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1994-01-05
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21KB
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501 lines
/----------\
| TAG | Presents
| SOFTWARE | . . . . Digital Audio Fortune 2.0
\----------/
Digital Audio Fortune 2.0 is a fortune cookie program with a
twist. Unlike most fortune cookie programs that print cute
messages or a quote, Digital Audio Fortune 2.0 plays a
randomly selected digital audio file from a user's defined
list.
DAFORT plays .VOC, .WAV, .SND, .AU, .DAS, and raw sound
files. It will actually allow you to play any file.
However, remember that the principle of Garbage In Garbage
Out applies. Playing non-sound files can be hard on the
ears. For the Sound Blaster, DAFORT 2.0 uses a Double
Buffered Direct Memory Access (DMA) technique that allows it
to play very large digital audio files. For the AdLib,
Disney Sound Source, and the PC Speaker, DAFORT 2.0 uses a
Double Buffered background playing technique that again
allows it to play very large digital audio files.
Digital Audio Fortune 2.0 requires an IBM PC or compatible, a
Sound Blaster, AdLib Personal Computer Music System, Disney
Sound Source or 100% compatibles, and only 256K of available
RAM.
Digital Audio Fortune 2.0 is distributed as Shareware: if you
like the program, please become a registered user. See the
heading "Registration Benefits" at the end of this file for
more information. Print the file REGISTER.DOC for ordering
information. Distribution of this shareware program is
encouraged.
The Digital Audio Fortune 2.0 source code, object code,
executables and manuals on paper or on disk, are COPYRIGHT
(c) 1993 by Carole & Allen Grider.
DISCLAIMER
This program is provided "AS IS" and it is WITHOUT warranty
of any kind that it will work correctly in any or all
situations. No liability shall be assumed for direct or
consequential damage caused by the use of this software.
The only claim TAG SOFTWARE makes is that there are no
intentional bugs or fatal errors in any original copy of
the program that you receive directly from TAG SOFTWARE.
MANIFEST
DAFORT.DOC . . . . Text, Documentation (This file)
DAFORT.EXE . . . . Digital Audio Fortune executable
DAFORT.RC . . . . Example Sound File List
README.DOC . . . . Text, Last minute information
REGISTER.DOC . . . Text, Registration order form
DAFALARM.DOC . . . How to use DAFORT with Telemate 4.0
TMALARM.BAT . . . Telemate external alarm example .BAT file
ALARM_0.RC . . . . Sounds list for TMALARM.BAT Transfer success
ALARM_1.RC . . . . Sounds list for TMALARM.BAT Transfer failure
ALARM_2.RC . . . . Sounds list for TMALARM.BAT Connected to BBS
ALARM_3.RC . . . . Sounds list for TMALARM.BAT Script Alarm
ALARM_4.RC . . . . Sounds list for TMALARM.BAT Warning
CATALOG.DOC . . . Text, Catalog of TAG SOFTWARE Products
BING.DAS . . . . . Digital Sound, Monty Python
BUGSBUNY.VOC . . . Digital Sound, Bugs Bunny "What's up doc"
KLAXON1.WAV . . . Digital Sound, Ships klaxon
ILLBEBAK.SND . . . Digital Sound, Terminator 2 "I'll be back"
DISTRIBUTION
Distribution of this program is encouraged as long as the
following Shareware principles are observed:
All of the above-mentioned 17 files should be
included in the distributed disk and should not be
altered in any way. TAG SOFTWARE authorizes the
distribution ONLY of the 17 above-mentioned files.
If archiving this program for BBS use or library use,
please include all files and use the name: DAFORT20, ( e.g.:
DAFORT20.ARC or DAFORT20.ZIP ). This will provide
consistency for future updates.
Note for Disk and Rack Vendors: Please contact TAG SOFTWARE
for the latest version of this and all our programs. Disk
and Rack Vendors are allowed to include their own
installation package. Also contact us if you require
customization. We will consider non-exclusive registration
handling agreements.
Rack Vendors: Please contact TAG SOFTWARE regarding discounts
to your customers for registering our shareware. We will
consider discounting some or all of the rack price from our
registration fee, if we receive some kind of proof-of-purchase.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS AND OPTIONS
COMPUTERS: IBM/PC/XT/AT or compatibles. 256K free memory.
SOUND CARD: Sound Blaster, AdLib Personal Computer Music
System, Disney Sound Source, or 100% Compatibles.
OPERATION
Digital Audio Fortune is invoked from the MSDOS command line
or batch file:
DAFORT [ -sN ] [ -a ] [ -d ] [ -p ] sound_list_file
Options:
-sN Play at speed N, overrides speed in .SND, .VOC,
.WAV, .AU or sets speed for raw sound files. If
speed is not specified, DAFORT plays raw files at
8000 samples per second. N can range from 2000 to
44100 depending on the range supported by your device.
-a Play sound files on a Sound Blaster in AdLib FM
mode. May be required on some Sound Blaster clones.
-d Play sound on a Disney Sound Source connected to
your parallel port (LPT1).
-p Play sound files on your PC Speaker.
sound_file_list is the pathname to a file containing a list
of pathnames for DAFORT to randomly select from.
DAFORT 2.0 should auto-detect both the Sound Blaster and AdLib
sound cards. The Sound Source cannot be detected. You must
use the -d option to play on this device. If DAFORT 2.0 does
not detect a sound card, it attempts to play the sound file
on the PC Speaker. See the NOTES ON SOUND CARDS section
below.
Examples:
DAFORT DAFORT.RC
Plays a sound file randomly selected from the list of sound
files given in DAFORT.RC. Plays any raw sound files selected
at 8000 samples per second.
DAFORT -s11111 DAFORT.RC
Plays a sound file randomly selected from the list of sound
files given in DAFORT.RC. Plays any raw sound files selected
at 11111 samples per second.
We like to put DAFORT into our AUTOEXEC.BAT file (at the
end), so it will play a random file each time we boot the
computer. To do this, edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. At the
end of the file, add:
DAFORT DAFORT.RC
with any options that you desire. Build the DAFORT.RC file
(see Sound File List section for format below). Save both
files and reboot. You should hear a random file played.
DAFORT can also be used to play random digital sound files for
external alarms from the Telemate 4.0 communications program.
See the file DAFALARM.DOC for more information.
CONFIGURATION
SOUND FILE LIST
The format of the sound file list file required by Digital
Audio Fortune 2.0 is very simple. It is just the pathnames to
the digital audio files, one per line. This file can be
built using any ASCII editor (such as edline). It is
suggested that you use fully qualified pathnames (that start
with the disk (e.g. C:) and specify all the directories down
to the file along with the file name. Blank lines can be used.
If anyone really wants it, we can add support for comment lines.
Example: (This is what we currently have set up on our machine.)
C:\SOUNDS\TVMOVIE\CURLEY.VOC
C:\SOUNDS\TVMOVIE\BONANZA.VOC
C:\SOUNDS\CARTOONS\FOGHORN.SND
C:\SOUNDS\CARTOONS\HEYROCKY.WAV
C:\SOUNDS\TVMOVIE\JUSTFACT.VOC
C:\SOUNDS\TVMOVIE\SELFDEST.VOC
C:\SOUNDS\TVMOVIE\STOOGES1.VOC
C:\SOUNDS\CARTOONS\SUPERMAN.VOC
C:\SOUNDS\CARTOONS\UNDERDOG.VOC
If Digital Audio Fortune has trouble finding or opening a
file it will issue an error message and attempt to select
another one. After 10 bad attempts, it issues another error
message and aborts.
Sound Blaster CONFIGURATION
An environment variable can be used to inform DAFORT of the
information it requires to play sounds on the Sound Blaster.
This environment variable is set up by newer versions of the
Sound Blaster's installation program, but older Sound
Blaster's (and clone's) installation programs do not set up
this environment variable.
Digital Audio Fortune can obtain its configuration from the
environment variable BLASTER. The format of the information
in this variable is as follows:
SET BLASTER=Annn In Dn Tn
Where:
Annn nnn specifies the I/O Address of your sound card.
Sound Blaster 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0:
Possible values: 210, 220, 230, 240, 250, 260
Factory Default: 220 (if not changed via hardware jumper).
Sound Blaster Pro:
Possible values: 220, 240
Factory Default: 220 (if not changed via hardware jumper).
Sound Blaster 16:
Possible values: 220, 240, 260, 280
Factory Default: 220 (if not changed via hardware jumper).
In n specifies the IRQ of your sound card.
Sound Blaster 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0:
Possible values: 2, 3, 5, 7
Factory Default: 7 (if not changed via hardware jumper).
Sound Blaster Pro
Possible values: 2, 5, 7, 10
Factory Default: 7 (if not changed via hardware jumper).
Sound Blaster 16
Possible values: 2, 5, 7, 10
Factory Default: 5 (if not changed via hardware jumper).
Dn n specifies the 8-bit DMA Channel used by your sound card.
Sound Blaster 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0:
Possible values: 1
Factory Default: 1 (not changable)
Sound Blaster Pro
Possible values: 0, 1, 3
Factory Default: 1
Sound Blaster 16
Possible values: 0, 1, 3
Factory Default: 1 (not changable)
Note that DAFORT 2.0 only supports DMA channel 1.
Tn n specifies the Type of your sound card.
See NOTES ON SOUND CARDS below for more information.
Possible values:
1 Sound Blaster 1.0 or 1.5
2 Sound Blaster Pro
3 Sound Blaster 2.0
6 Sound Blaster 16
Currently DAFORT does nothing with this value.
For a Sound Blaster just out of the box (before you muck with
the jumpers) use:
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T1
or:
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T3
For a Sound Blaster 1.5 (what we have) on IRQ 5 (like us, most
people have a printer on IRQ 7):
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T1
The Sound Blaster Pro and Sound Blaster 16 supports
additional DMA Channels. However, Digital Audio Player does
not support the additional DMA Channels. If your card's
configuration fits the ranges given above, then Digital Audio
Player 2.0 should work. If you have problems, please
contact us.
Digital Audio Fortune 2.0 has the ability to auto-detect the
Sound Blaster. But, if it has trouble (please let us know)
you can set the BLASTER environment variable to get around
the problem.
AdLib CONFIGURATION
Digital Audio Fortune 2.0 has the ability to auto-detect the
AdLib Personal Computer Music System sound card.
Disney Sound Source CONFIGURATION
Digital Audio Fortune 2.0 cannot auto-detect the Sound Source.
You have to inform it that a Sound Source exists on your
system. Use the "-d" option to do this. For example:
DAFORT -D DAFORT.RC
PC Speaker CONFIGURATION
Digital Audio Player 2.0 assumes a IBM PC/XT/AT clone
speaker. If you have a Sound Blaster or AdLib sound card you
can override DAPLAY's autodetection and play sound files on
the PC Speaker by using the "-p" option.
NOTES ON SOUND FILES
It seems that every sound card manufacturer has developed its
own digital audio file format. Creative Labs, being the first
with the cheapest, has prevailed with their .VOC format.
This was true until MicroSoft released Windows with the
Multi-Media Extensions. The Windows Multi-Media Extensions
uses the .WAV formatted digital audio files. Another (older)
format are the .SND files. Some seem to be MacBin format
with the original Data Fork and Information Fork information
intact. Others come from older sound packages called SOUNDER
and SoundTools. Another source of sound files are Sun/NeXT
systems with their .AU format.
Currently .VOC files are the most prevalent, with .WAV files
catching up fast. .SND files are seen here and there, but
sometimes contain really unique sounds not seen in .VOC or
.WAV format. This is very strange, because it is trivial to
convert between these various formats. Digital Audio Fortune
2.0 should play all .VOC, .WAV, .AU, and most .SND files.
There are actually several file formats that all use the .SND
extension. We currently support two of them. If you have
trouble getting a particular file to play properly, please
send it to us. We will take a look at it and see if we can
fix the problem. Please send us suggestions on other file
formats you would like to see supported. Note, it is easier
for us to support a file format when we have examples.
Sound files can use up a very large amount of disk space.
Understand that a high quality 8-bit sound file sampled at
23kHz uses 23,000 bytes every second. Things will only get
worse when the newer sound cards with stereo and higher
sampling rates prevail in the market. Imagine a 44kHz stereo
16-bit sound file. Only 10 seconds of sound will tie up
1,760,000 bytes (44,000 * 2 * 2 * 10). No wonder the
Multi-Media standard calls for a CD-ROM.
We at TAG SOFTWARE have been working on this problem. We
have come up with a compression technique that generally
achieves better compression than general purpose compressors.
This technique can be used to lossless and lossy compress
sound files. And, these compressed sound files can be
decompressed and played on-the-fly. We call this sound file
type .DAS. The file BING.DAS is an example of this file
type. The original sound file was Mono, 8-bit, 22Khz and was 69999
bytes long (3.175 seconds). BING.DAS has been compressed at
loss level 2 and is only 21920 bytes long. A compression
ratio of 68% (3 to 1). If you are interested in compressing
your own sound files look for Digital Audio Sound Compressor
(DASCMP10.ZIP) at your favorite disk vendor, BBS, or rack.
If you have trouble getting good digital audio files, see our
Digital Audio Collection Series. We have selected some of
the best audio files available and can supply them in .VOC or
.WAV format.
NOTES ON SOUND CARDS
Creative Labs Sound Blaster
Creative Labs has issued several different sound cards - all
under the name Sound Blaster. The cards and their differences
are listed below:
Sound Blaster 1.0 - The original. Mono FM. Comes with CMS
chips. 100% AdLib, GameBlaster compatible plus
mono 8 bit DAC 4kHz-23kHz / ADC 4kHz-12Khz.
Sound Blaster 1.5 - Same as above but they made the CMS
chips optional (CMS chips are required for
GameBlaster compatibility).
Sound Blaster 2.0 - Same as above but the CMS support was
dropped completely (Seems they weren't selling).
Sound Blaster Pro - Same as Sound Blaster 2.0 but adds
stereo support.
Sound Blaster 16 - Same as Sound Blaster 2.0 buts adds
both stereo and 16-bit support.
Digital Audio Fortune 2.0 should work properly with all three
types, but currently only supports Mono 8-bit sound files.
If you have any problems, please let us know.
Various Sound Blaster clones have been produced with
different levels of compatibility. Digital Audio Fortune 2.0
should work with any Sound Blaster clone with 100% register
level compatibility. If you have any problems, please let us
know. If you are unable to get DAFORT working with your Sound
Blaster clone, you can try the AdLib FM option "-a".
AdLib Personal Computer Music System
AdLib produced the first sound card with 9 FM voices. But it
has no direct digital audio support. We have come up with an
algorithm that allows playing of digital audio sound files on
the AdLib with surprisingly good results.
Disney Sound Source
The Disney Sound Source is a parallel port Digital to Analog
Converter (DAC). Currently DAFORT only supports this device
when it is connected to LPT1 (the first parallel port). The
sounds that came with ours were really grotty and are not
representive of the really good digital sound this device can
produce.
PC Speaker
The PC's speaker is a truly amazing beast. Orignally
designed to only produce beeps and simple tones, it can
actually perform an amazing range of sounds. However, one
has to have a speaker with sufficent volume to be heard. On
our 16Mhz machine, the speaker is buried behind a solid front
and is not loud enough. Our 25Mhz, on the other hand, the
speaker's sound is quite acceptable.
DOCUMENTATION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
If you have a printer, please print out and read this
documentation file DAFORT.DOC. We would like to thank the
many UNIX and DOS fortune cookie programs for this idea.
I would like to thank Bob Chrisp for his information that
DAFORT worked as an external alarm player for Telemate.
If anyone knows of a similar way that DAFORT can be used in
another package, please let us know. We will give you credit
here.
FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS
We want to allow a speed override on a per file basis. We
have found many sound files with the wrong speed recorded in
its header. Besides there are many raw sound files available
for which our current default is flat wrong.
We would like to add support for stereo sound files. The
newer sound cards support stereo, but we need a mixing
algorithm for playing these files on the older cards.
We would like to add support for 16 bit sound files. The
newer cards support this data width, but we need a downsizing
algorithm for playing these files on the older cards.
We would like to expand the support for the Sound Blaster Pro
sound card, to include its expanded IRQ's and DMA Channels,
8 bit stereo, 16 bit mono, etc.
We would like to add support for the Covox Speech Thing and
clones. This should be in next release. We know how to do
it, but do not have one to test with. If anyone has one and
would like to be an alpha tester or if you would sell us one
cheap, please let us know.
We would like to add support for other sound cards including
Pro Audio Spectrum 16, Sound Blaster Pro (stereo), Sound
Blaster 16, and the MediaVision Ultrasound. If you have
programming information on these devices, contact us, maybe
we can work a deal.
We would like to add support for sound files compressed by
archivers such as PkZip. Sound files can absorb huge amounts
of disk space and text based archivers have a difficult time
getting good compression of sound files. However, we all
like to tweak as much out of our disk as possible. Plus
there is the saving in the MSDOS cluster overhead.
REGISTRATION BENEFITS
Digital Audio Fortune 2.0 is distributed as Shareware: if you
like the program, please become a registered user by sending
$5 to TAG SOFTWARE. List or print the file REGISTER.DOC for
more information. List or print the file CATALOG.DOC for a
complete description of all of TAG SOFTWARE's products.
For registering Digital Audio Fortune 2.0:
- You will receive the latest registered version of this
program.
- You will receive one FREE disk from our Digital Audio
Collection Series. See the file CATALOG.DOC for details as
to which audio clips are on what disk.
- Technical Support. Please write TAG SOFTWARE. Or you
can contact us through the Programmer's Corner BBS
301-596-7692 or 410-995-6873.
As always, we will respond to your suggestions and comments.
Sometimes we can incorporate your suggestions in the latest
version of the program that you receive from us.