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FamiTracker
This is a post of things I've majorly noticed after using FamiTracker for the past month or two.
[u]Bugs[/u]:
-Dxx does not act proper. Even using hex values, the NSF driver does not treat it the way documented. Sometimes it cuts out the triangle channel, for reasons unknown.
-having a pattern break or a speed effect on a delayed channel will often cause errors. Example: F01 + G05 on the same row will have the F01 change the speed on the 5th frame in the NSF driver, however in FamiTracker itself, it will change the speed on the first frame. Inconsistent, and could be a major problem if people hear something wrong with their song but can't figure out what's causing it.
-Often, CTRL-A (or double-clicking a pattern) will select the entire pattern, but when I go to copy / cut, and then paste it again or in another channel, all that's pasted are the notes. Effects/Volumes/Instruments are ignored unless I manually select / copy / Paste them. EDIT: It seems this only occurs with songs that utilize 4 effects columns. Manually Selecting / Copying / Pasting works all the time, however this leads me to this bug here:
-When selecting rows manually by highlighting with a mouse, I often have to move the mouse cursor in circles to keep the selection process for the entire pattern going, as the window will not scroll automatically unless the mouse is moving. (A slight annoyance)
-Vibrato in deeper depths still raises pitch. This is bad, but could cause problems in already-created FTMs that take that into consideration, and fix it with Pxx commands..but in the long run, this should be fixed.
-Depending on pattern speed, playback frame accuracy is affected with no channels muted. Example: In Jewel Man's theme from MM9, I have something playing back in Channel 1 that plays for merely 1 frame. Playing this back with that channel solo'd, I can hear it every time. Playing back with all channels unsolo'd, that 1 frame seems to cut itself out every now and then. I think it's a FamiTracker 3.0 problem, as this did not exist in 2.9.
-This isn't really a bug, but I did notice that FamiTracker's sound engine stalls whenever I open up ZSNES for Windows (mostly because I'm trying to refer to the 2A03 NSF emulator for SNES rom).. to fix it, I have to go into config and reinitialize the sound driver. Or, to reload FamiTracker. Is there a hot-key for reinitializing the sound driver?
[u]Suggestions/Wishlist[/u]:
-Add the ability for + or - numbers in the volume editor in instrumentation..perhaps adding "quotations" to distinguish the differences between numbers. A reason for this would be say I have an instrument that starts at 15, the next frame being 12. If i wanted a universal "fade-out" instrument where I could go "| -1" and have it reduce the volume every frame, I could use that fade-out on instruments that have volume settings (in the instrument itself) of 15, 13, 6, whatever, and have them all fade out without a jump in volume because the volume numbers are not consistent with each other. You could do this in pattern, but because subtractive volumes no longer exist, you cannot manually change the volumes and have the volumes continuously fade the way intended because they're all staying active..due to having volumes being relative, instead of subtractive. Which leads me to my next wish list option:
-Have a pattern "trigger" to swap back and forth between relative and subtractive volumes for that channel, if possible. See above for explanation why.
-Bucky made a list of frequencies and it made me wonder if it could be possible to make the notation frequencies configurable. What's the point? There's different reasons, mostly it's used to keep things in tune, but if say you're creating music to something that may not be in tune, but you need to keep your music in tune with it, this would be the best, and easiest way (aside from a ton of Pxx commands)
-It also got me wondering if the vibrato / tremolo / arpeggio effects can be configurable to use them for your own purposes. Now, this can be done via instrumentation, but when you've maxed out your instrument count to compensate for other shortcomings, like the lack of a delayed note cut (which I know is coming soon), or a delayed volume command..which brings me to my next wish list item which I'll explain next. However, having the ability to "turn off" the loop effect on these commands could also be beneficial so you can make little note trills without changing pattern speed.
-I'm working with Megaman music which is very involved, and very controlled with it's delayed use of volume commands. Now, I know SCx (note cut delay) is very useful and it's nearly implemented, but I'm hoping for a similar command that, instead of cuts the notes, will set the volume of a note. If the volume is set to 0, the effect is the same as a note cut command. The reason I ask is because very often do I need to control the volume of a square note one frame before the next note starts. Now, this can be done with a volume number + a Gxx command, but when the row already contains a note, then that note is affected as well..it's all to keep me from having to speed up a pattern, which in effect will increase memory usage (which is a no-no in NES music).
-Rhythmic-based macro instrumentation. Priority would go to real instrumentation macros, of course, but if it's possible to have a volume / pitch / whatever command configurable that takes tempo into consideration, that would be very desirable. An example would be that a lot of Megaman 9 music uses tempo-specific effects that can be done via pattern, however only if the pattern speed is high..and I just mentioned in the past paragraph how having more rows will increase song memory size, so to keep things from using too much memory, the idea is to have an instrument that can do things automatically for you.
-The volume bars above the channels should not fade. They should be the exact position that the volume is set to, for diagnostic reasons. If this is a drawing issue, then this could always be fixed with the next suggestion:
-Make a status screen that can show me the values of all aspects of each channel. An example would be [url=http://tssf.gamemusic.ca/temp/status.gif]this screen shot here from Schism Tracker. It makes it more useful and easier for diagnosing why a channel isn't acting the way it's supposed to because you forgot you left a vibrato running, or your pitch setting may be lowered from earlier and you forgot to change it back to P80.
-Perhaps having a playback function for current position, that way I don't have to play the beginning of a pattern every time I want to hear if something is working the way I want it to. F7 in Impulse Tracker is an example of this. Shift-Enter works, however it will repeat patterns.
-I know you can change the Hz of the playback which will change the resolution / speed of how FamiTracker treats all of the effects, however how about a frames per second-based playback speed ..or a pause / frame advance function so I can play things back slowly to ensure everything is playing nice with everything else?
The Dxx bug and the Note Volume Delay in place of Note Cut Delay are my biggest hopes to get fixed in the next version, the rest are merely suggestions or ideas I've had while working within FamiTracker for the past few weeks. Hopefully some people will agree with them.
I don't seem to have a problem with the CTRL-A highlight. I just tested it on both version 2.9 and 3.0. It highlighted the entire channel for a single frame effects and all, and easily cut/copied into another channel. I use the hot keys frequently when making FTM's so CTRL-A, CTRL-C, CTRL-X and CTRL-V are pretty useful and I don't have the same problem you are talking about.
You're right, it does not work with 4 effects columns, or at least it didn't when I tried. Good find, I don't think I have ever used the 4 effects columns all at once in any song I have made.
Edit: I tried in both 2.9 and version 3.0, it does not work in 3.0 but it seems to work fine with 4 effects in 2.9.
I sometimes have to use 4 effect rows for special little tricks I'm trying to achieve. Lol, try changing the speed of a pattern, turning off a vibrato, a pitch bend, and changing the pulse width all on one row. Fun stuff.
Hmm. That just gave me a nice little thought: How about a reset all values command? :D
Some of the earlier requested stuff (like the cut command and more options for play/stop) are available in the demo version I posted earlier in antoher thread. I'll try later to document and post all changes as a beta.
I'll read this in detail later and see if I have anything to comment on, otherwise I'll start working on it.
