NitroTracker

NitroTracker
General
Author	0xtob
Type	Music Apps
Version	0.4
License	Mixed
Last Updated	2008/07/10
Links
Download
Website
Source

NitroTracker is a FastTracker II style tracker for the Nintendo DS. If you didn't understand that, you might want to read up on trackers. For starters, NitroTracker is a versatile tool for creating music - everywhere. It supports the popular XM file format that is used by many PC trackers and that can be played on many PC audio players such as Winamp or XMMS.

It was submitted to the NEO Spring Coding Compo 2006 (NDS Apps, 1st place). In 2009, it was voted as one of the top 20 DS homebrews.

Features

• Composing with the stylus using an on-screen keyboard.
• Selecting, copying and pasting with the stylus.
• Loading and saving XM modules (no effects yet).
• Loading and saving WAV samples (any sampling rate, 8 or 16 bit).
• Recording samples with the DS's built-in microphone.
• Editing samples (cut, fade, reverse).
• Forward and ping-pong loops.
• Volume envelopes for instruments.
• Multiple samples per instrument that can be mapped to keyboard keys.
• MIDI integration via DSMI.
• 16 hardware channels.
• Standby mode when the DS is closed.
• Support for nearly all DS card adapters.

Installation

Requirements

• A Nintendo DS.
• A card adapter compatible with homebrew (recommend Slot-1 cards).
• A memory card (usually MicroSD).

Patch NitroTracker.nds with the DLDI patch for your card.

Then, copy NitroTracker and some music and samples (XMs and/or WAVs) to any folder of your memory card and start tracking.

User guide

With NitroTracker, you can carry your XMs around in your DS and compose whenever and wherever you feel like it.

Compose your melodies using an on-screen keyboard, directly edit your patterns by making selections, copying and pasting - all with the stylus. And that's not where it ends: If you don't have any samples at hand, make your own with the DS's microphone. You can even replace the samples in existing songs with your own recorded ones. There are many possibilities already and there will be even more.

The documentation with tutorials is available from the official site. You can learn how to tune your instruments and apply volume envelopes and how to hook up the DS to MIDI.

List of resources for samples and music.

Controls

D-Pad - Scroll in the pattern

B - Accelerate vertical scrolling

Start - Start/pause playback

Select - Stops playback

X/L - Flip the screens

R+Up/Down - Scroll to the beginning/end of the pattern

Lid - (close) Enter standby mode, (open) Leave standby mode

Start+Select - Reset DS

Screenshots

Compatibility

Tested and works on:

GBAMP v2 CF (.nds)
SuperCard CF (.gba.nds)
SuperCard SD (.gba.nds)
SuperCard miniSD (.gba.nds)
SuperCard lite (.gba.nds)
SuperCard Lite Rumble (.nds, launch through DSOrganize)
M3 CF (.nds)
M3 SD (.nds)
M3 miniSD v1 (.nds)
M3 Lite/M3 Lite perfect (.nds)
Max Media Launcher/Dock (.nds)
M3 Simply (Slot 1) (.nds)
M3 DS Real (Slot 1) (.nds)
EZ4 lite (rename .nds to .ds.gba)
EZ5 (.nds)
NinjaDS (.nds)
R4DS (.nds)
SuperCard DS One (Slot 1) (.nds)
DS-Xtreme (.nds)
SuperCard DS One (Slot 1) (.nds)
Edge (.nds)

Credits

• NitroTracker beta testers: alienspurm, andars, atomtwist, Biiaru, chrislody, grobsen, Ignatzthemouse, infradead, Jono-60, license, lotlemmwax, nitro2k01, nonfinite, parkstenator, reSet, Shagbat, silent_code, spielor, totoee, Vengeful Parasite, willgripp.
• joat, dovoto and WinterMute for libnds and DevkitPro.
• chishm for the universal FAT library.
• sgstair for the incredible wifi lib.
• Headspin for the great on-screen typewriter design.
• doublec for his ds development tutorials that got me started with DS coding.
• Martin Korth for the incredible gbatek reference and the no$gba emulator.
• Friends in #dsdev for patiently answering my questions.
• starpause for providing the samples used in the tutorial.
• Michael Krause for the open source SoundTracker, that was a great help with the XM format.
• Last but not least: Vogue and Mr.H of Triton for Fasttracker II, the tracker that NitroTracker was designed after.

External links

• Official website - http://nitrotracker.tobw.net
• GitHub - https://github.com/0xtob/nitrotracker