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Shareware Extravaganza - Disc 1
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ShareWare Extravaganza 1 of 4 (The Ultimate Shareware Company).iso
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sblaster
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musics.zip
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MUSICSHO.DOC
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Text File
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1991-03-19
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8KB
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145 lines
MUSIC SHOW
by Jerbs
Music Show (MUSICSHO.EXE) is a utility for the playing of CMF song files and the
showing of either PCX graphic files or Kaleidoscopic patterns. Music Show
requires a SoundBlaster music adapter from Creative Labs, Inc. to play the CMF
files. The SBFMDRV.COM driver for this board must be loaded prior to running
Music Show. Music Show also requires at least an EGA to show the Kaleidoscopic
patterns and a graphics adapter that matches the resolution requirements of the
particular PCX files. Music Show should support video modes through "SuperVGA"
on such adapters as Tseng, Paradise and Video Seven, but I have only tested it
on standard VGA adapters. Music Show should have no harmful effects of any kind
on your equipment if the above conditions aren't met (or even if they are), but
I accept no responsibility whatsoever for any damage of any kind including
sterility, hostility, loss of bladder control or those embarrassing dandruff
flakes. Hey, this is ShareWare stuff here! You are free to give it to anybody
who might enjoy it, but I'd rather you kept these files (MUSICSHO.EXE,
MUSICSHO.DOC, and SBFMDRV.COM) together.
To run Music Show, use the following command line and optional parameters:
MUSICSHO [file.cmf|/Ccmflist.asc] [file.pcx|/Ppcxlist.asc] [/Nn] [/F] [/K]
or
MUSICSHO /?
Use /? parameter to show a help screen.
Use FILE.CMF to listen to a particular CMF file
Use CMFLIST.ASC to listen a list of CMF files
Use FILE.PCX to show a particular PCX file
Use PCXLIST.ASC to show a list of PCX files
CMFLIST.ASC and PCXLIST.ASC are ASCII lists of file names. Such lists would
include the file names desired, including their full paths if different than the
current directory and/or drive. If no lists or filenames are given, an
interactive selection is used.
Use /K to force viewing of Kaleidoscope pattern during music.
Use /F to show CMF and PCX file names during music show. The default is to NOT
show the file names.
Use /Nn to play the songs and show the files n number of times. The default is
to loop indefinitely until the Esc key is pressed.
During music play, press Esc to quit program, Enter to advance to next song.
During kaleidoscope, use V to toggle Vertical symmetry in graphic display, H to
toggle Horizontal symmetry and B to cycle Background color.
THE HISTORY OF MUSIC SHOW
Several years ago, somebody gave me a little public domain program for the
Commodore C64 that showed basic kaleidoscopic patterns on the screen (in
wonderful 320 x 200 x 4 color resolution) while playing some surprisingly
pleasant tunes on the SID chips in the C64. Years went by and I left the C64
behind for a "serious" computer (read: IBM). My PC included marvelous video
capabilities (VGA) and excellent audio capabilities (SoundBlaster). I had video
games galore that took advantage of both. I had a growing collection of PCX
files (PCX files can be created by many PC bitmap packages, my personal favorite
being Electronic Arts Deluxe Paint II Enhanced) and GIF files (a file format
distributed on Compuserve and used by many BBSs) and utilities to show both (an
especially good one is Bob Montgomery's excellent shareware VPIC, which handles
AND TRANSLATES many file formats on a huge variety of PC graphic adapters). I
even had some very good kaleidoscope programs (the very best of which is J. R.
Shiflett's mind-blowing DAZZLE, a must-have!). I was also collecting a lot of
music files (there are many ROL files out there but I chose to used Creative
Labs' ROL2CMF converter to convert them to the far superior CMF format) and had
a few simple utilities to play one CMF song at a time. But nowhere did I find a
song player that also did graphics! And it wasn't just me! A friend of mine
runs his own computer store and runs separate programs first to show graphic
files and then to play music after the graphics are all gone. All this power
and nothing to compare to that little Commodore 64 program!
So I got disgusted and wrote one. Now, I am a very lazy programmer with a short
attention span, so I wanted to knock out something as quick and as dirty as I
could. I allotted myself one lazy Sunday afternoon for this project. Luckily,
I program in Microsoft QuickBASIC, so I can program very quickly (you just can't
beat QuickBASIC for fast development!). I also have available a lot of language
extension libraries that allowed me to do some pretty slick routines with an
absolute minimum of work on my part (like Crescent Software's Quick Pac
Professional for file manipulation and the menu selection stuff, Genus
Microprogramming's PCX Toolkit for bringing in PCX files and Creative Labs,
Inc.'s Sound Blaster Developer Kit). Now, I'll be the first to admit that
QuickBASIC suffers a bit from bloated EXE sizes, so I ran my resulting program
through a friend's copy of PKWARE's PKLITE (which I can see I'm definitely going
to have to buy for myself!). By the way, have pity on my Kaleidoscopic pattern
algorithm. I know it's no prize winner, but at least you can diddle with it
while it works and I did spend only about 20 minutes coming up with it. I was
going to spend a serious amount of time on it and be really dazzling, but after
I saw Shiflett's DAZZLE, I decided anything I could do in my allotted afternoon
would be so lame in comparison that I might as well just roll over and play
dead. Arf.
Now some of you may be asking why I didn't use GIF and ROL files instead of PCX
and CMF files. Well, I preferred the somewhat larger PCX files over GIF files
because I have several paint packages I can create and edit PCX files in and,
truthfully, it was a heckuva lot easier to view PCX files with my trust GENUS
toolkit. Also, since we're being honest here, I used CMF files over ROL files
partially because I had the Sound Blaster Developer Kit and could play a CMF
file with just a dozen or so lines of code. The other reason is that ROL files
store their instruments in a separate "bank" file and, if you have a large bank
file (like BANK835.BNK that I've seen on Compuserve with 835 instruments in it),
it can take a long time for your ROL player to search the BNK file to find the
needed instruments. CMF files store the instruments right in them and BANG!
play the music right now. Also, CMF files can even store the song composer,
title and 30 or so characters of other comments right in the file. Very nice.
One disadvantage is that the Sound Blaster Developer Kit does not play version
1.0 CMF files, only version 1.1 or higher. Also, I've noticed that the rare 1.1
CMF file will produce no volume at all with the toolkit. Oh well, it was still
easy to write.
I've mentioned several products here and I should probably give them credit. If
the following information is incorrect, it is my fault and not the vendors or
authors of these fine products.
Microsoft QuickBASIC
Crescent Software QuickPac Professional
GENUS Microprogramming PCX Toolkit
Creative Labs, Inc. SoundBlaster, SoundBlaster Developer Kit, SBFMDRV and
ROL2CMF
PKWARE PKLITE
Electronic Arts Deluxe Paint II Enhanced
J. R. Shiflett's Dazzle
Bob Montgomery's VPIC
I have seen DAZZLE.EXE, VPIC.EXE, ROL2CMF.EXE, SBFMDRV.COM, BANK835.BNK (and
other BNK files) and many GIF, PCX, ROL and CMF files on Compuserve and many
other private BBSs. VPIC is an excellent tool for converting many slide formats
to PCX. ROL2CMF, along with appropriate BNK files, is an excellent tool for
converting ROL files to CMF files. Vernors makes the only REAL ginger ale in
the world, a true programmers drink with real bite and snap. If you enjoy this
silly application, drop me a line. If you REALLY want to thank me (though why I
don't know, because this isn't exactly the kind of program that will make you
rich or cure male pattern baldness), plant a tree somewhere. If such a gesture
just absolutely won't satisfy you, send me a copy of your favorite CMF, PCX, ROL
or GIF file for me to play on my copy of Music Show.
Jerbs
137 Dogwood Dr.
Oakland, MI 48363
Compuserve ID: 75140,514