Asterion Sid Tracker
A native C64 tracker by Asterion of the group Tinnitus, version 1.0 released in 2004 on a disk with the editor and its instructions, a packer/relocator and example tunes. Everything sits on one screen (only 8 pattern rows visible); an instrument is a 13-field sound table entry pointing into independent wave and arpeggio macro tables with their own speed, and a pattern step carries a note and one effect byte — the instrument number is an effect too. Stefano Tognon reviewed it in sidin #6: "a good tracker with all you need that stays compacted in a screen!" (source: s-sidin06-asterion-sid-tracker).
Facts#
- Tracker-style, "similar for examples to Goattracker, Cybertracker" (goattracker), with an intro (Halloween theme, scroller about the editor and Tinnitus) before the main screen (source: s-sidin06-asterion-sid-tracker).
- Strength: the separate wave and arpeggio tables "are very powerful"; weakness: disk handling limited to
SHIFT+L,SHIFT+SandF8(source: s-sidin06-asterion-sid-tracker). - An effect stays active until the next one on the same voice, so it need not be repeated per row (source: s-sidin06-asterion-sid-tracker).
Cheat sheet#
From s-sidin06-asterion-sid-tracker.
Keys: F3 sound table · F6 middle screen (macro positions for 9x/Ax) · Track&Macros screen for tracks and the WAV/ARP tables · SHIFT+L load · SHIFT+S save · F8 directory.
Sound table (one instrument; instrument-tables):
| field | meaning |
|---|---|
A/D, S/R | attack/decay, sustain/release (adsr-envelope) |
WAV | start position in the wave macro table |
ARP | start position in the arpeggio macro table |
WAS | wave / arpeggio execution speed (separate for the two) |
VDE | vibrato delay |
VDS | vibrato depth / speed (vibrato) |
PWM | pulse starting speed |
PLM | pulse lower / upper limit (pulse-width-modulation) |
SCP | cutoff / pulse speed |
MCP | multi-cutoff / multiple speed (its nibbles also decide how Bx/Cx behave) |
FCT | filter starting cutoff |
FLM | filter lower / upper limit (filter-programming) |
R/T | resonance; filter type 1 2 4; 8 = hard restart on/off (hard-restart) |
Macro tables (WAV = control-register values, ARP = value added to the note; wavetable-programming, chord-arpeggio): ARP entries $00–$7F relative, $80–$DF absolute, $E0 "skydrive"; $FE ends the macro; $FF loops to the position in the next byte. The two tables run independently at their WAS speeds.
| WAV → 30, ARP → 32 | WAV → 20, ARP → 20 |
|---|---|
30: 41 00 | 20: 41 00 |
31: 21 00 | 21: FE 0C |
32: FE FE | 22: 00 FF |
$41 then $21 at the same pitch | 23: 00 20 — an octave arpeggio (00, 0C looping) under a single $41 |
Tracks (three columns; orderlist): $01–$7F pattern number · $80–$FE transpose the following pattern ("C0-middle"; Tognon reads 8C as +$0C) · $FF n loop to position n.
Pattern effects (one byte per step):
| effect | meaning |
|---|---|
00 | none |
0x–1x | instrument (restarts the ADSR values) |
2x | 1 tie note · 2 sync · 4 ring modulation · 8 no pulse restart |
3x | portamento to the note at speed x (pitch-slide-and-portamento) |
4x | vibrato depth x at the VDS speed (0 = VDS depth) |
5x / 6x / 7x / 8x | attack / decay / sustain / release |
9x | run the wave macro from index x (0 = normal) |
Ax | run the arpeggio macro from index x (0 = normal) |
Bx | pulse: 0 = instrument LFO; MCP low nibble 0 → absolute pulse (x = pulse MSB), else x = second pulse value |
Cx | cutoff: 0 = instrument LFO; MCP high nibble 0 → absolute cutoff (x = cutoff MSB), else x = second cutoff value |
Dx | volume (default F) — fades |
Ex | filter type 1 low · 2 band · 4 high · 8 no cutoff restart |
Fx | tempo: 0 stop · 1–E tempo · F end of pattern for all tracks |
Related#
tracker · goattracker · sid-wizard · instrument-tables · wavetable-programming · chord-arpeggio · sidin · tracker-scene-history