Good memories. I used to be a part of this crew - https://netlabelarchive.org/netlabels/monotonik/

Mods were great. Zero cost beyond the computer, made with public domain tracker software, the music was freely distributed on BBS's (and the web later on). The mod file format was great - small size downloads - note information and sampler instruments were all in one package, typically a couple of hundred kb for the whole song.

You could see exactly how people had put the tunes together, access all the note information/arrangements and samples, and learn from that