Help with music files

[BrokenAce]

What exactly are IT files, and how do I use them? I'd like to create my own using some of my own songs, but I couldn't find any tutorials anywhere.

[WillLem]

It stands for "Impulse Tracker", the files contain note data similar to MIDI but a bit more complex.

I've never worked with this format personally... what format is your music currently in? NeoLemmix can work with MP3, OGG, MOD and IT so there may be other options that are better suited (assuming that you're creating the files for use in NeoLemmix, that is...)

[BrokenAce]

I didn't know Neolemmix supported "normal" formats such as MP3 and Ogg, that's a relief to hear. I just assumed IT was the only usable file since all the default music files in the game are IT files.
Thanks for the help and hopefully I should be able to get my own MP3s working.

[namida]

The full list of supported formats, from memory*, is (in priority order from "first choice" to "last choice" if multiple with the same filename but different format exist): OGG, WAV, AIF(F), MP3, MO3, IT, MOD, XM, SMC, UMX.

Note in particular that midi is not supported.

* I am 100% sure that all the formats I listed there are supported, but not 100% sure that I haven't missed any, nor that I have the priority order completely correct (though OGG is definitely first).

[Dullstar]

A while back I was writing a suggestion post and as part of it I found experimentally that the priority is ogg > wav > mp3 > it > mod > xm, which matches namida's, but is missing some formats I was unaware were supported (I never actually posted the suggestion, but I saved the post's text locally in case I wanted to come back to it later).

Note that NeoLemmix discards the extension when loading music, so if my_song.ogg exists, there is no way to make NeoLemmix play my_song.wav.

I really don't think this is desirable behavior, because it means that music tracks can mask other music tracks without producing a "this file already exists" warning when inserting it into the music folder, but I digress.

Also, the files that come with NeoLemmix are technically .mod files, but they've been renamed .it (apparently this was done for historical reasons with the file handling code, and then just never undone because it wasn't causing problems). This bothers me more than it probably should.



If you want to actually write .it files, it can be done through OpenMPT. .it and .xm are quite similar as far as the feature set goes; .mod is rather limited and I wouldn't recommend it. .s3m is a bit unusual, as it can have samples and OPL-2 isntruments (I don't think OPL-3 is supported, but I'm not certain). But if you're using OpenMPT now, it's probably best to use its own .mptm format if you don't need compatibility with other trackers simply because it has some nice features like VST support and quality of life stuff like a system to set the tempo that's actually intuitive.

Unless you want to work in DOS for some reason, there's not really any reason to use the original Impulse Tracker.