jf_tracker

A tracker for REAPER. Vim keys, built like Emacs: a small core and a bunch of modules around it.

This is my first big release. The whole thing is hugely experimental and made for me - I'm sharing it because why not.

README по-русски

How it started

I just wanted to slice items in REAPER. REAPER on its own is already a great sampler - not even RS5K, just REAPER itself. What it was missing was a fast way to sequence those items. So that's the heart of it: the slicer cuts items and changes their pitch, stretch and the other things REAPER can do with an item, and a bit more.

Then I thought: using the stock effects is great. Take RS5K and make drumrs5k out of it. Yes, that's a nod to Drum Rack, on purpose - it's damn handy.

Then I went further and made my own sampler, jf_slixer, part of the tracker too, because that's where I found how I want to play, especially with aftertouch. I'll show that in videos on my channel: https://www.youtube.com/@jeerufff

I vibe-coded all of it with an AI assistant for myself and I'm not afraid to say it. I'm a pro-level musician, I play in an orchestra, there's no time to learn programming, and programmers wouldn't really build what I kept asking for. I wanted my own experimental workflow and the features I'm used to and think are cool, and I put them everywhere I could. Hundreds of hours. If you like it too and making music from muscle memory is fun for you - I'll be really happy. And it's a nod to chmaha, whose plugins were removed from the repository.

What's in it

• Modules you can write yourself. I wanted to open the gates early for people who want to add their own stuff. There's an API (API.md): paste it into your LLM and build what you need for this tracker.
• Things the way I want them. Some ideas exist elsewhere but are scattered or locked inside another ecosystem. Like an XY pad that remembers synth parameters - way nicer than two parameters on an XY pad that nobody ever touches.
• Letters, not icons. I'm against made-up symbols here. Letters and signs you can type are enough, and anyone who went to school gets them: Σ on the master is the sum, ξ in the sampler is random. More graphics may come later, but simple stays.
• Vim all the way. Modes, dw, d3j, yy p, counts, registers, the . repeat, the : command line. The mouse is optional.
• Plain REAPER underneath. Tracks, items, MIDI, regions, envelopes, FX. Close the window and the project plays on. Every edit is one undo.
• PT-mode for the old ProTracker feeling - the tracker a ton of jungle was made on.
• And a lot more: a pattern matrix, a sample lib and browser, a sample map, a DSP panel with containers and an XY morph, a harmonizer, 72-EDO microtones (MPE), a curve canvas for automation, panes like tmux.

It's still an experiment in progress, but I made it for myself the way I wanted it to be, so I decided to share it with whoever is interested.

Big up - make music and send me what you made with this tracker. Videos, clips, anything. That would be awesome.

If it makes you as happy as it makes me, buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/jeeruff

Requirements

• REAPER 7 (macOS is the tested platform; Windows / Linux are untested).
• SWS extension, used for preview through CF_Preview.
• js_ReaScriptAPI, used for key state and window handling.

Both extensions are available through ReaPack.

Install

Through ReaPack: Extensions → ReaPack → Import repositories…, paste

https://jeeruff.com/jf_tracker/r/open/index.xml

then Browse packages → jf_tracker → Install. New versions come with Synchronize packages.

The tracker turns off REAPER's FX: Auto-float new FX windows on start (it tells you once): a new effect window would take the keyboard away from it. :autofloat turns it back on.

By hand instead of ReaPack:

1. Copy the jf_tracker folder into REAPER's Scripts folder. In REAPER, Options → Show REAPER resource path shows where that is.
2. Copy every file of effects/ into REAPER's Effects folder. The tracker puts them on tracks by itself when a feature needs them:
   • jf_rec - the retro sampler (what you played, caught after the fact);
   • jf_tracker_scope - the oscilloscope / spectrum of the scopes;
   • jf_tracker_trig - a note-on when a sample item starts (note mod);
   • jf_tracker_probe - a level meter between effects (gain staging in the router);
   • jf_tracker_zone - key / velocity / chain zones of a rack;
   • jf_tracker_choke - pad groups and choke groups of the drum rack;
   • jf_tracker_chordfollow - notes of a track follow the chord lane.
3. Open Actions → Show action list → New action → Load ReaScript… and pick jf_tracker.lua.

First steps

Run the script and press :tutorial, or take the tour from the main module. In short:

Keys	What they do
h j k l, gg / G, { }	Move: by cell, to the start / end, by bar.
i	INSERT, as in Vim: the keyboard writes notes. q 2 w 3 e r 5 t … write notes, z / x change the octave.
Esc	Leaves INSERT. It also enters it - a habit kept from Renoise (with the keyboard on, i is a note, so Esc is the way in).
x, dw, yy p, u, .	Delete, delete with a motion, copy and paste, undo, repeat.
v / V	Select a block / whole rows.
:	The command line. Tab completes.
\	The leader menu, or the context menu of the focused module.
Space	Play / stop.
tt, tf	A new track, add an effect (the same in DSP; a there is automation).
Opt+H / Opt+L, Opt+J / Opt+K	The previous / next track, the previous / next lib sound - everywhere, DSP too.
?	The keys of the focused module. F1 - the whole manual.

To drive the tracker from other programs or LLMs, or to write your own DSP modules, see API.md.

Credits

Thanks to my friends and teachers, in particular Esa Ruoho (Lackluster). Parts of jf_tracker are based on his Paketti for Renoise and are used with his permission. Support his work: https://www.patreon.com/esaruoho.

The first tracker inside REAPER was Hackey-Trackey by Joep Vanlier (MIT) - it showed that a tracker can live on REAPER's own timeline. jf_tracker follows that idea with its own code; the user key file (jf_tracker_keys.lua) works like its userkeys.lua.

Also thanks to my brother beast, who showed me trackers and the demoscene in the first place.

PT-mode is ProTracker on the Amiga as a rule, not a skin: four channels, 31 samples, 64-row patterns, one command per cell, a big font. Igor Stravinsky (Poetics of Music): the more narrowly I limit my field of action, the freer I am - I am free only when I am limited.

The dsp big routing view follows the idea of Sexan's ParaNormal FX Router for REAPER - an own implementation, no code copied.

The reform pane (time scale / curve / shift / redistribute and value ranges of the selected notes) follows the idea of Reform for Renoise - an own implementation, no code copied.

Ideas from other tools

Ideas only - jf_tracker has its own code for all of them. Respect to their authors:

• trackers - rows, hex, the note-vol-fx cell, F1 / F2 octaves, Esc as edit - ProTracker, FastTracker, Impulse Tracker, Renoise, Furnace, Dirtywave M8
• modes, operators and motions - Vim (Bram Moolenaar)
• a menu of what a prefix key does next - which-key.nvim (folke)
• marked files and folder columns in the browser, lib marks - lf (gokcehan), ranger, Midnight Commander
• fuzzy search syntax - fzf (Junegunn Choi)
• jumps to the most used folder (:z) - zoxide (Ajeet D'Souza)
• quick marks to jump back - harpoon (ThePrimeagen)
• panes, splits and the pane mode - tmux, zellij
• the pattern grid of codes A1 B2 ... - Polyend Tracker, Elektron sequencers
• clips, scenes and launching - Ableton Live (Session View), Bitwig Studio
• note keys that play patterns (keyspat), pads - Akai MPC
• spam: a moved slice edge rolls - Roland SP-404
• the sniper zoom of a slice edge - Xfer Nerve (Steve Duda)
• dense parameter groups of the slixer panel - Madrona Labs Aalto and Kaivo
• ring knobs - Nagra / Kudelski recorders
• the sample map as a graph - Obsidian graph view; sample browsing by sound - Sononym
• the monome grid and arc pages - monome

The DSP module texts use descriptions from Chris Johnson's Airwindopedia when it is installed.

All product and company names above are trademarks of their respective owners. They are named only to say where an idea came from; jf_tracker is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them, and uses none of their graphics or sounds; the only code taken from others is listed with its license in SOURCES.md (for example the Airwindows ports, MIT).

License

jf_tracker is source-available under the PolyForm Shield License 1.0.0:

• use it for anything, including music you sell; change it;
• share it and your changes for free, with LICENSE and NOTICE kept;
• do not use it to make a product that competes with jf_tracker - paid or free (a fork sold or given away as another tracker); ask the author for other terms.

Author and the ideas behind it: NOTICE. It comes with no warranty, and the author is not liable for any damage. Modules, macros and other add-ons by other people are their authors' responsibility - install them at your own risk.

Support: https://ko-fi.com/jeeruff. Music: https://jeeruff.bandcamp.com.