Question about Samples and Instruments

[blast_thickneck]

Can samples and instruments be used at the same time? I was making a song and using a sample, then created an instrument to use all the envelope stuff, but afterwards not only did the instrument take the place of the sample I was using, but also the sample couldn't be selected anymore. Do I have to turn every sample into an instrument to make use of it once an instrument has been created or is there a way to use samples again alongside the instruments? Thanks in advance.

[Saga Musix]

Instruments are a layer on top of samples, but there doesn't need to be a 1-to-1 correspondence between them. When you create your first instrument, OpenMPT will ask you whether you want to convert all existing samples to instruments, which you should answer with "yes", otherwise you have to recreate all instruments manually. Unfortunately there is currently no way of doing this retroactively with a single click, so if you still have a copy of the track without any instruments, the easiest solution would be to go back to that copy, convert to instruments and this time choose "yes" when asked whether to convert samples to instruments.

[Suumar-21-Taw]

.MOD and .S3M haven't instrument,but using samples alone may be a bit difficult.
Using sample maps is better.

[n0cturn]

I still get confused with the whole sample/instrument thing, I don't know why its a thing at all, why not automatically use samples as instruments? what is the advantage of just using a sample without the instrument setting active?

You can duplicate the instrument so you get another instrument using the same sample that you can have different settings for.

[Saga Musix]

The reason is - as most times - historic. My best guess why Impulse Tracker (and its IT format and as a result, OpenMPT's MPTM format which is just IT with additional features) had a sample mode is to retain compatibility with the S3M format as closely as possible, because it was originally meant to be a pure Scream Tracker 3 clone. Instruments were added later in the process, and since they increase memory consumption and playback complexity, they were probably thought of as optional features of the IT format. That's also the main advantage today, e.g. when making music for a demo or a game it allows you to create slightly smaller files and allows a less complex IT player to be used, if the size constraints require that.

I guess it could make sense to enable instrument mode in newly created MPTM files, and maybe also IT files. However, since converting a module from sample mode to instrument mode is done with just a single click, I'm not sure if it is necessary. Sample mode is also easier to understand, so especially for beginners it can make sense to start out in sample mode and only start exploring the features of instruments once they are ready for it (that's pretty much how I started tracking in ModPlug).

[n0cturn]

I think a simple toggle on the sample page would be useful.

Speaking from my own experience learning how to use openmpt, I found the sample/instrument thing really frustrating, until I learned to click on yes to converting all samples to instruments. I'm quite lazy though, so having a switch somewhere so I don't get pestered every time I load a sample, would simplify things.

[Saga Musix]

One thing to keep in mind: You can save a module as a template and choose this template to always be used by default when starting a new song. That way you can set up the default song configuration exactly as you want, including the possibility to directly start in instrument mode.