Please provide example files. I am not aware of these magic bytes, neither are any of the other module libraries that can read Startrekker modules that I checked.

Uploaded twi Modfiles, saved with StarTrekker 1.3

I experimented a bit more. If I set the mode in Star Trekker to "4," ST normally operates as a 4-channel tracker (FLT4). If I set it to "8," it operates as an 8-channel tracker, with channels 5-8 also being used as sample tracks. However, the "M" mode works a little differently. Only channels 1-4 are used as sample tracks, while channels 5-8 can only be used for MIDI notes.

Thus, the following applies:

<style>
.modes th, .modes td { text-align: center; padding: 0.2em 0.3em !important; }
</style>

<table class="modes" border="1">
<tr>
<th>Mode</th>
<th>1</th>
<th>2</th>
<th>3</th>
<th>4</th>
<th>5</th>
<th>6</th>
<th>7</th>
<th>8</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>4</td>
<td>Smp / Midi</td>
<td>Smp / Midi</td>
<td>Smp / Midi</td>
<td>Smp / Midi</td>
<td>-</td>
<td>-</td>
<td>-</td>
<td>-</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>8</td>
<td>Smp / Midi</td>
<td>Smp / Midi</td>
<td>Smp / Midi</td>
<td>Smp / Midi</td>
<td>Smp / Midi</td>
<td>Smp / Midi</td>
<td>Smp / Midi</td>
<td>Smp / Midi</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>M</td>
<td>Smp / Midi</td>
<td>Smp / Midi</td>
<td>Smp / Midi</td>
<td>Smp / Midi</td>
<td>Midi</td>
<td>Midi</td>
<td>Midi</td>
<td>Midi</td>
</tr>
</table>

I wasn't aware of this before, as I was working exclusively with "M" mode at the time ;-)

Observations so far:

• MIDI channel (C in the Startrekker GUI) is encoded in finetune byte. This pretty much determines if an instrument is a MIDI instrument, I think.
• Other MIDI parameters appear to be stored in the corresponding .nt file:
  • T: transpose
  • L: note length (automatic note-off after x rows)
  • R: MIDI input channel

Commands 1xx/2xx should send tone portamentos, Cxx note velocity, and 7xx panning.

That's quite a lot of complexity to support for a barely-used feature but I will see what's possible.