Newbie with NerdTracker II

Okay, so, I have a veryyy.. particular question, I was wondering um, if someone could assist me with. :O

So. I just downloaded Wine the other day, as I'm running in Mac OS X (on my MacBook), and with Wine, I was able to mount and use Nerdtracker. I've got the little window open, whatever.

Now... I'd like.. to actually hear sound with this thing, aha. I know I'm new, and I certainly don't have.. um, any experience so far with tracker software or DOS, but I'd really like to get some basic functions going, in the least...

I did search around for a bit but there isn't necessarily a plethora of information circling around, with Nerdtracker.. (Especially not for someone running it through Wine in Mac ;o)

I've figured out that the alphabetic keys on my keyboard input the notes, C - what octave, what have you, etc. And that the adjacent row is for umm... volume intensity, I suppose? And for some reason, when I press my *RIGHT*.. yeah, get this.. right.. shift key, the fuzzy grit-looking colour gradient in the actually NT2 logo flips on and off, the colour comes in, then goes away... I have no idea what's going on, lol.

I would like to try and figure some basic functionality, so please, don't tell me to stick to something easier first like FamiTracker, which I will get to... I'd just like some basic instruction with this thing. I've seen a few videos already where people (in, I'm assuming, Windows) are having no trouble launching or triggering the sequence of the channels and tracks, and once I can at least do that, I'll know my manual note inputs aren't completely useless, haha.

Mm, for reference, I'll include a screenshot of what it looks like, on my Mac. Any help would be greatly GREATLY appreciated! It's kind of like.. just.. in Mac, how do you make this thing.. go? Thanks.

I am working on a Qt port of FamiTracker that should run native in OSX [but I only have a Mac at work so my testing abilities are limited...even though I *know* all the geeks around me would appreciate the chiptunage]. I am making very good progress and hope to have something released in a matter of weeks. So...I know you said not to recommend FamiTracker...but I just had to.

No, honestly, FamiTracker is all fine and good, and I would love to try it, as well. But please, someone help meee...get Nerdtracker goinggg.. pleaseee. DX

Press * on your numpad to go to the instrument editor. Use the arrow keys to go down to Hold Note, and change it to "ON!". Press right shift, and you'll at least get some audio. Alternatively, change the time length of the instrument.

Edit3: I'm not sure where you got nerdtracker from, but it has its own site with lots of docs. http://nesdev.com/nt2/ Your question is answered in the FAQ right here.

Are you familiar with trackers in general? If so, just read this: http://nesdev.com/nt2/download/NT2.TXT and try stuff.

Edit: I reread your post. You are NOT familiar with tracker software. Okay. The first column is the notes. Second column is the instrument. The third column lets you put in "effects" which alter how the note they're next to plays. See the guide I linked for what they are. Try some values. A tracker runs top to bottom playing all the notes/effects in the current row.

Edit4: So in your screenshot, it would play F-2 on channel 1 using instrument 1, while using an invalid effect. It would play E-3 on the triangle channel using instrument 6 while portamentoing up with parameters that I bet wouldn't do anything. Then it'd move to the next row and play those notes.

If you put a time length of instrument 1, but not instrument 6, nothing would play on the triangle channel.

Edit2: May I ask why you want to use this program? It's no more of a mac program than famitracker, and famitracker really does appear to soundly beat it both in terms of ease of use and the things you can do with it. So yeah, why start with this one? Honest question, certainly not trying (too hard) to push famitracker against your wishes. But I am truly curious.

Sorry, um, the only question I didn't feel like wasn't answered was... how do I actually get this thing to sequence now?? I've got the notes in there.. and stuff.. =S

assigned to instrument "01" and "06", for instance, as I see, in the window. I think the actual Nerdtracker site said, um.. Command + Shift.. and, I tried that.. but nothing? Very strange...

Um, so. I'm trying out Nerdtracker cause it's what interests me most for it's sound, purely. I'm sure FamiTracker is great, but I think, this guy, used well, can sound like absolute, sheer bliss! So, naturally, I wanna give it a go. ;P

Have you tried reading the manual/FAQ/Keyboard layout each twice?

From.. the FAQ section, you mean? Yes, of course.

Don't forget, I'm running through Wine.. so.. the "application" has little option for me to look at, or to change shortcuts or anything of that nature.

Edit:
Erm... do you mean how to get it to play? Because I totally answered that. Set the instruments using one of the options I said to. Then press right shift. If you mean how to make stuff, read on.

Famitracker can almost certainly sound just like nerdtracker. They both try to emulate the same chip. It's more about what you do than the program.

Anyway: In the top left, you'll see a row of zeros. Each one corresponds to a set of notes called a "pattern". You can get here by pressing * or ~ on your numpad. (Essentially, those keys switch modes within the editor. From the "pattern" editor (where you place notes), to the instrument editor (where you edit instruments), to the "order" editor (where you arrange your song.

Now, you already have a pattern. (Pattern 0). Go to the order editor. Press the insert key. You will see that another layer of zeros has been added. Now, Go the newly created layer of zeros. Press + on your numpad. It will change to a 1. (- would take it back to 0.) Return to the pattern editor. Place some notes. Now play your song. When the end of pattern 0 is reached, it will play the next pattern. (In this case, pattern 1).

You can even have a pattern repeat. Insert a new row into the order editor. Try doing 0, 0, 1. Then 0, 1, 1. If you change any pattern (like 0 or 1), it will change in all the places it's used. Try it. Change one that's used twice.

Very basically, you just put in the notes you want into one pattern. When you reach the end, add a new one with a new number and keep going. Each channel has it's own set of patterns (i.e. pattern 0 for the first square channel is not the same at pattern 0 for the triangle channel.)

Instruments ARE shared by the channels. (So changes to instrument 1 used on a square channel will also affect things that use it on the triangle channel)

Hopefully that's enough to get you started. Really the best way to learn is to try stuff, though.

NerdTracker was a very important piece of software in its day, but is literally 100% obsolete in the shadow of FamiTracker, which can do everything NerdTracker can do and more. There is also another tracker called Deflemask which is ported to Mac by its developer and emulates many chipsets including NES.

I hope such a reply doesn't make you mad, but really the only reason to use NerdTracker is if you prefer the feel of DOS based, keyboard only trackers (which is understandable, since several "classic" trackers share those characteristics).

Or perhaps you have an old DOS-based, keyboard only computer at your disposal?

Which music engine is easier to implement for homebrew games? Or does it make a difference?

Regardless, I get to post this again: Yay!

Most seem to use FamiTone (plays a subset of FamiTracker features) or MUSE (player for Musetracker).

ValourWind: Seriously, try to use FamiTracker instead, you'll have a much better time playing with it. Before I knew FamiTracker I actually used NerdTracker II and I managed to compose some songs, but I had to read carefully the manual & FAQ. NerdTracker II is cute and all but is very obsolete, is not very use-friendly ― heck, GoatTracker is like 100× more user-friendly that this thing ― and is buggy, which means I was very frustrated to get NSFs that sounded very differently than in the tracker (volume envelopes were wrong sometimes, for example). And it does not support the mouse. FamiTracker, on the other hand, is actively supported, has a nice functional UI, support the mouse, has plenty of buttons and context menus to do anything, support more options, support the usual edit commands (cut/copy/paste), can convert WAV samples to DMC samples itself, etc. I'd say you can use FamiTracker without reading anything, provided you know how trackers works.

I mean, forget NerdTracker II. Please. You'll get only frustration using this thing.

Alright, thanks for your help. ^^

I've started inputting notes and whatnot, and following your advice.. but there's once glitch...

Ummm... when you say "press * on your numpad"... I don't have a numpad, on my MacBook, lol. It's not like a Windows laptop or PC where the numpad is just located to the right of everything, ufnortunately.

I haveee, however, tried going 'shift+8' to GET the *, asterisk sign, but.. nothing. I'm not sure the tracker even registers it. =S

I want to go to the Instrument Editor to change the Hold Note option to 'on', but I can't even.. seem to get there? O_o

Halp. D:

Best advice is to get a real computer (Windows+Linux) and then use a real keyboard.

Get a USB keyboard for now, maybe?

^ Haha, thanks.

I don't have a numpad either. Most laptops don't. That's another reason I don't like nerdtracker. My computer lets me hold down a key to use numpad stuff, but it's a huge hassle.

That's not the same as the one on the numpad.

You have a few options.

If your computer is like mine, and has a key you can hold down to use numpad stuff, you can use that. (I looked and it doesn't seem like macbooks have such a key. Edit: Wait. Yes, they do.) (My keyboard looks like http://www.casperservis.biz.tr/wp-content/uploads/laptop-keyboard_6950_1.jpg. I hold down the Fn key, and press p for * on the numpad.)

You can find an on screen keyboard program for Mac, and use that. Maybe this will help?

You can just get a USB keyboard that actually has a numpad on it.

You can try to find if there's a way to remap keys in Wine.

Honestly, I'd just try famitracker.

Ahh, alright. I'll give Famitracker a go, thanks so much for your help! ^_^

Here's a "quickstart" guide for famitracker. The very first thing you want to do is, "Instrument, new instrument." From there, you'll be able to click the first column of any channel, press a key (much like nerdtracker, zxc are c, d, e of a piano) to hear a note.

To actually place a note, press the record button (or press space bar). Then pressing zxc etc. will put a note in the column. Turning off record can let you try out a few notes first.

Most of the other stuff is a lot like what I already described for nerd tracker.

First column is notes, second column is instruments, third column is volume, fourth is effects.

Volume is 0-F. It's worth learning some hex if you really want to get into this stuff.