Scream Tracker 3.2 User's Manual (ST3.DOC)

The manual of scream-tracker-3, written by Kalle Kaivola ("Edge") for "those who have worked with similar programs before" — a musician, "not a coder". Four chapters: introduction, a brief guide with the complete effect list, the interface screen by screen (F1 orders and variables, F2 pattern editor, F3 instruments, F4 library, F5 info, global keys), and miscellany on saving Amiga MODs and AdLib FM songs.

Key claims#

• What it is: composes modules of digital and FM instruments; up to 16 digital channels and 9 FM channels; loads MOD (incl. FastTracker 6/8-channel), OKT, STM and S3M, saves only S3M and MOD. Needs a 386SX, VGA, a Sound Blaster / SB Pro / GUS; samples live in EMS, patterns below 640 k; freeware; no mouse "since it wouldn't really be convenient in this style of tracker".
• Samples: 8-bit, 1–64000 bytes (larger ones are cut), loop begin/end, default volume, C4Spd = the frequency played at C-4 (default 8363; +/- doubles or halves it, * resets, / asks which note should sound at C-4). Note the manual's C-4 is ST3's middle C; TECH.DOC explains the "C2SPD" name (s-st3-tech-doc).
• Patterns: up to 32 columns × 64 rows, cell = note · instrument · volume · effect · infobyte, e.g. C#4 04 25 H81; up to 100 patterns, 255 orders. Effect memory: H00, D00, E00, F00, G00, I00, J00, K00, L00, Q00 reuse the previous infobyte.
• Effects (§2.4): Axx speed 1–FF (default 6); Bxx jump to order (hex); Cxx break to row xx decimal; D0y/Dx0 volume slide — "(speed−1) × y", D04 at speed 8 drops 28; DFy/DxF fine (once per row, speed-independent; DFF slides up); Exx/Fxx pitch down/up (00–DF), EFx/FFx fine, EEx/FEx extra fine "four times more accurate"; Gxx tone portamento; Hxy vibrato; Ixy tremor (not ProTracker — dropped when saving MOD); Jxy arpeggio "50 times per second … Old users of the Commodore 64 remember this effect" (J37 = C minor); Kxy = H00 + Dxy, Lxy = G00 + Dxy (no fine slides) with a worked example ending "at speed 6, the volume would end up being 13"; Oxy offset × 256 (loop-aware; the example song makes a hi-hat from the end of a snare); Qxy retrigger every y frames with volume table (0 none, 1–5 −1/−2/−4/−8/−16, 6 ⅔, 7 ½, 8 "?", 9–D +1…+16, E 3/2, F 2×), Q72 at speed 8 = 64, 32, 16, 8; Rxy tremolo; Uxy fine vibrato (4× finer, for high notes); S0x Amiga filter (not implemented); S1x glissando; S2x finetune = C4Spd table 7895–8757 Hz (8 = 8363 = none), kept only for ProTracker compatibility; S3x/S4x vibrato/tremolo waveform (0 sine, 1 ramp down, 2 square, 3 random); S8x pan 0–F — new in 3.2, "only works on a GUS"; SAx old stereo control (only Future Crew's Panic soundtrack uses it); SB0/SBx pattern loop (never across patterns); SCx note cut, SDx note delay, SEx pattern delay ("without triggering the notes again but applying the effects"); SFx funk repeat (not implemented); Txx tempo 20–FF, default 7D = 125; Vxx global volume 0–40. Left out from ProTracker: set filter and funk repeat.
• Global variables (F1): tempo, speed ({/} from the editor), global volume, master volume (SB oversampling), "volume 0 opt." (stop silent looped notes), Force Amiga limits (octaves 3–5), Mod Edit Mode (non-MOD data in red), Fast volslides (ST 3.0's per-frame slides, auto-enabled for files older than 3.2), Ultraclick removal (GUS), stereo. Channels L1–L8 / R1–R8 and A1–A9 (AdLib), default pan per channel (GUS).
• Pattern editor: piano keys on two rows, . clears, base octave *//, an edit mask (, toggles whether volume/effect follow a note), skip value Alt-1…8, chord mode (Alt-Z…M enters preset chords across channels — "Sus4 C F G"), default-note playing Shift-Q…L for drum lines, polychannel mode Alt-N. Rows between bars Ctrl-1…9/Ctrl-B for 3/4 ("adjust the pattern break … at row 47"). Undo Ctrl-Backspace, block commands Alt-D/B/E/L/U/C/P/M/H/Y/Z/X/Q/A/V/W/S/I/J/F/G/K — Alt-M mixes for echoes (skip 2, copy, Alt-J × ⅔, insert a row, mix), Alt-I/Alt-J volume × 3/2 or 2/3, Alt-F/Alt-G double/halve, Alt-K slides the volume column between the block ends.
• Instrument list: Alt-M maximises like Digiplayer, Alt-X/Alt-S exchange/swap samples, Alt-A flips Amiga/PC sample type, Alt-V shows a sample as text (for hidden greetings), Alt-O saves with the ST header.
• MOD export (§4.1): three octaves (ST 3–5 = Amiga 1–3, C-3–B-5), no volume column (Set Volume instead — "you can't have both a volume and an effect on the same row"), finetune approximated from C4Spd, 128 orders, 64 patterns (100 in an extended MOD many players reject), 31 instruments, no extra-fine slides or fine vibrato, speeds ≥ 20h only, retrig loses its volume slide. AdLib (§4.2): A in the sample-type column makes an FM instrument; 1 enters the AdLib note-off; Skaven's example S3M.
• Thanks: Jonne Valtonen, Peter Hajba, Simo Paakkanen, Lassi Nikko, Markus Mäki, Antti Savolainen.

Practical takeaways#

The S3M effect set is the one IT inherited, with two traps: the shared effect memory and decimal rows in Cxx; Dxy moves "(speed−1) × y" per row, so slide values are speed-dependent. Chip-style tricks in the manual itself: Jxy arpeggios on "clear or tight-looped (chip) instruments", Oxy hi-hats from a snare tail, Alt-M/Alt-J echoes.

Notable quotes#

"It is best to use it with clear or tight-looped (chip) instruments. Old users of the Commodore 64 remember this effect which was used to make chords."

Pages touched#

scream-tracker-3 · s3m-format · chord-arpeggio · volume-slides · pitch-slide-and-portamento · vibrato · retrigger · sample-offset · fake-echo · stereo-panning · song-init-and-looping · detune · tracker · mod-format · opl-fm-instruments · effect-command-crosswalk · sample-looping · levels-and-headroom