Setting up your devices

First thing you must do when you start FastTracker 2.08 is Entering the Configuration screen. You can do so by clicking the button on the main screen called "Configuration".

Now it's time for you to pick your output and sample devices. You do this by left-clicking on the button besides the soundcard you possess.

If you are using a Soundblaster or Soundplayer you might wanna change the mixing frequency or else your tunes will sound very bad. If you own a 486 PC or better with a Soundblaster (classic, Pro, or 16) or a Soundplayer you can use Interpolation to get better sound quality. To improve soundquality you can enable the 16-bit mixing, this enhances the precision in the mixing routine but it requires more CPU time. You can also enable Stereo, but then your Soundblaster Pro cannot play more than 22050 Hz. And while we're at the frequency, the frequency table works like this : the linear frequency table makes all pitch bends to run in constant speed, independent of the current frequency. If you switch this one, on a finished song, it might sound strange if the sound uses portamentoes.

Layout

Press "Layout" at the left of the screen, to get to the Layout section of the setup.

Pattern Layout

Patternstretch, to insert five pixels between every pattern row
Hexnumbering, to alter between Hexadecimal and Decimal counting on the pattern numbering lines. If you use patterns that are longer than 99 lines, you should use Hex counting since there are only 2 digits in the line number column.
Accedential, to choose between # and b in your tune.
Show Zeroes, shows / hides all zeroes not in use in the pattern.
Frameworks, enables / disables frameworks around pattern.
Line number colours, Makes every fourth line number highlight.
Channel numbering, enables / disables channel number at the top of every track.

Mouse Shape

For your mousepointer-look you can simply choose between four different pointers, there are also two busy pointers available, a sand-glass (Vogue) and a clock (Mr.H)

Pattern Modes

Show Volume Column, shows / hides the volume column, this is of use when you are composing a .MOD module.
Maximum Visible Chn., number of channels that are visible at the same time. The maximum amount of columns to view at the same time is 12, Note that when you display the volume column you can only display 8 columns at ones.

Keyboard Layout

This option changes the results in the text edit boxes. All other keyboard functions will remain the same in all layouts.

Setting up DPMI mode

If FastTracker is not working properly, you should run the program in plain DOS. You should also disable background execution, for avoiding problems when switching between tasks. Screen savers also might cause problems.

In this part I assume that you have worked with trackers before so you know what a Volume Column is, and where to find it. Now for the Effects :

Appergio, Syntax : 0 + 1st halftone + 2nd halftone

Example :C-1 1 -- 037
At tick 1 : Plays C-1 tick #1
At tick 2 : Plays C-1 + 3 notes = D#1 tick #2
At tick 3 : Plays C-1 + 7 notes = G-1 tick #3

Portamento Up, Portamento is used to slide the sample pitch up or down. This is done using the period value. If Amiga frequency table is used, the sliding will be non-lineair ( the speed depends on the frequency).

Syntax :1 + speed

Example :C-5 1 -- 103