Advent98 Table of Contents
Table of Contents Introduction (Read Me!) What’s New? Main Window / Menu Kiosk / Screensaver Mode Sprechen sie Deutsch? Thanks and Acknowledgments The sunglassed Beethoven image is a registered trademark of Jeff Cazel.  Rhodes Warrior, CanvasMan, CanvasMan32, Advent98, and Advent99 are trademarks of Jeff Cazel.	® Advent98™ Copyright © Jeff Cazel, 1992-1998 All Rights Reserved


What's New?

What’s New?

This topic summarizes the changes in recent releases of Advent98.

Release

Version	Date	Enhancements and Bug Fixes

1.04	July 1998	Changes web URL to new PowerJam Systems address.

1.03	June 1998	Minor documentation clean-up from user feedback related to version 1.02.

1.02	June 1998	Minor changes due to release of final version of CanvasMan16 (including new CompuServe SWREG numbers for Advent98).

1.01	January 1998	Corrects a bug where Advent98 would not allow access to the MIDI Mapper output port.

1.00	January 1998	First Advent98 release.  Same feature set as final version of Advent97, including Español Nueva Versión Internacional (Spanish NIV) bible verses and  "kiosk” (screensaver) mode where you can run Advent97 in full-screen mode without allowing access to other programs.  Kiosk mode can be useful for background music at Christmas parties, unattended demonstrations, etc.


Introduction to Advent98

Welcome!  We hope you enjoy Advent98.

Jeff Cazel

PowerJam Systems

January 1998

jeff@powerjam.com

Overview

Advent98 is an Advent Calendar that plays a different Christmas carol each day.  Larry Roberts has created beautiful arrangements of more than forty public domain carols.  When you select the appropriate day from the Advent98 screen, you will see that day’s Bible verse accompanied by beautiful MIDI music.  And Advent98 lets you choose between the New International and King James Versions of the Holy Bible, as well as one Spanish and two German versions.

Advent98 can also serve as a source of background music during your Christmas season, too; in its all-play mode, Advent98 will play its songs randomly for as long as you wish.

Advent is an annual event—a new program will arrive each year.  We plan several enhancements over the years, including displaying carol lyrics ‘karaoke-style.’  Please send us your suggestions to improve Advent!

Minimum System Requirements

Microsoft Windows NT, Windows 98 or Windows 95

256-color video

General MIDI device with Windows driver, including Gravis UltraSound

Note: computers without MIDI can still use Advent98; they simply will not be able to play any music.  Similarly, 16-color video drivers will work, but the Advent scene will be ugly.

Quick Start

1	Run SETUP and follow the instructions on the screen.

2	Start Advent98—Select Advent98 from the PowerJam Systems folder.

3	Read the Overview dialog box’s instructions and you’re on your way!

Legal Information

Advent98 is a copyrighted program—you may not change it in any way.  You may not reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the software.

PowerJam Systems hereby disclaims any and all warranties relating to this software and documentation both express and implied, including any merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.  PowerJam Systems will not be liable for any incidental, consequential, indirect or similar damages due to loss of data or any other reason.  The person using the software bears all risk as to the quality and performance of the software.

Advent98 and the sunglassed Beethoven are trademarks of Jeff Cazel.

The marketing concept known as ‘shareware’ allows you to evaluate a working program to determine what it is worth to you, and then buy it if you are going to use it.  Advent98 is not a free program.  If you like it and continue to use it, please register (“buy”) Advent98 by sending us $20 US.  If you do not think Advent98 is worth the registration price, please let us know why—we will see if we can satisfy you with the next version.

Upon registering, you will receive your personal Registration Information.  PowerJam Systems strictly prohibits you from giving this Registration Information to anyone in any format whatsoever.  Distributing this information would immediately void your license.

Registering enables access to the enhanced features of Advent98, including all play mode.  See the Advent98 Registered User Information shortcut for details.

Please help us distribute Advent98 as widely as possible (thanks!) by making sure all of your favorite bulletin boards have a current copy of the official Advent98 archive file.  You may freely distribute Advent98 as long as you include only the unmodified Advent98 archive file (i.e., the unregistered version) and you charge no money except for a maximum copying fee of $10 US.

You are welcome to include the unregistered version of Advent98 (i.e., the unmodified Advent98 archive file by itself) on your shareware CD-ROM collections, etc., as long as you notify us via e-mail that you plan to do so.  Note that PowerJam Systems has a version tailored for CD-ROMs (i.e., it contains encrypted versions of the registered user files)—please e-mail us for details.

Finally, the help system contains a ready-to-print Order Form for all PowerJam Systems shareware programs.  The Order Form also explains how CompuServe users can register Advent98 online (program #4329).


Advent98 Archive File

PowerJam Systems creates the official Advent98 archive file by packing all necessary files into a maximally-compressed PKZIP 2.0 archive.  We also use PKZIP’s authenticity verification feature; this helps ensure that no one has tampered with the archive file that you download.  And finally, we convert this ZIP into a self-installing EXE file using WinZipSE.  When you ‘run’ the archive file, the process extracts the component files and then automatically runs the Advent98 SETUP program.

Note that simply renaming the archive file does not cause any problems.  In fact, many bulletin board systems prefer that the archive filename contains version information (e.g., AC98_123.EXE for Advent98 version 1.23).  Thus, feel free to rename the archive file when you upload it, but do not add your own ZIP comments, do not add or remove any files, etc.—future downloaders have no idea what else, if anything, might have been tampered with.  Thank you for adhering to this policy.


Menus
Main Window / Settings Menu

See also Customize Carols

Advent98’s main window consists simply of a Christmas-oriented picture (registered users can change this to any picture they like).  This window is a 5x5 matrix that creates a 25-day Advent Calendar (one cell for each December day through Christmas).  As you move the cursor through this matrix, its shape changes to note the underlying date.  When it assumes the desired shape (e.g., ‘24’ for Christmas Eve), simply left click to display that day’s verse and play its carol.

Advent98’s menu does not normally display so as not to interfere with the Christmas scene.  To display the menu, however, simply click the right mouse button whenever a Bible verse is not displaying.

Advent98’s menu consists of a Settings dialog box:

You can toggle All Play mode by selecting the All Play checkbox.  All Play mode, available to registered users only, plays all songs (more than forty) in random order (i.e., like a huge record album).  You can also customize the Album.

You can toggle the color motif by selecting the Use Christmas Colors checkbox.

You can select between several different versions of the Holy Bible via the Select Bible Translation combobox.

You can choose a MIDI output port via the Select MIDI Port combobox.

The Mute button stops the song (if playing) and sends “all notes off” and “reset all controllers” MIDI messages on each channel of the selected MIDI output port.

The Overview button (re)displays the startup screen that explains how to use the two mouse buttons in Advent98.  Note that the registered version of Advent98  does not display the Overview screen at startup.

The About button displays the sunglassed Beethoven trademark and plays the Advent98 fanfare.  Its purpose is to list copyright and program version information.

The Help button displays the table of contents for Advent98’s online help system.

The OK button closes the settings menu and redisplays the Advent scene.

The Exit button terminates Advent98.

Note that Advent98 has keyboard accelerators for Mute (Ctrl+M), All Play (Ctrl+P), and Exit (Alt+F4).


Customize Carols

See also Main Window / Settings Menu

You can customize the tempo and transposition (“key”) of the carols to suit your taste and/or vocal range:

The title of each carol appears in the Carol combobox (unregistered users show only the first six carols).  The songs are in ‘calendar order’—the first 25 appear in date order and the rest appear alphabetically.  Choose the song you are interested in and then change its Tempo (between 70% and 130% of the default speed) and/or its Transpose (up to 12 semitones (one octave) above or below the default key).  For registered users, Advent98 stores these Tempo and Transpose decisions between sessions.


Kiosk / Screensaver Mode

See also Main Window / Settings Menu

The registered version of Advent98 has a "kiosk" (or "screensaver") mode (available in Windows 98 and Windows 95, but not Windows NT).  Similar to 'real' screen savers, this will allow you to enable access to the carols and Bible verses without risking your machine to hackers.  Several users have told us the kiosk mode allows them to use the carols as Christmas party entertainment--they feel comfortable leaving the computer 'unattended' since access to sensitive data is password-protected.

Each time you enter or re-enter kiosk mode, Advent98 will prompt you for a kiosk password.  The kiosk password must be between 1 and 12 characters long and is not case-sensitive.  In kiosk mode, you will need to enter the password before you can (a) switch to other programs, (b)  display the Advent98 Settings dialog, or (c) exit Advent98.

When in kiosk mode, the program functions exactly the same as in non-kiosk mode except you cannot display the Settings dialog.  Thus, you can still click on the picture to display a day's verse and play its carol; you can also continue to press the <Ctrl+P> accelerator to play all of the carols ("All Play" mode).


Pre-Release
Why a “Pre-Release” Advent98?

We released this preliminary version of Advent98 in January 1998; it is essentially the same as the final version of the Advent97.  The main reason we pre-released it was to let people know that there will be an Advent98 closer to Christmastime.  You are welcome to include the unregistered version of Advent98 (i.e., the unmodified Advent98 archive file by itself) on your shareware CD-ROM collections, etc., as long as you notify us that you plan to do so (either via e-mail or a phone call).  (We can ftp or e–mail the then-current version, too.)

We will resume working on Advent98 in September 1998; new versions will continue to appear up until the calendar’s ‘start’ date of December 1.  They will be available for download on several BBS throughout the world; definitely on those BBS listed in this help database, including CompuServe.

Depending on our day job workloads, the final release of Advent98 will contain these features:

Karaoke—we might display the lyrics of each carol as they play.

Languages—we are always interested in showing the Gospel verses in new languages.  Please contact us if you are interested in helping us translate the verses into your native tongue.

Expanded Registration Pack—we will probably have more songs and/or other files included.

Note: do not assume that any of these changes will make their way into the Advent98 final release version.


Thanks
Thanks...

Thank you very much Dan McKee, Larry Roberts, Detlef Kleiss, Jacqui Kinnie, John Cowles, Ron Robbins and Lodi Claessen!

Dan McKee provided a lot of help in converting Advent98 into a Win32 program.  Thanks a lot Dan!

The quality of Larry’s efforts are obvious anytime you start a song.  He arranged and sequenced forty Christmas carols for this project.  He also researched the history of each song and provided it in a WordPad file for our enjoyment.

Detlef Kleiss has done a lot of work translating Advent98 into German.  We appreciate his kind efforts very much, even though we have no idea how accurate his work has been ;-).

Jacqui Kinnie, CompuServe’s Sight and Sound forum sysop, has contributed several works of art to the Advent project, including the beautiful scenes contained in the unregistered programs.  Jacqui also helped adapt the Beethoven logo into a suitable Christmas mode for the help file and About screen.  Contact Jacqui at Blue Valley DesignWorks at 1-800-545-6172.  Artwork used by permission of Jacqui Kelley Kinnie.

John gave some good design suggestions, created the Gravis UltraSound patch file and wrote the GUS help topic.  But more importantly, as Larry puts it,

I want to express a special thanks to John Cowles for his invaluable assistance during the preparation of these carols and their descriptions.  He not only helped to proofread the song files, the lyrics and histories of the carols but brought to my attention several carols with which I was completely unfamiliar.  He also provided valuable feedback on the various arrangements I made and his encouragement made the task of putting this music into a listenable form a great pleasure.

Ron and Lodi came up with several good design ideas during the beta testing.

Thanks again for the help!

...and Acknowledgments

NIV Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society.  Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Maximum MIDI ToolKit  Copyright © 1993-1998 by Paul Messick


Gravis UltraSound Support
Advanced Gravis UltraSound Support

Thanks to John Cowles for this information and help topic.  If you have any problems using your GUS with Advent98, feel free to contact John on CompuServe at #72074,451 or on the Internet at cowles@hydra.convex.com

How to use Advent98 with your GUS

Because Advent98 is not a patch-caching application, we have included a configuration file to use with the GUS Patch Manager.

To use the configuration file, open the Patch Manager, and in the ‘FILE’ menu, click on ‘Load configuration...’

Change to the directory where Advent98 is installed and load the file ‘GUSINIT.PCF’

After this file is loaded, you may exit Patch Manager and start Advent98.

Note that the patches used in Advent98 require 900KB of memory on your GUS, so you will need to have a full megabyte installed in order to hear all the instruments correctly.

Because you may want to substitute your own patches for those which are standard from Gravis, we have included a full list of all the patches used below.

The carols used in Advent98 were originally voiced for a Roland Sound Canvas, and some of the GUS patches are louder or softer than those on other synthesizers.  Because of this,  you might want to use the GUS program “Patchmaker” to change the volume level of individual patches.  Remember to save the original patch before you do this!

Have fun!

Patches For Advent Carols

Patch 0	Piano

Patch 6	Harpsichord

Patch 10	Music Box

Patch 11	Vibraphone

Patch 14	Tubular Bells

Patch 19	Church Organ

Patch 24	Nylon String Guitar

Patch 46	Harp

Patch 47 	Timpani

Patch 48	Fast Strings

Patch 49	Slow Strings

Patch 56	Trumpet

Patch 57	Trombone

Patch 58	Tuba

Patch 59	French Horn

Patch 68	Oboe

Patch 69	English Horn

Patch 70	Bassoon

Patch 71	Clarinet

Patch 72	Piccolo

Patch 73	Flute

Patch 82	Synth Calliope or Pan Pipe

Standard Percussion Set

38	Snare Drum

55	Splash Cymbal

57	Crash Cymbal 2

67	High Agogo

76	High Woodblock

77	Low Woodblock

78	Mute Cuica

79	Open Cuica

81	Open Triangle

83	Jingle Bell

84	Belltree


Deutsch Help File
German Help File

Detlef Kleiss has done a lot of work translating Advent98 into German.  We appreciate his kind efforts very much, even though we have no idea how accurate his work has been ;-).  Detlef has completed the Registered User Information file and most of the help file.  If you would like to use the German version of this documentation, please follow these five steps:

1.  Download the WinZip Self-Extracting archive file from our web site at

http://www.powerjam.com/

2.  ‘Run’ the archive by double-clicking on the filename (normally ACGERMAN.EXE).

3.  If you installed Advent98 into a folder other than C:\PowerJam, change the Unzip To Folder to that installation folder.

4.  Click on the Unzip button.

5.  Wait until the files unzip successfully and then close the main WinZip dialog box.


PowerJam Systems Table of Contents
PowerJam Systems General Information June 1998 Table of Contents How to Contact Us Updated Versions? Order Form	®


How to Contact PowerJam Systems

Since this information is subject to change, please visit our web site for current information.

Unless you are sending in an order, please do not send us ‘regular’ mail—it is too inefficient for both of us!

If you have problems with any PowerJam Systems program, please note the program’s version number.  This information displays on the Help-About screen.


Getting Updates to PowerJam Systems Programs
Getting Updated Versions of PowerJam Systems Programs

See also Files Available

Overview

Registered users of any PowerJam Systems shareware program are always entitled to use the latest version of the program(s) they registered.  Though you can always order an update via the order form, the fastest way to get a current version is to download it as described in this help topic.

If you have purchased a retail version of one of these programs, contact either the dealer or PowerJam Systems directly for upgrade information.  The rest of this help topic does not apply to retail versions.

Internet

The latest version of PowerJam Systems shareware applications are available via our world-wide web site.

The home page prompts will take you to the desired software quickly.

CompuServe

On CompuServe, all programs are in the MIDIFORUM (type GO CIS:MIDIFORUM at any ! prompt).  Advent, AxeBlaster, CanvasMan, and CanvasMan32 library 11 (Windows) as ADVENT.EXE, AX.EXE, CM16.EXE, and CM32.EXE, respectively.


Files Available from PowerJam Systems
Files Available

See also Getting Updates to PowerJam Systems Programs

Over the years, PowerJam Systems has created several MIDI programs and associated utilities.  This help topic lists the archive file names commonly used on BBS, online services and the Internet.  In general, CompuServe will have everything and the Internet will have the newer things.

ADVENT.EXE	Advent98—Windows NT / Windows 98 / Windows 95 General MIDI Advent Calendar for Christmas.  Shareware.

AX.EXE	AxeBlaster—Windows NT / Windows 98 / Windows 95 editor / librarian for the Roland RD-600 digital stage piano.  Shareware.

CM16.EXE	CanvasMan16—Windows 3.1-based editor / librarian for the Sound Canvas line of GS synthesizers (supports more than thirty-five synths).  Shareware.

CM32.EXE	CanvasMan32—Windows NT / Windows 98 / Windows 95 editor / librarian for the Sound Canvas line of GS synthesizers (supports more than thirty-five synths).  Shareware.


Shareware

Most of our software applications are "shareware."  Shareware is a marketing concept; it is not a 'type' of software.  The shareware concept allows you to use a fully- or mostly-operational program BEFORE you buy it.  You can determine what it is worth to you, and then buy it if you are going to use it.  Thus, our software is not free--if you continue to use it after 30 days, please register ("buy") the program.  Please respect this--if too many people use our programs but do not pay for them, we will not be able to afford to continue to improve them.  If you do not think the program is worth its registration price, please let us know why--we will see if we can satisfy you with the next version.

Registered users will be able to use the enhanced features of the program; they can also download free updates to the shareware version as it evolves.


Sorry, but because our bank charges us too much to process them, we can no longer accept checks drawn on banks outside of the USA.  If you do not have a bank account in the United States, you can run the “registration” program that comes with all PowerJam applications, or you can order with Visa, MasterCard or American Express via our web site.


Ludwig van Beethoven, 1770-1827, was one of the world’s greatest composers—even without CanvasMan’s help!  This image of him wearing sunglasses is a registered trademark of Jeff Cazel.  Our other trademarks include Rhodes Warrior, CanvasMan, CanvasMan32, Advent98 and Advent99.


This picture is the official logo of the MIDI forum on the CompuServe Information Service.

If you’re not yet on CompuServe, you’re missing out on a powerful computing tool.  Contact them at 800-848-8990 (614-457-8650 outside the USA) for more information.


PowerJam Systems is the State of Oregon business name for our music/MIDI programming, performing, and consulting enterprise.  On the MIDI software end, our current programs include Advent98, Axorcist, and CanvasMan32.

If you need to contact us, the best way is via a visit to our web site at

http://www.powerjam.com/

If you wish to place an order, you can do so securely on our web site.  If you wish to to do via mail, however, please make checks payable to “Jeff Cazel” rather than to “PowerJam Systems”.  See the order form for complete details.


The address on this order form is current as of June 1998.  However, to be safe, you will be better off to verify that the address is still current via a visit to our web site.


Ordering Instructions

Please read all of these instructions first and then click on the Print Order Form below.

Be sure to check our web site regularly—some programs are cheaper when purchased online!

Print Order Form        View Order Form

You can register (“buy”) all current PowerJam Systems shareware programs with the attached order form.  Registered users of the Shareware Edition of any program can access the enhanced features of and download free updates to the program(s).  Lastly, your “please register” screen will go away.

Note that ordering diskettes and/or and User’s Guides are optional.  In fact, we encourage you to not buy the diskette, since you can always download the current version more cheaply and easily.  Lastly, note that simply getting the $5 disk alone does not cover the registration cost.

We currently have three shareware programs available for registration for 32-bit Windows platforms (Windows NT, Windows 98 and Windows 95):

Advent98 is a General MIDI Advent Calendar for Christmas.  Registered users of the Advent97 can register Advent98 for half-price.

AxeBlaster is an editor/librarian for Roland’s RD-600 digital keyboard.

CanvasMan32 is an editor/librarian program for GS and Sound Canvas synthesizers.  If you are confused whether you have CanvasMan16 or CanvasMan32, select Help-About from the program’s menu—the About screen will tell you.  Registered users of the Shareware Edition of CanvasMan can register CanvasMan32 for $20.

Note that none of the above programs work in Windows 3.1.  However, CanvasMan16 (the Windows 3.1 precursor to CanvasMan32), is still available via our web site.

Note to Advent users: if we receive a registration for an Advent program after January 1, we will apply it to that year’s program.  For example, if we receive a request for Advent98 on January 15, 1999, we will register the user for Advent99 and not for Advent98.  Please let us know if you disagree with this policy—however, we do not anticipate many registrations between January 1 and October 1.  Note also that registered users of the prior year’s Advent program can register the current year’s program for half-price.

Important Electronic Mail Note: please specify an Internet Address that we can use to contact you if we have questions concerning your order.  If you don’t have an e-mail address, please try use a friend’s address.


Order Form
Print this form, fill it in neatly and send your check (drawn on a US bank and payable in US dollars) to:

Jeff Cazel

12162 SW Scholls Ferry Road #76

Tigard, OR  97223     USA	June 1998

Your Name:	______________________________________________________________

Address:	______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

City/State/ZIP/Country:	______________________________________________________________

Internet Address:	______________________________________________________________

Quantity	                                          Shareware Registration                                   	Each	  Total

_______	Advent98 (WinNT / Win98 / Win95 MIDI Advent Calendar for Christmas)	$20	______

_______	Advent98 (discounted for registered users of Advent97)	$10	______

AxeBlaster (WinNT / Win98 / Win95 RD-600 Ed/Lib now available only on web site)

CanvasMan/CanvasMan16 (Win 3.1 GS Editor/Lib now available only on web site)

_______	CanvasMan32 (WinNT / Win98 / Win95 GS Editor/Librarian)	$39	______

_______	CanvasMan32 (discounted for registered CanvasMan16 users)	$20	______

   Additional / Optional Items (does not include Shareware Registration)

_______	Advent98—current version on 3½” diskette	$5	______

_______	AxeBlaster—current version on 3½” diskette	$5	______

_______	CanvasMan32—current version on 3½” diskette	$5	______

AxeBlaster User’s Guide (printed)	(not yet available)

_______	CanvasMan32 User’s Guide (printed)	$7	______

Grand Total Enclosed	_____

Send your check (drawn on a US bank and payable in US dollars).  Thank  you!

What improvements would you like to see in our software?

Please be as specific as possible:

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