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EnigmA Amiga Run 1995 November
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EnigmA AMIGA RUN 02 (1995)(G.R. Edizioni)(IT)[!][issue 1995-11][Skylink CD].iso
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nozsound.lha
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Noziam_Sound_Machine.DOC
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1995-07-26
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Noziam Sound Machine v1.0
John G. Nozum
9 Waynesburg Pike
Moundsville, WV 26041
U.S.A.
July 1995
What is Noziam Sound Machine? Well, it is a program that allows you to have up
to 36 sounds loaded into chip ram at the same time and lets you play up to four
at a time via the Amiga's keyboard. By the way, "Noziam" is an adjective that
I made out of my last name, Nozum.
This program was written in AMOS the Creator, v1.36. While I have tried to get
all the known bugs out of the program, you may have some weird problems on the
first 4-8 times that you activate a sound. This bug is in AMOS itself--in the
SAM RAW command. Other than this, the program seems to be pretty solid.
However, you may not encounter the AMOS bug at all, for I tried a work-around
by silently using the SAM RAW command eight times before control is handed to
you.
The program is easy to use. After a couple initialization screens, you are
taken to a file requester. One thing not shown in the file requester is how to
change current devices. To do this, move the mouse pointer into the directory
window and click on the RIGHT mouse button. Now scroll through and select the
device with the LEFT mouse button. Also, to get to a parent directory, click
on the "o" right above the UP arrow. At this stage, four different file
formats are recognized when loading: IFF one-shots (IFF-8SVX),
IFF-Instruments, raw data, and Noziam Sound Machine's own script files. If you
hit ESC or click on QUIT, then the program will quit loading stuff. If you do
this on the first entry, the program will abort itself.
If a IFF one-shot sound is loaded successfully, it will load the sound and ask
you what key you want to use to play that particular sound. Note that the
sound will not be heard at this time.
If an IFF-Instrument is loaded successfully (more than one octave), then the
MIDDLE or first octave below the middle one will be loaded. The rest is
disgarded in the load operation. The purpose of this setup is to load an
octave that is as close to the middle one as possible, but also attempt to
preserve optimal sound quality. Again, you will be asked for a key to program
this sound into.
If a raw file is found, you will be warned that it is not an IFF sound file and
be asked whether if you want to go ahead and load the raw data. If you answer
'y', then it will proceed, otherwise, the file requester will be brought up
again. If you do go on, you will be asked for a playback rate between 1000 and
28045. Next, you will be asked for a key to program this sound into.
If a Noziam Sound Machine script file is recognized, then it will automatically
execute it. These script files are simply a list of pathnames, playback rates,
and volumes, all which is generated by this program. If you save such a file,
BE SURE that you do not change any pathnames and such to your sounds, or you
will have an error and the program will abort.
After selecting one or more sounds, click on QUIT or hit ESC to start enjoying
the program. Note that when loading a NSM (Noziam Sound Machine) script file,
you will automatically be taken to the main part unless an error occurs.
After about 2/3 of a second, the program is ready to enjoy. This delay is
where the SAM RAW command is used eight times to hopefully get the error
activity over before control is handed to you.
Now comes the fun! Press any of the keys (DO NOT USE SHIFT KEYS) to hear those
sounds that you want to hear. Note that if you try to play more than four
sounds and the first sounds are not done yet, they will be cut off in order to
accommodate the new sounds. To stop all the sounds immediately, but not stop
the program, press the SPACE BAR. To save an NSM script file, press SHIFT-S
and you will be taken to the file requester for saving your file. To start
over, press SHIFT-L for LOAD. Again, all four file formats are recognized. To
edit the volume and/or pitch of a sound, first play that sound, and then press
SHIFT-E for EDIT. Note that you do not have to wait until the sound dies out.
It will be cut off immediately when entering the EDIT screen. The edit screen
is self-explanatory and allows you to change the pitch and/or volume of a sound
and to test that sound from the EDIT mode. The controls in the EDIT mode
include: P for changing playback rate (pitch), V for changing volume, T for
testing, SPACE BAR for aborting sound during test mode, and E for Ending the
EDIT mode. If you use SHIFT-A while in the main part, you will be taken to the
LOADing mode again, but sounds will be APPENDED to the pre-existing ones.
WARNING: NSM scripts are NOT recognized during an APPEND operation or after
one or more sounds are already loaded during a LOAD operation. To end the
program while in the main part, use ESC.
Note that this program will check the amount of chip ram that you have, and it
will immediately grab a little over 90% of it for itself. It is not advisable
to multi-task with this program. However, directory utilities, such as
Directory Opus do not pose a problem other than stealing a little bit of chip
ram. Note that any programs started AFTER NSM is started may behave strangely
or crash do to extremely low amounts of remaining chip ram.
Also, note that this program will not allow you to accidently overdo your chip
ram. If you try to load too much stuff, a bell will ring and that load will be
aborted. Note that you may have some strange problems on Amigas with no fast
ram. This is because sounds are loaded into another area of memory for
examination before being placed into the play buffer. This can be a
significant problem with large sounds (on Amigas with no fast memory).
In addition, if the screen stays black when starting the program, use
LEFT-AMIGA-A repeatedly until one of the screens come on; This is caused by
another bug in AMOS itself. This program will work with KS 1.3 or higher.
Lastly, if you do wish to multi-task or whatever, use LEFT-AMIGA-A to toggle
between this program and Workbench.
I hope that this helps you out. Have fun stirring up the town!
From John G. Nozum