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Tracker Pro Guide
Chapters & reference
ContentsChapter 2

TRACKER PRO 1.1 USER GUIDE

Read the grid

Understand rows, tracks, note columns and why empty rows let a note continue.

Use a sustained tone to hear the difference between an empty row and a note ending. Then give that note a length without adding a separate stop instruction.

2.1Follow the beat

Time runs down the grid. Tracks sit beside one another, so notes on the same row start together. A row is a time position; a step is one track's instructions at that position.

At 4 rows per beat, a 16-row pattern lasts four beats. At 120 BPM it takes two seconds. Tempo sets the speed; rows per beat sets the grid's division of each beat. Row 004 is the second beat, not the fourth beat.

Guide Starter: kick on 000 and 008, snare on 004 and 012. The third track starts the tone used in the note-length exercise.

First pattern

Guide Starter: kick on 000 and 008, snare on 004 and 012. The third track starts the tone used in the note-length exercise.

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2.2Read one step

In FULL, read a populated cell from left to right: note, destination, velocity, then FX slots.

  1. Find a C-3 in your first pattern. This is C in octave 3. The number after it identifies the destination track; a sample bank can add a sample number, such as 01.02 for track 1, sample 2.
  2. With the pencil on, tap the first snare's velocity, enter 100 and tap APPLY. Set the second snare to 070, then play. The second snare should be softer. Undo its change to compare.
  3. Look at the dots in the FX fields. They are empty command slots. A filled slot shows a mnemonic and value, such as RET4/30.

A step can contain up to six notes. In ZOOM they appear as separate note columns, each with its own pitch, target, velocity and length. A slice or sample target belongs to the written note: selecting another sample on the Sampler card does not retarget all existing notes.

2.3Give a tone a stopping point

Open a copy of the starter project. Select its first pattern and the tone track, T03. This sampler already uses Gate and a short release. If SONG is playing, open SONG and tap Pattern mode first.

Stop playback, select ZOOM, tap track tab 3 and select row 000. Turn WRITE on. The note inspector shows C-3, VELOCITY 100, OFFSET +0 and LENGTH GATE 480. The eight FX slots are empty.

  1. Tap LENGTH, enter 0 and tap APPLY. The readout becomes HOLD.
  2. Play the pattern. The tone continues through the blank rows. Stop playback.
  3. Select row 004 and tap OFF on the WRITE rail. Play again. The tone releases after one beat, with a short tail after its held part ends.

Check If LENGTH is dimmed, turn on WRITE in the tracker header. This is required by ZOOM's note inspector. FULL and COMPACT cell editors can write with the pencil on while WRITE is off.

The Tone note on row 000 has LENGTH set to GATE 480. Its velocity is 100 and its offset is zero.

A note with a gate length

The Tone note on row 000 has LENGTH set to GATE 480. Its velocity is 100 and its offset is zero.

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2.4Compare release, fade and cut

Keep the tone at 000 and the ending at 004.

  1. Stop, select 004 and tap FAD. It replaces OFF and advances the cursor. Select 004 again, open the FAD command and set FADE to 480 ticks. Play: the fade begins on beat two and lasts one beat.
  2. Stop, select 004 and tap CUT. Play: the tone stops at beat two without its normal release. Delay or reverb in a device chain can still have a tail.
  3. Stop, select 004 and tap CLEAR on the WRITE rail to remove that step's ending.
  4. Return to 000. Set LENGTH to 480 ticks and tap APPLY. Play again. The note now releases after one beat without an OFF row.

There are 480 ticks per beat. At four rows per beat, 120 ticks is one row. The GAT command overrides the lengths of notes starting on its step; remove GAT when testing a note's own LENGTH.

2.5Understand HOLD

HOLD schedules no timed release. A sample can still reach its end, an envelope can decay, or a new note in the same note column can release the old one. Other columns can keep sounding on a polyphonic instrument. A One shot sampler ignores the ordinary timed gate and plays to the sample end; use an explicit ending command when you need to interrupt it. Looping samples also have their own note-off choices.

OFF, FAD and CUT act on active notes on their track. Entering an exit replaces any notes already on that step. Blank rows, including at an ordinary song-pattern boundary, do not mean “stop”.

Save this copy with the tone restored to GATE 480 and no exit on row 004. You can now change its length without searching for a separate ending row.

Updated 24 October 2026