
FAQ
====

- q: SoundTracker crashes as soon as I start it or as I press a button
in its window, giving weird X errors.

a: RTFM. You're still using libc5. You need thread-safe X libraries.


- q: The sound output gets quite choppy under machine load.

a1: Don't run the compiled executable directly, but do a full 'make
install', this installs the executable setuid root and the audio
thread gets a much higher priority.

a2: Increase size of mixer buffer in the Preferences section.

a3: Disable Double Buffering a.k.a. Backing Store. This doesn't look
exactly nice, but relieves your CPU from a lot of hard work (this
depends on the graphics card and X server you are using).

a4: Switch away from the scrolling patterns page and disable the
scopes.

a5: Reduce scopes and patterns update frequency in the Preferences
section.

a6: Install at least glibc2.1.1pre3, this fixed a strange sound bug
for me.


- q: Will you support ALSA?

a: Yes, I will. I just didn't have time to have a look at it and I
think finishing the core features of ST is more important.


- q: What about MIDI support?

a: I don't have any MIDI equipment, so I couldn't test MIDI-related
code, even if I wrote it. Okay, there is a possibility to receive MIDI
input from other applications running on the computer, but at the
moment I have other priorities anyway.


- q: Why did you choose the XM format instead of the IT format?

a: Primarily because XM is all what I need in order to make music.
But that doesn't mean that the program couldn't be expanded in the
future towards other formats. Indeed I have some very wild ideas in
mind. I just want to get a basic XM tracker working first.
