Clarion is a simple media player for MIDIs and Audio CDs.
(The program can also play AVIs, or any MCI device for
which you have installed the appropriate MCI driver.
However, it's designed mainly for playing MIDIs and
Audio CDs.) Clarion is 32-bit and runs on Windows95/NT.
You need a sound card and (optionally) a CD drive,
of course.
History
~~~~~~~
>Version 0.6.0:
* The biggest change is that Clarion now keeps a registry of CD track titles. Take the trouble to enter titles for your CD tracks once and the program will recognize your CDs and their tracks next time.
* Each CD can be linked to a PlayList so that whenever the CD is inserted, the program will load that PlayList.
* Drag and drop files from the Explorer.
* NOTE: I changed the CD signature generating routine, so that the program no longer recognizes signatures from the previous version. Sorry about this :(
* Added status bar hint.
Version 0.5.5:
* Fixed a problem with the eject/close CD button. Note:
if your CD drive cannot be closed by software, i.e.,
you need to do it manually, shift+click in the CD icon.
This will force it to load CD track info.
Version 0.5.4:
* Fixed serious display problem relating to screen font
size (bug in Delphi's TListView?)
* Fixed ghost trailing while dragging in the play list.
* Added font setting option.
* Added F2 shortcut key to rename item (a la Explorer).
Version 0.5.3:
* Added visual pointer indicating the currently
playing item.
Version 0.5.1 and 0.5.2:
* Numerous internal changes.
Version 0.5.0:
* Initial release.
Install/Uninstall
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To install, create a directory for Clarion and unzip the
distribution file into it. To uninstall, just remove the
directory. The program does not make any change to
your system files or registry.
The program is more or less self explanatory, so IÆll just
try to hit the highlights here.
Parts of the screen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The screen is divided into two major parts. On the left are
the PlayList, the display panel, and the control panel (with
the play, next, prev, stop buttons). On the right is the Files/CD browser, which lets you browse your folders and add
files (MIDs, WAVs, etc.) and CD tracks to your play list. The narrow vertical strip in the middle shows the tracks on your audio CD (assuming you have a CD drive and thereÆs a CD in
it). (This is slightly redundant since the CD browser does pretty much the same. It's a leftover from previous version which I decided to keep since it takes up little space and allows you to access CD track even when the browser is toggled off.) To the left of the CD strip is the PlayList toolbar for, well, doing various things with the PlayList. ThereÆs also a
floating toolbar outside the main screen (I call it the
floater). The floater has a miniature control panel and
always stays on top so you can access it anytime.
Adding files to the play list
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you have the AutoSelect box checked, then just click on
a file name to add it to the play list. This is a lazy way of
selecting files and I like it. Uncheck AutoSelect if you
want to select files the usual way (i.e., with Ctrl+click and
Shift+click for multiselection). Then to add the selected
files to the play list, click the < button on the play list
toolbar. Click << to add everything in the file list box to
the play list. Click the refresh button to reload the file list. Click the Explorer button to open the currently displayed
folder. Shift+click to open it in ôExplorerö mode.
>> HINT: To see what any button does, just hold the
mouse pointer over it for a second. A hint bubble will pop
up. The same hint is also display in the status bar <<
To add a CD track to the play list, just click on the track
number, either in the black strip or in the CD tab in the browser. To add all tracks, click on the word æAllÆ or the pound '#' sign in the CD tab in the browser.
Play
~~~~
Press Play to play (duh :). While playing, press it again to
pause and again to resume. There's no rewind
button: when you click on Stop, it automatically rewinds.
To fast forward/reverse, click on the track bar and drag.
Click the button with the return arrow while a song
is playing to start over at the beginning. Click < and > to
play the next / previous item in the play list.
The Play List
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Clarion lets you organize your MIDIs and CD tracks into
play lists (or albums) and save them. (Play list files are
saved with the .pls extension.) You can have both MIDIs
and CD tracks in the same play list. It's not a good idea to
have tracks from different CDs in the same list, however,
since Clarion does not support CD changers (sorry, I don't
have a CD changer so I didn't program for it.)
On the play list toolbar, click the button with the musical
note to bring up a menu for opening, saving, or reloading
a recently used play list. Click the button with the quiggly
line to shuffle the play list. Select an item in the play list, then click the up/down button to move it up/down the play
list. Ctrl+click the up /down button to bring the item to
the top/bottom of the play list. Shift+click the up button
to move the item below the one currently playing (so that
it will be played next). With an item selected, click the >
button to remove it from the list. Click >> to empty the
play list. Click the trash icon to delete the actual file from
the disk. (Confused? Just hold the mouse over a button
and a hint will pop up.)
CD operations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To eject the CD drive door, click the eject button. Notes: 1) you have to stop play first; 2) be sure the CD door is CLOSED when you start the program. To close the door and load the tracks, shift+click on the eject button. Note: if your CD cannot be closed by software, e.g., it does not have a tray, then insert it manually then shift+click on the eject button. Clarion assigns a signature number to each CD. The signature is calculated as: length of CD (in milliseconds) X number of tracks. If the signature of a track in your play list does not match the signature of the CD in the drive, the program will balk.
Clarion keeps a registry of CD track titles. Take the trouble to enter titles for your CD tracks once and the program will recognize your CD and their tracks next time. The first time you insert a CD, the browser will open up with the CD tab (if it's not already). The CD title will be 'Unknown' and the tracks are named CD [XXXXXXXX] Track NN where XXXXXXXX is the CD signature and NN is the track number. It's a good idea to enter titles for the CD and its tracks (at least the tracks you like, at any rate :) Just move the cursor to the track title you want to name and press Enter or F2 to edit. For example, change 'Unknown' to 'U2 Joshua Tree' and change the first track to 'Where the streets have no name' (don't type the ''). Now when you add a CD track to the PlayList, it will appear with the assigned name.
Clarion automatically saves track info you've entered. You can click the Save button to manually save, in case "something happens". Of course Clarion is extremely stable and never known to crash -- ever, but you may want to be safe... ;-)
Linking a CD to a PlayList
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can link a CD to a particular PlayList so that whenever you put in that CD, the linked PlayList will load and start playing. To do this either:
a) Click on the blue label in the CD browser and choose a PlayList from the disk.
or
b) Select 'Link CD to' from the drop down menu. You can link the CD to the current PlayList or some other PlayList on the disk.
You can manually load a linked PlayList either by shift+clicking on the blue label or select from the menu. If for some reason you no longer want to link the CD to any PlayList, choose Unlink from the menu.
The display panel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The display panel shows information about the currently
playing item -- length, elapsed time, position in play list,
and name. It also has labels you can click on to toggle
various things. When the toggle is on, the label has a
bold, bright green font. HereÆs a description of the
toggles:
* æFloaterÆ: hide or show the floater.
* æReset MIDIÆ: reset MIDI between each songs.
Clarion does this by playing two silent MIDI files in
the directory you installed Clarion to. (DonÆt delete
these files!)
* æRepeatÆ: play the same item over and over ad
nauseum. Turn it off when youÆve had enough.
The Floater
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The floater has a miniature control panel that gives you
access to the program even when the main window is
minimized. You can move the floater around the screen
by clicking on an empty spot and drag. Click the X button
to hide the floater. Shift+click the X button to quit the
program. Click on the red area to move the floater tp the
top of the screen.
HINTS HINTS HINTS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* The selection bar (highlight) in the play list does NOT
follow the item that is currently being played (indicated by
a left pointing triangle). This allows you to shift/move/
delete an item in the list while another item is playing.
* To move the selection bar to the song being played,
click on the item's name in the black display panel.
* The file list box can be toggled on and off by clicking
on the disk and CD drive icon.
* To move items around in the play list quickly, use
drag and drop.
* You can drag files from the Explorer and drop them onto Clarion. The files will be added to the PlayList. If you drop a PlayList file (.pls) onto Clarion, it will MERGE the files in that PlayList into the current PlayList.
* Double click on an item in the play list to immediately
start playing it. Double click on a file in the file list
box to add it the PlayList and immediately start
playing it. For the CD strip and the CD browser, shift+click on a track number does the same thing.
* Be careful clicking the trash icon. It will delete the
file from your disk (not just remove it from the list).
AND YOU WILL NOT BE ASKED TO CONFIRM.
* Click on the Name column heading to sort the PlayList by name.
* Clarion will save the window settings and reloads the
current play list (if you have saved it) on the next
startup.
* If youÆve moved the floater off the screen somewhere
and canÆt fish it out, double click on the æFloaterÆ label
in the display panel. This will bring the floater back to
the top left corner of the screen.
* If for some reason, the CD drive is closed but Clarion
has not read the track information, i.e., the CD panel
is empty, click on the CD eject icon WHILE HOLDING
DOWN THE SHIFT KEY. This will force a reload.
* You can adjust the speaker volume by clicking on the
button with the little speakers. Clarion will launch
Windows95Æs volume control program (sndvol32.exe).
If you want to use a different program for controlling
the program, add this line to the [Settings] section in
