Fast Tracker 2 vs. Impulse Tracker
by Spange
If youve ever been on trax you would know this topic and have
probably argued it yourself. Im personally a big IT fan and taking on
the task of writing this article was not easy.
I downloaded FT2 for the first time in 2 years and I took another
look at it. I played with all the features and put it through its moves.
The mouse support on FT2 is great. It makes it easy to move around,
unlike the minimal mouse support in IT.
The look of FT2 is quite easy on the eyes, where as IT is very plain
and dull. Both allow you to change the color schemes with ease. The pattern
editor was hard to look at in FT2 and took a while to adjust to, and the plain
look of IT makes it very easy to read.
During playback IT tracker has nice volume bars which can also be
switched to velocity bars and FT2 has a sound scope for each channel. Both
IT and FT2 can be setup to view the patterns as they are played.
Both trackers support PC Speaker, SBpro, SB16 and of course GUS for
playback. IT also supports Interwave IC, AWE32, PAS, and PAS16. FT2 doesnt
support any of these but has one up on IT with the Soundplayer support.
FT2 ran great in DOS, but didnt do so well in Win95. It would get
bogged down considerably when any other applications were running and would
not play minimized. IT runs kickass in DOS and Win95 and will play minimized
in a window. Those that hate Winbloze FT2 is for you.
The sample editor and CD-ROM dump is a nice thing to have included in
a tracker. The sample editor in FT2 makes it easy to tweak your samples and
make new ones even though it is limited. IT doesnt have a sample editor,
sampler, or CD-ROM dump but does have an instrument editor that allows you to
set panning and volume envelopes the same as in FT2.
Both FT2 and IT have 16-bit mixing capabilities with or without
interpolation, but IT also has 32-bit mixing. You can also set the bass and
treble in IT along with filtering and feedback, which is not possible with FT2.
IT has a message editor that allows you to add a story, lyrics, and
whatnot to your song and FT2 doesnt. But this is a trivial thing due to the
fact that most people usually just use the instrument or sample names to write
what they have to say.
FT2 uses instruments to control the samples in a song. IT does this
too, but FT2 doesnt allow you to control the song with just samples like IT.
IT allows you the maximum of 64 channels, 99 samples, and 99
instruments. FT2 only allows the maximum of 31 channels, 40 instruments,
and 10 samples per instrument. While 64 channels, 99 samples, and 99
instruments is quite excessive, you could still do it in IT if you had the
processor to handle it and wanted a 24 meg song.
IT and FT2 will both play XMs, MTMs, S3Ms, STMs, MODs. IT seems to play
XMs perfectly fine, but I may be wrong on this one. FT2 can not play ITs
probably because IT wasnt out at the time of the last FT2 update.
FT2 does have nibbles and IT doesnt. This would be a dumb thing to
use as the deciding factor on which tracker to use, but its pretty fun to
play and I have become quite good at playing it.
FT2 has automatic note off on key release which is pretty cool and
handy. In IT you have to manually put in the note off command.
Both trackers have the vibrato command and three different kinds of
wave forms Ramp down, square, sine, but in FT2 you cant change the vibrato
to sine or saw in the pattern and IT doesnt have the saw wave form. IT has
an additional random wave form.
As for other effects FT2 and IT have the ability to set the panning
and envelope position within the pattern. FT2 has a glissando command, unlike
IT. Surround sound and a nifty little thing called panbrello random panning
position can be set in IT, where this is not possible in FT2.
Now all of you trackers out there have some fuel for your arguments. I
think that I have done a pretty thorough and fair job of comparing these two
very good trackers. As to which one you choose, it would really come down to
what your personal preferences are. And opinions are opinions and everyone is
entitled to one.
Spange
spange@usouthal.campus.mci.net
Comparative rundown...
I only put the differences here..
* supported
p partially supported
-FT2--IT-
Effects
Vibrato
Wave form
Ramp Down * *
Square * *
Sine p *
Saw p
Random *
Glissando *
Surround Sound *
Panbrello *
Interwave IC *
AWE32 *
PAS *
PAS16 *
Soundplayer *
Song formats *save as, +will play
MTM + +
MOD *+ +
S3M + *+
STM + +
XM *+ +
IT *+
Run Under Win95 p *
Mouse Support * p
Sample Editor * p
Sampler *
CD-ROM Dump *
Message Editor *
Sound Scopes *
Volume Bars *
Velocity Bars *
Bass Treble Control *
32-bit mixing *
Interpolation *
Filter *
Feedback *
Nibbles *
Sample Control *
Max. 64 Channels *
Max. 99 Samples *
Max. 99 Instruments *
by Spange
If youve ever been on trax you would know this topic and have
probably argued it yourself. Im personally a big IT fan and taking on
the task of writing this article was not easy.
I downloaded FT2 for the first time in 2 years and I took another
look at it. I played with all the features and put it through its moves.
The mouse support on FT2 is great. It makes it easy to move around,
unlike the minimal mouse support in IT.
The look of FT2 is quite easy on the eyes, where as IT is very plain
and dull. Both allow you to change the color schemes with ease. The pattern
editor was hard to look at in FT2 and took a while to adjust to, and the plain
look of IT makes it very easy to read.
During playback IT tracker has nice volume bars which can also be
switched to velocity bars and FT2 has a sound scope for each channel. Both
IT and FT2 can be setup to view the patterns as they are played.
Both trackers support PC Speaker, SBpro, SB16 and of course GUS for
playback. IT also supports Interwave IC, AWE32, PAS, and PAS16. FT2 doesnt
support any of these but has one up on IT with the Soundplayer support.
FT2 ran great in DOS, but didnt do so well in Win95. It would get
bogged down considerably when any other applications were running and would
not play minimized. IT runs kickass in DOS and Win95 and will play minimized
in a window. Those that hate Winbloze FT2 is for you.
The sample editor and CD-ROM dump is a nice thing to have included in
a tracker. The sample editor in FT2 makes it easy to tweak your samples and
make new ones even though it is limited. IT doesnt have a sample editor,
sampler, or CD-ROM dump but does have an instrument editor that allows you to
set panning and volume envelopes the same as in FT2.
Both FT2 and IT have 16-bit mixing capabilities with or without
interpolation, but IT also has 32-bit mixing. You can also set the bass and
treble in IT along with filtering and feedback, which is not possible with FT2.
IT has a message editor that allows you to add a story, lyrics, and
whatnot to your song and FT2 doesnt. But this is a trivial thing due to the
fact that most people usually just use the instrument or sample names to write
what they have to say.
FT2 uses instruments to control the samples in a song. IT does this
too, but FT2 doesnt allow you to control the song with just samples like IT.
IT allows you the maximum of 64 channels, 99 samples, and 99
instruments. FT2 only allows the maximum of 31 channels, 40 instruments,
and 10 samples per instrument. While 64 channels, 99 samples, and 99
instruments is quite excessive, you could still do it in IT if you had the
processor to handle it and wanted a 24 meg song.
IT and FT2 will both play XMs, MTMs, S3Ms, STMs, MODs. IT seems to play
XMs perfectly fine, but I may be wrong on this one. FT2 can not play ITs
probably because IT wasnt out at the time of the last FT2 update.
FT2 does have nibbles and IT doesnt. This would be a dumb thing to
use as the deciding factor on which tracker to use, but its pretty fun to
play and I have become quite good at playing it.
FT2 has automatic note off on key release which is pretty cool and
handy. In IT you have to manually put in the note off command.
Both trackers have the vibrato command and three different kinds of
wave forms Ramp down, square, sine, but in FT2 you cant change the vibrato
to sine or saw in the pattern and IT doesnt have the saw wave form. IT has
an additional random wave form.
As for other effects FT2 and IT have the ability to set the panning
and envelope position within the pattern. FT2 has a glissando command, unlike
IT. Surround sound and a nifty little thing called panbrello random panning
position can be set in IT, where this is not possible in FT2.
Now all of you trackers out there have some fuel for your arguments. I
think that I have done a pretty thorough and fair job of comparing these two
very good trackers. As to which one you choose, it would really come down to
what your personal preferences are. And opinions are opinions and everyone is
entitled to one.
Spange
spange@usouthal.campus.mci.net
Comparative rundown...
I only put the differences here..
* supported
p partially supported
-FT2--IT-
Effects
Vibrato
Wave form
Ramp Down * *
Square * *
Sine p *
Saw p
Random *
Glissando *
Surround Sound *
Panbrello *
Interwave IC *
AWE32 *
PAS *
PAS16 *
Soundplayer *
Song formats *save as, +will play
MTM + +
MOD *+ +
S3M + *+
STM + +
XM *+ +
IT *+
Run Under Win95 p *
Mouse Support * p
Sample Editor * p
Sampler *
CD-ROM Dump *
Message Editor *
Sound Scopes *
Volume Bars *
Velocity Bars *
Bass Treble Control *
32-bit mixing *
Interpolation *
Filter *
Feedback *
Nibbles *
Sample Control *
Max. 64 Channels *
Max. 99 Samples *
Max. 99 Instruments *
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