OctaMED (from RBF Software) MED sound files and MidWavi Pro
You can find full OctaMED details at www.octamed.co.uk
There are some limitations that you should be aware of with MED files.
First off, this sound format was originally written for the Commodore Amiga computer which as you probably know, used completely different hardware (including the CPU) and software than that of the PC.
Because MED sound files were primarily intended to perform in an endless loop of sound, this poses a problem with the MidWavi Pro "Auto Play" feature (i.e. how do we move onto the next sound file in a list).
In an attempt to get around this, MidWavi Pro has been equipped with an option (see menu option "Tools - Configure MED playing") called "Determine MED play end" which, by the way, defaults to ON (ticked).
With this option OFF however, the default endless loop play will occur and you will have to either hit "Next", "Previous" or the "Stop" button depending on your intention.
With this option active (ON), MidWavi Pro will attempt to provide a "Stop" point for the currently playing MED and cease playing at what is deemed to be the end of the sound then move on to the next selection (assuming "Auto Play" to be ON of course).
However, this will not always work because of:
1. Timing problems
2. MED files with a software stop (end) in them
Number two above is interesting in as much as it has always been possible for authors to impose an ending in their MED's (rather than the default endless loop), but if this is the case, there is no official way at present to know when the MED has stopped!
Various methods have been attempted to get around this behaviour for this release of MidWavi Pro, but none were deemed satisfactory...so, what to do...
In ALL cases, if you find a MED is either "stuck" (as in 2. above) or is endlessly looping, either hit "Next", "Previous" or the "Stop" button depending on your intention.
Another known problem is that old Amiga created MED files ported across to the PC may well play "as is", but the reported total play time and update play time may be inaccurate.
Also, if you wish to Play (or "Auto Play") MED files whilst MidWavi Pro is minimised, do not minimise MidWavi Pro by double clicking its icon in the task bar (bottom of screen)...use the actual Minimise button on MidWavi Pro's window (NB although the file(s) will be playing, you will not hear any sound if you play MED files minimised in Windows NT4).
It's worth mentioning here that all the other options on the "Tools - Configure MED playing" menu option have to do with possible timing problems and I can do no better than to quote from some original OctaMED documentation:
"Because med music is all done in real-time, you may encounter performance problems during playback and the operation may become unacceptably slow causing hesitations or 'glitches'.
The problems are influenced by your computer's specification and, (unfortunately), with the O/S (operating system).
Try switching on the 'Solid Mode' which reduces multitasking problems, but at the same time, can also make the playback of the music respond less quickly when playing notes.
If there is still a playback problem, try switching on "Increase Update Interval"
If, after trying the above, playback still appears 'glitchy' you could also try closing down any programs that are running which are not needed as this will free up some processor time. ( one of the main causes of 'glitches' )
It has also been noted that some of the med mods authored with the old Amiga version of OctaMED have timing problems with the new PC version and this is because the Amiga version used the older IRQ timing instead of the more accurate BPM timing.
The only solution to this is to load the problem med mod back into the new Windows version and simply alter it's timing to BPM and re-save it. 99% of the time they will then work perfectly."
You can find full OctaMED details at www.octamed.co.uk
