Digiplayer Version 3.1 Copyright 1990 Mark Dickenson Shareware Notice..................................... 1 Program Overview..................................... 2 Play Once............................................ 3 Play Repeatedly...................................... 3 Play From REU........................................ 3 Play Speed........................................... 4 Video Mode........................................... 4 Disk Directory....................................... 4 Save RAW Sample...................................... 5 Save to REU Bank..................................... 5 Save Script.......................................... 5 Wipe REU Bank........................................ 5 Load Sample.......................................... 5 Load RAW Slow........................................ 6 Load RAW Fast........................................ 6 Load Script.......................................... 6 Load Amiga........................................... 6 Load Atari ST........................................ 7 Load Soun/Mix........................................ 7 Load GS/MACV1........................................ 8 Load MAC (V2)........................................ 8 Device Change........................................ 8 Dos Command.......................................... 8 Quit Menu............................................ 8 Page 1 SHAREWARE NOTICE This program is released as SHAREWARE and is NOT to be considered as Public Domain or Freeware. You may freely copy and distribute this program as long as ALL files in the original archive are included and no fee is charged, other than for cost of media. If you find this program useful and/or use it repeatedly then send a $5.00 Registration Fee. When you send in the fee you will receive a letter acknowledging the receipt of your fee and give you a password and an account on a BBS with access to a reserved area for registered Digiplayer users. This area will contain many digitized samples in arced format. These samples will range from sound effects to instruments to entire songs. If you send in a $10.00 Registration Fee you will receive all of the above as well as a disk with a player module you can include in your own basic or ML programs as well as the source code for the module. Many people do not like SHAREWARE and you will find that the ones that seem to dislike it the most are the people that never want to PAY for anything. The concept of SHAREWARE is a good one as long as people SUPPORT it and todate from my own experience the support is very lacking. SHAREWARE allows people that cannot market a product (either because of a lack of funds on their part or lack of interest by the software publishers) to sell their product on a try before you buy basis. Just because a program is SHAREWARE doesn't mean it isn't a good program. There are many SHAREWARE programs that are not worth the download time but the ones that ARE should be supported by a SHAREWARE Donation to the Author for their efforts. If a programmer releases a good program as SHAREWARE and the program is seen to gain wide spread acceptance and use but programmer only gets a few donations you can rest assured you have LOST a programmer. One of the reasons you cannot find very much in the way of GOOD software for the C-64/128 on BBS systems is because the programmers have given up. Why have they given up? The reason is obvious as most people take and never give. I have seen people leave long tirades to a programmer, that uploaded a GOOD program as SHAREWARE, about how they think it should be free and they will never download it because it isn't PD. This attitude is completely disgusting. If a programmer receives SHAREWARE FEEs for a program then you can bet he will work on other projects for the C-64/128. Just take a look at the Libraries on Quantum Link and you will see there is very little uploaded to the Applications or Games areas. Most of the Uploads are Pictures, EuroDemos and SID Files. The reason for this is that programmers will not take the time to make a program and then GIVE it away as it takes a lot of time and effort to create something good. What it comes down to is this, if you want to see more programs on the BBSs then you need to support those SHAREWARE authors that release good software. This program is going to be a TEST. If I receive a fairly good response then I will continue to write new software for the C-64/128. If the response is dismal then I will concentrate my efforts on another computer system and leave the C-64/128 area. The choice is now upto you the user. Mark Dickenson Page 2 PROGRAM OVERVIEW This program has been designed to convert Amiga, Atari ST, Apple II/GS and Macintosh digitized sound samples to a form that can be used on the Commodore 64/128 computer system. The program fully supports the 1700, 1764 and 1750 Ram Expansion Units from Commodore. With the use of a 1750 REU you can convert a 900k Amiga Digitized Sample for use on the C-64/128. The program allows the user to play samples from the REU in any order, build large samples from many small ones and convert single octave Amiga Instrument Samples into a form that can be used by The Stereo System. The player routine has been completely redesigned and a new player routine has been added. With the redesigned player the program can now achive playback speeds of about 25k per second. This is exceptional on a 1mhz computer with a video overhead. The new routine that has been added will allow for far greater control over playback speeds. The new routine will also allow digitized samples playing in the background. This means you could effectively have digitized sound effects in games without having the game stop to play the sample. Due to a redesign of the SID chip used in the 128D and the newer 64C models you MAY have subdued or nonexistant sound reproduction. Be sure to turn the computer OFF, WAIT and then ON if you have muted sound. This can reset a SID chip for sound reproduction where software cannot. All of the controls in the program use the CURSOR and RETURN keys. The CURSOR UP/DOWN key will cause the item selector to move down. The CURSOR LEFT/RIGHT key will cause the item selector to move up. The RETURN key is used to select the current highlighted item. *------------------------------------* : : : : : (1) : : : : : :------------------------------------: : (2) : (3) : (4) : :------------------------------------: : : : : : : : : : : : (5) : : : : : : : : : : : : : : *-----------------------* : : : (6) : : *------------------------------------* (7) Page 3 The following is a description of the display areas of the player. 1. The Main Title and Credits. 2. The size of the current digitized sample in memory. 3. The type of REU connected to the computer: NONE, 1700, 1764 ot 1750 4. The number of BANKS in the REU will be displayed here. The empty banks will be highlighted in PURPLE. The banks that contain data will be highlighted in WHITE. 5. This is the Menu Area where you may select the operation of your choice. 6. This is the Filename area. The current loaded sample name will be displayed here and this is where you enter the filenames for files to load and save. 7. This area will display the drive error channel data after every disk operation. The DOS COMMAND and PLAY FROM REU commands will use this area as well. PLAY ONCE This will play the sound sample that currently resides in memory. If the sample length is 0 this operation will be aborted. PLAY REPEATEDLY The sample in memory will be played repeatedly until the RETURN key is pressed to abort the sequence. If you have selected a playback speed of 1-24 then you MUST hold down the RETURN key until the sample stops. If a speed of 25-255 is selected you do not need to hold the return key down as the playback will stop when it hits the end of the sample. PLAY FROM REU When this option is selected and an REU is connected you can play sound samples that have been stored in the REU. When this item is used the sample in the computers memory will be lost. A selector will appear at the bottom of the screen like the one below. PLAY FROM REU BANK: SA12345678 (1750 REU) PLAY FROM REU BANK: SA1234 (1764 REU) PLAY FROM REU BANK: SA12 (1700 REU) By selecting a number you will play the sample that is in the respective REU BANK. If the BANK is empty then nothing will happen. When the A item is selected then ALL of the REU BANKS will be checked for sound samples and then each bank will be played in consecutive order. Page 4 The S item will allow you to build a Playback Script for the samples stored in the REU. In this manner you can create long playbacks by mixing the stored samples. When this item is selected a prompt will appear at the bottom of the screen similar to the DOS COMMAND prompt. You can then enter a script pattern using the bank numbers. The program will not let you enter any bank number OVER the number of banks that exist in your REU. If you have already entered a Script Pattern then it will be displayed so you can edit it. When you press the RETURN key the script will be played. An example script looks like the one below. >12423113 The program will play the samples in REU Banks 1, 2, 4, 2 and ect. If a bank is Empty then it will be bypassed. PLAY SPEED When this item is selected you must use the cursor keys to change the playback speed and the RETURN key to install the new speed. Speeds of 1-24 use the modified OLD player routines from Digiplayer 2.0 and will be displayed as YELLOW on the menu. The new routine is faster than the Digiplayer 2.0 routines so you will have to resave the samples using new speeds. Speeds of 25-255 use a new NMI Interrupt driven routine that will allow for a CLEANER playback of sound samples and will be displayed in gray. Many of the new speeds will sound just as clear with the Video display ON as OFF. The playback speed can also be more finely tuned using these speeds. The one drawback is that the routines are NOT as fast as the NON-NMI (1-24) speeds. A speed of 25 is roughly equivalent to 13. VIDEO MODE This will toggle the Video Display ON and OFF for sound playback. When the Video Display is OFF the sound samples are generally cleaner and they will play slightly faster. DISK DIRECTORY This will display a disk directory of the currently selected drive. You can press the SPACEBAR to PAUSE the display and RETURN will RESUME the display. The RUN-STOP key will abort the display. The listing will pause after every 25 directory entries. Page 5 SAVE REU SAMPLE This will save the current sample in memory to the currently selected device. A cursor will appear in the FILENAME area, at the end of the file name. You can then just press RETURN to use this filename or change it to whatever you wish. DO NOT add .RAW to the end of the file as the program will do this for you. Also, you cannot enter a name larger than 12 characters in length and if the file name is larger that 12 characters it will be truncated to fit. SAVE TO REU BANK This will move the sound sample in the 64s memory to the bank of the REU you specify. A selector similar to the one below will appear when this item is selected. SAVE TO REU BANK: 12345678 (1750 REU) SAVE TO REU BANK: 1234 (1764 REU) SAVE TO REU BANK: 12 (1700 REU) Use the cursor keys to select the bank to use and RETURN to move it. If the BANK already contains a sample then it will be overwritten with the new sample. The appropriate bank will be highlighted in WHITE when a sample is saved to the BANK. SAVE SCRIPT This will allow you to save a playback script for the samples in the REU to disk. The filenames of each sample stored in the REU banks will be saved to the disk as well as the SCRIPT pattern. A script file will never be larger than 1 disk block. WIPE REU BANK This will allow you to erase the contents of each REU Bank. A selector similar to the one below will appear when this item is selected. ERASE REU BANK: A12345678 (1750 REU) ERASE REU BANK: A1234 (1764 REU) ERASE REU BANK: A12 (1700 REU) You can select an individual bank using the cursor keys and the RETURN key to erase the appropriate bank. If the A item is selected than ALL of the REU banks will be erased. LOAD SAMPLE This item will activate the right half of the menu screen. You will be able to select any of the commands described on the next few pages. Page 6 LOAD RAW SLOW This will load in any sample using the normal kernal routines. The only samples that will play correctly are samples with the .RAW extension. Since the buffer area on Digiplayer 3.0 is about 4k smaller than the one used in 2.0 this command will not allow the sample to load past the end of memory. There is approximately 56575 bytes free in the buffer as compaired to the 60415 in Digiplayer 2.0. When this command is selected you will see a selector similar to the one below, unless you have filled the buffer. OVERLAY OR APPEND LOAD: OA If the O item is selected the sample will be loaded over the existing sound sample. If the A item is selected then the sample will be appended to the end of the sample currently in memory. This feature will allow you to build a large sample from a series of small samples. A person could effectively create an entire song using this method in conjunction with an REU. LOAD RAW FAST This functions identically to the LOAD RAW SLOW command but uses a special speedloader to quickly load the file into memory. This command can ONLY be used on 100% compatible 1541/71 disk drives. LOAD SCRIPT This command will load in any script file (those with the .SCR designation) and its associated files. When this command is selected you will see a selector similar to the one below. FAST OR SLOW LOAD: FS If you select F then all of the files will be loaded using the speedloader routines while the S will load using the slow kernal routines. Once the SCRIPT file has been loaded it will then start loading each of the sound samples that were indicated in the SCRIPT file. Any samples stored in the REU will be ERASED when this command is selected. LOAD AMIGA This command will allow you to convert just about any Amiga IFF sound sample to a form that can be used by the Commodore 64/128. This process will take some time as it will also be reducing the size of the sample to half of its original size. The sample will be given a default playback speed of 150. With the use of a 1750 REU this command can convert upto a 900k Sound Sample. When the C-64s ram becomes full and an REU is present the contents of the 64s RAM will be moved to the first availible RAM BANK. The process will continue all over again until the entire file has been converted or all of the REU banks have been filled. Page 7 When this command is selected all of the REU BANKS are cleared. To adjust the playback speed and save each of the samples you will have to use the PLAY FROM REU to move each of the samples to the 64s MEMORY so you can adjust the SPEED and save the sample. Once you have saved the SAMPLE you should then save the sample BACK to the REU bank it was loaded from. This will save the new filename and speed for each file in the REU. If you do not do this and then save a SCRIPT to disk you will have a problem. The main problem will be that ALL of the samples will have the SAME filename in the SCRIPT file. This will cause only ONE sample to be loaded into each of the banks instead of the correct samples. An example of this would be the conversion of a 300k Amiga file with the name of EXAMPLE. The conversion would save the sample to 3 REU banks. Each one of these banks would have the name (EXAMPLE) assigned to them. If you were to save a script file without changing each of the sample names in the REU you would have a SCRIPT file that would look for a sample with the name of EXAMPLE THREE TIMES! This would not work. So you need to follow this proceedure. 1. Load in the Amiga Sample 2. Play REU BANK #1 3. Adjust Playback Speed 4. Save the sample to Disk using a new name 5. SAVE the sample BACK to the REU bank it was played from. 6. Continue operation 2-5 for each bank used. 7. You may now create and save a SCRIPT file. LOAD ATARI ST This command is IDENTICAL in function to the LOAD AMIGA command except that it will convert Atari ST sound samples, such as those created using ST Replay. LOAD SOUN/MIX This command is IDENTICAL in function to the LOAD AMIGA command except that it will convert DIGITALKER 128 samples for playback with Digiplayer. DIGITALKER 128 sound samples will have a SOUN. prefix (IE. SOUN.SAMPLE). After the file is converted you should set the Playback Rate to 210. This command can also be used to REMIX (resample) existing RAW files to a smaller and slower playback speed. Many RAW samples will sound clearer at the slower speeds because the video chip will no longer cause audio warble during playback. The sample will always be reduced to one half of the original size when processed. Many samples will have to be remixed after their initial conversion from another format. A good rule is to just experiment. Sometimes you will have to run a file through 2-3 times. Page 8 LOAD GS/MACV1 This command is IDENTICAL in function to the LOAD AMIGA command except that it will convert Apple II/GS and SOME Macintosh Sound Samples. LOAD MAC (V2) This command is IDENTICAL in function to the LOAD AMIGA command except that it will convert SOME Macintosh Sound Samples (this is a different method than the one used in the LOAD MAC (V1) command). CHANGE DEVICE This command will automatically SCAN all of the devices on the serial buss. When an active device is found it will stop on that device. You will notice that the command races through numbers looking for a device. If you have only one drive you will see the number race through and stop back at Device 8 and the drive light come on for just a second. This takes some of the bother out of selecting the right device number. The DEFAULT device number will be set to the device Digiplayer 3 was loaded from. If you load the program from device number 9 (or any other device number from 8-12) then that device will be the DEFAULT device. DOS COMMAND This will allow you to issue ANY DOS command to the currently selected device. If you just enter a blank line you will be given the drive status. When this command is selected a command line will appear with a greater than prompt (>). You have a 38 character buffer for your command sequence. After the command has been executed the drive status will be displayed. Unfortunately, due to the way the speedloader works, the load code on ALL load options will NOT support 1581 partitions. QUIT MENU This will return the item selector back to the left side of the menu (the play and save items). -------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have any comments or you wish to register with a Shareware Fee, please send the letter to: Mark Dickenson 600 South West Street Nevada, Mo. 64772 I can also be reached on Quantum Link under the ID of MARK AD I. 1