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SBPLAY.DOC
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1995-07-05
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SBPLAY version 2.04 July 5, 1995 by John A. Ball
SBPlay is a utility for playing back sound files on Sound Blaster
compatiable cards, and the regular PC speaker. It does not require a
sound board. To use the program type
SBPLAY filename or SBPLAY
where filename is the path to the file if required and filename can
include wild card characters. Filename extensions are not required.
Version 2.04 will play back Tandy Sound files (SND), Creative Labs
(VOC), Microsoft (WAV), Apple (AIF) and Amiga (IFF) & (RAW) files.
There is also some support for MAC files and .AU files.
SBPlay will also play the samples in (MOD) files at the last used
frequency. Try using the /X command line option to see the song
patterns. It will try to play back unknown files or raw data files
such as MAC SND files at 11,000 samples per second. The sound files
should be uncompressed, 8 bits, and unsigned. Note other types of
files can be played by using the command line options to change the
defaults. I.e. R:22000 to change the playback speed to 22,000 samples per
second.
SBPlay will also rip sound samples from MOD files and will create
the SAM sample files which were used to create the original mod file.
SAM files are used by MOD editors to create MOD files and usually
contain musical instrument sounds or other sound effects.
SBPlay can be used to play a randomly selected sound file from a
directory with the /RAN switch. This can be used to play a different
sound file each time the computer boots by placing the following
command in the autoexec.bat file:
SBPLAY c:\sound\*.* /s/ran
where c:\sound is a directory containing sound files. The /s prevents
any file information from being shown on the screen and the /ran
selects any one of the files that are available.
SBPlay is compatiable with DESQview, Windows, and OS/2. It can be used to
play back sound files by associating the sound file extension with
SBPlay in windows and DOSShell.
If a mouse and mouse driver is present then SBPlay will use it to
select and play files. Try clicking the left mouse button on the
file to be played or the command.
The main program is written in C and the sound routines for the PC
speaker and Sound Blaster card are written in assembler. I used
QuickC 2.51 with Assembler to create this program. The source
code is available see register.me for details.
There are limitations to this program.
1) SBPLAY does not play back ALL sound files which have been
compressed.
2) The program will not play back files that are larger than the DOS
ram memory available.
3) SBPlay will not playback sterio files recorded at 44100 Hz.
4) There are audio gaps during the playback of large sound files
on slow PCs and when using a multitasker.
Problems:
SBPlay uses the DOS environment to help find the hardware
configuration. It looks for the BLASTER variable to determine what
the hardware address is, the IRQ, the DMA channel, and the board type.
i.e.
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T3
will tell SBPlay that the Address is 220h, the IRQ is 5, the DMA
channel is 1, and the card type is 3 (SB ver 2.0). If your board
is configured for another DMA channel such as 0, the D parameter
must be D0 . If you have a Sound Blaster compatiable card and SBPlay
locks up try using T-1 to tell SBPlay that your card is not a Sound
Blaster card. If the hardware address or IRQ is not correct in the
BLASTER variable SBPlay should give you an error message and you can
use the /x parameter on the command line to find the correct hardware
information.
The use of this program is free but you must register your use of
this program. By registering I receive the feedback required to
keep me supporting this program and improving it. You may modify
and use the source code for your own programs. You may not distribute
modified code. Please send all corrrections and suggested improve-
ments to John A. Ball.
Comments and suggestions may be sent to
john.ball@two-t.com or
jaball@netbistro.com
John A. Ball
2398 Victoria Street
Prince George, B.C.
V2L 2M2
Canada
Thank-you for trying my program.