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1994-06-17
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Modus
Introduction
Welcome to MODUS, a really cool MOD file player by Benjamin
Cooley.
With UltraSound and MODUS, you can finally play back MOD files
under Windows without the crackling and fuzz associated with the
software "mixing" needed by other sound cards. Now you can hear
MODs the way they were supposed to sound.
A MOD file consists of an instrument waveform table and a
pattern table. The instrument waveform table holds the digital
waveforms of each instrument used in the song in a format
similar to Windows .WAV files or UltraSound's .PAT files. A song
is divided into blocks of 64 beats, called patterns. The pattern
table indicates which of these patterns is played at each point
in the song.
When a MOD is loaded, MODUS loads all the instruments in the
file into the UltraSound's RAM before the beginning of the song.
The pattern table stores the note on/off information for the
song, or the music sequence.
The MOD format differs from MIDI files. MOD files contain
complete instrument sounds, while MIDI files contain only note
information and the instrument numbers that UltraSound must use
to play those notes. This means that a MOD file is capable of
playing any instrument the composer can digitize or sample,
while MIDI files are limited to the instruments provided by the
sound card or synthesizer they're played on (usually only the
orchestral General MIDI instruments).
MODUS was installed automatically into your UltraSound Windows
directory.
To play a MOD file:
r Select a MOD file from the Play List on the upper left corner
of the MODUS window.
r Then press the Add button to add the MOD to the Play List.
The MOD will begin playing. You may also double click on the MOD
in the file list to begin playing. Double clicking on another
song in the Play List at any time will stop the current song and
begin playing the new one.
Note: Ordinary 4-channel MODs will not use the lower 4 channels.
Only 6- and 8-channel MODs use these extra channels, and they
are rare.
To stop playing a MOD file:
r Click on the stop button on the bottom right of the MODUS
window. If the MOD you stop is the currently selected file in
the Play List, it will be deleted from the Play List.
To pause a MOD:
r Click the pause button on the bottom right of the MODUS window.
To resume a paused MOD:
r Click the play button on the bottom right of the MODUS window.
Fast Forwarding and Rewinding a MOD
To fast forward or rewind a MOD file that is playing:
r Click the fast forward or rewind buttons on the bottom right
of the MODUS window.
The MOD will then move to the next or the previous pattern.
The pattern slider is below the Play/Stop button bar in the
MODUS window, and indicates the pattern position of the
currently playing or paused MOD. To change the pattern position:
r Drag the slider knob left or right, then let go of the mouse
button. When the button is released, the MOD will then begin
playing at the pattern position you have selected.
To add a MOD to the Play List either select a file and click on
the Add button, or double-click on the file. To remove a MOD
from the Play List, select the MOD in the Play List on the lower
left of the MODUS window, then click on the remove button.
Note: The Play List will loop after playing the last MOD. If
there is only one MOD in the Play List, it will repeat.
To delete an unwanted MOD file from your hard disk:
r Select the MOD file in the file list at the upper left corner
of the MODUS window, then press the Kill button.
MODUS will then ask you to confirm the delete.
To skip to the next file in the Play List, click on the Skip
button found directly above the Play List.
The track information bars display the instruments that are
currently active on a channel as a MOD is played. Each time an
instrument is played on that channel, the LEDs to the right of
the instrument pulse. Most MODs are 4-track, so tracks 5-8
usually show no activity.
The Channel On buttons are to the right of the track LEDs. To
turn a track on or off:
r Click the track On/Off button to the right of the track you
wish to toggle. When a track is turned off, the blue square in
the middle of the button will disappear. To turn the track back
on, click the button again.
The Position LED is the current pattern position in the playing
MOD, starting at 1 and increasing sequentially to the end of the
MOD. The Beat LED shows the current beat from 1 to 64 in the
current pattern. The Pattern LED shows the current pattern block
which is being played. Pattern blocks contain the note
information for 64 beats and may be repeated several times in a
single MOD.
To display the About MODUS panel, click on the MODUS title panel
in the upper left corner of the MODUS window. The
Position/Beat/Pattern LEDs will then be replaced by the About
panel.