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Music tracker
Music trackers are programs used to compose music on a computer. They take a top-down grid based approach and usually only deal with samples, rather than software instruments. Examples of common trackers are Renoise, SunVox, MilkyTracker and FamiTracker.
History
The first tracker was one called the Ultimate Soundtracker and ran on the Amiga computer.
Usage
The basic concepts of the music tracker is the grid that you edit your notes, and the instruments that handle which sounds are used and organized. Your computer's keyboard models real piano keys, using the Z as C model.
Patterns
Every tracker handles patterns in its own way. Most of the time though, each tracker shares the concept of a pattern, a set of notes and samples tracked out to produce a melody that can be arranged.
Instruments
Instruments are usually a single or group of samples used to produce a particular tone. This can be a kick drum sample, or a primitive tone waveform like a sine wave or sawtooth wave. Some more modern trackers use software instrument plugins such as VSTs or have software instruments built into the application.