BinaryTracker
A Schism Tracker editor with Vim-style pattern editing and semantic MIDI conversion.
BinaryTracker combines a modified Schism Tracker interface with a MIDI-to-tracker converter. The pattern editor adds Vim-style Normal, Insert, and Visual modes. Schism’s sample and instrument editors remain available on F3 and F4.
The running Schism-based editor with a generated demonstration pattern. This is the current interface; the earlier terminal editor is no longer the default.
Modal editing
On the F2 pattern page, h j k l move between rows and channels, i enters Insert mode, and Esc returns to Normal mode. v selects a block; V selects whole rows. Operators accept counts: 16yy copies sixteen cells in the current channel, 8dd clears eight, and 2> transposes by two octaves.
Native tracker note entry is active in Insert mode. Samples, instrument envelopes, playback, and file handling use Schism’s existing controls.
MIDI conversion
The converter assigns musical roles to stable channels, divides a song into fixed 16-, 32-, or 64-row blocks, and reuses identical patterns. It writes an editable Impulse Tracker module (.it) and a companion .bt file containing mapping metadata.
make build-gui
./bin/binarytracker song.mid --rows 32
MIDI contains no sample audio. To play the converted notes with embedded sounds, load samples on F3 and map them to instruments on F4. The launcher preserves existing .it files rather than overwriting added samples.
The project is under development. Its converter and launcher use the MIT licence; the modified Schism Tracker remains GPL-licensed.