home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Cream of the Crop 1
/
Cream of the Crop 1.iso
/
SOUND
/
WHACK101.ARJ
/
WHACKER.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1992-04-22
|
11KB
|
272 lines
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The CodeBlaster's Whacker Tracker ver 1.01 [SHAREWARE VERSION] Page 1
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
A Sound/Noise/Protracker-compatible tracker for the PC-family.
Programmers : Håkan Gustavsson and Stein Norheim
Graphics : Håkan Dahlberg and Håkan Gustavsson.
Things that are available in the registered version:
* Stereo-support
* MIDI-support
* Auto-channel-switch
* Finetune
* Print
* Scopes
* SB Pro mixer window
1.00 Hardware Requirements:
* 286/12 MHz
* EGA or VGA graphics card
* Harddisk (recommended)
* 640 KB Memory
* Some kind of sound device (recommended)
1.01 Software Requirements:
You will need a special sound-driver for your sounddevice. We have included
some in the archive (listed below). If you've got a sounddevice, and no driver,
just give us a call, an we will, if possible fix a driver for you... FREE!
Included drivers:
INTER.DRV Internal Honker Mono
SP_MO1.DRV D/A Converter in LPT1 Mono
SP_MO2.DRV D/A Converter in LPT2 Mono
COVOX.DRV Covox card (configurable) Mono
SB_MO.DRV SoundBlaster Mono
SP2_ST.DRV 2 D/A Converters in LPT1 & LPT2 Stereo
SP_ST1.DRV Stereo D/A Converter in LPT1 Stereo
SP_ST2.DRV Stereo D/A Converter in LPT2 Stereo
SBSP_ST1.DRV SoundBlaster+SoundPlayer in LPT1 Stereo
SBSP_ST2.DRV SoundBlaster+Soundplayer in LPT2 Stereo
SBPRO_ST.DRV SoundBlaster PRO Stereo
The covox driver is configurable so if you ie have a covox soundcard at address
2CFh, just select covox and choose port 2CFh in the setup window.
1.02 The Archive:
The archive should contain these files:
WHACKER.EXE 31.000 The Main Program
WHACKER.001 41.897 Graphics
WHACKER.002 26.049 Graphics
WHACKER.HLP 8.586 The online helpfile
WHACKER.DOC 9.926 This document
TCB.MOD 159.444 A sample module made in Whacker Tracker
*.DRV 2.790 All sounddrivers
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The CodeBlaster's Whacker Tracker ver 1.01 [SHAREWARE VERSION] Page 2
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
2.00 Why a realtime soundsystem?
In the beginning... well, at least in October 1981, when IBM presented their
Personal Computer, people noticed that there was something missing. Years
passed, but nobody ever argued with IBM because of the bad sound. Many companies
developed sound cards that they wanted the users to buy and install in their
computers, and so on.....
When Commodore developed the AMIGA, they didn't do the same fault. They
installed a sound-chip in the AMIGAs that was able to play four different
samples (voices) at one time.
The CodeBlaster's Whacker Tracker is an AMIGA-compatible soundtracker for
the PC-Family. The biggest difference is: What the AMIGA does with hardware,
TCB does with software. Of course, it takes lots of CPU-time to make 4-voiced
music on the PC. If you have a 16 MHz computer with an 80286-CPU and no
memory-handlers installed, you will be able to run our music system at the
replay rate 16 KHz (KiloHertz) or even higher. This means that the tracker
will call the music-generating routine 16000 times per second, and that eats
your CPU-time!
2.01 What is a tracker?
The tracker system is a simple, cheap and quite easy way of music making. The
cheapest music device (except from the internal speaker) that our music
supports is the "RESISTOR D/A CONVERTER", which costs about $10 to build.
It built of eight resistors and one capacitor. The most expensive music
device that we support is the SoundBlaster PRO card. All devices have a little
different quality and works with different replay rates.
2.02 The Keyboard
┌───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬────────┐ ┌───┬───┬───┐
│ │ 1 │ 2 │ 3 │ 4 │ 5 │ 6 │ 7 │ 8 │ 9 │ 0 │ + │ ' │ <─── │ │Ins│Hom│PUp│
├───┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴───┬────┤ ├───┼───┼───┤
│ Tab │ Q │ W │ E │ R │ T │ Y │ U │ I │ O │ P │ Å │ ^ │ │ │Del│End│PDn│
├─────┴┬──┴┬──┴┬──┴┬──┴┬──┴┬──┴┬──┴┬──┴┬──┴┬──┴┬──┴┬────┘ │ └───┴───┴───┘
│ Caps │ A │ S │ D │ F │ G │ H │ J │ K │ L │ Ö │ Ä │ Enter │
├──────┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬───────┤ ┌───┐
│ Shift │ Z │ X │ C │ V │ B │ N │ M │ , │ . │ - │ < │ Shift │ │ U │
├──────┬─┴┬──┴──┬┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴──┬┴───┴┬──┴┬──────┤ ┌───┼───┼───┐
│ Ctrl │ │ Alt │ Space │ Alt │ │ Ctrl │ │ L │ D │ R │
└──────┘ └─────┴───────────────────────────┴─────┘ └──────┘ └───┴───┴───┘
Because this is the unregistered version, we haven't told you who the keyboard
works, so either try it out for yourself, or register! :-)
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The CodeBlaster's Whacker Tracker ver 1.00 [SHAREWARE VERSION] Page 3
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
2.03 How to build a soundplayer
Parallel
port
pin no
2───────────── 2.8 MΩ ────────────┐
│
3───────────── 1.4 MΩ ────────────┤
│
4───────────── 0.7 MΩ ────────────┤
│
5───────────── 352 KΩ ────────────┤ ┌────────────┐
│ │ │
6───────────── 176 KΩ ────────────┤ │ Amplifier │
│ │ or any │
7───────────── 88 KΩ ─────────────┤ │ kind of │
│ │ Hi-Fi- │
8───────────── 44 KΩ ─────────────┤ │ system │
│ │ │
9───────────── 22 KΩ ─────────────┴───────┤20uF├────┤ │
│ │
18───────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │
(gnd) └────────────┘
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
IMPORTANT !!! IMPORTANT !!! IMPORTANT !!! IMPORTANT !!! IMPORTANT !!! IMPORTANT
This unregistered shareware-version of Whacker Tracker may be copied and
uploaded to any BBS:es. You may use this program for a 30 day trial period,
before you register. When you register, you will get a printed full manual, and
the latest version of the Tracker. And if you want, and if there's space on the
disk you can get our latest demo too. You may also, if you want to, get the
obj-files to our sound-system, so you can use it in your own programs. If you
want to support the demo production and this new generation of sound system,
you should DEFINITELY register.
If you have any questions or bugreports, call Sourcer at : +46-18-32 48 53
(In sweden : 018-32 48 53)
Or write to:
Shadow Man (Håkan Gustavsson) Sourcer (Stein Norheim)
Pl 2215 Klippvägen 15
S-313 00 OSKARSTRÖM S-756 52 Uppsala
Sweden Sweden
Or call our BBSs:
Hot Bits - TCB Code Centre TCB World HeadQuarter
+46-35-62332, 14400 bps +46-35-52451, 12000 bps
Fidonet: 2:203/415.7
Weird City
+46-303-23345, 2400 bps
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The CodeBlaster's Whacker Tracker ver 1.00 [SHAREWARE VERSION] Page 4
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
How to register?
The simplest way to register WT is to insert the money (see prices below) to
TCB's PostGiro. The number is: 415 67 76-9, Håkan Gustavsson.
Don't forget to write:
* If you want 3.5" (720KB) or 5.25" (360KB) disks
* If you want any of our demos on the disk (if there's space)
* Your address + TELEPHONE NUMBER (without it, we don't send WT)
If it's the first time you buy WT, you'll have to pay 100 SEK but if it's an
upgrade, the amount is smaller. For the upgrade the amount depends on how much
is changed in the new version. But it will be about 50 SEK.
If you are a foreign user and want to register, you must send a little more
money for the carriage, 20 SEK.
Credits & greetings
BIG thanks must go the all the beta-testers:
Stefan Thulin, Anders Aldengård, Håkan Dahlberg, Fredrik Palm, Johan Franzen,
Markus & Alexander Hall, Mikael Platen, Kristofer Ågren.
Greetings goes to:
Space Pigs, Cascada, Sky Hawks, Skull, DCE, Ultra Force, Future Crew, Silent
Service, Triad (PC-sec), Sonic (PC-sec), David Lopez & Angel Trigo
(NeuroFactory 989), ProLords, Physical Crew, Mach 5, Union,
and all we've forgot..
Where to buy a cheap Soundblaster?
For all technical info, beta-testing, and support I make some advertisment for
a Soundblaster dealer. So if you want a nice, cheap SoundBlaster, call, write
or log on to:
Lagans DatorService HB
Box 59
S-340 14 LAGAN
Sweden
Voice: 031-380 999
Telefax: 0372-351 33
BBS: 0372-700 14
If you buy your SoundBlaster from this company, you will also be a member of
"SB-Klubben" (The SoundBlaster-Club).
How to use Whacker Tracker from the commandline?
You may run Whacker Tracker with a few options:
WHACKER /Kxx /M Yeah_yo
/Kxx - Kilohertz, got to be 2 chars width. (ie 08, 10, 16, 20...)
/M - Monochrome mode
/E - Force EGA mode
/V - Force VGA mode
xxx - Starts Whacker Tracker, loads module XXX and plays it... (WT will
automatical add .MOD if you don't enter a .)
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The CodeBlaster's Whacker Tracker ver 1.00 [SHAREWARE VERSION] Page 5
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Known bugs in v1.01:
* There will sometimes be a Memory allocation error, so when you've got that,
reboot, try again and if it will not work the 2nd time, contact us and tell
us your config.sys, autoexec.bat and the module you tested it with.
Corrected bugs in v1.01:
* The EGA mode's colors didn't work out
* The soundblaster didn't work on some fast machines
New features in v1.01:
* The mod/smp-path will change automatical when you setup it up.
* You can force EGA/VGA mode at the cmd-line
Programmers' note:
There is a betaversion spread, but it's not released. There stands:
"This version is registered to Nobody" when you quit. This is a beta that
some stupid ashole uploaded to a BBS. If we find out who it was,
we'll XXXXXXXXX. So, if you've got this version, delete it, call the BBS
there you got it and tell the SysOp to delete it. There are many BIG bugs in
the beta, and we don't want The CodeBlasters to get bad reputation.
IMPORTANT... We will blacklist ALL BBS'es we find the ß-Version on after
May the 15th. so... Watch Out.
/Håkan Gustavsson & Stein Norheim 920422