Editing Music tracker (section)

{{Short description|Type of software for creating music}}
[[File:OpenMPT 1.31.12 Screenshot.png|thumb|280x280px|[[OpenMPT]], a tracker running in [[Microsoft Windows]].]]
A '''music tracker''' (sometimes referred to as a '''tracker''' for short) is a type of [[music sequencer]] software for creating music. The music is represented as discrete [[musical notes]] positioned in several [[audio signal|channels]] at chronological positions on a vertical timeline.<ref>{{cite book
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=qY1YVyRLdlUC
 | author = Mason McCuskey
 | title = Beginning Game Audio Programming
 | isbn = 978-1592000296
 | publisher = Premier Press
 | year = 2003
 | page = 168
}}</ref>
A music tracker's user interface is traditionally number based. Notes, [[Elements of music|parameter]] changes, [[Effects unit|effects]] and other commands are entered with the keyboard into a grid of fixed time slots as codes consisting of letters, numbers and [[hexadecimal]] digits.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EfgLAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA217|title=The Music Tech Dictionary: A Glossary of Audio-Related Terms and Technologies|publisher=[[Cengage Learning|Course Technology]]|date=2009|access-date=September 10, 2014|first=Mitch|last=Gallagher|isbn=9781598639148}}</ref>
Separate patterns have independent timelines; a complete [[song]] consists of a master list of repeated patterns.

Later trackers departed from solely using [[module files]], adding other options both to the sound synthesis (hosting generic [[synthesizers]] and effects or [[MIDI]] output) and to the sequencing (MIDI input and recording), effectively becoming general purpose sequencers with a different [[user interface]].

In the 2010s, tracker music is still featured in [[demoscene]] products for old hardware platforms and demoparties have often separate tracker music competitions. Tracker music may also be used in games which [[Retrogaming|borrow aesthetics from past decades]].