Aminet 32/Aminet 32 (1999)(Schatztruhe)[!][Aug 1999].iso/Aminet/mus/play/Deli14BitGenie.lha/Deli14BitGenie.readme

Text File | 1999-06-17 | 12KB | 216 lines

Short:    HQ-DeliPlayer: AHI, DSP, Filters, Panning/3D, 7 mixing modes
Uploader: [e-mail] (Chris Hodges)
Author:   Chris Hodges
Type:     mus/play
Version:  V4.10 (17-Jun-99)
Requires: DeliTracker V2.xx
Replaces: mus/play/Deli14BitGenie*

14Bit NotePlayer Genie V4.10 (17-Jun-99)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a  new  and  pretty  enhanced  version  of  the  well  known  14Bit
NotePlayer  that  came  with  the  original DeliTracker distribution. After
Peter Kunath gave me the sourcecode, I was able  to  add  various  features
(listed below).

**** THIS ARCHIVE ALSO CONTAINS THE LATEST MOST IMPORTANT DELIPLAYERS! ****

Please notice that you need at least an MC68020 to use them as the  MC68000
routines have been removed!

Even if you don't use the new features, I recommend to use this version for
it has a faster chipmem transfer routine than the one in V2.3.

Plenty of cpu power is appreciated (although the  Genie  will  not  be  any
slower  when  not  using  the new features). You will need an MC68060 to be
able to mix at frequencies higher than 50KHz with Panning and Interpolation
and 32 voices 8-D

Short list of new features/improvements:

- AHI support! Deli14Bit can redirect its  output  to  any  AHI  compatible
  sound card for TRUE 16 Bit output!
- Panning support (e.g. for FastTracker modules).
- Stereo width slider (so this incorporates the HeadPhones Genie).
- Various Interpolation modes for high quality mixing (including  a  table-
  interpolation routine for MC68020/MC68030 machines).
- Two Oversampling modes.
- DSP Routines: Echo (Reverb), Hall (Reverb  with  feedback)  and  Reverser
  (each one is available as Mono, Cross or Center mode).
- All mixing routines have conditional code for quiet mixing,  the  panning
  ones also use optimized routines for mono and 100% left/right code.
- 3D Panning mode - ideal for headphones or CD recording.
- Inverted Stereo Mode for fake surround effect.
- Anti-Click Mode (removes annoying sample-triggering clicks).
- Treble and Bass filters with adjustable pass frequencies.
- Frequency can be shifted (half frequency up to double frequency).
- Complex ModSave function (16 Bit AIFF or RAW file):
  - Start of saving can be triggered, slience at the end can be cut off.
  - Resulting wave can be normalized to full volume.
  - Half DMA mode records at half speed for slow machines  or  people  with
    PAL 28KHz limit.
  - Stop-Motion and Mute modes for slow drives/machines.
- Peak and Optimal Boost display.
- Actual (DMA) mixing frequency is now displayed.
- Uses a 256 samples buffer instead of 200, which speeds things up.
- Complex Prefs management:
  - Settings can be  saved  individually  for  each  module  (either  in  a
    separate directory or along with the module).
  - Default settings can also be saved for:
    - whole directories
    - module types
    - amount of channels
    - module type+amount of channels.
  - 4 DSP presets can be stored for quick access using the GUI.
- Default AutoBoost factor can be changed.
- Now uses a faster longword pipelined chipmem transfer.


History
~~~~~~~
V4.10 (17-Jun-99): (32472 Bytes)
  - Third Aminet release.
  - Removed MC68000 code. Should have done that long ago.
  - Fixed a memory trashing bug introduced with late V4.00beta.
  - Internal changes on how the channels are toggled.
  - AHI: peak search was even done when Normalize Wave  was  enabled,  even
    when no ModSave was in progress.
  - AHI: output was trashed when with no peak search being done. Silly bug,
    just forgot one line in the routine. This was reported by Crab.
  - Added menu item 'Restore Default Prefs'.
  - ADDED BASS & TREBLE CONTROLS (if anyone wonders why this is noted  down
    for  V4.00  and  not V4.00beta, there's a simple reason: it didn't work
    the supposed way).
  - Added two new sliders to finally get the Bass & Treble Sliders working.
  - Bug in Frequency Override option found: Frequency was not overriden  if
    the GUI window was closed. Now it should finally work.
  - Fixed inaccuracy of left<->right balance; speeds up mono modes  now  as
    supposed.
  - New mixing mode: Infinite Oversampling. This mode  is  probably  rather
    slow, but it calculates the samples as if they were mixed at a infinite
    sampling frequency (okay, it's about 65000xOversampling). I think  it's
    worth a revision bump to V4.10.
  - Increased accuracy of the Fast Interpolation mode by one bit and  fixed
    a bug in the routine.
  - Fixed sine panning to always produce a 50% left, 50%  right  output  so
    there  will  be  no overflow anymore on mods with four channels and w/o
    Anti Click enabled.

V4.00beta (17-May-99): (31972 Bytes)
  - Public beta available from my homepage.
  - Ooops! Due to a wrong flag while assembling, the interpolation did only
    use 08:16 bit accuracy in V3.00 instead of the usual 15:16 bits.
  - Added 'Ignore ModPrefs' option to temporarily disable  the  loading  of
    custom module preferences.
  - Fixed a possible problem for machines using virtual memory (did not use
    MEMF_PUBLIC on the program variables, shame on me).
  - Reduced size of the executable by more than 1200  bytes  by  optimizing
    some more data structures etc. :)
  - ADDED an inaccurate interpolation-by-tables mode for  slow  processors.
    It uses an 08:08 bit table (128KB) which works fine on modules with 4-8
    channels, but produces a lot of noise/distortion on music with very low
    peaks  (8  channels  and  more). Warning: The table-mode is *slower* on
    fast machines (MC68060 and probably also MC68040),  on  MC68020/30  the
    table mode *should* be faster, but this hasn't been tested yet!
    Remember that the quality of the table interpolation is rather poor. Go
    for the RealThing(TM).
  - ADDED ANTI-CLICK MODE. This will reducing the  clicking  on  instrument
    switching but takes some additional cpu time (4 additional channels for
    mixing).
  - ADDED CONDITIONAL CODE to speed up the mixing process in certain  cases
    (volume zero or panning >=100% left or right).
  - Added (senseless?) 'Mute While Saving'  option,  again  for  very  slow
    machines. This saves the time required for chipmem copying.
  - Changed the gui layout a bit,  adding  the  required  new  sliders  and
    buttons for treble and bass control, frequency shifting, and ahi mode.
  - Max peak can now be reset to zero by pressing the  Return  key  on  the
    keyboard.
  - Changed the creation of the 16 bit mixing tables. This might make  some
    modules  louder  but  yields  in a generally higher quality with multi-
    channel modules (there was a bug in an early alpha, this is fixed now).
  - ADDED SUPPORT FOR AHI! As AHI requires a sample buffer of at least 1024
    samples  (Deli14Bit  uses 256 samples), it might sound a bit inaccurate
    (notes being played at not exactly the right time). Therefore there now
    are  two  different  versions, one using 1024 samples directly (faster)
    and another one which mixes 256 samples four times after another  (more
    accurate). I think the AHI support justifies a version bump.
  - Fixed a minor bug which would do the auto boost value calculation  when
    the genie window had been closed and reopened.
  - I wonder why nobody had reported me this bug: the frequency was  always
    overridden by the current setting, no matter how you set the 'Frequency
    Override' item (i.e. the ModPrefs Frequency setting was ignored).  This
    bug (introduced with V3.00) has now been fixed.
  - ADDED by-number-of-channels, by-type-of-module and by-type-and-channels
    prefs.  This  means  you  can  store prefs files in the ModPrefs drawer
    which will be used as default for a module. The priority of  the  prefs
    is the following:
    - Module-specific Prefs in drawer ModPrefs ("ModPrefs/<modname>")
    - Module-specific Prefs attached to Module ("<modname>.14b")
    - Type/Channel Prefs in ModPrefs ("ModPrefs/_<fmtname><chans>.prefs")
    - Type Prefs in ModPrefs ("ModPrefs/_<fmtname>.prefs")
    - Channel Prefs in ModPrefs ("ModPrefs/_Generic<chans>.prefs")
  - Added two more menu items to  provide  a  save  requester  for  storing
    by-number-of-channels and by-type-and-channels prefs.
  - ADDED HALF DMA MODE for ModSave. What does this mean? Users  with  slow
    cpu  can  now record in half-realtime, halving the cpu usage. Moreover,
    users using a pal monitor which can't go beyond 28KHz can now also save
    44.1KHz samples.
  - Added inverted stereo mode (faked surround). Best on panning modes  and
    modes with tight DSP Delays.
  - Added drawer prefs and a option in the menu to save them  (so  you  can
    define  default  prefs  now for whole drawers). Just create a .14b file
    with the name of the drawer and place in the same directory  where  the
    drawer resides.
  - Increased the number of supported channels to 64  (some  ImpulseTracker
    Modules use more than 32 channels!).
  - Rearranged gadgets to fit the AC (Anti Click) checkmark  in  the  Genie
    window (Panning renamed to Pan, Interpolation renamed to Interpolate).
    Anti Click setting is now a ModPrefs setting and not global anymore.
  - Added conditional code for PAL:Screen (256 pixels screen  height)  that
    will  leave away the About and Hide buttons so the window still fits on
    the screen.
  - MODSAVE NORMALIZE does not block the Genie anymore and is performed  in
    the  background (asynchroneously). The Genie will pop up a requester if
    you try to save another file while ModSave is still busy.
  - INCREASED SPEED of DSP functions a bit on MC68060 (and  probably  other
    CPUs as well).
  - EVEN MORE CONDITIONAL CODE added to speed up panning ('mono' output  is
    now nearly as fast as without panning).
  - Many AHI changes, especially the boosting now works.
  - Fixed a bug in the Table-Interpolation table creation.
  - Moved Interpolation and Table-Interpolation into  a  cycle  gadget  and
    ADDED   2xOversampling  (01:16)  and  4xOversampling  (02:14).  Renamed
    checkmarks back to 'Panning' and 'Anti-Click'. Removed  Table-Interpol.
    menu item and changed internal prefs format.
  - Tidied and shortened the mixing routines a bit.
  - Finalized the AHI Support.
  - Found a possible crash in the ModSave routines, fiddled many hours with
    it, I hope it's now gone.
  - Fixed a bug in the ModSaver which swapped two samples when saving in  a
    non-panning mode.
  - Renamed "2xOversampling" to "1-Bit Fast Interpol.", "4xOversampling" to
    "2-Bit Interpolation" and added "Patrick Meng Sucks!" Mixing Mode (real
    2xOversampling).
  - Slightly optimized some mixing routines, didn't check  how  much  speed
    was gained though.
  - ADDED 3D MODE. Sucks CPU power like hell, but this is the best mode for
    the use of headphones.
  - Added sine panning mode (menu item) which forces modules without active
    panning (Protracker, S3M etc.) into a oscillating panning mode (but de-
    activates itself on modules with panning!).
  - Improved Anti-Click.
  - Added 'K' (Keep) button for ModPrefs.

Contact address
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Any mail, comments or donations welcome:

Chris Hodges                    Account: 359 68 63
Kennedystr. 8                   BLZ    : 700 530 70
D-82178 Puchheim                Bank   : Sparkasse Fürstenfeldbruck
Germany
Tel.: [phone]            WWW: http://platon.home.pages.de/
Email: [e-mail]         IRC: platon42 on EfNet