Special CD-ROM 6: Sound & Multi Media

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Text File | 1994-01-05 | 26.4 KB | 612 lines

/----------\ | TAG | Presents | SOFTWARE | . . . . Digital Sound Player 1.0 \----------/ Digital Sound Player 1.0 (DSP) is a program that plays a digital sound file on your Sound Blaster, AdLib Personal Computer Music System, Disney Sound Source or 100% compatibles. DSP 1.0 features a menu-driven interface with both mouse and keyboard input. While keyboard command-driven sound players have their place (see our DAPLAY product), this menu-driven program allows you to quickly scan, select, and play your sound files. DSP 1.0 supports .VOC, .WAV, .SND, .AU, .DAS, and raw sound files. It will actually allow you to play any file. However, remember that the principle of Garbage In Garbage Out applies. Playing non-sound files can be hard on the ears. For the Sound Blaster, DSP 1.0 uses a double buffered Direct Memory Access (DMA) technique that allows it to play very large digital audio files. For the AdLib, Disney Sound Source and the PC Speaker, DSP 1.0 uses a Double Buffered background playing technique that again allows it to play very large digital audio files. Digital Sound Player 1.0 requires an IBM PC or compatible, a Sound Blaster, AdLib Personal Computer Music System, Disney Sound Source or 100% compatibles, and only 256K of available RAM. Digital Sound Player 1.0 is distributed as Shareware: if you like the program, please become a registered user. See the Section "Registration Benefits" at the end of this file for more information. Print or list the file REGISTER.DOC for ordering information. Distribution of this shareware program is encouraged. The Digital Sound Player 1.0 source code, object code, executables and manuals on paper or on disk, are COPYRIGHT (c) 1993 by Carole & Allen Grider. DISCLAIMER This program is provided "AS IS" and it is WITHOUT warranty of any kind that it will work correctly in any or all situations. No liability shall be assumed for direct or consequential damage caused by the use of this software. The only claim TAG SOFTWARE makes is that there are no intentional bugs or fatal errors in any original copy of the program that you receive directly from TAG SOFTWARE. MANIFEST DSP.DOC . . . . . Text, Documentation (This file) DSP.EXE . . . . . Digital Sound Player executable 1.0 README.DOC . . . . Text, Last minute information REGISTER.DOC . . . Text, Registration order form CATALOG.DOC . . . Text, Catalog of TAG SOFTWARE Products BING.DAS . . . . . Digital Sound, Monty Python BUGSBUNY.VOC . . . Digital Sound, Bugs Bunny "What's up doc" KLAXON1.WAV . . . Digital Sound, Ship's klaxon ILLBEBAK.SND . . . Digital Sound, Terminator 2 "I'll be back" DISTRIBUTION Distribution of this program is encouraged as long as the following Shareware principles are observed: All of the above-mentioned 9 files should be included in the distributed disk and should not be altered in any way. TAG SOFTWARE authorizes the distribution ONLY of the 9 above-mentioned files. If archiving this program for BBS use or library use, please include all files and use the name: DSP10, ( e.g.: DSP10.ARC or DSP10.ZIP ). This will provide consistency for future updates. Note for Disk and Rack Vendors: Please contact TAG SOFTWARE for the latest version of this and all our programs. Disk and Rack Vendors are allowed to include their own installation package. Also contact us if you require customization. We will consider non-exclusive registration handling agreements. Rack Vendors: Please contact TAG SOFTWARE regarding discounts to your customers for registering our shareware. We will consider discounting some or all of the rack price from our registration fee, if we receive some kind of proof-of-purchase. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS AND OPTIONS COMPUTERS: IBM/PC/XT/AT or compatibles. 256K free memory. SOUND CARD: Sound Blaster, AdLib Personal Computer Music System Disney Sound Source, or 100% compatibles. OPERATION Digital Sound Player is invoked from the MSDOS command line or batch file: DSP [ -a ] [ -d ] [ -p ] Options: -a Play sound files on a Sound Blaster in AdLib FM mode. May be required on some Sound Blaster clones. -d Play sound on a Disney Sound Source connected to your parallel port (LPT1). -g Use graphical mouse cursor (EGA/VGA only). -p Play sound files on your PC Speaker. SCREEN DISPLAY +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ |+------------------------------------------------------------------+| || <DIRECTORY WINDOW> || |+------------------------------------------------------------------+| |+----------------------+ Digital Sound Player (DSP) version 1.0 | || | COPYRIGHT (c) 1993 by Carole & Allen Grider| || | Shareware Version -- Please Register | || | +-----------+ +-----------+ +----------+ | || | | Help | | Info | | Quit | | || | +-----------+ +-----------+ +----------+ | || <FILES WINDOW> | +-----------+ +-----------+ | || | | Play | | dRive | | || | +-----------+ +-----------+ | || | +-----------+ +-----------+ +----------+ | || | | Speed | | Force | | Default | | || | +-----------+ +-----------+ +----------+ | || | | || | | || | | || | Speed: <MODE> TAG | |+----------------------+ SOFTWARE | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ Screen Areas and Windows: <DIRECTORY WINDOW> - This window displays the current directory. <FILES WINDOW> - This window displays the files in the current directory along with their size. <MODE> - If in default mode, this area will display "If raw <SPEED>" or if in force mode, this area will display "Forced <SPEED>". <SPEED> - Speed at which raw sound files will be played in default mode or speed at which all files will be played in forced mode. Popup windows: (Windows that will appear as needed.) <PLAYING WINDOW> - Will appear when playing a file. Shows file name, type, and speed being played. <DISK SELECTION WINDOW> - Will appear when switching disks. Shows valid disks to select from. <SPEED SELECTION WINDOW> - Will appear when changing playing speed. GENERAL OPERATION When you start the program, the <DIRECTORY WINDOW> will contain your current directory and the <FILES WINDOW> will contain as many files as will fit. The topmost entry in the <FILES WINDOW> will be highlighted. When DSP 1.0 is playing a file, a <PLAYING WINDOW> will appear with the file's name, its identified type, and its speed. When the highlight bar is on a directory (indicated by <dir> as the size), playing it will move you into that directory. Both the <DIRECTORY WINDOW> and the <FILES WINDOW> windows will be updated. Typing H or clicking on the HELP button will display a a quick summary of DSP 1.0 commands using both keyboard and mouse. Typing I or clicking on the INFO button will display information about this program. Typing F10 (Function key 10), ESC, Q, or clicking on the QUIT button will exit the program. Typing P, ENTER, SPACE, or clicking on the PLAY button will attempt to play the highlighted directory entry in the <FILES WINDOW>. Typing R or clicking on the DRIVE button will bring up the <DISK SELECTION WINDOW>. This window will display the valid disk drive letters for your system. Typing a valid disk driver letter or clicking on the displayed drive letters will cause DSP 1.0 to switch to the current directory on that drive. The <DIRECTORY WINDOW> and the <FILES WINDOW> will be updated. If ESC is typed while in the <DISK SELECTION WINDOW> the window will be exited without changing disk or directory. Speed selection for raw sound files (in default mode) or all files played (in force mode) is done using the S key or Speed mouse button. A <SPEED SELECTION WINDOW> will appear with the current speed displayed. The UPARROW key will cause the speed to increase by one unit. The PLUS (+) key will cause the speed to increase by ten units. The PAGEUP key will cause the speed to increase by one hundred units. The DOWNARROW will cause the speed to decrease by one unit. The MINUS (-) key will cause the speed to decrease by ten units. The PAGEDOWN key will cause the speed to decrease by one hundred units. The ENTER key sets the default playing speed and the <SPEED SELECTION WINDOW> will be removed. The ESC key will exit the <SPEED SELECTION WINDOW> without changing the default playing speed. What a unit is depends on the sound device. The Sound Blaster only plays speeds which can be expressed as Speed = 1000000 / (256 - X). Where X can range from 0 (3906) to 0xd5 (23255). Each change in units affects X in the equation above. For both the AdLib and the Disney Sound Source, a unit is 1 Hz. This player can be in one of two modes. The first mode (default mode), plays a selected file using speed information taken from the file's header if it is of type .AU, .SND, .VOC, or .WAV. If DSP 1.0 is unable to determine the file type, it will play the file as if it is a raw sound file, using the speed set by the S key or Speed mouse button. The second mode (override or force mode), always plays the file using the speed set by the S key or clicking on the Speed mouse button. KEYBOARD OPERATION The following keys are used to select and play sound files. The highlight bar can be moved to other files using the UPARROW and DOWNARROW keys, the PAGEUP and PAGEDOWN keys, or the HOME and END keys. When the highlight bar is on a file, pressing P (for Play), ENTER, or SPACE will cause DSP 1.0 to play that file on your Sound Blaster, AdLib, or Sound Source. KEYBOARD OPERATION SUMMARY KEY FUNCTION SPACE, ENTER, . . .(Play) Plays the file highlighted. If or P the highlighted entry is a directory, DSP 1.0 will switch to that directory. F10, ESC, or Q. . .(Quit) Will exit this program. D . . . . . . . . .(Default mode) When playing a file, use speed given in file header. F . . . . . . . . .(Force mode) When playing a file use speed defined by user using S (Speed) key. F1 or H . . . . . .(Help) Give a summary of keyboard and mouse operation. R . . . . . . . . .(dRive) Switch to a different disk drive. S . . . . . . . . .(Speed) Set speed for over-ride of speed in sound file header or set speed to play raw sound files. HOME. . . . . . . .Move highlight bar to the top of the directory listing. END . . . . . . . .Move highlight bar to the bottom of the directory listing. PAGEUP. . . . . . .Move to previous page in directory listing. PAGEDOWN. . . . . .Move to next page in directory listing. UPARROW . . . . . .Move highlight bar to previous entry. DOWNARROW . . . . .Move highlight bar to next entry. MOUSE OPERATION Mouse operation of DSP 1.0 is very similar to keyboard operation, except that the mouse is used to select and play sound files. Clicking on an entry will either play that entry (if is a file) or switch to that directory (if it is a directory). The slider bar to the right of the <FILES WINDOW> can be used to move through the files. Clicking on the up arrow will cause the highlight bar to move one entry up. Clicking on the down arrow will cause the highlight bar to move down one entry. Clicking on the slider bar, above the slider will move up one page. Clicking on the slider bar, below the slider will move down one page. The HELP, INFO, QUIT, PLAY, DRIVE, SPEED, FORCE, and DEFAULT areas of the screen are mouse buttons and perform the following actions: HELP Display a command summary window. INFO Display a DSP 1.0 information window. QUIT Exits the program. PLAY Plays the highlighted file. DRIVE Invokes the <DRIVE SELECTION WINDOW>. SPEED Invokes the <SPEED SELECTION WINDOW>. FORCE Puts DSP 1.0 in force mode. DEFAULT Puts DSP 1.0 in default mode. CONFIGURATION Sound Blaster CONFIGURATION An environment variable can be used to inform DSP 1.0 of the information it requires to play sounds on the Sound Blaster. This environment variable is set up by newer versions of the Sound Blaster's installation program, but older Sound Blaster's (and clone's) installation programs do not set up this environment variable. Digital Sound Player can obtain its configuration from the environment variable BLASTER. The format of the information in this variable is as follows: SET BLASTER=Annn In Dn Tn Where: Annn nnn specifies the I/O Address of your sound card. Sound Blaster 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0: Possible values: 210, 220, 230, 240, 250, 260 Factory Default: 220 (if not changed via hardware jumper). Sound Blaster Pro: Possible values: 220, 240 Factory Default: 220 (if not changed via hardware jumper). Sound Blaster 16: Possible values: 220, 240, 260, 280 Factory Default: 220 (if not changed via hardware jumper). In n specifies the IRQ of your sound card. Sound Blaster 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0: Possible values: 2, 3, 5, 7 Factory Default: 7 (if not changed via hardware jumper). Sound Blaster Pro Possible values: 2, 5, 7, 10 Factory Default: 7 (if not changed via hardware jumper). Sound Blaster 16 Possible values: 2, 5, 7, 10 Factory Default: 5 (if not changed via hardware jumper). Dn n specifies the 8-bit DMA Channel used by your sound card. Sound Blaster 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0: Possible values: 1 Factory Default: 1 (not changable) Sound Blaster Pro Possible values: 0, 1, 3 Factory Default: 1 Sound Blaster 16 Possible values: 0, 1, 3 Factory Default: 1 (not changable) Note that DSP 1.0 only supports DMA channel 1. Tn n specifies the Type of your sound card. See NOTES ON SOUND CARDS below for more information. Possible values: 1 Sound Blaster 1.0 or 1.5 2 Sound Blaster Pro 3 Sound Blaster 2.0 6 Sound Blaster 16 Currently DSP does nothing with this value. For a Sound Blaster just out of the box (before you muck with the jumpers) use: SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T1 or: SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T3 For a Sound Blaster 1.5 (what we have) on IRQ 5 (like us, most people have a printer on IRQ 7): SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T1 The Sound Blaster Pro and Sound Blaster 16 supports additional DMA Channels. However, Digital Audio Player does not support the additional DMA Channels. If your card's configuration fits the ranges given above, then Digital Sound Player 1.0 should work. If you have problems, please contact us. Digital Sound Player 1.0 has the ability to auto-detect the Sound Blaster. But, if it has trouble (please let us know) you can set the BLASTER environment variable to get around the problem. AdLib CONFIGURATION Digital Sound Player 1.0 has the ability to auto-detect the AdLib Personal Computer Music System sound card. Disney Sound Source CONFIGURATION Digital Sound Player 1.0 cannot auto-detect the Sound Source. Therefore you have to inform it that a Sound Source exists on your system. Use the "-d" option to do this. For example: DSP -D PC Speaker CONFIGURATION Digital Sound Player 1.0 assumes a IBM PC/XT/AT clone speaker. If you have a Sound Blaster or AdLib sound card you can override DSP's autodetection and play sound files on the PC Speaker by using the "-p" option. NOTES ON SOUND FILES It seems that every sound card manufacturer has developed its own digital audio file format. Creative Labs, being the first with the cheapest, has prevailed with their .VOC format. This was true until MicroSoft released Windows with the Multi-Media Extensions. The Windows Multi-Media Extensions uses the .WAV formatted digital audio files. Another (older) format are the .SND files. Some seem to be MacBin format with the original Data Fork and Information Fork information intact. Others come from older sound packages called SOUNDER and SoundTools. Another source of sound files are Sun/NeXT systems with their .AU format. Currently .VOC files are the most prevalent, with .WAV files catching up fast. .SND files are seen here and there, but sometimes contain really unique sounds not seen in .VOC or .WAV format. This is very strange, because it is trivial to convert between these various formats. Digital Sound Player 1.0 should play all .VOC, .WAV, .AU, and most .SND files. There are actually several file formats that all use the .SND extension. We currently support two of them. If you have trouble getting a particular file to play properly, please send it to us. We will take a look at it and see if we can fix the problem. Please send us suggestions on other file formats you would like to see supported. Note, it is easier for us to support a file format when we have examples. Sound files can use up a very large amount of disk space. Understand that a high quality 8-bit sound file sampled at 23kHz uses 23,000 bytes every second. Things will only get worse when the newer sound cards with stereo and higher sampling rates prevail in the market. Imagine a 44kHz stereo 16-bit sound file. Only 10 seconds of sound will tie up 1,760,000 bytes (44,000 * 2 * 2 * 10). No wonder the Multi-Media standard calls for a CD-ROM. We at TAG SOFTWARE have been working on this problem. We have come up with a compression technique that generally achieves better compression than general purpose compressors. This technique can be used to lossless and lossy compress sound files. And, these compressed sound files can be decompressed and played on-the-fly. We call this sound file type .DAS. The file BING.DAS is an example of this file type. The original sound file was Mono, 8-bit, 22Khz and was 69999 bytes long (3.175 seconds). BING.DAS has been compressed at loss level 2 and is only 21920 bytes long. A compression ratio of 68% (3 to 1). If you are interested in compressing your own sound files look for Digital Audio Sound Compressor (DASCMP10.ZIP) at your favorite disk vendor, BBS, or rack. If you have trouble getting good digital audio files, see our Digital Sound Collection Series. We have selected some of the best audio files available and can supply them in .VOC or .WAV format. NOTES ON SOUND CARDS Creative Labs Sound Blaster Creative Labs has issued several different sound cards - all under the name Sound Blaster. The cards and their differences are listed below: Sound Blaster 1.0 - The original. Mono FM. Comes with CMS chips. 100% AdLib, GameBlaster compatible plus mono 8 bit DAC 4kHz-23kHz / ADC 4kHz-12Khz. Sound Blaster 1.5 - Same as above but they made the CMS chips optional (CMS chips are required for GameBlaster compatibility). Sound Blaster 2.0 - Same as above but the CMS support was dropped completely (Seems they weren't selling). Sound Blaster Pro - Same as Sound Blaster 2.0 but adds stereo support. Sound Blaster 16 - Same as Sound Blaster 2.0 buts adds both stereo and 16-bit support. Digital Sound Player 1.0 should work properly with all five types, but currently only supports Mono 8-bit sound files. If you have any problems, please let us know. Various Sound Blaster clones have been produced with different levels of compatibility. Digital Sound Player 1.0 should work with any Sound Blaster clone with 100% register level compatibility. If you have any problems, please let us know. If you are unable to get DSP 1.0 working with your Sound Blaster clone, you can try the AdLib FM option "-a". AdLib Personal Computer Music System AdLib produced the first sound card with 9 FM voices. But, it has no direct digital audio support. We have come up with an algorithm that allows playing of digital audio sound files on the AdLib with surprisingly good results. Disney Sound Source The Disney Sound Source is a parallel port Digital to Analog Converter (DAC). Currently DSP 1.0 only supports this device when it is connected to LPT1 (the first parallel port). The sounds that came with ours were really grotty and are not representative of the really good digital sound this device can produce. PC Speaker The PC's speaker is a truly amazing beast. Orignally designed to only produce beeps and simple tones, it can actually perform an amazing range of sounds. However, one has to have a speaker with sufficent volume to be heard. On our 16Mhz machine, the speaker is buried behind a solid front and is not loud enough. Our 25Mhz, on the other hand, the speaker's sound is quite acceptable. DOCUMENTATION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS If you have a printer, please print out and read this documentation file DSP.DOC. We would like to thank Creative Labs for shipping a perfectly awful VOC player with their sound cards. We would like to thank all the graphic file viewers in the market for this idea. You can think of this program as a sound file viewer. We would like to thank Dave Kirsch for making his graphic mouse cursor in text mode routines available and freely usable. FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS We do not like the way the speed selection works. It will be improved. Any suggestions are welcome. We would like to add support for stereo sound files. The newer sound cards support stereo, but we need a mixing algorithm for playing these files on the older cards. We would like to add support for 16 bit sound files. The newer cards support this data width, but we need a downsizing algorithm for playing these files on the older cards. We would like to expand the support for the Sound Blaster Pro sound card, to include its expanded DMA Channels, 8 bit stereo, 16 bit mono, etc. We would like to add support for the Covox Speach Thing and clones. This should be in the next release. We know how to do it, but do not have one to test with. If anyone has one and would like to be an alpha tester or if you would sell us one cheap, please let us know. We would like to add support for the PC Speaker. We know the techniques involved, but just have not had the time to implement them. We would like to add support for other sound cards including Pro Audio Spectrum 16, Sound Blaster Pro (stereo), Sound Blaster 16, and the Gravis Ultrasound. If you have programming information on these devices, contact us, maybe we can work a deal. We would like to add support for sound files compressed by archivers such as PkZip. Sound files can absorb huge amounts of disk space and text based archivers have a difficult time getting good compression of sound files. However, we all like to tweak as much out of our disk as possible. Plus there is the saving in the MSDOS cluster overhead. REGISTRATION BENEFITS Digital Sound Player 1.0 is distributed as Shareware: if you like the program, please become a registered user by sending $10 to TAG SOFTWARE. List or print the file REGISTER.DOC for more information. List or print the file CATALOG.DOC for a complete description of all of TAG SOFTWARE's products. For registering Digital Sound Player 1.0: - You will receive the latest registered version of this program. - You will receive one FREE disk from our Digital Sound Collection Series. See the file CATALOG.DOC for details as to which audio clips are on what disk. - Technical Support. Please write TAG SOFTWARE. Or you can contact us through The Programmer's Corner BBS 301-596-7692 or 410-995-6873. As always, we will respond to your suggestions and comments. Sometimes we can incorporate your suggestions in the latest version of the program that you receive from us.