MIDAS Sound System information / FAQ
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MIDAS Sound System is Copyright 1994 Petteri Kangaslampi and Jarno
Paananen. This file contains some information about MIDAS Sound System
and answers to some questions we have received lately. It should be
accurate, but as MIDAS is under constant development some information
here may already be out of date as you see this file.

MIDAS Sound System is a music and sound system for Borland C, Pascal
and Assembler programmers. It features up to 32 channels of digitized
sound, with real-time mixing on sound cards that do not support more
channels on hardware. MIDAS mixing routines allow freely selectable
sampling rate, volume and panning on all channels, so that they are
suitable for music as well as sound effects.

MIDAS currently supports Gravis UltraSound, Creative Labs Sound
Blaster series (normal SB, SBPro and SB 16), Media Vision Pro Audio
Spectrum series (normal PAS, PAS+ and PAS 16), and Microsoft Windows
Sound System. We will add support to any sound card supporting digital
sound without constant CPU usage (DMA or similar), provided that we can
get the programming information and a sound card for testing.

MIDAS mixing routines are fast, and use 16-bit mixing on all sound cards
for maximum quality. Coming in the near future is faster raw 8-bit
mixing for 8-bit sound (with lower quality), and additional sound
amplifying for 8-bit higher quality mixing routines for better sound
quality.

MIDAS Sound System allows several different Module Players for maximum
compatibility. There are currently two Module Players, for Scream
Tracker 3 and Pro Tracker modules, which are believed to be the most
compatible players on PC, naturally excluding Tammilehto's own STMIK
for Scream Tracker 3 modules. Both Module Players implement a great
amount of undocumented features and bugs found in the original players,
so that all modules can be played correctly. Adding new Module Players
for other format is fast and easy, as the existing ones can be used as
a basis.

Although MIDAS Sound System is packed with features, it does not take
very much memory. All unwanted components, like different Module
Players, can be easily left out, and all the loaders and such use a
minimal amount of C/Pascal library functions. In addition to this,
MIDAS fully supports EMS memory for both sample and pattern data. Thus
playing a 500kb module requires, when using 16-bit stereo, only
approximately 35kb of memory plus the executable code.

MIDAS also includes a timer system for playing the music in background,
featuring built-in screen synchronization. This way it is possible to
change, for example, the screen start address and palette in interrupt,
effectively using triple-buffering etc, while still playing the music
in background on all sound cards. This also ensures that no Vertical
Retraces will be missed even on slow computer.

And most importantly: MIDAS is be available free of charge with all
source code included! We know that we are probably crazy doing this,
but we want to give all demo and free game programmers a good music
system to work with. The MIDAS Sound System license is relatively
strict in its terms, restricting the usage of the free MIDAS version to
absolutely free programs only, but exceptions to the license can be
made for non-commercial usage too as needed. Contact us for more
information.

MIDAS Sound System may be used free of charge for free programs like
demos or freeware games, but for commercial software (including
shareware) separate commercial licensing is required. Prices for
commercial licenses are from $500USD up per product, depending on how
much extra work is required from our part. Other licensing methods,
including royalties or a larger one-time fee for unlimited use are also
possible, as are possibly lower prices for shareware usage. Contact us
for details.

MIDAS Sound System is now available. The latest version should always
be found on Internet in ftp.eng.ufl.edu:
/pub/msdos/demos/sound/programming/code or /pub/msdos/demos/incoming,
and on our distribution site BBSes. For the list of distribution sites,
see the MIDAS Module Player documentation, MIDP.DOC.

For more information about MIDAS Sound System, contact us. See MIDP.DOC
for contacting information.