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CD ROM Paradise Collection 4 1995 Nov.iso
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1994-01-23
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309 lines
Digital Music Player
version 0.91
an Aria production
0. Documentation
----------------
This documentation is a temporary solution. As of version 0.9, there is no
online help available. Version 1.0 will include a full help system. The
reason for the lack of help in this version is the fact that I want to satisfy
the demand for a quality .MOD music module player.
1. Introduction
---------------
Digital Music Player is a multi-threaded .MOD (see section 3. for info)
format music module player for OS/2 2.x with the MMPM/2 multimedia extensions
installed. A digital capable audio adapter is required. DMPlayer has been
designed to work well with you. It is capable of playing songs in the
background while you get real work done with a minimum of interruption. Aside
from the wonderful music of course. You will be able to listen to your
favorite modules and still have a responsive system at your fingertips.
DMPlayer even cooperates with the system sounds provided by MMPM/2.
Digital Music Player is currently capable of playing the following formats:
4 track, 31 and 15 instrument Protracker/Noisetracker modules
4 and 8 track Startrekker modules
6 and 8 track Fasttracker modules
More formats will be supported in the future.
1.2. Ariaware
-------------
This software product is provided to you for the sole purpose of evaluation
to purchase. DMPlayer is not free. You are granted license to a trial
evaluation period of 30 days in which to determine if you wish to continue
using the program. If you decide to use DMPlayer after the 30 day trial
period, you must pay the registration fee of $20 (US). Any use beyond the 30
day trial period is prohibited by law. Please see the file REGISTER.TXT for
more information on how to register.
1.2.1. Limitations
------------------
If you have not registered DMPlayer, then you will have to face up to a few
limitations. These limitations are critical, however, they do not interfere
with the evaluation of the program.
The current limitations are as follows:
1. Inability to save settings between sessions. Normally, DMPlayer would
remember window positions, audio settings, playback settings and
directories accessed.
2. Inability to load or save SongLists. All other aspects of the
SongList window are fully functional.
I hope that you do not find that these limitations are too restrictive. You
should still be able to determine whether or not you wish to use the program
even with these restrictions.
Due to these limitations, many people may quickly dub this software as
'Crippleware' or the like. Be that as it may, I have made a serious investment
in the development of DMPlayer and I must protect that investment. I have
tried to do so in the most benign manner possible.
1.2.2. Registration
-------------------
When you register DMPlayer, you will receive a keyfile unlocking the full
functionality of the program. The one time registration fee will provide you
with *free upgrades for the life of this program*. Both minor and major
upgrades will be made available via your favorite OS/2 shareware distribution
site. All future versions of this program will automatically be unlocked by
the keyfile you will receive. Please see the file REGISTER.TXT for more
information on how to register.
1.2.3. Support
--------------
DMPlayer is an evolving product. Support for other module formats will
become available in the future. More functionality may be added at some later
date. All of which is free to registered users. Support is made available via
the internet. Mail questions and/or comments to:
dodger@kira.csos.orst.edu
or murrayk@instruction.cs.orst.edu
1.3. Distribution
-----------------
Digital Music Player may be freely distributed provided that the entire
archive remains intact. Shareware distributors may not charge more than $5
(including shipping) for this software package.
1.4. Warranty
-------------
No warranty of any kind is implicitly or explicitly granted through use of
this program. Aria will not be held liable for any damages resulting form the
use of this product.
1.5. Installation
-----------------
Digital Music Player needs no special setup. Simply copy the program file
into a directory and create a program object if you desire. DMPlayer can be
placed anywhere. It will search for, or create any files that it needs in the
directory where the executable is. This will allow DMPlayer to be run from the
command line without cluttering your file system with DMPlayer.INI files.
1.6. Running DMPlayer
---------------------
DMPlayer will accept .MOD files from the command line. DMPlayer understands
the standard OS/2 wildcard system for selecting files. You can specify as many
files as you like on the command line. DMPlayer will create a new songlist
containing all the files specified on the command line.
2. Explanation
--------------
The heart of Digital Music Player is the main control panel. This dialog
box presents the most amount of information in the least amount of space
possible. It will not hog your entire desktop. It has been designed to
somewhat resemble an CD player so the funcitonality should be readily apparent.
2.1. Main Dialog
----------------
This is the basic layout of the main dialog.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|[ ] Digital Music Player [o]|
+---------------------------------------------------+---------------------+
| SongList name track x of y | SongList | Audio |
| | dialog | Control |
| Current module name time +----------+----------+
+---------------------------------------------------+ Module | Playback |
| Play | Pause | Stop | Rew | FF | | Prev | Next | Info | Settings |
+---------------------------------------------------+---------------------+
The display is easy to understand. The current SongList is displayed in the
upper left corner. This is also where you will be notified of problems
relating to the SongList. The current module is displayed in the lower left
corner of the display. Status messages related to the current module are
displayed here. The current and total tracks display is located in the upper
right corner of the display. The elapsed time is displayed in the lower right
corner. The time display does not take into account skipping about in the
song. It simply displays a running elapsed time that the song has been
playing.
If you have ever used a CD player, then you should be able to control the
playback of your music modules with DMPlayer. All the buttons act as they
would on any CD player. The 'Prev' and 'Next' buttons select the previous or
next song in the SongList.
The four buttons on the far right of the main dialog control the appearance
of the four auxiliary dialogs. They act as toggles, showing the relative
dialog if it is hidden, and hiding it if visible.
There are also two menu items added to the system menu. The 'About...'
option displays the copyright, version information, and who the program is
registered to. The 'Help' menu item will open the help system in the future.
2.2. Playback Settings
----------------------
This is the dialog where you determine the output quality. DMPlayer
supports either 8 or 16 bits per sample in both mono and stereo modes. If your
audio adapter does not support stereo or 16 bit, then those options will be
disabled. You also set the frequency for playback here. The frequency slider
allows you to make a precise tradeoff between processor time and quality. The
lower the setting, the less time DMPlayer will steal from the system. The
higher the frequency, the better the output quality. The differences, in terms
of processor time, between 8 and 16 bit or stereo and mono are negligible in
most situations. These settings do not take effect while a song is playing.
It must be stopped and then restarted for them to become apparent.
2.3. Audio Control
------------------
This is where you can adjust the volume, balance, bass and treble. Not all
audio adapters support these settings. However, due to a limitation in the
MMPM/2 interface, there is no way to determine certain hardware capabilities so
all of these controls are enabled whether or not your particular audio adapter
supports the action.
2.4. Module Information
-----------------------
This dialog displays some detaild information about the current module.
This includes the name, number of channels, format, full path name and a list
of the samples in the module. The list of samples shows the sample name,
length, repeat offset and the repeat length.
2.5. SongList
-------------
A SongList is a collection of music modules that can be loaded, edited and
saved. Clicking on the SongList window with the context mouse button (by
default the right mouse button) brings up the context menu for the SongList.
The SongList supports 6 different views of its contents: Icon, Name, Name
Flowed, Text, Text Flowed, and Details. These views are the same as their
respective views in the WPS folder system. This should be a very familiar
system to work with. That was the whole purpose in designing the SongList in
this manner. Drag and drop operations are also supported. You can drag songs
within the SongList to reorder. You can also drag music modules from the file
system and drop them in the SongList! Experimentation is the direct way to
understanding. To play a song, simply double-click on it and listen and enjoy!
2.5.1. SongList Menus
---------------------
The SongList menu has the following options:
New: Start a new SongList from scratch.
Open: Open a SongList that was previously saved.
Save: Save the current SongList.
Save as: Save the current SongList with a different name.
Add songs: Select songs to insert into the SongList.
View:
Icon: Select the Icon view.
Name: Select the Name view.
Text: Select the Text view.
Details: Select the Details view.
Flowed: Select whether or not to flow the Name or Text view.
Select:
Select all: Select all items in the SongList.
Deselect all: Deselect all items in the SongList.
The context menu for one entry has the following options:
Play: Start playing this song.
Remove: Remove this song from the SongList.
Delete: Delete this song file from the disk.
The context menu for several selected entries has the following options:
Remove: Remove these selected songs from the SongList.
Delete: Delete these song files from the disk.
2.5.2. Reordering the SongList
------------------------------
Reordering of the SongList is easy. Simply drag the item to be repositioned
to it's destination and release the button. In the Icon view, there is no real
concept of 'between' items, so attempting to drop an item between two others
will result in that item moving to the end of the list. In all other views,
items may be placed between (or before or after) others. Items may also be
placed 'before' another item by dropping onto the destination. Experiment and
you will understand.
3. What is a .MOD file and where can I get them?
------------------------------------------------
A .MOD file is a digital song file. The format was developed on the Amiga
to take advantage of that machines 4 DACs (Digital to Analog Converters). The
file contains blocks of commands for each track. Each command tells what
instrument to play and at what note to play it. Special effects are also
specified by the commands. The instruments are stored as samples at the end of
the track information. Hence the rather large size of .MOD files.
The format originally consisted of only 4 tracks and 15 instruments. It has
since evolved to anywhere from 4 to 8 tracks and 31 instruments. A 'standard'
.MOD file now has 4 tracks and 31 instruments. Some trackers produce 6 and 8
track .MOD files with 31 instruments.
One of the best places to find .MOD files is at an Aminet site. There is an
Aminet site on ftp.cdrom.com. Look in the pub/aminet/mods/misc and the
pub/aminet/mods/pro directories for .MOD files that DMPlayer can handle.
4. Hardware Issues
------------------
One might think that the advent of MMPM/2 introduces the age of pure
hardware independence. While MMPM/2 goes a LONG way in doing that, there will
still be problems rising from the fact that SOMEONE has to write device drivers
for each audio adapter out there. And while these drivers do exist, there
remains a lot to be desired. So, while DMPlayer SHOULD work just fine with any
MMPM/2 supported audio adapter, there may still be some things to look out for.
4.1. Pro Audio Spectrum 16
--------------------------
In order to listen to 16 bit audio, you must set the DMA channel 5 or above.
All lower channels only support 8 bit DMA.
4.2. Soundblaster family
------------------------
There don't seem to be any specific problems with this card, but there have
been many reports of seeming 'random' crashes that are impossible to track
down. My only hope is that Creative Labs will better support these cards in
the future.
5. Thanks
---------
Thanks go out to the following people for doing some *serious* late night
bug hunting:
Adrian Idzik
Linden deCarmo
Dave Killian
Chance Geurin
Special thanks to Linden deCarmo for all his support and answered questions
about the innermost workings of MMPM/2. You guys did a great job with MMPM/2
Linden! Thanks for all the help and answered questions and bug reports and
moral support and etc... 8^)
Thanks to my other early beta testers. You all helped out!
Thanks also goes out to Kathleen Panov, Larry Salomon (aka Q) and Arthur
Panov for their work on the wonderful 'The Art of OS/2 2.1 C Programming'. It
is an absolutely GREAT book and a MUST-HAVE for any OS/2 programmer.
-1/17/94-
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Digital Music Player was coded by Keith Murray (the Dodger) of Aria. |
| Copyright (c) 1993-1994 Aria, all rights reserved. |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+