Copyright: Made by Miladin Pavlicic on   Fri Nov 07 10:55:37 1997
Citation: Mi3 Player V1.1 Help


Mi3 Player

Help Contents

 Introduction to Mi3 player

 Main Window

 Options Dialog

 Playlist Editor

 Info Window

 VU Meters

 Keyboard commands

 Frequently Asked Questions

 Known problems

 Version History

 Distribution Sites

 About Mi3 Player

To access context sensitive help, press <F1> at any time!


Mi3 Player

Introduction

Mi3 Player is freeware Win32 program for playing music modules. Module playing support is provided through MIDAS Digital Audio System written by Sahara Surfers. Up to version 1.0, Mi3 player was also known as "Miladin's Mini MIDAS Mod Player". That name is now obsolete.

Mi3 player cool features:

 Reads XM (Fast Tracker II), S3M (Scream Tracker 3), MOD (Protracker) and IT (Impulse Tracker) modules

 Playlist support with integrated playlist editor

 Drag&drop support, both in playlist editor and in main window

 Proper file type registering

 Auto-Load-and-Play last file

 Direct jump on any song in current playlist

 Wide range of output options: stereo, mono or surround output in 8 or 16 bit quality; mixing rate from 8000 Hz up to 44100 Hz; high quality mixing

 Adjustable mixing buffer length lets you customize how Mi3 Player performs when other programs are taking most of processor time

 Stereo VU meters provided in both "analog" and "digital" form

 Context sensitive help - just press <F1>

 Almost all commands are available from keyboard

 Cool, colorful, compact and intuitive interface

 And last, but not least, it's  FREE!!!


Mi3 player

Main Window

Here are the basic elements of main window:

Title panels show you the title and file name of currently playing module. You can open and start playing modules or playlists by dragging them directly to these panels. You can drag in more than one file, in which case, playlist will automatically be created.

Right-click on these panels to get list of all modules in currently playing playlist and to be able to jump directly to any of them.

Use these buttons to control module and playlist playback. From left to right, these buttons are: "Play", "Previous Song", "Rewind", "FastForward", "Next Song", "Pause/Resume" and "Stop".

When you click on "Rewind" or "FastForward" buttons, playing position will change by one, and then wait for half a second, thus giving you chance to release mouse button. If you keep mouse button pressed, position change will then proceed at rate of about 10 positions per second.

Using these controls you can adjust playback volume and mute/unmute sound. If you hold your cursor over volume track bar, hint will appear and tell you what is current volume (in percents).

Use these buttons to access Playlist Editor, Module Information, open or close VU Meters and set Options.


Mi3 player

Options Dialog

Options dialog lets you change just about everything about this program.

First time you start the program you're presented with this dialog and only two possible ways further: "Cancel" and "OK" button. If you click on "OK", options will be saved into registry. If you click on "Cancel", no changes will be made to your registry and default options will be used, but next time you start Mi3 Player, same dialog will appear.

When you want to change options later on, you can go with "OK" and keep the changes only for the lasting of current session, or click on "Save options" and make them permanent. This allows you to try out different settings before you make them permanent.

Here is the explanation of options you can choose from:

 Playback Quality

"Mixing frequency" affects quality of sound. With higher frequency you'll get better sound, but will also suffer bigger performance hit. Don't worry about it! On Pentium 100, 44KHz mixing takes average of less than 2% processor time.

"Mixing buffer size" decides on how much of module should be mixed in advance. This parameter is in milliseconds. If you select bigger buffer, Mi3 Player will play smoother in the background when other CPU intensive tasks are working, but that asks for more memory. Again, default value of 500 ms works just fine, and total memory usage for Mi3 Player rarely exceeds 4 MB and is mostly around 2 MB. You can hear how this option works if you select 2000 ms buffer and then click on "Mute" button during playback.

"High Quality Mixing" makes sound even better, but takes some more CPU time.

"Output mode" and "Output channels" should be clear. Select surround/stereo/mono and 16/8 bit output. Surround is only available if you select stereo output. Note: surround sound does not work with all modules. Please look at Known problems section.

 Player Options

"Loop playback of module or playlist" option lets you decide whether playback will restart or stop at the end of module or playlist. If you're playing playlist, modules in it will never loop.

"Auto-Load-and-Play last module or playlist". When you exit Mi3 player, the last file you were playing will be remembered. This option lets you decide if you want that file to be automatically loaded next time you start the player. If last file was playlist, Mi3 Player will also remember position inside that playlist and continue from that position.

"Start with open VU meter" lets you decide whether VU meters will be displayed or not when you start Mi3 Player. If you want to start with VU meters open, you can choose between analog or digital version.

"Save window position" will save main application window current position. Next time you start Player, it will appear in that exact position.

 File Types

These options decide if Mi3 Player will start when you double-click on module in your explorer. There are a few very important things you should know about this:

 These options are not saved when you click on "OK" button. You have to click on "Save options" to change this.

 Unchecking checkbox next to some extension does NOTHING. To assign file type to another application (why would you want to do that?), start that application and do what you have to do. Well, who ever heard of application that can restore old file associations?

 Mi3 Player registers it's own file type. You can find it in Explorer options.  It is called "Mi3 Player V1.1 Module".


Mi3 player

Playlist Editor

Playlist is a sequence of modules that will be played one after another, very much like on audiotape or CD.

To add files to playlist, click on "Start explorer" button and then drag module files from explorer to playlist window. Checkboxes in the lower part of the window give you full control over which dragged files will be accepted. You can also decide to accept directories and scan them (and, optionally, all the subdirectories) for acceptable files.

Once you have put some files into editor, you can change order in which they will be played, delete files from playlist, shuffle files in playlist, etc. You can also save playlist that you made or open existing playlist.

When you're done, you can click on "OK" button and start playing that playlist or click on "Cancel" and leave editor without playing that playlist.

If you open playlist editor during playlist playback, you'll be able to edit that list.

Playlist files must have an extension "MPL". This is how program tells them apart from other files. Other than that, playlists are just plain text files that you can edit with any text editor. They should contain full path and filename of every module in playlist.

To find out more about what happens when you create new playlist and click on OK without saving it first, look at FAQ.


Mi3 player

Info Window

Info window gives you information about loaded module. You can find out module name, drive path and filename of loaded module, how many instruments, channels and patterns are there in module and what is the full song length.

Most important of all, you can see all the instrument names. They are displayed in DOS character set, in hope that they will look exactly as module author intended them to. In order to do this Mi3 Player registers custom font. To find out more about this, look into FAQ.


Mi3 player

VU Meters

VU meters present maximum signal peak values in graphical way.

"Digital" version shows this info in a form similar to that present on much new audio equipment. Green color represents low signal, yellow means medium to strong, while red stands for really strong signal. "Analog" version is similar to VU meters present on older audio equipment and represents signal peak by angle from zero position.

VU meters relay on Win32 system mixer device that is implemented in sound card driver. Program requests signal peak information on wave-out line of your sound card. At the time I made VU meters, I thought that all drivers implement this option. Apparently, this is not true. So, VU meters might not work for you! In this case, you'll get error message every time you try to open VU meters.

To find out more about this, look into Known Problems and FAQ sections.

VU meters are quite CPU intensive, but when they are not displayed, they are totally inactive so Mi3 Player spends much less CPU time.


Mi3 player

Keyboard Commands

In addition to usual mouse navigation, you can control Mi3 player via Keyboard:

Playing

S	Start/Stop

P	Pause/Resume

>	Fast Forward

<	Rewind

E	Play List Editor

CTRL + [image] >	Next Song

CTRL + <	Previous Song

Volume

+ / -	Volume Up/Down

M	Mute

VU Meters

V	Show/Hide

D	Digital

A	Analog

Misc.

I	Instruments & Info

O	Open

F1	Context Sensitive Help

? / H	About & Help Contents

CTRL + O	Options

SHIFT + ESC	Exit


Mi3 player Revision History
Mi3 player

Version History

Version 1.1 (25-Oct-1997)

Highlights

 new version of MIDAS library is being used:

 High Quality Mixing

 IT support

 completely switched to original MIDAS API:

 it's now possible to just put new MIDAS.DLL in Mi3 Player directory and everything should work just fine

 "about" window reports MIDAS version being used

 implemented 99% of all user requests:

 improved playlist handling, D&D support, file type registration, look and feel, …

 name changed to "Mi3 Player" only

New and Improved

 Playback Engine and General Player Improvements:

 better error reporting

 better end-of-module detection

 only one program instance is allowed - active instance will pick up all possible playback requests

 player remembers last file being played - "Auto-Load-and-Play" feature

 songs in a playlist start from "1", instead of "0"

 changed keyboard commands: "O" starts open dialog, while "CTRL+O" opens options dialog

 "Pause" reacts fast, no matter how big is mixing buffer

 "Repeat" option now works for both playlists and single modules

 Main Window:

 window title gets darker when player looses focus

 if filename is too long, "…" will appear at filename panel

 improved "Rewind" and "FastForward" actions when using mouse

 when you drag more than one file on title panels, playlist is automatically generated

 right click on title panels gives you list of all modules in current playlist and possibility to jump directly to any module in it

 fixed the way "Pause" and "Mute" buttons act when you choose those actions from keyboard

 Playlist Editor:

 checkboxes for full control over drag&drop - no more annoying dialogs every time you drag files or directories to playlist editor

 if "ShowPaths" is on and filename is too long, "…" will appear

 you can now include modules from one playlist into another by dragging it to playlist editor

 the last state of playlist editor is being recorded between sessions

 window title now shows the name of playlist being edited

 "Open" and "Save as…" commands in editor now store last directory where you used them

 Options

 new options: High Quality Mixing, Looping, Auto-Load-and-Play

 file type checkboxes now represent the real state of file associations

 file type options now register Icon and File Type

 VU Meters

 VU meters now move faster resulting in more realistic look

 showing and hiding Vu meters now behaves much better when you have "Large Fonts" setting in your Windows

 Module Info

 instead of initial tempo, full song length is shown

Version 1.0 (12-Mar-1997)

New Features

 playlist editor now accepts directories and picks up all modules from inside that dir and, optionally, subdirs

 added possibility to shuffle playlist

 added surround sound (doesn't work with XM?)

 you can now open module by simply dragging it to title part of the main window

 "STOP" completely stops playback and unloads module thus releasing sound card for other programs and freeing some memory

 "+" in instruments display indicates instruments that are actually used

 Documentation is now in a form of real Windows Help file

 Context sensitive help available at all times by pressing <F1>

 A few minor cosmetic changes were made

Bug fixes

 fixed problem with rewinding a song and "no loop" option (well, almost)

 fixed info screen: all characters are now displayed correctly, even extended DOS characters

Version 0.9 (20-Feb-1997)

 first public release


Mi3 player

Distribution Sites

Mi3 Player will progress! How fast and in what direction depends on quantity and quality of feedback I get. Also, if MIDAS library brings some new features in future releases, I'll put them in my player.

Latest version can always be found on following sites:

 http://www.open.hr/~pavlicic/

   My home page!

 http://www.maz-sound.com/

   MAZ Sound Tools pages - greatest sound related site on the Internet!

 http://kalahari.ton.tut.fi/s2/midas.html

   MIDAS Digital Audio library Home Page

 ??? (Changing ISP - please look at Miladin's Home to find up to date link)

   Jacek's Mod Page


About Mi3 Player
Mi3 player

About Mi3 Player

 Mi3 Player was written by Miladin Pavlicic.

   Contact address: pavlicic@usa.net

 MIDAS Digital Audio System is Copyright 1996, 1997 Housemarque Inc. and is written by Sahara Surfers.

   Contact address for technical info: pekangas@sci.fi

   Contact address for licensing info: midas@housemarque.fi

 A big thanks goes to everyone who sent me feedback and suggestions on previous versions of Mi3 Player.


Mi3 Player Known Problems
Mi3 player

Mi3 Player Known Problems

When working with Mi3 player you might encounter some problems. As far as I know there are no "fatal" bugs that might prevent you from using the player. Below is the list of some problems that I'm aware of, which means that I'll probably solve them for the next release. If you encounter any more problems, please let me know.

Here is a list of known problems:

 VU meters depend on your sound card driver. If that driver does not implement "peak meter" control in mixer device part, then you'll get no VU meters. In fact, you will receive warning that it was impossible to open mixer device. The only way to take care of this is to install new sound card drivers. Look for more information about this in FAQ section.

 If you have more than one sound card, VU meters might pick the wrong one. This is because I still don't know how to get exact device information from MIDAS library. Hopefully, I'll be able to work something out for the next release.

 If you're running windows in 256 color you'll see palette changes when switching between Mi3 Player and other applications. Sorry, but Mi3 Player is just not designed for less than HiColor displays. Textured window title bar and other pictures eat up lots of colors.

 Surround sound is only set on start of module playback. If module changes panning position, surround effect will stop to function. XM modules reset panning all the time, so, as far as I can say, surround options has no effect on them.

 If you're using "Large Fonts" setting in your windows, Mi3 player main window will look strange. This is because main window is designed as combination of pictures and normal window elements. There is no workaround to solve this. For the next release (V2.0?) I plan to redesign player and thus take care of this problem.

 When you press "Pause" player releases audio device, so it's possible for some other program to take over before you press "Resume". This situation can lead to strange effects, so try to avoid it.


Mi3 player

Frequently Asked Questions

 Why is player called "Mi3 player"?

When I first made this program, it was really small and simple, so I decided to call it "Miladin's Mini Midas Player". Notice that there are three words starting with letters "Mi"? Well, that's where the "Mi3" comes from. Anyway, that long old name is now obsolete, but I decided not to change "Mi3 Player" name, because my player now already has good reputation under that name. :-)

 How do I uninstall Mi3 player?

So, you didn't read "ReadMe_1st.txt"? :-)

Use "Mi3_Uninstall.inf" to delete registry entries and then manually delete files and directory. For more details look in "ReadMe_1st.txt".

 VU meters don't work for me. What can I do?

Oh, this one is killing me! To make it short, you need new or different driver for your sound card, the one that implements mixer device. I own AWE32 and I noticed that Creative Labs drivers do NOT implement mixer device, while drivers that come on Win95/WinNT CD do. So, you might try installing drivers from one of those CDs.

 What's with all these temporary files?

There are only two temporary files. One is needed by Mi3 Player to register the font for display of DOS characters in info window. Other is just a temporary playlist. So, if you create a playlist in playlist editor and click on "OK" without saving it first, that playlist will automatically be saved as "Mi3Temp.mpl" in your temporary directory. The same happens when you drag more than one file on title panels in main window.

 I like your VU meters. Can I use them while some other program is playing?

Heh! :-) No, I didn't make it this way. VU meters are stopped every time playback is stopped or paused. You might try one "unsupported" trick. Start playing module in Mi3 Player and make sure VU meters are working. Then press "Pause" button and start playing something else that uses WAVE device (like MP3 or WAV). Now, press "Resume" and see if VU meters work. This might work for you or it might not. I just noticed it works for me. But, you should know that I consider this a bug, not a feature!

 Where can I find some cool modules? Where can I find out more about modules and tracking?

First of all, visit my distribution sites. There you'll find lots of links to great MOD related sites. You can also try and visit one of my favorites:

 ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/music

Music section of the largest demo archive on the planet!

 http://www.modarchive.com/

ModArchive - the name says it all. Cool site!

 http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/~aka/

AKA's Mod Page - songs, players, trackers and AKA's own cool software.

 http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Towers/3299/

Trackers etc. - one of the most comprehensive sound related pages filled with software, songs, links and even interviews.