PC World Komputer 1996 February

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Text File | 1995-06-27 | 32.6 KB | 737 lines

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ ███▀▀██▀▀██ ██ ███▀▀██▀▀██ ▄▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄▄ ███ ▄▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄▄ │ │ ███ ██ ██ ██▀▀██ ██▀▀██ ███ ██ ██ ▄▄▄▄██ ███▄▄▄ ███▀▀ ██▄▄██ ███ ▀▀ │ │ ███ ██ ██ ██▄▄██ ██▄▄██ ███ ██ ██ ██▄▄██ ▄▄▄▄██ ███▄▄ ██▄▄▄▄ ███ │ │ │ │ | - VERSION 2.1 - | │ │ ·∙┼∙· ·∙┼∙· │ │ | (c) 1993, 1995 Freddy VETELE & Fabrice COUTEAU | │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ___ __ _ ____ ___ _ ____ ___ / / ) /| / / /__ /| / / (_ (__ (__/ / |/ / /__ / |/ / ___) ___________________________________________________________ / )\ / I. Introduction / / / II. Main features / / / III. Program's description (interactive mode) / / / IV. Running with a command line / / / V. Compatibility and tests / / / VI. Problems, causes and solutions / / / VII. Information and miscellaneous / / (___________________________________________________________/ / \__________________________________________________________\/ I. Introduction ╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ════════════════╝ Mod Master is back after one year of programming and some intensive debugging. It's now faster, more convenient and better looking. ;) Minimal configuration: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - 386 Processor - 1MB RAM - VGA Display - 2-button Mouse (if your mouse has one button only, you may have a Mac ;( ) - Of course, to have a sound card would be better... (the internal speaker sounds sooo ugly !!) II. Main features ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ══════════════════╝ Music formats supported ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────── ────────────────────────┘ With the 2.1 release, Mod Master has become a Multi Player. Now it supports numerous music formats originating from the Amiga, PC and even Falcon. We believe that Mod Master interprets most mod formats correctly. We have attempted to implement all known effects supported by the different supported formats. For example: - the Stereo Control table (Panning) of S3M v1.2 files - the Tempo table of 669 files - the length-variable patterns of DTM files... Here is the whole list of music formats supported in Mod Master v2.1 : Extension Type Voices Tracker Remarks --------- ---- ----- ------------------------- ------------------------ *.NST M.K. 4 Tetra Composer *.SD0 M.K. 4 ??? like NoiseTracker *.MOD --- 4 NoiseTracker '' M.K. 4 ProTracker, SoundTracker... '' M!K! 4 '' '' M&K& 4 '' '' 6CHN 6 Fast Tracker 1.x '' 8CHN 8 Fast Tracker 1.x '' 10CH 10 TakeTracker,Fast Tracker 2.x '' 12CH 12 '' '' . '' '' . '' '' 32CH 32 '' '' FLT4 4 Startrekker '' RASP 4 Startrekker '' FLT8 8 Startrekker '' OCTA 8 Octalyzer '' CD81 8 Octalyser Atari STe and Falcon '' FA04 4 Digital Tracker F030 '' FA08 8 Digital Tracker F030 *.WOW 8 Mod's Grave *.669 'if' 8 Composer 669 '' 'JN' 8 UNIS669 extended 669 *.STM 4 Scream Tracker 2.x *.S3M 2..16 Scream Tracker 3.x 16 digit voices+9 FM *.MTM 4..32 MultiTracker 1.x *.DTM 4..32 Digital Tracker F030 Remark: The DTM format created by MC JEE/KAMIKAZES is very commonly used with the Falcon and Mod Master is, I believe, the only PC player that supports it. ;) You can find some DTM files on Internet, at the following address: ftp.cnam.fr (in the Atari directory) Some music formats like ULT, FAR, OKT, AMF or OctaMed are not implemented yet because they still are not very common, but don't worry we will soon fix this at least for ULT and OctaMed. Effects (or commands) ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────── ──────────────────────┘ Almost those formats use the standard Amiga Protracker effects (except the 669 files that have very few effects). These effects have all been implemented (except Set Filter and FunkIt using material parts of the Amiga !). The other formats have brought in some new effects like Set Global Volume, Extra Fine Portamento (S3M) or Set Panning... Remark: The Set Panning command is quite special because it has been added to the MOD format by Otto Chrons for Dual Module Player (it's the #8 command that was not used in the original format). Some people have done the same but they modified the command, so you might find a Set Panning with a 0-128 range and an other with a 0-16 one (well for the Gravis UltraSound in this case). In S3M files, the panning range is 0-16. Mod Master supports a 0-128 range, this include the two special cases noted above (but what about a real standard ?). ;) III. Program's description (interactive mode) ╔══════════════════════════════ ══════════════════════════════════════════════╝ The user-interface of Mod Master is composed of three screens: - the main screen for setting options and selecting files - the text-mode screen while playing - the graphic-mode screen while playing Settings and selecting the modules ┌─────────────────────────────────────── ───────────────────────────────────┘ This interface is very intuitive and also easy to use: on the left, the file selector permits you to choose one module (with the ─┘ key or left button of the mouse) or to select a list of modules to make a play list (Space key or right button of the mouse). You can scroll the file selector either with the , Page, Home, End, Ctrl+Page keys or with the mouse. Special Keys ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ┌ F1 ·············· Display an help window │ ─ ─ ··········· Search for the previous/next module of the program │ Shift+<A..Z> ···· Search for a module by it's first letter │ - + ············· Decrease/Increase the selected module volume │ ─Del ··········· Set up the default volume to the selected module │ Ctrl+─┘ ········ Set up the default volume to all the modules │ Tab ············· Swap the module information display │ Del ············· Delete the selected module from the disk │ Alt+<A..Z> ······ Change drive │ Ctrl+V ·········· Compute the CPU-time taken by music routines │ Ctrl+S ·········· Save on disk the first seconds of the module └ as MMSON.S file (only available in Mono!) on the right, some buttons... ________ │ Output █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ In this window, you can select the sound output that you want from: Internal speaker (ouch!) DAC on LPT1 or LPT2 port Sound Blaster Sound Blaster Pro Sound Master (Adlib compatible) Disney Sound Source on LPT1 or LPT2 port Gravis UltraSound A sub-window appears on the right for each output selected, and there you can set up more specific parameters: Frequency (all outputs except Gravis UltraSound) ~~~~~~~~~ 5000 Hz to 45400 Hz. Adjust it depending on the output selected, (22700 Hz maximum for SB Pro stereo), the speed of your PC and the number of channels in the module (up to 32). / If you choose internal speaker, don't set up the Warning < frequency above 20 kHz... But who still listens \ to music with this old stuff ?! |D DMA channel, IRQ material interrupt (SB, SB Pro) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can select the DMA channel number 0,1 or 3. The available IRQ numbers are 2,5,7 (and 10 for SB Pro). / These values are auto-detected by Mod Master NOTE < if the BLASTER environment variable is found. \ (set in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file) Continuous DMA mode -DC- (SB, SB Pro) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This data transfer mode provides a sound of a much higher quality than that of the normal transfer mode, and requires less CPU overhead. It works on most 100% Sound Blaster compatible sound cards but you might have to disable it with some clones. Version number V x.x (SB, SB Pro in SB mode) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It is normally auto-detected and matches that of your card. The version number might be wrong with some clones (because of compatibility problems); then you can change it there (except SB Pro). Mono/Stereo, Mixing (SB Pro) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The mixing option is only available in stereo mode and provides you a good listening if you listen to the music through a headphones or on an external amplifier (better sharing between the left and right sound channels). Without mixing, the voices of a 4-voice module (for example) are divided as follow: 2 voices through the left channel and 2 voices through the right channel, with the same global volume assigned for each. With mixing, the 2 voices that are sent through the left channel are also sent through the right one, but at a lower volume. The same for the right channel. Filter, Left/Right volume (SB Pro) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The low-pass filter reduces the high frequencies level. You can also adjust separately the volume of each sound channel (upto the maximum by default). DRAM size, Mixing (Gravis UltraSound) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It shows the memory size installed on your sound card. You can also adjust the mixing on mono or stereo (linear scale, centered by default). _________ │ Options █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Default volume (1 to 100%) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can use this feature to increase the global volume. This can be used to increase the playback level on soft modules Since each sample is digitized at 8 bits (values from 0 to 255), the technique used to return simultaneously 4 samples consists in dividing the amplitude of each instrument by 4 (with 4 voices you obtain values from 0 to 1023, therefore coded on 10 bit). In fact, this volume is the coefficient put on each sample, then you can adjust at best the amplitude of each instrument to keep the maximum of precision in the calculations. This coefficient is above 1/4th, because it is unusual to find modules that have a volume close to the maximum allowed on 8 bit. Remark: in stereo mode, the volume is automatically doubled so that the sound quality is higher (the calculations are at least on 9 bit). / If the default volume is too high, you will hear some Warning < very unpleasant 'crackling' in the sound, due to \ DAC overflows. The default volume is assigned to all new modules detected in the current directory. IntroScan length (2 to 30 seconds) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Affects the listening duration of the first seconds of a module with the IntroScan function. EMS, UMB memory ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you have installed any extended/expanded memory manager like EMM386, QEMM or equivalent, you can tell Mod Master to force loading the modules first in these memory areas. You should always enable both of these options to load big modules and still have plenty of memory in a Dos Shell. / When Mod Master can't load all the samples of a module NOTE < the number of samples succesfully loaded blinks in the \ text-screen... FineTune ~~~~~~~~ Enables or disables the note-period fine setting commands. (for MOD files only). Panning ~~~~~~~ By default, Mod Master does a panning effect if it finds a #8 command in the partition but this command is not standard, so its effect may be different from that used by the module's composer. If a mod doesn't "sound right", disable this option. BPM "Beats Per Minute" ~~~ It's a tempo fine setting command that appeared in the ProTracker modules. Disable this option for old MOD files... Octaves MOD (3 or 5) ~~~~~~~~~~~ Select the number of octaves in the MOD and MOD-like modules (OCT, WOW, NST, SD0, ...). You should always set up this option on 5 to hear all the notes in these modules. Screen saver (1 to 5 minutes) ~~~~~~~~~~~~ If this option is enabled, you will see a nice screen saver n minutes after the last key hit... ___________ │ IntroScan █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Well known to the audiophiles, this function allows you to hear the first seconds of several modules played in succession. If there is no play list, all of the modules are selected, otherwise the function works on the play list only. While playing a module, you can disable this function by hitting 'I', then you will hear the whole module. _________ _________ │ Shuffle █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ This is also a classic function found on most of the CD-players: it allows you to play a program or the whole of the modules in a random order. If there is no play list, all of the modules are selected, otherwise the function works on the play list only. ______ │ Play █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Starts playing the selected modules in the program order. _____ │ All █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀ Selects all the modules of the directory and make them a play list (cancels the previous program if there was one). _______ │ Clear █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Cancels the current play list (unselects the modules). ______ │ Load █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Loads a play list from the current directory (cancels the previous play list if there was one). ______ │ Save █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Saves the current play list in the current directory. ______ │ Help █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Displays a short summary of the main screen functions. ______ │ Exit █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ You can use (in moderation) this button to exit Mod Master ! :( The text-screen while playing ┌──────────────────────────────────────────── ──────────────────────────────┘ At the top, first line: - name of the module (possibly its order in a program) - total duration (MM:SS) - playing time (chronometer or count-down) At the top, in the middle: - title of the module - number of samples - number of voices - current position / number of positions - note number in the current pattern - tempo and BPM value - global volume (partition command) - output volume (adjust with + and - keys) At the top, on the left: - pitch bars for each voice (4 voices simultaneously). At the top, on the right: - note-height dots for each voice (4 voices simultaneously). Bottom half: You have the choice between displaying the samples list or the partition for 4 voices simultaneously. The partition displays the pattern number corresponding to the current position, and for each voice: - the note number in the pattern - the sample number - the note (English: A B C... or French: Do Ré Mi...) - the effect and its parameter If the module has more than 4 voices, you can scroll the partition to the left (Ctrl) and to the right (Alt). You can display a help window by hitting F1 and swap between text and graphic screens by hitting TAB. The graphic-screen while playing ┌───────────────────────────────────────── ─────────────────────────────────┘ Well, what can we say? I don't know... Simply look at your screen ! The keyboard commands are the same as those in the text-screen. NOTE on the looping (Repeat): │ While playing a module, you can enable/disable this option by hitting 'R' │ ('Repeat' is displayed in text mode and a symbol is lit in graphic mode). │ If the looping is set, the module loops on itself when ending (the music │ resumes either at the beginning or at another position, depending on the │ module), and forward and backward jumps ('PosJmp' in the partition) are │ also allowed. NOTE in case of a crash (while listening to music): │ Try to hit ESC twice to force and return to the main interface. │ If this is unsuccessful then the crash is serious and all you have to do │ is to press the RESET button... :( IV. Running with a command line ╔════════════════════════════════════════════ ════════════════════════════════╝ The different syntaxes are: MODM [options] Interactive mode with menu MODM module_name.ext [options] Plays the specified module(s) MODM program_name[.PRG] [options] Plays the specified program(s) where: <module_name>, <program_name> may include a full path and wildcards. <ext> is the module extension (MOD by default, S3M, MTM, 669, DTM, ...) [options] are: ┌ /E, /A Runs Mod Master in English │ /F Runs Mod Master in French │ /T Displays the screen in text mode (except interactive mode) │ /G Displays the screen in graphic mode (except interactif mode) │ /R Enables the Repeat function │ /I Enables the IntroScan function │ /S Enables the Shuffle function └ /V:xxx Defines the volume = xxx % (1 to 100) If you have any doubt, type MODM with no qualifiers. V. Compatibility and tests ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════ ═══════════════════════════╝ Mod Master v2.1 has been tested on the following machines: - 386 SX/20 ········ 44100 Hz on Sound Blaster 2.0, 8-voice module - 386 DX/40 ········ 44100 Hz on Sound Blaster Pro, 16-voice module - 486 SX/25 ········ '' - 486 DX/33 ········ 45400 Hz on Sound Blaster Pro, 32-voice module - 486 DX/40 ········ '' - 486 DX2/50 ······· '' - 486 DX2/66 ······· '' - Pentium 90 ······· '' Sound outputs tested: - Internal speaker (not too long...) - D/A converter on parallel port (the one shown at the end of this file) - Sound Blaster 1.0, 2.1 - Sound Blaster Pro 2.1 - Sound Blaster 16 ASP - Sound Galaxy NX - Sound Galaxy NX Pro - Sound Master Boomer - Sound Master - Audio Sound 16 - Melody PC - Gravis UltraSound VI. Problems, causes and solutions ╔═════════════════════════════════════════ ═══════════════════════════════════╝ Q> When playing a module and my PC slows down or freezes. A> 1) (all outputs except GUS) The output frequency is too high for your PC. -> Decrease the frequency of a few kHz. 2) (SB, SB Pro) Mod Master uses the BLASTER variable to detect the IRQ number and DMA channel. -> Check up if the BLASTER environment variable is well there and if the IRQ number and DMA channel are valid. Example: BLASTER = A220 I7 D1 T4 │ └─ # DMA channel (0,1 or 3) └─ # IRQ (2,5,7 or 10) 3) (SB, SB Pro) Your card might not be 100% compatible and then does not accept the auto-initialized DMA output (some sound cards '100% compatibles' don't support these commands !!). -> Disable the DC option in the Options menu. 4) (SB v1.0) Mod Master may detect a Sound Blaster 2.0 card... -> Modify the version number in the Output sub-menu. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Q> I hear some 'crackling' while playing a module. A> The volume assigned to this module is too high. -> Reduce the default volume (≈45% is a mean value) or the own volume of the selected module with the "-" key. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Q> My Gravis UltraSound card is not detected. A> Mod Master uses the ULTRASND environment variable. -> Check to see if this variable exists in the autoexec.bat. VII. Information and miscellaneous ╔═════════════════════════════════════════ ═══════════════════════════════════╝ Who are we ? ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─────────────┘ Freddy Vételé: I'm 21 years old, I am a student in a public school ESEO (electronics and computer) in Angers. My first computing experience was on a prehistorical machine: the TI 99 (Texas Instruments), then I've bought a PC 1512 (Amstrad) on which I've programmed the version 1.0 of Mod Master. Now I spend the most of my freetime on a 486 DX/33 (with Gravis UltraSound) that allowed me to realize the version 2.0 and this new one. I've set up the sound calculations routines, the sound output routines, in fact, all that concerns music ! Fabrice Couteau: I'm 22 years old and a student in the same school as Freddy (!). I've discovered computers in 1987 with a PC 1512 (again!) then I preferred a 486 DX/40 in 1993 (with Sound Blaster Pro 2.1). I've joined Freddy into his passion for computer music in 1993 when he asked me to do the interface for the version 2.0. I've made some routines and utilities to make easier the creation of screens, the modification of VGA fonts/palettes and the 'Norton'-style mouse cursor, all for the new interface presentation... ;) Mod Master in numbers ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────── ──────────────────────┘ - more than two years of programming - 10430 lines (298KB) of Assembly source (compiled with TASM 3.2) - 16720 lines (501KB) of Turbo-Pascal source (compiled with TP 7.0) - long hours of debugging and patience... Greetings ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ──────────┘ Informations - Technical docs. - Richard Perdriau ········· infos on DTM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Vincent Grenier - Sami Tammilehto (Psi) ··· infos STM/S3M - Tomas Pytel (Tran) ········· 669 format - Daniel Goldstein ··········· MTM format - Mark Cox - André Baresel ··· documentation SB/SB16 - Craig Jackson ··· '' Beta-testers - Romaric Maillard (ROM) ~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Vincent Piocel (KroMan) - Vincent Delpy (Mr D.) - Yannick Daniau (Yad) - Frédéric Le Garrec (P90) - Ondar Stasek - Sam Eassa - Tobias Reckhard (Jester) Registered users - Philippe Defouloy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Philippe Chassé - Georges Gache »» Sorry for being late, sometimes it's hard to be a student ! «« Messages to musicians - Purple Motion, Skaven / Future Crew ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Lizardking, Vogue / Triton - Moby / NooN - Jester / Sanity - Stargazer / Sonic - AudioMonster - Ruffkut & Jester - ... »» Keep up the good work, guys ! «« The persons we forgot - Sorry, please wait till the next time ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Shareware ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ──────────┘ Mod Master v2.1 is distributed as shareware, so you must register if you keep it and use it often. To register, print the MODM_ENG.FRM form (or send a letter) with your payment of 80 FRF or $16 to: Freddy Vételé La Pohuère 49530 Bouzillé FRANCE You can also contact me on Internet at the following address: vetele@harley.eseo.fr (from 12 Sept 95 till 1 Feb 96) LIMITATIONS: The UNREGISTERED version of Mod Master limits the size of the programs to 10 modules, but you can make ones as long as you like, only the first 10 modules will be saved... When you register, you get a 3½" or 5"¼ diskette with the latest version of Mod Master UNLIMITED (with some new features and modules) without the ending delay and you won't have to register it. If you have remarks about Mod Master (if you find bugs, for example!) or if you have useful information for us to know (modules formats -compressed or not-, programming new sound cards -Sound Blaster AWE 32, Pro Audio Spectrum-, ...), don't hesitate to cantact me !! You can find the latest version of Mod Master on the server: ftp.cdrom.com BBS: If you wish to distribute Mod Master on your BBS, please contact us and we will add your address to the BBS-list in the next release. DISTRIBUTORS/EDITORS: If you include Mod Master on whatever support (disk, CD-Rom, ...) for commercial purposes, you MUST register first. And why not... send us one of this support ! Files supplied with Mod Master ┌─────────────────────────────────────────── ───────────────────────────────┘ ┌────File─────┬──Size──┬───Date───┬───────────────Description────────────────┐ MODM.EXE 74026 06/26/95 Mod Master v2.1 MODM.REV 2677 06/26/95 Mod Master revision history MODM.DOC 35619 06/27/95 documentation in French MODM.FRM 1734 06/06/95 registration form in French MODM_ENG.DOC 33432 06/27/95 this file! MODM_ENG.FRM 1621 06/06/95 registration form FILE_ID.DIZ 1098 06/25/95 (*) a quick description of the software MODM21.TXT 1140 06/24/95 (*) like FILE_ID.DIZ, but in ASCII VELOMATR.DTM 177646 11/30/94 a Digital Tracker file (*) only with the unregistered version. Copyright, license and warranty ┌────────────────────────────────────────── ────────────────────────────────┘ Mod Master is copyright of its authors. You can copy and distribute freely the UNREGISTERED version of Mod Master, provided that you do not ask for money and you do not modify anything in the files supplied. You must not distribute the REGISTERED version of Mod Master. We would not be responsible for possible damage caused by any modifi- cations in the executable file nor for possible annoyances caused by any modifications in the documentation files. There is no warranty of any kind on using this software. You must agree with everything written above before using it. Digital-analog converter ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────── ─────────────────────────┘ We give you the circuit of a very simple and cheap D/A converter that plugs into the parallel port, and that you will have to link to an amplifier input. You need 18 resistors (tolerance: 1% preferably, 5% maximum), 2 capacitors, a male D-25 connector and a female jack (or two CINCH or RCA, if your amplifier has two separate inputs). The sound will be much better than on the internal speaker but it won't reach the Sound Blaster quality !! ┌─ Parallel port ─┐ │ │ signal pin 20kΩ 20kΩ D0 2 ───████─┬─████── 0 Volt (GND, pin 20) 20kΩ █ 10kΩ D1 3 ───████─┤ 20kΩ █ 10kΩ D2 4 ───████─┤ 20kΩ █ 10kΩ D3 5 ───████─┤ 20kΩ █ 10kΩ D4 6 ───████─┤ 20kΩ █ 10kΩ D5 7 ───████─┤ 20kΩ █ 10kΩ D6 8 ───████─┤ 20kΩ █ 10kΩ D7 9 ───████─┤ 20kΩ █ 10kΩ 100nF ├────────┤├──┬─────── To amplifier │ │ █ 10kΩ ─┴─ 10nF │ ─┬─ GND 20 ────────┼────────────┴─────── Ground 0 Volt This circuit has been borrowed in the DOC file of Visual Player 2.0 (an excellent software, moreover!), so we thank his creator: Luis Ubeda.