Ada Tracker
April 14, 2026 ยท View on GitHub
A MOD, XM, S3M, and IT music tracker player writen in Ada, using SDL2 for audio output and UI rendering.
Screenshots
Main
Analyzer
About
Features
- Plays MOD (ProTracker / Amiga), XM (FastTracker II), S3M (ScreamTracker 3), and IT (ImpulseTracker) files
- Full effect support: portamento, vibrato, tremolo, arpeggio, volume/panning slides, pattern loop, pattern delay, and more
- Volume and panning envelopes with sustain and loop (XM + IT)
- IT compressed samples (8-bit and 16-bit delta coding, it215 second-order predictor)
- IT New Note Action (NNA) - background voice pool for layered notes
- XM auto-vibrato and fadeout
- 4-point cubic Hermite (Catmull-Rom) sample interpolation
- Amiga hard-panning for MOD (channels 0/3 left, 1/2 right)
- Pattern editor with live playback position, channel info strip, and active instrument names
- Oscilloscope waveform display
- Real-time spectrum analyser (2048-point FFT, log-scaled 20 Hz - 20 kHz, peak hold)
- Per-channel VU meters and mute
- In-app file browser - navigate directories and load songs without restarting
- PRotected objects for thread-safe sequencer <-> mixer communication
Dependencies
- GNAT Ada compiler (
gprbuild) - SDL2 (
libsdl2-dev)
Build
make
Use gprbuild if available, fall back to gnatmake automatic. Or build directly:
gprbuild -P tracker.gpr
Install
make install # install to /usr/local/bin/tracker
make install PREFIX=~/.local
Usage
./bin/tracker_main [file.mod|file.xm|file.s3m|file.it]
If no file is given, the in-app file browser opens automatic.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
Space | Play / Pause |
Esc | Quit (or close open popup) |
O | Open file browser |
W | Export current song to WAV |
A | Toggle spectrum analyser |
<- / -> | Jump to previous / next order |
Page Up / Page Down | BPM +1 / -1 |
F1-F8 | Toggle mute on channels 1-8 |
F5 | Jump to start |
| Right-click | Toggle About popup |
File browser: Key Up/Key Down navigate, Enter load file or enter directory, Esc cancel.
Supported effects
MOD / XM / S3M / IT (common)
| Effect | Description |
|---|---|
0xy | Arpeggio |
1xx | Portamento up |
2xx | Portamento down |
3xx | Tone portamento |
4xy | Vibrato |
5xy | Tone portamento + volume slide |
6xy | Vibrato + volume slide |
7xy | Tremolo |
8xx | Set panning |
9xx | Sample offset |
Axy | Volume slide |
Bxx | Jump to order |
Cxx | Set volume |
Dxx | Pattern break |
Fxx | Set speed / BPM |
XM extended effects (Exy)
| Effect | Description |
|---|---|
E1x/E2x | Fine portamento up/down |
E4x/E7x | Set vibrato/tremolo waveform |
E5x | Set finetune |
E6x | Pattern loop |
E8x | Set panning |
E9x | Retrigger |
EAx/EBx | Fine volume slide up/down |
ECx | Note cut |
EDx | Note delay |
EEx | Pattern delay |
Txx | Set BPM |
Pxx | Panning slide |
IT-specific volume column commands
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
0-64 | Set volume |
65-74 | Fine volume slide up |
75-84 | Fine volume slide down |
85-94 | Volume slide up |
95-104 | Volume slide down |
128-192 | Set panning |
193-202 | Portamento |
203-212 | Vibrato |