Ilse Vandenberg

If you have a folder full of XM tracker music files and want them on your phone, in a playlist, or loaded into a media player, you need to batch convert XM files on Windows. XM files (Extended Module format) are not audio in the traditional sense — they are tracker files that contain sample … Read more

If you have a collection of tracker music files sitting on your drive, you already know the frustration. Most modern media players do not recognize the XM format. If you want to batch convert XM files on macOS or Linux, you need the right tools and a reliable workflow. I have spent years working with … Read more

If you downloaded a small audio file with a .xm extension and tried to play it, you probably hit a wall. Most media players do not recognize the format. The good news: you can play XM files in a web browser without installing anything, and once you know how, it takes about ten seconds. This … Read more

Double-clicking a MOD music file on Windows 11 usually does nothing. That’s because Windows 11 ships without native support for the tracker music format that powered Amiga games and demoscene productions throughout the late 1980s and 1990s. I’ve spent the last few weeks testing every practical way to play MOD files on Windows 11, from … Read more

I’ve spent the last several years digging through tracker modules and SID tunes, trying to figure out who made that mysterious chiptune on an old audio CD my brother handed me. That hunt taught me one thing fast: learning how to research the history of a demoscene music track is a real skill, and almost … Read more

If you have a folder of XM files sitting on your computer collecting dust, you probably already know the frustration of trying to play them on your phone. I tested every method I could find to play XM files on Android without converting them, and the good news is that you do not need to … Read more

Converting XM files to WAV with the correct loop and fade requires a tracker engine that can render pattern data and samples into a continuous lossless waveform while preserving the original loop boundaries. I tested the four most common methods on 12 different FastTracker II modules from our keygenmusic.net archive, and the loop end was … Read more

If you’ve ever tried to drag an XM file into a regular audio converter and wondered why nothing happened, you’re not alone. Converting XM files to FLAC is not a simple codec swap like MP3 to WAV. The XM format stores instructions for playing music, not the music itself, so the file has to be … Read more

The difference between chiptune and tracker music comes down to intent and sound source. Chiptune is music made with (or inspired by) the sound chips of retro consoles and computers. Tracker music is a method of composing music by arranging samples in vertical patterns using specialized software. They overlap heavily, which is why people confuse … Read more

I grew up listening to a Commodore 64 scream three-channel arpeggios at me through a CRT television, and I always wondered why the music sounded so distinctive. After digging through datasheets, demoscene archives, and dozens of retrocomputing forum threads, the answer turned out to be simpler and more fascinating than I expected. Old computer music … Read more