Editing FastTracker 2 (section)

== Reception and impact ==
FT2 got broadly popular in the demoscene and among tracker musicians in the late 1990s. FT2's biggest "rivals" in the scene were [[Scream Tracker]] and, in later years, [[Impulse Tracker]]. "FT2 vs IT" is a common and still ongoing debate among musicians, usually involving IT users complaining about FT2's mouse interface, while FT2 users praise that same interface, and point out that every mouse feature has a keyboard shortcut as well.

=== Clones ===
The FT2 inspired multiple later trackers in [[User experience|UX]], design and technical capabilities and became therefore the starting point of a family of clones.
Notably here, Ruben Ramos Salvador's clone ''FastTracker 3''<ref name=ft3/> (which later became Skale Tracker) and [[MilkyTracker]].<ref name="Mobile"/><ref name="TDT4290"/> MilkyTracker is [[cross platform]] software and provides nearly all functionality available in the original FT2, with various other features. The GUI looks close, but intentionally different from the original. The [[shareware]] program ''[[Renoise]]'' also takes a portion of FT2's basic GUI and featureset-design, even though there are various major changes in its concept. Another early ''FastTracker 2''-compatible tracker for windows was ''ModPlug Tracker'' (later [[OpenMPT]]), a tool which was also compatible with many other contemporary DOS trackers. ''[[SoundTracker (Unix)|SoundTracker]]'' (not to be confused with [[Ultimate Soundtracker]]) is a [[free software|free]] ([[GNU General Public License|GPL]]-licensed) FT2-style tracker program for [[Unix-like]] operating systems. For many years, it was one of the very few mature Unix-based tracker programs.

After development of FT2 was discontinued, a project led by developer Olav Sørensen to accurately re-implement FT2 in [[C (programming language)|C]] for modern platforms using [[Simple DirectMedia Layer|SDL 2]] was started. Sørensen stated that he based his clone partly on the original FT2 source code.<ref name="16bits">[https://16-bits.org/ft2.php FT2] on 16-bits.org ''"Also note that this is not a direct port of the FT2 Pascal/asm code, only '''some parts were ported'''."''</ref> On April 22, 2017, an [[Alpha (software)|alpha]] build of the ''FastTracker II clone'' was released on the author's homepage for Windows and macOS.<ref name="16bits" /> In July 2018, he released the source code of his FT2 continuation, later under the [[3-clause BSD license]], along with compile instructions for Linux on his website.<ref name="16bits" /> Shortly after the release, an official [[FreeBSD]] port was created. The code is now available for collaboration on GitHub<ref name="FT2 clone GH">{{cite web |title=FT2 clone GitHub |url=https://github.com/8bitbubsy/ft2-clone |website=GitHub}}</ref>

=== Professional usage===
[[Video game developer]] [[Nicklas Nygren]] used Fast Tracker 2 (e.g. [[Knytt Stories]]<ref>[https://modland.com/pub/modules/Fasttracker%202/Nifflas/ Nifflas] on Modland</ref>) to compose his early [[video game music]].<ref name=CTGMusicInterview>{{cite web |author=Gaj Capuder |url=http://www.ctgmusic.com/community-interviews.php?id=7 |title=Interview with Nifflas - CTG Music Community |publisher=Ctgmusic.com |date=2004-05-02 |access-date=2015-02-26 |quote=I quit the lessions, and created no music until early 1999. This was the year I found out about Fast Tracker 2. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060319074306/http://www.ctgmusic.com/community-interviews.php?id=7 |archive-date=2006-03-19 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Demoscene]]r and video game soundtrack composer Matthias Le Bidan used FT2 for the music of the [[free and open source]] video games ''[[Frozen Bubble]]'' and ''Pathological''.<ref>[http://pathological.sourceforge.net/music.php pathological music] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207145212/https://pathological.sourceforge.net/music.php |date=2023-02-07 }} on [[sourceforge.net]]</ref> The FT2-based soundtrack of ''Frozen Bubble'' won [[The Linux Game Tome]]'s ''Best Sound/Music'' Award in 2003. 
[[Lee Jackson (composer)|Lee Jackson]] used FT2 to compose the MOD files used in the [[Apogee Software]] game, ''[[Stargunner]]''. 

Several commercial [[computer games]] by [[Epic Games]] like ''[[Unreal (1998 video game)|Unreal]]'' and ''[[Unreal Tournament]]'' used the FastTracker 2 XM format (additionally to other mod formats) encapsulated in a "UMX" [[Container (data structure)|Container]], supported by the used ''Galaxy Sound Engine''.<ref>{{cite book
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m5exIODbtqkC
|title=Game Development and Production
|author=Erik Bethke
|publisher=Wordware Publishing, Inc.
|isbn=1-55622-951-8
|year=2003
|pages=341}}</ref> Jarkko Rotstén also uses the XM format for [[3D Realms]]'s ''[[Ion Fury]]'' soundtrack.

FastTracker 2 has also been used in the "dance" music scene of the 1990s and early 2000s:<ref>{{cite book
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=huQ6DgAAQBAJ
|last1=Helbig
|first1=Adriana
|last2=Miszczynski
|first2=Milosz
|title=Hip Hop at Europe's Edge: Music, Agency, and Social Change
|page=135
|isbn=978-0253023049
|year=2017
|publisher=[[Indiana University Press|IU Press]]
}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sUJLAAAAYAAJ
|title=Future Music Magazine Autumn 2001
|journal=[[Future Music]]
|year=2001
|editor=Future Publishing
|issn=0967-0378
|pages=118}}</ref> [[Gabber]], [[Speedcore]] and [[breakcore]] producers were using it, including Deadnoise, Noisekick,<ref name="Noisekick">{{cite web
|url=http://www.ccpar.com/noisekick-interview-hardcore-halloween/
|title=Noisekick Interview
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190623013600/http://www.ccpar.com/noisekick-interview-hardcore-halloween/
|archive-date=2019-06-23
|quote=''How did you get into your djing career? I started producing in 1995 when I was 14 years old with Fastrracker 2.''
|publisher=CCPAR}}</ref> [[Neophyte (band)|Neophyte]].