Screens — Manual — ElkTracker

ElkTracker has 8 main screens, cycled with Select+←→: Song, Chain, Phrase, Instrument, Track, Mixer, Project, Settings.

1 · Song

128 rows × 8 channels. Each cell holds a chain number (00–7F), an END block (EN), or is empty. Scrolling a cell's value up past 7F also lands on an END block, as an alternative to pressing B.

Beat stripes: every 4th row (rows 00, 04, 08, 0C, …) has a subtle background tint to help you count bars at a glance.

Header: the project name is shown at the top-left. A small accent-coloured dot appears to the right of the name when there are unsaved changes. When the cursor rests on a cell that holds a chain with a label, the label appears at the top-right.

Independent channel advancement (M8-style): each channel moves through its column on its own; they do not share a row position. When a channel finishes a chain it scans forward for the next populated cell in its column, skipping empty rows. If no more filled cells exist it wraps back to the first filled row and loops. Channels with different numbers of entries therefore cycle at different rates, creating evolving polyrhythm with no extra setup.

A small dot appears to the left of each cell to show that channel's current play position. Because channels advance independently, the dots scatter across different rows as the song plays.

END blocks: press B on an empty cell to place an END block (EN). When the sequencer reaches an END block, that channel stops permanently until Play is pressed again. B on an END block clears it back to empty. See Song END Blocks.

Song-row loop (Select+Start when stopped): on the Song screen, hold Select and press Start while playback is stopped to lock all 8 channels to the currently selected row and loop it continuously. Each channel plays the chain assigned to that row. When a chain finishes, it restarts from the same row rather than advancing. A small circular-arrow icon (↺) appears next to the play indicator in the status bar. Press Start alone to stop, or Select+Start while playing to trigger a PANIC (hard stop).

Right panel — live channel table: the right side of the Song screen shows a live CH / IN / NOTE readout for all 8 channels, updating in real time as the sequencer runs. Row brightness and background colour fade with the channel's current output level.

Right panel — waveform grid: below the channel table, a 3×3 grid of mini waveform displays shows roughly the last third of a second of audio for each channel (1–8) and the master output (M). The grid updates continuously during playback.

2 · Chain

16 slots. Each slot holds a phrase number (00–FE) and a transpose value in semitones (−48 to +48; A+←→ steps by 1, A+↑↓ by 12 — a full octave). A chain plays its filled slots in order and loops back to slot 0 when it reaches the first empty slot, not the last filled one, so a gap partway through (slot 0 filled, slot 1 empty, slot 2 filled) makes slot 2 unreachable during playback. Keep chain slots contiguous from slot 0.

Beat stripes: like in the Song screen, every 4th slot (rows 0, 4, 8, C) is tinted to mark bars.

Chains can have an 8-character label. navigate up from slot 0 to reach the name row and edit it with A+D-pad. The label appears at the top-right of the Song screen when the cursor sits on that chain, and next to the title on the Chain screen itself. See Labels for more details.

When the cursor is on a phrase slot that contains a phrase with a label, the phrase label appears at the top-right of the Chain screen.

Chain isolation (Select+Start when stopped): hold Select and press Start while stopped to play the current chain on its own (channel 0 only, looping). A C label appears next to the play indicator in the status bar. Press Start alone to stop.

3 · Phrase

16 steps (or fewer: see Phrase Length). Each step has:

NOT: a note (C-1–G9), OFF (note off), or --- (empty)
IN: instrument index, or empty (uses whichever instrument last played on this channel)
FX1 / P1: first FX command and its hex parameter
FX2 / P2: second FX command and its hex parameter

Beat stripes: every 4th step (rows 0, 4, 8, C) is tinted to mark bar subdivisions and help align notes to the beat.

Navigate up from row 0 to reach the LEN header to set the phrase length. Navigate up once more to reach the phrase name row (same label editing as chains). The label appears at the top-right of the Chain screen when the cursor is on that phrase slot, and next to the title on the Phrase screen itself.

When the cursor is on the INSTR column of a step that has an instrument assigned, the instrument's name appears at the top-right. When the cursor is on an FX column with a command set, the full FX command name appears in the status bar hint area.

If a scale is active, entering a note snaps to the nearest in-scale note and steps between in-scale notes rather than plain semitones. Notes already on the grid are never altered by turning a scale on or off.

Phrase isolation (Select+Start when stopped): hold Select and press Start while stopped to play the current phrase on its own (channel 0 only, looping). A P label appears next to the play indicator in the status bar. Press Start alone to stop.

4 · Instrument

Fields depend on the instrument type (see Instrument Engines). TYPE is always the first field. Type-specific parameters appear in the left column. Most instruments share these parameters in the right column: VOLUME, PAN, CUTOFF, RES, SEND A, SEND B, SEMI (coarse transpose, ±24 semitones), SCALE, ROOT, CHOKE. Some example exceptions: Drum has no CUTOFF or RES (pads always play at full brightness), and FINE (sub-semitone tuning) only appears on Sampler and Wavetable.

Navigate up from the first field to reach the instrument name row. Edit with A+D-pad. The name is shown on all screens that reference the instrument. When the instrument is unused, the screen shows (EMPTY - EDIT TO CREATE).

The instrument screen has two pages, shown as 1/2 / 2/2 at top right. Page 1 shows all type-specific and common parameters arranged in two columns. Navigate past the bottom of either column (or up past the name row) to flip to Page 2, which contains the LFO 1, LFO 2, and MOD sections (see LFOs and MOD Commands). A ~ to the left of a parameter means it is targeted by an LFO or MOD slot.

B on a parameter field resets it to its default value, with two exceptions: B on TYPE does nothing, and B on the name row clears the whole name rather than resetting a value. Tapping A on the SAMPLE (Sampler) or WTABLE (Wavetable) field opens the file browser directly, the same as pressing R/Dive on those fields. Tapping A on a Drum pad row does the same for that pad's sample.

In the file browser: ↑↓ moves one item at a time; ←→ jumps a page at a time. In the sample picker, R previews the highlighted file and pressing it again stops the preview, and A loads it. In the project, wavetable, data-root, and duplicate pickers, R confirms the selection instead of previewing. B or L backs up one folder, or closes the picker entirely if you're already at the top level.

The status bar at the bottom of the screen shows a short description of the currently highlighted parameter while on the Instrument screen.

5 · Track

Per-channel insert FX: one effect per channel with two parameters (P1/P2). Below that, the two send buses — Bus A (reverb) has two parameters. Bus B (delay) has three, including a FREE/SYNC toggle for the delay time. See Track Screen for the full effect list, parameter ranges, and sync options.

6 · Mixer

8 VU meters with per-channel volume faders. A+←→ nudges by 1, A+↑↓ by 16. Mute (A-tap on M) and solo (A-tap on S) per channel. B resets a fader to full, and also clears mute on the M row or solo on the S row. Fader levels are saved with the project; mute and solo are not — they reset every time you reopen the project.

7 · Project

NAME: 8 characters. A+←→ moves the cursor, A+↑↓ cycles through space, A–Z, a–z, 0–9, and ! - _.
BPM: 40–300 (A+←→ ±1, A+↑↓ ±10).
SPEED: ticks per row, 1–16 (see Tracker Basics).
SWING: shown as OFF or 1%–49%. See Swing.
ROOT / SCALE: the project's key and scale. See Scale Mode.
SAVE: saves to the current filename. If the file already exists, an OVERWRITE? dialog appears.
SAVE NEW: saves as a new file, appending -1, -2, … up to -99 to the project name.
LOAD: opens the project file browser.
NEW: resets to a blank project.
EXPORT WAV: renders the full mix to exports/<name>.wav.
STEMS: renders each channel separately to exports/<name>_ch1.wav etc.
COLLECT: copies every sample and wavetable actually referenced by an instrument in the song into exports/<name>/, along with a copy of the project file, making that folder self-contained for sharing.
QUIT: exits to the OS. If you're licensed, it first autosaves to AUTOSAVED.elk.

SAVE, SAVE NEW, LOAD, EXPORT WAV, STEMS, and COLLECT all require an activated license — see Installation & Activation. Unlicensed rows are marked [UNLICENSED].

8 · Settings

THEME: 5 colour palettes: NIGHT, FOREST, AMBER, ICE, NEON (the default).
DATA ROOT: where projects/, samples/, wavetables/, and exports/ live. Changing it browses the whole filesystem; selecting a folder creates the data directories there if missing, writes the starter wavetable/sample if they aren't already present, and reloads the current project's assets from the new location.
PANIC: hard-stop all sound.
HELP: the full in-app manual, a condensed on-device reference.
ACTIVATE: shows your licence status and device code; see Installation & Activation.
MAP BUTTONS: the gamepad mapping wizard; see Gamepad Configuration.
MIDI OUT: selects which detected MIDI device receives output from MIDI instruments (or NONE); see MIDI Out.
DIAGNOSTICS: dive in to run a MIDI subsystem test and confirm your interface is detected. For more info on MIDI, see MIDI Out.

A DSP load meter at the bottom shows how much of your CPU budget the current project is using (green/amber/red).