THE SOUND BLASTER DIGEST The Magazine for Sound Blaster Enthusiasts. Published and Edited by Brad Barclay Assistant Editor: Karen O'Hearn Bulletin Board Support: Todd Clayton Music Director: Kim O'Hearn United States Support: Bill Gallagher SPECIAL SUMMER 1992 EDITION TABLE OF CONTENTS ================= Title: Page ----- ---- From the Editor's Desk....................1 Subscriptions.............................2 Commercial Review: Windows 3.1...........3 The Wonderful World of MIDI...............8 Selected Shareware........................12 SHAREWARE REVIEW: Mod Play Pro v2.19b.....13 Protracker 1.1B Song/Module Format........14 Windows MultiMedia........................18 Contacting Us.............................22 What do You Think?........................23 COMMERCIAL REVIEW: MusicWorks............23 Wrapping It Up............................24 SBD Registered BBS List: See file SBDBBS.TXT Included Songs: See file DASREPD.CMF Forms: See file BBSREG.TXT for BBS Registration Form The Sound Blaster Digest (SBD) Copyright (c) 1992 Brad Barclay. You may freely distribute this file, and all included files, to whomever you wish, as long as it is not for profit, and that all files are kept together. The use of the SBD, in whole or in part, for any other purpose is a criminal offence, and is punishable by law. This is not Public Domain text, nor is it Shareware. The SBD is a free publication, published six times a year. If you have any questions or comments about our Copyright, or any part of the SBD, please feel free to write to us at the address listed near the end of this text. Page 1 FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Welcome to a special edition of the SOUND BLASTER DIGEST. If you have read the SBD in previous months, you have probably already noticed that there are a few BIG differences in this issue of the SBD, as compared to our previous issues. We are in the process of numerous changes in our structure and format for the magazine to better support our users. The first change you may or may not have noticed is that we are not only distributing the SBD in regular ASCII text format, but we are also going to be the absolute first online sound magazine to take advantage of Microsoft Windows version 3.1's special MultiMedia extensions in Windows Write. You will be able to read the SBD within Windows 3.1, plus you will be able to view and print numerous graphics, and hear special sounds right from within Windows Write! Plus, we'll only use TrueType fonts, so not only will the SBD look good on your screen, but it'll look good when printed too! For those of our readers who do not have Microsoft Windows: don't worry, we haven't forgotten you! We'll continue to publish the SBD in our regular text format, and we'll include all the sound and music files that the Windows users get, in native Sound Blaster file formats! Any graphics we use in the MultiMedia SBD will be included in standard .GIF format, so you can use your favorite .GIF viewer to view them! Another big change over the summer is the beginning of our United States office to better support our US customers. This office will handle all of our US subscriptions, contact with many US companies, plus telephone support for our numerous US customers! This will better facilitate our thousands of US readers to give them better access to the SBD. Also, starting immediatly, we have set up a special 24-hour SOUND BLASTER DIGEST Support Hotline! You can now call (416) 840-0104 voice anytime for technical help, to submit your questions or comments, and, at times, to recieve special SBD News items! Many other changes have been planned to make the SBD a better publication. But to facilitate these changes, it is necessary to hold off publication of the SBD until later this year. These changes will take effect by September 1992, with minor changes taking effect after this date as we feel necessary. Because there may be a bit of a wait until you next see an edition of the SBD, we're going to pack this issue with as many articles and goodies that we can find! Page 2 Thank you for your patience in these matters: we're sure you'll just love the end result! Brad Barclay Publisher and Editor of the SBD. ____________________ Subscriptions: =-=-=-=-=-=-= Due to the numerous changes being made to the Sound Blaster Digest in the following months, our Subscription service has been temporarily cancelled. Once back in place, you will have your choice of MultiMedia format or Text format, there will be a special address for US Subscriptions to be sent to speed up processing and delivery, plus numerous other bonuses! So if you have been planning on subscribing to the SBD, please hold those cheques for another few months! Thank-you for your understanding and patience in this matter. ____________________ 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � You Are Invited To Call: STAR-LINK NETWORK BBS - (718) 972-6099 � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � Multi-Line Access (9 Access Lines - 15 Coming Soon) � � 3/12/24/9600/14.4K Baud Support (V32/V42/MNP5/HST/HAYES) � � 3.0 Gigabytes of On-line Storage (3000 Megabytes) � � More then 80,000 Files for Your PC, AT, PS/1 & PS/2 to Download � � On-Line CD-ROM w/Complete PC-SIG Program Library (1400 Disks Worth) � � 129 Active Conferences Areas - Member of ILink International Echo � � On-line Edition of USA TODAY Newspaper - CB Simulator - 24 Hour FAX � � 60 On-line Doors - Running On FAST LAN - PC Pursuit - Subscriptions � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � STAR-LINK NETWORK BBS has been featured in such publications as � � Personal Computing, Computer Shopper, PC Computing and PC Magazine. � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢 Dial (718) 972-6099 栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢� An Official SBD Distribution Site. Page 3 COMMERCIAL REVIEW: WINDOWS 3.1 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Reviewed by Brad Barclay. Written by Microsoft. What better way to start off the first MultiMedia edition of the Sound Blaster Digest than with a review of the very software required to read it! For those of you who are not already using Windows 3.1 and are reading this in our DOS format, hopefully this review will help you consider Windows as your next software purchase. Windows 3.1 is the newest in Microsoft's line of Graphical User Interface (GUI) software. Through Windows users can handle and manipulate their system through the use of a mouse, and once installed, requires little or no special training to use. Windows can run on any system with the following minimum requirements: AT compatible machine running DOS (version 5 for the best results), CGA or higher graphics, hard disk,640Kb of RAM, and a mouse. Although Windows is able to run on such a minimum setup, it is slow and has very low resolution. Through our tests, the minimum recommended hardware we could come up with to make fairly good use of Windows is a 16 Mhz 80286 machine with standard VGA, 20 Mb hard disk drive, mouse, 2Mb RAM, and a Sound Blaster card to make partial use of Windows 3.1's special MultiMedia capibilities. Our tests are based on a 20Mhz 80286 machine with a 50Mb Quantum hard disk drive, 1Mb Trident 8900C VGA card running in 1024*768*256 mode, Microsoft Bus Mouse, Sound Blaster Pro with Matshushita CD-ROM drive, and 2Mb RAM. This configuration is our recommended mimimum for doing any serious Multimedia work. Windows 3.1 is technically only a minor revision over 3.0, but the added functionality that comes with it, especially from a MultiMedia standpoint, makes this product more like a major revision. Windows was restructured down to the smallest detail for version 3.1 to make it a much faster, more solid product. One of the first things a user of Windows 3.0 notices when they load up 3.1 is the speed of opening and closing wiindows. Windows 3.1 has less internal error messages, generates less errors, and when some sort of error does occur, 3.1 allows the user to simply break out of that application using the ever famous "three fingered salute" of the PC world: ALT-CTRL-DEL. These features make Windows 3.1 a much easier product to run and use everyday. Page 4 Although Windows 3.1 is very easy to run once installed, it can be a very hard product to install in the first place. If you wish to install version 3.1 onto a system that does not have Windows 3.1 on it, you should have at least 7Mb of hard disk space to install. Windows does have an express setup option to auto-detect your hardware, and will configure and install the software for you with little user intervention. You also have the option to control the setup and tell Windows what to include, and what options you would like. This option is great for advanced users who wish to have more control over their system. For users who have Windows 3.0 already on their system, Windows 3.1 will give you the option of installing over the previous version, keeping your current setups and options, and installing the new features for you. You can also specify the advanced setup to control how 3.1 configures for your system when installing over a previous version. Sounds easy, right? Well, yes and no. If you are using Windows 3.0 with MultiMedia extensions on a Sound Blaster Pro, installing over Windows 3.0 is an absolute nightmare. Windows 3.1 will keep all your old drivers and software, even if it's incompatible with the newer version. It will also save all the info in your WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI files from 3.0 and try and use them under 3.1. Our attempts to run Windows 3.1 when installed over 3.0 with Multimedia extensions caused erratic behaviour from Windows, especially with the sound. If you are running Windows 3.0 with MultiMedia extensions and wish to use Windows 3.1 instead, we recommend moving all important files over to a different directory and deleting Windows 3.0 before installing Windows 3.1. This is also Creative Labs standpoint on this issue. Windows 3.1 offers a wonderful assortment of selections for those of us who are interested in computer audio. Many audio devices can be used under the 3.1 operating system, from the Roland MT-32 to the Ad Lib Music Systems Card, to the Sound Blaster card. Drivers are also available for the Sound Blaster Pro and other audio cards. A warning about Sound Blaster Pro drivers: there are three sets of drivers, and only 1 set works properly. Microsoft has drivers available on their BBS (under the filename CREAT.EXE), and drivers in their Windows 3.1 Resource Kit which may not work correctly. Creative Labs has the correct drivers available on their BBS, and we here at the Sound Blaster Digest recommend using those drivers. Creative Labs BBS number can be found in our included file SBDBBS.TXT. Page 5 Windows 3.1 incorperates many of the functions and programs that users of Windows 3.0 with MultiMedia Extensions have enjoyed for a long time, plus many more. All of the MultiMedia functions are an integrated part of Windows 3.1, where in Windows 3.0, they were only available as "extensions". Due to this, many programs included with Windows 3.1 use the multimedia facilities (if any) that otherwise were not supported in Windows 3.0. An example of this is best found in Windows Write, which you may be using at this moment to read this very review, if you are reading the MultiMedia version of the SBD. With Write, you have the ability to embed "objects" such as graphics, text, or even music. This is the very technology that is at the heart of the MultiMedia SBD. For those of you reading our regular text version, note that Windows Write comes with the Windows 3.1 package, and is not a seperate program which you have to buy extra. Windows 3.1 also comes with a piece of software called "Media Player". Depending on what drivers you have loaded, this program will allow you to play digitized sound, MIDI music, play music from Audio CD's, or view motion video. All of these can be accomplished in the background when used in Standard or 386 Enhanced mode. Sadly, it does not allow the user to playback a sort of MultiMedia package, where two or more of the above media types can be combined. Although this can technically be accomplished by opening two Media player Windows, synchronising of playback would be nearly impossible to do. Windows 3.1 also allows users to set digitized sound clips to special system messages. Your computer can scream at you when it encounters an error, and it can say good-bye when you quit Windows. This is a very nice touch in the "user friendly" category, as opposed to the unfriendly "beep" which usually accompinies an error. Also, it allows users to detect different sorts of system messages more quickly, especially when the sounds accociated with an error closely match the sort of "mood" generated by that message. Even with Windows 3.1's added MultiMedia touches which allow software to make the maximum use of your existing MultiMedia software, software to use those special devices is a little lacking in 3.1 as opposed to 3.0 with MultiMedia extensions. There is no software to play Audio CD's with 3.1. There is also no software to allow a user to select numerous songs or sound effects and play them back in sequence. The former software is only available from Windows 3.0 with MultiMedia CD-ROM discs, and even then, it is slightly incompatible with Windows 3.1: users are unable to save song file names and disc titles, or special program settings for what order to play back the song tracks on the CD. Luckily, with a little work it is possible to do by editing the file MUSICBOX.INI in your Windows directory. For a sample of the MUSICBOX.INI file format, double click on the following icon (or, if you're reading the Text version of the SBD, please see the file MUSICBOX.INI): Page 6 As for the two programs to play back MIDI and Waveform sound sample files from a listing, JukeBox and ChatterBox are available from Creative Labs BBS for Windows 3.1. Note to users of 3.0 with MultiMedia extensions: your current versions of JukeBox and ChatterBox are incompatible with Windows 3.1. You should delete them and replace them with the ones available from Creative Labs BBS. All in all, once set up, Windows is a great joy to run. For those of you who are technically inclined, you will achieve hours of enjoyment setting up Windows 3.1 to your liking, and after that you will find that properly setup, your computing sessions will run more quickly and smoothly, without all the hassles associated with DOS. If you are not technically inclined, you may very well find many frustrating hours ahead, depending on your setup. But again, once installed properly, Windows 3.1 will become very much a part of your computing lifestyle. For those of you who are having problems installing Windows 3.1, and, in particular, using it's special MultiMedia functions with your setup, help is only a phone call away, at the Sound Blaster Digest Support Hotline: (416) 840-0104. We will help you with whatever we can. Please note that if nobody is available when you call, you may leave a message, but we are unable to call you back unless you specify that calling collect (where you pay the charges) is acceptable. Page 7 갚꾼栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢昉굅 갚꾼栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢껑� � Mystic Software 갚 � MUSICWORKS MIDI Sequencer 갚 � Alameda California, (510) 865-9189 갚 � and the WORX Library for the PC 갚 갚꾼栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢昉굅� 갚꾼栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢껑갚 굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇 未굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � MUSICWORKS is the first complete MIDI sequencer that truly integrates � � Sound Blaster or Adlib compatible FM synthesis into a MIDI environment � � by making the FM chip into a virtual MIDI synthesizer. � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컨컴� � *Standard MIDI file support *FM patches are velocity sensitive with pitch � � bend *Uses Sound Blaster Instrument files *Patch editor for SBI patches � � *Variable polyphony *MPU-401, Sound Blaster MIDI or MQX interface support � � *Up to four interfaces for 64 MIDI channels *Intuitive graphical user � � interface. $99 (or $139 with WORX library) (U.S dollars). � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컫컴� � WORX is a development library that will allow you to incorporate FM � � sound and music into games, educational software or demonstrations � � written in Turbo or Microsoft C. The library requires no drivers or � � TSR's, and runs completely in the background so it never misses a � � beat. Library only occupies 15K. $49. � 갚꾼栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢昉굅 � Call the Mystic Software BBS at (510) 865-3856 or call (510) 865-9189 � � to find out more about these products and to download product demos. � � European inquiries contact CDV Software in W. Germany (+49) 721/22295 � 갚꾼栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢栢昉� Page 8 The Wonderful World of MIDI =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Column 1: .....In the Beginning...... Written by SBD MIDI Columnist Valli Persad MIDI, a relative newcomer to the world of music is here to stay. We all know that the past 100 years have been wonderful, in an era where dreamers and inventors, as depicted in the "CHITTY-CHITTY BANG BANG" movie, initiated a realization of what would become the foundation of our modern day Hi-Tech society. The past century has brought so many changes that no other period in time can compare, in the entire civilized history of mankind. Those who dared to experience the unexperiencable have donated their spirit to make our era what it is today. Consider, for thousands of years man used horses for transportation, smoke signals to communicate, raw fire for heat and never dreamed of travelling to outer space. We have come so far in so little space of time with crafts such as the space shuttle Columbia, telephones, satellites, computers, electricity, gas furnaces, central air, and the list goes on and on. The Technological explosion of the personal computer can makes it seem as though grandchildren are totally alien to their grandparents, but it was our grandparent's generation and their parents who were responsible for the fruits of technology that we enjoy today. More so now than it ever was 100 years ago, technology continues along it's exponential and rapid growth curve. All is not lost, for children however alien, can and do still communicate with their grandparents............WHY? The answer is love! Simply, love, the binding force of the universe. Regardless of the difference in age, the difference in hobbies the difference in attitudes both grandchild and grandparent can still interact with as much love as their counterparts from a century ago, when it was the horse and buggy vs. the Model "T" and with this note starts the parallel with MIDI. It is true that this is a different time than it was in the 1900's. People live and behave differently. Man is constantly searching for ways to improve in his never ending quest for perfection, and that quest is no stranger to the ARTS and certainly not to music. MIDI: Musical Instrument Digital Interface. A few short years ago it was a term that was alien to the masses. Today MIDI is becoming commonplace to the personal computer and although many have scoffed at this world of MIDI, others crave it. Like the grandparent and the grandchild, MIDI can seem alien to some of us while to others it's simply another tools for creating music. MIDI is here and you're gonna rock like you've never rocked before. Why? Because you love it, you've always loved it, you have always had a special place in your heart for music. So regardless of whether you're a seasoned pro or just starting with MIDI remember MIDI is to music as what music is to Page 9 the gears of the mechanism of harmony. Can you Remember the first time you really danced at your high school dance, the way you just let loose and boogied.... what fun, just wanting to be up on stage rocking away on a guitar, a keyboard or on the drums with the band.....oh yeah! One's love for music blows the doors right off the restrictions that once inhibited many a musician from creating a 48 piece orchestral score with the individual sheet music for all 48 instruments. Yes with MIDI you can create such a masterpiece. Imagine if Mozart had a PC with a MIDI setup, I'm sure he would have changed the history of music from the way we know it. With today's technology you can playback virtually any instrument that you can think of through your MIDI system. Consider if you will, before MIDI, recording a song was done in real time with "REAL INSTRUMENTS": that is, when you heard the sound of a guitar it meant that a guitarist was actually playing that particular passage on a guitar while it was being recorded. The same was true of the Piano and the drums and virtually any instrument that you heard under the PRE-MIDI recording era. The difference is that with MIDI you only need one instrument (MIDI Controller) to record or playback the sound of virtually any instrument. Let's say that you have a MIDI keyboard as your MIDI controller (the unit that you will use to enter data into your computer through the Musical Instrument Digital Interface (5 pin DIN plug)) that connects your MIDI keyboard to your computer, and you're playing a piano "PATCH", (PATCH or voice refers to one particular sound setting on your sound module or MIDI keyboard), and a music sequencing software package with 64 available tracks. You start playing along to the beat of the metronome and realize after a while that you've got something that sounds catchy, but all this time you had set your sequencer on record mode so everything you played was actually being recorded, all ten minutes of it. Consider if you repeated this on 20 different tracks, well that would be 200 minutes or over 3 hours of playing time. Now consider if the guitarist, pianist or drummer were to do this in the PRE-MIDI era and on studio time, could you imagine what the bill would be like? Luckily with MIDI we don't have to incur such costly bills, but just the same very few had the luxury of working musical ideas out on tape in a recording studio during the PRE-MIDI days. After your 20th track you saved your tune as song_a1.mid, then you realized that the catchy part was on track 5 and everything but track 10 was dispensible. You keep tracks 5 and 10 and delete everything else, at that point you resave your song as (Save As) song_a2.mid. This action allows you rid your song file of the undesired tracks yet retain them in the previous version of the song file (song_a1.mid). Now you copy track 5 to track 1 and track 10 to track 2 and delete the previous; tracks 5 and 10. At this point you are left with two tracks, in order, tracks 1 and 2, which were previously tracks 5 and 10 respectively. Choosing track 1 you change your view to see the graphical notes screen and scroll up and down, forward and backward to until you located the notes. Pressing play plays back both tracks simultaneously, it sounds a wee better than the first sound you made when you first experienced pain as a child............something's not right. Muting track 2 allows you to listen to track 1 on it's Page 10 own. After listening to it you realize you only want the last 25 bars so you cut everything before the last 25 bars and the shift the remaining 25 bars all the way to the beginning of the song to bar 1. Next, it doesn't seem as though the beat of the song falls smoothly at the beginning of the bars. By using the Quantizing function you're able to smoothen out the inconsistencies in the timing. Quantizing is a MIDI tool that one learns to perfect the more one uses it. Note that strict quantizing can make your music sound like a robot is playing it while loose quantizing can make your song sound sloppy. There are several other tools for editing such as pitch shift to change the pitch (or notes) of your musical composition. By simply exploring your music sequencer you'll find all the tools that you can use to enhance your music. An interesting feature is in the Note View windows where you can click on a note and drag it to a different position thus becoming another note. Once you're happy with track 1 you can mute it and go onto track 2. After finding the portion of track 2 that compliments track 1 you can setup up track 2 similarly as you did with track 1. Now by changing the playback MIDI channel for track 2 to channel 2 whereas track 1 is being played back on channel 1 you can then start assigning the patch per channel. On your sound module or keyboard you set channel 1 to piano and channel 2 to guitar. At this point it would be wise to save your work if you have'nt alreaady. Start the play mode and listen....Voila! you've played, recorded, edited, saved and now you're listening to your masterpiece................At this stage you can repeat the process for recording and editing tracks until you have.....well, 48 different tracks that can be assigned to 48 different instruments. Note that a limitation is the availability of only forteen MIDI channels. The way around this is to assign three instruments per channel. That is for example the Bass Guitar playing low notes, the Piano playing chords around middle C (mid-range notes) and a high violin playing high notes. Also remember that not all the instruments will be playing at any one given time. That is the Bass Guitar and Piano may play without the Violin and vise-versa. On your play back sound module, you'll assign the note limits for each voice so that the lowest note played is the lower limit i.e. C-2 and the highers note played is the highest limit i.e. G-1 and assigned to channel 3. For the piano the lower limit will be C0 and the higher limit will be C4. For the Violin your limits will be D4 to G7. All three instruments are assigned to Channel 3 but only particular voices respond to it's corresponding sequencer track. Because no notes on the Piano track falls within the Violin's voice range, you will not hear and Piano sequence sounding through voice. The same is true of any of the other instruments. Once you've finished your song or sequence you can use specialized software to convert the information on your tracks to musical score format. If you find writing music tedious, like me, then you may opt for this option of converting your sequenced tracks to sheet music. Page 11 You don't have to have formal musical training to learn music, to play music, to write music all you have to do is enjoy music, and that includes most of the population. You can experience music in a whole new way, it's a brand new start with your PC. For the PC there are several plug in boards available on the market that puts sound into your computer. One of the more popular boards is the Sound Blaster series. The Sound Blaster has many features. It is a digitizer that allows you to record sound onto your hard drive, it can convert text to speech, it has a built in FM sound module that allows you to playback .CMF files, .MID files, .ROL files etc. but mostly it's MIDI compatible. With the proper music sequencing software, MIDI extension box and a MIDI keyboard you can write your very own song as well as play it back. Keep in mind that a MIDI keyboard is not the only way of playing music into your computer. I was recently down town in the Queen and Spadina district of Toronto, visiting the large infamous Music store. I was like a kid in toyland. There are MIDI Guitar controllers although they've been on the market for some time I was captivated you see the guitar was my very first instrument. There were also bass guitar controller. These devices hook directly onto your existing guitar and at the other end they plus into your computer. What else could I have asked for? Playing MIDI guitar was great: there are somethings that a keyboard can't do and that is to successfully emulate the guitar. On top of this there was another instrument that totally stole my attention from the other MIDI devices. This instrument was a total and complete MIDI DRUM KIT. I've seen MIDI drum kits before but they were nothing like this kit. It was a complete MIDI DRUM KIT with MIDI HI-HAT and MIDI CYMBALS. This product was totally cool. Somehow a MIDI keyboard just can't reproduce the natural rhythm of a drummer playing behind a Totally MIDI compatible DRUM KIT. MIDI, however you use it or with whatever type of controller you use, will bring you satisfaction especially for recording. The beauty is you don't have to use a tape recorder because you record your song onto disk and each time you play it back, through MIDI, it will sound as crisp and clear as the first time you played it. Making copies of your song becomes as easy as copying a file, a mere few seconds, as opposed to copying a cassette that takes as long as the length of the song and nearly never sounds as clear as the original tape. Such a wonderful digital world of MIDI. This article is the first in a series of the WONDERFUL WORLD OF MIDI COLUMN and I sincerely hope that you've enjoyed it. From issue to issue we will be exploring various MIDI devices, hardware and software, to provide reviews and tips on the use of this new technology of music. Readers can send in requests for information on MIDI hardware devices and software programs relating to the Sound Blaster series and we'll do our best to respond to as many as possible in the upcoming articles. Page 12 This is " Das Rep ", your host for THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF MIDI, saying until the next article, enjoy the summer and have fun with your MIDI gear.............. ____________________ �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袴袴袴袴袴敲 � �袴敲 � Bulletin Board System � � � � � ======================= � � 훤袴� �袴袴� � � 箇袴敲 �袴袴� * 1200 to 38,400 Baud � � � � � � � � � � � * 440+ Megs on Line � � � � � � � � � � � � * Sound Blaster & Adlib � � 훤袴� 훤袴暠 훤袴暠 � � 훤袴暠 * Games, Utilities, Demos � � � * Gifs,Graphics,Technical � � �袴袴� � * Data & Word Processing � � � � 勁袴敲 �袴袴� * Windows, Bugs and Fixes � � 勁袴攷 � � � � * X-Rated Gifs, Education � � � � � � � � * Newsletters & Articles � � � � � � 훤袴暠 * Programers, Electronics � � * Financial, Geoworks � � �袴敲 � � * Echo WildNet & WildWpg � � � � 藁� �袴敲 � 袴勁� � � 훤袴� � � � 勁袴� � 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � � � � � 훤袴� � � � � Winnipeg Manitoba � � � 훤袴� 菰� � � � � � CANADA � � � 훤袴� 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � � Sysop: Sheldon Itscovich Co-Sysop: Brian Itscovich � 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袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴敲 � (204)-633-2364 8N1 24 Hrs. U.S. Robotics 38,400 Courier HST Dual Standard � 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袴袴袴袴袴袴� ____________________ SELECTED SHAREWARE =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Written by Robert O'Daniel For Sound Blaster owners, Shareware and Public Domain authors have always been on the forefront of exciting new software that extend the capabilities of PC's. The following list of software titles can help you get more out of your sound card. These titles and more can be found on most local bulletin boards and major online networks. Enjoy! Page 13 WOW II v1.0 - by Jan Ole Suhr Authentic Audio v1.3 - by Gregory Pierro VOC2WAV - by Creative Technologies MuchMusic v1.11 - by Tsung Hu PCROL v1.1 - by Her Seng Hae Blaster Master v5.0 - by Gary Maddox WinJammer v2.1 - by Dan McKee Super Sound Gram - by Park Hae Jin SoundTracker v2.0 - by Brain Slayer PowerChord - by Howling Dog Systems This list presented by Rob O'Daniel (PC RobO), Forum Leader of America Online's PC Music & Sound Forum. For a free America Online Starter Kit or more information, call (800) 827-6364 ____________________ SHAREWARE REVIEW: Mod Play Pro v2.19b =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Reviewed by Brad Barclay Written by Mark Cox In the past few years, many sound module players have come and gone, with each new player giving the users some benifit over the last. Some players, such as SS Python use flashy graphics, while others, such as Tetra are expensive commercial players that allow users to write their own modules also. Mod Play Pro is no exception. Many would think that a single shareware player such as this could get lost in the quagmire of module players available on the Shareware market, but Mod Play Pro has risen above most conventional shareware players, to become, in my mind, the best shareware player available today for overall functionality. Page 14 Mod Play Pro has a very simple to use user interface, that allows the use of both mouse and keyboard. From this interface, you can select numerous songs to play from within different directories, or even from within archives (such as .ZIP or .ARJ files). You have your choice from numerous different sound setups, from the Sound Blaster, to the Disney sound Source, the PC Speaker, and even build-it-yourself mono, stereo or quadrophonic music systems, for which the instructions to build are included in Mod Play Pro's distribution archive. Sadly, there is no support for any of the commercial stereo sound cards, such as the Sound Blaster Pro other than regular mono Sound Blaster support. Mod Play Pro is packed with many wonderful features, and will run on nearly any system. A speed of 10Mhz or higher is recommended. The software has a good quality playback on every system, and during playback, has numerous informative information displays to choose from. The first three playback displays all show you your 4 channels, which you may toggle on or off, and which instrument is playing in each of those channels, along with a small volume bar for each channel. The first display mode also shows you an entire list of instruments, and highlights wihch instruments are currently playing. The second display mode shows you a frequency/amplitude graph, which shows the user what frequencies are being played back on the x-axis, while the real-time amplitude moves vertically on the y-axis. The third display mode shows you the system events as they pass by, and is good for debugging songs that you have written yourself. The final display mode allows the user to display a .GIF graphic in the background, with a superimposed waveform graph in real-time over top of it. This final display option is only available on VGA systems, and will not display interlaced .GIF's. Page 15 Another wonderful feature of Mod Play Pro is the abiltiy to play module files in the background! This feature allows you to shell to DOS, while your songs continue to play in the background. To make matters simple for your CPU, the program decreases the sampling rate for playback down to 6Khz (or the value selected by the user in the setup file). This option works well for playback in DOS, although executing other programs from DOS may have unpredictable effects on your system. Mod Play Pro also includes all of the wonderful playback options many of us have come to expect from a module player. Fast Foreward, Rewind, Volume change, and Speed Change. It also supports the viewing, loading and saving of instrument files, changing the colours used in nearly any part of the program, and changing the characters used for graph displays in numerous playback modes. All in all, this has to be one of the fullest-featured shareware module players written thus far for the PC compatible home computer. In testing, we did encounter some problems. Mod Play Pro's file selection screen will utilize text modes other than 80 x 25, if those modes are set before execution of the program. This feature worked fine with all of the text modes selected, but we had a problem in that the mouse support did not work properly. No mouse cursor could be seen on the screen, and numerous strange characters popped up in various places on the screen. Hopefully this will be worked out in a future version. ____________________ Protracker 1.1B Song/Module Format: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The following information on the format of the ever-popular .MOD file was sent to use by one of our readers on America OnLine. We present it here for information purposes only, and we do not guarantee it to be correct. Offset Bytes Description 0 20 Songname. Remember to put trailing null bytes at the end... Information for sample 1-31: Page 16 Offset Bytes Description 20 22 Samplename for sample 1. Pad with null bytes. 20 22 Samplename for sample 1. Pad with null bytes. 42 2 Samplelength for sample 1. Stored as number of words. Multiply by two to get real sample length in bytes. 44 1 Lower four bits are the finetune value, stored as a signed four bit number. The upper four bits are not used, and should be set to zero. Value: Finetune: 0 0 1 +1 2 +2 3 +3 4 +4 5 +5 6 +6 7 +7 8 -8 9 -7 A -6 B -5 C -4 D -3 E -2 F -1 45 1 Volume for sample 1. Range is $00-$40, or 0-64 decimal. 46 2 Repeat point for sample 1. Stored as number of words offset from start of sample. Multiply by two to get offset in bytes. 48 2 Repeat Length for sample 1. Stored as number of words in loop. Multiply by two to get replen in bytes. Information for the next 30 samples starts here. It's just like the info for sample 1. Page 17 Offset Bytes Description ------ ----- ----------- 50 30 Sample 2... 80 30 Sample 3... . . . 890 30 Sample 30... 920 30 Sample 31... Offset Bytes Description 950 1 Songlength. Range is 1-128. 951 1 Well... this little byte here is set to 127, so that old trackers will search through all patterns when loading. Noisetracker uses this byte for restart, but we don't. 952 128 Song positions 0-127. Each hold a number from 0-63 that tells the tracker what pattern to play at that position. 1080 4 The four letters "M.K." - This is something Mahoney & Kaktus inserted when they increased the number of samples from 15 to 31. If it's not there, the module/song uses 15 samples or the text has been removed to make the module harder to rip. Startrekker puts "FLT4" or "FLT8" there instead. Offset Bytes Description 1084 1024 Data for pattern 00. . . . . xxxx Number of patterns stored is equal to the highest patternnumber in the song position table (at offset 952-1079). Each note is stored as 4 bytes, and all four notes at each position in the pattern are stored after each other. Page 18 00 - chan1 chan2 chan3 chan4 01 - chan1 chan2 chan3 chan4 02 - chan1 chan2 chan3 chan4 etc. Info for each note: _____byte 1_____ byte2_ _____byte 3_____ byte4_ / \ / \ / \ / \ 0000 0000-00000000 0000 0000-00000000 Upper four 12 bits for Lower four Effect command. bits of sam- note period. bits of sam- ple number. ple number. Periodtable for Tuning 0, Normal C-1 to B-1 : 856,808,762,720,678,640,604,570,538,508,480,453 C-2 to B-2 : 428,404,381,360,339,320,302,285,269,254,240,226 C-3 to B-3 : 214,202,190,180,170,160,151,143,135,127,120,113 To determine what note to show, scan through the table until you find the same period as the one stored in byte 1-2. Use the index to look up in a notenames table. This is the data stored in a normal song. A packed song starts with the four letters "PACK", but I don't know how the song is packed: You can get the source code for the cruncher/decruncher from us if you need it, but I don't understand it; I've just ripped it from another tracker... In a module, all the samples are stored right after the patterndata. To determine where a sample starts and stops, you use the sampleinfo structures in the beginning of the file (from offset 20). Take a look at the mt_init routine in the playroutine, and you'll see just how it is done. Page 19 Commands 0 - Normal play or Arpeggio 0xy : x-first halfnote add, y-second 1 - Slide Up 1xx : upspeed 2 - Slide Down 2xx : downspeed 3 - Tone Portamento 3xx : up/down speed 4 - Vibrato 4xy : x-speed, y-depth 5 - Tone Portamento + Volume Slide 5xy : x-upspeed, y-downspeed 6 - Vibrato + Volume Slide 6xy : x-upspeed, y-downspeed 7 - Tremolo 7xy : x-speed, y-depth 8 - NOT USED 9 - Set SampleOffset 9xx : offset (23 -> 2300) A - VolumeSlide Axy : x-upspeed, y-downspeed B - Position Jump Bxx : songposition C - Set Volume Cxx : volume, 00-40 D - Pattern Break Dxx : break position in next patt E - NOT USED F - Set Speed Fxx : speed (00-1F) / tempo (20-FF) ____________________ Windows Multimedia =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Written by Brad Barclay This month's Windows MultiMedia column will focus on the correct setup of the MIDI Mapper. Many of our readers have called or written in the past month, all asking the same question: why do I get an error message every time I try and play a MIDI file that I downloaded off of my local BBS? Many of you will recognise this message: "This Song file may play incorrectly with your setup...", for which you are given the option to not display the message again. It is unnerving to see, and many users first thought is that something is really wrong. After all, their manual does say that they can play MIDI files, correct? Well, first off, if you have seen this message and don't know what to do, don't worry. It is not an error message, but a caution message. And the reason for it revolves around the use of Windows with many different sound setups. Page 12 Standard MIDI files, which you can download off of many BBS's around the world, have been around for many years now, and were mostly for use with MIDI controller cards hooked up to MIDI instruments. But suddenly there is a large market for plug-in sound synthesisers, such as the Sound Blaster card. Previous MIDI setups were usually costly, but allowed users to play out of up to 16 channels per device hooked in the controller card. Plug-in synthesiser cards, on the other hand, allowed for a maximum of 11 channels: 6 melodic and 5 percussive. Thus, there are not enough voices in plug in cards such as the Sound Blaster or Ad Lib card to play Standard MIDI files through. But today, we have much more advanced cards, such as the Sound Blaster Pro, which are able to play back up to 22 voices (12 melodic and 10 purcussive), which are able to play back standard MIDI files. Many people, including those using Sound Blasters, also have MIDI setups through those cards, which should also be usuable in playing back standard MIDI files, correct? Well, Microsoft, wanting to create a standard to be used by everyone, decided to modify the standard MIDI format so that it could be used by everyone, from AdLib users to users of the new sound Blaster Pro OPL-3 to super-high end users of devices such as the MultiSound card from Turtle Beach Systems. But to do this, they had to find a way to make the standard MIDI file playable on the lowest end systems (the Ad Lib's and Sound Blasters), but that will also offer higher quality for users of the more advanced cards (the Sound Blaster Pro's and Pro Audio Spectums, etc.). To do this, they defined their very own MIDI format, the Microsoft MIDI Format. The Microsoft MIDI format is, in fact, quite simple. It reserves the first 10 channels in a standard MIDI file for song information for High-End Synthesizers, such as the Sound Blaster Pro, which channels 13 through 16 are reserved for low-end synthesizers, such as the original Sound Blaster card. Thus, a Microsoft MIDI Format file contains data for the same song twice. Channel 10 is reserved for drum tracks on the extended setup, while 16 is reserved for drums in the basic setup. When you go to playback a Microsoft MIDI Format file, the MIDI Mapper automatically masks out the channels which do not apply to your setup. This gives the best of all worlds to any setup. But what if you want to play one of those Standard MIDI files that you download off of a BBS? Page 21 Well, if you own a low-end synthesizer, you're out of luck. There are not enough channels on a low-end system to play back a standard MIDI file. You could use a MIDI sequencer to change the channel setups and keep only the most important channels, thus creating a Microsoft MIDI Format file, and then playback, but it is not possible to play the file back in it's original form. Thus, the purpose of the warning message when you load on of these songs. But what if you own a high-end synthesizer? It is possible, is it not? In most cases, yes! In some cases, the song will not sound exactly as intended, if too many notes are being pushed through too many channels at once, but in most cases, this is not a problem. Thus, you can set up Windows to play Standard MIDI files. The changes required are simple: enter the Control Panel from your Main window. Select the MIDI Mapper icon, and when it's Window opens up, select the Edit button. You should see a listing of all of your channels currently setup, which should be 1 through 10, with 11 through to 16 turned off. Turn the channels 11 through to 16 on, and select what device to send the data for these channels out through. In general, each line for channels 11 through to 16 should appear exactly the same when you're finished as does channel 1 through to 9 (channel 10, which is reserved for drums, will appear the same for playback through Sound Blaster Pro FM, but may appear slightly different for playback through SBP MIDI). Then simply select the OK button, and save your setup. Exit the Control Panel Window, and enter the Media Player. Load a Standard MIDI song file, and play it. When the warning message appears, select the checkbox "Do not display this message in the future", and then okay. From this point on, you should be able to play nearly any standard MIDI file without further hassle again! Depending on your setup, when you enter the MIDI Mapper, there may be two selections marked SBP ALL MIDI and SBP ALL FM. These two setups are available when you install the Sound Blaster Pro drivers for Windows 3.1 from the Creative Labs BBS system. Both of these is already setup to allow you to play standard MIDI files through Windows: simply select the one that applies to your configuration. For those of you interested in writing MIDI files for under Windows, here are the guidelines for the Microsoft MIDI Format, as taken from the book Windows with MultiMedia Version 1.0, available in the Creative MultiMedia Upgrade Kit, page D-7: * Create MIDI files that contain MIDI data for both low-end and high-end synthesizers setups. * Use MIDI channels 13 through 16 for low-end synthesizer data. reserve channel 16 for key-based percussion instruments. Page 22 * Use MIDI channels 1 through 10 for high-end synthesizer data. Reserve channel 10 for key-based percussion instruments. * Priortize MIDI data by putting the most crucial melodic data in the lower-numbered channels. * Limit polyphony of the melodic (non-percussive) channels to a total of six notes for the low-end data and 16 notes for the high-end data. * Limit the polyphony of the purcussive channels to a total of five notes for the low-end data and 16 notes for the high-end data. * Use the standard patch and key assignments (as defined in the MIDI mapper PatchMap and KeyMap setups). * Use a value of 80 for the main MIDI controller for each channel for normal listening levels. For quieter or louder levels, use lower or higher values. We here at the SOUND BLASTER DIGEST will be using this standard format for all of our included MIDI files, in order to be compatible with all setups. Page 23 Contacting Us: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Via paper mail, telephone, or electronic mail, contacting the SOUND BLASTER DIGEST has never been easier! Our mailing address is: SOUND BLASTER DIGEST 36 Sutter Avenue Brampton, Ontario CANADA L6Z 1G7 Our voice telephone number is: (416) 840-0104 Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our Support BBS number is: THE SOUND BLASTER DIGEST SUPPORT BBS (416) 840-2485 2400 bps, 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our InterNet Address is: sbdbrad@aol.com (Be sure to use all lower-case!) Our America OnLine screenname is: SBD Brad And finally, SUPER SONIC BBS has a special account for Sound Blaster Digest readers. You can find their number in our SBD Registered BBS List: Username: SB DIGEST Password: SONIC We hope to hear from you soon! Page 24 WHAT DO YOU THINK? =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= We want to know what you think about the new format of the SOUND BLASTER DIGEST! We would like to know what you like, dislike, what you think we could add, etc. Please take the time out to contact us and let us know what you think. In particular, we would like to know which issue you are reading (the text Sound Blaster Digest or the MultiMedia Sound Blaster Digest), and what you think of it. We would also like to know what hardware you are using, and what operating system you use on your system the most. These answers will be invaluable to us in determining how to best service our readers. Thank-you for your time in this matter. ____________________ COMMERCIAL REVIEW: MUSICWORKS =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Reviewed by Brad Barclay Published by Mystic Software. MusicWorks is a piece of software that every MIDI user will want to own. That is about the easiest way to sum it up in the starting of any review of this software. MusicWorks is a MIDI Sequencer with a difference: it has a full Graphical Users Interface (GUI) to operate all of it's functions. It does what every good MIDI Sequencer should do, and more. The first thing a user to MusicWorks will notice is the Graphics Users Interface. To to the interfaces demands on your system, you require at least EGA to run MusicWorks. The software will utilize external MIDI devices and the Sound Blaster's FM capibilities, and even includes a Sound Blaster Instrument (SBI) file editor and mapper, for changing and selecting the instruments to play through various channels. The software also allows the use of up to 4 devices at once: the first is for MIDI input and output, and is thus best suited for a MIDI keyboard. The final 3 can be used with other MIDI instruments hooked into your setup, or the Sound Blaster's FM. The software comes with the functions nearly every sequencer comes with today: quantize functions, track editing, block functions and transformations, and many other features. It also contain a piano roll, where a user can use their mouse and MIDI input device to step-by-step place each note on the piano roll, in many ways like the old Ad Lib Visual Composer. Page 25 The software is fairly easy to navigate, but it does tend to require the user to switch back and forth from the mouse and keyboard. Not all functions can be preformed with the mouse, just as not all functions can be preformed with the keyboard. This can become a little confusing and annoying at times, but once mastered, will actually speed up your preformence with the software itself. All keys used are fairly intuitive anyhow, and good instructions are available on how to use them. So it should not take anyone too long to figure out how to navigate the software. As of the Beta-test version we reviewed, there were still a few little quirky bugs in the software. A representitive for Mystic Software has assured me that those bugs are in the process of being fixed. A few fixes I'd like to see: improved user interface, and the ability to load Standard MIDI files directly into the software (as of this release, you have to execute an external program to convert from MusicWorks native .SEQ format to .MID format and back...incorperating these into a software would be a great asset) would definatly make this a much better piece of software. Hopefully these recomendations will be realized int he next version of MusicWorks. But, even with all of these small problems in the beta version, this is still one of the absolute best pieces of MIDI softwarei have ever used on a PC. Hopefully they will continue to develop the idea to a point that is becomes the standard for MIDI sequencing. ____________________ Wrapping It Up... =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= We do hope you have enjoyed this issue of the SOUND BLASTER DIGEST. We have attempted to cater the best we can to both our Windows readers and our DOS readers in this issue, and we hope that we have sucseeded. Please take note that the next issue of the SOUND BLASTER DIGEST will be released sometime shortly before September 1st, 1992. We are going to be publishing a little less-frequently, but we hope that we will be able to enhance the quality of this publication by more than what is lost by publishing every two months, instead of every month. If you are a subscriber to the SBD, you probably haven't seens an issue since our March issue #16. We deeply regret the great delay, but we hope our new services will greatly help in overcoming this small obsticle. We thank each and every one of you for keeping your faith with us. Page 26 If you wish to advertise with the SOUND BLASTER DIGEST, please feel free to contact us about our rates and regulations. Our new services allow advertisers to have their advertisments published in 16 colour graphics image files, if they so wish, although the standard text option is still available for inexpensive advertising. Thanks for reading this issue of the SOUND BLASTER DIGEST, and we hope to see you here again in September. Keep on Blasting!