TW #72 — Composing Whole Modules (Sir Nick / Deck Blasters)

A tracker of six years (Scream Tracker 2.25, several scream-tracker-3 versions, then impulse-tracker) argues that editing music "in blocks of only few bars" makes tracked tunes monotonous.

Key claims#

• Every tracker deals with note data in short pattern blocks, and "this feature of the trackers seems to affect the structure of tracked tunes quite heavily".
• The default formula it produces: copy one pattern over and over with minor modifications — intro of random noise or the plain chords/drums, instruments filling in "during the next couple of orders", a few orders of "maximum mayhem", the same pattern without drums in the middle, a long snare fill, back to the original, "then the same pattern raised by whole step etc." — "Sounds monotonous? Precisely!"
• Example: an Abduction '96 compo entry opened with a beautifully composed four-bar piano part, then repeated those four bars for the whole song; four more bars of real material before repeating would have put it in his top five.
• Remedy: "pay more attention to the overall layout"; work out "a chord diagram or some kind of structure plan before getting on with the actual tracking" (techno excepted, jokingly).
• Tool problem: a chord progression spanning two patterns is painful to edit pattern by pattern; he floats a MIDI-like module format and admits a tracker/player for it would be harder to write.

Practical takeaways#

• Sketch the whole form (sections, chord diagram) before entering notes; do not let the pattern length dictate the phrase length.
• Extend the material: if a 4-bar idea is good, write the next 4 bars before looping it.
• Beware the stock arc (build-up → mayhem → drumless breakdown → snare fill → transpose up a step) — it is the sound of editing by copy-paste.

Notable quotes#

• "The patterns were absolutely magnificent, yet I couldn't get the song in whole work."
• "Maybe we should pay more attention to the overall layout of our tunes."

Relevance#

Direct input for arrangement (plan the form; the copy-paste arc) and for the orderlist page (patterns versus phrases).

Pages touched#

arrangement, orderlist (via notes), tracking-workflow (via notes), melody-writing.