MIDAS Module Player v0.42 documentation --------------------------------------- Copyright 1994 Petteri Kangaslampi and Jarno Paananen MIDAS MODULE PLAYER IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT WILL ANY OF THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES CAUSED BY THE USE, OR INABILITY TO USE, OF MIDAS MODULE PLAYER. MIDAS Module Player may freely be distributed as long as no money is charged for it, and no attempt is made to restrict further copying, distribution and using of MIDAS Module Player. If you have problems with this, or do not understand this, contact us. MIDAS Module Player is a program for playing Protracker and Scream Tracker 3 modules. It uses MIDAS Sound System, also by us, which is now available for the public for free of charge. All source code is included. Read MIDAS.TXT for more information about MIDAS Sound System. Foreword -------- As the version number suggests, this is not a final version of MIDP. The most important reason for releasing MIDP as a separate executable is to get MIDAS Sound System properly tested. In the future MIDP will include loads of nice features, like proper archiver support, customizable outlook etc, but for now you must live with what you have got. The MIDAS Sound System archive includes full source code for MIDP too, so if you know C you can tailor MIDP to suit for your needs. What we now want from you is feedback. Run MIDP on your own computer, experiment with it, bang it with strange modules and try to crash it. After you know what works and what doesn't, please tell us. The preferred method is of course via e-mail, because it is fast and convenient for us and probably free for you. We are most interested in hearing whether the Sound Devices work on your sound card. So if you don't have time to experiment with MIDP for a long time, we would appreciate if you could at least run it once or twice with different output modes, and tell us whether it worked or not. When giving us feedback, especially bug reports, please remember to include information about your computer system, especially the type of your sound card. Please also include, if possible, the MIDAS error list given by MIDP on an error situation. It gives us invaluable information about the error and, even more importantly, where that error occurred. This way we have better chances of finding the bugs. Unlike most other module players, MIDP is not commercial, shareware, or even cardware. But, if you like MIDP, nothing naturally stops you from sending us something, money, a postcard or whatever. We would hope to get at least a "Hey, MIDP works with my xxx sound card" e-mail message. Sound Devices ------------- MIDAS uses all sound cards through modules called Sound Devices. Currently there are Sound Devices for the following sound cards: 1. Gravis UltraSound * Should work with all GUS versions. Some problems have been reported on GUS v3.x, but as we only have a v2 GUS we have not been able to test them ourselves. Most v3 specific bugs should be fixed for this version, however. 2. Media Vision Pro Audio Spectrum family * This includes PAS, PAS+ and PAS 16 * Note that the PAS Sound Device always attempts to use 16-bit output unless otherwise told, so with PAS or PAS+ sound cards, you must use the command-line option -o8. In addition to this, with normal PAS you should also set the mixing rate to 22kHz or less, using -m22000. This will be fixed in the near future. 3. Microsoft Windows Sound System * Should also work with other WSS compatible cards, such as Compaq Business Audio, and is tested to work with Audiotrix Pro. * Note that there is no autodetection for WSS, so you must force the correct settings using the command line options (ie. -s3 -p530 -i9 -d3) 4. Creative Labs Sound Blaster series * Fully supports SB 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, SB Pro and SB 16. * Attempts to always use DMA channel 1, so with SB 16 you have to force the correct "High-DMA" channel (ie. -d5) 5. No Sound * Plays nothing, is always used when nothing else is detected. * Just to allow sound synchronization even with no sound card. Note that both the GUS and SB Sound Device use direct hardware detection routines, and might therefore cause problems on some computers. In that case, simply force the settings from the command line. This will be fixed in the future, as all detection will be done using the environment variables. MIDP Usage: ----------- The command line syntax for MIDP is: MIDP [options] [options] At least one module file name must be included. MIDP also supports multiple modules and wildcards. Options: -sx Force Sound Device x (1 = GUS, 2 = PAS, 3 = WSS, 4 = SB, 5 = No Sound) -pxxx Force I/O port xxx (hex) for Sound Device -ix Force IRQ x for Sound Device -dx Force DMA channel x for Sound Device -mxxxx Set mixing rate to xxxx Hz -oxxx Force output mode (8 = 8-bit, 1 = 16-bit, s = stereo, m = mono) -e Disable EMS usage -t Disable ProTracker BPM tempos -u Enable Surround sound (affects only GUS) -v Disable real VU-meters ------- -S Jump immediately to DOS shell -c Disable timer screen synchronization -C Enable timer screen synchronization also in DOS shell -Lx Number of song loops before next song -O Scramble module playing order Also '/' is recognized as option delimiter. Note that the options are CASE SENSITIVE. MIDAS environment variable -------------------------- MIDAS Sound System specific options (above the line in the command line option list above) can also be set to environment variable MIDAS, so that they do not have to be entered every time. The syntax is exactly the same as with the command line options. Also other programs that use MIDAS Sound System will probably recognize the environment variable. Example: SET MIDAS=-s3 -p530 -i9 -d3 -om -m32000 MIDP keys --------- When playing a module, MIDP can be controlled using the following keys: (most of these are same as in DMP, so learning them should not be very difficult...) Alt-X Quick exit Left/Right Next / Previous position Up/Down Select active channel Esc Exit with fade out +/- Increase / Decrease master volume D Jump to DOS shell 1-9, 0 Toggle channels on/off ,/. Adjust active channel panning left / right M Set active channel panning to middle L Set active channel panning to left R Set active channel panning to right U Set active channel panning to surround T Toggle active channel on/off P Pause module. Press P to continue Space Mute playing. Press Space again to un-mute N Next module Plus some internal debugging keys (someone would try these anyway): F Lists all free blocks in heap H Lists all memory blocks in heap Archive support --------------- MIDP also includes a primitive archive support, built as we ourselves needed it. When playing a file with extension .ZIP, .MDZ or .S3Z, MIDP first decompresses the file using PKUNZIP to the directory set by environment variable "TEMP", or to C:\ if none is set. Then the first file from that directory with same name as the archive (but with any extension) will be played and deleted immediately after playing starts. When multiple archives are being played, the decompression of the next start immediately after starting to play the previous one, to give almost uninterrupted background music. Archive support will be enhanced in the future, after we implement some kind of configuration file, to include any archivers and extensions. But for now on this must do. The future ---------- Future versions of MIDP will include: 1. Configuration file, with ability to change archivers, extensions, colors, palette and probably redefine some characters from the display. 2. Less bugs (depending on your bug reports). 3. No debug code (if 2 ever comes true) Contact us ---------- For bug reports, comments, questions etc., contact us: e-mail: pekanga@freeport.uwasa.fi (Petteri Kangaslampi) Jarno_Paananen@sonata.fipnet.fi (Jarno Paananen) gurus2@freeport.uwasa.fi (Jarno Paananen, use if the fipnet address fails) FidoNet: (SLOW!) Petteri Kangaslampi, 2:221/319 (Maximus Filecenter) voice: +358-31-646764 (Petteri Kangaslampi) +358-31-3422147 (Jarno Paananen) Please restrict your calls to 10.00 - 21.30, Finnish time. normal mail: Petteri Kangaslampi Simeoninkuja 4 FIN-36240 Kangasala 4 Finland Jarno Paananen Puskalantie 6 FIN-37120 Nokia Finland Distribution sites ------------------ The latest MIDAS Sound System and MIDAS Module Player should be always available on these fine BBSes: WarmBoot BBS +55-194-265112 Sysop: Carlos Henrique Cantu (WarmBooter) Moir Brandts Honk #1: +31-(0)70-3461215 USR/DS (14K4) #2: +31-(0)70-3457929 ZyXEL U-1496E+ (19K2) #3: +31-(0)70-3452981 LineLink 144e (14K4) Sysop: Hugo Voerman The Pantheon 703-378-3553 (changing soon?) Sysops: Farmicus [CiA], Lord Soth [iCE], and Shaggy [iCE Senior Staff] The Solarium +358-31-3170851 Sysop: Jussi Holtta (Peak / Anarchy)