README.TXT ========== This file contains additional information to supplement the manual. Please read all the sections before you proceed with the installation. This file contains the following sections: 1. DOS drivers 2. Blaster line 3. Playing MIDI files in GS mode 4. Full-duplex constraints 5. Mapping instruments to multiple MIDI devices 6. Soundfont Banks 7. Online documentation 1. DOS DRIVERS During Custom Installation, you have the options to include the following DOS drivers to your CONFIG.SYS file. DEVICE=C:\SB16\DRV\CTSB16.SYS /UNIT=0 /BLASTER=A:220 I:5 D:1 H:5 DEVICE=C:\SB16\DRV\CTMMSYS.SYS Where: BLASTER=A:220 I:5 D:1 H:5 indicates the hardware resources used by your audio card. This BLASTER switch will not have any effect if you are using a Plug and Play audio card. For Plug and Play (PnP) audio cards, the hardware resources will be allocated by the PnP Configuration Manager which comes with your package. In this case, the statement that loads this PnP configuration manager in the CONFIG.SYS file must be placed before the statements which load your DOS audio drivers. 2. BLASTER LINE The BLASTER line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T6 will not have any effect if you are using a Plug and Play audio card for the same reason as above. 3. PLAYING MIDI FILES IN GS MODE For audio cards equiped with 512KB of RAM memory or more, you can configure it using the AWE Control Panel to play the MIDI file SFX.MID in GS Mode for the best effects. 4. FULL-DUPLEX CONSTRAINTS Your audio card supports full-duplex recording and playback. However, to make full use of this feature, please make sure you observe the following constraints: a. Start only one session of simultaneous playback and recording. b. Use the same sampling rate for both operations. c. Preferably play back and record audio files which are in uncompressed (that is, Pulse Code Modulation or PCM) wave format. d. Reduce the sampling rate for both operations if your audio playback and recording session is too slow. e. Start your Windows in enhanced and not standard mode. f. Check that the version number of the CSPMAN.DLL file in your Windows system directory is 3.51 or later. 5. MAPPING INSTRUMENTS TO MULTIPLE MIDI DEVICES Instruments to be played from any channels in a MIDI file can be mapped to any available MIDI output devices on the Sound Blaster AWE64 card. Sound Blaster AWE64 comes with two components that help to make this possible. They are the Creative MIDI Instrument Mapper and Creative Virtual MIDI Driver. The mapper and driver, when used together, allow you to define mappings of how you would like the instrument to sound like. The mapping causes all note related MIDI events to be routed according to the configured mappings. You can map instruments in two different ways, by using the Creative MIDI Instrument Mapper or sending MIDI System Exclusive events. If you wish to experiment multiple MIDI device playback on any existing MIDI files, you may choose to use the Creative MIDI Instrument Mapper. Refer to the online documentation on how to configure mapping. On the other hand, if you are creating or editing a MIDI file from a MIDI sequencer, you can choose the second option which is to send System Exclusive events to the Virtual MIDI driver. The following events may be entered at the beginning of the MIDI tracks using your favourite sequencer. However, MIDI files with these System Exclusive events encoded must be sent to the Creative Virtual MIDI driver for the mappings to take effect. a. To direct (lock) all MIDI events to a particular MIDI device, use F0 00 20 21 01 00 xx F7 where xx stands for one of the following: 08 - AWE 0C - WaveSynth 10 - FM 14 - MIDI Out b. To undo (unlock) what has been done in (1), use F0 00 20 21 01 01 F7 c. To direct (lock) all MIDI events in a particular channel to another device, use F0 00 20 21 01 02 yy xx F7 where yy is the desired MIDI channel and xx stands for one of: 08 - AWE 0C - WaveSynth 10 - FM 14 - MIDI Out d. To undo (unlock) the channel mappings done in (3), use F0 00 20 21 01 03 yy F7 where yy is the MIDI channel number. e. To map individual instruments to a desired MIDI device, use F0 00 20 21 01 04 00 smb slb sp xx dmb dlb dp F7 where, smb - MIDI bank to be mapped from. Contains MSB part of the bank num. slb - MIDI bank to be mapped from. Contains LSB part of the bank num. sp - MIDI patch to be mapped from xx - Destination MIDI device (see above) dmb - MIDI bank to be mapped to the Destination MIDI device. Contains MSB part of the bank num. dlb - MIDI bank to be mapped to the Destination MIDI device. Contains LSB part of the bank num. dp - MIDI patch to be mapped to the Destination MIDI device smb and slb forms bank numbers that appears in your MIDI files. Most MIDI files use only bank 0, i.e. smb and slb sets to 0. dmb and dlb forms bank numbers that will be mapped to the destination MIDI device. For example, to map Bank 5 Patch 3 in a MIDI file to use Bank 0 Patch 3 of AWE device, the System Exclusive message will be F0 00 20 21 01 04 00 00 05 03 08 00 00 03 F7 f. To remove any mappings done in (5), use F0 00 20 21 01 05 00 sb sb sp F7 6. SOUNDFONT BANKS There are three SoundFont banks shipped with AWE64. The GM35REVC.SF2 will be loaded as the default synthesizer bank. The following is a brief description of each file: GM35REVC.SF2 - Three and a half MB bank General MIDI bank. 4GMGSMT.SF2 - Four MB General MIDI bank with GS variation tones. 2GMGSMT.SF2 - Two MB General MIDI bank with GS variation tones. If you are playing any MIDI files that uses GS variation tones, you will have to load either the 2 or 4 MB banks as the synthesizer bank. 7. ONLINE DOCUMENTATION To help you get information on the applications in this package easily, we have compiled a set of online documentation which can be accessed from your audio card's group window. Just double-click on the icon(s) with names that start with the words "How to Use". ******** END OF README.TXT ********