Path: news.uh.edu!barrett From: andreas.jelvemark@homeros.ct.se (Andreas Jelvemark) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: D.A.S.ModulePlayer, version 3.2a Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.audio Date: 17 Aug 1994 21:30:42 GMT Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 318 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Distribution: world Message-ID: <32tvi2$2t2@masala.cc.uh.edu> Reply-To: andreas.jelvemark@homeros.ct.se (Andreas Jelvemark) NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu Keywords: audio, music, module player, shareware Originator: barrett@karazm.math.uh.edu PRODUCT NAME D.A.S.ModulePlayer V3.2a BRIEF DESCRIPTION DASMP (short for D.A.S.ModulePlayer) does what the title claims; i.e., play music modules. It is capable of playing modules of various formats such as ProTracker, S3M, MTM, MED/OctaMED, QuadraComposer and FutureComposer. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: Pauli Porkka Address: Innanlantie 5 D 29 FIN-37600 VALKEAKOSKI FINLAND E-mail: paporkka@freenet.hut.fi FidoNet: 2:221/112.4 LIST PRICE DASMP is shareware, and the current price is $20 (US) or an equivalent amount in any other currency. There are two registration sites mentioned in the manual, situated in North America and Australia, which simplifies registration for the users located in those countries. SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE None. At least 1 MB of memory is recommended due to the size of some modules. More is recommended if you want to use the program to its full potential. Works on all processors (68000-68040). A faster processor is recommended if you want to play any of the multichannel modules with a high mixing rate. SOFTWARE MUI (Magic User Interface) is required. AmigaDOS 2.04 or higher is required. Having AmigaDOS 3.x enables some extra features in DASMP. COPY PROTECTION None. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING Amiga 1200, 2 MB Chip RAM, 8 MB Fast RAM. 120 MB Conner HD. Kickstart version 39.106, Workbench version 39.29 (AmigaDOS 3.0). C= 1940 multisync monitor. INSTALLATION DASMP features an Installer script to simplify the process of installing. It works like a charm. :-) BACKGROUND Playing modules has been an essential need of any Amiga user since the first NoiseTracker program was released. Various module players have been released over the years, some of them better than others, and some even worse. Today, there are a number of different module file formats to look out for, and compatibility with the various formats is a necessity. Another option that is strongly needed is the possibility to crunch/archive modules in order to save hard disk space, since modules are getting bigger. A nice interface is of course a feature that should not be neglected. DASMP features all this and much more. EXTERNAL PLAYER LIBRARIES DASMP supports S3M, MTM, MED(OctaMed), QuadraComposer and FutureComposer modules through External Player Libraries ("EPLs"). This modular approach allows the user to choose what libraries to install and what libraries to use with the player, giving the user greater control of how much resources the program should be allowed to use. S3M and MTM are multichannel PC formats which are getting more and more followers. I've tested only S3M modules because I haven't been able to find any MTM modules on my local BBSs. The S3M format supports the use of 4-32 channels, and DASMP allows you to configure what mixing rate to use for each type. (Higher mixing rate values make the module sound better but it also intensifies the workload of the processor. It is recommended that you adjust the settings to suit the power of your system.) You can also choose play modes that consist of the following features: Mono, Stereo, Surround, Real Surround, and Stereo 14-bit. The playing of these modules works perfectly, and the user will not notice that you are playing them after you have enabled and configured the EPL. Another commonly used EPL is the MED(OctaMED) library. It requires the medplayer.library and octaplayer.library to be present in your system, and when they are present, MED/OctaMED modules are played like any other module. For those who haven't got access to huge amount of Chip RAM which is often required to play big modules there is a solution trough the use of dasFAST.library. It plays ProTracker-compatible modules from Fast RAM using a technique that is everything but perfect, according to the author. It seems to work well for me, however, and I hardly noticed any loss in quality when playing some of my modules from Fast RAM. You may choose the size of the modules to use this player, the priority of the player, the mixing rate, and some different playing modes. PACKED MODULES DASMP supports mainly XPK-packed modules. Through the use of the XPK package, you can get it to play PowerPacked modules too. Another great feature is the ability to play modules that are archived in almost any format; e.g. LHA, ZIP, ZOO, etc. It even allows the handling of multiple files within the same archive, and it can also play XPK-packed modules from within an archive. I recommend the use of the SQSH-library which is especially well suited for packing 8-bit sound data. It gives you an excellent result. Decrunching speed is quite fast, but if speed is your main priority, use the xpkFAST.library or xpkNUKE.library instead. THE INTERFACE The interface to the user is perhaps the most vital part of any program. Due to the use of MUI, DASMP features all advantages of that package; i.e., tremendous configurability. You can rearrange almost the whole GUI to your liking. DASMP features a "special" menu which allows you to enable and disable certain groups of gadgets to give you some quick possibilities to change the interface. DASMP's strongest point is without question the module list handling. To be able to play modules, you add them to the listview using the appropriate function. When the list is created, you are able to configure each entry separately. Fade speed, preload, volume and FAST relocation are selectable for every module. (FAST relocation means that DASMP will put the song data in Fast RAM in order to save as much Chip RAM as possible.) The name of the module in the listview doesn't need to be the same as the name of the "real" module, and there is a "Get" function which is able to fetch the real name of the module from within the module. DASMP also features a unique author system that allows you to enter an author and a style for each module. To play just the modules in a particular style, click the "Au" button of the main window and select your desired style from the listview that pops up. The module list will then change to contain only the modules in your selected style. It is as simple as that! There is one disappointment with this feature, however: it is impossible to select an author and a style at the same time. Even if most composers produce work in only one style, this is indeed a limitation even if it is a small one. DASMP supports the use of two groups called group A and group B. For example, group A could contain the modules that you have easily accessible (on your hard drive), and group B could contain the modules that aren't easily accessible (e.g., on your floppy disks.) When you want to play a group B module, you just double-click it and DASMP will ask you for the required disk. Since you are able to choose which groups to show in the listview, this is a great option, and you don't have to scan all your disks in order to find a particular module once you've added the modules to the group. To add a module, you select the "Add" button and a requestor (ASL or ReqTools, depending on your configuration) allows you to select modules to be added to the list. There are three options which should be mentioned: Normal, Date updating and Check. Date updating adds only modules newer than your current module list date, suitable for the inclusion of newer modules that you've copied into your module directory. The Check option checks if there is a real module that corresponds to the listview entry, suitable for updating the listview when you've erased modules from disk without notifying DASMP. Of course, no player program would be complete without programming and randomizing functions. Programming is dead easy when using DASMP's listview capabilities. Just delete from the listview the modules that you don't wish to play, and play the remaining ones. The new module list can be saved as any other module list, and you can have as many "programs" as your hard disk allows. Another nice feature of DASMP is that it shows and remembers the playing time of the modules. There are four different clocks. One shows the the total time of the currently playing module and how long it has been playing. The second shows the total playing time of all modules which currently are in the module list. It is (IMHO) actually quite amazing to know that all my modules have a total playing time of 5 hours and 32 minutes. The third shows the total playing time for today, and the fourth shows the played time of a module and the remaining time to be played. DASMP also supports the use of some effects: QuadraScope, DoubleScope and a big QuadraScope that is scaled using some new functions in AmigaDOS 3.0. The effects contain a bug that sometimes messes up your display, and the author has no clue what is causing the problem. I've encountered the same problem while using another module player's effects so it isn't a problem that is all that special for DASMP. It is advised, however, that you use the lowest priority available for the effects to reduce the problem. DASMP has a full-blown ARexx port which is very valuable to simplify the process of playing modules; e.g., from within a directory utility. It also supports a few very useful tooltypes that allow you to load a module list automatically during startup and define an AppIcon for DASMP. DOCUMENTATION The documentation is in standard AmigaGuide format and explains everything that you need to know about using the program. Like any good program, DASMP has on-line help available by just pressing the HELP key. The program recognizes in which state it is currently in and shows the appropriate section of the documentation. The documentation is quite easy to understand, but unfortunately there is no section for the novice. But if you have a bit of patience, you will most certainly be able to have it configured shortly. Some features are omitted from the manual of version 3.2a. It seems like the manual hasn't been updated to fit the current version, and there isn't any on-line help when you are configuring the EPLs either. I would like an explanation of what the different playing modes do. (By the time you read this, I will have notified the author.) LIKES I like everything about the product! It gives you everything that you could ask from a module player and more. The most useful feature is indeed the unique handling of modules in the listview which makes your setup so much more professional. DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS I have only one small dislike about the product. It isn't possible to save the bpm (beats per minute) setting separately for each module. I have some modules that should be played at a different speed and it is annoying that you have to change the tempo slider each time you want it to be played at correct speed. It would be nice if you were able to multiselect both an author and a style at the same time, but this isn't as important as most composer stick to one style in their work. But it would be a nice feature. The documentation in version 3.2a isn't entirely up to date. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS I've used quite a lot of different module players -- more that I can remember really -- but my needs haven't been fulfilled until I got hold of DASMP. The other players either had too few features or an awful GUI. BUGS There is a problem with the effects messing up the display. The author is aware of the problem. VENDOR SUPPORT The support of Pauli Porkka is one of the strongest points of DASMP. Pauli claims that he will answer *all* e-mail that has to do with DASMP, and he has always done his best to answer my sometimes silly questions. DASMP has been developed with a lot of user interaction, and it shows on the result. WARRANTY None. It's shareware, for God's sake! CONCLUSIONS DASMP is the best module player for the Amiga platform today (IMHO). I rate it 5 stars out of 5 with a slight minus due to the lack of handling the bpm of modules separately. Finally, I would like to say that it is really a great program and you should try it out immediately if you haven't done so. AVAILABILITY You can always find the latest version on Aminet in the /pub/aminet/mus/play/ directory. COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright 1994 Andreas Jelvemark. All rights reserved. - Andreas Jelvemark andreas.jelvemark@homeros.ct.se --- Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu Anonymous ftp site: math.uh.edu, in /pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews