home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Amiga Plus Leser 16
/
AmigaOS_LeserCD16_02.bin
/
CD_System
/
DeliTracker
/
Docs
/
PlaySID.doc
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1994-08-12
|
14KB
|
439 lines
PLAYSID V3.0 (C)1990-94 Per Håkan Sundell & Ron Birk
Release date: 1 Aug 1994
NOTE:
From version 2.1 of PlaySID kickstart 2.04 (v37) or above is
required! This is because it makes heavy use of Release 2 System
routines.
This is SHAREWARE, not Public Domain. That means that if you like
this program and want further updates, you can be a registered owner
by sending us $15. It also means that you can copy this program only
if all files (including this) are included and nothing is changed.
You are not allowed to replicate any portion of the program, both
code or data. Note also that we take no responsibilities for the use
of this program considering any damage to or failure of your hardware
, software etc.
You have the permission to put this unmodified and full archive on
any BBS, FTP site, CD Rom, Magazine, Disk etc. In other words, the
archive may be freely distributed as long as no more than a nominal
fee is charged to cover time and copying costs.
If you just like the program, PLEASE let us know so by sending us a
postcard or similiar to the addresses below.
NEW FEATURES:
V3.0 (1994)
* Uses PLAYSID.LIBRARY (please read separate docs)
* Support of XPK Data Compression
* Realtime waveform and envelope display (uses low priority task)
* Shows C64 pictures (Koala, Blazing Paddles, Doodle, Adv Art Studio etc.)
* TV System detection and selection
* Channel on/off selection
* PlaySID is now a commodity
* Uses a config file for settings
* Multifile selection (music and pictures)
* Ability to show and hide PlaySID windows
* Second PlaySID instance redirect modules to the running one
* PlaySID font removed
* More arexx commands
* Many major bugs corrected
PRODUCT INFO:
This is a utility which uses the playsid.library to emulate the SID
and 6510 chip. The SID chip is the component in the C64 computer that
handles sound. The 6510 chip is the CPU of the C64, that means the
component that actually executes all programs. Because the Amiga
does not have these chips and others, you can't run C64 programs
directly on Amiga.
Now this utility lets you play all those C64 programs that produce
sound. As you probably know, the C64 has three sound channels (the
amiga has four). But this utility also allows use of the fourth
channel. This channel is the product of some special programming on
the C64, it isn't really a channel.
The purpose of this product is to make the best conversion of C64
sound on Amiga ever possible. If you think some sound isn't correctly
converted please let us know.
This utility is designed to work with true multitasking, under any
system version and any amiga model. It can be run from both Workbench
and CLI/Shell. It should work with any other program that don't use
sound or timing. If this isn't the fact please let us know.
Some time ago we released a similar product called "The 100 most
remembered C64 game-tunes". This product is the version 3.0 of that
program. The tunes on that demonstration disk are now also available
to this version. And up to date there are more than 400 tunes
available. We and others are also working with more.
PLAYSID LIBRARY
The playsid.library is a standard amiga library where all the C64
music emulation is done. You can now add support for PlaySID modules
in your own programs!! REMEMBER that you still need to supply the
whole PlaySID archive with your program and CAN NOT only extract the
library. Read the library documentation for more information.
PROGRAM INSTALLATION:
From v3.0 and on PlaySID uses a library called "playsid.library".
This file should be in your LIBS: directory.
To use this utility from Workbench you could assign SID: to a
directory containing PlaySID. Then all you have to do is to double
click on the icon of the tune you want to play. You could also just
select the icon of the tune, then press the shift key and hold it
down while double clicking on the PlaySID icon.
If you want to run this utility from CLI/Shell, just put the
directory containing PlaySID in your path (e.g. c: ) and then write:
PlaySID [<tune directory>/<tune name>]
STARTUP PARAMETERS
WORKBENCH:
From Workbech PlaySID uses startup parameters in in its icon
tooltypes.
CX_POPUP = <Yes|No>
Use "Yes" if you want the PlaySID windows showable at the startup. A
"No" means all windows will be hidden instead. Default is "Yes".
CX_POPKEY = <key>
The key combination is used as a HotKey for the PlaySID main window.
Default key is "Ctrl Shift P".
CX_PRORITY = <pri>
This sets the priority of the commodity engine in PlaySID. Default
value is zero. IF you do not know what this parameter is used for,
please leave it then.
SHELL/CLI:
From Shell or CLI you can supply extra parameters after the PlaySID
command.
CX_POPUP, CX_POPKEY and CX_PRIORITY
Same as above tooltypes parameters.
FILES = <list>
A list of the files to play. The first one is loaded at startup. As
default no file is loaded and played.
PROGRAM USAGE:
It works almost like an ordinary cassette player, with the symbols
for play, forward, rewind, pause and stop. While PlaySID is active
you can just drag a tune icon and drop it on the PlaySID window. To
most commands there are keyboard shortcuts.
l - Play
a - Pause
s - Stop
t - Next Tune
T - Previous Tune
o - Open
p - Previus module
n - Next module
The menu have more options like about, open, quit, filter, rewind
and display. The filter option turns on and off the amiga sound
filter. Please try it.
REWIND BUTTON:
If the rewind option is turned on, the rewind gadget will be enabled
first when you press the play gadget. The rewind routines are very
complex and need a lot of memory. Thats the reason of the option. It
takes approximately 30k every minute of playing.
REAL-TIME DISPLAY:
From version 3.0 of PlaySID and on, a special window with real-time
information about envelopes and waveforms is included. To enable the
window, use the display option in the menu.
SHOW C64 PICTURES:
This option opens a screen with a C64 Picture. The first 2 bytes is
the loading address and is ignored by PlaySID. Then follows a 8000
bytes bitmap and a 1000 bytes charmap. For multicolor pictures
there is also a 1000 bytes colormap and 1 byte holding the background
color. The order and base addresses is depending on the file format.
PlaySID have support for the following formats:
HIRES Art Studio
Image System
Doodle
MULTICOLOR Koala
Advanced Art Studio
Vidcom 64
Image System
Blazing Paddles
XPK AND POWERPACKER SUPPORT:
Version 2.2 of PlaySID and above support powerpacked files. V3.0 and
above also support the XPK Compression libraries. If PlaySID finds
XPK or Powerpacker installed all file loading is done with it. To
save space you can now crunch all your files, e.g. songs and
pictures.
ONE-FILE FORMAT:
Many users requested a new "one file" format of PlaySID data files.
The file SIDConv on the disk will convert a regular data/icon file
to the new one-file format or the opposite. Of course these new
files can be crunched as well.
SIDConv iconfile newfile - To convert a data/icon file to the
"one file" format.
SIDConv one-filefile newfile ICON
- To convert a file in "one file"
format to the regular data/icon
file.
AREXX PORT:
PlaySID have an Arexx Port named 'PLAYSID'. This mean that you now
have full controll of PlaySID through your arexx scripts. Supplied
with this release are two examples of what you can do with arexx:
Jukebox - This will take given file as input and play each
module the amount of time given.
Try: RX Jukebox JukeDemo
Preview - This will play each tune in given module for 10 sec.
Like the preview found in CD Players.
Try: RX Preview Songs/RunTheGauntlet
Arexx commands supported:
SID_PLAY() - Start current tune
SID_STOP() - Stop current tune
SID_PAUSE() - Toggles the pause state of the current playing
tune
SID_QUIT() - Quit PlaySID
SID_LOAD(module) - Load <module> into PlaySID
SID_SETTUNE(tune) - Set <tune> to current one
SID_NUMTUNES() - return number of tunes
SID_SHOW() - Show PlaySID windows
SID_HIDE() - Hide PlaySID windows
TOOL TYPE INFO:
Syntax of the Tooltypes of <tune>.info:
SIDSONG = <Yes|No>
If "yes", the module is recognized as a Compute! SID .mus-file.
Default is "No".
ADDRESS = <loadaddress>,<initaddress>,<playaddress> ;in hex
loadaddress should be the C64 adress where the file should be loaded.
If 0 is specified, the first two bytes of the file will instead be
used as loadaddress.
initaddress should point to a subroutine which initializes the tunenr
in accumulator (starting with $00). If 0 is specified, then the
initaddress will be the first C64 address loaded.
playaddress should point to a subroutine which plays a note of the
song. This will be called as often as described in the speed
parameter. If 0 is specified, then the playaddress will be the
address of the interrupt initialized by the subroutine at the
initaddress. This address will be the contents of $0314/0315 or
$FFFE/FFFF depending on what value $0001 contains.
SONGS = <nr of songs>,[<start song nr>] ;in dec
The number of tunes the module have and the startup tune to play.
Default values are 1 tune and the first tune as startup tune.
SPEED = <speeddata> ;in hex
speeddata contains info about playspeed. For each tune a bit is
reserved, bit 0 for tune nr 1 and so on. A 0 bit means vertical sync
(50Hz PAL or 60Hz NTSC) and a 1 bit means 60 Hz or the time set in
$DC04/05. Default value is 0 for all bits.
NAME = <name of the module> ;in ascii
AUTHOR = <name of the author> ;in ascii
COPYRIGHT = <name of the copyright owner> ;in ascii
Default values are "?" for the above three tooltypes.
TECHNICAL INFO:
PlaySID is written with GnuEmacs 18.58 and compiled with SAS/C 6.50
and Devpac 3.02 assembler. The user interface was designed with
Toolmaker. It uses about 50kB of chip memory and 160kB of other
memory. If playing samples or rewind option is on, more memory will
be used. Also add the length of the tune to the amount of other
memory.
FUTURE FEATURES:
This is a list of features that still isn't included into the current
version. They will probably be included in future versions.
* Save C64 pictures as IFF files.
* Show Compute! SID ".mus" file information.
* Utilities to create icon files and convert to/from different
playsid fileformats.
* Features YOU would like to be added (PLEASE WRITE AND TELL US).
REGISTRATION:
If you want to support our work, you have the option to become a
registered owner of this utility and receive further upgrades WHEN
THEY ARE READY. Send $15 USD (US DOLLAR) or equal amount in SEK
(Swedish Krona) or DM (German Mark). Send it to either address below
with your name, address, e-mail, phone etc. If you later change
address, PLEASE let us know.
Håkan Sundell Ron Birk
Dr. Lindhs Gata 3,II Krögarvägen 11
413 25 Göteborg 145 52 Norsborg
SWEDEN SWEDEN
Those of you who already are registered users and have got one or
more upgrade version, and want further upgrades can send either a
fully post-paid return letter (swedish stamps!) with a disk or $5
USD for our expenses. You can do this right now so that you will
get the upgrade the same moment it is ready.
CONTACT ADRESSES:
You will reach us through usual mail, phone or Internet mail. Regular
mail is very slow so Internet mail is the best way to reach us and is
usually answered the very same day!
If you want to call us about suggestions, bug report or complains
about PlaySID you may call:
+46 (0)31 419 418 (Håkan) about 6502 and SID Emulation
+46 (0)8 531 88626 (Ron) about Library, User Interface and Features
If you have access to Internet you will reach us at the following
e-mail addresses:
md1phs@mdstud.chalmers.se (Håkan)
rbk@ios.se (Ron)
THANKS:
We want to thank the following people for helping us with the
development of PlaySID:
Robert Eichelsheim - For supporting us with extremely many ripped
tunes and for information about the authors
and copyrights. For beta testings and good
suggestions about improvements.
Bent Nielsen - For supporting good ideas and algorithms
about synthesized waveforms.
Alexander Andelkovic - For lending us your C64, 1541 and many
games to rip songs from.
Peter Kunath - For good suggestions and beta testing.
Stefan Boberg - For early beta tests and good suggestions.
??? (Florida?) - For giving us the Compute! SID player.
Teijo Kinnunen - For making MED! It inspired us to make
PlaySID multitask.
Olaf Barthel - For making Term! Without it we would still
use snail mail during development, as we
live 460 km from each other.
Registered Users - Thanks for supporting our work. You are
the reason for our work.
Commodore-Amiga - For making all this possible!
LAST WORDS:
We hope that you will find this program useful and that
it will bring back the old C64 athmosphere to you too...
OLD FEATURE LIST:
V2.2 (1993)
* Powerpacker support
* New onefile support
V2.1 (1992)
* Gadtools controlled workbench window
* Appwindow
* Arexx port
* Keyboard shortcuts
* Rewind Button
* Open Button
* Pause Button
* Jukebox (arexx)
* Preview (arexx)
* Faster emulation of 6502
* Faster and enhanced emulation of waveforms
* Faster emulation of ringmodulation/synchronize
* Emulation of undocumented 6502 instructions
* Enhanced tooltype format
V2.0 (1991)
* Load icon files
* Multitasking and system friendliness
* Uses a workbench screen
V1.0 - V1.3 (1990)
* Old releases...