8bitfiles.net/archives/archives.tar/archives/genie-commodore-file-library/C128CPM/ZBRAW11.ARC/ZBRAW.DOC

Text File | 1994-05-16 | 7.2 KB | 192 lines

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                      Z Blaster Raw Kit 1.1
                    (C) 1994 Steve Goldsmith
                       All Rights Reserved
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LICENSE AGREEMENT

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO (i) UPLOAD THIS SOFTWARE TO ANY ELECTRONIC
BULLETIN BOARD, (ii) DEMONSTRATE THE SOFTWARE AND ITS CAPABILITIES
OR (iii) GIVE COPIES TO POTENTIAL USERS, SO THAT OTHERS MAY HAVE
THE OPPORTUNITY TO OBTAIN A COPY FOR USE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE
LICENSE TERMS CONTAINED IN THIS FILE.

NOTICE TO USER:  CAREFULLY READ THE FOLLOWING LEGAL AGREEMENT.

1.   LICENSE GRANT.  Steven P. Goldsmith grants to you, as an
individual, a non-exclusive right to use one copy of the SOFTWARE
associated with this license for personal use on your computer.
This license to use the SOFTWARE is conditioned upon your
compliance with the terms of this Agreement.  You are entitled to
use the software in any way you see fit as long as there is NO
charge.

2.   COPYRIGHT.  The SOFTWARE is protected by United States
copyright law and international treaty provisions.  You acknowledge
that no title to the intellectual property in the SOFTWARE is
transferred to you.  You further acknowledge that title and full
ownership rights to the SOFTWARE will remain the exclusive property
of Steven P. Goldsmith or its suppliers, and you will not acquire
any rights to the SOFTWARE except as expressly set forth in this
license.  You agree that any copies of the SOFTWARE will contain
the same proprietary notices which appear on and in the SOFTWARE.

3.   LIMITED WARRANTY.  Steven P. Goldsmith warrants that the
SOFTWARE will perform substantially in accordance with the
accompanying written materials for a period of ninety (90) days
from the date of purchase.  Any implied warranties relating to the
SOFTWARE are limited to ninety (90) days.

4.   STEVEN P. GOLDSMITH DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SOFTWARE IS
ERROR FREE.  STEVEN P. GOLDSMITH DISCLAIMS ALL OTHER WARRANTIES
WITH RESPECT TO THE SOFTWARE, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS.

SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES
OR LIMITATIONS ON HOW LONG AN IMPLIED WARRANTY MAY LAST, OR THE
EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO
THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.  THIS
WARRANTY GIVES YOU SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS AND YOU MAY ALSO HAVE
OTHER RIGHTS WHICH VARY FROM JURISDICTION TO JURISDICTION.

5.   NO LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES.  IN NO EVENT SHALL
STEVEN P. GOLDSMITH OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY
CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR INDIRECT DAMAGES OF ANY
KIND ARISING OUT OF THE DELIVERY, PERFORMANCE OR USE OF THE
SOFTWARE, EVEN IF STEVEN P. GOLDSMITH HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.  IN NO EVENT WILL STEVEN P.
GOLDSMITH'S LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT OR
ANY OTHER THEORY OF LIABILITY, EXCEED THE LICENSE FEE PAID BY YOU,
IF ANY.

6.   ENTIRE AGREEMENT.  This is the entire agreement between you
and Steven P. Goldsmith which supersedes any prior agreement or
understanding, whether written or oral, relating to the subject
matter of this license.

Commodore 128 is a trademark of Commodore Business Machines.  CP/M
and CP/M 3.0 are trademarks of Digital Research.  MS-DOS and
Windows are trademarks of Microsoft.  IBM PC, PC-XT and PC-AT are
trademarks of International Business Machines.


OVERVIEW

Z Blaster Raw Kit is another addition to the Z Blaster digital
sound series for C128 CP/M mode.  Now you can play any four bit
uncompressed sound file (.RAW, etc)!  A handy conversion utility is
included to convert any eight bit uncompressed sound file (.SND,
etc.) to a four bit uncompressed sound file.


REQUIREMENTS

A C128 with or C128D running CP/M 3.0, ZP/M, ZCPR3 or compatible
OS.

At least one 1541, 1541 compatible or better disk drive.

Sound output through monitor speaker or better quality sound
amplification system.

Hi-Tech C 3.09 and SG C Tools 1.6 to compile C source.


COMPILING C SOURCE

See ZBRAW.C and ZBCNV.C for compiling instructions.  To compile you
need Freeware Hi-Tech C 3.09 and SG C Tools 1.6 (SGTOOL16.LZH).


Z BLASTER RAW PLAYER

ZBRAW.COM enables you to play any uncompressed four bit file
through the C128's SID chip.  To play a file:

ZBRAW {U:D:}filespec hertz {sn}

(U:D:) is any valid CP/M user and drive, (filespec) is any valid
CP/M file name, hertz is sample rate in 4000 Hz to 15000 Hz range
and (sn) causes nibbles to be swapped before playing.  Maximum file
size is determined by the free amount of TPA.  You should be able
to play files up to 46K in most cases.

ZBRAW BUGLE.RAW 11111

Plays BUGLE.RAW at 11111 Hz.

Some four bit sound files have their nibbles swapped.  This causes
distortion if played in the standard format Z Blaster Kit uses.
The standard format is storing two samples per nibble starting with
the high nibble.  To play a file with the first nibble in the low
position:

ZBRAW BIX.RAW 7000 SN

Swaps nibbles and plays BIX.RAW at 7000 Hz.

ZBRAW 1:B:TEST.RAW 15000 SN

Swaps nibbles and plays B1:TEST.RAW at 15000 Hz.


Z BLASTER CONVERT

ZBCNV.COM enables you to convert any uncompressed eight bit sound
file (.SND, etc) to a four bit (.RAW, etc) file.  To convert a file
use:

ZBCNV {U:D:}filespec {U:D:}filespec

(U:D:) is any valid CP/M user and drive and (filespec) is any valid
CP/M file name.  The first name is the eight bit file and the
second is the four bit file.  While ZBCNV will convert any size
file remember that you can only play about a 46K four bit file.
This limits the eight bit file to about 92K.

ZBRAW SAVATAGE.SND SAVATAGE.RAW

Converts SAVATAGE.SND into SAVATAGE.RAW with standard nibble
ordering.  This allows you to play with ZBRAW SAVATAGE.RAW 8000
after conversion.


HINTS AND TIPS

If the file sounds distorted during play back and you are not sure
of the nibble ordering use SN option of ZBRAW.  If that does not
help or it sounds worse then the file is of poor quality.  There
are a lot of poor quality sound files created with "home made"
digitizers.

You can run ZBCNV under the MYZ80 Z80 emulator for MS DOS.  I'm
running MYZ80 under Windows 3.1 which allows me to convert sound
files much faster.  I use 22DISK to export the sound files to a
Epson QX-10 format disk which the 1571 can read in CP/M mode.

If you have a PC with a 8 or 16 bit sound card the use that as your
sound file source.  I'm using a Sound Blaster Pro stereo card to
capture my sounds.  There are many PD sound file conversion
utilities that strip the header information and give you a
uncompressed eight bit image.  I use a utility to convert .VOC
files to .SND format.

You can get help from ZBRAW and ZBCNV by running them without any
parameters.


HOW TO CONTACT ME

Please report any problems, suggestions, etc. to me via GEnie
S.GOLDSMITH2, Internet [e-mail], voice phone
[phone] or US Mail to:

Steve Goldsmith
2805 Jamaica Street
Sarasota, FL 34231
USA