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SIDPLAY.DOC
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1994-04-13
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╒════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╕
│ SIDPLAY v1.10 Copyright (C) 1993,94 Michael Schwendt │
╘════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛
SIDPLAY emulates the Sound Interface Device (SID 6581) and the 6510 CPU
of the Commodore C64 on the PC. Therefore it is able to execute those
fragments of code which produce sound or music. The idea for SIDPLAY is
based on the Amiga product "The 100 most remembered C64 game-tunes" and
its updates by Håkan Sundell and Ron Birk.
This piece of software is copyrighted. It may not be sold by anyone but
can be copied freely by everybody as long as the original package and
its contents have not been changed or modified in any other way. If you
have paid money for this you have been cheated.
SIDPLAY is CARDWARE. That means, if you like this program you must send
me a postcard so that I can see how much SIDPLAY is used around the
world. This also helps me getting motivated in programming upgrades and
further productions. If you have any comments, bug reports, help or
criticism feel free to contact me. You will find my address at the
bottom of this text file.
More than 500 different tunes should be available in several packages.
These musics from the Commodore 64 are still copyrighted by their
original owners. That is the reason why this program is distributed
without any tunes (except the included demonstration sounds from Martin
Galway, Rob Hubbard and David Whittaker) though many of them are almost
10 years old by now, thus spreading them is more likely to perform as
advertising than causing any consequential damage.
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
PACKAGE LIST:
The original self-extracting SIDPLAY archive should only contain the
following files:
sidplay.exe ; the main program
sidplay.doc ; this text
sidplay.rev ; revision history file
sidplay.faq ; frequently asked questions
info2sid.exe ; converts any .INF(O) files in the current
directory to .SID format
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
KEY FUNCTIONS (SELECTOR):
Use the CURSOR KEYS, PAGE UP/DOWN and RETURN to select a .DAT file in
the selection window. ESCAPE quits the program back to DOS.
KEY FUNCTIONS (SOUND CONTROL):
CURSOR LEFT - replay previous tune if possible
CURSOR RIGHT - replay next tune if possible
CURSOR UP - enter four times faster replay, back to normal speed by
pressing any other key
CURSOR DOWN - enable two times faster replay, back to normal speed by
pressing any other key
ENTER - returns back to the selector
ESCAPE - quits back to DOS at any time
Note: The fast forward mode starts/ends after a short delay which is
caused by technical problems.
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
THE COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS:
SIDPLAY provides optional command line parameters. These can be set
either to achieve better sound quality, faster key-interrupt handling
or to override the Soundblaster auto-detection.
/f<Hz> sets the sample mixing frequency (i.e. sound quality)
where <Hz> is a frequency between 12000 and 45000 Hz
/b<length> sets the amount of bytes to be processed till next interrupt
occurs (values between 1024 and 65530 possible);
a small buffer results in faster key-interrupt handling;
very useful for switching through plenty of sounds
Use the following parameters only if the SB auto-detections fails and
if you haven't set the BLASTER environment variable.
/p<port> where <port> is the base port address of the soundcard
/d<dma> where <dma> is the DMA channel used by your SB
/i<irq> where <irq> is the interrupt line used by your SB
Example: SIDPLAY /p220 /i7 /d1 (=Soundblaster factory settings)
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
THE .SID DESCRIPTION-FILES:
The data files that should be available for this utility or for the
similar Amiga product are binary code and data files that have been
transfered directly from the C64. Both the C64 and this emulator need
additional information about the memory location, the number of tunes
and/or the starting address of the executable code. That specific
information should be delivered in form of info files together with the
.DAT data files. This utility uses special .SID ASCII-text files but
also handles the Amiga infos (.INF extension).
THE .SID-FILE SYNTAX:
The format of an EXAMPLE.SID description file should look like this:
SIDPLAY INFOFILE
ADDRESS=2AF0,3002,300C
SONGS=3
SPEED=0
NAME=Example
AUTHOR=Example
COPYRIGHT=1993 Example
The first line of text is only to identify the type of file (the .SID
extension may not be enough).
ADDRESS=<loadaddress>,<initaddress>,<playaddress>
<loadaddress> is the address to load the .DAT file at (0 means the file
is in original C64 format, i.e. the first two byte contain
the loadaddress (lo/hi).
<initaddress> is the start address of a subroutine that initializes a
sound using the 6510 accumulator as song number (0-255).
<playaddress> is the start address of a subroutine that can be called
frequently by interrupt to produce a continuous sound.
Each address is a 16-bit hexadecimal effective C64 memory address.
SONGS=<total>,[<start>]
<total> is the decimal number of tunes/sounds that can be initialized
using the init-subroutine (minimum = 1).
<start> default=1, is the decimal number of the tune to be played
automatically after selecting a .DAT file (lowest = 1).
SPEED=<value>
<value> is a hexadecimal number that contains information about the
speed of each tune/sound. For each tune/sound a bit is reserved,
bit 0 for tune 1, bit 1 for tune 2 and so on. A 0 bit means
the play-subroutine is called 50 Hz and a 1 bit means the speed
which is indicated by the CIA Timer A (DC04/05) (default 60 Hz)
Examples: SPEED=0 replays every tune at 50 Hz
SPEED=1F replays tunes 1-5 (accumulator 0-4) at 60Hz
and tunes 6-8 (a 5-7) at 50 Hz
NAME=<name of music/tune> ; ASCII
AUTHOR=<name of author/composer> ; ASCII
COPYRIGHT=<year/name of copyright owner/company> ; ASCII
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
TECHNICAL INFORMATION:
- emulation of valid and illegal 6502 instructions
- full realtime envelope and waveform calculation (except noise),
- emulation of carrier-modulator ring modulation and synchronize
- supporting CIA 6526 Timer-A interrupt
- allowing use of full 64K C64 host memory
- supporting fixed routines with C64 'volume samples' (Amiga player)
- supporting Pro AudioSpectrum, PAS Plus and PAS 16
- supporting Soundblaster or Soundblaster Pro compatible soundcards
- playing samples in 8-bit mode at 12000-44000 Hz
- 100% machine code
FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS:
- emulation of nondefined 6502 codes
- emulation of all C64 samples
- master volume support
- faster code + fixed bugs (more?)
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
CONTACTING THE AUTHOR:
via Internet e-mail: 3schwend@rzdspc5.informatik.uni-hamburg.de
via normal mail: Michael Schwendt
An der Wallpforte 1
23879 Moelln
GERMANY
via telephone: +49-(0)4542-7194 after 18:00 CET
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Thanks must go to:
Thorsten (for lending me his SB Pro)
Oliver and Michael (for spreading either the beta or release versions)
Brandon and Steven (for supplying me with SB docs)
Wolfgang "release it !!!" (for C64 docs)
Jens W. "it just won't work" (for the first SB Pro test)
Ingo and his SB 2.0 (for revealing a lame bug)
Jens F. (also for spreading)
to all the people on Internet who also helped me collecting
Soundblaster related programming information
and to you for your moral support and the bug reports
on the previous versions (keep on!)
Now you shouldn't read this file any longer. Start the player and
enjoy the good old Commodore 64 sound !
-=-