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Have you tried renoise? EDIT1: If you still want to try multiple sound cards with jack, read this: http://jackaudio.org/multiple_devices
It explains why jack is not optimized for this setup, but also gives some options. Still, they are all outside of the ideal just works scenario, but it can be done. (And in the future this setup will be more accessible to the user)
Also, have you ever tried jack2? EDIT2: Since kernel 3.0 you don't really need any RT patch or any nonsense scheduler to get 10ms latency. Just-Use-Default! If you still want to thinker with it, you can definitely make system playback and record loops (from alsa and pulse) into jack, or use a 7.1 sound card into 4 separate stereo outputs. You can also tap into any sound device using the alsa_in and alsa_out explained in the FAQ above.
BUT, it's not user friendly. If you want that, either wait or go with something that provide it. By the way, this is what my Jack DSP looks like: http://i.imgur.com/hHSVy.png
Well, your request is pretty vague, but I'll tell you what I can.
The program I use the most would have to be Renoise, which is what's called a tracker. This type of music software has been around for a while, on all sorts of platforms. Renoise is fairly simple to grasp, at least in my opinion, yet quite powerful and flexible. It is also rather inexpensive (less than 60€), especially when compared to other music-making programs. There's a free demo available, with the only feature lacking being exporting to WAV or other formats. You will however have to use what's called VST (or AU on mac) plugins. Many are free, and a simple google search will often lead you to the plugin for the sound you need.
Another option, albeit more expensive (between about 300$ and 700$, depending on the version), is Ableton Live. Ableton is used quite a bit by professionals, and it is very powerful. It uses the more traditional "piano roll" view instead of the tracker one, and uses concepts called clips, tracks, and scenes to organize your songs. It's probably harder to understand than renoise, but once again there are many tutorials out there. Unless you opt for the Suite version, which provides you with built-in instruments, you'll still need to find plugins.
There are many more out there, but those are the only two that I use frequently, and I wouldn't want to mislead you about other programs. So, it really all comes down to your budget and the exact type of software you are looking for, but any program will let you make any sort of music you want, with a bit a dedication.
renoise is an interesting one. All the fun of trackers, but with more functionality! :D http://www.renoise.com/
But if you're looking for something different, definitely check out Rax'n'Trax. Free, and pretty easy to pick up on. http://www.raxntrax.com/download.htm
It's true, beta testing for Renoise 3.1 has begun! It brings in the new features from Redux, as well as a few long-requested ones and some general improvements. See the release page for full details: http://www.renoise.com/products/renoise/release-notes/310
OpenMPT is probably the easiest tracker to get started with. You can also find tons of tutorials for it. Using this you can start writing Amiga-like music, with 4 channels and whatnot. Or, if you have an Amiga or an emulator, grab a copy of ProTracker (OCS if you want to be oldschool) and compose directly on it. It's a much less intuitive program, though.
Another popular option is LSDJ for the Gameboy.
Or if you just want to make something that sounds like chiptune and have a huge DAW, too, check out Renoise.
Renoise works just fine in Ubuntu 16.04 (although I heard it's not that good in 18.04). It's very cheap but pretty powerful. You can try it with almost fully functional demo version, and full version costs just 68 EUR.
Its actually incredibly flexible (more flexible than any other DAW I've worked with). The current price is $89.00 or 65 Euros. With it, you gain access to the Renoise backstage where you can download the client as many times as you wish to install on as many computers as you wish.
You also get support for one full version (Renoise is currently on version 3.0 and a license purchased today will have support until version 4.0). A full list of release history can be viewed here. That should give you a basic idea of how often Renoise releases patches and how long your license will last.
Just curious why can't a computer play this? I could translate his percussion's into midi data along with velocity and route each hit through battery producing the same beats. Or if I wanted to program this beat by hand I could do it with renoise which allows some pretty high resolution between notes for offsetting delay hits/ghost notes.
I think computers are just an extension of us and if you have soul you can make a computer beat shit out of the box that most strictly analog percussionists couldn't even imagine. With the advent of digital drumkits the mending of both old and new renders a new type of sound that can't in itself be replicated.
That being said the drummer is righteous however that baseline is even making my dog cringe.
Collapsible channel groups has finally become a reality (that is me in the video). Excellent, and it works really well. It took me 15 minutes to organise my 58+ track project* into groups and sub groups. I'll have to assign some keyboard short cuts to handle the collapse-all/expand-all things as those are a little inconveniently tucked away in a sub-dropdown menu.
* Link to a track I made recorded in Renoise 2.7, so before the new channel grouping. Gives a good example of how useful the grouping will be to me.
Renoise is pretty close. I bought it for about $80 at version 2.0 around 2006, maybe 2007 and it just recently hit 3.0 last year with a bunch of 2.x versions between with major feature additions. Their policy is you don't have to pay the (I think it's $50 now?) upgrade fee for another point version upgrade from the version you bought it from. So say you buy it at the hypothetical 3.1, you get free upgrades till 4.1 which could be all the way up into 2024. It has everything anyone would want in an a DAW and it's super customizable, has VLC and AU plugin support, works cross platform on Mac OS X, GNU/Linux, and Winbloze without DRM, has a great sampler and amazing effects, suitable for mixing, and more. The only thing people complain about having to get used to is the vertical note input due to its tracker-like nature, but I actually prefer it to the horizontal note input systems most DAW's have adopted. Check it out! http://www.renoise.com
Edit: I have VLC/AU plugins that have costed more than Renoise itself.
Hmm. Well. I have used Ableton Live for quite some time, but I recently switched to renoise (this week, so I'm still a newbie). The updates are packed with features see Renoise 2.8 release notes.
While a tracker seems primitive. It gives me a better overview of my tracks. I can see when notes are triggered on a horizontal line <for all tracks>, instead of digging into several blocks of midi-data and trying to remember where the fuck I'm doing what.
I also like the fact that I can open up old modules (.mod, .xm, .it, ...) and see how they are constructed.
Also tools, user developed tools: http://www.renoise.com/tools/browse
I'm sold, anyway.
Renoise is a good option for $75, and it's an absolute powerhouse if you don't mind learning/working with tried-and-true tracking. It has full ReWire support too, so if you decide to buy another DAW like Ableton in the future, you can work on a track in both at the same time.
know your tools. the eq and compressor are the most important tool you will use. get good source material. I wrote this tutorial for renoise, but you'll find the sample packs useful: http://www.renoise.com/board/index.php?/topic/27006-breakcore-rinse-technique-xrns/
I know you asked for an hardware sequencer, but you might want to have a look at Renoise or especially at its VST spin off Redux.
Renoise is a Tracker DAW and Redux is basically the same in a VST package. Mostly centred around a sample based workflow.
But both are really strong as MIDI Sequencer. At least for me the tracker interface works really well to sequence multiple HW synths.
Maybe it helps you over until you find a hardware sequencer :)
Edit:
Trackers were sequencers that started on the Amiga, but were more widely used on the Atari ST because it had MIDI I/O as standard. They were capable of much more intricate and complex sequences than hardware sequencers like the Alesis MM-6 (yeah, Alesis used to be good). Check out Renoise for a modern-day equivalent.
For samplers, popular choices were the Akai S-series, E-mu and Roland. Kontakt takes a lot of cues from the Akai, but pretty much anything can sample these days.
Synths were the usual suspects, whatever the artist could afford, but the Roland SH-101 was especially popular with a lot of the Warp guys. Squarepusher was a big fan. Check out TAL BassLine for a freebie SH-101.
Gear was plugged into a cheap analog mixer, Mackie, Soundcraft, Yamaha, that kind of ilk, and recorded straight to DAT. Multitracking wasn't a big deal, because everything was sequenced and mixed live. Yeah, most Aphex Twin songs are just jams.
We're happy to announce that the Redux VST/AU plugin from Renoise is now available for Win/OSX/Linux.
Redux is a combination of a sampler and performance-oriented phrase sequencer. Want to try it out for free? Demo versions can be downloaded from: http://www.renoise.com/download
How much does it cost? A Redux license is €58 (+VAT) or $65. For owners of Renoise, a Redux license is €40 (+VAT) or $45 when ordered through the Renoise Backstage.
What's included? Redux comes with a small but fine pack of example instruments, samples, DSP FX Chains, Modulation Sets and Phrases - all the components that make up an instrument in Redux. We highly recommend that you browse through the included presets to get an impression of what it can do for you.
There are 3 additional free content packs with more instruments, samples and other presets available to registered users in the Backstage.
Want to know more? http://www.renoise.com/redux
Renoise has a good sample cutter. I've only used the demo, but you can load in a song or sample and it will automatically make sample cuts for you.
There's a fileformats tool which loads them for you. It hasn't been updated for version 3 yet =C
For now you could probably use version 2.8 just to load them, then save them as .xrni files. The tool is available here:
http://www.renoise.com/tools/additional-file-format-import-support
Cool. I had an Amiga 500 when I was a kid (in the mid-90s when everyone else had fancy personal computers). I mostly played games and watched demos though. :)
You might already know about this; but I'll mention it anyway. If you want to get back into tracking, Renoise is a very good and modern tracker with a friendly community built around it. You can even import mods and do remixes of your old tracks.
I haven't spent too much time with Reaper. In the past it crashed too often on my XP setup and I wasn't able to nail down the reason. From looking at the MIDI overview, I believe Renoise can do everything MIDI that Reaper can do.
Renoise notes and commands can trigger either samples or MIDI (or both!), and vice-versa. Audio from samples and audio from MIDI are treated the same as well. MIDI is just another instrument in Renoise.
Reaper has a few additional audio features that Renoise does not. For instance, Reaper has a more freeform project structure, for non-musical audio like speech or sound effects. Renoise assumes you want to write music and has everything neatly arranged based on the tempo and note divisions.
Both Renoise and Reaper support ReWire, so they can be used together in sync if desired.
I like that Renoise helps me focus on composition, it's very easy to see (and write) note relationships and rhythms. In contrast, Reaper defaults to rows of sample waveforms or a piano roll like most DAWs. Renoise is clearly organized and focuses on efficiency and an uncluttered UI. Other DAWs look like a mess to me in comparison. Because it is different, this scares some users, but I think the learning curve is very short and worth the time.
I hope this helps answer your question. I mostly use Renoise to record using MIDI input, which has been great! But I rarely use it to drive external MIDI devices, if that's what you're looking for. The Renoise forum community is solid and may have more answers for you there!
Hey sorry programmers, I didn't mean to offend!
I started out with a midi "tracker" sequencer on an Amiga 500. I think trackers would appeal to a programmer. It's basically a list of actions you can take on every fraction of a beat ie 16 actions per bar and u will trigger a kick on 1, 5, 9,13 and you also have control of the velocity, pitch, filter or whatever
A modern version is Renoise so you might like that
Never really mastered it though and prefer fiddling with knobs & slider or keys & strings.
I do respect the art going into the code here, wish I could do it.
You say you're making Industrial? I suggest you check out Renoise, it's great for programming drums or playing with samples in general.
I use Renoise to make breakcore/rythmic noise, took a little time to get control of, but as long as you give it an honest try and look for tutorials and such you shouldn't have any trouble :D
Renoise has a 32-bit version, and is very light on resources:
Additionally, the demoes goes back to 2002:
I don't know if the ancient versions support VSTi/VST fx.
You could also try Renoise. While the interface is a clusterfuck at first, the low level "hands on" workflow is great for simply messing around, which I actually had a lot of fun with. No other I tried DAW was fun like that. :)
Only real limitation is you can't render your song on the free trial, but projects can be saved until you decide if the price is worth it (~75$). It also works on Windows, macOS and Linus^^jk ^^Linux.
If you want something with a UI that is simple/minimalistic I would recommend looking into trackers, such as renoise. Writing entire pieces of music in something like supercollider may be possible, but it would be an uphill battle as that isn't really what it is made for.
Thanks!
It's not that hard actually :). I have bought "Mark Fletcher's JazzDrumsV1" on Loopmasters. ( http://www.loopmasters.com/products/1719-Jazz-Drums-Vol1-Mark-Fletcher ) There are jazz drum loops on there, and I used it for the drums.
Then I downloaded a double-bass sample somewhere on the internet, it was free to use.
I use the Renoise software ( http://www.renoise.com/ ) to compose my music. I put it at the right BPM and just added the drum loop on every pattern. The only thing left was the double-bass and I started with the root notes of the chords I was playing and then added some extra in-between notes.
I played this on my headphones and recorded myself on the piano and mixed my recording with the generated audio from Renoise in Audacity. I used a Compressor effect on my recording to improve the sound a little bit, although it wasn't necessary as I found a good way to record my piano with my Zoom H1 microphone which is awesome.
This whole process took about one hour, and most of that time was spent in making multiple piano recordings to get a flawless one.
Venetian Snares = mad micro edits using renoise tracker http://www.renoise.com/
John Fruisciante = lots of p-lock editing and resampling on Elektron Machinedrum / Monomachine http://www.elektronauts.com/talk/view/41
Squarepusher = Insanely detailed hardware sequencing on a Yamaha QY700 + lots of resampling via Eventide Harmonizers etc
U-ziq = no idea but probably a combination of the above / probably a nord modular / reaktor / maxmsp in there somewhere
It's not a necessity, but it's what all the classic Breakcore tunes were made on. Vsnares and Enduser were both into Renoise for a time, and the history of it goes back as far as ragga jungle guys on Atari ST trackers with Akai samplers. It's part of the history of the scene, and to ignore it would be like trying to learn to make rock music without a guitar. It would be possible, but extraordinarily difficult to make anything good.
Renoise works on Linux, so try it out.
Maybe look into Renoise if you think you can script it yourself. Renoise has a fair amount of user written scripts - for example there is one that will render then upload to Soundcloud. Perhaps you can modify it to upload to your service. It seems fairly full featured - for example users have written in IRC chat clients and (very simple) puzzle style games in it.
Here is a list of their plugins:
http://www.renoise.com/tools/browse
There is one plugin in particular that adds an entire library of HTTP tools like uploading, you could probably use that plugin to write your own upload functions:
There is a tool for Renoise that lets you do this:
http://www.renoise.com/tools/overtune
Being a programmer you might like Renoise in general. Lots of ways to extend its functionality by programming tools in Lua.
I didn't have to reboot to save a track. Maybe because I had the memory expansion and an external drive.
Nowadays my favourite one is Renoise, which is awesome. It's not free, but the demo allows for a lot itself.
Before renoise, maybe ImpulseTracker (now open source) and Milky Tracker, Protrekker (sp?).
I'd recommend downloading renoise and playing with the examples if you're into this. It's pretty good.
I don't know if this was in Renoise 2.8, but with the instrument automation I see all the FM8 parameters, including the matrix. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/581070/FM8_and_Renoise_3.png
Actually, it looks like that's new in version 3. http://www.renoise.com/release-notes/300
>I'm just looking for low latency audio, midi support, and a DAW.
I can help with the DAW: renoise
Not very expensive, extremely capable and because its basic mechanic (as a tracker) is so different from most DAWs you are guaranteed to take different approaches and come up with solutions and results that don't just sound like everything else. At least I found that this approach has tought me to think more outside the box than when using click&play solutions like FL studio.
Also renoise is developed by demosceners, which I see as some kind of guarantee that its done by passionate developers who know what they are doing.
Some trackers use the computer keyboard as the note input method.
Renoise is very versatile and powerful and free to download. You have to pay for the full version, but the free version is very capable and the paid version is cheaper than most music software.
Here is an explanation of how to use the keyboard to enter notes.
Just to add -- I am fond of Renoise because it's one of the few tools that works on Linux natively. I believe the free demo version is fully operational, except you can only save files as renoise projects -- no exporting to mp3/wav/whatever. It seems to be one of the cheaper audio tools available anyways (58 €). I had an issue resolving a dependency, but other than that it's worked fine for me.
Also, Venetian Snares uses it, as seen in Vache. better quality Vache
> Is there open source music production software available that is powerful and legitimate(aside from just Audacity, which is an amazing tool?)
If you have some spare bucks (even if you don't) - check out Renoise if you're in to trackers. It's not FOSS, but it's really, really good.
Thanks! I've been a metalhead all my life but I have to admit, it is more fun as a keyboardist to make electro/chiptunes stuff :) However those two work together pretty well, I have this project where I have made everything with Renoise (tracker software) and combined both metal/rock and chiptuneish influences.
I've been at it for ~6 years. I mostly use Renoise, though I do have several hardware synths I'm rather fond of. I do live breakcore, (some) live dubstep related things, live acid (on hardware!), and recorded ambient, dance, etc. If you're interested in checking it out, let me know!
>http://www.renoise.com/ - Free tracker (an older style of DAW, but still powerful), with VST (Virtual Studio Technology) support.
Renoise ain't free. Madtracker is though. I remember enjoying that program very much because of the VST support.
LMMS is the closest thing to FL studio without paying for FL studio. That is your best bet for what you are looking for.
Be sure to check out kvraudio for listings of some free plugins.
weird that you can't get jack working stably. in my experience, it's the only one of the sound subsystems i can get working well (fuck pulse, that shit is garbage). what soundcard are you using it with? what kernel version? what JACK version?
for actual composition and beatmaking i've been using renoise. yeah, it's not open source, but it's pretty damn nice and it's the best we have for the platform.
yay for milkytracker :) for those looking for more professional software with a "tracker feeling" renoise is worth a look. I know a dude who uses it for realtime sync with atari and gameboy for live sessions.
If you like ableton + the tracker interface, you can get Redux , the VST version of Renoise.
Otherwise, if nobody tried to do a Max for Live tracker, it's pretty complicated to get a tracker workflox inside live :)
There are a couple of alternatives you can try.
- Slice to a drum machine. This gives you lots of control over each individual sample
- Use a third-party sampler like Kontakt (€399), or my current favourite Redux (€58!)
You know what the fun part is? I write music and I can't play an instrument either. You should try using a digital composer program, I would recommend Renoise since I've used that for years. It basically enables you to load up any samples or virtual instrument and make a song out of them.
If you can imagine a song, you can write it :D
So with syncing the short audio clips to the existing song? what do you mean exactly? Like do you want to, say, place a sample somewhere in the sequence?
Yeah, I've never tried recording more than one source at once in Renoise, but you can just record using shift+ctrl+r (or CMD on OS X) to bring it up, go to the sampler view to edit it and stuff, then click autoseek on the left most panel of the sampler view near the bottom. Then go back to the Edit view, place the root note of the sample/audio recording (usually the c-note in the 4th octave by default) in the area you'd like the audio to begin in the sequence. Once you have multiple patterns, you'll be able to start anywhere in the sequence and have the corresponding part of the audio file play at the point in where you play. It's definitely useful to use autoseek for longer audio recordings so you can add very fine effects at certain points in the sequence or just start from a certain bar and have reference to make sure everything matches up. If you don't enable autoseek for a longer audio file, you'll only be able to hear the audio recording from the very beginning note that you placed in your sequence.
Lastly, to clarify how to loop, in the Edit view, on the pattern view on the left most pane, click the little rectangle on the pattern you'd like to loop, it'll keep looping until you designate another pattern or click the little rectangle off. So if you want to loop without any add on tools, its definitely doable and it's what I usually do when I want to loop. BUT, Duplex is amazing if you have an iPad or smartphone with the TouchOSC app for a little more live/launchpad feeling for looping.
Redux is a VST based on the Renoise (tracker like) DAW. Renoise is great for MIDI Sequencing (but not limited). Redux is basically Renoise as VST (with some features cut).
AND: both have a free demo, which are even as demo quite powerful PLUS pricing / licensing is quite affordable and fair.
Have a look at them: http://www.renoise.com/download
EDIT: I'm a long time Renoise user on Linux and I'm very biased ;)
Just last night I downloaded ardour and the bigwig demo. Llms I tried as well but it looked kinda juvenile and I couldn't really understand it but it's supposed to be the closest to FL Studio.
I use a mac pro as my main music computer but have Linux on my laptop and want to be able to do some stuff when I'm out of town for these up coming holidays.
Edit: there's also Renoise http:// www.renoise.com/ but it has quite a different approach.
Mixxx is a great, free, open source DJing program -- you can just download it and use it right away. http://mixxx.org/ They support several controllers, from pro hardware and time coded vinyl to children's toys like the Mixman DM2 (about $20 on ebay).
http://mixxx.org/wiki/doku.php/hardware_compatibility
I use it with an M-Audio Xponent controller/sound card ($200-$400 used), and before that, the Hercules DJ controller/sound card ($100-$200 used). I'd say that the Xponent was passable as a scratching controller, the Hercules less so -- both are best for mixing DJ sets. Most of the people I know of who are seriously into Turntablism ("scratching as an art form") use time-coded vinyl with a real technics turntable, and then just uses Mixxx or another app to keep everything in sync.
It sounds like you want to ultimately arrange everything in Renoise, though, right? Depending on what sound you're going for, you might just experiment with the copious tools inside of Renoise for chopping and reversing samples, creating stutter-starts, changing playback speed, etc. -- playing the same sample backwards and forwards in Renoise can have a similar effect to scratching a record.
http://www.renoise.com/blog/Slice%20Markers%20Explained
Then you wouldn't need anything extra -- just an idea... TrueSchool
It's possible to produce any type of music in Renoise (just like in any other DAW). Recording audio and MIDI keyboard is not too comfortable, but on the other side it's blazingly fast for programming drums. As for technical capabilities it's pretty much the same as any popular DAW, it supports plugins, MIDI and whatnot.
If you remember the artist, group, year it came out, or the first letter of the filename you should be able to find it at modarchive.org
I not only had floppys and cds full of them, I still do! Most of my floppys were last used in 1999 though. So they have probably degraded by now.
I also double checked my comment and realized that Vogue (of Triton) made BeyondReality not LizardKing. Either way, Triton and Future Crew (Purple Motion!) were my favourite groups back in the day.
A really good, modern, compatible, tracker program is Renoise
Not if you are using logic's ESX24 sampler. That thing is 7 years overdue an update. If you want somthing like maschines workflow you should check out Redux. Its pretty cheap as far as plugins go so definitally worth checking out. I tried the demo a while ago and was pretty impressed with what it can do
You can always work with trackers like Renoise. It gives you the ability to draw a basic synth that sounds like any other old-styled video game song. (Drawing of square, sawtooth, or mangled waveforms).
The echo effect is simply just fading the sound over and over downwards until its gone. e.g,
NOTE - Volume c-100 ff c-100 aa c-100 80 c-100 65 c-100 45 c-100 27 c-100 13
Sounds like a good fit then. Also I should mention that Renoise is very good for complicated breakbeat. I usually set the tempo at 2x my actual song tempo and set my lines per beat to 12. This makes it pretty easy to write triplets.
Renoise is also not very good for recording audio or midi live. It's much better as a sequencer. Renoise is also designed to work pretty well without a midi keyboard and has tons of keyboard shortcuts. If you can learn to use the shortcuts well you will be very fast with renoise.
Also one last note, the next major development of renoise if it stays on track is to create Renoise as a VST instrument like a VST sequencer. It is called Redux
Two suggestions. Neither are free but both are very affordable and have very generous demos.
1) I will repeat everyone elses suggestion of Reaper. I prefer it to many packages that cost significantly more. Demo has no restrictions except for a nag screen. http://www.reaper.fm/download.php 2) My other go to option is Renoise. It has a higher learning curve but once you learn it can be very powerful. Demo is unrestricted except for rendering out. http://www.renoise.com/
Edited: spelling
Renoise is also a really great program for making music that has been running under linux for a long time, it's really nice if you remember the old days of using trackers, it's the same kind of experience, just with more modern sound for the people that aren't that into chiptunes.
I used a couple tools tht do this within Renoise:
Scale finder: http://www.renoise.com/tools/scale-finder Pianolol: http://www.renoise.com/tools/pianolol-melody-editor Epic Arpeggiator: http://www.renoise.com/tools/epic-arpeggiator
Between those three I always know what notes are in my scale and what chords are within reach, without learning to play a friggin piano. The only remaining composing task really is melodic phrases and perhaps the borrowing of chords from other scales.
You might want to take a look at trackers, which use a text-based notation instead of either standard music notation or typical piano roll graphics.
Trackers differ from non-trackers in that the sequencer plays tracks vertically instead of horizontally, and in many ways resembles a spreadsheet - enough so that you could probably write your music in Excel.
Of the current trackers on the market, Renoise is the most modernized. Take a look their website, watch a few tutorials, and download the demo.
I think you'll find just the right mix of what you're describing.
I'm quite baffled too. Also, why did it get so many upvotes for being in the wrong place? And on top of that, why is it a link to a screenshot on tumblr, instead of the Renoise website or something along those lines.
Nothing really comes closer than Ableton Live. I really can't get the workflow down well, though. It's very different than FL Studio.
I've been diving more and more into Renoise lately: http://www.renoise.com/
I use samples for drums (kicks, snare, cymbals, no loops) and ambient or weird noises, sequencing is done in renoise (tracker type software for linux/mac/win). And a while ago I found a whole lot of Mellotron wave files and -after some pitch correction- I could use those create a multi-sample xrni file for use in renoise.
I don't think sampling or tracking is dead, on the contrary, just that the count of samples used per instrument has increased to make them sound more natural and less repetitive.
yay for milkytracker :) for those looking for more professional software with a "tracker feeling" renoise is worth a look. I know a dude who uses it for realtime sync with atari and gameboy for live sessions.
Renoise is s tracker for use with VST or MIDI, unfortunately not free though, you could try the demo.
Seq24 is a free (as in beer and speech) MIDI looper, it works similar to a tracker by letting you create patterns and arranging these in a sequence. Very simple and straightforward but I don't know how well it runs on Windows. No Mac version available AFAIK.