ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º L M P 0 . 9 º º The module player for Sound Blaster Live º º Copyright (c) 2000 Lada Kopecky º ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ 1. CONTENTS ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ 2. INTRODUCTION 3. FEATURES IN DETAIL 4. REQUIREMENTS 5. FILES IN THIS PACKAGE 6. INSTALLATION 7. UNINSTALLING 8. USING THE PLAYER 9. FILE SELECTOR PLUGINS 10. COMMAND LINE SWITCHES 11. KEYBOARD 12. UNSUPPORTED MODULE EVENTS 13. DISCLAIMER 14. THE LICENCE AGREEMENT AND COPYRIGHT 15. REGISTRATION 16. FUTURE PLANS 17. COMMON QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 18. COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS 19. CONTACTING THE AUTHOR ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ 2. INTRODUCTION ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Welcome to the first public version of LIVE Module Player - a module player that takes advantage of the powerful wavetable synthesizer chip found on Sound Blaster Live cards. The hardware pitch-shifting and mixing performed by the EMU10K1 synthesizer offers these two major advantages: a) superb sound quality, unreachable in today's software-mixing module players (the output is absolutely clean (without usual ugly artifacts) and can be directly enhanced by built-in reverb and chorus effects) b) music is generated without big demands on the computer's power The LMP player incorporates the same engine as the well known AMP player, which has been developed and updated for many years. It provides many excellent features such as the most correct module playback, protection of highest notes by high quality resampling, sophisticated dynamic channel allocation, the attack control, reliable loop removal, event reporting, and others. When compared to the AWE Module Player, LMP offers many advantages: 1. No more troubles with a limited amount of memory for samples. LMP can use as much as 60 MBytes of memory for samples -> far enough for everyone. 2. The sound quality is unbeatable, thanks to 8-point interpolation, a 48 kHz sampling rate and a high quality output circuitry. 3. More concurrent voices are available (64, instead of 30). -> no voices are lost when replaying recent IT songs 4. Faster uploading of samples Unfortunately, this version of LMP has one major drawback: it can't run in a multitasking environment (in a window). This is caused by a design of the Windows SB Live drivers (by Creative Labs), which do not allow applications to access the EMU10K1 chip directly. Therefore before using LMP, you'll need to start your PC into the MS-DOS Only mode (exactly like for running some older computer games). Future versions are expected to overcome this limitation in some way. Before you start using the player, please do read through this manual. It will help you to get the maximum out of every function provided by LMP. What is the tracker module? ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ In case you are totally unfamiliar with modules and tracked music, you can visit some of the many Web pages on the subject of the demo scene and tracked music (see the FAQ section below). For a quick orientation, here is a comparison between a MP3-encoded song and a song stored in a module format (e.g. an IT file): File content: - A tracker module is a native format in which computer music is created. The file contains a high-level musical data such as notes, instruments and sound samples. While listening to the song you can watch how the music is written (the tracks, notes, effects etc.). You can even modify the tune easily (using a tracker program). - In contrast, a MP3 file contains just a single resulting waveform - just like a CD disc or a magnetic tape. File size: - An average size of a module is about 0.5 MB - MP3 files are considerably bigger (about 1 MB per minute of playback) Sound quality: - The sound in MP3 file is compressed by a lossy algorithm -> it means that the sound quality is always degraded by some degree. - The sound samples in a module are stored without compression or they are compressed by a lossless algorithm, therefore the sound quality is not compromised (provided you're using a high quality hardware and/or software to render the sound). ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ 3. FEATURES IN DETAIL ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ This module player does not offer twenty screen modes nor a spectrum analyzer. It was developed to do a single thing perfectly - to play all modules as correctly as possible and to deliver a maximum sound quality. Why does LMP sound so smooth and clean? ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ The major advantage of LMP is the direct use of the EMU10K1 synthesizer that performs the following tasks in hardware (that means with no CPU load): 1. high quality pitch-shifting using a patented dynamic 8-point interpolating filter This allows the removal of signal distortion that is so typical for all software-mixing players. Their interpolators (if any) are mostly two-point linear or rarely three-point quadratic (or they are unknown - hidden behind magic and meaningless names like FFT, FOI, IDO, 32-bit, spline etc.). But those basic mathematical algorithms are not suitable for signal processing, therefore such interpolators can't remove the unwanted artifacts while preserving the high frequencies contained in the original waveform. << NOTE: For those of you being unfamiliar with digital signal processing, here is a brief explanation: Let's take an example. You have an instrument sampled at 20kHz when playing the C4 note. But you need to play e.g. the C3 note at 40kHz output rate. To do it, you must increase the number of sample points (i.e. decrease the pitch) by factor of four _without_ changing the information content. If you obtain the three new points by repeating the old sample value, then the resulting frequency spectrum will include new high-frequency replicas (mirrors) of the original signal's spectrum. In our example, the original spectrum 0..10kHz would be shifted to 0..5kHz and also mirrored to ranges 5..10kHz, 10..15kHz and 15..20kHz. These replicas would add an ugly ringing distortion to the output sound. To remove them, you need a sharp-cutoff low-pass filter that won't damage the signal that is passed through. The result will be the "right" new samples smoothly inserted between old. This kind of digital filter is often unfortunately called an "interpolator" even if it does not perform "interpolation" in a common mathematical sense (such as linear or polynomial interpolation between known points). It is important to realize that a well-designed filter response is more crucial then just a number of input sample points used for interpolation. >> 2. mixing at 48 kHz frequency allows output frequencies up to 24 kHz You would need a very fast Pentium machine to get just a simply interpolated sound in 64 channels at the 48kHz mixing rate with a software-mixing player. And it would eat most of the CPU processing power. With LMP, all you need is a Sound Blaster Live card with a sufficient memory allocated. 3. starting/terminating the notes and changing the volume without any clicks (using the EMU10K1 envelope engine) The software-mixing players usually can't afford such smooth volume ramping. 4. customizable reverb and chorus effects Without effects, the sound is dry and flat. Any good effect processing requires many additional complex computations. 5. smooth panning in 256 steps << NOTE: I've heard a few people saying that software mixing performed by their interpolating routines sounds better than hardware mixing on the EMU chip. That's a big nonsense from both theory and experience. High quality pitch shifting and mixing equivalent to that performed by EMU10K1 (8-point resampling in 64 voices at 48 kHz) requires about 52 million multiplications per second! << (8+8+1) * 64 * 48000 = 52,224,000 >> This means that the sole multiplication would consume all cycles on a P500 machine. But just multiplying is not enough. We have to do other things as well. And what's even worse, we still don't have any reverb and chorus. The MMX technology can be 3-10 times faster, though - this might be a first real chance for software-mixing players. Time will show. (If anyone wants to see the details on how EMU synthesizer chips work and how complex the computations are, I recommend checking the US patent # 5,111,727 - available also for free on Internet, e.g. from the Patent Server operated by IBM). >> Additionally, to get most of the hardware and to eliminate its limitations, LMP performs following tasks in software: 1. A sophisticated dynamic allocation of hardware voices This allows to handle modules with more than 64 channels without losing notes. The dynamic allocation is also necessary to avoid all clicks when notes are being replaced in each master channel. 2. Downsampling the samples that are to be played at rates above 192 kHz (i.e. 2 octaves above 48 kHz - this is a hardware limit of EMU10K1) Without resampling (reducing the length and the final rate), some notes or sounds could be lost. To avoid aliasing distortion and to preserve high-frequency parts of sound, LMP uses a digital filter of very high quality (equivalent to a 13-point optimized interpolation). Special care must be taken in order to preserve the exact pitch of looped samples. << NOTE: The "aliasing" distortion appears when a signal containing frequencies above the Nyquist frequency (equal to 1/2 of the sampling rate) is sampled. These high frequencies are then aliased (mirrored) under the Nyquist frequency in the form of distortion. The same thing happens when you downsample a signal without removing all frequencies above 1/2 of the target sampling rate. >> 3. Avoiding clicks caused by sample loops If sample loops are present, special care must be taken to avoid clicks. The situation gets much more complicated if bi-directional loops are present and/or if downsampling is involved. 4. Special handling of duplicate voices Duplicate voices (i.e. doubled channels) are sometimes used by module composers to amplify some instruments. If such doubled samples are not being replayed perfectly in sync, unwanted interference effects appear. These can be heard as a loss of high frequencies or a flanger-like effect. The duplicate voices make a lot of trouble with all hardware-mixing devices, where starting multiple notes at once is very difficult (if not impossible at all). LMP has got a unique feature to eliminate the interference effects if duplicate voices are used in a module. 5. Panning noise suppression The EMU10K1 does not interpolate panning changes. Without panning noise suppression, clicks or noise would be heard in some modules. The complete list of features: ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ - plays XM modules (FT2.0x, format version $0104) - plays IT modules (IT1.01+, incl. compressed samples and resonant filters!) - plays S3M modules (ST3.0+, IT1.01+) - plays MOD/NST modules (M.K. M!K! FLT4 nCHN nnCH OCTA SoundTracker) - plays the Ultimate SoundTracker modules (an old MOD clone) correctly - plays MTM modules - plays PTM modules (max. 128 instruments) - up to 64 channels and 64 active voices - sophisticated dynamic voice allocation in all modes Therefore the sound is without clicks and there are no problems with IT background channels. LMP is also able to handle (without any notable sound degradation) even those IT songs that claim 70 or more voices in Impulse Tracker! - professional quality downsampling of highest samples to avoid the EMU10K1 pitch overflow. A very high quality anti-aliasing filter is used and numerous secondary complications involved by downsampling are properly handled. So, you won't lose *any* note and the quality of playback is not compromised. - special handling of duplicate voices (i.e. doubled channels) to eliminate interference effects - support for surround panning (quite often used in IT modules) - panning noise suppression - high compatibility with the FT2.08 / ST3.21 / IT2.14 playback routines, including emulation of many undocumented bugs. You've probably seen some songs with attached instructions like "Don't play with ***** player because it will **** up". With LMP, you can hear exactly what you are supposed to. - 100% accurate timing (the true BPM value is guaranteed) The timing is correct even for longest songs. All timing is derived from a crystal clock generator on the sound card. - thorough error checking to avoid crashes and to assure correct playback (other module players behave mostly unpredictably when a corrupted module is loaded) Even so, LMP can load and correctly handle slightly corrupted songs. - can report all suspicious or unsupported events during the module load and playback, e.g.: - invalid, unknown, unsupported, or improperly used pattern effects - the synthesizer hardware limits exceeded - AdLib instruments and channels in S3M modules - invalid notes / instruments / samples / envelopes etc. - bad sample/envelope loop points - and many more It also informs about another interesting facts, such as: - data found in disabled S3M/IT channels - unused patterns - stereo disabled - and more This is a unique feature, not available in any other player or tracker. - can play multiple modules in batch (using wildcards and/or listfiles) - the listfiles (playlists) are pure text files so that they can be created manually or by third-party software - can play multiple modules in a random order - support for file selector plugins - all kinds of song loops can be reliably disabled - a 'must have' option for unattended playback of multiple songs - offers a fast forward mode, pattern skip in both directions, a module restart command, and a forced tempo mode - supports animated messages using sample names (sometimes found in S3M's) - can take all (!) settings from LMP.INI and/or from the command line So, you can create different batches/icons for starting LMP with predefined configurations or playlists - multiple reverb types << NOTE: the EMU10K1 effect engine is not backwards compatible with that of EMU8000. Therefore it is not possible to use custom reverb/chorus presets created by AWE32FXWorkShop >> - an easy to use song message viewer (you don't have to press Shift-F9 or other extra keys to check whether a message is present) - 3 modes of the sample attack control - 2 screen modes - the number of used voices is shown in the bottom of the Log window. NOTE: This number also includes running samples with volume=0 and all active background IT channels. - the peak digital output level is displayed - no problems with memory or extenders (85-230 kB of DOS memory is enough) ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ 4. REQUIREMENTS ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ - PC 386 or better (CPU speed is not important) - at least 8 MB of system memory - Sound Blaster Live or a compatible sound card with the EMU10K1 synthesizer - 90..250 kB of free DOS conventional (low) memory - HIMEM.SYS must be loaded (NOTE: if you're using Windows 9x, you don't have to care about this) - no Expanded memory needed - EMM386 can be loaded, but it is not needed - SB16 emulation drivers (SBE) must NOT be loaded ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ 5. FILES IN THIS PACKAGE ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Here is a list of the files enclosed in this package. LMP.EXE - the player itself LMP.INI - a sample configuration file LMP.TXT - this file HISTORY.TXT - revision history NEWCTRLS.TXT - description of the new XM effect controls REGFORM.TXT - a registration form LMP.PIF - Program Information File for MS Windows FILE_ID.DIZ - short program description AMPFS.AFS - a simple file selector by X-Brain AMPFS.TXT - file selector documentation ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ 6. INSTALLATION ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Just unzip the archive into a destination directory of your choice. Make sure that both LMP.EXE and LMP.INI are stored in the same directory. For information about associating LMP player with your modules, please go to section #8. ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ 7. UNINSTALLING ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Delete the whole directory and shortcuts/icons you created. ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ 8. USING THE PLAYER ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ LMP player can be started in three different ways: 1. LMP includes a support for third-party file selector plugins. If a plugin is present you can start LMP without any arguments and use the plugin to select modules for playback. For details about using the file selector plugins, see the next section. 2. Setup LMP as a default application for module files in your favorite disk or file manager (e.g. Norton Commander or Windows Explorer). For information how to setup associations between modules and the player, see the documentation of your file/disk manager. For example, in case of Xtree Gold, just create files MOD.BAT, S3M.BAT ... in a directory where XTG resides. These files should contain just a single line like this: @C:\SOUND\LMP\LMP.EXE %4.%5 After that, LMP is invoked automatically when you 'Open' or 'Start' the module (also a mouse double-click does it in most cases). In a similar way, it's also possible to establish an association of listfiles with LMP. 3. Start the player manually and specify modules on the command line Using the command line arguments ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ You can specify one or more modules and/or listfiles on the command line. For module names, you can use wildcards and omit extensions. The listfiles are pure text files containing a list of modules to play, one filename per line. Lines starting with ';' or '#' will be ignored. The listfiles are distinguished by a leading '@'. You can omit the '@' for files with extension 'AML' or 'LST'. You can also use listfiles (playlists) created with AMP for Windows. Examples of use (the default LMP.INI is assumed): a) To play all modules from a directory (MOD/MTM/S3M/XM/PTM/IT extensions): LMP E:\MODULES\* b) To play your favorite songs in random order without pausing between them: LMP E:\MODULES\MY-BEST.AML -N -P- c) To play specified modules with looping enabled: LMP E:\MODULES\DOPE C:\*.XM -S d) To play all modules from a directory sub-tree: (hint by Roger Dahl) DIR /B /S /A-D E:\MODULES >ALL.AML (this makes a playlist) LMP ALL.AML ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ 9. FILE SELECTOR PLUGINS ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ The file selector is invoked when you start LMP without any modules specified on the command line or when you press the 'Insert' key. The distribution package contains a simple selector written by Jakub Svozil / X-Brain. For detailed instructions how to use it, see the separate documentation file (AMPFS.TXT). ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ 10. COMMAND LINE SWITCHES ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ The list of command line switches (they must be preceded by '/' or '-'): ? Show a help on command line arguments V Verbose mode - all available information goes into the Log window - message colors: INFORMATION - white, WARNING - yellow, ERROR - red W Wait on errors - if this mode is off, you won't see any error messages (LMP just skips the song or terminates) S Repeat each song (loop mode) - this mode enables song and playlist looping - the song loop detection works at a pattern level -> it may trigger prematurely if some patterns are divided into non-continuous parts P Pause mode - if this mode is enabled, then LMP waits until you press spacebar, Enter, or Esc in these circumstances: a) at the end of each module (this can happen only if the single mode is enabled as well) b) in case of a module loading error While waiting, you can continue switching and scrolling the screens. N Random mode (shuffle) - modules are replayed in a random order - you can combine this mode with the single and/or pause mode - some additional DOS memory is needed to store the filenames << This mode replaces the Jukebox mode from older player versions >> F Forced module loading (if not enough sample memory) - all modules will be loaded but with some samples left out 8 Enable direct usage of 8-bit samples (no conversion to 16 bits) - advantage: less sample memory used - disadvantage: 8-bit samples may sometimes produce a small click when a note is started Z Extended screen mode - 50 lines on the screen (or 43 lines with an EGA card) Today's tracked songs often use more than 16 channels. In extended screen mode, you can watch them all at once. I Show numeric pan values 0 to F (instead of just L/R/M/S) Gn Default panning separation 0..100 [%] (default 57) - this is the initial panning separation of the left/right MOD/S3M channels (similar to the 'n' switch in DMP player) Mn Initial volume level 0..-70 [dB] (without a minus sign, default is 'automode') - in automode the initial volume depends on the number of channels - for 4 or less channels it's -12 dB (equal to linear volume = 16) If you are not familiar with decibels, here are a few tips: - decreasing the level by 3 dB means 1/2 of the power (i.e. acoustic pressure) - decreasing the level by 6 dB means 1/2 of the linear volume (i.e. the output voltage) - decreasing the level by 10 dB means 1/10 of the power - decreasing the level by 20 dB means 1/10 of the linear volume Bn initial bass level -15..+15 [dB] (default 0) Tn initial treble level -15..+15 [dB] (default 0) Rn initial reverb depth 0..100 [%] (default 12) Cn initial chorus depth 0..100 [%] (default 2) En reverb type 0..7 (default 2) n Reverb Type ÄÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ 0 Slapback 1 Plate 2 Room-1 (default) 3 Room-2 4 Hall-1 5 Hall-2 6 Hall-3 7 LongVerb << NOTE: These reverb types are different from those provided by Windows drivers. >> Xn Amount of memory to allocate for samples (in MB) 0..60 (default is 8 MB) Dn Downsampling control (0..24, default 12) Use it to set the EMU10K1 pitch safety value in semitones (1 to 24). Zero has a special meaning - it disables downsampling at all. The default value of one octave (12 semitones) means that samples will be downsampled so that the highest note won't exceed the virtual sample rate of 96 kHz. Very small values are not recommended as there must be some range left for vibratos and slides. Another reason is that EMU10K1 doesn't avoid an aliasing distortion when doing a pitch up-shifting, therefore it's better to avoid virtual sample rates above 48 kHz. An Smooth attacks 0..2 (default 1) There are 3 modes of the attack control: 0. Never - the attacks are always fast (zero attack time) 1. Looped samples - the attacks are smooth for looped samples only 2. Always - the attacks are always smooth (6 ms attack time) If you prefer a perfect reproduction of percussion instruments, you should use mode 0. On the other hand, if you prefer to hide all clicks produced by poorly sampled instruments, you should use mode 2. Mode 1 is meant as a compromise because the percussion samples are mostly not looped. << NOTE: Fortunately, songs having clicks are very rare. Such clicks show up also in other MOD players, obviously. You have to complain to the one who created those bad samples. >> All switches above can be used in LMP.INI, one option per line. Lines starting with ';' or '#' will be ignored. The command line switches take precedence over the INI file settings. The mode switches (V,W,S,P,N,F,Z,I) can be reset from the command line by appending the minus sign (e.g. -S-). Remember that LMP.INI must be placed in the same directory as LMP.EXE ! ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ 11. KEYBOARD ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ F1 Help screen F2 Log screen - available only in verbose mode F3 Channel Info screen - instrument names, channel volumes and panning are shown - the signal meters reflect the final volume (-32 to 0 dB) (incl. envelope, tremolo, tremor, volume swing, and the global volumes) F4 Song Message / Instrument Info screen - this key toggles the song message (only if it's present) and instrument information - note that you don't have to use Shift-F9 or other extra key to show the song message - 16-bit sample points are displayed in sample units - looped samples are truncated to the end of loop and invalid loop points are fixed - envelopes, bi-directional loops and instrument vibratos are indicated by proper symbols. Filter and pitch envelopes are distinguished by color. - the downsampling factor for each sample (1 to 4 octaves) is in the last column - if all IT instrument names are blank, then sample names are shown (but in such case, the names might not correspond with remaining columns). PgDn PgUp for scrolling channels or instruments Ctrl-PgUp/PgDn Home End for a faster move Up Fast Forward (4-times faster, no pattern data is skipped) <- -> Pattern Back/Forward - remaining pattern data is ignored - active notes are terminated (so that they wouldn't hang) Ctrl <- Module Restart (without reloading the module from a file) Esc Without a file selector plugin: - stop the playback and exit With file selector: - stop the playback and enter the file selector - if you press Esc twice in a short period during playback, the player will exit immediately Enter skip to the next module in playlist Spacebar Pause/Resume playback Insert switch to the file selector window (only if a plugin is available) Backspace fadeout and skip to a previous module in playlist NOTE: This can work only if a file selector plugin supports this feature. Ctrl Up/Down enables and controls the Forced Tempo mode (once enabled, all tempo-related commands are ignored) '-' '+' Main Volume down/up F5 F6 Bass Level down/up (EMU8000 equalizer) F7 F8 Treble Level down/up (EMU8000 equalizer) F9 F10 Reverb Depth down/up F11 F12 Chorus Depth down/up Alt display the active effect types Alt-F9 Alt-F10 Reverb Type down/up Alt-F11 Alt-F12 Chorus Type down/up '1' to '9' channels 1 to 9 off/on 'a' to 'z' channels 10 to 35 off/on 'A' to 'Z' channels 36 to 61 off/on '(' ')' '0' channels 61 to 64 off/on '/' '*' all channels off/on Mouse is not supported. ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ 12. UNSUPPORTED MODULE EVENTS ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Unsupported pattern effects (commands): - Set Filter (unsupported by ST3/FT2/IT; Amiga HW specific effect) - Funk Repeat (unsupported by ST3/FT2; I've never seen it) - MOD/PTM/MTM Set Finetune (an obsolete effect with no proven standard) - PTM effects J,K,L,M (does anybody know their function?) - IT MIDI Macro Select (SFx - I've never seen it) ALL OTHER pattern effects are supported. The S3M AdLib instruments and channels are ignored. Up to 128 instruments are used in PTM modules. IT sample sustain loops are emulated by normal loops. All other IT features are fully supported (NNAs, DCTs, background channels, envelopes, new pattern effects, sample vibrato, volume and panning swing, resonant filters incl. envelopes, carry envelopes etc.). ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ 13. DISCLAIMER ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ This software program is spread "as is", without express or implied warranty of any kind. In no event will author of this software program be liable for any special, incidental or consequential damages resulting from possession, use or malfunction of this software product. ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ 14. THE LICENCE AGREEMENT AND COPYRIGHT ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ This program is distributed as freeware, but only for NON-COMMERCIAL use. No payment of any kind may be charged for this product or any combination of products or services including this product without my authorization and official written license. The software can be made available on Internet and BBS sites, as well as included on CD-ROMs containing other shareware/freeware programs provided that all files are distributed in their original unaltered form, preferably in the original archive. The software is owned by its author and is protected by copyright laws. You may not remove the copyright notice from any copy of the software. Reverse engineering or patching of this program are a violation of the copyright and are strictly prohibited. Any violation against this rule may be subject to prosecution under copyright law. By installing and/or using the AMP software, you are hereby agreeing to all these license conditions. ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ 15. REGISTRATION ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ If you are using LMP for more than 4 weeks, you should register. You don't have to pay anything - I just need to know who is using my product. I've been working on AMP/LMP software for many years - it's my tribute to the world of free music. But my effort can't continue forever, especially without massive response from users. Therefore I decided to gather some information from users and then use it to see whether to keep updating this freeware player. To register, just complete the form (REGFORM.TXT) and send it to the address specified at the end of this file. E-mail is preferred. And of course, if you like the player very much, you can add a small donation. It will be greatly appreciated. (In such a case I recommend dropping me a message by e-mail first) By registering, you vote for future development of LMP. By being silent, you vote against it. Once registered you'll also be informed about new versions by e-mail if you asked for it. << You need not worry about your e-mail address privacy - it won't be passed on to third parties. >> ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ 16. FUTURE PLANS ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ What is planned: - compatibility with Windows / a native Windows version - disk writer mode (it will allow a direct digital recording without any loss of quality) In general, the future depends on you - users, on your comments and a number of registrations. ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ 17. COMMON QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Q. Where to get some nice songs (modules)? A. There are numerous Internet sites with gigabytes of tracked music. You can start e.g. with one of these: 1. "Kosmic Free Music Foundation" http://www.kosmic.org 2. "scene.org" http://www.scene.org/ ftp://ftp.scene.org/ 3. "Hornet Archive" http://www.hornet.org Q. Where can I find the latest LMP version? A. It is likely to be found at these locations: "Slovak Antivirus Center FTP" ftp://ftp.elf.stuba.sk/pub/pc/sound ftp://ftp.vse.cz/pub/mirror/ftp.elf.stuba.sk/pc/sound (A great archive with lots of interesting stuff of all kinds, and always up to date) "MAZ Sound Tools" http://www.maz-sound.com/awe.html (This is a place where you may find also patches and beta releases) http://www.maz-sound.com/ (Here you'll find everything concerning sound and certainly also something what you haven't seen yet :) Q. Are you planning to implement a DOS shell? A. No. Hopefully a native Windows version will be available soon for background playback. Q. Every time I start LMP, my computer hangs. What's wrong? A. So far I received just one report of such a problem - with Asus motherboard. Try to remove EMM386.EXE from your Config.sys. Q. I get the "Not enough sample memory" message. How can I avoid it? A. By default, LMP reserves 8 MB of memory for samples. This should be enough for all common modules. But if some of your tunes are very huge, you may want to reserve more memory. You can modify this setting in LMP.INI (look for the '-X' option). Q. I'd like to know how to pronounce your name correctly. A. If you have the Creative Text Assist software installed, launch Text Assist Dictionary, type "laadya kopetzki" (without the quotes) into the Sound Like box, and then push Say It. What you get is not too far from reality. :-) Q. Are you planning to make a version of LMP for Linux? A. Currently I have no such plans. Reasons are: - the source code is not portable (due to many 16-bit specific constructions and optimizations) - lack of time for coding ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ 18. COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ In case you find any major or minor problem with the player, don't hesitate to contact me. But first, please, try to find the circumstances in which the problem appears. I would also appreciate your comments (both positive and negative) on the software itself. A preferred way how to send your very first comments is to go through the process of registration, as described in section #15. << NOTE FOR PROGRAMMERS: If you want to contribute by writing another file selector plugin, you're welcome. Just drop me a message. >> But enough words! Now it's time to launch LMP and enjoy the music... ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ 19. CONTACTING THE AUTHOR ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ If you wish to contact the author for any reason, send e-mail to: kopecky@tsoft.cz