"Don't transpose" checkbox per cell in instrument editor

[XiA]

One extremely useful feature in the legendary JCH editor on C64 (used by many if not all of the Maniacs of Noise) is being able to transpose patterns, just like Arkos Tracker 2 currently (v2.0.0a2) supports.

However, in JCH, you can set the pitch of a cell in the instrument editor to be unaffected by transpose. This means you could have drums that will sound the same regardless of how their pattern/track is transposed.

The first solution I considered for my own YM player on the ST was to simply set a boolean on instrument level “this instrument will allow transposing”, but that turned out to be a mistake on my part…

…because then one day I wanted to combine a bass and a bass drum, and then I had to make a new instrument for every note… All of which could have been solved if I had been as smart as JCH. 🙂

[Targhan]

Actually, I wanted to implement is, for each instrument, “lock to a note: C#5” for example, which I think would be versatile. However, one problem with that is the overhead for limited hardware such as Amstrad CPC.

There is a solution for you, though: instead of using “notes” for your drum/snare parts, simply force the software periods in the instrument, and don’t use Arpeggios or pitch within the instrument. The forced periods never changes, even with pitch effects from the tracks.

For example:
software period, noise
0 400, 15
1 420, 12
2 440, 10
3 460, 4
4 500, 1
5 auto, 0 –> Loop here

Here, you have a (crappy) kick drum and your bass note at the end. It is not very user-friendly, but you can find create a real instrument, find the periods that you like, and then create a less-friendly instrument like the one above, from it.

[XiA]

I never even thought of that! Good solution. Please include that in the documentation at some point, it’s really useful!

Thanks!

[Author]

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