OpenMPT 1.32 - Release Notes

It's been a while since the last major feature update, and we have been working on a bunch of great new features for this new version. This document should give a rough overview about the biggest changes in OpenMPT 1.32.

What's new?

General

• There is now a quick start "project assistant" view that is shown whenever there is no module loaded.
• OpenMPT is now fully DPI-aware by default, so it will look crisp and clean on all screen configurations. DPI-awareness can be changed in OpenMPT's Display settings to accommodate for older VST plugin editors that are not DPI-aware.
• Stream Export and MIDI Export have been updated to allow all sub songs of a module to be exported to separate files, the same way as it was already possible with VGM export.
• When auto-save is set to save files to a specific folder, this folder is now cleaned regularly and auto-save files older than 30 days are removed by default. Auto-saves are now moved to the recycling bin instead of deleting them permanently by default.
• The main toolbar is now more flexible, allowing you to hide individual readouts, adding a new global volume readout, and it wraps to multiple rows when it becomes wider than the main window. Readouts can now be edited using the keyboard during module playback.
• The keyboard settings have been considerably revamped and cleaned up. Assigning keyboard shortcuts and keeping track of current key assignments and conflicts should be much easier now. Two new built-in default keyboard maps, matching the note entry of Fasttracker 2 and Impulse Tracker more closely, are now available.

Pattern Editor

• OpenMPT now has a metronome that can be enabled from the pattern toolbar or via a keyboard shortcut.
• Merge functionality has been extended to support merging into multiple patterns with a user-specified length. This way, it becomes possible to automatically rearrange e.g. 64-row patterns into 128-row patterns in one go.
• When increasing pattern size, there is now an option to duplicate the existing contents to the newly-added rows.
• Instrument / volume / effect column visibility can now be toggled independently, and column visibility is now remembered per-module if "Remember song window positions" is enabled.
• For live playback, it is now possible to queue the next pattern to not only play when the current pattern is finished, but also when the current measure, beat or row is finished.
• To better distinguish whether record mode is enabled or not, it is now possible to set a separate background color for the active row when recording is enabled.
• It is now possible to solo a group of channels at once. The solo shortcut applies to all channels in the current pattern selection.

Plugins

• VST shell plugins are now supported. Most importantly, this allows OpenMPT to use polac's vst3shell plugin to enable the use of VST 3 plugins.
• Improved correctness of PPQ position reporting. The reported PPQ is now also correct when the tempo changes, and when breaking to the next pattern, the position is rounded to the next start of measure. It is also sent to MIDI devices when using the MIDI Input / Output Plugin and the "Send timing messages" option is enabled.
• Plugins can now be solo-ed by holding Shift when pressing the Bypass checkbox. Holding Ctrl instead, only Master plugins are affected.
• All mix modes are now available for instrument plugins as well.
• The MIDI Input / Output Plugin was enhanced with the ability to send initial MIDI dumps on playback start, plus a new extended MIDI macro system realized through plugin parameters. This allows to send MIDI macros of any length through the MIDI I/O plugin.
• The output device list of the MIDI Input / Output Plugin now contains a new virtual MIDI output device that allows MIDI messages to be forwarded to the configured output plugin, thus allowing the aforementioned extended MIDI macros system to work with other plugins beyond just MIDI output devices.

Sample Editor

• Greatly improved pitch shifting and time stretching with new high-quality algorithms. Using the Signalsmith Stretch library for both operations, pitch and duration can now be changed at the same time in high quality, with an optional "Akai"-like lo-fi mode available.
• When resampling samples in MOD files, there's now an option to automatically adjust pattern data accordingly.
• To reduce confusion, the default / global volume tooltips now also show the effective amplification based on the sample / synth volume specified in the General tab.

Comments

• In addition to copying sample / instrument texts, they can now be pasted as well. Now you can easily replace your instrument names with a poem you have written in an external text editor!
• Sample and instrument names and filenames are now drawn using the same font that is used for Comments text.

Instrument Library

• The tree view can now also be placed on the right side of the window (View → Toolbars).
• The Instrument Library now shows size information for samples in modules as well.

Playback and File Format Support

• In the MPTM format, every sequence now has its own default tempo and speed.
• When creating MOD files, you can now choose if you would like to create a MOD file compatible with ProTracker (4 channels, various ProTracker-specific quirks and the Amiga resampler are enabled) or if you want to use the MOD format with PC extensions (8 channels, bigger octave range, various ProTracker-specific quirks and the Amiga resampler are disabled).
• OpenMPT 1.32 adds support for eleven new module formats: PumaTracker (PUMA), Game Music Creator (GMC), ChipTracker (MOD), TCB Tracker (MOD), Images Music System (IMS), Face The Music (FTM), RealTracker (RTM), EasyTrax (ETX), UNIC Tracker (UNIC), Future Composer (FC / FC13 / FC14 / SMOD), and Chuck Biscuits / Black Artist (CBA).
• Support for synthesized and hybrid instruments in MED files was added, together with several other playback fixes for MED files.
• Better support for automatic slide commands (commands that keep sliding on following rows) in various formats was added.
• "Mupp" instruments in His Master's Noise modules are now supported, as well as command 7 "mega-arp".
• Sub-songs in PSM files are now imported as independent sequences instead of being crammed together into the same order list.
• Various playback compatibility fixes for DTM, MOD, XM, S3M and IT modules.

There's more...

This summary just scratches the surface of what has changed since OpenMPT 1.31. For a detailed description of what has changed, check History.txt. If you are new to OpenMPT, be sure to read the manual as well.

Known Issues

This list is not very comprehensive. The Issue Tracker keeps more fine-grained track of issues.

• The plugin bridge is still rather experimental. It is known that some plugins don't work in it at all. Custom plugin GUIs are known to not work in Wine. Please report any issues you may be having with the plugin bridge!
• Far from perfect VST support (no buses for audio / MIDI routing, not all tracker effects are supported, etc...)
• Previewing samples from the tree view's file browser stops the playing module.
• There is no really convenient way to find out what features of the tracker are supported by the original trackers (Impulse Tracker, Fasttracker 2, etc...) when working with those file formats...

Known issues regarding specific VST plugins can be found in the manual.

Contact

Helpful bug reports, new ideas and brave volunteers to test early development builds or contribute to the code are more than welcome!
Our issue tracker is located at https://bugs.openmpt.org/ and can be used to report bugs and feature requests.
You can also meet us at the ModPlug Central forums: https://forum.openmpt.org/.