenMPT as of version 1.28.01.00.

Media player support

S3M files released on the

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 ...

's music scene in the 1990s were commonly played on PCs using dedicated mod/s3m players (such as DMP) or using the tracker software (like Scream Tracker). Some more-common/contemporary music players can play these files, although fidelity to original sound and results can vary according to the individual file. Software includes: *

foobar2000 foobar2000 (often abbreviated as fb2k or f2k) is a freeware audio player for Microsoft Windows, iOS and Android developed by Peter Pawłowski. It has a modular design, which provides user flexibility in configuration and customization. Stan ...

VLC media player VLC media player (previously the VideoLAN Client and commonly known as simply VLC) is a free and open-source, portable, cross-platform media player software and streaming media server developed by the VideoLAN project. VLC is available for desk ...

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 fo ...

* AIMP *

JetAudio JetAudio is a shareware media player application for Microsoft Windows and Android that offers advanced playback options for a wide range of multimedia file formats. Initially released in 1998, JetAudio is one of the oldest extant media ...

{{Cite web, url=http://www.jetaudio.com/products/jetaudio/features_01.html, title = JetAudio

References

Module file formats Digital audio

Media player support

See also

References