Copyright: Copyright (c) 1994-99 Shinji Chiba


What is SCMPX?
SCMPX MPEG/Audio player & converter.    Copyright ｩ S.Chiba 1994-99

 Thank you for using SCMPX.

 SCMPX plays and executes file format conversion of MPEG Audio files on MS-Windows.

 It has a decoder and encoder itself, so you don't need Windows ACM.

 SCMPX is a free software.  If you have any questions, please send e-mail to the address below.

-------------------------------------------------

E-mail : ch3@70.nu


Environment

System Requirements (for playing files)

- A sound card that supports 16bit output (such as SoundBlaster).

- i486DX4 or better CPU (for playing MPEG-1/Audio layer-III, Pentium is recommended).

- More than 256 color display mode.  In 16 color mode, colors doesn't appear correctly.


SCMPX Features

What SCMPX can do:

- Realtime playback of MPEG audio stream with high quality sound.

- Decoding (MPx -> WAV)

- Encoding (WAV -> MPx)

- MPEG SPLIT (MPG -> MPA) (*Video CD is not supported.)

- High quality re-sampling (WAV -> WAV)

- This program is small enough to play background music while running other applications.

What SCMPX doesn't support:

- Although the file extention "*.m3u" is used in SCMPX play list, this program doesn't currently support importing(reading) data via the the internet.  This program only handles the local files.  URLs written in files are ignored.

- SCMPX supports ISO-MPEG format.  MPEG 2.5 is Fraunhofer-specific format, and not supported in this program.  Also, this program doesn't directly handle streams which contain Video stream.  In this case, split the audio part with SCMPX MPEG SPLIT tool.

- Though this program is small, processing might slow down or some notes might be skipped, when used with slow CPU or huge applications.


Installation and Uninstall

Installation

 Create a folder and unzip the ZIP archive into it.

Uninstall

 Delete SCMPX*.* file/directory.  SCMPX doesn't use the registry.


User Interface


Commands

Mouse Commands

- Dropping a file	...Update Play List

- [CTRL] + Dropping a file	...Add to Play List

- Double click file Title view	...Display Play List

- Double click the Visual Window	...Frequency display ON/OFF

- Double click the Position Bar	...Seek

- Double click the Time view	...Switch the time display to past/rest time view

- Mouse wheel	...Volume UP/DOWN

Keyboard Commands

- [SPACE]	...Play/Stop

- [P] / [RETURN]	...Replay

- [R]	...Repeat ON/OFF

- [L]	...Play List ON/OFF

- [T]	...Tag Editor

- [D]	...Batch Decoder

- [E]	...Batch Encoder

- [F]	...Graphic equalizer

- [G]	...Batch Re-sampling tool

- [J]	...Jump to time

- [Left]	...Next Song

- [Right]	...Previous Song

- [Up]	...skip 10 songs (backward)

- [Down]	...skip 10 songs (forward)

- [PageUp]	...Volume Up

- [PageDown]	...Volume Down

- [<]	...move panpot to the left

- [>]	...move panpot to the right

- [F1]	...About SCMPX

- [F2]	...Open File

- [F3]	...Open Directory

- [F4]	...Save Playlist

- [ESC]	...System Menu

- [CTRL] + [SHIFT] + [Q]	...Exit from the System Tray (**)

- [Ten-Key]	...file number (1-9)

- [.] (period key)	...file number (+10)

- [*]	...Specify the file number

How to use [*] key:

After pressing the [*] key, enter the file number to play and then press the [RETURN] key.

Example) To play the 85th file: [*]->[8]->[5]->[RETURN]


Menu commands

System Menu

Click the upper left button or right-click the title bar for this menu.

[Wave output settings]	...Sets the WAVE output device and other output settings.

   Please refer to "Output Settings" for more details.

[Multimedia]	...Displays the Multimedia Property.

[About]	...Displays the SCMPX information such as version number.

[Exit]	...Exits SCMPX.

File Conversion Menu

Click the [convert] button for this menu.  Please refer to "File conversion" for more details.

[Single file]

 + [Decode to wav]	...Converts an MPEG/Audio file to a Windows standard wave file.

 + [Encoding MPx]	...Converts a Windows standard wave file to an MPEG/Audio file.

 + [Mpeg splitter]	...Splits the sound part from an MPEG file.

 + [Resample]	...Converts the frequency of a Windows standard wave file.

[Multiple files]

 + [Decode to wav]	...Converts multiple files to wave files.

 + [Encoding MPx]	...Converts multiple files to MPEG/Audio files.

 + [Resample]	...Converts multiple wave file format at once.

Edit Menu

Right-click on the name view for this menu.  Please refer to "Edit tools" for more details.

[Mpeg info]	...Displays the information about ID3tag editor and currently loaded file on SCMPX (file size, replay time, etc).

[Playlist]	...Displays the playlist.

[Tag title]	...Set file information items to display on the tag title window. (i.e. ID3 Artist, ID3 Title, File name, etc)

[Auto Scroll]	...If you check this option, titles will scroll.

[Display font]	...Sets the title view font.

Visual Window Control Menu

Right-click on the visual window for this menu.

[Level]	...This option displays the sound wave on visual window.

[Spectrum]	...This option displays the frequency on visual window.

[VU]	...This option displays the levels of right and left dB on visual window.

[1/60]	...Redraws the visual window in every 1/60 second.

[1/30]	...Redraws the visual window in every 1/30 second.

[1/15]	...Redraws the visual window in every 1/15 second.

[none]	...Disables the visual window display.

General Menu

Right-click anywhare other than buttons, bar, or view on the interface for this menu.

[Wave output settings]	...Same as the "System Menu" described above.

[File conversion]	...Same as the "Conversion Menu" described above.

[Edit tools]	...Same as the "Edit Menu" described above.

[Graphic equalizer]	...Displays the 12-bands graphic equalizer.

[Window shade]	...Switches the interface to a smaller style with the minimum controls.

[Tray]	...If you click on the minimize button with this option checked, SCMPX goes to the system tray while it is minimized.

[Capture]	...If you check this option, you can drag the interface at anywhere except buttons.

   When this option is unchecked, you need to click on the title bar to drag it.

[Snap to viewport]	...If you check this option, SCMPX will be automatically aligned to the screen edge when it comes closer than the certain distance from the edge.

[Double Size]	...If you check this option, SCMPX's window size will be doubled.

[Always on top]	...If you check this option, SCMPX will always be displayed in front of the screen.


Command Prompt

Command Prompt Commands  <<Command tree>>

SCMPX.EXE [/-acdehmoprswx123..] [file1] [file2]...

Options:

   /a	Add a file to the Play List (* this option must be specified before the file name).

   /c	Exit SCMPX after playing one file.

   /d	Convert an MPEG/Audio file to a wave file.

   /e	Convert a wave file to an MPEG/Audio file.

   /h	Hide SCMPX window.

   /m	Starts another instance of SCMPX (* Note to input first).

   /o	Start SCMPX but don't start playing files.

   /p	Start SCMPX and Play a sound file.

   /r?	Repeat mode (r0=Repeat OFF, r1=Repeat one, r2=Repeat all, r3=Shuffle).

   /s	Shut down SCMPX.

   /w	Split MPEG/Audio from a MPEG file

   /x	Resampling.

/1 - /..	File number to play.

Example) To play the second file in the Play List "music.mp3", input "SCMPX.EXE sample.mp3 music.mp3 -2".

Note:

- A playlist can be specified instead of a file name in the command line.

- When a file name contains spaces, it must be enclosed in double quotations ("").

- Option /d, /e, /m, /s, /w and /x must be specified as the first parameter.

  These options cannot be used simultaneously.

Example) To play audio file.mp3, type in the command line:

                    SCMPX.EXE "audio file.mp3".

File conversion options

SCMPX.EXE </-dewx> [/-options] <infile> [outfile]

Decoding option:

         /h	Hi-fi mode (default=No)

Encoding options:

    /b1 .. /b14	Bitrate index (See the list below) (default=9)

        /abr	Automatic Bit Rate (around 48 to 96kbps per a channel)

        /vbr	Variable Bit Rate

     /l1 .. /l3	layer-I,II,III (default=3)

         /s	Stereo encoding

         /j	Joint-stereo encoding (=default)

         /e5	Emphasis 50/15ms (default=No)

         /ej	Emphasis CCITT j.17

         /x	Extension flag (default=No)

         /er	Error protection flag (default=No)

         /c	Copyright flag (default=No)

         /o	Original flag (default=No)

         /f	Fast encoding mode (default=No)

         /w	Fraunhofer ACM compatible header (default=No)

         /pl	Conversion priority setting (low) (=default)

         /pn	Conversion priority setting (medium)

         /ph	Conversion priority setting (high)

    /x0 .. /x..	X coordinate display position in the pop-up conversion dialog window (default=middle of the screen)

    /y0 .. /y..	Y coordinate display position in the pop-up conversion dialog window (default=middle of the screen)

Resampling option:

     /sf2000...	Sampling rate (default=44100)

   /rs8 , /rs16	Resolution (default=16)

   /ch1 , /ch2	Channel (default=2)

   /q1 - /q100	Quality (default=20)

* Bitrate index

          [ MPEG-1 ]	          [ MPEG-2 ]

 layer-1	 layer-2	 layer-3	 layer-1	 layer-2	 layer-3

  /b1	  32000	  32000	  32000	  32000	    8000	    8000

  /b2	  64000	  48000	  40000	  48000	  16000	  16000

  /b3	  96000	  56000	  48000	  56000	  24000	  24000

  /b4	128000	  64000	  56000	  64000	  32000	  32000

  /b5	160000	  80000	  64000	  80000	  40000	  40000

  /b6	192000	  96000	  80000	  96000	  48000	  48000

  /b7	224000	112000	  96000	112000	  56000	  56000

  /b8	256000	128000	112000	128000	  64000	  64000

  /b9	288000	160000	128000	144000	  80000	  80000

  /b10	320000	192000	160000	160000	  96000	  96000

  /b11	352000	224000	192000	176000	112000	112000

  /b12	384000	256000	224000	192000	128000	128000

  /b13	416000	320000	256000	224000	144000	144000

  /b14	448000	384000	320000	256000	160000	160000

Note for conversion:

- Only one file can be specified as an input/output file at a time.

- Cannot use the playlists or encoding list files.

- If there are two files with the same file name, then the output file will be overwritten.

- You can set "-abr" and "-vbr" option only when the target is MPEG-1/Audio layer-III is selected.

- When the output file name is omitted, then the output file name will be "input file name + extention (*.mp?;*.wav)" (e.g. file.mp3 -> file.mp3.wav)

Examples of command line usage:

To play the second file in the Playlist "music.mp3":

SCMPX.EXE sample.mp3 music.mp3 -2

To play audio file.mp3:

SCMPX.EXE "audio file.mp3"

To fast encode sound.wav to sound.mp3(layer-3,160kbps):

SCMPX.EXE -e -b10 -f sound.wav sound.mp3

To decode song.mp3 to song.wav:

SCMPX.EXE -d song.mp3 song.wav


Playing the data files

Play

 Start SCMPX.exe first.  Then open the MPEG/Audio file by pressing the "LOAD MP-X" button or dropping down the file on SCMPX interface.  The file should be listed in the play list.  To play files, click play button at the lower right corner.  SCMPX will play the top file in the play list.  To select a file to play, open the play list and double click the desired file.

Stop

 To stop the music, click [ [] ] button while playing.

Pause

 To pause the music, click [ || ] button while playing.

REW/FF

 [<<][>>] button rewinds/forwards the music by 5 seconds.

Previous/Next

 To jump to the previous/next music, click the [ |< ][ >| ] button.

Repeat/shuffle

 When the [Repeat] button is pressed, the letters on the button turns to light blue and the repeat switch is turned on.  While this switch is on, scmpx repeats playing one file over and over.  Pressing the button once again turnes the letter color to orange.  This means scmpx repeats playing the files in the Play List after all files in it has been played.  Pressing the button once again changes the button name to [Random].  This means scmpx plays files randomly from the Play List.  Pressing the button once again restores the button to the first setting.

 [Repeat] -> [Repeat] -> [Repeat] -> [Random] -> ...

(no repeat)  (repeat one)  (repeat all)     (shuffle)

File open

[LOAD MPx] button displays the File Open dialog.


Wave output settings
Wave output device

 To display the menu for WAVE Output Settings, click right mouse button on the title bar.

 Choose [SCMPX Settings] and the WAVE Output Settings dialog box appears.

Wave output device

 Select the WaveOut device driver.  Microsoft Wave Mapper is selected by default.

Playback Rate

 You can choose the Playback Rate from four settings:

44k -> 44k

44k -> 22k

44k -> 11k

 For example, "44k -> 22k" means lowering the frequency of 44KHz sound to 22KHz.

 Lower Playback Rate lowers the sound quality, but it consumes less CPU.

 "44k -> 44k" mode is selected by default, and it plays the files without lowering the Playback Rate.

Decoder

 [Overdrive]	...Check this option to use SCMPX new engine "32bit Overdrive decoder". (*1)

 [Power save]	...When this option is checked, files will be read before playback.  this is effective for the battery-powered machines like notebook-sized PCs.

 [Enable equalizer]	...When this option is checked, Equalizer is enable.

Sound type

 [Stereo]	...When this check is removed, music is played with monaural sound.

 [16bit]	...When this check is removed, data is output by 8bit.

 [Anti-alias]	...When this is checked, SCMPX interpolates the sound data when it is playbacked at lower late.

 [De-emphasis]	...Checking this option enables De-emphasis. (This is effective only on data for which "emphasis" checkbox is checked when performing the encoding.)

 [Hi-Fi]	...Check this option for the pseudo Hi-Fi processing.  This option is unchecked by default.

Wave device information

 This section shows information about the Wave device currently selected.

          (*1) 32bit Overdrive decoder

         This is the new engine for SCMPX.

         In most cases it should work at the same processing speed or even faster.

         It has many common routine from the old decoder.

         I call it "overdrive" decoder just to make it sound cool.


Equalizer

12-bands Graphic equalizer

SCMPX can use 12-bands graphic equalizer.

This is enable only for which "Enable equalizer" checkbox in the WAVE Output Settings dialog box is checked.

NOTE:

- SCMPX can't use 32bit Overdrive decoder with graphic equalizer.

- Some notes might be skipped when enabled graphic equalizer.

- The settings will be effective from the next playback.


Decoding(*.mp? to *.wav)
File Conversion Tool (Decoding)

From MPEG/Audio (*.mp?) to standard PCM/Windows (*.wav) format

 Click the [CONVERT] button and select [Decode to wav] from [Single file] or [Multiple files] menu.

 When [Single file] is selected, input WAVE file selection dialog appeares.  After choosing an input file, then the output file selection dialog appears.  There you specify the destination directory and the output file name.

 To convert files to other format such as AIFF, change the file filter before specifying the output file name.

 When [Multiple files] is selected, the batch convert list will be displayed.

 [Cancel] button stops the conversion process.

NOTE: Usually the output file size will be big.  So, please make sure that there are enough space in the hard disk.

Batch Decoding

Batch decoding option process decodes multiple MPx files at once.  Decoding process starts with the top file in the decode list.  It is helpful to convert many MPEG/Audio files to wave files.  Files are output to the predefined path.  You can set different paths for each file.  To set the default path, click on the [Target] column title of the batch decode window.  To initialize the normal output path, click [Source] column.  Clicking [Format] column changes output format of the files in the batch list at once.

[Add]	...Adds a file to the decode list.

[Save]	...Saves the decode list.  (It is saved in the same form as the playlist file.)

[Clear]	...Clears the decode list.

[Exit]	...Exits from the batch decoding process.  If you click this button during the decoding process, it halts the whole decoding process.  Before it halts decoding, confirming message appears.

[Start]	...Starts the batch decoding process.


Encoding (*.wav to *.mp?)
File Conversion (Encoding)

From Windows standard PCM format (*.wav) to MPEG/Audio (*.mp?)

 Click the [CONVERT] button and select [Encoding MPx] from [Single file] or [Multiple files] menu.

 When [Single file] is selected, MPEG file settings dialog will be displayed after choosing an input WAVE file.

 Then choose an MPEG output format and start converting.

 When [Multiple files] is selected, the batch convert list will be displayed.

 [Cancel] button stops the conversion.

NOTE: Please note that it takes a long time to complete the conversion process.

Convert Settings

 [bitrate]	...14 types available (*1).

 [layer]	...layer-I, II, III.

 [mode]	...Select [Stereo] or [Joint stereo] (You can select this when the source audio is 2ch).

 [Constant],[Variable]	...

 [De-emphasis]	...Set emphasis type.

 [Extention]	...This is a private bit, and not used for ISO/IEC.

 [CRC error protection]	...Error detection ON/OFF.

 [Copyright]	...Select if the file is copyrighted.

 [Original/copy]	...Shows if the file is original or copied.

 [Fast encode]	...Increase the process speed by sacrificing the pricision to which calculation is carried out.

 [Wave header]	...Decide to add a header for Windows Fraunhofer ACM or not.

Batch Encoding

 SCMPX can encode multiple wave files at once.

 It processes files in the order listed in Batch convert List.  This is useful when you encode a large number of files.  The encoded files are output to the output path previously set.  The output path can be changed by first clicking the [Target] column title in the "Multiple files Batch converter" window and then setting the new path.  Click [Source] column to initialize the normal output path.  Also, you can change the output format by double clicking the file name on the list.

[Add]	...Adds a file to the encode list.

[Save]	...Saves the encode list.

[Clear]	...Clears the encode list.

[Exit]	...Exits from the batch encoding process.  If you click this button during the encoding process, it halts the whole encoding process.  Before it halts encoding, confirming message appears.

[Start]	...Starts the batch encoding process.

Variable bitrate

 In MPEG-1/Audio layer-III two encoding methods are available: Variable Bit Rate (VBR) and Automatic Bit Rate (ABR).  VBR analyzes the input audio and encodes the bitrate effectively.  It improves the sound quality by allocating low bitrate for less important part and high bitrate for more important part.  ABR automatically allocates the most efficient bitrate to the input audio.

 To select the bitrate mode, choose [Variable] or [Auto] from the [bitrate] section in the encode setting dialog box.  The standard bitrates are around 64kbps per a channel for VBR and around 48 to 96bps per a channel for ABR.

# Note some players may not be able to replay data created in VBR/ABR mode.

(*1)

- IMPORTANT !!! -

If the bitrate is too low, the encoded audio will have audible distortion.  Bold faced bitrates or higher are recommended.  The bitrate unit is x1000bit/s.

<< layer-I >>

[Stereo]

<MPEG-1>	<MPEG-2>

 sfreq : 48000Hz, 44100Hz, 32000Hz	 sfreq : 24000Hz, 22050Hz, 16000Hz

bitrate:  32, 64, 96,128,160,192,224,	bitrate: 32, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96,112,

256,288,320,352,384,416,448	128,144,160,176,192,208,224

[Mono]

<MPEG-1>	<MPEG-2>

 sfreq : 48000Hz, 44100Hz, 32000Hz	 sfreq : 24000Hz, 22050Hz, 16000Hz

bitrate:  32, 64, 96,128,160,192,224,	bitrate: 32, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96,112,

256,288,320,352,384,416,448	128,144,160,176,192,224,256

<< layer-II >>

[Stereo]

<MPEG-1>	<MPEG-2>

 sfreq : 48000Hz, 44100Hz, 32000Hz	 sfreq : 24000Hz, 22050Hz, 16000Hz

bitrate:  32, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96,112,	bitrate: 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56,

128,160,192,224,256,320,384	64, 80, 96,112,128,144,160

[Mono]

<MPEG-1>	<MPEG-2>

 sfreq : 48000Hz, 44100Hz, 32000Hz	 sfreq : 24000Hz, 22050Hz, 16000Hz

bitrate:  32, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96,112,	bitrate: 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56,

128,160,192,224,256,320,384	64, 80, 96,112,128,144,160

<< layer-III >>

[Stereo]

<MPEG-1>	<MPEG-2>

 sfreq : 48000Hz, 44100Hz, 32000Hz	 sfreq : 24000Hz, 22050Hz, 16000Hz

bitrate:  32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96,	bitrate: 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56,

112,128,160,192,224,256,320	64, 80, 96,112,128,144,160

[Mono]

<MPEG-1>	<MPEG-2>

 sfreq : 48000Hz, 44100Hz, 32000Hz	 sfreq : 24000Hz, 22050Hz, 16000Hz

bitrate:  32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96,	bitrate: 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56,

112,128,160,192,224,256,320	64, 80, 96,112,128,144,160


Mpeg splitter (*.mpg to *.mpa)
File Conversion (split MPEG/Audio data)

Split MPEG/Audio (*.mp1;*.mp2) from a MPEG file (*.mpg)

 Click the [CONVERT] button and select [Mpeg splitter] from [Single file].  Set the Input and Output file names in MPEG file Input/Output dialog box.

 To cancel the conversion process, click the [Cancel] button.

NOTE: Currently Video CD file is not supported.


Resample... (*.wav to *.wav)
File Conversion (Resample)

To resample standard Windows files (*.wav)

 Click the [CONVERT] button and select [Resample...] from [Single file] or [Multiple files].  After selecting the input WAVE file, the Resample setting dialog box appears.  Select the output wave format and start resampling.

 This tool converts only PCM-Wave format files.  The conversion process takes a long time, since Sin conversion method is used for resampling.  However, when Quality level is set high, resultant file's quality will be fairly good.

 [Cancel] button stop will stop the conversion process.

Resampling Options:

 [Wave Info]	...Shows input file information

 [Sample rate]	...Sample rate setting for the output file.  2000~96000Hz is available.

 [Resolution]	...Choose between 8bit and 16bit.  Select 16bit for encoding.

 [Channel]	...Choose mono or stereo.

 [Resample Quality]	...Set a value from 1 to 100.  While a higher value makes better quality sound, it takes longer time.

Batch Resampling

 Batch Resampling option performs multiple wave file resampling.   It processes files in the order listed in Resample List.  This is useful when you resample a large number of wave files.

Files are output to the predefined path.  You can set different paths for each file.  To set the default path, click on the [Target] column title of the batch resample window.  To initialize the normal output path, click on the [Source] column title.  Clicking on [Quality] column title makes the quality settings of all files in the list the same as the top file in the list.  Similarly, [Format] column title makes the output format settings of files in the list the same as the top file.

Output format can be changed by double clicking the file name in the list.

[Add]	...Adds a file to the resample list.

[Save]	...No use.

[Clear]	...Clears the resample list.

[Exit]	...Exits from the batch resampling process.  If you click this button during the resampling process, it halts the whole resampling process.  Before it halts resampling, confirming message appears.

[Start]	...Starts the batch resampling process.


Playlist Editor

 To display the Playlist Editor, you can either double click the file title, or click the right mouse button on the title and select "PlayList" from the menu.

 With the default settings, files are played from the top file in the play list to the last file.  After the last file is played, SCMPX stops playback.

 When [Repeat] mode is selected, SCMPX will start over from the top file after all files have been played.

 When [Random] mode is selected, files are played randomly.  After all files in the list have been played, SCMPX will start over again and continues to play.

 Edited playlist can be read/saved.  The standard file extension is "*.m3u", and it's format is same as WinPlay/WinAMP playlist.

 To play a file in the list, double click the target file.

 The Playlist can display file names and ID3tag titles.

 Also, it can edit multiple files.

Commands

[File]

[Open] / [Add]	...Loads an MPEG/Audio file or a playlist file.

[Save]	...Save and overwrite the playlist.

[Save As]	...Save a new playlist with given name.

[Exit] / [Close]	...Exits from the playlist editor.

[Edit]

[ID3tag]	...Edits the specified file tag.

[Delete]	...Deletes the specified file from playlist.

[New List]	...Clears the playlist.

[All Select]	...Selects all items on the playlist.

[View]

[Filename]	...Displays the file names listed in playlist.

[ID3tag-title]	...Displays the playlist's ID3tag title and playback time.

[Always on Top]	...Playlist window will always be displayed in front of the screen.

[Up]	...Moves the selected playlist item up.

[Down]	...Moves the selected playlist item down.

- Shortcut Keys -

[CTRL]+[A]	...Shortcut for [All Select] option.

[CTRL]+[O]	...Shortcut for [Open] option.

[CTRL]+[S]	...Shortcut for [Save] option.

[CTRL]+[T]	...Shortcut for [ID3tag] option.

[DEL]	...Shortcut for [DEL] option.

[SPACE]	...Plays the selected file (currently focused file).


ID3tag Editor

 To display the ID3tag Editor, you can either click the [INFO] button, or click the right mouse button and select "MPEG info" from the menu.

 You can add or delete a tag to MP3 files.  ID3tag version is 1.0.

Commands

[Copy previous ID3]	...Copies the previous tag information.  This is useful for editing multiple files from one CD.

[Track >>>]	...Checking this option enables the Track settings.  ID3TAG is saved in version 1.1 format.

[Set]	...Includes the tag in a sound file.

[Cancel]	...Cancels the tag settings.

[Remove ID3]	...Deletes a tag included in a file.

[previous>>]	...Restores the tag settings to the previous state.  This can handle multiple tags.

[X]	...Exits from tag editing.  (If you click this while editing multiple tags, un-edited tags will be canceled.)

MPEG info

Displays the mpeg audio file format of the file currently loaded on SCMPX.

Pre-Amplification setting

When the ID3comment is set, "#PREAMP=xxx%" then output level will be up or down.

Example:

To set pre-amplification 120%: ID3tag comment = "#PREAMP=120%"

To set pre-amplification 50%: ID3tag comment = "#PREAMP=50%"


Title Editor

Click the right mouse button on the file title, and then choose [ID3 title (T)]

item from the menu.

Macros

%1=ID3Artist	%7=File name

%2=ID3Title	%8=File path

%3=ID3Album	%9=Extention

%4=ID3Year	%0=Track

%5=ID3Comment	%%="%"

%6=ID3Genre	%-="-" (Won't be displayed when there are no characters before it.)

Default setting is "%1%-%2" (ID3Artist - ID3Title).

When the ID3Title isn't set, then the file name will be displayed.

Example) To display "ID3Title - ID3Album": "%2%-%3"


When a trouble occurs while using SCMPX

When you find an error/trouble...

 If you find a bug in this program (shut down, etc), please report it to me.  I will use your feedback for updating/supporting SCMPX.

SCMPX has ended with the application error...

 When SCMPX has ended with an error, the Wave device volume may be 0 when you re-start SCMPX.  In this case, go to Windows' [Control Panel] -> [Multimedia] and check the volume setting.

 Also, when SCMPX has been shut down while outputting a file, the file may remain in hard disk.  In this case, please remove the file yourself.

There is something wrong in the data...

 Sometimes there are some errors in a file downloaded from a web site.  These files usually has distorted sound, or suddenly stops while playing.

 MPEG header is so simple that it is rather hard to know if the data is broken.  SCMPX compares the neighboring headers, and displays the error status when errors are found.  When the data seems to cause an error, playing will be stopped automatically.  Otherwise the playback continues.  But this distorted noise doesn't sound properly, so just click the stop button.

 During the file conversion process, this will displayed as "broken data" next to the frame counter.

System Tray icon has disappeared...

 Pressing [CTRL] + [SHIFT] + [Q] return the application to the desktop.


Error prevension measure

Automatic error recovery

 The application always watches its own thread.  When an error occurs, it tries to recover it as safely as possible.  It actually closes this program automatically after the thread stopped responding for 5 seconds.


CPU load

 You can reduce the CPU load with the settings below, when playing MPEG/Audio as BGM while running other application.

Set to "Window shade" mode

 User interface changes to smaller style by double-clicking the title bar, or clicking the system command [ws] button.  This mode slightly increase the performance.  To return it to the wider style, double-click the title bar or click the [ws] button again.

Minimize the application display

 Minimizing the application display (by clicking the system command [_] button) increases the performance.

Disable De-emphasis

 Uncheck [De-emphasis] in the WaveOut Settings dialog box.  It improves the performance a little.

Disable Hi-Fi

 Uncheck [Hi-Fi] in the WaveOut Settings dialog box.  It improves the performance.

Enable Overdrive

 Check [Overdrive] in the WaveOut Settings dialog box.  It improves the performance pretty well.

Stop auto-scrolling

 Stoping the auto-scrolling of title will improve SCMPX performance.

Disable Equalizer

 Uncheck [Enable EQ] in the WaveOut Settings dialog box.  It improves the performance.

Change the draw speed of visual window

 When in "Window shade" mode only Level(LV) view is displayed, while you can choose among 3 views(LV, SP, VU) in the normal mode.  Click mouse right button on the view window, and you can change the draw speed from the menu.  "1/30 sec" is selected by default, which means the view is updated every 1/30 second.  This setting affects the application's performance.


MPU performance

Intel MMX Technology

 A computer which has MMX will automatically select the SCMPX-MMX decoder/encoder.  Though it doesn't have a dramatic effect, it decreases the CPU load.

Cyrix coprocessor

 Cyrix FPU executes floating point operation with the 50% to 75% clock frequency of Intel products.  Also, it has some unique instructions.  Cyrix MPU slightly increases performance than Intel's.


Specification

Replaying and Converting

 Replaying and Decoding cannot be executed at the same time.  Also, when using the Conversion Tool, other conversion process cannot be executed.  (Data can be played when using a tool other than the Decoder.  But remember that doing those process at the same time decreases the performance.)

View drawing

 It may take a while before the view drawing starts when playing begins.  This is not a bug.  It takes time especially after down sampling.

No FF/REW for layer-I

 Since the layer-I seeking is unstable, I didn't include this feature in SCMPX.


Thank you for reading
Conclusion

 Most part of the MPEG file headers and data structures are made based on my studying (some part uncertain) of MPEG documents and references (*see the list below), and analyzing of other playing/decoding/encoding applications.  I tried my best to write SCMPX (to be a safe program).  But it is not a perfect application, and sometimes it may be unable to play data.  I hope you understand this.

 Thank you for reading through this help.  Since I usually don't read this kind of helps and documents, I appreciate you for reading this help thoroughly.  I'll keep on working for a usable and better freeware.

 And, special thanks to Eriko Ibe, who helped me to make this English Help.

ch3  Mar.1(Sun.),1998.

Reference

A.Sugiyama, "Adaptive Transform Coding with an Adaptive Block Size", 1990

M.Iwadare, "A 128kbps Hi-Fi Audio CODEC Based on Adaptive Transform Coding with Adaptive Block Size MDCT", 1992

Homepage

http://www.70.nu/ch3/index_e.html

E-mail : ch3@70.nu


What's New?
What's new in SCMPX version 1.50/1.51 ?

New

- Implemented the SCMPX v2 encoder (improved quality in JointStereo encoding).

- Fixed decoding bugs in phase-2.

- Some other miscelaneous fixes.

Stopped

- Using force combined stereo in phase-1 encoding.

What's new in SCMPX version 1.42 ?

New

- Improved decoding speed.

- Enhanced broken file detection ability.

- Supported 5 selection VBR encoding.

- Fixed psychoacoustic bugs, and supported it in all layers.

- Fixed Seek bugs.

- Fixed ABR bugs.

- Some other miscelaneous fixes.

Stopped

- Using standard psychoacoustic model.

What's new in SCMPX version 1.41 ?

New

- Improved the intelligent buffering system in overdrive mode.

- Fixed Joint Stereo/VBR normal encoding bug.

- Fixed layer-II encoding bug.

- Fixed file relation bug.

- Improved cpuid checking.

- Some other miscelaneous fixes.

What's new in SCMPX version 1.40 ?

New

- Improved decoding and encoding speed.

- Implemented 12-bands graphic equalizer.

- Implemented pre-scaler.

- Improved psychoacoustic process in layer-III joint-stereo encoding.

- Fixed decoding bugs in MPEG-2 layer-III.

- Fixed VBR encoding algorhythm bugs.

- Some other miscelaneous adds/fixes.

What's new in SCMPX version 1.30 ?

New

- Enhanced broken file detection ability.

- Support for the Joint-Stereo encoding.

- Support for the Variable bitrate encoding.

- Added 32 bit encoding option (fast mode).

- Added 3 more encoding bitrate options, and now there are 14 selections.

- Added modification to use SCMPX conversion tools from the command line.

- Added "Repeat 1 file" function.

- Fixed the unstable sorting option of playlist.

- Modified the layer-I decoding process so that it won't mix some noize in the high frequency area.

- Fixed the bug that issued an exception from the decoder for a certain data pattern.

- Some other miscelaneous adds/fixes.

What's new in SCMPX version 1.11 ?

New

- Improved decoding speed.

- Improved encoding speed.

- Optimized the MMX code.

- Supported batch re-sampling.

- Added the power save option.

- Added the double size GUI option.

- Added title autoscroll.

- Supported ID3tag v1.1 (kind of too late...)

- Modified the bug that unabled to open the playlist in the certain version of Windows.

- Modified the bug to fail to get file names.

- Revised some other miscellaneous parts.

Stopped

- Wait which was reserved for 386-compatible instructions and for some of 386 machines (from this version, SCMPX doesn't work on 386 machines).

- Support of playback rate of 1/8(5.5k).

- Removed [Fill space character] option from ID3tag Editor.

What's new in SCMPX version 0.0.9 ?

New

- Implemented the new decode engine.

- Decoding process has become faster.

- Layer-II, III encoding process has become slightly faster.

- Resampling process has become faster.

- Enabled multiple file batch decoding.

- Enabled using a relative path for playlist.

- Added pseudo HiFi mode.

- Improved playlist and tag editor.

- Can change font settings for the name view display.

- Fixed bugs that SCMPX doesn't work right on Cyrix CPU.

- Fixed an encoding bug that caused illegal access in 1/1,000,000 ratio.

- Modified the front end.

- Modified other small miscellaneous things.

What's new in SCMPX version 0.0.7 ?

New

- New Interface.

- Enhanced broken data detection part.

- Optimized:

   * layer-III decoding process.

   * encoding process.

   * Re-sampling algorhythm.

- Support:

   * batch encoding.

   * De-emphasis filter.

   * mouse wheel.

   * frontend.

   * snap to viewport.

   * Disabled multiple instances.

- Improved layer-I encoding algorhythm.

- Fixed many bugs on Windows NT.

- Fixed encoding bugs in MPEG-2 layer-III.

- Fixed some trifling bugs...

Stopped

- Using WinAMP2.0 Interface.

- L/R button.

What's new in SCMPX version 0.0.2 ?

New

- Supported Windows NT.

- Optimized performance on 486 machines.

- Enhanced broken data detection part.

- Fixed CRC protection process.

- Fixed playback bugs.

- Fixed a few playlist bugs.

- Added file filter *.m3u in the file open dialog.

- Added LOAD MP-X in system tray command.

- Supported Random replay.

- Enabled to resume playing with the [playback] button after pausing.

Stopped

- In English version, using TAG/genre for Japanese at f8-ffh.


MPEG

MPEG is the "Moving Picture Experts Group", working under

the joint direction of the International Standards Organization (ISO)

and the International Electro-Technical Commission (IEC).

This group works on standards for the coding of moving pictures and audio.

MPEG-1/Audio  MPEG-2/Audio


MPEG-1
MPEG-1/Audio (MPEG/Audio Phase1)

Coding of Moving Pictures and Associated Audio for Digital

Storage Media at up to about 1.5Mbps, ISO/IEC 11172, Aug.1993


MPEG-2
MPEG-2/Audio (MPEG/Audio Phase2)

 MPEG-Audio Subgroup, ISO 11172-3 Compatible Low Bit Rate

Multi-Channel Audio Coding System and Conventional Stereo

Coding at Lower Sampling Frequencies, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/

WG11 N 0 403 MPEG93/479, Jul.1993 [ISO/IEC 13818:1995]


layers

 All Layers use the same basic structure. The coding scheme can be described

as "perceptual noise shaping" or "perceptual subband / transform coding".

The encoder analyzes the spectral components of the audio signal

by calculating a filterbank (transform) and applies a psychoacoustic model

to estimate the just noticeable noise-level. In its quantization and coding stage,

the encoder tries to allocate the available number of data bits in a way to meet

both the bitrate and masking requirements.

 The decoder is much less complex. Its only task is to synthesize an audio signal

out of the coded spectral components.

 All Layers use the same analysis filterbank (polyphase with 32 subbands).

Layer-3 adds a MDCT transform to increase the frequency resolution.

 All Layers use the same "header information" in their bitstream, to support

the hierarchical structure of the standard.  All Layers have a similar sensitivity

to biterrors.  They use a bitstream structure that contains parts that are more

sensitive to biterrors ("header", "bit allocation", "scalefactors", "side information")

and parts that are less sensitive ("data of spectral components").

 All Layers support the insertion of programm-associated information ("ancillary

data") into their audio data bitstream. All Layers may use 32, 44.1 or 48 kHz

sampling frequency.  All Layers are allowed to work with similar bitrates:

    Layer-1: from 32 kbps to 448 kbps

    Layer-2: from 32 kbps to 384 kbps

    Layer-3: from 32 kbps to 320 kbps

The last two statements refer to MPEG-1; with MPEG-2, there is an extension

for the sampling frequencies and bitrates.

*quoted from LAYER3 FAQ

http://www.iis.fhg.de/


MPEG2.5

 "non-ISO" extension inside Fraunhofer codec, called "MPEG 2.5",

to further improve the performance at very low bitrates.


extensions
MPEG/Audio file extensions

*.mp1, *.mp2, *.mp3, *.mpa, *.mpg, *.mpp, *.m3u, *.wav, etc...

Note that m3u(mp3url) file is a text file which contains linked file names.


bitrate

 Shows the bit number used in one second.  For example, 128kbps

means a stream which uses 128000 bit data per second.


Encode limitation

 When encoding a sound data, the Sampling Frequency must be set

to either of 48000Hz, 44100Hz, 32000Hz, 24000Hz, 22050Hz, 16000Hz.

Also, it must be a PCM file with 16 bit resolution.  If the file doesn't meet

this requirement, convert it with SCMPX Resampling Tool.


ID3tag

 This is a tag attached to a file that describes music title, artist name,

etc.  It is added to the back of a file as 128 byte data.  You don't

have to add this to your file, but it should help organizing files.


Stereo Encoding

Stereo Encoding is provided as option in the standard

algorithm (MPEG format).  It uses the correlation between

right and left channel signals to compress information

in joint stereo mode.  Joint stereo mode is effective for

compressiong low bitrate audio.


Command tree

[SCMPX]

     +</e>----------------------------------------------------------------------+[/b1 - /b14 , /abr , /vbr]

      |	+[/l1 - /l3]

     +</d>----------------------------------+[/h]	+[/s - /j]

      |	+<infile>-[outfile]	+[/e5 , /ej]

     +</x>-<infile>-[outfile]	+[/x]

      |	+[/er]

     +</w>----------------------------------+[/sf2000 - /sf96000]	+[/c]

      |	+[/rs8 , /rs16]	+[/o]

     +</m>---------+[/a]	+[/ch1 , /ch2]	+[/f]

      |	+[/c]	+[/q1 - /q100]	+[/w]

     +</s>	+[/h]	+<infile>-[outfile]	+[/pl,/pn,/ph]

      |	+[/o , /p]	+[/x0 - /x..]

     +[/a]	+[/r0 - /r3]	+[/y0 - /y..]

     +[/c]	+[/1 - /..]	+<infile>-[outfile]

     +[/h]	+[playfile(s)..]

     +[/o , /p]

     +[/r0 - /r3]

     +[/1 - /..]

     +[playfile(s)..]