More Underrated 90s Tracker Music

[@CZpersi]

Back in the early 1990s, my father somehow hooked-up a radio receiver to our 286 PC via serial port to play tracker music without the need for a sound card (which were extremely rare back then). Until today, I do not know, how he did it exactly, but I remember listening to this fascinating music for hours, hypnotized by the tracker data running on screen.

[@Domarius64]

Man that sounds like some serious Doc Brown stuff there...

[@JohnTitor_0]

he probably made a lpt dac

[@Domarius64]

@@JohnTitor_0 but what software would output sound out of the LPT?

[@gengraded]

@@JohnTitor_0 The John Titor from the future?

[@JohnTitor_0]

@@Domarius64 fast tracker 2 and several other dos trackers, there were tons of older pc's without sound cards afterall. some dos games supported lpt dacs for sound as well, nowadays there's even things like adlib over lpt, with opl2lpt. windows 3 even had a driver to playback wave audio over pc speaker, horribly though.

[@jamescpalmer]

This software was how the entirety of the Unreal Tournament and Deus Ex soundtracks (Same engine) were made. Anything in Unreal Engine back in the day, it was more efficient to run the music through this stuff. I remember downloading a Winamp plugin that enabled me to drag and drop the unreal tournament music into Winamp, I use to zone to that shit while doing design work when I was about 13-14 years old. There was nothing in the world like that soundtrack back in the day. Amazing stuff.

[@Olus_Cerberon]

I just imagine some of these tracks to be the ost to another Unreal adventure. Would be awesome

[@Hidden_Egg]

Please release more of these. These artists need more recognition.

[@JurekOK]

sadly, there can only be so many "best of the best" pieces. The rest of them . . . may be "somewhat OK"

[@douggale5962]

Brings back good memories of implementing a MOD player on my 80286. I made a TSR in assembly language that played MOD files in the background,, spaming the CPU to death with timer IRQs to send PWM samples to the PC speaker. It sounded a bit awful by today's standards, but was amazing coming from a VIC 20, to PC XT, then AT. IRQ latency was incredibly good back then. Sluggishly printing "dir" output while mixing digital music was heartwarming. Multitasking!!!

[@alexna6129]

You speaking in black magic..

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

That's utter madness. I wonder if someone ever managed to bridge a Commodore PAULA to the ISA bus, and save having to do all that kerfuffle.

[@nerdsbain8019]

it's crazy that the tunes these dudes made are still inspiring new music, they were pioneers

[@shaqm0bile]

Jellyfish had strong Unreal vibes and Cosmic Compressor could have been a missing Deus Ex track. I cant seem to find much more from Narfy. Is he still making music?

[@unfunf22]

i had the same thought and thought damn this sounds like an unreal soundtrack.

[@shaqm0bile]

@@unfunf22 i know right? it slaps. wanted to see if i could find more. :(

[@hobbified]

I thought Jellyfish sounded like something of Skaven's. Either way it's fun.

[@alr6435]

@@如來-c3l Yo google search "textfiles narfy" takes you straight to a page that lets you download songs (seemed safe to me) there's some really cool stuff from other artists here as well hope this finds you well brother EDIT: fear is such a tune

[@trackermusicforever]

He has another great song Lascivious Latency, can be found here among others: artscene.textfiles.com/music/mods/IT/MODLAND/Narfy/

[@saulmighty]

Just watching the note visualizations was so hypnotic and awesome. You could learn music by actually seeing all the notes. Can you imagine if nowadays, when someone was releasing a new track, they exported their whole Protools project for everyone to download? That's how it was back then, when the whole project took less space than the compressed mp3.

[@humanbeing_]

It would be great if you'd link the original files for all these songs. [EDIT] Or source references. I'm sure I can find them by doing a web search. But the majority of what you post in these mixes are fantastic tunes, so I prefer to download the originals myself to have for my personal collection :)

[@trackermusicforever]

Good idea, I'll get that posted in the description ASAP. Thanks

[@dchardin1]

@@trackermusicforever I completely missed out on this scene from my youth in the 90's. I can't wait to catch up now! I'm researching how I might be able to emulate some of these trackers on my modern system.

[@djr3verse]

Very nice stuff. The Schism Tracker in the bg really sets the retro mood. Also, pozdrowienia dla Wrocławia :]

[@MickGardner-vc4us]

you are from Scorpik's hometown? thats awesome!

[@djr3verse]

@@MickGardner-vc4us Not really but i live close to Wrocław

[@MickGardner-vc4us]

@@djr3verse That's awesome! Wish you good health and success in your endeavours!

[@Eye_Exist]

as someone who grew up playing early 90's games this type of music grew to my music taste. music can also be of how much you can say with how little. 3 tracks into this and i'm loving it.

[@davidm4677]

It's so Amiga music would fit in to video games perfectly.

[@NeuroTattoo]

ооооооох ностальгияяяя!!!! 97-98 года, мои первые шаги в цифровой музыке))))) Импульс Трекер)))

[@untrust2033]

Blown away by that first one...

[@shaneverwey4447]

The Matrix has you

[@reality2728]

It has you, too. Don't forget that...

[@el10leo]

Cosmic Eclipse - Southern Aurora is clearly influenced by Twin Peaks intro and I love it for that!!

[@PootisMayo]

Narfy did quite a sweet job with Jellyfish, I wasn't expecting the tempo change of that song towards the end.

[@AshleyKampta2]

Sounds like something that would have fit quite nicely in Unreal Tournament 99 if the lead instrument quality were a little better... it sounds like it was inspired by Michiel van den Bos or Alex Brandon's work.

[@PootisMayo]

@@AshleyKampta2 Couldn't agree more.

[@whoopitydo-da9530]

This part makes the song come together so well, I love it!

[@LordsofMedia]

Prodigy song.

[@FlexoShootFlexo]

Before mp3s were a thing, there was tracker music. And it was glorious - no copyrights, no "stealing" no accusations - just amazing music that could fit on a floppy with a bunch more amazing music. For those who knew, s3ms were mp3s before mp3s were mp3s.

[@b.e.e.k.e.r9812]

😃 - well I'd say, thats half the truth - .MODs (later s3ms) were technically totally different from MP3s - MP3 format was later invented - in order to compress the too large digital data from audio CDs. MODs in contrast, were files which contained a whole musical composition, including the instruments and were played back in realtime by the computers back in the day...those computers back then didn't even have the capability/power to even decode an MP3 in realtime,not to mention doing anything additional at the same time...good old days of pioneering 😋 - just my 2 cents HAVE A HEALTHY 2024 y'all from back then ;-)

[@FlexoShootFlexo]

@@b.e.e.k.e.r9812 hence how they fit in a smaller amount of space, of course. instead of all-digital audio, they contained notes, samples and other metadata. the players would vary pitch and other characteristics, overlay the different tracks, and play the final product. to oversimplify, mods were MIDI files with sample data.

[@SnarkyComments]

Yeah provided you had all the sample disks.....

[@b.e.e.k.e.r9812]

​@@SnarkyComments - well the mods included the samples needed 😇

[@awii.neocities]

not really. S3Ms were MIDIs but actually good.

[@Pēm̐cā]

This sounds like an album I would love to own and play when I'm driving at night time to go to a far place.

[@captainotto]

Reminds me of the old Sega game, Road Rash. Just keep officer Omalley out of my way or I'll take that stick and beat him again.

[@Pēm̐cā]

@@captainottoI think a relaistic vr road rash remaster would be cool man

[@BrentlyTV]

to bury the bodies

[@mr_b_hhc]

a high, faraway place, certainly.

[@mr_b_hhc]

@@BrentlyTV separations of ID and ego can get you like that, just bury the correct one.

[@Andruth34]

Being born in 92, I feel like I missed out on something very special with this scene. At least with the modern internet, nothing truly dies, and we get to be here enjoying this wonderful art together in 2023.

[@Dishs]

Thank u demo scene for giving me these type of beats as a kid while installing cracked games ! The hype was very real :D

[@jeremywhetzel3273]

Oh man! That Opinash track brings back memories! I had the "Tears Run Down" version on repeat back around 1998 or 1999, which is the one that has voice samples through it.

[@Mordi]

Excellent. I'm always looking for tracker music gems. More recommendations of more or less underrated ones: Radix & Scorpik - True (xm) Radix & Loonie - Saskatchewan (xm) Beat - Mind of a Dreamer (xm) Beat - What's the Catch? (xm) Disphunkt - Return of Starfleet One (xm) Teque - JarJari (xm) Teque - Moscow Mutation (xm) Crystal Score - Astral Blur (it) Virt - Flowerguy's Pool Party (it) Virt - Nightfall over the city (it) Anvil - Path to Nowhere (xm) Jogeir Liljedahl - Ideana (xm)

[@nathanlewis8692]

I've never heard any of these tunes before. But don't tell that to my brain's nostalgia meter.

[@Heike--]

Cleaning my house to this music, it's perfect

[@Domarius64]

27:32 "darkhalo - cosmic compressor" - this is literally Unreal engine style music :) From the Unreal / Deus Ex era.

[@yuriyvasilyev2453]

Эх, молодость, молодость...

[@Rocksaplenty]

This video you made changed the whole mood of my evening! If you like putting these together, please keep doing it!

[@Matt.Walker]

omg i remember making my first tunes like this for unreal tournament back in the day. everyone that joined our server would have received them but i doubt many copies have survived to this day i dont even have copies myself which is a shame , . i had forgot all about trackers must be over 20 years since i used one great vid

[@mybachhertzbaud3074]

IMHO, All the very best music in the 90's was hiding online in Mods etc. 😁🎶🎹🎵 Play On

[@DaemionBlackFire]

I remember downloading midi tracks just to expand my music taste back in the 80s and 90s and help me get more creative with my Korg. This is the stuff that got me into industrial music, which I still listen to.

[@blackshard641]

Cyclone Panacea gave me serious flashbacks. I totally remember playing that one back in the late 90's.

[@markishome359]

Oh my god I'm hearing it for the first time right now and it's SO GOOD

[@nummer333]

I vividly remember hearing ‚clone it‘ back in the day and it blew me away ☺️ still does today 👍🏼

[@bluekai9577]

Wow. Yeah there’s something special about that one.

[@TR-707]

looking back and looking at this now (after becoming a pro electronic musician hah) this still feels like the most efficient and interesting format and idea for music sharing/music creation. ok maybe maybe the music creation part isn't for everyone but you can even hook up outboard midi gear and whatever and make it a bit more hands on and easier. Not everyone sat there punching in numbers. but yeah, so cool to have tiny files that you can easily remix and play back in parts, different speed, etc. Total clusterf with vsts, max4live devices, etc nowadays

[@RedCLR]

Where could I find your music?

[@Gent82]

Is this Impulse Tracker? That's one I had. The tracker that seemed to have most credibility though was Fast Tracker 2. At least that's what the happy hardcore .XMs I downloaded from BBS were made in.

[@johnbarger3651]

I love this channel! Do you take suggestions? I have some old underrated xm files from DEE and others I would like to see you play on your channel.

[@westerncivilization]

do you remember holy ghost?

[@trackermusicforever]

Yes, I'm open to suggestions! Post 'em here if you like, or, I created a Discord server with a suggestions channel discord.gg/dhc3xApywF

[@teodorbogdan]

Does anybody knows where I could find any more of Scorpik's music? Really love his tune but I have trouble finding more of them

[@trackermusicforever]

Here is a link to modarchive searching for "scorpik". probably not every one of these is scorpik but many of them are. "fife" is a great one. modarchive.org/index.php?query=scorpik&submit=Find&request=search&search_type=guessed_artist

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

This primarily reminds me that I should get an ADC for my big 8-core 64-bit PC and sample my Yamaha PSS-580 piano while playing some chords. Then downsample to 8-bit linear PCM at the appropriate sample rate (or maybe double or half of it, for octave transposing instruments) and see what I can put together working within the limits of ProTracker's file format.

[@sickleandsuckle]

Killer track to start with!!!

[@AtomkeySinclair]

Where did you find the old 640x480 sized program? It looks like something in a goofy mcga/vga dos window or maybe commodore/amiga. Anyway - great content, and subbed...

[@trackermusicforever]

Thank you! I’m using Schism Tracker, and that is how it looks in windowed mode on my computer

[@rxmoutonmouton5595]

I had forgotten about .mod files. Thank you for this memory.

[@MoctorDac]

ah lads I think I found my new favourite channel >:^]

[@sandrodellisanti1139]

Ciao, i've started to compose tracker music in 1989 on my amiga 500 with protracker, later in the early 90s with oktalyzer..many greetings from Brunswick in Germany..

[@majmage]

Great playlist! I wish KZbin surfaced public playlists, because I'd love to be recommended full public playlists like this but then have the option of adding individual songs to my own custom playlist. One video per song would also mean you could copy/paste the Instruments list into the description of the video (since that's usually where all the credits/thanks were put by the musician). Also interesting that it's all artists I haven't heard before (with the exception of Virt).

[@trackermusicforever]

I agree, I would like to show the sample/instrument text, but then I would have to navigate away from the visuals. Maybe I'll make individual videos for them

[@GamePlayShare]

I love tracker music.

[@brendenconey541]

Is there anywhere I can download these songs, especially Counterpoint 2.0? I really love that one.

[@DBagg-zz4ip]

look up Matt McLellan Counterpoint

[@opalpersonal]

the guitars in field day sound incredible- i'd be very curious to learn how the sounds were created and manipulated to sound so real!

[@einokeskitalo3217]

It's sampled actual playing.

[@Symmetriad]

O HAI Always love seeing old tracker stuff around. Thanks for the upload!

[@trackermusicforever]

Oh hai!!! Thanks for checking it out!

[@elecdool]

These songs are... just... so refreshing.

[@sevinPackage]

Nice collection! Obscure is right - the only song I heard before from this set was by hunz, and I'm surprised I hadn't heard the track from fellow FM member, mellow-d.

[@jaysistar2711]

SunVox is the most modern tracker. DAWs may be better, but for the old school composers it works well.

[@marcussmiler3500]

I don't know how I get there but this stuff is mesmerizing. 13:30 - what this track was released in 90s?! Perfection, majority of mainstream music nowadays can't even come close by to this track. Anyway Skorpik and next darkhalo - what a contrast!?

[@Domarius64]

Thank you for this, we're at the point where it was sorely needed - to many "best of" lists and you keep hearing the same songs, but there is so much awesome stuff out there and I'm glad you dug it up!

[@trackermusicforever]

There really is! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@armandoaranda7989]

Was this music resource intensive for the late 80's/early 90's? Otherwise it seems like a real missed opportunity not to use this method in consoles or pc games of the era. To my ear it sounds so much better than the vast majority of snes/genesis/pc midi music.

[@joeltarnabene5026]

Yea. You basically had 640kb memory to work with in that era. So using high quality samples like this would probably too intensive while still having a playable game. Some games still used it. But it was a bit later. The pinball games from digital illusions (which later became DICE) from the early 90s comes to mind. But their sample quality was a bit lower.

[@spacefolder]

This is how snes super nintendo music works :)

[@neonvoid]

Pretty good 25:15 scorpik - field-day never heard before

[@DenSvartaStjarnan]

As someone born in '99 I'm really lost on how music trackers work and who used/uses them. But this gives me strong browser flash game vibes.

[@santitabnavascues8673]

Unironically, the only difference between this music and the music you may hear today is the style! Trackers work adding sound samples fragments to synthesize a wave that is fed to the sound card which plays it, that hasn't changed, the difference is the source of the samples be it prerrecorded sounds, or perhaps function waves, being these what normally produce chip tune sounds. Waves occupy less space than samples, thus this style is also caused by those limitations.

[@DenSvartaStjarnan]

@@santitabnavascues8673 So not that different from how the VSTs in Logic work!

[@MrCantStopTheRobot]

Thank you for explaining

[@alexlimi]

I highly recommend Ahoy’s short documentary on the subject: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qKClnJpjnrWlmNk

[@orangeracoon4081]

The Tracker Music will always be a legendary music for me truly

[@nutzeeer]

this music is vibin. With technology changing so fast its difficult to even play old digital formats without finding obscure old software first. Well actually not that old but times are changing so fast...

[@bjorns1135]

No one ever underrated virt ;) great stuff!

[@udance4ever]

this first track is a banger! love watching the L/R surround pan visual w headphones on 🎧

[@lecercledelorbitegalactique]

lovely zik

[@retro_black421]

What's the Software or is it an OS I can't find it anywhere mainly because I know nothing about but I want it so bad

[@trackermusicforever]

It’s called Schism Tracker

[@retro_black421]

@@trackermusicforever thank you so much

[@digitalbeat666]

My music in 90s was so underground only my relatives knew it exists

[@SMJSmoK]

Damn, Counterpoint 2.0 is pure distilled epicness!

[@wardrich]

4:12 whoa, this is the first time I've heard this tune outside of the Mod archive. Loved this song back in the day. [EDIT] I just realized this is an instrumental version... The one on the Mod Archive has a vocal track

[@Jakim_]

Scorpik - Field-day is an instant mood-changer.

[@pralkatv3485]

I know many songs of Scorpik excluding this one. I think it must be early one.

[@mr_b_hhc]

Cosmic Eclipse - Southern Aurora does something very specific to my soul.

[@saulmighty]

Anything by Hunz, mellow-d, darkhalo or Virt most definitely was not underrated!

[@Elburion]

that mellow-d song sounds like it would fit right into a Deus Ex combat moment

[@BerendvanBerkum0]

sweet collection (halfway through but neway awesome)

[@antoniokventin5341]

Отличная музыка!

[@Time_Developer]

*В то время, для меня этот редактор был одним из лучших, пока в руки FastTracker не попал.*

[@ing_frantisek_mohykan]

it is weird that you are here instead of raping and killing some innocent children and women. I am calling KGB

[@Time_Developer]

@@ing_frantisek_mohykan *, you are again projecting your sick fantasies onto others. Better call the doctors, let them do electrotherapy of the brain for you.*

[@RobotBlueprint]

Huh, Counterpoint? Was that released under a different title at any point? I feel like I remember hearing it before, but the name feels off.

[@PowerRedBullTypology]

I like it ..good drum

[@9a8szmf79g9]

Yes. Simpler times. "This is what the internet was made for."

[@miikavihersaari3104]

Let's remember, and by remembering maybe bring back at least a tiny bit of that which was lost.

[@andreassjoberg3145]

First song had such vibes as Lizardking, so either they ripped off him, or he ripped off them (or it was him, though he usually signed his mods Jogeir L.

[@ernestomercadomaciasybella4490]

Excelente,xD

[@Seedonator]

Have you heard the super dx ball ost? freakin awesome tracker stuff

[@kostis2849]

Hello, may I use one of these racks for a non-commercial project? Or I am gonna get a copyright strike from KZbin?

[@Audentum]

Never heard of this genera before in my life but I love it. Reminds me of songs from an Game boy advance game. Thanks for the upload.

[@jankybit]

Oof, no mods from your pal skyline? I'm hurt! ;D Naw, I'm kidding. Nice to see you're still kicking!

[@blaze909]

used to have this dos mod player with very cool interface with colorful sound sync strobe on screen I just forgot the name

[@chazt2249]

I’m having an overwhelming urge to play Snake/Nibbles now, IYKYK

[@hasko5653]

Very specific sounds of tracker music and those melodies are something I love about modules!

[@largadeugnt]

Why in the heavens YT brought me here... WOW Pretty cool sound btw.

[@fillerbunnyninjashark271]

The day I found mod plug tracker was the day my life with music changed, loll

[@chiffmonkey]

Nice! Captain got me into this stuff, cool to hear some lesser known gems.

[@isaiaslafon9329]

Darklab Cosmic compressor make remeber to GPolice Weapons of Justice ost!

[@Rocksaplenty]

if i could spawn fourty thumbs, and make them of clay, and add them to your video, surely I would.

[@Radek0582]

that was the music!

[@mechisx]

Is access to these limited or will I find them online if I look? Always willing to update my collection. :)

[@ninjabeatz905]

Awesomeness

[@themetalcatacombs3790]

Please, compile the soundtrack of Dark 7 wad for Doom 2. It's full of tracker bangers! All you need to do is get them out of the wad through SLADE extraction tool.

[@fearmonkey]

I used to make 669 mods back in the day, good times, but much prefer modern ableton

[@midorifox]

I think I heard the first one in an Unreal Tournament 99 custom map.

[@feronous8207]

Oh man, I used MadTracker 2 and Rubber Duck by D-Lusion

[@OnyeNacho]

Where do I download the tracker music Counterpoint v2?

[@trackermusicforever]

modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&query=40091

[@OnyeNacho]

@@trackermusicforever Thank you.

[@n1lknarf]

After the matrix the world turned to dark fantasy. It's been 23 years already and I'm beyond bored.

[@zaebaniyunderground6260]

First one ounds alot like Michael Van Den Bos :P

[@davidbwn]

I think I still have the software for FastTracker. Unfotunatelly it goes hyper fast and crashes in the later machines with XP and above. But it was designed in the days of Win3.11 to Win 98.

[@trackermusicforever]

MilkyTracker is a modern Fasttracker-type tracker that should work on a modern system

[@Рустам-в5о]

Ностальгия! Спасибо!

[@stchest]

FL Studio, look at your (grand)father