Hi Nula,
I've always had some reservations about the way FT2 effects work. Notably: the most common effects are all numbers, rather than letters, so once you've got pattern of data, it's just column upon column of numbers. IT2's use of letters allows you to quickly pick out the effect column from the others, and separates it in context. It also helped that IT2 showed the effect column as ".00" rather than "000", but that's something FT2 could have just as easily done.
I can sympathise with your situation - I remember when I was forced to use Renoise, after IT2 became obsolete. Renoise is an FT2 clone, so uses the FT2 effects (albeit with four digits, instead of three). At first, I found it hard to adapt, but it did get easier. Ultimately, I just didn't like the way the rest of the interface worked (which in part drove me to write reViSiT), but I'm sure - had I persevered - that I would have become just as used to them over time.
Of course, I realise how many FT2 fans are out there, so I will look into the possibility of an FT2 effect mode in the future. It would not be especially simple to do, and is obviously not a priority right now. I'm against a "user-customisable" effect set, however, as this will complicate the interface and confuse more people than it helps. Most people will try to use this to emulate the way they used their favourite tracker (e.g. FT2), but will ultimately be dissappointed, as the actual tools, features, etc. will never be exactly as they had before. Again, I remember trying to set Renoise's keyboard customisation to give me IT2-like usage, but the closest I could get it still wasn't close enough to what I was "used to".
I hope this answers your question, sorry I couldn't have better news! However, perhaps if you tell me what you didn't like about Impulse Tracker's effect notation, we can actually address the problem directly...
All the best,
Chris
ft2 effect numbers
