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CU Amiga Magazine's Super CD-ROM 04 (1996)(EMAP Images)(GB)(Track 1 of 3)[!][issue 1996-11].iso
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Play16 version 1.6 (04.02.96) - a versatile soundplayer for the Amiga --
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Features in brief
-----------------
- autodetects and plays several soundfiles, up to 16 bit / 56 kHz / stereo
- full Workbench support (but not Intuition and no GUI)
- always correct playback speed, even for sounds >28 kHz
- realtime playback from harddisk, optimized assembler routines
- optional 14 bit output (less noise but not as good as true 16 bit)
- automatic or manual audio filter control
- plays mono sounds on *both* channels, not only on the left one
- plays (and loops) files that are larger than memory
- preloading for exactly timed start of playback
- fast uLaw decompression
- system friendly audio channel allocation
- optionally dump the output into a file (can be used to convert sounds)
- supported Filetypes are:
* Microsoft RIFF-WAVE (.WAV) mono/stereo, 8/16 bit, linear/uLaw/ADPCM
* Creative Voice File (.VOC) mono/stereo, 8/16 bit, linear
* Sun/NeXT Audio (.AU) mono/stereo, 8/16 bit, linear/uLaw
* MacroSystem Audio (.MAUD) mono/stereo, 8/16 bit, linear/uLaw
* Apple/SGI/Amiga AIFF (.AIFF) mono/stereo, 8/16 bit, linear
* Amiga IFF-8SVX (.IFF) mono/stereo, 8 bit, linear/FibDelta
* Any raw sound data as long as it matches one of the following:
- 8 bit signed
- 8 bit unsigned
- 16 bit signed, Intel format (LSB first)
- 16 bit signed, Motorola format (MSB first)
- supported output devices are:
* Native Amiga chipset (Paula) 8 bit
* Native Amiga chipset (Paula) 14 bit
* Native Amiga chipset (Paula) 14 bit calibrated (Christian Buchner)
* MacroSystem Maestro Pro 16 bit 44.1kHz and 48kHz only
* IFF-8SVX file dump 8 bit
========================== Section 1: Quick start =========================
What do I need to use Play16?
-----------------------------
Any Amiga running Kickstart/Workbench 2.04 or greater.
To use the calibrated 14 bit output you need a valid CyberSound preferences
file in your ENVARC: directory. If you don't have one already it can be
generated with Christian's calibration package included in this distribution.
Maestix.library V39 or higher is required to use the MPro board for output.
Where do I find the latest version?
-----------------------------------
- FIDONET: Amiga Venture BBS, Germany (2:2432/350)
- AMINET: mus/play
- WWW: http://linux.rz.fh-hannover.de/~wenzel/Play16/
further I recommend to have a look at the following packages:
CyberSound:
- AMINET: disk/cdrom/14Bit_CDPlayer.lha
Maestix:
- AMINET: util/libs/Maestix39_00.lha
How do I use it?
----------------
From CLI: Simply type "Play16 <filename>" and that's it!
From Workbench: Just doubleclick on it's icon. A filerequester will pop up.
All possible options will be explained later. If you set none of them, the
defaults will be used.
==================== Section 2: Background information ====================
What does it do?
----------------
Basically, Play16 is capable of playing uncompressed and _some_ compressed
soundfiles through Amiga's standard audio device or an increasing number of
alternative devices. If the actual resolution or playback rate exceeds that
of the Amiga hardware, realtime conversion is done so that the sound is
being played back correctly.
You can even play 16 bit / 44.1 kHz sounds, providing all parts of
your system can keep up with the high data transfer rate and lots
of calculations needed for this task. (In this case an accelerated
Amiga is recommended :-)
The two audio channels at each side can be linked to perform as a single
14 bit channel (subranging). Again, this swallows lots of computing power.
Anyway, an Amiga 3000-16MHz is fast enough to play an uncompressed soundfile
with full 44.1kHz/14bit output (productivity) directly from harddisk !!!
I don't want Play16 to be a program that plays each and every exotic format
that exists somewhere. However, I intend to support as many popular file
types as possible.
Why Play16?
-----------
I didn't find any CLI based program to play back 16 bit recordings, on a
standard Amiga, so I decided to write one myself.
16 bit soundcards are becoming more and more popular, especially on the
PC. The common file format over there is Microsoft's (yuck! :)) RIFF-
WAVE format.
Why CLI based and no GUI?
-------------------------
There are so many GUI based directory utilities, simply use Play16 as an
external player. Consult the manual of your software package on how to
do it. Application example: Assign "Play16 <filename> PRELOAD" to a button
called "Jingle". Select the desired soundfile and press the Jingle-button.
Wait for the appropriate moment and hit the return key - here comes the
sound! Nice when audio dubbing your home videos or even on parties :-)
How does it work? (technical info)
----------------------------------
The standard Amiga audio device is limited to 8 bit / 28 kHz playbck
when using DMA. With the introduction of ECS the 28 kHz DMA barrier
was broken - but only if the current displaymode was one with double
scan rate like productivity. The reason for this is the dependency
between video and audio DMA. If you don't have ECS or if you simply
don't want to switch to Productivity just to listen to your desired
sound, Play16 can halve the sample rate during playback.
Another way to archieve high output rates is using IRQ. This works no
matter what the displaymode is. I've been experimenting on that long
before I started writing Play16 but there was so much jitter that my
current downsampling method sounds much better.
To play back even long sounds, the popular method of double buffering
is used. Alternatively, all data can be loaded into memory before
playback. This is useful when playing short sounds or when loading
the sound from floppy disk or slow CD ROM.
The 14 bit output is archieved by setting the first channel on each
side to volume 64 and the second to volume 1. The louder channel then
plays the upper 8 bits as usual while the other channel plays the
6 most significant bits of the low byte synchronously. Because timing
is very crucial in this case it is nessecary to write directly to
hardware registers instead of using the audio.device. This method may
not work on future amiga models if there ever will be any... :-/
Unfortunately, Amiga's DACs are not perfectly linear. A significant
increase in sound quality can be archieved by calibrating each
MSB conversion step individually for your machine. Christian Buchner's
CyberSound system supports this kind of calibration. Play16 can load
the preferences file generated by Christian's calibration program.
The MPro output uses the maestix.library by Richard Körber. Have a look
at the Maestix package available on AMINET for further details.
=========================== Section 3: Options ============================
What options are provided?
--------------------------
There are three ways to specify the options, which are:
CLI: In the commandline, using standard AmigaOS 2.x template
Workbench: In the icon, using standard Amiga Workbench tooltype entries
General: By setting environment variables. This is not possible for
all options yet.
If you are not familiar with the AmigaOS 2.x commandline template, see
the examples below and consult the AmigaOS manual for furhter information.
The tooltype entries are identical to the keywords you can specify in the
commandline. Also, the environment variables have the same names and reside
in ENV:Play16.
Basic options: (All options marked with (*) have corresponding env-vars.)
VERBOSITY/N Sets the level of verbosity.
0: Just display the banner and error messages
1: Print additional information about the sound file,
allocated memory, etc.
2: Progress information
3: Debugging information (may look a bit weird :)
Default is level 0.
FAST/S Do NOT automatically switch to half sample rate if the
soundfile's rate exceeds 28 kHz. Use this option when
running your Amiga in Productivity or similar display
modes.
HIFI/S Obsolete since V1.4 but still included for compatibility
reasons. See "OUTPUT/K".
VOLUME/N Set the playback volume. This works only for Paula8 output.
OUTPUT/K(*) Set Play16's output device. Possible options are:
Paula8 Standard 8 bit output through Amiga hardware. This option
is the default.
Paula14 Turn on the 14 bit output. Watch out! This is a nasty routine
that writes directly to some hardware registers. I've done
everything I can to prevent Play16 from interfering with
other running tasks in this case but you'll never know...
Use it with care!
Paula14c Same as Paula14 but using the calibration preferences for
much better sound quality. See Section 2 for details.
MPro Use MacroSystem's Maestro Pro board for output. 44.1kHz and
48kHz sounds only. For 44.1kHz output a valid and stable
signal has to be present on the standard input. See the
manuals of Maestix and the MPro board for further info.
8SVX Do not play the sound but create an IFF-8SVX file containing
the data. Basically this is the output generated by <Paula8>
redirected into a file. The filename will be the input file's
name with "iff" appended.
WARNING: All limitations of <Paula8> apply here as well,
which are:
- Every 16 bit sound will be cropped to 8 bits resulting in
loss of quality.
- If you DO NOT set the FAST keyword, the sample rate of the
output file will be limited to 28kHz and downsampled
automaticlly if nessecary.
I recommend to keep the original file if you have enough
space. If you don't you may be disappointed of your converted
8 bit sounds when you buy a better sound system!
FILTER/K(*) FILTER=ON : Enable audio filter for playback
FILTER=OFF : Disable audio filter for playback
FILTER=AUTO: Turn filter on or off depending on sample rate
If you don't specify this keyword Play16 will leave the
hardware registers of the audiofilter completely untouched.
LOOPS/N Determines the number of loops to be played.
Default is 1 loop. (Play the sound once.)
LOOPS=0 means infinite number of loops.
Advanced Options:
WINDOW/K(*) Specify output window for Workbench startup. This Keyword can
only be used in the ToolType entries of the Play16 icon itself.
If you don't set this, the hardcoded default will be used.
SCREENMODE/N Type of screen to open during playback. If you set
(*) SCREENMODE=0, a standard productivity screen will
be opened.
PATH/K Set the default path for the filerequester. In the command
line, specifying just a path instead of a filename has the
same effect.
SINGLE/S Use only one buffer rather then two and load all data into
memory before playback.
PRIORITY/N Set Play16's task priority. May vary from -25 to 25, default
is 1.
MULTIPLE/S Open the filerequester again, after all files have been
played.
BUFFER/N Buffersize in samples. May vary from 32768 to 131072. The
amount of allocated memory also depends on whether the sound
is mono or stereo, 8 bit or 16 bit.
Default is 65536 samples, values are rounded to multiples of
32768.
Note that it is useless to modify this value when in single
buffer mode :)
PRELOAD/S Load enough data into memory for immediate start of playback
at a keypress
RAW/S Disable autodetect and tell Play16 what the actual format of
the sound data is.
However, if Play16 can't detect the filetype it will switch
to RAW mode automatically. If you don't want this to happen
you can specify STRICT:
STRICT/S Play only files that are supported by the autodetect routine
Use this if you don't want to get scared by the sudden noisy
output when trying to play back other data than sound :-)
Examples:
a) Play16 music.wav
Simply play the file called music.wav once and directly from harddisk.
b) Play16 music.wav SINGLE
Same as above but load all data into memory before playback. Use this
when loading soundfiles from floppy disk.
c) Play16 music.wav SINGLE VERBOSITY=1
Same as b, but with additional information being printed out.
d) Play16 rhythm.wav LOOPS=10
Play the rhythm as a continuous loop, i.e. over and over again (10 times)
e) Play16 explosion.wav SINGLE PRELOAD
Load the complete explosion sound into memory, then wait for you to hit
<return> before playback.
f) Play16 MyFavouriteTune.wav FAST OUTPUT=8SVX
Convert the given file to IFF-8SVX without changing the sample rate.
g) Play16 MyFavouriteTune.wav OUTPUT=8SVX
Same as f but limit the sample rate of the converted file to 28kHz!
The following options tell Play16 what parameters to use when in RAW mode.
This happens either if you set the RAW keyword or if Play16 could not
identify the file and STRICT was _not_ set.
Options when in RAW mode:
FREQ/N Sampling frequency in Hz
TRACKS/N Number of tracks, 1 for mono, 2 for stereo
BITS/N Resolution in bits, may be 8 or 16
HEADER/N Length of header: This is the number of bytes to be skipped
at the beginning of the file.
UNSIGNED/S Data is unsigned, not signed (only valid for 8 bit sounds)
INTEL/S Data is in Intel format (only valid for 16 bit sounds)
ULAW/S Data is compressed using the uLaw compression scheme
The default settings are: 22050 Hz, mono, 8 bits, no header.
How do I use this RAW mode?
---------------------------
Umm, err, difficult to explain, even harder to understand...
Well, if you know the data format of the soundfile, simply set RAW, FREQ,
TRACKS, BITS, UNSIGNED and INTEL accordingly. If you don't, the only
way to find it out is by trial and error :) Here are some tips to make
it a bit easier:
Don't set HEADER to an odd number. (Leave it at 0, first.)
If you set BITS to 16 and hear nothing but noise, try to set INTEL.
If you set BITS to 8 and the sound is distorted, try to set UNSIGNED.
If the above does not help, try different combinations of BITS, INTEL
and UNSIGNED.
If you manage to get a recognisable sound output which is either too
fast or too slow, start experimenting on TRACKS and FREQ.
If you want to play known files and raw ones without changing the command
line, simply specify all you know about the raw data and leave out the
RAW and the STRICT keyword. If Play16 can indentify the file it will use
its parameters. If the filetype is unknown your specified parameters will
be used instead.
Legal stuff
-----------
Play16 is copyrighted freeware. It may be distributed freely as long as
no modifications are made to the executable and this document. A nominal
fee may be asked to cover distribution costs.
Play16 may not be used for any commercial purposes or included with any
commercial product without the written permission of the author.
No responsibilities are taken for damaged speakers, amplifiers, Amigas
or any other components or data involved while using Play16.
Although I've done some beta testing I can't guarantee that Play16 will
not crash! If you find any bugs, let me know.
It is NOT the fault of MacroSystem NOR does it represent the quality of
their products if the MPro output or the maestix.library should fail.
Miscellaneous
-------------
I don't claim Play16 to be fast. I've done some optimizing - but because
the loader/converter module is a universial one, more data is actually
being moved around different memory blocks than needed for playback.
However, I've implemented separate optimized routines for 8 bit and
for 14/16 bit.
* Please note that English is not my native language :)
I can be reached at...
Internet: wenzel@unixserv.rz.fh-hannover.de (preferred)
Thomas_Wenzel@aventure.fido.de
Fido: 2:2432/350.28 or 2:241/1035.6
Mail routing _is_sometimes_ unreliable in FidoNet :-(
If you use this program, please send me a mail. I'd like to know how many
people are interested in it at all.
History
-------
V0.5ß - Initial beta test release
V0.6ß - Optimized the code a bit.
V0.7ß - Fixed some severe bugs that caused Play16 to crash when trying
to load corrupted files.
V0.8ß - Play16 can now be stopped by pressing ctrl-c during playback. The
buffer that is currently being played will be finished first.
- Automatic filter control depending on sample rate.
V0.9ß - Added 'loop'-option. Sample can be played several times.
- All time consuming routines now in hand optimized assembler code.
V1.0ß - Play16 now uses standard OS2.x commandline template.
Thanks to Kai for persuading me to do this :)
V1.0 - Done some minor bugfixes.
V1.1 - Oops! Play16 caused some Enforcer hits. Fixed that.
Thanks to Rod Schnell for reporting it.
- Added 'single'-option. Sound can be loaded completely into memory
before playing. No looping possible in this case yet!
- Playback time in minutes:seconds displayed if verbose >= 1
- uLaw decompression for WAVE-Files, using a decoding table
for maximum speed (didn't do much testing on it, hope it works!)
- MAUD filetype support (why do there have to be so many formats?)
- AIFF filetype support
- ctrl-c now stops playback immediately.
Thanks to Marc for some programming tips about that.
V1.2 - IFF-8SVX filetype support (only uncompressed files!)
- RAW data support: _Any_ data can be played
- Preload feature added
- Fixed a bug that caused illegal memory access (hopefully)
Thanks to Ignatios Souvatzis for reporting it.
- Improved chunk handling
V1.3 - 14 bit output (finally!)
- Any file Play16 can't recognise is considered raw data unless
you set the STRICT keyword
- Fixed a bug in WAV filetype length determination
- Advanced audiofilter control / original state will be restored
after playback
- More information about sound (AUTHOR or ANNO-Chunk) is being
printed out if VERBOSE>=1. However, Play16 will *not* search
the whole file for that string. If it doesn't come before the
sound data -- bad luck :-)
V1.3a - Bugfix in chunk handling routine: Chunks with an odd length
were treated incorrectly. This bug accompanied all versions
of Play16, even V1.0. However, I decided to release a fix now
instead of letting you wait until V1.4 is finished.
V1.4 - Wildcard and multiple file support
- Environment variable support (partial)
- A filerequester will pop up if no filename is given
- Workbench support, including icon with tooltype entries
- Maestro Pro output, using Richard Körber's Maestix package
- Calibrated 14 bit output, using Christian Buchner's
CyberSound package
- IFF-8SVX file dump
- Creative VOC support (currently only 1st data block)
(This format crazy :-))
- Closing the output window now stops playback, too
- Looping now for single mode as well, LOOPS=0 won't cause
a severe crash any more
Thanks to Andy Church for reporting it.
- Open a screen during playback, e.g. productivity for fast DMA
- German docs
V1.5 - Fixed a bug that caused enforcer hits when running Play16
from CLI
- Changed the depth of Play16's productivity screen to 1 bitplane
to reduce CPU- and DMA-load
- "Play16 <path>" now opens a filerequester pointing to the
specified path. The new PATH tooltype does the same.
- Fixed mono playback of raw tracks.
- uLaw decompression for MAUD, too
- Fibonacci Delta decompression for 8SVX, thanks to Ralph Wermke.
V1.6 - Improved the V34 performance. (whoops, wrong file! :-)))
- A one-plane-screen will now be used for CLI mode as well.
- Task priority is now reset to 0 at exit.
- Files with additional data after the sound chunk are now being
played correctly.
- CTRL-D now skips the current sound and starts playing
the next one.
- ASL library will only be opened if a filerequester is really
needed. Thanks to all who suggested to do this.
- New option: Volume (only for Paula8 mode)
- New option: Multiple (only if filerequester pops up)
- No more chunks of odd length in 8SVX dump
- MS-ADPCM decompression for WAV files (still experimental)
- RAW option works now as a Tooltype entry as well
Future plans
------------
- Supporting loops stored within 8SVX files
- Better Creative-VOC support
- ADPCM decompression for other filetypes as well (e.g. ZyXEL)
- some of the file types saved by Macintosh software (e.g. Sound-Designer)
(Please let me know if you really ned this. I think AIFF should be
sufficient.)
- Datatypes support
Known bugs
----------
Looping of Fibonacci Delta sounds may be distorted.
Large VOC sounds can't be played completely.
Credits
-------
Thanks go to the following persons:
Kai Stuke for many vital hints on C programming and the Amiga
audio device and for beta testing this program.
Marc Führer for doing some beta testing as well, giving valuable
hints on optimizing the code and translating this document
into German.
Clete Baker for supplying the AIFF- and SDII specs.
Richard Körber for writing the Maestix Library and making it freeware.
Christian Buchner for his research and ideas on how to improve the
14bit output by calibrating the DACs individually.
And to all the people who wrote me!