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Monster Media 1996 #14
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Monster Media No. 14 (April 1996) (Monster Media, Inc.).ISO
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soundu
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liq100.zip
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LIQ.Q&A
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1995-10-24
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╒══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╕
│ Questions And Answers │
│ │
│ A part of the Liquid Tracker documentation │
╘══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛
Q: I have a slow machine. How can I listen to MultiChannel modules
and still maintain high frequency?
A: First, always execute LIQ with the -R switch (more significant
if you are using a v86 memory manager such as QEMM,EMM386). Verify
that all the panning position are on the LEFTmost or the RIGHTmost
(use the '1' or '6' key from Panning Editor). Lock the Panning Setup
using the 'K' key. Go to menu 'Setup->Loader options', change the
option 'Modify Panning Setup' to OFF. Go to menu 'Setup->Output
options', change the 'Digital Gain' value to 1. Now, save the setup.
With such configuration, you can listen to 9-14 channels module
on 386-SX in frequencies of 33,000-44,100Hz, 16bit, stereo, using the
Liquid Tracker.
Q: I've installed VESA driver, why the VESA modes don't work?
A: There might be few answers to this:
- There might be a bug in your VESA driver (or VESA BIOS, for that
matters) which prevents you from using the extended text modes
- Your video card is not capable of using those modes
- If your vesa driver is UNIVESA (last version checked 3.2) then
this is the problem. UNIVESA does not supports extended SVGA
text-modes. Fetch yourself a VESA driver from the card manufacture.
Q: I have to wait too much when I switch between the Info Screen & the
Pattern Editor screen!
A: For compatibility reasons, Liquid uses the BIOS built-in routines to
switch video modes. The time this process takes vary from one VGA BIOS
to another (and it is not dependent if the card is considered "FAST"
itself) and when a lot of CPU time is used by the playing routines
this can take a while. If this is REALLY LONG process, pause the music,
(using CTRL-P), switch the screen, and resume the music (CTRL-P again)
Q: In the Pattern Editor, I'm trying to move around channels using
the Gray-Left/Right keys, but they sometimes tend to change field
as if I were pressing White-Left/Rights keys.
A: The problem is in the PC-Layout. The BIOS identify the gray keys
in the way known as "E0 codes" which cannot ensure 100% a gray key
will not be identified as white one. But you can always toggle
Numlock ON in the pattern editor, which locks the arrow keys on
Scroll Mode.
Q: Some S3M's (notably WATER.S3M) are played like garbage, even with
other players like DMP, MDP 1.1. Why is that?
A: Apparently some old S3Ms hold the samples in signed format.
If you encounter this, try patching the S3M and change the byte
in offset 2Ah (S3M File Format Version byte) to 1. This will cause
Liquid (and any player that supports this S3M feature, including
ST 3.2 (but not ST 3.01b!)) to load all the samples correctly.
Q: I'm working under UMB_DRVR.SYS, and when running Liquid my machine
always hangs, why?
A: There is a bug in UMB_DRVR (last version I have checked was 5.22)
which causes INT 67h to point nowhere. Since this interrupt is used
to check EMS existence, the machine hangs.
(If you familiar with programming, you may 1 - write a simple TSR that
hooks INT 67h and ensures it will return to the caller (just IRET),
2 - get interrupt 67h vector and patch the code to return IRET
(although this is not fully safe) or 3 - patch UMB_DRVR itself)
Q: I am Sound Blaster 2/Pro owner. A friend of mine has PAS16, and when
he plays on his card in 8 Bit, Mono, 44Khz, the sound is much better
than mine, even though I can achieve these conditions too!
A: The SB 2/SB Pro suffers from loud background noises, and a lousy DAC.
Also, using higher frequencies than 22Khz is not really recommended,
because the card will not really take advantage on it.
The PAS/SB16, however, are equipped with enhanced CODEC DAC with
sound filter, which result in great sound quality even with 8 bit
output (this also applies to most 16bit card there are)
Q: Is there a major difference between the sound quality of the PAS16
and the SB16?
A: There is no difference in sound quality. Both cards are equipped
with similar CODEC chip, and offer very similar mixer capabilities.
Also, a test that has been performed, indicated that the internal
amplifier in both cards produces similar power.
Q: When playing with PAS, the left/right flip positions, and in some
cases the sound is badly distorted, so I have to stop and replay.
A: This is because the PAS hardware isn't so good in synchronizing with
the PC BUS, and if there's big overload on the BUS, the PAS's internal
flip-flops lose tracks.
suggested solutions are: make sure that the BUS will run as fast as
possible (Turbo button on), use 16BIT DMA if possible, don't use too
high mixing frequencies (like 59000Hz, which the PAS16 is capable of)
If this thing occur only when starting to play, try resetting the
PAS's internal flip-flop by pressing CTRL-P few times.
Q: Can Liquid work with the PAS's SB emulation mode?
A: Yes, but you should set the sound card to SB 1.5 rather than SB 2.0.
this is because the PAS's SB emulation does not support SB 2.0.
(however, mistakenly the card reports SB 2.0 in the detection scheme;
you should force SB 1.xx when possible with other programs too (like
Visual Player 2, for example))
Q: When stopping or replaying using CTRL-P or the F5-F8 keys, the
SB1, SB2 or SBPro cards produce clicks, why is that?
A: To prevent problems, upon stopping the music, the card is fully
resetted, and upon restarting, most initialization code is
re-issued. Apparently, The SB1,2,Pro cards produce clicks on
those events.
Q: With my SB2, when using "Sound Blaster 1.5" mode LIQ plays OKay,
but when using "Sound Blaster 2.0" mode, it plays fragmented and
corrupted!
A: Use SB1 mode. The SB2 mode doesn't give any benefit, except
that it allows Frequency > 20833 (which is irrelevant with SB2)
This is a bug, and will be PROBABLY fixed someday.
Q: Under DESQview, Liquid plays "corrupted" sound and sometimes
hangs the machine.
A: The Liquid Tracker was not designed to work under multitaskers,
and should not be executed under DESQview window (although if
executed as the first window, it will run ok for few seconds...)
Q: Why isn't Liquid using GUI (Graphical User Interface)?
A: - GUI is slower than using text modes.
- In text mode, the characters look much sharper, especially when you
have 9 channels with 54 intervals each on screen (using 132x60 mode)
- TSR's with hot-keys can be popped while in the Tracker.
- I believe it's more fast, convient and productive using text-mode
design tracker.
│
└> Q: But some (future) features, for example Sample Waveform Editor,
REQUIRE graphical interface, from their nature!
A: These features will use integrated graphical interface.
- End of LIQ.Q&A -