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All contents © Andreas Pollak
This website was last modified on 23 Jul 2024.

The world map is based on NASA's blue marble images.
The picture of the Arts Building is from the link University of Saskatchewan Archives.

The "View" graphics are based on pictures or data by

	Stefanie Herzer: "Creeping Clouds" (Hills and Clouds)
	Wonker: "Sahara Desert" (Desert)
	Nahid Sultana Tihi: "The Great Pyramids of Giza" (Desert)
	Laurent Parquet: "The Cloud's Sea" (Mountains)
	Uwe Kils: "Antarctica with iceberg" (Antarctica)
	Samantha Chrysanthou (Prairie)
	Joel Dearing: "An abandoned barn near Tramping Lake - Saskatchewan" (Prairie)
	NovaLogic and Sebastian Macke (Voxel: original Comanche voxel maps as png files)
	shyachlo: "Seamless 360 degrees angle view blue sky with clouds with zenith in equirectangular projection upper half of the sphere" (Voxel: sky map for projection)

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other stuff - module formats

module formats

Module Formats
An introduction to MOD, S3M, XM and IT music files

About

This series of posts is about tracker music, so-called modules, a form of sample-based music that became popular in the early 1990s. If you want to know how it sounds, have a look at

The Mod Archive, which has thousands of modules that can be downloaded or played online.

My goal is to introduce the concept of modules and provide detailed enough information so that a reader can implement an accurate and authentic player or tracker themselves. I cover the four module formats that have enjoyed the most lasting popularity and are considered the important ones today. These are the MOD format, originating on the Amiga in the late 1980s, the ScreamTracker S3M format, the FastTracker XM format and the ImpulseTracker IT format.

I will discuss the file formats, details on how to play them, introduce some of the technical background, and will try to give some general context. As the S3M format supports FM sound generation in addition to playing samples, I will also explain how to emulate the Yamaha OPL2 chip that was responsible for synthesizing a lot of piano- and trumpet-like sounds on Adlib and early SoundBlaster cards.

Content

	Introduction
	1. The MOD Format (SoundTracker/NoiseTracker/ProTracker)
	2. The S3M Format (ScreamTracker 3)
	3. The XM Format (FastTracker II)
	4. The IT Format (ImpulseTracker) - coming soon
	Format Comparison Tables - coming soon
	Addendum: The Yamaha OPL2 Chip - coming soon

	Implementation - coming soon

	old layout: This is the previous design of my website. It still works.
	new layout: The current design.

standard:
Hills and Clouds
Desert
Mountains
Antarctica
Prairie

dynamic:
Voxel
Pseudo 3D

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