Adlib Tracker II - the official website

I concur with MSDOS622 on the 16MB issue. On my 486 Blue Lightning build, I can't cache any more than 16MB of RAM, so I'm only running 16MB of RAM. Since the downgrade I can no longer run AT2 versions later than the oldest listed in the downloads, which makes sense as it's a real-mode program and wouldn't care how much RAM I have above 640K. Is this something that's being tracked? Is there a way I can provide debugging information? Usually the program hangs after OPL3 autodetection.

Adlib Tracker II doesn't seem to like 16mb ram, it just gives me a error on startup in Win95 and hard locks in DOS mode

@pete
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Since it's a PCI card, it needs to do an activation of its FM block.
Play a midi and pause it(if it uses FM synth) or use something like Freq Monster+driver(which has init routine for your card).

@pete
In windows, get dosbox fork that uses portIO driver.

Caveat: driver signing in 64bit windows.
Caveat: OPL2/3 is spammed with port reads for timing, which can get ugly fast.
3 things might happen:
- dosbox slows to a crawl on heavy songs.
- tunes have slower tempo(but consistent).
- chip detection fails.
The way around this is to write an OPL3 state machine dealing with reads/detection and blocking them.
Have a looksie at this hodgepodge https://pastebin.com/dDGb3JwU
Either modify dosbox fork, or hook read function of the portIO driver's usermode dll.

@Luppi:Quite honestly, I have empiricallly calculated the system requirements for memory last time like maybe 18-20 years ago, so it has just increased with the new features being made (not even mentioning different compiler and PMODE extender being used). Despite some pattern reduction method used in the tracker (if there is not enough memory, maximum number of patterns decreases to spare it and be able to run the program at all), 4MB will be way too less because of all the overhead data.

Help, I get this error when running adtrack2 on Artix Linux
An unhandled exception occurred at $F6D5E688:
EAccessViolation: Access violation
$F6D5E688

AdLibTrII with OPL3LPT on 4mb RAM machine can in work? Or is the 8mb RAM a limit that can never be crossed?

Hi, can I use in some way old PCI soundcard Yamaha YMF724E-V (full OPL3) with modern Windows 10 PC, and this beautifull oldschool tracker? My motherboard includes PCI port. With respect to emulation, I rather prefer real hardware.

I have also old PC with Pentium 1 for dos gaming, where it would be easy, but this computer is quite noisy, and it is difficult to add some quiet cooling.
PC with W10 is very quiet, I assembled it with an emphasis on music and movies.

Thank you very much subz3ro!

@geomodular: Indeed, recent file format version FFver 14 uses standard LZH compression algo, so besides the official decompression routine you pointed out, you should be also able to decompress it with any standard LZH decompression routine.

Hi everyone! I'd like to decompress my `.a2m` file and use pattern information in my project and I'd like to kindly ask for advice. It seems my `.a2m` file is of version `0E` (14 I assume) but I'm not seeing in techinfo what algo is such version using. Is it own implementation of LZH? Should I be good with an algo that can be found in `adt2pack.pas` on line 450 (it's `LZH_decompress()`)? I have a current version of sources downloaded from this site. Thanks!

@agovtman: First off, download and try to run the older version 2.3.52 which is using different type of protected mode extender. If that one will work for you, then you know it’s a matter of finding proper DOS memory config in order to run newer AT2 version too. If the old one won’t work either, it can be (besides many other DOS-related things) hardware issues of different kind.... like lack of memory, intolerant Video BIOS, etc.

Have been using AT2 for a few years now to much success, but now I have a Fujitsu Stylistic 486DX100 machine on which AT2 and AT2PLAY both freeze. AT2 does the startup "fade" effect to a black screen and hard locks the machine; AT2PLAY just hard locks the machine. Have tried faffing about with DOS memory managers etc. to no avail. Anyone have any idea where to begin troubleshooting?

Note -- I am using an OPL3LPT on this machine but the problem happens irrespective of whether I run AT2 with/without the OPL3LPT TSR loaded or whether I run the unofficial OPL3LPT-patched release of AT2 or the official one, so I think I have eliminated the OPL3LPT setup as part of the problem.

Thanks for the tip on the latency setting for OPL3. I had the awful noise issue as well with an OPTi 82C930. Had to force address 220 too. Thanks!!!

Gman, if you ever finish developing MIDI keyboard record feature into AT2 version 2.3.52, I definitely would like to know about it. . . =)

@Ngeek: Try with adapting the latency of OPL writes -> set option “opl_latency” from default 0 to value 1. It should help. It´s however weird to have such problem with AWE32. If this is the case, it must be some problem with ISA bus on your motherboard, or a wrong configuration of it in CMOS.

Hi, I discovered this and wanted to try it on my Pentium3 with a AWE32 (CT3900) so should be a real OPL3, using Windows98 and DOS and when trying to playback an included module I get horrible noise and sound coming out, I have no idea what's wrong? Autodetect of OPL at 388h looks ok. Thanks!

Gman: Send me your email address.

Hi, I'd like to see if I can get the source code for ver 2.3.52; I have been wanting to use a MIDI keyboard to input notes, and like RegTheEvil below discovered that it is not possible to do this. So, I figured I would try to implement this feature.

@jj: Run adtrack2_hq1.bat respectively adtrack2_hq2.bat.
@Midori: It would be possible to have this partially configurable in config file, but this would need a stand-alone utility to control the consistency of those user-configured key shortcuts, so they don't interfere with some mandatory key shortcuts of the tracker itself. Perhaps in the future, this is not planned now.
@Rado: This is not planned. If you need to capture to .raw or .dro, you can do this with DOS version in DosBox.

how to enable full screen mode in windows?
window is so tiny

Great piece of software, but it really calls for the possibility to remap the keys and set the edit step to 0~

What about exporting music to OPL capture formats (.raw or .dro) ? :)

thanks. im using sdl version on windows

thanks, I will check out the mlf folder

@G.Wang: Hi. Glad you enjoy the program. I presume you are using DOS version. It's been reported that some keys are not detected correctly with notebook keyboards. If you are using notebook with reduced key set (shared keys), try to use external keyboard with NUMPAD section and this should work without problem then. If you are (perhaps) using SDL version for Unix or DOSBox version for MacOS, these are the compatibility issues which are unfortunately not fixable yet.

@uniprawn: Unfortunately there is no such tutorial written yet. I would suggest to look after modules which do feature Macros (many of them you can find in folder "MLF") and learn from there. The rest is just about getting used to key shortcuts and navigation within the UI, which will surely come as you start using it.

Are there any tutorials around anywhere about how to use adlibtracker2's instrument macro editor as well as the arpeggio+vibrato macro editor, seems like some cool, complex, evolving sounds should be possible but I dont fully understand how to use them

Hello Subz3ro, I'm really enjoying adlibtracker2 and the 4op FM synthesis.
This is great software.

I have one small problem, I must press shift+ to change the attack, decay, sustain and release in the instrument editor but I do not need to press shift- to go the other way.

I must press and hold 'shift' before using '+' for some reason

I couln't make my keyboard notes recorded. When I play my MIDI keyboard with AT2, I can hear sound but I can't make notes appear in the tracker. I can only see midi messages ON/OFF. Celill could not help me with this. When in record mode where I can use my ps/2 keyboard to insert notes in the tracker, I can't figure out anything similar with MIDI keyboard, just play for fun. Notes don't get inserted in the song from MIDI keyboard.

@RegTheEvil: Well, it's never been full sequencer using MIDI keyboard, this is what a NRECM mode stands for, but as far as I was aware of, it should be possible to input notes with it, so how do you mean "t seems it may not be possible to use midi keyboard for recording at all'?

Hi! I asked Cecil about midi synth mode and it seems it may not be possible to use midi keyboard for recording at all. It seems the midi synth mode is used for making AT2 as synthesizer but there might be midi keyboard capabilities in the futute. Cheers!

Thanks for the info, subz3ro! I can't figure this out at all myself. Hitting alt+space highlights "SYNTH!" text and I can hear the notes but I can also hear them when "SYNTH!" is not highlighted. All I can do is listen to the notes I play mith my MIDI keyboard. I can't make notes to appear in my song. DOC-file was helpfull in setting up MIDI keyboard for this version of AT2 but I definitely need more help. So I will email Cecill for more assistance...

@RegTheEvil: Synth! mode was an experimental feature coded by community member Cecill Etheredge (ijsf) for Open Source project, which has been taken over to official version and kept until program version 2.3.52. As it was more a hack than a regular feature, and as it was colliding with (at that time) upcoming features (particularly Note recorder mode) and not supported for SDL version line at all, it's been removed since.
Unfortunately I cannot give you much information how to use it, as I never owned a MIDI keyboard to test it out, all I can do is to refer you to chap. VIII in file ADTRACK2.DOC included in the program package, where some brief tutorial is put down by the coder himself. Also be sure to activate the mode with Alt+Spacebar prior to trying make any use of the MIDI controller. If you do not figure out yourself how to use it, try to contact directly Cecill via his contact email: ijsf@gmx.net. I'm sure he will kindly help you with some useful tips and instructions how to use his feature :)

Hi! Since I finally got myself midi-gameport adapter I am now testing AT2 version 2.3.52 with midi support. I couldn't figure out how to add notes in the tracker from my midi keyboard. I can play midi keyboard and I can hear sound inside AT2 but I can't figure out how to make key strokes recorded in the tracker. How is this done exactly? I can only manage to record notes from my ps/2 keyboard.

Thankyou, my mistake.

I now have perfect 140BPM rendered .wav loops from the test i did with 'televics - cwack'.

Maybe there was just some groove I didnt spot in the first tests i did causing slightly different BPM.

Thanks. Great software.

@strepsilsman: There is (by default) 2% slowdown with playback in SDL version, to match the DOS version. But it is counted with that value during calculation of timing frequency for BPM speedup/slowdown. If you have difference in BPM's compared to your DAW, in my opinion, it must have other reasons, like sampling rate frequency deviation or other calculation of BPM rate within your software (... just thinking aloud, I honestly don't know). According to feedback from a user who did the feature tests, it's been accurate for evaluation with his software. If yours is having difference, you can try setting the playback speed fix to 0% (set option "sdl_timer_slowdown=0" in configuration file), or try to adapt the rate of the metronome instead, there is no further adaptation of this BPM calculation in AT2 planned.

Hi, I downlaoded the latest SDL version for windows to check out the new BPM timing function.

The .wavs that I'm rendering at 140BPM are not perfect 140BPM loops when I load them into my DAW and check them against the metronome.

Is there a way around this? Maybe if I use dosbox or something?

I heard that the SDL plays tracks back slightly faster than the original dos version.

Will there be a way to get perfect BPM loops out from the SDL version in future?

Sorry for the radio silence. We had some domain issues that are solved now.

Yep, that's exactly it!

@Scott: Actually it's very hard for me to do it that way, due to how the concept of playback in AT2 is working with pattern data. What would be (eventually) possible is, that within a special mode, already written note inputs would be discarded when the song advances to next pattern order (pattern is rewinded back to row 00 respectively, in case pattern repeat type of playback is chosen). This would allow continuous "jamming" without interference with already recorded data, 'cause I assume that's the main concern.

If NRECM without input is possible to somehow implement elegantly, it would certainly improve the experience for me. I might be mistaken, but if it were the default mode, it would resemble the behavior of other trackers, but with the improved possibility of defining the number of tracks which to utilize.

The new versions seem to work fine. Thanks!

@teimoso: Thanks for report, no additional symptoms are required. You can already download bugfixed versions in Downloads section.

There appears to be a bug with the latest update (Win32 ver. 2.4.34 & DOS ver. 2.3.57):
Upon confirming an instrument name entry in the Instrument Control Panel (e.g. pressing Enter twice on an instrument), Adlib Tracker II crashes (and shows the error window below).
In DOS using DOSBox, the above process crashes both Adlib Tracker II and the emulator. The video output isn't particularly helpful; I can only make out "ABNORMAL PROGRAM TERMiNATiON" and part of a memory address.

The crash doesn't occur if you press Escape to cancel the name instead of Enter to confirm it.

Error window:
"An unhandled exception occurred at $00402914:
EAccessViolation: Access violation
$00402914
$00487ACF
$0044D394
$0045E84F
$00401AD2"