The 90s music tracker gets a new life: a developer has published a portable clone of Fasttracker II, written in C and using the SDL 2 library. Version 2.22 was made available on July 19, 2026, according to 16-bits.org.

The project is fully open source, with source code available on GitHub. Those who want to compile from scratch will find the ‘HOW-TO-COMPILE.txt’ file with instructions. The program compiles natively on Linux.

The original Fasttracker II is a classic sample-based music creation software, widely used in the demoscene scene and by electronic musicians in the 90s. This clone aims to maintain the original experience, but with portability to modern systems.

Version 2.22 brings fixes and improvements, but the developer warns of an issue: if you have more than one monitor connected to your PC, with different refresh rates, you may encounter some bugs in the program.

On Windows, there is an important note for users with NVIDIA GPUs: if the ALT+F4 and ALT+F5 combinations (used to copy and paste blocks) do not work, you need to disable these shortcuts in ‘GeForce Experience’, if installed.

On macOS, the user needs to right-click on the application and choose ‘Open’ on first run. On modern versions of the system, it is also necessary to allow execution in System Settings -> Privacy & Security. Several important FT2 shortcuts are occupied by the system and need to be reassigned or removed. To switch to fullscreen, use ALT+Enter or Ctrl+Cmd+F.

On Linux, for ALT+F4 (copy pattern) and ALT+F5 (paste pattern) to work, you need to change these operating system shortcuts to other combinations.

The project is an example of how the spirit of free software keeps the tracker culture alive. With open source, anyone can study, modify, and contribute, ensuring that this historical tool remains accessible to new generations of musicians and programmers.

The initiative reinforces the importance of open source as a counterpoint to proprietary software, allowing essential tools of digital culture not to be lost over time. The Fasttracker II clone is another step in that direction, uniting nostalgia, technique, and freedom.

For more details, visit the project page at 16-bits.org and the repository on GitHub.