FastTracker 2 cheat sheet
From FastTracker 2 · print · built 2026-08-31
Reference
Cheat sheet#
Timing#
A tick is "number of VBL's to wait until playing next row"; the first tick plays the note, the rest run the effect; fine effects act once per row. Fxx: 01–1F speed (ticks per row), 20–FF tempo in BPM; ticks per second = BPM × 2 ÷ 5 (125 BPM = 50 Hz); "the BPM is correct at speed 06". The linear frequency table makes slides constant across pitch — switch it off (Amiga table) only for MOD export (source: s-ft2-manual).
Effect column (hex)#
| cmd | effect | cmd | effect |
|---|---|---|---|
0xy | arpeggio: tick 1 note, tick 2 +x, tick 3 +y (FT2 plays it backwards — a known bug) | E1x / E2x | fine portamento up / down, once per row |
1xx / 2xx | portamento up / down per tick | E3x | glissando: portamento in semitones |
3xx | tone portamento to the note (300 continues; stops at the target) | E4x / E7x | vibrato / tremolo waveform 0 sine, 1 ramp down, 2 square; +4 = no retrigger |
4xy | vibrato speed x depth y | E5x | finetune (with a note) |
5xy / 6xy | tone portamento / vibrato + volume slide | E60 / E6x | loop start / loop x times (bug: the next pattern starts at the loop row — end with D00) |
7xy | tremolo | E9x | retrigger every x ticks |
8xx | pan 00 left – FF right (reset by the next instrument's default pan) | EAx / EBx | fine volume up / down |
9xx | sample offset × $100 (samples < 64 KB) | ECx | note cut ("only set the volume to zero") |
Axy | volume slide up x / down y ("one of the data fields must be 0") | EDx | note delay x ticks |
Bxx | jump to song position | EEx | pattern delay x rows |
Cxx | volume 00–40 | Gxx / Hxy | global volume / slide |
Dxx | pattern break to position xx (hex; OpenMPT: stay ≤ 3F) | Kxx | key off after xx ticks |
Lxx | set envelope position | Pxy | pan slide right x / left y |
Rxy | multi-retrig every x with volume change y (1 −1 … 5 −16, 6 ×⅔, 7 ×½, 9 +1 … D +16, E ×3/2, F ×2; "very buggy") | Txy | tremor on x / off y ("for STM compatibility") |
X1x / X2x | extra-fine portamento (speed ÷ 4) | E0x | Amiga filter — "not implemented … totally useless" |
(sources: s-ft2-manual, s-openmpt-manual-effect-reference, s-openmpt-manual-compatible-playback)
Volume column#
00–40 volume · +x / -x slide up / down · Ux / Dx fine up / down · Sx vibrato speed · Vx vibrato · Px pan · Rx / Lx pan slide right / left · Mx tone portamento (source: s-ft2-manual).
Instruments and samples#
An instrument = 1 volume envelope, 1 panning envelope, 1 auto-vibrato, 1–16 samples, 1 keyboard split, 1 MIDI definition; a sample = volume, panning, finetune (−128…+127, audible in steps of 8), relative tone, waveform. Envelopes: one pixel = one tick (50 per second at 125 BPM), a sustain point holds until key-off (Caps Lock), then fadeout; predefine 1 is applied to every loaded sample; turning the envelope off leaves the vibrato on. Sample editor: X-Fade (smooth loops), Minimise, 8/16-bit, Backwards, Convert, Echo, Morph, Resample, Mix, draw mode (right mouse button); copy/paste masks with transparency. Main screen: BPM, Spd, Add, pattern length up to $100, Expand/Shrink (source: s-ft2-manual; see instrument-envelopes, multisampling).
Keys#
F1–F7 octave · Right Ctrl play song, Alt Gr play pattern, Right Shift record, Space stop/edit · Shift/Alt/Ctrl+F3/F4/F5 cut/copy/paste track/pattern/block · Shift/Ctrl/Alt+F7/F8 and F1/F2 transposes · Ctrl+A advanced edit, C config, D disk, I instrument editor, S sample editor, E sample editor extension, T transpose, X main screen, Z full-screen edit · keypad picks instruments · Alt+1…0 write and Shift+Alt+1…0 read command macros (source: s-ft2-manual).
Known traps#
Amiga L-R-R-L stereo must be typed as P0/PF per channel ("That's very boring!"); MOD saving fails with the linear table or envelopes; no random LFO waveform; note delay and retrigger interact strangely; period slides can wrap to a very high note (sources: s-ft2-manual, s-openmpt-manual-compatible-playback). And the .MOD it does save cannot be trusted on an Amiga compo machine: it can write 32-channel .MOD (Psibelius), it gives no warning, and a friend of zalt's entered a chiptune whose sixth-octave notes "all became Bs in the 5th" and placed last — both wished for a real Amiga ProTracker on the PC (December 1995; source: s-tw040-interview-zalt; see mod-format).
Techniques
Multisampling and drum-kit instruments › FastTracker 2 #
An instrument holds 1–16 samples with a key split "drawn" on the piano keyboard; each sample has its own volume, pan, finetune and relative tone; the FAQ warns that the instrument, not the sample, is what carries envelopes (source: s-ft2-manual).