============================================================== A M P 1.32 The module player for Sound Blaster AWE32 and compatibles (c) 1995-1996 by Lada Kopecky a.k.a. Grinus / Torture Of Music ============================================================== FEATURES - plays XM modules (FT2.0x, format version $0104) - plays S3M modules (ST3.0 - 3.21) - plays MOD/NST modules (M.K. FLT4 nCHN nnCH OCTA N.T.) - plays MTM modules - plays multiple modules (using wildcards and/or listfiles) - can play the multiple modules in a random order - up to 32 channels and 30 sounding notes - makes no clicks! - the strict compatibility with the FT2.06 and ST3.21 playback routines! (including the emulation of some bugs) - 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 the continuous playback. However, the background playback may be affected by running other tasks. - supports the animated messages using sample names - can report all suspicious events during the module load and playback, e.g.: - invalid, unknown, unsupported and improperly used pattern effects - data in disabled S3M channels - the synthesizer hardware limits exceeded - loads and plays even slightly corrupted MOD files - fast forward mode, pattern skip in both directions - forced tempo mode - settings taken from AMP.INI or the command line - can play if not enough AWE memory - no problems with memory or extenders (66-220 KB of DOS memory is enough) - does not change the Sound Blaster mixer settings - and of course, the maximal sample upload speed :) SWITCHES (preceded by '/' or '-') V verbose mode - all 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 and pause modes - some additional DOS memory is needed for the filenames 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) 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) Bn initial bass level (0..11, default 5) Tn initial treble level (0..11, default 5) 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 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 can be reset from the command line by appending the minus sign (e.g. -S-). AMP.INI must be placed in the same directory as AMP.EXE ! MODULES AND LISTFILES 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) KEYBOARD F1 Help Screen F2 Log Screen (in verbose mode only) F3 Channels Screen F4 Instruments Screen PgDn PgUp scroll channels or instruments (also Ctrl-PgUp/PgDn/Home/End) Enter fadeout and the next module in batch -> pattern forward (the remaining pattern data are ignored) <- pattern back Up fast forward (4-times faster) Ctrl Down/Up forced tempo down/up (the remaining tempo changes are ignored) Esc fadeout and exit to DOS spacebar pause/resume - + volume down/up F5 F6 EMU equalizer bass level down/up F7 F8 EMU equalizer treble level down/up F9 F10 reverb level down/up F11 F12 chorus level down/up 1-9 A-P channel 1-25 on/off (no more free letters) R S all channels off/on REQUIREMENTS - at least PC 286 (but not tested on 286) - EGA/VGA - Sound Blaster AWE32 or a compatible sound card with EMU8000 (at least 2 MB of on-board sample RAM is strongly recommended) - no AWE32 drivers are needed - 66..220 KB of free DOS conventional memory. No EMS/XMS used. UNSUPPORTED PATTERN EFFECTS - Set Filter (unsupported by ST3/FT2, Amiga HW specific one) - 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) USEFUL HINTS Examples of use (the default AMP.INI was assumed): a) To play all modules from a directory (all MOD/MTM/S3M/XM 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- 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, MTM.BAT, and XM.BAT in a directory where Xtree resides. They can contain just a single line like this: @C:\SOUND\AMP\AMP.EXE %4.%5 FUTURE PLANS - professional quality downsampling of highest samples to prevent the EMU8000 pitch overflows and for you with less sample memory :-) It means the resampling with the high quality anti-aliasing filter and with the original pitch of short-looped samples precisely preserved. The pitch overflows are handled by decreasing the octave in the present versions of AMP. WHAT YOU CAN'T EXPECT I'm not planning to implement the DOS shell and file selector... Use Windows or OS/2 instead of DOS shell and the association of modules with AMP (as described above). That's the way I use it. :-) FOR CUBIC PLAYER USERS Cubic Player (up to v1.7) does not initialize the EMU chip properly. If used after any program using the ADIP 2.52 style initialization (e.g. AMP), some sounds are lost. The same problem persists with AWEMP player by B.Boer (up to v1.45). For this reason I created a simple utility called AWERESET to reset 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 ;-). NOTE: There are no init problems when running CP or AWEMP under Windows 95. LAST NEWS: The corrected AWE driver v1.7c for Cubic Player is now available. SOMETHING ABOUT THE TREBLE SETTING 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. COMMENTS, SUGGESTIONS OR ANYTHING ELSE My Internet mail address is kopecky@tsoft.cz If you use AMP, don't be lazy and send me at least a few words. The player is released as freeware and I'd like to know of you :*) Also the future enhancements depend on feedback I'll get. It's up to you!