https://therohans.com/traqueur/ Recent content in Traqueur — Music Tracker DAW | The Rohans on The Rohans Hugo en-GB Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://therohans.com/traqueur/lofi-tracker-tutorial/ Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://therohans.com/traqueur/lofi-tracker-tutorial/ <section class="hero" style="background-color: #25123f;"> <div class="hero-inner"> <p class="hero-publisher">The Rohans &mdash; Music</p> <h1>How to Make Lofi Music in a Tracker</h1> <p class="hero-tagline"> Dust, wow and flutter, and drums that sound like they got sampled off a dying tape deck. Here's how to get there in Traqueur, one phrase row at a time. </p> </div> </section> <section class="section"> <div class="section-inner"> <h2>Why a tracker is a shortcut to lofi</h2> <p> Lofi is mostly about degradation on purpose: crushed bit depth, rolled-off highs, timing that drifts instead of locking to a grid. A timeline DAW gets you there with a chain of plugins stacked on every track. A tracker gets you there with commands typed straight into the pattern, because bit-crushing and filtering were never bolted on as effects here, they were part of the format from day one. </p> https://therohans.com/traqueur/trackers-and-the-demoscene/ Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://therohans.com/traqueur/trackers-and-the-demoscene/ <section class="hero" style="background-color: #25123f;"> <div class="hero-inner"> <p class="hero-publisher">The Rohans &mdash; Music</p> <h1>Trackers and the Demoscene</h1> <p class="hero-tagline"> Tracker music grew out of a need to fit sound into programs that had to load from floppy disks. This page covers the history behind the format and explains why it sounds the way it does. </p> </div> </section> <section class="section"> <div class="section-inner"> <h2>It started as a cracked commercial product</h2> <p> Karsten Obarski, a German developer working at the game studio EAS, released Ultimate Soundtracker for the Commodore Amiga in December 1987. The program used a grid-based interface where composers entered notes and samples as data rather than performing them live. It also introduced the MOD file format, which combined audio samples and pattern information into one file. </p> https://therohans.com/traqueur/license/ Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://therohans.com/traqueur/license/ <section class="hero" style="background-color: #25123f;"> <div class="hero-inner"> <p class="hero-publisher">The Rohans &mdash; Traqueur</p> <h1>Traqueur License</h1> </div> </section> <section class="section"> <div class="section-inner"> <p class="section-label">BSD 3-Clause</p> <h2>Terms</h2> <pre> Copyright (c) 2025-2026, The Rohans Limited BSD 3-Clause License Copyright (c) 2018, Discodirt All rights reserved. Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. * Neither the name of the copyright holder nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. </pre> </div> </section> https://therohans.com/traqueur/traqueur-on-linux/ Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://therohans.com/traqueur/traqueur-on-linux/ <section class="hero" style="background-color: #25123f;"> <div class="hero-inner"> <p class="hero-publisher">The Rohans &mdash; Music</p> <h1>Traqueur on Linux</h1> <p class="hero-tagline"> A free tracker DAW for Linux, Steam Deck, and Raspberry Pi. The same grid-based workflow and keyboard controls, just running on a different operating system. </p> </div> </section> <section class="section" id="why-linux"> <div class="section-inner"> <h2>Why a tracker fits Linux</h2> <p> Trackers started on machines with very limited resources. The original Amiga versions ran on a few hundred kilobytes of RAM. That constraint matches how many Linux users approach their systems: lean tools, minimal overhead, nothing running without a reason. </p> https://therohans.com/traqueur/tracker-effect-commands/ Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://therohans.com/traqueur/tracker-effect-commands/ <section class="hero" style="background-color: #25123f;"> <div class="hero-inner"> <p class="hero-publisher">The Rohans &mdash; Music</p> <h1>What Are Tracker Effect Commands?</h1> <p class="hero-tagline"> Two hex digits can do more than a whole automation lane. Here's what those little codes sitting next to every note actually do. </p> </div> </section> <section class="section"> <div class="section-inner"> <h2>The basic idea</h2> <p> In a timeline DAW, anything that changes over time, a filter sweep, a volume fade, gets its own automation lane drawn with a mouse. A tracker skips the lane entirely. Every row in a phrase can carry a note plus up to two commands, and each command is four hex characters: two for a target or speed, two for a value. </p> https://therohans.com/traqueur/what-is-a-tracker-daw/ Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://therohans.com/traqueur/what-is-a-tracker-daw/ <section class="hero" style="background-color: #25123f;"> <div class="hero-inner"> <p class="hero-publisher">The Rohans &mdash; Music</p> <h1>What Is a Tracker DAW?</h1> <p class="hero-tagline"> Before Ableton, there was a grid, a floppy disk, and eight channels of chip noise. Here's what a tracker actually is, how it differs from a normal DAW, and why some of us never left. </p> </div> </section> <section class="section" id="what-is-a-tracker"> <div class="section-inner"> <h2>What a tracker actually is</h2> <p> A tracker, sometimes called music tracker software, lays out a song as a grid instead of a timeline. Rows are steps in time, columns are channels, and each cell holds a note, an instrument number, and up to two effect commands, typed as short hex codes instead of dragged around with a mouse. </p> https://therohans.com/traqueur/manual/ Mon, 03 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://therohans.com/traqueur/manual/ <!-- Hero --> <section class="hero" style="background-color: #25123f;"> <div class="hero-inner"> <p class="hero-publisher">The Rohans &mdash; Music</p> <h1>Traqueur Manual</h1> <p class="hero-tagline"> Key mapping, navigation, phrase commands, and config.xml reference for Traqueur, the music tracker DAW for lo-fi composition on macOS. <br><br> Version 1.4 &middot; Updated May 14, 2026 &middot; <a href="../Traqueur_Manual.pdf">Download PDF</a> </p> </div> </section> <!-- Contents --> <section class="section"> <div class="section-inner"> <h2>Contents</h2> <ul class="toc"> <li><a href="#introduction">Introduction</a></li> <li><a href="#key-mapping">Default Key Mapping</a></li> <li><a href="#editing">Basic Editing &amp; Navigation</a></li> <li><a href="#selections">Selections</a></li> <li><a href="#playback">Playback</a></li> <li><a href="#muting">Muting</a></li> <li><a href="#commands">Phrase Commands</a></li> <li><a href="#command-notes">Command Notes</a></li> <li><a href="#configuration">Configuration</a></li> </ul> </div> </section> <!-- Introduction --> <section class="section" id="introduction"> <div class="section-inner"> <h2>Introduction</h2> <p> Traqueur is a music tracker and DAW optimised for portable and low-resource devices. It runs on macOS, Linux, Raspberry Pi, and Steam Deck. The interface is built around a hierarchy of nested objects, each with its own editing screen. </p>