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1993-01-11
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13KB
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311 lines
----------------------
| ZZZZZ BBBB K K | \
| Z B B K K | |
| Z BBBB KK | | Z Blaster Kit 2.0
| Z B B K K | | (C) 1992, 1993 Steve Goldsmith
| ZZZZZ BBBB K K | | All Rights Reserved
---------------------- |
\_____________________\
* NOTICE
THIS IS NOT FREE SOFTWARE! If you paid a public domain vendor or
communications service for this product, you paid for the service
of copying or transferring the product, and not for the product
itself. I guarantee you that nothing ever gets to the originator
of this product from such a sale. You may evaluate this product,
but if you make use of it, you must register your copy. This is a
change from previous versions because very few people sent a
"contribution" even though it was as little as one dollar!
I offer several incentives for you to register. First of all,
you receive the most up-to-date copy of the program that I have
which is updated on a regular basis. You also receive support for
Z Blaster Kit which can be quite valuable. Finally, you get the
latest Z Blaster Mega player for point and shoot playing of ZBF
files, an assortment of professionally recorded ZBF sound files
and late breaking information on new developments such as the Z
Blaster Developer's package not included in this evaluation
package.
* REGISTRATION INFORMATION
The non-commercial registration fee for Z Blaster Kit 2.0 is $10.00
plus $3.00 for shipping in US funds.
Send a check or money order for the appropriate amount to:
Steve Goldsmith
2805 Jamaica Street
Sarasota, FL 34231
Please indicate what product you are ordering and if you have a
requirement for 3.5" media. I normally ship 5.25" Commodore GCR
format diskettes, but will furnish 3.5" media upon request.
Customers outside of the United States and Canada should include an
extra $5.00 for airmail.
If you are a registered user of this product and desire an update,
please send $5.00 for handling and I will ship you an up-to-date
copy.
* DISTRIBUTION NOTICE
This is "user-supported" software. You are hereby granted a
license by Steve Goldsmith to distribute this evaluation copy of Z
Blaster Kit and its documentation, subject to the following
conditions:
1. Z Blaster Kit may be distributed freely without charge in
evaluation form only.
2. ZBlaster Kit may not be sold, licensed, or a fee charged for
its use. If a fee is charged in connection with Z Blaster Kit, it
must cover the cost of copying or dissemination only. Such charges
must be clearly identified as such by the originating party. Under
no circumstances may the purchaser be given the impression that he
is buying Z Blaster Kit itself.
3. Z Blaster Kit must be presented as a complete unit, including
this documentation. Neither Z Blaster Kit nor its documentation
may be amended or altered in any way.
4. By granting you the right to distribute the evaluation form of
Z Blaster Kit, you do not become the owner of Z Blaster Kit in any
form. Any other use, distribution or representation of Z Blaster
Kit is expressly forbidden without the written consent of Steve
Goldsmith.
Commodore 128 is a trademark of Commodore Business Machines. CP/M
and CP/M 3.0 are trademarks of Digital Research. IBM PC, PC-XT
and PC-AT are trademarks of International Business Machines.
Sound Blaster is a trademark of Creative Labs, Inc.
* OVERVIEW
Z Blaster Kit allows a C128 running CP/M 3.0 to record, play and
import digitized sound files! These files are called Z Blaster
Files or ZBF files and have the .ZBF extension. Z Blaster Player
is a command line driven ZBF player. If you were disappointed with
the quality of the Covox Voice Master then dust it off and check
out Z Blaster Recorder. It creates better quality sound and has
greater sampling range then the original software that came with
the Voice Master! If you have an IBM PC, other system or cannot
produce your own sound files then give Z Blaster Import a try. It
will let you create ZBF files from other systems! Programmers and
Hackers should take a look at the ZBF file format. It gives
information on decoding and playing ZBF files.
* REQUIREMENTS
+ A C128 or C128D equipped with CP/M 3.0
+ At least one 1541, 1541 compatible or better disk drive
+ 40 or 80 column monitor with sound output
+ Covox Voice Master in plastic enclosure (required for recording
only)
* Z BLASTER PLAYER
Z Blaster Player ZBPLAY.COM is a command line driven ZBF file
player. To play a file:
[D:]ZBPLAY [D:]FILENAME
FILENAME = standard 1 to 8 character CP/M file name without .ZBF
extension.
ZBPLAY will load a ZBF file into memory and allow you to play it
until ESCAPE is pressed. ZBPLAY can handle up to 32640 bytes of
digitized data. ZBF files larger than 32640 bytes will play, but
only the first 32640 bytes are used.
* Z BLASTER MEGA PLAYER
Z Blaster Mega Player ZBMEGA.COM allows you to play ZBF files from
a file name pick list until ESCAPE is pressed. ZBMEGA supports 80
column VDC mode only. This is included with Z Blaster Kit 1.0, but
it will not play files created with Z Blaster Kit 2.0. If you
register Z Blaster Kit 2.0 then you will receive Z Blaster Mega
Player 2.0 which will play 1.0 or 2.0 version ZBF files. To run:
[D:]ZBMEGA
You must be logged into the drive with the ZBF files you want to
play. Also, no command line parameters are required.
* Z BLASTER RECORDER
Z Blaster Recorder ZBREC.COM creates 1 bit ZBF files without
leaving CP/M! To record a ZBF file:
[D:]ZBREC [D:]FILENAME SIZE HZ
FILENAME = standard 1 to 8 character CP/M file name without .ZBF
extension.
SIZE = 128 to 32640 bytes. SIZE will be rounded to the nearest
128 byte block. i.e. SIZE = (SIZE DIV 128)*128.
HZ = 4000 to 17000 Hz sample rate. HZ will be adjusted to
match the closest timer latch value.
You need to have a Covox Voice Master with a plastic enclosure.
The one in the aluminum enclosure will not work. I'm not sure
about the Jr. If you get the Jr. to work drop me a line, so I can
support it in future documentation releases. ZBREC will not lock
up if you don't have a Voice Master. It will just create a silent
sound file.
You may notice that when you plug the Voice Master into control
port 2 that it affects the keyboard polling. This does not occur
in native 64 or 128 modes. The only way around it is to plug the
Voice Master in when ZBREC tells you to and unplug it when
finished. This can be a pain, but I was able to leave it plugged
in and just delete the extra characters that pop out. You can use
the numeric key pad and ENTER since the Voice Master has no affect
on the extended keys. This should help save some retyping!
Once ZBREC is up and running you can press SPACE to record, P to
play or Y to save until ESCAPE is pressed.
* Z BLASTER IMPORT
Z Blaster Import ZBIMPORT.COM is for those of you that don't have
a Covox Voice Master or other means to create ZBF files. ZBIMPORT
allows you to import 1, 4 and 8 bit uncompressed sound files to 1
or 4 bit ZBF files. To import a file:
[D:]ZBIMPORT [D:]SOURCE.EXT SBITS [D:]DEST DBITS HZ
SOURCE.EXT = standard 1 to 8 character CP/M file name with
extension. Source file to read.
SBITS = 1, 4 or 8 bit uncompressed source file.
DEST = standard 1 to 8 character CP/M file name without .ZBF
extension. ZBF file to create.
DBITS = 1 or 4 bit ZBF file.
HZ = 4000 to 17000 Hz sample rate. HZ will be adjusted to
match the closest timer latch value.
You may have to import a couple of times to get the Hz right.
ZBIMPORT allows you to import ANY file, so if you import a DOC file
expect strange sounds. If you are sure it is a digitized sound
file make sure it doesn't use any form of compression.
* WORKING WITH Z BLASTER KIT
Included are various sounds recorded with a PC Sound Blaster Pro
card and 128 CP/M Z Blaster Recorder. There are many utilities for
the PC which allow you to convert sound files to various formats.
I converted 8 bit Sound Blaster .VOC files to Macintosh 8 bit .SND
files and used Z Blaster Import to make 4 and 1 bit ZBF files.
ZBF errors may pop up while using any of the command line driven
programs. If it is a positive value then it is a Turbo Pascal 3.1
I/O error. If it is a negative value then it is an internal error.
If you can't figure what's causing it then drop me a line. Most of
the time you will not get any errors.
* ZBF FILE FORMAT
The ZBF file format is straight forward and flexible. If you are
a Programmer or Hacker you might want to play ZBF files in your own
programs or on other computers. The first 128 bytes of a ZBF file
make up the header in the following format:
Field Type Description
Version word ZBF version
Compress byte Type of compression
SamBits byte Bits per sample
Delay word Hardware timer value
Size long integer Sample Size
Hz word Sample frequency
Filler array 116 byte filler
Remember that words are arranged in Intel lo/hi order. The current
ZBF version is 0200h which stands for 02.00. Compress is set to 0
which means no compression. Future releases may include silence
encoding and other encoding schemes to reduce file size. SamBits
is set to 1 or 4 for one or four bit sample data. One bit files
use strings of 0s and 1s from left to right make up the sound's
shape. You can play each bit through the SID's volume control to
produce the sound on the 128. Set volume to 0 for 0 bits and 1
through 15 for 1 bits. Four bit files hold two samples per byte.
You extract the high nibble first by shifting the byte four times
to the right. Store this 4 bit value in the SID's volume control.
Then and the same unmodified byte with 0fh to extract and play the
second nibble. Delay is hardware dependent. Files created on the
C128 will have CIA timer latch values and IBM created files will
have 8253 timer latch values. It is best to calculate the latch
value from Hz instead of Delay. Size is the sample size in bytes.
On the IBM I use the whole 32 bit long integer. With the C128 I'm
only using the low word which gives a maximum length of 64K. I
support up to 32K right now due to the limited memory on the 128 in
CP/M mode. Hz is the samples per second frequency. Higher Hz
values create better sound quality at a cost of more memory.
Filler is for future header expansion. I set the filler bytes to
0 currently.
Immediately following the header is the digitized sound data. Your
program can figure how much to read from the lo word of the Size
field.
* HOW TO CONTACT ME
Please report any support questions (for registered users only),
problems, suggestions, etc. to me via GEnie as
S.GOLDSMITH2, voice phone (813) 925-1064 or mail to:
Steve Goldsmith
2805 Jamaica Street
Sarasota, FL 34231
* CHECK OUT THESE OTHER GREAT C128 CP/M FILES ON GENIE'S FLAGSHIP
ALL Libraries.
No. File Name Type Address YYMMDD Bytes Access Lib
----- ------------------------ - ------------ ------ ------- ------ ---
10635 BLUE.ARC X S.GOLDSMITH2 921218 47232 19 11
Desc: CP/M VDC Arcade game! Digi sound!
10636 BLUE.LBR X S.GOLDSMITH2 921218 56960 9 11
Desc: Uncompressed CP/M LBR of BLUE.ARC
10693 BLUEINTU.ARC X S.GOLDSMITH2 921225 43904 10 11
Desc: Interlace update of BLUE.ARC game!
10694 BLUEINTU.LBR X S.GOLDSMITH2 921225 53632 7 11
Desc: Interlace update of BLUE.LBR game!
10187 IBMFONT.LBR X S.GOLDSMITH2 921007 15104 10 9
Desc: IBM font for C128, VDC & CP/M!
10224 INTLACE.LBR X S.GOLDSMITH2 921010 15744 17 23
Desc: Interlace 80X50 text for 128 & CP/M
10487 JOYSTICK.LBR X S.GOLDSMITH2 921119 14848 10 9
Desc: Use joy stick in CP/M with TP source
10511 MDRAW.LBR X S.GOLDSMITH2 921127 20736 11 9
Desc: CP/M 1351 Mouse Draw with TP source
10498 MOUSE.LBR X S.GOLDSMITH2 921122 30464 11 9
Desc: Use 1351 mouse in CP/M with TP sourc
10088 ZBDEMO10.LBR X S.GOLDSMITH2 920911 67072 8 22
Desc: C128 CP/M digitized music & voice!
10123 ZBKIT.LBR X S.GOLDSMITH2 920920 111104 20 21
Desc: Make DIGITIZED sound files for 128!
10134 ZMMEDIA.LBR X S.GOLDSMITH2 920925 155136 21 21
Desc: Multimedia for the C128, CP/M, VDC!