Old 01-24-2018, 09:09 AM   #1
sai'ke
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Default Hackey Trackey (MIDI Tracker)

Hello all,

I don't know if anyone has migrated from Buzz, Impulse, ModPlug or some other tracker to REAPER, but I missed the tracker so much that I wrote one in Lua as a plugin.

It's meant for tracking MIDI notes and automating FX. Simply click a MIDI media item and start the script and it will do the rest. Note that the tracker itself is not a sampler and doesn't do anything in terms of sample playback.

Anyways, in case anyone else is interested, it can be found here: https://github.com/JoepVanlier/Hackey-Trackey with a full description of how to use it.

If you run into a problem with it or have a feature request don't hesitate to ask.

Sinkmusic made this excellent image-based tutorial (thanks a lot!):











Effects automatically show up.


Various themes are available (buzz theme courtesy of r4dian)


And a harmonizer, to help you stick to scales and come up with chord progressions:

Last edited by sai'ke; 05-09-2020 at 09:24 AM. Reason: Added images of HT in action
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Old 01-24-2018, 10:04 AM   #2
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thank you for this ..
really love Buzz and Renoise ! going to test drive this right away !

regards
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Old 01-24-2018, 02:43 PM   #3
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Ha, love the name. Thanks for sharing.

(nice work btw.)

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Old 01-24-2018, 03:08 PM   #4
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This is brilliant ! I am having a blast with renoise lately and now this Will test this little gem instantly.

Big thanks Maybe later some Reapack love ?
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Old 01-24-2018, 03:34 PM   #5
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This is super fun. How do I change the Adv value (not in your picture) ? Are you considering a delay tab? Could remove regard the Adv value? How do I make OFF commands (maybe A?) ? Maybe horizontal note input via shift? I think all my FR would be to emulate renoise workflow and commands...

I get some reaconsole errors holding backspace, maybe too much keyboard input. Can't use 2,3... for c#,d# etc.

Keep it going

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Old 01-24-2018, 04:37 PM   #6
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Thanks everyone

Yeah, when it's matured a little more I would love to add it to Reapack. Not sure how the process goes though and whether I'd still be able to provide updates. But I'll look into it soonish!

The adv value can be changed by F3 (decrease) and F4 (increase). The output channel can be altered by F1 (decrease) and F2 (increase). If you want each column to map to a separate midi channel, then set it to C (the lowest value). Off command is currently set to -.

2,3 and so forth change the octave of a note that's already placed. This is the way it's typically handled in buzz. The control layout is mostly based on buzz actually, since that's what I'm used to. If you want, you can add/suggest an alternative control layout, then I could provide it as an option as well (the keys are all listed at the top of the script actually). I don't know renoise that well.

As for the errors with the backspace command, that's interesting to me. Was this in an FX track, legato track or a note track? If you manage to reproduce it in the version uploaded today, please let me know. I'd be much obliged.

One thing the backspace command does not like is unglued extended tracks. I still need to think of how to handle these best, but currently count them as not supported.
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Old 01-29-2018, 05:44 AM   #7
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After using the tracker for a while now, I've added a bunch of features which may help when you're doing stuff.
- Add help (F1) for quickly looking up keys
- Change rows/measure
- Store settings last used for a particular midi item (advance/octave/envelope)
- Allow scrolling through the MIDI items on a track by CTRL + right/left
- Added key to duplicate current pattern
- Added clipboard functionality SHIFT+arrow keys or CTRL+B/E to select and CTRL+C/X/V to copy, cut, paste. Note that for now this is only local to one tracker instance and gone when you close it.
- Scrollbar for big patterns.
- Shift/Transpose item up/down (Shift +/-)
- Remap output channel (F2/F3)
- Set loop start/end (to pattern CTRL+L, to specific points CTRL+Q/W)
- Rename pattern from tracker
As well as some bugfixes.

There is still the occasional odd behavior that a very thin MIDI note ends up in the pattern which messes up the OFFs which I have yet to debug. I suspect it is in the legato system. However, I have trouble figuring out the exact steps required to reproduce the problem. I usually find out that such a note exists long after it's there. If anyone runs into the same issue and knows a way to reproduce it, please let me know. I would be much obliged.

I've also made the repository Reapack compatible, so you can add it in your Reapack repository list: https://github.com/joepvanlier/Hacke...ster/index.xml . Makes it easier to grab updates. Eventually, the plan is to make the tracker part of the reapack scripts repository, so that this separate repo is no longer necessary.
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Old 01-29-2018, 06:29 AM   #8
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Wow man, this is really fantastic, thx a Million !!
(btw: are you Dutch ?1)
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Old 01-29-2018, 01:55 PM   #9
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Thanks. I hope it's useful.

Was it the last name that gave it away?
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Old 02-11-2018, 10:27 AM   #10
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Added option to program CC events

Made the repo ReaPack compatible as well: https://github.com/joepvanlier/Hacke...ster/index.xml
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Old 02-28-2018, 06:53 AM   #11
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New Theme looks great
Is there an option to switch between themes?
Maybe an additional options tab could be useful.
Keep up the great work.

Last edited by Nixon; 02-28-2018 at 12:14 PM.
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Old 02-28-2018, 08:43 AM   #12
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Started out on a tracker and do miss it, will give a try despite it being midi and not 8bit samples
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Old 03-01-2018, 11:17 AM   #13
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Default never heard of trackers, going down the rabbit hole

This is amazing as I was just thinking about how this type of interface. Semi programmable, text based, integrated with all the amazing VST and Reaper routing capabilities and midi. Will give feedback as I go along. I think of this as programmable modular midi, we'll see if it fits.

One of the other things I've been figuring out is OSC, which has been quite a bit of configuration work and still you can't easily access every plug effect. This interface allows that.

I'll send feedback as a n00b and as someone experienced (if I get there! :-).
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Old 03-01-2018, 11:20 AM   #14
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The learning curve is steep but rewarding - YouTube full of examples nowadays. 1991 was but yesterday.
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Old 03-06-2018, 12:02 PM   #15
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I have to give credit where it is due, the new theme was actually submitted by r4dian. Not sure if he visits these forums or not.

There's quite a few new features such as note delay, mouse selection support, autoplay for notes and adding CC events in two input modes. I'd recommend reading the readme once if you have time: https://github.com/JoepVanlier/Hackey-Trackey since there is only so much I can fit into that sidepanel when you hit F1

Nixon; Currently, you can choose the theme by editing the lua file, but I agree, an options tab would be nice. I will look into ways to save configuration options next time I have a chance to get some coding done.

If you have an issue with it, please open an issue on the issue tracker on github. This helps me keep track of requests / bugs. Again, thanks all for trying it out and submitting feedback to make it better
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Old 03-12-2018, 04:24 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nixon View Post
New Theme looks great
Is there an option to switch between themes?
Maybe an additional options tab could be useful.
Keep up the great work.
Just added a basic options window to switch themes. F11 brings it up. If you want to see what a particular key layout is like, hit F1 and then F11 (to see both help and options)
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Old 03-17-2018, 03:38 AM   #17
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Works great. Already having a lot of fun with it.

I can't hear the notes I'm entering on the computer keyboard. Is that normal ?
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Old 03-17-2018, 07:26 PM   #18
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Great!

If you want to hear the notes, hit CTRL + R. This arms the current tracker.

The reason it needs to be armed, is because it changes the recording status of your project (something you might not always want).

If it still isn't audible then, then that's a bug. Please let me know if that's the case

Today, I added the option to change the pattern length from the tracker.

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Old 03-19-2018, 02:29 AM   #19
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Thank you. That works nicely. Interesting how this almost does more than my old trackers(PT,FT2,IT2).
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Old 03-20-2018, 09:05 AM   #20
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Ah good, I'm glad to hear that

If you have some good ideas on improvements, let me know
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Old 04-02-2018, 02:20 AM   #21
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I added a little chord helper for when the writer's block hits

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Old 04-04-2018, 12:25 AM   #22
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Default scales.lua in tracker.lua @version 1.34

cannot open C:\Users\Svein\AppData\Roaming\REAPER\Scripts\Trac kertools\Tracker\scales.lua: No such file or directory

Hmmm, what to do?

(-- Load the scales
dofile(get_script_path() .. 'scales.lua')
scales:initialize()

Last edited by sveinpetter; 04-04-2018 at 12:31 AM.
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Old 04-04-2018, 03:19 AM   #23
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Hey, oh no! Thanks for letting me know about this.

I have since reproduced the problem on my side. It seems that I had messed up the header for the reapack indexer, which meant it wasn't recognizing scales.lua as a dependency.

I updated the header accordingly. Could you try now?

If you synchronize the repo, it should pull in scales.lua.
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Old 04-04-2018, 04:11 AM   #24
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Error gone. Thanks.
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Old 04-04-2018, 09:15 AM   #25
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Cool. Thanks for letting me know!
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Old 04-30-2018, 02:40 PM   #26
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Looks pretty cool!

Some questions:

1. Is there a way to add more note columns?
2. Is there a way to play notes without recording them? Like it can be toggled with ESC in other trackers.
3. Is there a way to update the tracker view to the new note data when selecting a different midi item?
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Old 05-02-2018, 07:14 AM   #27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fladd View Post
Looks pretty cool!
Thanks

Quote:
Originally Posted by fladd View Post
1. Is there a way to add more note columns?
Do you mean displaying more in a single view, or actually adding more columns total? Neither of these are currently possible without editing the script.

The tricky thing with adding more columns is that I store the column index in the MIDI channel information (and there are only 16 of those). I've never tried what happens if I enter more than that. Will check what happens tonight. Just out of curiosity, what do you need more than 15 columns for?

Quote:
Originally Posted by fladd View Post
2. Is there a way to play notes without recording them? Like it can be toggled with ESC in other trackers.
Currently no, but I will add this.

Quote:
Originally Posted by fladd View Post
3. Is there a way to update the tracker view to the new note data when selecting a different midi item?
Currently, no, but this should in principle be possible I think. I can make it an option if this would be helpful to you.

Note that if you want to switch pattern from the tracker itself on a single FX track, you can already to this with CTRL + left/right.

Thanks for the feature requests!
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Old 05-02-2018, 08:55 AM   #28
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This is super addictive !!
Just a question , Is it possible to add this script to the Midi Editor tab ?

thank you
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Old 05-02-2018, 01:05 PM   #29
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sai'ke View Post
[...] what do you need more than 15 columns for?
15? I only have 5 here...

Quote:
Originally Posted by sai'ke View Post

Thanks for the feature requests!
Thanks for considering them :-)
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Old 05-02-2018, 03:38 PM   #30
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Okay, been working on some of these feature requests

Quote:
Originally Posted by fladd View Post
1. Is there a way to add more note columns?
Quote:
Originally Posted by fladd View Post
15? I only have 5 here...
If you move with the arrow keys you can scroll. But, I admit, the fact that you don't see more columns when you drag out the screen is confusing and a bit annoying. So, now by default it will show more columns when you widen the screen. Assuming that it also works on your end, that tackles 1.

Quote:
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3. Is there a way to add more note columns?
Do you have a preferred key for this? CTRL+R allows the tracker to be armed for playing in the first place. Since this changes the recording state of your project, I don't really want this to be always on and still require the CTRL+R. What do you think would be a good listen without enter toggle key? Escape as you said? How should I visualize this? Make the [REC] thing blue?

Quote:
Originally Posted by fladd View Post
2. Is there a way to play notes without recording them? Like it can be toggled with ESC in other trackers.
Request 2 I also implemented today (assuming it works ). If you hit F11 you see an options menu. Checking "Follow Selection" should do what you want. It will store your preference in a text file, so you should only have to do it once.

Quote:
Originally Posted by fladd View Post
Thanks for considering them :-)
No prob!

Quote:
Originally Posted by zookthespook View Post
This is super addictive !!
Just a question , Is it possible to add this script to the Midi Editor tab ?

thank you
I don't know (yet!), but I will look into it. I think it is possible. I don't know yet whether it is possible for me to write something that does it automatically though. Where do you want to have it added specifically? Could you post a screenshot?

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Old 05-03-2018, 01:25 PM   #31
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Also implemented request 2 now. Escape toggles note entry when recording is active. You should be able to see by the color of the [REC] indicator.

Also added a cheesy hacker theme.

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Old 05-04-2018, 12:22 PM   #32
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Also implemented request 2 now. Escape toggles note entry when recording is active. You should be able to see by the color of the [REC] indicator.

Also added a cheesy hacker theme.

Thanks! Unfortunately, ESC does not do anything for me in the new version. The other settings, I can also not test, because I only have a Mac available right now, and F11 is bound to do some OS X global stuff, and it appears there is no other way to open the settings menu in HackeyTracky.
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Old 05-04-2018, 12:24 PM   #33
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I now disabled the F11 global shortcut in OS X and now F11 will open the chord tool, but not the settings menu.

EDIT: After trying several times, it now opens the settings menu, but it has less options than on your screenshot. I have the newest version (1.42).
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Old 05-04-2018, 05:10 PM   #34
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My apologies. I must not have run reapack-index correctly because when I just did it found new stuff.

It should work now? 1.47 is the version that should show up. Please let me know if it still doesn't work (might have to synchronize packages too).
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Old 05-09-2018, 04:28 AM   #35
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Does it work now?
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Old 05-09-2018, 07:49 PM   #36
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Hey Sai'ke,this is so amazing, thank you so much, the FT2 days are back!!! Just 2 questions...
1. How do i add an off note (i used to use caps lock in FT2)
2. and how do i Expand or shrink the pattern or just right notes in 1/32,1/64
is there an option already?
Also, resolution up/down is not working on Windows 10 for me, when i ctrl+alt + up or down my screen is going upside down and vise versa...
Thanks again for this amazing tool, i hope to hear from you soon!
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Old 05-10-2018, 09:52 AM   #37
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Quote:
Originally Posted by _TIP_ View Post
Hey Sai'ke,this is so amazing, thank you so much, the FT2 days are back!!!
Thanks, glad you like it

Quote:
Originally Posted by _TIP_ View Post
1. How do i add an off note (i used to use caps lock in FT2)
The default key map note off is "-". If you are used to a specific key map, give me a full description of it and I can add it. I'd need a key for all the cases you see in the F1 menu.

Quote:
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2. and how do i Expand or shrink the pattern or just right notes in 1/32,1/64
is there an option already?
Hm, what do you mean? Resizing the pattern can be done by clicking this size indicator:

Is this what you meant?

It only makes the pattern longer though. I could add a keyboard key for it too if you prefer to operate it only with the keyboard.

Quote:
Originally Posted by _TIP_ View Post
Also, resolution up/down is not working on Windows 10 for me, when i ctrl+alt + up or down my screen is going upside down and vise versa...
Oi. I didn't think of that! I just changed the default key to Alt + Shift + Up/Down.
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Old 05-10-2018, 01:00 PM   #38
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Thanks for the update, new shortcut now works just fine!
What i meant in my previous post was changing the grid (1/32 notes, 1/64 notes and 1/128 notes), please download the *.RPP file i've attached and you'll understand. I'm not sure yet if is already possible but to do that we need an LPB option (lines Per Beat). The other think i was talking about in my previous post, was Shrinking or Expanding a pattern witch it would change the midi to double or half speed... Last, the shortcuts are totally fine for me, i could adapt in a heartbeat :-) but if you want and have some spear time, i wouldn't say no to a Fast Tracker II keyboard shortcuts... You can find FT2 keyboard shortcuts here (Page 22) : https://milkytracker.titandemo.org/docs/FT2.pdf
Also, changing everything with the mouse (instead using keyboard shortcuts) would be nice as well!!!

Once more, Thank you so much for everything, i really love your script!!!
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File Type: rpp Test - (Tracker lua).rpp (7.4 KB, 908 views)
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Old 05-10-2018, 03:06 PM   #39
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Does it work now?
Yeah, it does. Cool, thanks!
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Old 05-10-2018, 03:14 PM   #40
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Quote:
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If you are used to a specific key map, give me a full description of it and I can add it.
http://tutorials.renoise.com/wiki/Ke...tant_Shortcuts

That would be awesome!
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