8bitfiles.net/archives/archives.tar/archives/compuserve-file-archive/20 Music & Utilities/SIDPIC.DOC

Text File | 2019-04-13 | 8KB | 134 lines

                                 "SIDPIC V2.5"
                     (Part III, in 3D-A New Beginning, or...
                             The Final Chapter???)

                             By Kermit R. Woodall

     SIDPIC was written for  myself  and  various  members  of  U.S.N.  to
     replace, or provide an  alternative  to  SINGALONG  and  the  regular
     SIDPlayers like KPLAY. At the request of a friend, who happens to  be
     a KOALAPAD(tm) artist, I added a new feature for the SID music world.
     Now, if you follow the instructions  below,  you  can  display  HIRES
     graphics while your SID music plays!!!

     This  version  contains  several  new  features  not   available   or
     improperly implemented in the earlier version. You can now use  COLOR
     and RVS codes in you .WDS files with no problems.  While  a  song  is
     playing, the function keys do basically the same things as they do in
     the selection mode. "F1" selects the note display over .WDS  or  .PIC
     displays, "F3" skips to the next song in the  play  list  when  using
     "F3" select all, "F5" is now the menu key instead  of  "*"  and  "F7"
     will exit from playing song and return you to the menu-even  in  "F3"
     mode. SIDPIC now has TRUE multiplay of selected songs, see  below  on
     how to use this! Finally, SIDPIC supports use  of  the  MOUSE  (or  a
     Joystick) for selection of single songs for playing!

     As soon as you RUN the SIDPIC you will see the title screen  where  a
     very brief explanation is given of how SIDPIC works. Just hit  RETURN
     to have SIDPIC read a directory from the disk of  all  the  SIDPlayer
     (.MUS) files. All the .MUS filenames will be displayed on the screen.
     At this point you do not need to worry if one file  has  words  or  a
     picture to go with it, when you select to play  a  certain  piece  of
     music SIDPIC will figure out if it is just  music  or  if  there  are
     words or a picture too!

     To select one music file, just  use  the  cursor  keys  to  move  the
     blinking cursor to the name of the  music  you  want.  Hit  the  "F1"
     function key to pick that music.

     To select to play ALL of the music files on the screen, just hit  the
     "F3" function key. One by one, all the  music  will  be  played-along
     with any words or pictures that go with them!

     To use the new MULTIPLAYING feature, move to a song you want to play.
     Use SHIFT-RETURN to highlight the name of the song  in  light  green.
     Once you have selected all the songs you want to play,  now  hit  the
     "F3" key. It will now play only  the  selected  songs,  not  ALL.  To
     return "F3" to the mode to play ALL songs, just re-read the directory
     of songs.

     If you want a new directory off another disk, just change disks  then
     hit the "F5" function key. SIDPIC will then  re-read  the  directory.

     If you happen to have more than 51 SIDs per disk side,  you  can  hit
     "F2" to make SIDPIC list the next 51 SIDs. This can continue  for  as
     many SIDs as you may have on your disk.  When  reading  in  the  next
     page, SIDPIC  will  pause  while  reading  past  the  previous  SIDs.

     If you have finished, just hit the "F7" function  key  and  you  will
     return to BASIC. To restart SIDPIC, just type RUN again.

     The first mode is the "Just Plain Music" mode. SIDPIC will display  a
     stylized Grand Staff on the screen and as the  music  plays  a  music
     "note" will move up and down the staff in time to the music  for  all
     three voices, but the "note" will NOT be in a proper musical position
     as the display works. The display is meant only as a demo. The  notes
     can change their color from the defaults if you use the  AUX  command
     in the manner of KPLAY to do so. You CANNOT change a note to be black
     as that is the color of the background  of  the  screen!  If  you  do
     change the color to black, the note will turn white instead. To  stop
     playing the music hit F7 key to return to the menu.  This  will  even
     return to the menu if you are using F3 to play all or selected songs.
     If you hit F5 you will return to the menu and the directory of  songs
     will be reread. If you hit F3 you will abort the current song and  go
     to the next song you have selected to play. If you hit F1 and you are
     using words or pictures with your music, then you will return to  the
     notes display while playing the song.

     The second mode will play any SINGALONG words for you while the music
     plays too! The SINGALONG words are stored in  a  file  that  has  the
     exact same name as the music file, execept that the music  file  name
     ends with a ".MUS" and the word file name ends  with  a  ".WDS"!  Any
     words file will work just fine with  SIDPIC.  SIDPIC  uses  only  the
     upper case letters you would normally type in when you first turn  on
     your computer. Even though most SINGALONG word  files  currently  use
     upper and the lower case letters, SIDPIC will take care of  that  and
     translate the letters to all upper case!

     For further information on SINGALONG word files,  I  suggest  reading
     Craig Chamberlain's SIDNEWS files that  deal  with  them!  (Technical
     note: for those who might be interested, the original SINGALONG  used
     true ASCII text  files  and  SIDPIC  can  use  those  or  just  plain
     Commodore "PETSCII" text too! But  you  ARE  encouraged  to  use  the
     regular type of SINGALONG file format!)

     The brand new mode, only supported by SIDPIC, is the display of HIRES
     pictures while playing music. To make a picture file you will need to
     start with a HIRES picture made by KOALAPAD, Doodle or  a  compatible
     graphics editor or convert your picture to one of these formats using
     a conversion utility program. SIDPIC can ONLY  use  KOALA  or  Doodle
     type picture formats for it's display! Any other format will just  be
     ignored by SIDPIC, including crunched versions of the above  pictures
     or the standalone pictures that load and display themselves. Once you
     have a HIRES picture that is in an  appropriate  format,  rename  the
     file containing the picture to have the same name as the music  file,
     except use ".PIC" instead of ".MUS". This follows the  same  type  of
     standard in names set up by the word files! Remember,  instead  of  a
     ".MUS" ending to the name use  a  ".PIC"  ending!  The  ".PIC"  tells
     SIDPIC that the file is a picture. SIDPIC knows what to  do  with  it
     after that!

     There has been one, recently discovered  limitation  of  using  .PICs
     with your music. The .MUS file cannot be any longer  than  35  blocks
     for a Koala .PIC, or 37 blocks for a Doodle!

     You can now use your .MUS with .WDS AND .PICs!!! Just leave  the  two
     lines at the bottom for your words to appear on, and name  all  THREE
     files, .MUS .WDS .PIC, to have the same  prefix  as  each  other  and
     SIDPIC will figure  out  the  rest.  You  can  use  Doodle  or  Koala
     pictures, although the text  on  a  Koala  screen  will  be  somewhat
     blurry. The words will be in UPPER and LOWER case in  this  mode  and
     color/RVS codes are ignored entirely! One last  note,  when  starting
     your .MUS, put a 1/2 note rest in the music to give  SIDPIC  time  to
     display your song's title!

     If you own the Commodore 1350 MOUSE, you are encouraged to  use  this
     handy little critter when selecting a song or two to play,  (joystick
     may be substituted). Just move the mouse around to  move  the  cursor
     onscreen. To select & play a song hit the fire button. When playing a
     song, the fire button will take you to the note  display.  Any  other
     mouse movement will abort the song when playing.