TW #98 — Impulse Tracker Investment (Pulse)
jeffrey-lim on why he wrote and released impulse-tracker, and on being abused for asking US$30 for the stereo WAV writer.
Key claims#
- The stereo
ITWAV.DRV— "high-quality, noiseless WAV file recordings of modules", meant for burning audio CDs — is not in the general package; he asks US$30 for non-profit use, and some replies were obscene ("30$ my asssss") while warez copies circulated. - IT "was created because I track. Not because YOU track, not because Necros wanted a ST3 interface with more advanced features"; it was released out of pride, "as a program that you could use freely, without any shareware or crippleware restrictions". Alternatives that existed: PolyTracker (The Rew/Nostalgia, Vic/ACME) and Imago Orpheus ("FT2-featured tracker with a ST3 interface").
- He put "easily over 1500 hours, probably closer to 2000" into it; hobby use is fine, but when someone is paid for songs made with IT he feels entitled to a share. He quotes Velvet Studio's help file ("try to convince a car salesman to give away a Ferrari for free").
- Announcement: "IT213 will be the very final public release" with new features — only bug fixes and sound-card drivers after it; "I used to envy how Psi so neatly avoided any sort of responsibility for ST3. Now, I will be able to join him." An IT213 preview fixing IT212's EMS stability problems was at citenet.net/noise/it.
Practical takeaways#
The mono WAV driver ships with IT; the stereo one was a paid extra — the reason 1997 CD compilations of IT songs were rendered with it (Zinc's DIY-loop trick in #96 uses the driver too).
Notable quotes#
- "Impulse Tracker is my work of art."
- "People want everything but are not willing to give anything."
Relevance#
Primary-source history for impulse-tracker and jeffrey-lim: the freeware philosophy, the effort, the 2.13 "final" announcement (2.14 followed on 1997-09-02 all the same — see s-tracker-history-notes).