Editing FastTracker 2 (section)

== History ==
In 1993, Triton released FastTracker. This tracker was able to load and save standard four channel [[MOD (file format)|MOD]] files, as well as extended MOD files with six or eight channels (identical to standard MOD files, aside from the extra channel data and ID markers "6CHN" or "8CHN"). It was only compatible with [[Creative Labs]]' [[SoundBlaster]] series of [[sound card]]s, which were most popular on the PC at that time. The whole editor was a single 43 [[KiB]] [[DOS executable]].

Through 1994, the musicians in Triton released some songs in a new multichannel "XM" format, accompanied by a pre-release, standalone player.  In November 1994, FastTracker 2 was released to the public, with support for the [[Gravis Ultrasound]] sound card.

=== Discontinuation ===
The last stable release of FastTracker 2 was version 2.08, released in August 1997. A newer version 2.09 was under test as [[closed beta]] and became [[Internet leak|available]] to the public by [[Andreas Viklund]]'s website in 1999.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/19991009225417/http://www.energymusic.com/andreas/software.html software] on [[Andreas Viklund]]'s website (on internet archive)</ref> This version had a few new usability additions, such as the possibility to exit previously "stuck" windows by only using the mouse, but broke support for the Gravis Ultrasound card. While not an official release it was made later available also from Starbreeze's website.<ref name=leak/>

On May 23, 1999, Starbreeze productions announced on their website that ''"FT2 [[End-of-life (product)|has been put on hold indefinitely]]. [...] If this was an ideal world, where there was infinite time and no need to make a living, there would definitely be a [[Cross platform|multiplatform]] Fasttracker3. Unfortunately this world is nothing like that,"'' signed by Vogue.<ref name=ft3>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010628033251/http://www.metamacro.com/fast3/home.html |url=http://www.metamacro.com/fast3/home.html |title=FastTracker 3 homepage |archive-date=2001-06-28 |access-date=2012-01-31 |author=BakTery |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Legacy ===
After the announcement that support and development for FT2 would be stopped, Ruben Ramos Salvador (BakTery) started working on a ''FastTracker 3'' that is now known as Skale Tracker, available for both Windows, Linux and online.<ref name=ft3/> In later years many other trackers tried to follow up on the legacy of FT2, a notable example being [[MilkyTracker]],<ref name="Mobile">{{cite journal|url=http://www.mobilemusicworkshop.org/docs/Elsdon_mmw07.pdf|title=Mobile Music Creation using PDAs and Smartphones|date=2007|journal=Proceedings of the Mobile Music Workshop (MMW-07), Amsterdam, Netherlands|last=Elsdon|first=Ashley|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903085705/http://www.mobilemusicworkshop.org/docs/Elsdon_mmw07.pdf|archive-date=2014-09-03}}</ref><ref name="TDT4290">{{cite news |url=http://www.idi.ntnu.no/emner/tdt4290/Rapporter/gruppe2-2007.pdf |title=TDT4290 at IDI/NTNU Group 2 |publisher=[[Norwegian University of Science and Technology]] |last1=Sandholtbraten |first1=Frode |last2=Gogstad |first2=Jostein |last3=Stokes |first3=Michael |last4=Jensen |first4=Remy |last5=Nielsen |first5=Espen |last6=Beiske |first6=Konrad G |access-date=2017-04-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150203172644/http://www.idi.ntnu.no/emner/tdt4290/Rapporter/gruppe2-2007.pdf |archive-date=2015-02-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref> with special playback modes available for improved [[Amiga]] [[Protracker]] 2/3 compatibility.<ref name="Overview">{{cite web|url=http://modarchive.org/index.php?article-trackers |title=Tracker Software Overview|website=The Mod Archive|access-date=2 September 2014}}</ref> See also the [[#Clones|Clone]] section below.

Developer Olav Sørensen/8bitbubsy received the original sources of FT2 and continued to work on them, releasing multiple bug fixed versions of it, currently at version 2.13. As he expressed, he isn't allowed to publish the original source code, written in Borland Pascal 7 and Assembler, but is allowed to publish fixed versions of it.<ref>{{Cite web |title=16-bits.org - home of 8bitbubsy |url=https://16-bits.org/other.php |access-date=2025-04-23 |website=16-bits.org}}</ref>