History

Tracker 4.44

# Chapter 3: History

Unless you are one of tracker's beta-testers, you should only have one of the official releases. In case of trouble, please verify you have the latest version before contacting me.

### Release 4.44 (official release)

I've finally decided to release 4.44 as an official release, since it appears to be quite stable, and I'm currently changing a lot for 5.0. Problems to note:

- The OS/2 version seems to crash from time to time, and Bruno has been unable to track the problem down.
- AIX internals seem to have changed quite a bit recently. There will be a patch available as soon as the problem is fixed.

#### Release 4.44 (beta)

- Full documentation included in the package.

#### Release 4.43 (beta)

- works on the Amiga again thanks to slight changes. Merging the Amiga files into the main distribution slowly....
- Mixed up Fine portamento up and Fine portamento down, thanks Emil (see Credits).

#### Release 4.42 (beta)

- slight bugs in file reading....
- put back `transpose` option where it belonged.
- experimented with audio dithering for 8 bit output. Removed it, does not seem to give better sound quality.
- option parsing code in order. All old options put back in.
- bugs with color handling fixed.
- Amiga version considered temporarily broken due to extensive changes.
- The list option is currently broken.

#### Release 4.41 (beta)

- corrected long-standing bug in effect 5.
- fixed stupid bug in older-style tempo.
- should compile correctly under solaris.
- new-style options.

#### Release 4.40 (beta)

- the player is now more sensible.
- added `m`/`M` runtime switch (mono/stereo).
- fixed up minor amiga problems.
- fixed up the audio recognition loop in the Sparc engine.
- removed transpose feature as it will be simpler to do it by changing sampling frequency and tempo.
- in case of an older soundtracker module with 15 samples, always use old-style set tempo command.

### Release 4.39 (beta)

- fixed up data sizes mostly everywhere.
- added prototypes to ``Arch/Sparc/config.h`', and `#define IOCTL_IS_REDUNDANT` to remove gcc warnings.
- made porting much easier.

#### Release 4.38 (beta)

- checked memory handling thanks to ``mung.c`'. Various small memory bugs fixed.
- fixed bug in `run_in_fg`. It did sometimes reply that tracker was run in bg even though this was false.
- changed semantics of `sync_audio`: we need a second function to be able to free data in `remove_pending_tags`.

#### Release 4.37 (beta)

- fixed bug with tremolo.
- total duration working correctly. Showing up in the title bar for xterms.

#### Release 4.36 (beta)

- the virtual player now computes the total song length.
- small bug-fixes.
- documentation rewritten using TeXinfo.

#### Release 4.35 (beta)

- start of virtual player: try computing the total song length... Not fully implemented yet.
- some more cleanup as far as note handling is concerned.
- pulled `randomizer` inside of main code... now randomize correctly across directories. Better `play_list` handling

#### Release 4.34 (beta)

- loads of compression in the song reading. sample numbers get remapped and we get rid of most redundant stuff.
- better memory allocation: does not store pitch any longer. Allocates all patterns as one big chunk (shouldn't be a problem since it's less than 128K anyway).
- specific setup for virtual player (soon to be implemented)

#### Release 4.33 (beta)

- separated `SPECIAL_NOTE` (no known pitch) from `NO_NOTE`.
- better disk/memory throughput: use `read_file` where applicable.
- does not interpret unused patterns. Does not even read them, in fact.
- better event reading scheme: read the whole pattern, then interpret each track independently. First step to the virtual player.

#### Release 4.32 (beta)

- documentation update.
- player clean up.
- Sparc sound engine more powerful.

### Release 4.31

- OS/2 version updated.
- HP versions updated.
- SGI minor bug fix.

#### Release 4.30 (beta)

- better interface for the Sparc, post-synchronized display, plus resample change on the fly. Maybe make it automatic ?

### Release 4.29 (beta, official Amiga)

- runs on the Amiga again.
- fixed up all remaining Protracker problems. All Protracker effects are now functional!
- minor bugs fixed. Nothing serious under Unix, used to crash under AmigaOs.

#### Release 4.28 (beta)

- partial port to mm1
- renamed ``getopt.h`' to ``getoption.h`'

#### Release 4.27 (beta)

- minor bug fixes in ``Arch/common.c`'. should work correctly on NextStep now.
- xterm stuff cleaned up.
- `ppunpack` is now officially part of tracker. Nico Francois (see Credits) has given his benediction. You may redistribute `ppunpack` as you wish.

#### Release 4.26 (beta)

- title in window title bar for `xterms`.
- version number cleaned up, now shows up in exactly one place (``Makefile`')

#### Release 4.25 (beta)

- added remaining Protracker 1.1 effect: Invert loop (extended 15).
- fixed up (mostly) Loop pattern (extended 6).

#### Release 4.24 (beta)

- network audio (see NAS) port... probably not working yet.

#### Release 4.22 (beta)

- implemented vibrato/tremolo control. See Set vibrato waveform, See Set tremolo waveform.

#### Release 4.20 (beta)

- notion of data width introduced, fixed some problems (more or less).
- corrected minor bug in ``Arch/Sparc/audio.c`': used to modify the volume at exit.
- some minor changes in commands according to the actual Protracker code.

#### Release 4.19 (beta)

- more sensible scrolling display.
- tremolo (see Tremolo) finally working.
- Rolf Grossmann's patch (see Credits): cleaned up user interface, with less `#defines`.

#### Release 4.18 (beta)

- New Sparc features: ``-sync`' support, waiting at start for buffer to fill for unhashed audio output.
- lots of minor bugs everywhere fixed.
- WARNING: `oversample=0` (linear resampling) is probably broken right now

#### Release 4.17 (beta)

- cleaned up architectural stuff. Even faster.

#### Release 4.16 (beta)

- much better optimization in ``resample.c`'.
- optimization of the various ``audio.c`' files.

#### Release 4.15 (beta)

- added missing Tremolo effect... ``guitarslinger`' now sounds correctly (I hope).
- fixed up Set finetune... was not updated instantly enough.

#### Release 4.14 (internal)

- PowerPacker depacker.

### Release 4.13 (full release)

- cleaned up small bugs as compared to 4.11.
- much better technical documentation.
- upgraded Amiga version to 4.13.

#### Release 4.11 (internal release)

- implemented color ansi support.
- NextStep status: working with minor patch.
- linux status: working.

#### Release 4.8

- Note for programmers: `output_samples` size has changed to 23 bits, to allow for 16 bit samples, oversampling, volume, and so on...
- reorganized machine dependent code to ``Arch/`'.
- cleaned up ``Makefile`'.
- implemented buffered files (finally). Faster loading of some modules.
- clutter of includes moved to ``defs.h`'.

#### Release 4.7 (internal release)

- small bugfixes.
- compiling now on other architectures: NeXT, OS9. See Architecture dependent problems, See Credits.

### Release 4.3

- full Amiga support. Good playing model.
- rewrote ``Makefile`'.
- minor options changes.
- much easier to tinker with than the previous versions. Hooks for future upgrades everywhere.
- tracker 3.xx is no longer supported. I won't answer to bug reports concerning it except to redirect you to the newer version.

### Release 3.19

- Amiga support! Finally.
- Solaris 2.2 support.

### Release 3.11

- general bug-fixes, plays some modules it goofed on (speed check, extended command Loop pattern now works).
- repeat working better.
- should be rather difficult to get cores out of it.
- may fork when loading a new module, though not working satisfactorily yet.
- almost readable scrolling display.
- support for DECstations (thanks to Andrew Leahy, see Credits) .
- support for hpux (thanks to Bjoern Stabell, see Credits).
- partial support for solaris.

#### Release 3.10 (internal release)

- linux: small bug-fix, 16 bit support.
- general: bug in finetune fixed.

#### Release 3.9 (internal release)

- background/foreground csh-aware mode, much cleaner termio.

#### Release 3.7 (internal release)

- support for linux (thanks to Hannu Savolainen, see Credits).
- small bug fix in ``termio`': restore to a sane tty on exit.

#### Release 3.6 (internal release)

- more efficient replay routine, works faster, all glitches finally removed (I hope).
- more options, better integrated.
- much cleaner source code.

#### Release 3.0 (internal release)

- tracker knows about the Sparcstation 10.
- bug fix for command 5 (see Tone portamento + Volume slide), that now works like portamento (see Tone portamento). Mostly affects ``apocalypse`' module.
- support for most protracker extended commands, including finetune.
- dynamic adjustements to the output frequency, fast skip, much better user-response overall.
- better runtime interface (without those strange signals sequences).
- better screen output.
- audio flush on the Sparc, don't have to wait 10sec+ to exit.