Copyright: Visual Help Copyright® 1993 Firas Bushnaq


ULTIMOD HELP
Registering UltiMOD

UltiMOD is a Shareware product. It is not "free software." You are granted a limited license to use this software on a trial basis for a period of 30 days. Upon the expiration of this trial period, you must register the product with the author or cease using all product materials. UltiMOD  is provided "as is" and without any express or implied warranties with regard to merchantibility or fitness for purpose. The author disclaims all responsibility for losses whether tangible or intangible resulting from the use of this software. The user of this product furthermore agrees to hold harmless the author from all claims for damages. Use of the product constitutes acceptance of these terms.

UltiMOD may be freely distributed provided that none of the product materials are disassembled, reverse-engineered, altered, damaged, or sold without the author's explicit written permission. Registration entitles you to automatic upgrade notification and limited technical assistance. Email queries can be sent to CIS: 76450,1767 or 76450.1767@compuserve.com.

•	CompuServe Registration

Dial into your CompuServe Account.
At any prompt type "GO SWREG"
Select Registration ID# "1823".
Registration fee of $20 U.S.will be billed to your CompuServe Account.

•	Mail Registration

Send the following information and Check/Money Order in the amount of $20 U.S. to:

   Thomas W. Olsen
   163 Granville Road
   Southwick, Massachusetts 01077
   U.S.A.

Name:
Address:
City:
State:
Zip:
Country:
Diskette Format (3.5", 5.25"):
Where Did You Get UltiMOD?

Introduction

    Digital audio has beaten a serious path to the PC desktop
thanks to the Multimedia capabilities of Microsoft Windows,
and its usefulness extends far beyond mere voice-annotated
spreadsheets into the realm of CD-quality recording and
playback. Although Multimedia is a relatively new phenomenon
to the PC, numerous other hardware platforms, including the
Commodore Amiga and Apple Macintosh to name a few, have
supported similar technology for several years now;
consequently, Windows Multimedia developers should look to
the pitfalls and successes of other platforms for valuable
cues.

    One of the primary limitations of digital audio is storage
space: digital recordings require a LOT of room. For example,
a two minute 8-bit mono recording sampled at 44.10 kHz
occupies a 5.28MB WAV file. Double that figure for a 16-bit
recording. "But why," you ask, "worry about storage space when
a single, inexpensive CD-ROM can accomodate over six hundred
megabytes?" The answer is simple: it takes lots of time and
effort for the CPU to read and process so much data, and that
translates into reduced overall system performance.

    The Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) protocol
overcomes space limitations by storing just the sequence of
notes for a particular song; however, on the downside, MIDI
does not guarantee that songs created on one synthesizer will
sound exactly the same on another, nor can it reproduce a
human voice. It may surprise you to learn that the Commodore
Amiga supports 8-bit digital recordings of five minutes
or more that fit on a single floppy disk. This remarkable
feat is accomplished using the so-called Module (MOD) file
format.

Anatomy of the MOD Format

    MOD files fall somewhere between MIDI and WAV formats.
MODs, however, contain up to 31 digitized samples--called
instruments--in a format similar to WAV Pulse Code Modulation
(PCM). Each digital sample represents one note of a
particular instrument in one pitch; that is, the digitized
"plink" of a piano or the "bang" of a drum. Human voice is
also considered an instrument, too. This digitized waveform
is a sort of instrument "signature." Modifying the pitch,
tempo, and attack of the digitized sample enables you
to reproduce any note for a given instrument. MIDI has 16
channels--MODs four; hence, four instruments can be played
simultaneously. MOD files contain a table that describes
when to play an instrument and upon which channel. All kinds
of special effects can be applied to individual notes:
arpeggios, portamentos, pitch and volume slides, vibratos,
etc.

typedef struct tagMODHEADER
{
    char    name[20];
} MODHEADER;

typedef struct tagINSTRUMENT
{
    char        name[22];
    WORD    sampleLength;
    WORD    volume;
    WORD    repeatOffset;
    WORD    repeatLength;
} INSTRUMENT;

typedef struct tagPOSITIONTABLE
{
    BYTE    noOfPositions;
    BYTE    reserved;
    BYTE    position[ MAX_POSITIONS ];
} POSITIONTABLE;

typedef struct tagNOTE
{
    WORD    word1;
    WORD    word2;
} NOTE;

typedef struct tagCHANNEL
{
    NOTE    note;
} CHANNEL;

typedef struct tagPATTERNROW
{
    CHANNEL channel[MAX_CHANNELS];
} PATTERNROW;

typedef struct tagPATTERNTABLE
{
    PATTERNROW row[MAX_PATTERN_ROWS];
} PATTERNTABLE;

// This is the order of these elements in the .MOD file.

MODHEADER       modHeader;
INSTRUMENT      instrument[NO_OF_INSTRUMENTS];
POSITIONTABLE   positionTable;
PATTERNTABLE    patternTable;

NOTE:  NO_OF_INSTRUMENTS defaults to 15, unless
the .MOD file contains 'M.K.', 'FLT4', or 'FLT8' at Offset
1080 (decimal)--in which case there are 31 instruments.

Tthe UltiMOD Player

Configuring UltiMOD

UltiMOD should work with all Windows MPC-compatible sound cards,
 including ADLIB, SoundBlaster, and others supporting 44.1kHz 16-bit
stereo audio output. By selecting the &File&Configure option from the
UltiMOD Player menu, the following dialog box will appear. You can then
modify device, volume, frequency, resolution, and mode settings:

Where Can I Obtain MOD Files, Anyway?

MOD files are surprisingly popular with users of both Amiga and IBM-compatible machines. One of the best places to find MOD files
is in the Compuserve AMIGAARTS Forum (GO AMIGAARTS). They
can also be found in dozens of other CIS Forums. Just type GO IBMFF
or GO AMIGAFF and search for 'MOD'.