旼컴컴컴컴캠 旼컴컴컴컴� 旼컴컴컴컴컴캠 � 靈� 靈� � � 靈컴� � � 靈� 靈� � 읕� � � 읕� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 읕캭 � � 粕 獺 旼� � 聃컴� � 旼� 粕 獺 粕 獺 旼� 읕컴캭 읕� 읕컴컴컴컴� 읕� 읕컴캭 읕컴캭 읕� Torture Of Music official release �袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴� � A M P 2.01 � � The module player for Sound Blaster AWE32 and compatibles � � (c) 1995-1996 by Lada Kopecky a.k.a. Grinus / Torture Of Music � 훤袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴暠 For more information about our group read the tom-info.txt file or visit our WWW homepage http://frodo.hiof.no/~gislemm/tom/tom.html 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴� � 1. CONTENTS 팠袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴� 2. Opening Words 3. Features 4. Requirements 5. Files in this package 6. Disclaimer 7. Distribution rules 8. Installation 9. Switches 10. Modules and Listfiles 11. Keyboard 12. Unsupported pattern effects 13. Useful hints 14. Future Plans 15. What you can't expect 16. For Cubic Player users 17. Something about treble setting 18. Comments, suggestions or anything else 19. Contacting the author 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � 2. OPENING WORDS 팠袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴� 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 Hello and welcome to your new AWE Module Player v2.01 ... stay cool and enjoy the auditive experience. Before you start using our stunning player please do read through this description file. It will help you to understand and get maximum enjoyment out of each and every function provided by the AMP. If you are interested in the most accurate playback of your favourite modules on the Sound Blaster AWE32 (PnP) or Sound Blaster 32 (PnP) then there's no reason why not to use our player. We all in Torture Of Music believe that the AMP will become your one and only ultimate module player and we wish you many happy hours spent by listening to the amazing music composed by skilled musicians from all over the globe. In case you are totally unfamiliar with playback of music modules on your PC in general, you may need more information than this description file provides. We suggest that you visit some of the many web pages on the subject of music scene and music modules available on the Net. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴� � 3. FEATURES 팠袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴� - plays XM modules (FT2.0x, format version $0104) - plays S3M modules (ST3.0+, IT1.01+) - plays MOD/NST modules (M.K. FLT4 nCHN nnCH OCTA N.T.) - plays MTM modules - plays PTM modules (max. 128 instruments) - up to 32 channels and 30 sounding notes - the strict compatibility with the FT2.06 and ST3.21 playback routines! (including the emulation of many undocumented bugs) - professional quality downsampling of highest samples to avoid the EMU8000 pitch overflows The high quality anti-aliasing filter is used and numerous secondary complications involved by downsampling are properly handled. So you won't loose *any* note and the quality of playback is the best possible! - can play in Windows, even in background Just increase the Priority (using PIF editor) in Windows 3.x or decrease the Idle Sensitivity (in Properties of AMP icon) in Windows 95 to achieve a continuous playback. However, the background playback may be affected by running other resource intensive tasks (see the "future plans" section of this document) - can report all suspicious events during the module load and playback, e.g.: - invalid, unknown, unsupported and improperly used pattern effects - the synthesizer hardware limits exceeded - AdLib instruments and channels in S3M modules - invalid instruments or samples - bad sample/envelope loop points - and many more So you will know of everything that can impair the resulting sound! - informs about another interesting facts, such as: - data found in disabled S3M channels - unused patterns - plays multiple modules in batch (using wildcards and/or listfiles) - can play multiple modules in random order - all kinds of song loops can be reliably disabled (a 'must have' option for background playback in a batch mode) - supports animated messages using sample names (sometimes found in S3M mods) - loads and plays even slightly corrupted MOD files - fast forward mode, pattern skip in both directions - forced tempo mode - support for custom reverb/chorus types created by AWE32FXWorkShop - all the settings taken from AMP.INI and/or from the command line - can play if not enough AWE memory - no problems with memory or extenders (70-220 KB of DOS memory is enough) - does not change the Sound Blaster mixer settings - does not use the SB DSP chip (i.e. you can simultaneously run a MIDI player or a tracker (configured to SB16) in another DOS box under Windows 95) 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � 4. REQUIREMENTS 팠袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� - PC 386 or better - EGA/VGA - Sound Blaster AWE32 or a compatible sound card with EMU8000 (at least 2 MB of on-board sample RAM is strongly recommended) - 70..220 KB of free DOS conventional memory - the player can need a small amount of Extended memory during the downsampling (if not enough low memory) - no Expanded memory needed - no AWE32 drivers needed - the BLASTER environment variable is used though it is not necessary 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � 5. FILES IN THIS PACKAGE 팠袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴� 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 Here is a list of the files enclosed to this package. AMP.EXE - the player itself AMP.INI - a sample configuration file AMP.PIF - Program Information File for MS Windows AMP.REV - the revision history AMP.TXT - this file 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � 6. DISCLAIMER 팠袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� This software program is spread "as is", without express or implied warranty of any kind. In no event will author of this software program be liable for any special, incidental or consequential damages resulting from possession, use or malfunction of this software product. (E.g. deafness or blown speakers by the volume being turned up too high). 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � 7. DISTRIBUTION RULES 팠袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� This material is freeware only for NON-COMMERCIAL use. You are allowed to copy it without restrictions for non-commercial use. No payment of any kind may be charged for this product or any combination of products or services including this product without our authorization and official written license. Commercial use, especially the industrial manufacturing on any data storage media and their distribution without the expressed permission of the producer, is strictly prohibited. This program or the data files contained therein may not be altered or modified without the permission of the author. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � 8. INSTALLATION 팠袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� Just unzip the archive into your destination directory and run amp.exe. Make sure that AMP.EXE and AMP.INI are stored in the same directory. For more information about associating AMP player with your modules please read the HINTS section. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴� � 9. SWITCHES 팠袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴� The list of command line switches (they are preceded by '/' or '-'): V Verbose mode - all available info shown in Log window - message colors: INFOS - white, WARNINGS - yellow, ERRORS - red S Single mode - no module looping, no batch looping - the loop detection works at the pattern level (it may fail if the patterns are splitted into non-continuous parts) P Pause mode - waits at the end of each module (you can continue switching and scrolling the screens) J Jukebox mode - modules are played in a random order - you can combine it with the Single mode and Pause mode - some additional DOS memory is needed for the filenames stored F force play if not enough sample memory - some samples will be ignored I show numeric pan values 0 to F and M (instead of L/R/M) W disable the Windows detection (a safe mode) - a support for enhanced multitasking will be disabled Xn force the EMU8000 base port (in hex, e.g. 620 or 640) - if you include this switch, AMP won't use the 'BLASTER' variable nor the autodetect routine Nn default panning from the middle (0..127, default 72) - this is the initial panning of the left/right MOD/S3M channels (something like 'n' switch in DMP player) Mn initial volume 0..64 (default is the automode) - in automode the initial volume depends on the number of channels Rn initial reverb level (0..255, default 36) Cn initial chorus level (0..255, default 0) En reverb type (0..7, default 4) On chorus type (0..7, default 0) Kn,filename (0..7) overload the n-th reverb/chorus type from FXR/FXC file created in AWE32FXWorkShop v1.1 (by Vincent Vu) Bn initial bass level (0..11, default 5) Tn initial treble level (0..11, default 5) Dn downsampling control (0..24, default 12) - use it to set the EMU8000 pitch safety value in semitones (1 to 24) It controls the maximal EMU8000 sample rate used by AMP. (the hardware limit is at 176.4kHz) - a zero has a special meaning - it disables the downsampling at all - the default value of 1 octave means that samples will be downsampled so that the highest note won't exceed 88.2 kHz virtual sample rate. - very small values are not recommended as there must be some range left for vibratos and slides. Another reason is that EMU8000 doesn't avoid an aliasing effect when doing a pitch up-shifting (i.e. for sample rates above 44.1 kHz). n Bass/Treble Reverb Type Chorus Type --- ----------- ----------- ----------- 0 -12 dB Room 1 Chorus 1 (*) 1 -8 dB Room 2 Chorus 2 2 -6 dB Room 3 Chorus 3 3 -4 dB Hall 1 Chorus 4 4 -2 dB Hall 2 (*) Feedback Delay 5 0 dB (*) Plate Flanger 6 +2 dB Delay Short Delay 7 +4 dB Panning Delay Short Delay Feedback 8 +6 dB 9 +8 dB 10 +10 dB 11 +12 dB (*) are default values All switches above can be used in AMP.INI, one option per line. Command line switches take precedence over the INI file settings. The mode switches V/F/S/P/I/J/W can be reset from the command line by appending the minus sign (e.g. -S-). Remember that AMP.INI must be placed in the same directory as AMP.EXE ! 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � 10. MODULES AND LISTFILES 팠袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� You can specify one or more modules and/or listfiles in the command line. You can use wildcards in module names. The extensions may be omitted. The listfile is the list of modules to play, one filename per line. The lines with leading ';', '#' or space will be ignored (also in AMP.INI). 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � 11. KEYBOARD 팠袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴� 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 F1 Help Screen F2 Log Screen - in Verbose mode only F3 Channels Screen - instrument name, channel volume, channel pan are displayed - volume bars reflect the final volume (incl. envelopes and a global volume) F4 Instruments Screen - 16-bit sample points are displayed in sample units - looped samples are truncated to the end of loop and invalid loop points are corrected - envelopes, bidirectional loops and instrument vibratos are indicated by proper symbols - a downsampling factor for each sample (1 to 4 octaves) is shown in the last column PgDn PgUp scroll channels or instruments Ctrl-PgUp/PgDn Home End for a faster move Up Fast Forward (4-times faster, no pattern data is skipped) <- -> Pattern Back/Forward - remaining pattern data is ignored - the active notes are terminated (so they can't hang) Ctrl <- Module Restart Esc fadeout and exit to DOS Enter fadeout to the next module in batch (or exit) spacebar Pause/Resume playback Ctrl Up/Down Forced Tempo up/down (following tempo changes are ignored) - + Main Volume down/up F5 F6 EMU8000 equalizer Bass Level down/up F7 F8 EMU8000 equalizer Treble Level down/up F9 F10 Reverb Level down/up F11 F12 Chorus Level down/up Alt display the active effect types Alt-F9 Alt-F10 Reverb Type down/up Alt-F11 Alt-F12 Chorus Type down/up 1-9 A-P channel 1-25 on/off (no more free letters) R S all channels off/on There is no mouse support. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � 12. UNSUPPORTED PATTERN EFFECTS 팠袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� - Set Filter (unsupported by ST3/FT2, Amiga HW specific effect) - Old ST Stereo Control (unsupported by ST3, does anybody know the function?) - Funk Repeat (unsupported by ST3/FT2, never seen it) - Set Finetune (unsupported by ST3, never seen it) - PTM effects J,K,L,M (does anybody know the function?) 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � 13. USEFUL HINTS 팠袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴� 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 Examples of use (the default AMP.INI was assumed): a) To play all modules from a directory (all MOD/MTM/S3M/XM/PTM extensions): AMP E:\MODULES\* b) To play your favourite songs in random order without waiting between them: AMP @E:\MODULES\MY-BEST.LST -J -P- c) To play specified modules with looping enabled: AMP E:\MODULES\DOPE C:\*.XM -S- d) To play all modules from a directory sub-tree: (hint by Roger Dahl) DIR /B /S /A-D E:\MODULES >ALL.LST (creates a listfile) AMP @ALL.LST If you can't live without a file selector, you can use an external shell of your choice (DMPC, SHELL10, etc.). With DMPC you'll just have to add a new section into DMPC.CFG file: [AMP] OPTIONS=%S LISTFILE=TRUE FILEMASK=3MNPTX PLAYER=amp.exe Or you can make an association of modules with AMP.EXE in your favourite disk/file manager. Then AMP is invoked when you 'Open' or 'Start' the module. For example, to do it in XtreeGold, create the files MOD.BAT, S3M.BAT, etc... in a directory where Xtree resides. They contain just a single line like this: @C:\SOUND\AMP\AMP.EXE %4.%5 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � 14. FUTURE PLANS 팠袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴� 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 A native Windows version has been started. It is designed for the smooth and low resource-consuming background playback with a standard file selector and playlist capabilities. At present it is in a zero-alpha stage (i.e. suitable just for my own private use :)). A lot of hard work would be needed to prepare it for a public release. Yes, now it is the right time to give me some special feedback, folks! If there will be a sufficient demand then a support for PnP cards configured to non-standard ports can be added. And if more nice IT modules appear and if Jeffrey Lim really has stopped changing the IT format :) and if I get into the right mood for coding... then IT support will be added. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � 15. WHAT YOU CAN'T EXPECT 팠袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� Don't waste your time asking me to implement a DOS shell or a file selector! Use Windows or OS/2 instead of DOS shell and an external file manager (as described above). That's the way I use it. :-) After many experiments with the resampling feature I've decided not to support the sound cards with a small sample memory. The reason is that I do prefer the sound quality and fidelity (these are still and forever the main goals of AMP player). Let's take an example: If 1MB of 8-bit samples has to fit into 512KB sample RAM (== 256k samples), most samples would be reduced by factor of 4. Every such downsampling involves a very big loss of high frequency parts and the sound becomes unacceptable to me. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � 16. FOR CUBIC PLAYER USERS 팠袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴� 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 Older versions of Cubic Player (up to v1.7) did not initialize the EMU chip properly. If used after any program using the ADIP 2.52 style initialization (e.g. AMP), some sounds were lost. For this reason I created a simple utility called AWERESET (available separately) for resetting the AWE32 in the style of ADIP 2.0. You'll need it to prepare the AWE32 hardware for Cubic Player after AMP was used. Instead of my AWERESET utility you can use the 'AWEUTIL /S' command as well (thanx to B.Boer). The corrected AWE driver v1.7c for Cubic Player is now available. NOTE: There are no such problems when running Cubic Player under Windows 95. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � 17. SOMETHING ABOUT THE TREBLE SETTING 팠袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴� 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 When playing a module, there are 2 or 3 equalizers in chain: 1. the digital equalizer in EMU8000 2. the equalizer in AWE32 mixer (controlled by SB16SET or Windows mixer) 3. the equalizer in external amplifier I think there should be used only last one in chain. So I decided to set the default bass & treble levels of the EMU8000 equalizer to zero. But the AWE32 hardware defaults to the treble level approx. +10dB. That's why you can hear some loss of high frequencies compared to other AWE32 players which use the hardware default. However, you can use '-Tn' option to change it. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � 18. COMMENTS, SUGGESTIONS OR ANYTHING ELSE 팠袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴� 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 In case you find any major or minor problem with the player, please try to find the circumstances which screws it up. If you can't, don't worry - let me know anyway. If you like AMP, don't be lazy and send me at least a few words. Remember - you don't *have to* pay for it but if you *DO* use the player and think that it's worth contributing a small amount towards, then please do so. It would be GREATLY appreciated. If you think this player is worth $5, then send $5. If you think it's worth $10, then send $10... Methods of payment: Cash Bank Cheque Postal Order Just enclose your donations securely wrapped into envelope and send it via snail mail. I don't like spoiling a program by showing in reminder messages or by anything else. However, the future of AMP depends on feedback and donations I'll get. It's up to you! 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � 19. CONTACTING THE AUTHOR 팠袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� If you want to contact me for any reason then send me a mail to: kopecky@tsoft.cz ryston@login.cz To those of you without the Internet access, here is my snail mail address: Lada Kopecky Nad lesnim div. 1116 142 00 Praha 4 Czech Republic