Improve Effect listing for new comers.

[gtr3qq]

Stared from Famitracker, used to OpenMPT, love Adlib Tracker II, installed and uninstalled Reality Adlib Tracker, all derived from Fastracker II.
I find it hard to getting used to the Effects on Furnace.
The list is vague, and documentations do not have examples or details even.
Referring to the Fastracker II manual is also a bad idea for it is also vague.
Adlib Tracker II when pressing F1 gives you effect list if curser is on effect row.
OpenMPT had it well done by giving you a nice GUI for details on effects.
To this day, I still don't know what is the equivalent of extra fine portamento down on furnace.

[Toonlink8101]

I'm a bit confused by what you mean here. Are there any effects in particular that you're having trouble with?

As a frequent user of the effects list, I find it very helpful, but I'm not exactly a newcomer to tracked music either. I started with FamiTracker 6 or 7 years ago (vanilla, 0cc, j0cc, etc.) and moved to Deflemask before landing on Furnace.

Even without the effects list open. If you hover over an effect with the cursor (the keyboard one), it will tell you what it does at the top of the page.

To be fair, there are a lot of effects that I don't use/understand, but many of those are relatively niche in application. Also, many of the effects are based on Deflemask's effect, which makes sense considering Furnace was originally designed with Deflemask compatibility in mind.

Regarding extra fine portamento, I don't think there is an equivalent effect. The best alternative I can think of is either using 1xx or 2xx or just using 3xx (regular portamento).

Something to consider is that Furnace is designed to work with very low-spec audio hardware, which often means that the number of possible frequencies is much lower than what can be handled by an XM file, for instance. This is likely why Adlib Tracker II also doesn't have an extra fine portamento.

[gtr3qq]

Ah, you see we stared the same but went completely different way.
I'm like FamiT. - AdtrackerII - (RAD) - OpenMPT , never touched and never will the DM.
As for the extra fine portamento, I gave in and use E5xx(set pitch?) every line to simulate it.
I think as you written use lower engine speed then use regular portamento will work, but sometimes... (I did a tune with fast PWM and used regular porta E101? for it. At that time I didn't realize E5xx can be used. And it sounds imprecise)
The listing I think should have more like
a. What ranges do I have on this effect? (e.g. 00-aa loud, aa-ff LOOOUD)
b. What speed it is doing and how it's calculated?
c. Give examples. What are the exceptions? (e.g. I just learn in a hard way that F1xx will not take effect if it is used when a note is triggering)

To be fair, some of the listing already have some of features I mentioned.
I got devastated because the listing and the docs gave me a sense of feeling. Y'all know I know so we all know.

[Toonlink8101]

Yeah, I would not recommend Deflemask nowadays. I used it back when it was actually free, not the scam that is the paid version.

To be clear, E1xy is not the regular portamento. It only has a range of 0 to F for speed, so it's a lot more coarse than 03xx is, 03xx being the regular portamento. The command you input E101, should slide up by one semitone with a speed of zero, which translates to as slow as possible for the command. E1xy and E2xy are like Qxy and Rxy from FamiTracker. They should function roughly the same

If you want a finer portamento with one command, you want to use 3xx. Afaik, it works the same way as 3xx does in Famitracker

1. Most effects use the full range of the available values. For example, 3xx ranges from 00 to FF, but since 00xy has two values, each range from 0 to F individually. There are a couple of exceptions to this rule, but most of them are due to hardware limitations of the chipset being used.
2. If you mean the speed value of the effect, that's just how quickly the effect is applied to the given channel. For example, if I do 0301, it will slide from the previous note to the current note veeeeery slowly. But, if I use 03FF, it will slide to it instantaneously, giving the impression of a legato. As far as calculations go, I have no idea 😅 I usually just tweak the values until it sounds right to me.
3. I'm going to be honest, I have never used F1xx or F2xx. Most effects just work as you would expect. The only exception I've run into is 03xx which only works if a note is triggered in the same row, which makes sense if you think about it

Something I will say is to check the documentation. It's not perfect, but it does have some extra information that isn't included in the effects list: https://github.com/tildearrow/furnace/blob/master/papers/doc/3-pattern/effects.md

I actually don't know... 😬
I'm pretty bad at these kinds of things. Do you mean overwhelmed, frustrated, annoyed? I think you already said you were devastated. Is that what you mean?

[gtr3qq]

Devastated.
Yeah. I guess try and see what comes out is the way. Until docs get updated.

[gtr3qq]

ADTRACK2.DOCx

So looking back the adt2 documentation. It actually has ALL the requirements I just put out!?
I think back of my head was referencing adt2 effects list all this time.

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[0xy] ARPEGGiO
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This command causes the note to quickly cycle through three notes:
the note playing, a note 'x' halftones above,
and a note 'y' halftones above.
This causes an effect similar to old C64 chords.
Note that the song speed has to be greater or equal to three
in order to perform arpeggio effect completely. (special case is NOTEd.)

[3xx] TONE PORTAMENTO
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This command is used together with a note and will slide to its frequency.
Parameter 'xx' gives speed of slide.
If you specify 'xx' as '00' then the previous value will be used.

[4xy] ViBRATO
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This command causes the frequency to oscillate with depth 'y' at speed 'x'.
If you specify 'xy' as '00' then the previous value will be used.

[Bxx] PATTERN JUMP
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This command causes the song to jump to order 'xx'.
This is often used to create looping songs.
If two 'Bxx' commands are given, then the command in the
higher track will take effect.

[Cxx] SET iNSTRUMENT VOLUME
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This command sets the absolute volume of the instrument.
It is equal to Ixx command when instrument uses FM connection,
otherwise both carrier and modulator volume is updated.
Value of 'xx' ranges from 0 to 3F (softest -> loudest). (There is range)

[Dxx] PATTERN BREAK
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This command signifies the end of the current pattern, and also that
the next pattern should be played from row 'xx'.
If two 'Dxx' commands are given, then the command in the
higher track will take effect.

[Jxy] SET WAVEFORM
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This command changes the waveform of carrier or modulator slot.
**Parameter 'x' gives carrier and 'y' modulator waveform type as following:

'0'-'7' means type of waveform,
'F' means "no change".

For more information see chapter IV, part "Waveform select".**

[Kxy] FiNE VOLUME SLiDE
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This command fades the volume up or down at the given speed,
once per row.
**Parameter 'xy' gives speed of volume slide:

'x' is speed of slide up,
'y' is speed of slide down.

If you specify 'x' then 'y' is not used, and vice versa.**

[Mxy] TREMOLO
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This command causes the volume to oscillate with depth 'y' at speed 'x'.
If you specify 'xy' as '00' then the previous value will be used.
Tremolo acts like vibrato, but changing the volume instead of the pitch. (gives you 101s on Tremolo)

[Qxy] MULTi RETRiG NOTE
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This command retriggs the note after 'x' frames with specified
volume change. Parameter 'y' gives type of volume change:

'0' is None, '8' is Unused,
'1' is -1, '9' is +1,
'2' is -2, 'a' is +2,
'3' is -4, 'b' is +4,
'4' is -8, 'c' is +8,
'5' is -16, 'd' is +16,
'6' is *2/3, 'e' is *3/2,
'7' is *1/2, 'f' is *2.

If no note is specified, last given is used.
The lower is the interval, the faster is the retrigger.

[Z0x] SET TREMOLO DEPTH
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This command changes the Tremolo depth of all 36 operators.
Parameter 'x' gives depth:

'0' is 1dB,
'1' is 4.8dB.

[Z1x] SET ViBRATO DEPTH
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This command changes the Vibrato depth of all 36 operators.
Parameter 'x' gives depth:

'0' is 7%,
'1' is 14%. (What value = what exact)

[ZCx] PATTERN LOOP
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Syntax: ZC0 - Set loopback point
ZCx - Loop x times.

This pattern space-saving feature will cause the pattern
to be looped 'x' times back to the last ZC0 command.
Note that you can only loop within the pattern, and each track
has its own loopback information, so you are supposed to have
corresponding ZC0 and ZCx commands in the same track in order to operate.
If ZCx commands are put in both effect columns, only the one in first
column will operate. (more on how things work)

[ZE5/ZE6] TOGGLE 4OP TRACK VOLUME LOCK
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This command turns on-or-off 4OP Track Volume Lock.
If 4OP Track Volume Lock is set, some of the volume effect commands
will work in 4OP mode instead of default (2OP) mode. This means,
that volume attenuation is calculated according 4OP connection
of the 2 used instruments in track 2) and 1), and you don't have to
manage carrier/modulator output level to get desired volume level
during playback.
Parameter 'x' gives the state to toggle:

'5' is OFF,
'6' is ON.

Here is a complete list of commands that are affected by this lock:
5xy/6xy, Axy, Cxx, Gxy/Hxy, Kxy, Mxy, Rxy/Sxy, Txy/Uxy,
Vxy/Wxy, Xxy/Yxy, ^xy, %xx

Please note that when the 4OP Track Volume Lock is set for particular
4OP tracks, setting of 'Volume Scaling' is ignored (it is mandatory ON).

[ZFF] FORCE NO RESTART FOR MACRO TABLES
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1. This command can be used together with !xx (@XX) effect command.
   It will cause that the arpeggio (vibrato) table is swapped
   without restarting position. It means that the current position
   is maintained as the starting point in new table.
2. This command can be used while new note is triggered and the instrument
   that is played is using FM-register macro (arpeggio macro, vibrato
   macro resp.) In such case the macro is not restarted, which means that
   the current position in FM-register (arpeggio, vibrato resp.) macro
   table is maintained.

[&4x] FiNE-TUNE UP
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This command fine-tunes frequency up.
If used together with a note, it overrides the default note frequency
before the note is outputted (acts like fine-tune parameter
included in instrument data).
Parameter 'x' gives frequency shift. (this one works differently on furnace, you can't use it as fine-tune parameter)

[!xx] SWAP ARPEGGiO TABLE
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This command temporarily swaps the arpeggio table for current instrument.
Parameter 'xx' gives number of new table.
Note that the number of arpeggio table in instrument macro-table
remains intact, and "temporarily" means that the change is valid until
there is another note or instrument set.

[>xx] GLOBAL FREQ. SLiDE UP
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This command slides the frequency up (pitch bend) in all tracks
from current to last, if it's not overridden by using another
'<xx' or '>xx' in second effect column or one of succeeding tracks.
Parameter 'xx' gives speed of slide.

Note that you can also use Fine or Extra Fine variant of this command
by putting command switch 'ZFD' or 'ZFE' into second effect column.

[`xx] SET CUSTOM SPEED TABLE
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This command sets custom speed table for Vibrato/Tremolo effect,
which is generated according given parameter 'xx':

'00' Reset default speed table
'01-FF' Calculate custom speed table with parameters
table size, maximum value and processing speed factor

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       � PARAMETER  � SiZE � MAX.   � FACTOR �
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       � [01]..[EF] � 32   � 01..EF � x1     �
       � [F0]..[F3] � 32   � FF     � x1..x4 �
       � [F4]..[F7] � 64   � FF     � x1..x4 �
       � [F8]..[FB] � 128  � FF     � x1..x4 �
       � [FC]..[FF] � 256  � FF     � x1..x4 �
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thats about it.
granted, adt2 developed for over 20 years to get to here.
but still.

I wondering where subz3ro up to these days.....