Module

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Module
Specification
Type Audio- MIDI
Mimetype Mimetype

Modules are a family of MIDI sound formats. Like MIDI, they are composed of tracks, so programs that create them and musicians who compose them are known as trackers.

Modules differ from the traditional MIDI format in that Modules contain their own samples, rather than pull them from the sound card. This means that Modules may attain a quality level far surpassing that of MIDI, depending on the skill of the musician, but in exchange, suffer from a considerably larger file size (compared to MIDI) as more samples are added.

Due to this balance between filesize and potential quality, Modules are ideal for fangame music, especially 3rd or 4th gen music, if appropriate music can be composed or found. Modules were also utilized in commercial PC applications during the '90's.

As MIDI formats are composed of literal instruments playing notes, one cannot reliably convert from a sample or stream format to a Module, although the opposite is entirely possible, and advised if one's audience lacks direct module support.

Composing modules

The following terminology is important to understand composition in Module formats:

  • Patterns: Similar to a bar in traditional music, a pattern is a block containing a given number of rows (default: 64 rows; each 4th row or so is a beat.)
  • Tracks / Channels: Each track or channel may play one instrument or sample at a time, except when one interrupts another and the player crossfades them. One may use up to 32 channels at a time, so it may be wise to assign each channel to a single instrument for ease of composition. Some trackers, such as OpenMPT, automatically remove any unused channels when saving.
  • Samples: A sample, such as a WAVE file, is used as the primary musical unit. Certain formats support special audio effects applied to the sample in realtime.

Certain Module formats (*.it, *.xm) support more advanced sample handling:

  • Instruments: An Instrument may call any number of samples - one sample may be assigned to one note. Instruments may also apply audio effects to their samples in realtime. Valid effects are volume, pitch, panning, and flt.

Trackers

  • OpenMPT, formerly known as Modplug Tracker
  • FamiTracker, which generates NES synths with more authentic formulae for the nitpicky

Players and programs with module support

It should be noted that programs utilizing different sound libraries from one's tracker may cause errors in playback. Always test modules in several programs before publishing.