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InTune v2.0
An AdLib ROL File Music Player
Copyright (c) 1990,1991 by Doug Brandon - All rights reserved
Table of Contents
1. InTune Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2. System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
3. License and Disclaimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
4. Registration Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
5. InTune Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
6. AdLib SOUND.COM Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
7. InTune Command Line Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Playing Songs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Getting Technical Information . . . . . . . . . . 7
8. InTune Full Screen Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Selecting Songs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Marking Songs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Issuing Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Command Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
The Play Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
9. InTune Script Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Script Mode Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
10. Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
11. History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1. InTune Overview
-----------------------------------------------------------------
InTune is a very versatile and easy to use program which
plays AdLib ROL format music files in a variety of ways: 1) via
command line mode in which songs to play are specified on the
command line at the DOS prompt, 2) via the full screen mode in
which all files are listed on the screen and you use the keyboard
and/or mouse to select songs to play, and 3) via the script mode
where songs to play, and additional commands are specified in a
file.
InTune supports playing of ROL files from within compressed
PKZIP files, saving disk space. InTune also supports 43/50 line
display mode on EGA/VGA displays, allowing display of up to 240
songs per screen. InTune can play songs at random, and you may
also mark multiple songs to be played in any order you desire.
2. System Requirements
-----------------------------------------------------------------
InTune requires the following to run:
- IBM PC or compatible with DOS 3.0 or higher
- AdLib music synthesizer card (or equivalent) with
SOUND.COM driver
- 90K of free memory minimum (more depending on size of
instrument bank file and number/size of ROL files)
The following hardware is not necessary, but supported:
- Mouse
- EGA/VGA display hardware
Page 1
3. License and Disclaimer
-----------------------------------------------------------------
InTune is copyrighted software, and all rights are reserved.
InTune may not be changed or modified in any way except by the
author.
All warranties, whether expressed or implied, are disclaimed
relating to this software. The author will not be liable for any
type of damage created by the use of InTune. The person using
the software bears all risk as to the quality and performance of
this software.
You are free to use, copy and distribute InTune for noncommercial
use if: 1) The InTune distribution files are not modified in any
way, and 2) no fee is charged for use, copying or distribution.
Computer user groups or clubs, or disk distributors of shareware
may distribute InTune for a fee of $10 or less in order to cover
duplication and administrative costs.
4. Registration Information
-----------------------------------------------------------------
InTune is distributed as a "shareware" product. The "shareware"
concept gives perspective buyers an opportunity to use and
evaluate a software package before deciding whether or not to
purchase it. You may use InTune freely for a ten (10) day trial
period. After the ten day trial period expires, you should have
evaluated this programs usefulness. If you find InTune useful,
and continue to use it beyond the ten day trail period, you MUST
register it with the author. Registration ensures continued
support and development of InTune, as well as supporting the
shareware concept. Please support the user-supported (shareware)
concept! You determine whether or not it will be worthwhile for
myself and other shareware authors to continue developing quality
software.
The one-time InTune registration fee is $20. The file
REGISTER.TXT is a registration form which is distributed with
this package. To register your copy of InTune, print out the
registration form and fill it in. Send the completed form, along
with a check for $20 made out to Doug Brandon, to:
Doug Brandon
21136 Via Santiago
Yorba Linda, California 92687-3421
This one-time registration of InTune will get you several things.
A 5.25" disk will be supplied to you which contains the latest
version of the InTune files. This disk also contains a program
named REGTUNE.EXE (and instructions) which will register all
present, and future versions of InTune. You will also receive a
printed copy of the latest documentation. Registration of InTune
also removes the delays and registration notices at the beginning
and ending of the program.
Page 2
5. InTune Options
-----------------------------------------------------------------
All of the options to used with InTune are entered on the
command line at the DOS prompt. The options used with InTune are
explained in detail in the following section, along with
examples.
Listed below is a summary of important facts to keep in mind
while specifying InTune options.
- The options can be typed using either upper case or lower
case.
- All options must be preceded by a '/' or '-' character.
- Typing "INTUNE ?", "INTUNE /? ", or "INTUNE /H" will
display a help screen showing all options.
- Options may appear in any order.
- Options can NOT be combined.
- If no extension for an option taking a filename as a
parameter is specified, the appropriate extension will be
automatically appended. (.BNK for /B, and .ZIP for /Z).
The following table lists all of the InTune options, and a
brief description of each option. A more detailed explanation of
each option is in the next section.
Option Summary
------ --------------------------------------------------
/B Specify bankfile to use instead of STANDARD.BNK
/D Specify an alternate directory for ROL files
/H Display InTune options and help screen
/I Display technical information on named ROL files
/X Use extended display in full screen mode
/Z Specify PKZIP file to read songs from
/? Same as /H
/B = Specify an alternate instrument bank file
InTune defaults to using the instrument bank file
STANDARD.BNK. This option allows you to tell InTune use a
different instrument bankfile. The name of the instrument bank
file you wish to specify must immediately follow the "/B". If a
filename extension is omitted, ".BNK" is automatically appended.
Examples:
"INTUNE /BSTRINGS.BNK"
"INTUNE /BWINDS
Page 3
/D = Specify an alternate directory for ROL files
InTune defaults to looking in the current directory for the
ROL files to play. This option allows playing of songs from
other directories. The directory specification must immediately
follow the "/D".
Examples:
"INTUNE /D\ADLIB\ROLS"
"INTUNE /DC:\ROLFILES"
"INTUNE /D.."
/H (and /?) = Display InTune options and help screen
This option displays how to invoke the three different modes
of InTune, and a list of the various options which may be
specified.
/I = Display ROL technical information.
This option forces InTune to read and display information
contained in the specified ROL files. The information displayed
for each ROL file includes the following: name of instrument bank
file, number of instruments in bankfile, name of ROL file, ticks
per beat, beats per measure, music mode, basic tempo, play time,
instruments used, instruments used which are missing from the
instrument bank file, and event counts. This option is only
valid when using the command line mode of InTune (discussed
later), and is ignored otherwise.
Examples:
"INTUNE /I NEWS.ROL"
"INTUNE /I YANKEE"
/X = Use extended display in InTune full screen mode
If this option is specified, and InTune detects your system
is equipped with an EGA or VGA display, it will switch to 43/50
line display mode if you use InTunes full screen mode. This mode
can allow InTune to display up to 240 ROL filenames at once. If
you do not have the correct hardware to support this function, an
error message is displayed. This option is only valid when using
the full screen mode of InTune (discussed later), and is ignored
otherwise.
Example:
"INTUNE /X"
Page 4
/Z = Specify PKZIP file to use
InTune supports playing of ROL files from within compressed
PKZIP files. This option allows savings of disk space in most
cases of up to 80%. When this option is used, all ROL files will
be extracted and played from the specified PKZIP file, and
deleted afterwards. The name of the PKZIP file to use must
immediately follow the "/Z". If a filename extension is omitted,
".ZIP" is automatically appended. The file PKUNZIP must be in
the DOS PATH variable in order to use this option.
Examples:
"INTUNE /ZROLS.ZIP"
"INTUNE /ZROLFILES"
6. AdLib SOUND.COM Driver
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Before you can run InTune, the AdLib sound driver
(SOUND.COM) file must be loaded. This is a memory resident
program supplied by AdLib (and also included with this package)
which manages the low level interface to the AdLib music
synthesizer card. If you run InTune and the sound driver is not
installed, an error message will be displayed.
The sound driver file SOUND.COM has one parameter, which is
the size of an internal memory buffer used by the driver. For
best results, use a buffer size of 1K. To load the sound driver
with a 1K internal buffer, type "SOUND B1000" on the command line
at the DOS prompt. You only need to load the sound driver once.
7. InTune Command Line Mode
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The command line mode of InTune allows you to specify which
songs to play on the command line at the DOS prompt. This mode
gives you a quick way to play the songs you want with no hassle.
It also allows you to use InTune with other programs which
require an external program to play ROL songs. Both of the DOS
wildcard characters ? and * are supported for filename
specification. The option /X is ignored in the command line mode
of operation.
Page 5
Playing Songs
-------------
To play songs with the command line mode is very easy.
Simply type INTUNE followed by the files you want to play. If
you do not specify file extensions, ".ROL" with automatically be
appended to each filename. The songs will then begin play in the
order you specified. While songs are playing you may press the
space bar to skip the currently playing song, or you may press
the escape key to stop the playing of all songs. The following
examples show a variety of ways to play songs in the command line
mode:
Play all ROL files in the current directory
INTUNE * or INTUNE *.ROL
Play the three named ROL files in the current directory
INTUNE ZARDOZ.ROL AXEL-F STAIRWAY
Play all ROL files beginning with the letter 'A'
INTUNE A* or INTUNE A*.ROL
Play all three letter ROL files
INTUNE ??? or INTUNE ???.ROL
Play all ROL files contained in the PKZIP file ROLS.ZIP
INTUNE /ZROLS.ZIP * or INTUNE /ZROLS *.ROL
Play RAIDERS.ROL from within the PKZIP file THEMES.ZIP
INTUNE /ZTHEMES.ZIP RAIDERS.ROL
Play the three named ROL files from various directories
INTUNE C:\ROLS\REDBARCH ..\DARKMOON D:\ROCK\CROWLEY.ROL
Play all songs using an alternate instrument bank file
INTUNE /BBIGBANK.BNK *
Page 6
Getting Technical Information on Songs
--------------------------------------
You can get technical information on the specified songs by
simply adding the /I option to the command line. The AdLib sound
driver does not need to be loaded in order to perform this
operation. The following examples show a variety of ways to
obtain technical information on songs in the command line mode:
Get info on all ROL files in the current directory
INTUNE /I * or INTUNE /I *.ROL
Get info on the three named ROL files in the current directory
INTUNE /I ZARDOZ.ROL AXEL-F STAIRWAY
Get info on all ROL files contained in the PKZIP file ROLS.ZIP
INTUNE /I /ZROLS.ZIP * or INTUNE /I /ZROLS *.ROL
Get info on RAIDERS.ROL from within the PKZIP file THEMES.ZIP
INTUNE /I /ZTHEMES.ZIP RAIDERS.ROL
Get info on all songs using an alternate instrument bank file
INTUNE /I /BBIGBANK.BNK *
8. InTune Full Screen Mode
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The full screen mode of InTune is a user interactive mode in
which you are presented with screens of ROL filenames. You use
the keyboard and/or mouse to select songs to play, and issue
commands. This is the most powerful and useful mode of InTune.
The top line of the screen always displays the InTune full
screen commands. The bottom two lines display various items of
information including InTune version number, name and size of
currently selected song, sound driver version number, amount of
free memory, and the name of the PKZIP file being used (if the /z
option was specified). All other lines in between are used to
display the names of songs.
Page 7
Selecting Songs
---------------
Selection of songs involves positioning a highlighted cursor
over the desired song to select or play. To select songs using
the keyboard, the following keys may be used:
- The four arrow keys may be used to move the cursor up,
down, right or left.
- The home key moves the cursor to the first song.
- The end key moves the cursor to the last song.
- The page up and page down keys move forward and backward
through the various display screens.
- Pressing a letter between 'A' and 'Z' moves the cursor to
the first song beginning with that letter.
To select songs using the mouse, simply position the mouse
pointer over the desired song, and single click the left mouse
button. The page up and page down keys may be simulated by
placing the mouse pointer on either the right or left arrow
characters located on the top of the screen and single clicking
the left mouse button (note: these arrow characters are displayed
only if a mouse is detected).
Marking Songs
-------------
You may mark multiple songs for playing. To mark a song
using the keyboard, position the cursor to the song you wish to
mark, and then press the space bar. To mark a song using the
mouse, place the mouse pointer over the song you wish to mark,
and single click the right mouse button. If the song was not
previously marked, a green number indicating the songs position
in the marked song queue will appear next to the song. To unmark
a song, just hit the space bar again, or single click the right
mouse button again, the green number will disappear, and the song
will be unmarked.
Issuing Commands
----------------
The InTune full screen mode commands are listed on the top
line of the display. Each command has a highlighted letter in
its name, which is the "command letter" for that command.
Pressing the ALT key together with the highlighted "command
letter" invokes the command. To invoke a command using the
mouse, just place the mouse pointer over the desired command, and
single click the left mouse button.
Page 8
Command Summary
---------------
A description of each command, as well as the keyboard
sequence to invoke each command follows:
About (ALT-A)
Pops up a window and displays a copyright notice, and how to
contact the author. The release date of the program is also
located in the lower right corner of this window.
Play (ALT-P or <return> or double-click left mouse button)
Begins playing songs, and pops up the play window (described
later). If there are no songs marked, the currently highlighted
song is played, otherwise the first marked song begins playing.
Repeat (ALT-R)
This command enabled or disables the repeat mode, which only
takes effect when songs are playing. This command will be
highlighted if the repeat mode is enabled, otherwise it will be
displayed normally if disabled. If no songs are marked, the
currently highlighted song will play repeatively until stopped.
If there are marked songs, the entire marked song queue will be
played repeatively until stopped.
Shuffle (ALT-F)
The shuffle command continuously plays songs at random until
stopped. A song will never be played twice in a row unless there
is only one song.
Clear (ALT-C)
The clear command unmarks all songs, clearing the marked
song queue.
Markall (ALT-M)
The markall command marks all songs, placing all songs in
the marked song queue. If there were already some songs marked
before invoking the Markall command, the position of those songs
in the marked song queue is retained, and all unmarked songs are
place in the queue after the already marked songs.
Info (ALT-I)
Displays technical information for the currently selected
song. This information includes the following: name of the
current instrument bank file being used, version of the
instrument bank file, number of entries used in the instrument
bank file, name and version of ROL file, number of ticks per
beat, number of beats per measure, music mode, basic tempo,
playing time, instruments used in the song, instruments used in
the song which are missing from the instrument bank file, and a
table of event types and counts. Most of this information is
useless to the average user, but is supplied for the people who
are experimenting with ROL files.
Quit (ALT-Q)
Immediately stops playing songs and exits to DOS.
Page 9
Help (ALT-H or F1)
Pops up the on-line help information window.
Arrows
If a mouse is detected in your system, left and right arrow
characters are displayed, and may be used by mouse users to
switch between pages (same as page up and page down when using
the keyboard). These arrows will only appear if a mouse is
detected in your system.
The Play Window
---------------
When songs are played in the InTune full screen mode, the
play window appears. This window displays information about the
song currently being played, and adds three song control
commands. The play window looks like this:
╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ║
║ Playing ZARDOZ.ROL ║
║ ║
║ Progress Indicator ║
║ ▐▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▌ 0% ║
║ ║
║ Time Remaining 01:38 Time Elapsed 00:00 ║
║ ║
║ Stop Pause Skip ║
║ ║
╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
The top line of the window describes what InTune is
presently doing (unzipping, loading, playing, or deleting), and
the name of the file it is operating on. Error messages are also
displayed on this line. The next line contains three items of
information. The musical note on the left side of the window will
be red when the song is still being loaded into the sound drivers
queues, and will change to green when the entire song has been
loaded. The middle of this line contains a "meter" which gives
you a visual indication of the progress of the song currently
being played. There are twenty positions on the meter, and one
position gets lighted for every 5% of the song played. The right
side of this line shows the percentage of the song which has been
played. The next line displays the time remaining of the current
song, as well as elapsed time of the current song. The bottom
line gives you the option of stopping the play of all songs, and
pausing or skipping the current song. These three options are
additional commands which may be invoked by command key
sequences, or by using the mouse.
Page 10
9. InTune Script Mode
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The InTune script mode reads InTune commands from an ASCII
text file. Not only does this mode play songs, but also provides
screen output and control, as well as access to other DOS
programs. This mode of InTune can be useful for creating simple
demonstrations.
Script Mode Commands
--------------------
#
Any line with the # character in the first column signifies
that the rest of the line is to be ignored. This is useful for
placing commands in your script files. Blank lines are also
ignored. Example:
#this line is a comment
!
Any line with the ! character in the first column signifies
that the rest of the line is to be treated as a DOS command. The
entire line past the ! character is passed to COMMAND.COM and is
executed. This is useful for shelling out to DOS to temporarily
run other programs. For example, it is possible to run VPIC.EXE
to display and leave a GIF picture on the screen, and play a song
at the same time, or run another program which modifies the
screen before playing a song. Example:
!vpic /r moon.gif
GOTOXY column row
This command places the cursor at the position specified by
the user specified coordinates column and row. This is mainly
used to position the cursor before using the SAY command to
output text. Example:
GOTOXY 1 20
SAY text
This command outputs the specified text. If there is no
text specified with this command, a carriage return and linefeed
are output. Example:
SAY Now playing "Stairway to Heaven"
SAY
SAY Press escape to quit
Page 11
CLS
This command clears the screen. Example:
CLS
COLOR foreground [ON background]
This command sets the attributes which are to be used when
the SAY command is used to output text. This command sets either
the foreground color, or both the foreground and background
colors. If you want to set both the foreground and background
colors, the keyword "ON" must separate the color names. Valid
color names are black, blue, green, cyan, red, magenta, brown,
lightgray, darkgray, lightblue, lightgreen, lightcyan, lightred,
lightmagenta, yellow, and white. Examples:
COLOR RED
COLOR WHITE ON BLUE
PAUSE [KEY] [seconds]
This command either pauses InTune until a key is pressed, or
pauses for the specified number of seconds. Examples:
PAUSE KEY ;pauses until a key is pressed
PAUSE 5 ;pauses for 5 seconds
PLAY rolfile
This command starts playing the specified song, and outputs
the message "Playing rolfile...". If an extension is omitted,
".ROL" is automatically appended to the filename. The space bar
may be pressed to skip the currently playing song, and the escape
key aborts the script file and returns to the DOS prompt.
Examples:
PLAY STAIRWAY.ROL
PLAY STAIRWAY
PLAYX rolfile
This command starts playing the specified song, but does not
output any message. This command is intended for the user who
wants to output his own message describing the song which is
about to play. If an extension is omitted from the filename,
".ROL" is automatically appended. The space bar may be pressed
to skip the currently playing song, and the escape key aborts the
script file and returns to the DOS prompt. Examples:
PLAYX STAIRWAY.ROL
PLAYX STAIRWAY
Page 12
10. Miscellaneous
-----------------------------------------------------------------
If you use the extended display mode and the mouse pointer
does not go below the 25th row, get a newer version of your mouse
driver. Earlier versions of various mouse drivers to not support
anything beyond 25 columns.
The /Z PKZIP mode of InTune has only been tested with
PKUNZIP versions 1.01 and 1.1, and may not work with other
versions.
Thanks to Kevin Fischer, Don Blumberg, and John Mifsud for
beta testing.
InTune - Copyright (c) 1990,1991 by Doug Brandon
All rights reserved
If you have comments or suggestions for future version of InTune,
please send them to me at the following address:
Doug Brandon
21136 Via Santiago
Yorba Linda, CA 92687-3421
I can also be reached by the following:
Prodigy: CTJP63A
Motown LA-BBS: (714) 535-1319 HST
N.S.T.T.Z: (714) 879-4052 HST
11. History
-----------------------------------------------------------------
05/01/91 - Version 2.0 released, major revision
* Rewritten sound routines
* Command line mode & script mode added
* ZIP file support added
* Shuffle mode added
* Multiple song queue added (marking songs)
* Online help added
* 43/50 line display support added
* ROL technical information display added
* several minor bug fixes
* option help screen added (INTUNE /?)
09/25/90 - Version 1.0, Initial Release
Page 13