History Platform / MOD

MOD (tracker [=MODule=]) formats are a hybrid of sorts. They combine note data (like a UsefulNotes/{{MIDI}} file) with digital audio samples (typically in a format similar to [[UsefulNotes/WavAudio WAV]]). To continue the analogy used on those pages: if a MIDI file is a piece of sheet music, and a WAV file an orchestra, then a MOD file is a piece of sheet music bundled with a specific trumpet for use in playing the piece.

Unlike standards like General UsefulNotes/{{MIDI}} and UsefulNotes/{{MP3}}, "MOD" refers to an entire family of formats, most of which are not well-documented, having evolved organically from the early [=SoundTracker=] format. Thanks to this, it is often difficult to determine whether any given MOD file will be playable with any given player except by experimentation. Many (but not all) of the various subformats are broadly cross-compatible within certain well-known subgroups, but even then, there are (usually) minor incompatibilities which are not always obvious. This is among the reasons that, even where MOD formats remain popular for composing music, the file is nowadays often rendered into a non-tracked format such as [=MP3=] for distribution.

MOD formats originated in the late 1980s on the UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}}, making use of the rather smart [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_Chip_Set#Paula Paula chip]] in the computers. This sound chip was able to play four streams of audio at once, each with a different sample rate. Unsurprisingly, early Amiga MOD formats were limited to four channels (later software tricks boosting this to eight channels), but after migration to the PC, where more processing power was available, variations on the original format and many new formats with more channels cropped up. The generic name comes from the file extension of one of the first and most popular formats.

MOD formats were fairly popular for use with games in the 1990s for two reasons: they gave a good balance between quality and file size, and they were also ''consistent''. Because pure MIDI formats relied on sound banks stored on discrete sound hardware, despite their ease of storage the quality of playback could vary wildly between any given PC, making it far harder for developers to create a signature soundscape and unified experience for all users; MOD files, while somewhat bigger in drive footprint and still a little dependent on the overall quality of sound a card could produce, provided their own instruments and thus gave a ''vastly'' more consistent experience to users (which also meant people could talk about a game's music being good, and thus helped word-of-mouth promotion) and allowed for a lot of inventiveness with the sound, since all instruments were creator-defined and not linked to a static sound library. Several examples of games that utilized MOD format music include ''VideoGame/JazzJackrabbit'', ''VideoGame/DeathRally'', ''VideoGame/EpicPinball'', ''VideoGame/TerminalVelocity1995'', ''VideoGame/StarControlII'', ''VideoGame/{{Unreal}}'', ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament'', ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', the ''VideoGame/{{Crusader}}'' franchise, ''VideoGame/{{Seiklus}}'' and many titles from Creator/PopCapGames such as ''VideoGame/{{Bejeweled}}'', ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'' and ''VideoGame/{{Bookworm}}''. The [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem Super Nintendo]] also used, in essence, MOD-format music (see below), which is why some of the soundtracks from the SNES often surpass those of systems released much later and a few [=RPGs=] in particular got ''very'' clever with it.

The basic idea of MOD and MIDI existed for video games. During the fourth to the sixth generation of consoles, they produced music similar to MOD in that samples were loaded into the audio chip to be morphed and played back programmatically. A notable exception though is UsefulNotes/GameboyAdvance, due to having only a DAC, requiring software to mix the audio. Programs do exist to convert some console's formats to MIDI, with the caveat that the instruments will have to be defined manually since video game consoles formats don't map to MIDI directly.

MOD formats were fairly popular for use with games in the 1990s as they gave a good balance between quality and file size. Several examples of games with MOD format music include ''VideoGame/JazzJackrabbit'', ''VideoGame/DeathRally'', ''VideoGame/EpicPinball'', ''VideoGame/TerminalVelocity1995'', ''VideoGame/StarControlII'', ''VideoGame/{{Unreal}}'', ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament'', ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', the ''VideoGame/{{Crusader}}'' franchise, ''VideoGame/{{Seiklus}}'' and many titles from Creator/PopCapGames such as ''VideoGame/{{Bejeweled}}'', ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'' and ''VideoGame/{{Bookworm}}''. The [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem Super Nintendo]] also used, in essence, MOD-format music (see below), which is why some of the soundtracks from the SNES often surpass those of systems released much later and a few [=RPGs=] in particular got ''very'' clever with it.

Starting with the later Seventh Generation games, though, pure steamed music in an [=MP3=] or OGG-style format became much more popular, as the processing could now support it and pre-recorded music of any kind allowed for, well, total control of how the music sounded. In fact, OGG has a parameter that provides a hint to applications where to loop to if looping is needed. By the dawn Eight Generation, pre-recorded streamed music had finally taken over completely and relegated MOD-style music to history.

For anyone wanting to get into the MOD scene, a good software to use is the free and open sourced [[http://openmpt.org/ OpenMPT]], which is quite versatile that not only does it support practically the entire MOD family of formats (it can both load and save them), it also supports features found in more advanced music software such as VST's and ASIO.

MOD formats were fairly popular for use with games in the 1990s as they gave a good balance between quality and file size. Several examples of games with MOD format music include ''VideoGame/JazzJackrabbit'', ''VideoGame/DeathRally'', ''VideoGame/EpicPinball'', ''VideoGame/TerminalVelocity'', ''VideoGame/StarControlII'', ''VideoGame/{{Unreal}}'', ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament'', ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', the ''VideoGame/{{Crusader}}'' franchise, ''VideoGame/{{Seiklus}}'' and many titles from Creator/PopCapGames such as ''VideoGame/{{Bejeweled}}'', ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'' and ''VideoGame/{{Bookworm}}''. The [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem Super Nintendo]] also used, in essence, MOD-format music (see below), which is why some of the soundtracks from the SNES often surpass those of systems released much later and a few [=RPGs=] in particular got ''very'' clever with it.

The basic idea still exists for video games in general today, as nearly every game system from the SNES on up includes a wavetable sound chip, relieving the processor of the burden of mixing the channels itself and freeing it to spend that time on other things. Starting with the later Seventh Generation games, though, pure steamed music in an [=MP3=] or OGG-style format became much more popular, as the processing could now support it and pre-recorded music of any kind allowed for, well, total control of how the music sounded. By the dawn Eight Generation, pre-recorded streamed music had finally taken over completely and relegated MOD-style music to history.[[note]]Notable Sixth-gen exception: the UsefulNotes/GameboyAdvance has digital audio output, but only one stereo channel, so the game engine has to do any sound mixing itself. This is why early and low-budget GBA titles tend to have fewer channels at lower quality, and why so many games make use of the included original Gameboy sound chip.[[/note]]

For anyone wanting to get into the MOD scene, a good software to use is the free and open sourced [[http://openmpt.org/ Open MPT]], which is quite versatile that not only does it support practically the entire MOD family of formats (it can both load and save them), it also supports features found in more advanced music software such as VST's and ASIO.

If you're coming here via an accidental wick from the abbreviation for the UK's Ministry of Defense, see UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships.

Unlike standards like General UsefulNotes/{{MIDI}} and {{MP3}}, "MOD" refers to an entire family of formats, most of which are not well-documented, having evolved organically from the early [=SoundTracker=] format. Thanks to this, it is often difficult to determine whether any given MOD file will be playable with any given player except by experimentation. Many (but not all) of the various subformats are broadly cross-compatible within certain well-known subgroups, but even then, there are (usually) minor incompatibilities which are not always obvious. This is among the reasons that, even where MOD formats remain popular for composing music, the file is nowadays often rendered into a non-tracked format such as MP3 for distribution.

The basic idea still exists for video games in general today, as nearly every game system from the SNES on up includes a wavetable sound chip, relieving the processor of the burden of mixing the channels itself and freeing it to spend that time on other things. Starting with the later Seventh Generation games, though, pure steamed music in an MP3 or OGG-style format became much more popular, as the processing could now support it and pre-recorded music of any kind allowed for, well, total control of how the music sounded. By the dawn Eight Generation, pre-recorded streamed music had finally taken over completely and relegated MOD-style music to history.[[note]]Notable Sixth-gen exception: the UsefulNotes/GameboyAdvance has digital audio output, but only one stereo channel, so the game engine has to do any sound mixing itself. This is why early and low-budget GBA titles tend to have fewer channels at lower quality, and why so many games make use of the included original Gameboy sound chip.[[/note]]

The {{Demoscene}} has extensively used MOD formats and a number of them have also originated with Demoscene groups, the best-known being [=S3M=] (Scream Tracker 3 Module), [=XM=] ([=FastTracker 2=] Module[[labelnote=*]] abbreviated from "extended module"[[/labelnote]]) and [=IT=] ([=Impulse Tracker=] Module, not to be confused with the other IT). There are archive sites which have literally thousands of pieces of music in various MOD formats, such as [[http://modarchive.org/ ModArchive]], [[http://scene.org/ scene.org]], [[http://www.hornet.org/ Hornet Archive]] and [[http://amp.dascene.net/ Amiga Music Preservation]].

The {{Demoscene}} has extensively used MOD formats and a number of them have also originated with Demoscene groups, the best-known being [=S3M=] (Scream Tracker 3 Module), [=XM=] ([=FastTracker 2=] Module[labelnote=*] abbreviated from "extended module"[/labelnote]) and [=IT=] ([=Impulse Tracker=] Module, not to be confused with the other IT). There are archive sites which have literally thousands of pieces of music in various MOD formats, such as [[http://modarchive.org/ ModArchive]], [[http://scene.org/ scene.org]], [[http://www.hornet.org/ Hornet Archive]] and [[http://amp.dascene.net/ Amiga Music Preservation]].

The {{Demoscene}} has extensively used MOD formats and a number of them have also originated with Demoscene groups, the best-known being [=S3M=] (Scream Tracker 3 Module), [=XM=] ([=FastTracker 2=] Module) and [=IT=] ([=Impulse Tracker=] Module, not to be confused with the other IT). There are archive sites which have literally thousands of pieces of music in various MOD formats, such as [[http://modarchive.org/ ModArchive]], [[http://scene.org/ scene.org]], [[http://www.hornet.org/ Hornet Archive]] and [[http://amp.dascene.net/ Amiga Music Preservation]].

MOD formats were fairly popular for use with games in the 1990s as they gave a good balance between quality and file size. Several examples of games with MOD format music include ''VideoGame/JazzJackrabbit'', ''VideoGame/DeathRally'', ''VideoGame/EpicPinball'', ''VideoGame/TerminalVelocity'', ''StarControl II'', ''VideoGame/{{Unreal}}'', ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament'', ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', the ''VideoGame/{{Crusader}}'' franchise, ''VideoGame/{{Seiklus}}'' and many titles from Creator/PopCapGames such as ''VideoGame/{{Bejeweled}}'', ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'' and ''VideoGame/{{Bookworm}}''. The [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem Super Nintendo]] also used, in essence, MOD-format music (see below), which is why some of the soundtracks from the SNES often surpass those of systems released much later and a few [=RPGs=] in particular got ''very'' clever with it.

MOD (tracker [=MODule=]) formats are a hybrid of sorts. They combine note data (like a {{MIDI}} file) with digital audio samples (typically in a format similar to [[UsefulNotes/WavAudio WAV]]). To continue the analogy used on those pages: if a MIDI file is a piece of sheet music, and a WAV file an orchestra, then a MOD file is a piece of sheet music bundled with a specific trumpet for use in playing the piece.

Unlike standards like General {{MIDI}} and {{MP3}}, "MOD" refers to an entire family of formats, most of which are not well-documented, having evolved organically from the early [=SoundTracker=] format. Thanks to this, it is often difficult to determine whether any given MOD file will be playable with any given player except by experimentation. Many (but not all) of the various subformats are broadly cross-compatible within certain well-known subgroups, but even then, there are (usually) minor incompatibilities which are not always obvious. This is among the reasons that, even where MOD formats remain popular for composing music, the file is nowadays often rendered into a non-tracked format such as MP3 for distribution.

MOD formats were fairly popular for use with games in the 1990s as they gave a good balance between quality and file size. Several examples of games with MOD format music include ''VideoGame/JazzJackrabbit'', ''VideoGame/DeathRally'', ''VideoGame/EpicPinball'', ''VideoGame/TerminalVelocity'', ''StarControl II'', ''VideoGame/{{Unreal}}'', ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament'', ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', the ''VideoGame/{{Crusader}}'' franchise, ''VideoGame/{{Seiklus}}'' and many titles from Creator/PopCapGames such as ''VideoGame/{{Bejeweled}}'', ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'' and ''VideoGame/{{Bookworm}}''. The [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem Super Nintendo]] also used, in essence, MOD-format music (see below), which is why some of the soundtracks from the SNES often surpass those of systems released much later and a few RPGs in particular got ''very'' clever with it.

MOD formats have been fairly popular for use with games since the 1990s as they give a good balance between quality and file size. Several examples of games with MOD format music include ''VideoGame/JazzJackrabbit'', ''VideoGame/DeathRally'', ''VideoGame/EpicPinball'', ''VideoGame/TerminalVelocity'', ''StarControl II'', ''VideoGame/{{Unreal}}'', ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament'', ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', the ''VideoGame/{{Crusader}}'' franchise, ''VideoGame/{{Seiklus}}'' and many titles from Creator/PopCapGames such as ''VideoGame/{{Bejeweled}}'', ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'' and ''VideoGame/{{Bookworm}}''.

The basic idea still exists for video games in general today, as nearly every game system from the SNES on up includes a wavetable sound chip, relieving the processor of the burden of mixing the channels itself and freeing it to spend that time on other things.[[note]]Notable exception: the UsefulNotes/GameboyAdvance has digital audio output, but only one stereo channel, so the game engine has to do any sound mixing itself. This is why early and low-budget GBA titles tend to have fewer channels at lower quality, and why so many games make use of the included original Gameboy sound chip.[[/note]]

MOD formats have been fairly popular for use with games since the 1990s as they give a good balance between quality and file size. Several examples of games with MOD format music include ''VideoGame/JazzJackrabbit'', ''VideoGame/DeathRally'', ''VideoGame/EpicPinball'', ''TerminalVelocity'', ''StarControl II'', ''VideoGame/{{Unreal}}'', ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament'', ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', the ''VideoGame/{{Crusader}}'' franchise, ''VideoGame/{{Seiklus}}'' and many titles from Creator/PopCapGames such as ''VideoGame/{{Bejeweled}}'', ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'' and ''VideoGame/{{Bookworm}}''.