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1993-12-24
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──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
TopEND ConFiG 669 Trekker
Version 1.32 - 24/12/1993
This product is
F R E E W A R E
FOR THE GRAVIS ULTRASOUND CARD
= MERRY CHRISTMAS =
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
1. Quick start
───────────────────────────────────────────
Ok, you want to skip the boring bits and get right down to it.....
type in "TC669". all too easy....
Well, not quiet...make sure that you have the "ULTRASND" directive in
your config file. If you have correctly installed your Gravis Ultrasound
software, then this would have done it for you.
When you've played around with it, and determined if it's worth keeping on your
harddisk, you may like to read the rest of this document.
If you are a novice computer user, it will pay you to read on.
* * * * * * *
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
TopEND ConFiG 669 Trekker
Version 1.32 - 24/12/1993
By TopEND ConFiG PTY SOFTWARE HOUSE!
Designed and Coded by Jason Nunn [BBBUS Computing/NTU] (aka JsNO BAR----NUNN)
(c) 1993, TopEND ConFiG PTY
This product is
F R E E W A R E
=Contacts=
Snail: 32 Rothdale Road,
Moil, DARWIN, NT,
0810,
AUSTRALIA.
TEL: (089) 278088 (Strictly business hours only!!!)
InterNET Email: dcug@nutmeg.cs.ntu.edu.au
If your are in the Darwin area, you may like to
leave message for me on the Mark's Amiga Retreat
BBS (089) 451516 or John Ross's "SENTINEL" BBS
TEL: (089) 452708
Or contact:
Mark Keogh (markk@nutmeg.cs.ntu.edu.au)
He will pass any messages on to me.
=Thanks you's=
Dick HP verweij - For his constructive criticism and testing.
Mark Keogh - For providing a SB card (V2.0).
Thomas Wong - For testing.
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
1. Synopsis
───────────────────────────────────────────
This version was supposed to be version 2.00ß with beta version SB
routines. Running SB the routines under test conditions sounded great- The
theory, concept and implementation looked "very good on paper". These routines
were written to page tiny chucks in sample from extended memory, then mix
these little pieces in conventional, then squirt it down the DMA.
They seemed that they wouldn't slow things down too much....I was wrong.
Running them in a testing foreground, they sounded fine,....when adding them
to the tracker and they *just* barely worked on my 486-33 Mhz machine. They
have been an absolute bloody disaster to say the least.
Well...there is a lesson in this:- For any body writing software in real mode
that use extended memory,...please don't do it....you will be waiting your
time. Well, at least we know now.
My next SB routines will be restricted to the 8086 1 meg boundary. I
estimate that you could have a sample space of between 300k to 420k (if
you're very lucky...note also that the extra 120k or so will not be
contingous). At current, you will be able to play 89% of 669 files. This will
be a much, much faster routine as it won't have to do extended memory paging
and will be a whole lot simpler (These current routines would be fine if there
was no tracker code :-} ).
There is a lot more things I would like to do with this version, but I have
seriously ran out of time....
New features are two signal component spliting graphs, a shell facility, and
a tagg file system.
2. INSTALLATION AND USAGE
────────────────────────────────────────────────
Ok, first off, if you haven't installed your Gravis Software correctly,
please do it now. The reason why you must properly install it is that the
Ultrasound installation program puts an environment variable in the
AUTOEXEC.BAT file. TC669 needs this in order to determine your PORT and
IRQ settings for your card.
You *may* like to set your path environment (Note: it is not mandatory). Add
the following entry to the end of your "PATH=" entry in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
;<the path of your TC669 player>
(For example, if your path looked like:
PATH=C:\DOS;C:\WINDOWS\C:\ULTRASND
then you would add this:
PATH=C:\DOS;C:\WINDOWS\C:\ULTRASND;C:\TC669
Once done, save the AUTOEXEC.BAT file, and restart your computer.
Then, type in "TC669" at the DOS prompt and press ENTER. The title screen
should appear. Once you have looked at it enough, press any key to make it
disappear. You should then see the actual tracking screen. Up the top of the
screen you will see 8 menu items. Move the LEFT or RIGHT arrow keys until the
"FILE" menu item is lightlighted (note it is highlighted by default), then
press enter. A file directory should then appear. This will allow you to look
around your file system to find and load *.669 files (669 files have "669"
extensions). Directories are highlighted a different colour from 669 files,
to go into a directory, move the hightlight bar over a directory (using the
UP and DOWN arrow keys) and then press ENTER.
Once you have reached a directory containing 669 files. Move the highlight bar
over a desired 669 file and press ENTER. The selected 669 file will then play.
If you do not have enough sample memory to load all samples, then these samples
will be silenced (The tracker will tell you this if it ever occurred).
The above procedure will allow you to play a single file. The loaded tune will
continuously repeat until you load another file.
You can also "tagg" files. That is, you can tell the tracker to play a set
number of files. These files will be loaded a played as though you were doing
it by hand. It do this, go to a directory with 669's (do this with the procedure
described above), then select a set of files using the SPACE BAR. As you are
selecting these files, they will change colour (denoting that they are
highlighted). Once you have finished selecting the files you want to play, press
ENTER. These files will then play one after the other. The tracker will allow
you to tagg up to 100 files.
The root screen is made up of 5 boxes. The first one is "Song Name". This is a
108 byte field that presents author information about the playing 669 (eg when
it was rippped etc)
The next box is the "Info" box. It describes a pot-porri of information, like:
- Number of Samples,
- Number of Patterns,
- The current sequence playing,
- etc
It also displays a little progress bar called "Prog".
The next box called "T" (down the bottom) is called the "Pattern Tracker" box.
It displays a given pattern playing at a given sequence. As you can see, it
displays the "treks" and "slots". In each slot there appears an entry similar
to "00C#1F--". This contains info about the "sample-note-volume-command"
components.
For null notes, nothing appears. They are "void" notes. Hence the name- "null
notes". They look like these: " --". Only commands can be used with these
types of slots. When used, they will appear as: " f4".
For normal notes, the slot characteristics appear as follows:
If you had a slot looking like "00C-21d1", then the sample component would be
"00", the note component would be "C-2", the volume component would be "1", and
the command bit would be "d1" (frequency sync)
Concatenate it all together and you get "00C-21d1". You can make active use of
all components with these types of slots (from a composer perspective).
The last type of slot is the "Volume Only" slot. It looks like " VOL9--". Only
volume and commands can be used in these types of slots. If commands are used
then they will appear like this " VOL9e3". Here the vibrato command is being
used in this "volume only" slot.
The last box displays the slot tracking of samples. It displays (i) The sample
name being played in a given channel at a given time (ii) the volume level that
was played in the slot (indicated by the jam bars)
(Note, The words "SLOT" and "NOTE" mean the same thing)
SINFO (sample Information)
──────────────────────────
This displays statistical and sample information on a currently playing file.
You can not access this section if there is no file loaded (for those people
who have asked why they sometimes can't get into it).
To the right, you will see a table. This contains a list of sample decriptions
which display the sample file names in the 669 currently playing. However, It
is customary for composers to put any additional information in here.
If the number of samples exceeds the table length, then you can use the UP
and DOWN arrow keys to view the rest- this will scroll the sample table.
SCOPE
─────
This displays a 300 point scope on a VGA 320*200 256 colour BMP picture.
You can change the BMP picture that is loaded for the scope, by loading TC669
in another directory that has a different BMP file in it. TC669 looks in the
directory that it is in and uses the first BMP file it finds. Note that the
BMP loading algorithm that I made is only intelligent enough to load a 320x200
256 colour BMP file. If it finds any other type of BMP then it will not
display it.
(NB/ BMP is a MicroSoft windows graphics standard which stands for "BIT MAP
PICTURE")
Press ESC to exit back to the main screen.
F32 (32 point fourier Transformation graph)
───────────────────────────────────────────
This will put the screen in to 80*50 mode and displays the graph in the bottom
half of the screen.
The fourier algorithm computes delta's at each point a long an output signal.
These delta's determine the proxy frequency components of a signal. If it is a
big delta, then chances are that there is a really high frequency getting
pumped out of output. If the delta's are very small then chances are that low
frequencies are being played...
and so, we record these different frequency "tallies" on a graph as follows.
│ / <- cut off
│ / *
│ / *
│/ low freq. *
│ * present in * <- high frequency present in output signal.
│ * <- output signal. *
│ * *
└──────────────────────────────
To get back to a normal the normal screen, press the "F32" button again. If
doesn't work then press the "ESC" key.
D32 (AMP Stat Graph - also affectionately called the "Dancing Pig")
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Again, a 80*50 text screen will appear; The D32 graph will run at the bottom
of the screen, and the main tracking screen will run on the top half.
This statistically records pitch levels of a signal from a fixed level in
a signal and displays them on a graph.
The operation of using D32 is the same as D32.
SHELL
─────
This forks a shell and allows you to do DOS operations and use a limited
number of applications. Don't load up any games, operating system extensions
(eg Windows), as this will crash your machine. As a general rule, don't load
up any "real time" applications.
Tagging will not work in the Shell unfortunity. Implementing it produces
complications for DOS and the GUS card. I should have a solution for this by
next version.
To exit back into the tracker, type in "EXIT".
INFO
────
Displays a copyright notice about TC669.
EXIT
────
This will exit you out of the tracker.
--
Just one last note, if you load up the tracker and find that it's really
ultraclicky, type in "ultrinit". I've got a dicky init route that gets
effected by other previously loaded programs that don't clean up properly.
About the 669 Format
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
This section is going to explain to you what a 669 file is. I'm going to attempt to explain it is very simple terms.
If you can imagine a musical band consisting of 8 people. Each person can play
at the same time and each of them have to read from a musical script that tells
them to play certain notes at certain times. Normal bands are stuck with the
same instruments. The 669 band however is a little different. They possess the
ability to change their instruments when ever they are instructed to.
In more technical terms, this 669 tracker represents the people playing the
instruments. When a 669 file is loaded, it *gives* the tracker the instruments
to play, and tells it to play the instruments in certain channels (the people)
at certain times.
The musical script that the tracker reads from is organised in such a manor
that it splits up music into so called "patterns". A pattern is a length of
musical notes for each channel. The reason for this is because music tends
to repeat itself. This is handly, because instead of having two identical
patterns that are played at different times,it can tell the tracker to play the
same pattern at those different times. This is done with a "Sequence" table.
This table tells the tracker to play the patterns in a given order.
The instruments are called "samples". They represent "real Life" digital
recordings, identical to that of recorded CD's, and that is all a 669 file is!.
The 669's purpose in life is to be used in games and demos. However many people
produce 669's just for the sheer pleasure of making them.
669's (and any module formats for that matter) make good economic use of space.
They represent the same thing as a single stream of raw digital recording (like
on a CD), accept module formats reduce redundancy of sound to be played, and
that is why they call them "module" formats - They make digital music as small
and compact as possible by eliminating repetition.
Here is some comparison information about the 669 format in point form:
- It's IBM PC born (doesn't come from whizz click Amiga's)
- Inventor: Tomasz Pytel (aka "Tran") of RENAISSANCE
- 8 Channel Tracker
- Total no of sequences is 128 (refered to as an ORDER LIST)
- Total no of patterns is 128
- Total no of samples in format is 65 (yes, yes I know that you can only
play samples from 0 to 63 and pattern 64 can never be played)
- A pattern consists of 64 so called "treks" (same as ProTrk)
- Each trek consists of 8 "slots"
- A slot defines the note to be played in a given channel, in a given trek,
in a given pattern, in a given sequence (sounds clumsy, but mathematically
correct). A slot is organised in the following manor:
o Sample to be played (with a precision of 64 samples)
o Note Value (4 octaves....NB: TC669 supports 5)
o Volume Value (16 settings)
o 6 possible commands a Portamento Up (slides freq. up)
b Portamento Down (slides freq. down)
c Note Portamento (slides freq. from notes)
d Frequency Sync (adjusts freq.)
e Vibrato (vibrates freq.)
f Tempo (sets tracking speed)
How to make a 669
─────────────────
There isn't a lot of composing software for 669's. Their are two that I know of:
"COMPOSED" (the original) and "FAREDOLE".
After TC669 has SB support, I will commence work on a Gravis and SB composer.
You can use my 66D (669 Description Language Compiler) to build 669's. Although
it is not ment to be used to make 669's (only for hacking them), you can do it,
BUT you have to be very good with music (not to mention patient).
Where to get 669's
──────────────────
Once upon a time, they were pretty hard to come by. Now they are quiet abundant.
If you have InterNET access then you can find them on:
"wuarchive.wustl.edu" in the filepath of "/micros/pc/gravis/music/669/files"
OR
"archive.orst.edu" in the filepath of "/micros/packages/gravis/music/669/
files"
OR
"klingon.epas.utoronto.ca in the filepath of "/pub/pc/ultrasound/music/669/
files"
If you have a modem or a CDROM drive, you will find them on SIMTEL CD's and on
most popular BBS's.
About TopEND ConFiG
───────────────────
After finishing my Bachelor of Business Degree, I hunted for work for 4 months.
I didn't want to leave Darwin, as my family is up here. After doing some work
experience, I was inspired to go into business for myself.
TopEND ConFiG PTY started business in May 1993. At the moment, this business
specialises in making custom built systems for organisations around the Topend
vicinity. Much Later on, shareware and commerical software will follow suit.
WHAT'S NEW
────────────────────────────────────────────
=WHAT'S NEW=
────────────
1- TC669 V1.00ß and 66D V1.0|V1.0 - Thursday 18/08/93 (BETA RELEASE)
o First released TC669 & 66D on InterNET.
2- TC669 V1.01ß and 66D V1.0|V1.0 - Monday 22/08/93
o Released it around Darwin (might release this version on InterNET)
o A small intra-sequence bug was found. "WORLD.669" now plays without
pausing intra-sequence...EG the 3535...53535"4"353...535"4"3535 effect.
o Bug in finding "no of sequences" has been fixed. "FINAL.669" now plays
without going RS at the end of the song.
o Fixed minor problems regarding the jam bars.
3- TC669 V1.02 - Saturday 23/10/1993
o I got one response back from somebody in Darwin, hence TC669 is no
longer a beta version.
o 66D is now software in it's own right and will no longer be distributed
with TC669.
o More compact and optimised code.
o Ditched the EGA 640x350 title screen.
o Ditched the TC669 environment variable.
o Runs off the GUS IRQ.
o Totally Ultraclick free.
o bugs fixes.
o Modified tracker screen (and bug fixes).
o Scope has been implemented.
o "SINFO" has now been implemented.
o TC669 is now fully compliant.
o 16 screens of on-line documentation.
4- TC669 V1.30 - Saturday 18/12/1993 (Test version -
Given to Dick)
o ok,...my mistake. There is nothing wrong with the 669 file called
"LOST IN GERMANY" (GERMANY.669). I made a wrong assumption regarding
the difference between a looped sample and a normal sample when loading
a 669 file. Lost in Germany plays ok ...(and so do every other 669 that
were converted using MOD2669).
o Chucked the V1.00ß sequence control code back in (with a few
modifications). All 669's will now play right.
o Improved the scope.
o Stuck SB code in - sounded like shit - so then I took it out again :(.
o Added a 32 bit real time text "fourier transformation" graph.
o Added 32 bit real time text "Amp stat" graph (aka "dancing Pig")..
o Improved effects so that they all now sound identical to COMPOSD.
o Slowed down the tracker a bit (it tracked a bit too fast).
o Dos shell facility added.
o Added tagg file facility "select-em then play-em" type thingy.
o Ditched U-click option. You would never need it now.
(Note: I put in a Delta Attractor graph, however, it looked pretty much the
same as a fourier, so a decided to rip it out).
5- TC669 V1.31-1.32 - Saturday 22-24/12/1993
o Fixed a minor bugs with the help of Dick and Thomas.
=WHAT's NEXT?=
──────────────
- SB support (back to the drawing board).
- SETS (Top secret)
- Try and get the tagging system to work in DOS.
- Findles etc.
ooo0ooo