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Initial commit
2021-04-15 11:31:59 -07:00
WARNING
this version of CP is released in a hurry. there was no time
to update the documentation.
the documentation is OUTDATED.
the configuration was changed completely.
most of the commandline parameters vanished, but you'll find some
information about the configuration in cp.ini
I'm also not quite sure about email.
Mail us, but do not expect an answer.
My (pascal's) address might (!) not work and I'm not very keen on
replying to letters.
DOJ's address will most probably work.
?hook's address works, but will he read the letters in the future?
anyway. deadline for release is today, and so there is no time left to
check this point. sorry, but cp1.666 is more important than support, don't
you think so?
distsite requests since 1.6 could not be regarded. sorry. try again.
<20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
<20><> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20><> <20> <20> <20><> <20>
<20> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
<20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><> <20> <20> <20> <20>
<20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><> <20> <20> <20> <20>
<20> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
<20><> <20> <20><> <20><> <20> <20><> <20> <20> <20><> <20>
<20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
<20>P<EFBFBD>L<EFBFBD>A<EFBFBD>Y<EFBFBD>E<EFBFBD>R<EFBFBD>
v1.666
Table of contents
==================
1......................................Introduction
2......................................Using Cubic Player
2.1..................................General Keys
2.2..................................Modes and Related Keys
2.3..................................File Selector
2.4..................................Command Line Options
3......................................Special Features
3.1..................................Surrround Sound
3.2..................................Midi Usage
3.3..................................Cubic Player and WIN'95 / OS/2
3.4..................................Intelligent Memory Multiplying (IMM)
3.5..................................CD-Audio and Sampling Mode
3.6..................................Double GUS Feature
3.7..................................Disk Writing
4......................................Notes, Bugs etc.
5......................................Information on Cubic Player
6......................................Greets, Credits
6.1..................................Addresses
=============================================================================
Attention ! Read the following BEFORE using Cubic Player.
=============================================================================
This material is not freeware. You are allowed to
copy it without restrictions 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 our authorization and official
written license. Commercial use, especially the
industrial manufacturing on any data storage media and
their distribution without the expressed permission
of the producer, is strictly prohibited. This program
or the data files contained therein may not be altered
or modified without the permission of the author.
You take full responsibility for the operation of this
software and any consequences thereof. We the creators
cannot accept liability for damages or failures arising
from the use of this software.
For further information refer to the addresses section.
=============================================================================
1: Introduction
================
Cubic Player (CP) is a music player which plays a variety of
sound formats on several sound cards.
The player supports the following sound cards:
-Gravis UltraSound
-SoundBlaster 1.x / 2.x / Pro / 16 / AWE 32
-WSS compatible cards / UltraSound MAX / UltraSound DaughterBoard
-Pro Audio Spectrum series
-Disk Writer, writes .WAV output on disk.
-Quiet Player =)
and the following music formats:
MOD/NST/WOW, XM, S3M, DMF, MTM, ULT, 669, OKT, PTM, AMS, MDL and MIDI.
If you encounter any problems with this product NOT mentioned
in the text, feel free to contact us. (adresses listed below).
The player works with Windows 3.x, Windows '95 and OS/2 warp.
Maybe it does not always work with Windows 3.x, but it should
finally work with '95.
2: Using Cubic Player
======================
Take your time to read this chapter, or you'll miss some of
the advanced options of Cubic Player...
You can simply start the player without command line options [and
filenames], the player will try to detect your sound device and start
playing the specified files.
If you have not specified any files, you will enter the fileselector
and can select a list of files of your choice.
After that you'll most probably find yourself in the instruments
screen.
2.1: General Keys:
-------------------
these keys are valid throughout the player. (not in the fileselector)
2.1.1: Very very general keys...
---------------------------------
F1 / ? / H : Online HELP
scroll with pgup and pgdn or ctrl-pgup/dn.
if the Help window :) is too small press z
return : next module
p : II / => (pause and play) have fun... ;)
ctrl-p : this is a faster version of pause...
alt-p : idle mode. stop screen output and wait for key!
nice thing for multitaskers.
d : advanced dos-shell!
ctrl-d : less advaned dos-shell... (no top line patching)
f : fileselector (see. 2.3 for usage)
z : toggle vertical screen size (25/50 lines)
alt-z : toggle horizontal screen size (80/132 rows)
ctrl-z : toggle vertical screen size (25/30 lines)
esc esc : the taboo keys... :)
quite useless feature, I think
2.1.2: Module Specific Keys
----------------------------
with these keys you can walk around in the song,
you have to press ctrl for all of them.
ctrl-right : go to next pattern
ctrl-left : go to previous pattern
ctrl-up : go 8 rows up in current pattern (rewind)
ctrl-down : go 8 rows down in current pattern (forward)
ctrl-home : restart the current song
2.1.3: Channel Options
-----------------------
The channels are displayed in all textmodes. In the graphic modes
there is a small box with the channel to let you know which channels
are active at the moment and which channel is selected.
There are 3 channel display modes toggled by c:
-no display: does exactly what it implies.
-small channels: shows from left to right:
instrument number, note, volume, effect and volume bars
-big channels: shows from left to right:
instrument name, note, note effect, volume, volume effect,
panning, panning effect, effect (written) and volume bars
If a note is struck it will be cyan for the current row.
The note, volume and panning effects are described in 2.2.2.2.2
2.1.3.1: Channel Keys
----------------------
c : changes the size of the channel display
left / right : go to previous / next channel
up / down : go to prev / next channel with wrap-around
q : toggle currently selected channel
s : solo channel
1 2 3 .. 0 : goto and toggle channel 1 .. 10
ctrl-1 .. 0 : goto and solo channel 1 .. 10
ctrl-q/ctrl-s: turn on all channels
2.1.4: Volume Options
----------------------
these keys are for volume, stereo fx, speed etc.
they are arranged like the 2nd line on the screen for easy usage.
F2 F3 : dec/inc the master volume
+ - : this lets you adjust the m.vol. more precisely
ctrl-F2/F3 : dec/inc the amplification level,
this takes a little bit of time on sb, so be careful
(We won't take responsibility for your ears..)
F4 : toggle surround (only stereo and Sound Blaster)
flips one channel, makes the sound surround you...
a nice options for headphones or if you have
4 speakers installed, (you can find a description
of how to set them up below) and even if you don't.
You will only hear it if some of the output is
equal on both channels... (combine it with panning)
does not work on a GUS of course!
F5 F6 : slide panning. panning shifts the sound to
the middle or exchanges the channels with each other
if you use headphones, set the panning to somewhere
in between middle and full. it will sound much much
much much better!!!
, . : finer panning
F7 F8 : slide balance
/ * : fine balance
F9 F10 : dec/inc playback speed (see ctrl-F12)
F11 F12 : dec/inc pitch (see ctrl-F12)
ctrl-F11 : toggle fine speed and pitch control.
ctrl-F12 : toggle speed and pitch lock.
if on, a change in speed also will affect the pitch
and vice versa
ctrl-F4 : toggle effects view
ctrl-F5/F6 : dec/inc reverb send level (AWE only)
ctrl-F7/F8 : dec/inc chorus send level (AWE only)
backspace : toggle oversampling interpolation (off/AOI/FOI)
alt-backspace: toggle the amazing 32-bit-fast-fake-interpolation
ct-backspace : change filter, pretty useless with high sampling
rates... 3 different filters with increasing effect
and 32-bit-fast-fourier-interpolation
(SB only again !)
alt-F2 : save the current values for panning, balance,
amplification, filter/FFI, pitch etc.
alt-F3 : load previously saved values
alt-F4 : load factory defaults
2.2: Modes and Related Keys
----------------------------
Note: all previously listed keys are still valid in all modes.
h ? F1 : Help Mode (should be self-explanatory)
i : Instrument Mode (2.2.1)
m : View Song Message (MTM/DMF), keys like in help mode
t : Pattern View (2.2.2)
a : Text Mode Spectrum Analyser (2.2.3)
g : Graphic Spectrum Analyer (2.2.4)
o : Scopes (2.2.5)
n : Note Dots (2.2.6)
w : W<>rfel mode, h<>h<EFBFBD>.. (see yourself)
x : EXTENDED MODE... beat it!!!
e : Echo Editor (2.2.7)
2.2.1: Instrument Mode <i>
-----------------------------
The usual instrument display... a bit more comfortable than others!
tab : toggle between short and long instruments
pgup / pgdn : scroll
ctrl-pgup/dn : scroll fast
home : go home!
alt-i : clear instrument used flags... wow!
2.2.2: Pattern View <t>
--------------------------
it's really simple:
colors indicate the type of effect:
2.2.2.1: Global Effects
------------------------
green speed commands (tempo, speed)
red position commands (break, goto, patloop, patdelay)
blue global vol fx (set glob vol, glob vol slide)
2.2.2.2: Channel Effects
-------------------------
white instrument effect (set instrument, play note, etc.)
green pitch effect (porta, vibrato, arpeggio, etc.)
blue volume effect (set volume, volslide, tremolo, etc.)
purple panning effect (set panning, panning slide)
red note effect (cut note, delay note, etc.)
the symbols/letters indicate the effect, the values are given in hex
volumes: 00-FF in contrast to volumes in most module formats (00-40)
panning: 00-FF from full left to full right
first instrument is 00 not 01.
2.2.2.2.1: Global Effects
--------------------------
green tXX tempo, the number of ticks per row
sXX speed, the number of ticks per time
red downXX break pattern and start next one in row ??
rightXX goto pattern
plX pattern loop: 0 set label, others: loop ? times
pdX delay pattern for ?*tempo ticks
blue vXX set global volume
upXX global volume slide up
downXX global volume slide down
updown00 continue last global volume slide
2.2.2.2.2: channel effects
--------------------------
white iXX set instrument
C-4... play note C, octave 4
off key off (XM only)
rightXX set envelope position (XM only)
green C-4... set porta to note note (porta to note)
up?? pitch slide up 00: cont (porta up)
downXX pitch slide down 00: cont (porta down)
+XX row pitch slide up (finetune)
-XX row pitch slide down (finetune)
noteXX pitch slide to note 00: cont (porta to note)
~XX vibrato
~rightX vibrato set speed
~=X vibrato set waveform
<20>XX arpeggio
blue vXX set volume
upXX volume slide up
downXX volume slide down
+XX row volume slide up (finevol)
-XX row volume slide down (finevol)
~XX tremolo
~=X set tremolo waveform
<20>XX tremor, does anyone use it?
purple pXX set panning
rightXX panning slide right
leftXx panning slide left
>face< enable surroud sound for channel (see below)
red dXX delay, delays anything, usually notes
!!XX retrigger
rightXX sample offset
^XX note cut
2.2.2.3: Keys in Pattern View
------------------------------
space : toggle auto / manual mode
ctrl-pgup/dn : scroll instruments
home : set optimum mode for current module
auto mode:
pgup / pgdn : change number of channels: 32,24,16,8,4
tab : toggle mode (fx on/off etc)
manual mode:
pgup / pgdn : move through patterns
[shift]-tab : change # of channels, mode
2.2.3: Text Mode Spectrum Analyser <a>
-----------------------------------------
On faster computers the spectrum analyser can look a bit dirty.
This is because the player does not wait for a refresh when displaying.
A decay speed is not yet included.
a / alt-F5 : toggle channel mode (all/current)
ctrl-pgup/dn : scroll instruments
pgup / pgdn : change visible frequency range
home : set maximum freq to approximately 3000Hz
tab : change colors
2.2.4: Graphic Spectrum Analyser <g>
---------------------------------------
That kind of stripes that are used in voice recognition...
Watch the vibratos!!! wow.. that's cool..
have a look at guitarsl.mod, armani.s3m and space.mod
g / alt-F3 : toggle channel mode:
- both output channels
- mixed output channels
- currently selected channel only
alt-g : toggle between fast and fine mode
pgup / pgdn : change visible frequency range
home : set maximum frequency to approximately 3000 Hz
tab ctrl-tab : change scale / palette
NEW: shift-g : The Big-GSA !!!! on amazing 1024x768 resolution
(we wish you a Pentium for this mode :-)
2.2.5: Scopes <o>
--------------------
Just simple oscilloscopes for all or one channel
The background piccy needs an extra 250k of memory, if you don't have
that much you can disable the picture with a command line option.
o alt-F2 : toggle mode (master/single/all)
alt-o : toggle trigger, starts the output on a
polarity change
pgup / pgdn : stretch scopes
2.2.6: Note Dots <n>
---------------------
They really look c00l, because they use the real pitch and
the real volume...
n : toggle between dots, bars, stereo cones and
stereo dots!
pgup/dn : slide range
ctrl-pgup/dn : slide scale
2.2.7: Echo Editor <e>
-----------------------
Yeah, now it's here. The ultimate Echo Online Editor you have
long waitet for. Create your own Echos with 8 or 16bit quality and
up to 8 different generators. Or simply pick one of the predefined
Echos and enjoy your tunes with the glorious sound of Cathedral II.
(Echos are only available on SB and GUS MAX/WSS)
Selector Keys
--------------
enter : use the currently selected echo
ctrl-up/down : move the echo in list
ctrl-del : delete echo from list
ctrl-ins : store the echo from the editor at the current
position and save the echo list.
tab : jump to editor copying the current echo
esc : leave echo selector / editor returning to cp
Editor Keys / Usage
--------------------
At first you have to select how many Operators your echo should
have in the field OPNUM. Up to 8 Operators are possible.
Then you should define the maximum delay in 0.1 ms. This will have
an effect on the memory requierements of the echo. Then the general
feedback FB should be set. The higher the value the more often the
echo signal is passed in the generator (the louder and stronger the
echo will appear).
Now type in the delay of the Operators in 0.1 ms and their feedback
volume (volumes can be negative, that means the samples will be
player reversed).
At last you can choose a name and 8 or 16bit mixing (of course
16bit mixing takes more resources, but especially with modules
above 16 channels or MIDIs 8bit mixing does not work anymore,
you have to choose 16bit mixing (this has technical reasons))
You can also slide the values by pressing pgup/dn
If you have created interesting and new echos or any comments
the the echo function feel free to contact us!
btw: chorus will not often have much effect on the output...
2.3: FileSelector <f> <ins>
------------------------------
An easy way to search and play your favourite modules
now in version ][. now caches modules... reads from zips...
reads, edits and writes module information files
At first it scans the current directory for modules (files with
the extension .MOD .S3M .XM, .MID...) and lets you select
files. While you do this, it scans the modules for the titles
and number of voices. This can be very slow on disks and CDs and you
can stop it by pressing ctrl-backspace. If you've found a nice module
you can either play it now by pressing return or put it in the
playlist with -> or ins. There is also a quickfind feature: Simply
type the name of the module and the fileselector will go to the
file. (You don't need to complete the name or type it correctly,
it will take the name that is most similar to the typed name)
When you have finished the playlist, hit esc. Remember: return plays
the currently selected module.
2.3.1: Keys for Fileselector
up, down,
pgup, pgdn,
home, end : the usual stuff...
abc123... : quickfind
return : play selected module RIGHT NOW!
esc : leave fileselector, don't interrupt current mod
ins -> : add mod to list (both windows)
del <- : remove mod from list (both windows)
ctrl-left,
ctrl-ins : add all mod in current directory to list
ctrl-right,
ctrl-del : clear playlist
tab : toggle "window"
shift-tab : toggle editor (pgup/dn in editor for move in list)
alt-tab : toggle view mode
ctrl-up, down: move mod in playlist
pgup, pgdn, : (my god, why do i do this?? no one will ever use
home, end : this feature...)
ctrl-backspc : stop reading module info
alt-s : if ctrl-backspace does not work
alt-z : toggle 80*25 / 132*60 lines mode
alt-c : configuration menu (session only, not permanent!)
alt-a : write module information file for dir/list.
alt-w : write module information file for sel. mod.
alt-i : toggle view mode
alt-k : zap this file!
2.4: Command Line
------------------
At the command line you can specify the modules you wish to play.
This works very much like the dos DIR command, e.g. type
cp d:\mods\guitarsl
cp \mods
cp \mods\.xm
cp .
cp c:
You can also give a playlist: cp @d:\mods\favorite.lst
(playlists can be nested, though this feature has not yet
been tested extensively)
NOTE: This feature is not available at the moment due to complete
rebuilt of the fileselector and leck of time.
if you have not specified any modules or none of them could be found
cp will start up with the file selector.
2.4.1: Usage of Command Line Options etc.
------------------------------------------
The command line options are arranged in groups:
-h[n]: view help screen #n
-c: 2.4.2: Sound Device Specific Switches
-v: 2.4.3: Volume Specific Switches
-w: 2.4.4: Screen Specific Switches
-f: 2.4.5: Fileselector Specific Switches
-m: 2.4.6: Midi Switches
You can use switches everywhere in the command line, you can
also set default values with the environment variables CP in the
file CP.CFG in CP.EXE's path.
The format is always the same, all switches begin with - or /
Switches of the same group can be put together separated by a ,
(no whitespaces in between!):
-cb -cc0 == -cb,c0
-h : This is a pretty good feature if you don't know
-? : all the switches by heart
2.4.2: Sound Device Specific Switches
--------------------------------------
-c...
c?? : sounddevice
0 : quiet
1 : SoundBlaster 1.x
2 : SoundBlaster 2.x
3 : SoundBlaster Pro
4 : SoundBlaster 16
5 : SoundBlaster AWE
10 : Gravis UltraSound
11 : Double GUS 2D
12 : Double GUS 3D
20 : Windows Sound System WSS,
21 : GUS MAX CODEC
22 : GUS + 16bit daughterboard
30 : Pro Audio Sprectrum Series
40 : Disk Writer
p??? : port in hex
z??? : secondary port
i?? : irq in dec
j?? : secondary irq
ATTENTION! ALL IRQs MUST BE BELOW 8 WHEN USING DOS4GW
d? : dma
e? : secondary dma
r????? : sampling rate in Hz or kHz
q????? : sampling rate for 32 channels
b[-] : bypass mode [off], bypasses the detect/check
routines, make sure to set all parameters correctly!
m : mono
s : stereo
8 : eight bit
16 : sixteen bit
l[+] : small buffer, if you think the sound output is too
much behind. this could cause trouble on slower
systems, mods with many channels or if echo is
enabled
g[+] : slow gus upload: if dma or irq does not work.
t[+] : use system timer: if irq does not work.
2.4.3: Volume Specific Switches
--------------------------------
-v...
v?? : master volume: 0%..100%, default 100%
a??? : amplify: 0%..400%, default 100%
p??? : panning: -100%..+100%, default 100%
b??? : balance: -100%..+100%, default 0%
s[-] : surround sound [off]
f? : lowpass filter 0..4 -
0 : none
1 : very soft
2 : soft
3 : middle
4 : effective
5 : 32-bit Fast-Fake-Interpolation
6 : 48-bit Adaptive-Oversampling-Interpolation
7 : 64-bit Full-Oversampling-Interpolation
2.4.4: Screen Specific Switches
--------------------------------
-w...
c[+/-] : channels: short, +:long, -:none
zxx : text mode: 0: 80x25, 1: 80x30, 2: 80x50, 3: 80x60
4:132x25, 5:132x30, 6:132x50, 7:132x60
cxx : channel display type xx:
0:none, 1:short, 2:long, 3:side
ixx : instrument display type xx:
0:none, 1:short, 2:long, 3:side
a[-] : turn spectrum analyser on [off]
t[-] : turn pattern view on [off]
x : display very much! (extended mode)
sx : startup screen x: o/g/i/a/t/w (see 2.2)
p[+] : don't [do] load scope background picture
[requires 200k mem]
2.4.5: Fileselector Switches
----------------------------------
-f...
l[+] : don't [do] loop modules
o[-] : don't [do] scramble playlist order
r[+] : don't [do] remove mods from list if played
a[+] : don't [do] scan archives
n[+] : don't [do] scan module names
b[+] : don't [do] scan in (ZIP) archives
i[+] : don't [do] scan module information files
w[+] : don't [do] write module information cache files
e[+] : don't [do] show module information window
c[+] : don't [do] use different colors for different types
z?? : screen size (see -wz)
pPATH : startup path in the fileselector (also affects
command line modules)
2.4.6: Midi Switches
---------------------
-m...
cnn : use nn channels for midi output
ppath : path of the gus-patches
3: Special Features
====================
3.1: Surround Sound
--------------------
This sounds pretty nice if you have a stereo non-wavetable soundcard.
Just buy 1,2 or 3 additional speakers, connect them as shown below
and press F4 (and F5 twice if you want) in Cubic Player.
Stereo
+ L - - R +
+-+ +-+ +-+ +-+
+-+ +-+ +-+ +-+
I I I I
I I I I
+----+ +-----+-----+ +-----+
I I I I I
I I I I I
I I - I I
I I M-Speaker I I
I I + I I
I I I I I
I + - ----+---- - + I
I L-Speaker R-Speaker I
I I
I I
+---+ +-------------+ +------+
I I I I
+ - - +
S1-Speaker S2-Speaker
Thanks to Michael Erdmann for this diagram.
(we cannot be made liable for burning equipment, etc.)
3.2: Midi usage
----------------
You have to have the GUS patches for midi support. If you haven't got a
GUS you can find them on many BBSs, they usually come as "GUS-drivers"
and are about 5-6 disks big. GUS users can skip the following part.
(hey, don't mess around with the default.cfg, this can cause errors,
if you make changes to the default.cfg, that refuse to work with cp,
make a copy of the original one and call it cpmidi.cfg)
After installing them into any directory, add the following statement
to cp.cfg: (if there is no cp.cfg yet, create it in the cp directory)
-mpPATH where PATH is the directory of your gus-patches.
In midi mode, some options are disabled and some will look different.
(not all midi effects are processed at the moment, so if you've got
information on midis or the gus patches, contact us!)
3.3: Cubic Player and WIN'95 / OS/2
------------------------------------
if you want to run cp in the background press alt-p to stop all
screen output and enter idle mode. press any key to continue.
Windows 95:
-----------
CP should now work satisfactory with Win'95. We have not tested it
ourselves, but heard that it works. If you experience problems with
it, please tell us.
OS/2:
-----
Yes, Cubic Player works with OS/2 v3. Simply create a Program-Object
from the Template-Folder. Select DOS-Fullscreen from the Session-Settings
(NO, it does NOT run in a window.) Make sure to put DOS4GW.EXE as the
executable and CP.EXE as parameter. Cubic Player should now work with the
standard DOS-Settings.
If your soundcard is not detected properly, specify it manually in your
cp.cfg (See section 2.4 on this).
Now you have the ONLY Multi-format player that works well with OS/2!
There may be a small clicks or interruptions during task-switching,
but hey, thats OS/2...!
WINDOWS 3.x:
------------
Cubic now runs fine under Windows 3.x too. Simply use the CP.PIF file
which should be included with your CP archive. You have to change your
paths and startup variables with the Windows PIF Editor. Then cp will
run under WIN 3.x even in background, but be prepared that this is very
slow on cpus < 66MHz.
3.4: Intelligent Memory Multiplying (IMM)
------------------------------------------
(remember, this text also applies for AWE 32. Then GUS Ram is obviously
AWE 32 Ram :-) and it works a bit differently.)
What is Memory Multiplying? Well, that's exactly what it tells you. It
can increase the amount of GUS-memory when playing large modules or
MIDIs with many patches.
CUBIC-Player can make up to 8MB out of 1MB of GUS-Ram, so there
shouldn't be any problem with loading large modules.
IMM is used automatically when playing on a GUS and low of GUS-RAM.
There is no way of disabling it, because otherwise your modules wouldn't
be played correctly (there're just samples missing :-)
What it does? The first step is to look if any 16bit samples exist.
These are converted to 8bit samples, because the quality loss between
8 and 16bit is almost neglictable (If you only have ONE intrument at
moderate volume 8bit are enough, not for a complete audio track
such as on CD of course). If the samples now don't fit into GUS-RAM
CP crunches the lowest sample. So your HiHats and other instruments
that requiere high sampling rates should survive the process of
crunching sample data.
Other GUS-Player just crunch samples REGARDLESS OF THEIR PITCH, not CP.
YOU'LL HEAR THE DIFFERENCE!
3.5: CD-Audio
-------------
CP is now capable of playing standard Audio and Mixed CDs. Simply insert
the CD into your CD-Rom, start CP and go to the file selector. Then change
to your CD-Rom drive. Now you should see the audio tracks of your CD, or
if you have a mixed CD the Audio tracks will be located in the root
directory. You can of course start the CD right away from the DOS prompt.
The track's name are TRACK??.CDA where ?? is the number 01-99.
When playing CD Audio there are two modes of CP. The first one is track
mode. Here Every Track is repeated once it has ended and you can not
change to the next track within CP. You can however change to Disk-Mode by
pressing ALT+D. Now CP plays the complete CD.
Keys: P : pause CD
right : +10 sec
left : -10 sec
up : -1 sec
down : +1 sec
ctrl+up : -1 min
ctrl+down : +1 min
ctrl+right: next track (disk mode only)
ctrl+left : previous track (disk mode only)
Help: If you have plugged your CD-Audio source into the Line-In connector
of your Sound Card use the -CN switch.
If you want to analyse any other sound source (radio) you can do so by
connecting it to the LINE-IN or MIC source of your sound card. In the
File Selector there's a new drive listed above your normal drives: @
Change to this "drive" and you will find all the input sources from your
soundcard: line-in and mic.
In either of the three modes you can use the following features of CP:
a - analyser
g - graphic analyser (shift+g works too)
o - oscilloscopes
x - eXtended mode :-)
p - pause
sorry, but there's no -> w<>rfel-mode <- available by now.
Help: This sampling and analysing mode by now works only with SB 2/PRO/16
and GUS. If you own a GUS Max please set it to normal GUS mode with
-cc10. If you own an AWE 32 you have to use its SB16 part with
-cc4. Sorry for all PAS and WSS users. Perhaps support for these
cards will come in one the the future versions.
3.6: Double UltraSound
----------------------
CP can adress 2 UltraSounds at a time and output on 4 channels
There are 2 modes: 2D and 3D.
The speakers have to be set up as shown in the diagrams.
GUS1 GUS1
[L]------[R] [L]------[R]
2D 3D
[R] top
[L]------[R] /
GUS2 / GUS2
/
[L] bottom
CP will adress the first UltraSound as usual and the second one only
via its port. The amount of GUS memory will be the minimum of the 2
UltraSounds. You can the surround feature (F4) to make cp assign
the instruments to random points in space, or set the 3d-panning
by the Yyz command in XMs. This is a non standard command, and may be
changed in the future:
y=0:below, y=F:above, z=0:behind, z=F:in front
The 2 UltraSounds have to be properly inited before starting cp:
set ultrasnd=settings of GUS2
set ultra16=settings of GUS2 (if it has a DB or is GUSMAX)
ultrinit
set ultrasnd=settings of GUS1
set ultra16=settings of GUS1 (if it has a DB or is GUSMAX)
ultrinit
Then start cp with -cc11 [for 2D] or -cc12 [for 3D]
and -czPPP [port of GUS2]
3.7: Disk Writing
-----------------
You can now record your songs directly to disk into a standard WAV file.
For this there's a new device -cc40 which will pass every sound information
directly to hard disk. CP will create a WAV file named CPOUT???.WAV in the
current directory. You can set the -cc40 device to any playing mode CP
knows. For example: recording a 16bit stereo sample with 22Khz
-cc40,r22050,s,16
and a 8bit mono WAV with 33KHz
-cc40,r33075,m,8
If you record a WAV you should activate interpolation with -vf6, turn of
looping with -fl- and set a panning position with -va50. But feel free to
use ANY of CPs startup parameters to become the best output.
IMPORTANT: If you start CP in Disk Writing mode CP just behaves as normal,
so if you change parameters within CP like panning, volume,
pitch, surround etc. this will have a direkt influence on the
WAV! You can however change to different viewing modes such as
x, g, o etc.
Of course you can also enable the echos of CP from the command
line if you wish.
4: Notes, bugs, etc.
=====================
4.1: Notes on the Implementation of the Formats
------------------------------------------------
XM: -Older XMs do not load. (claustr2.xm, shelter.xm), because that
format is completely different and will not be supported.
(unless I get a description...) Rewrite them with ft2!
Does anyone know exactly how to handle the auto vibrato effect?
-Yyz is used for 3d-panning:
y=0:below, y=F:above, z=0:behind, z=F:in front
DMF: -some fx missing
OKT: -some fx missing
PTM: -some fx missing (note slide)
AMS: -few fx missing... not extensively tested
4.2: Known Bugs
----------------
- cp crashes on some systems (this bug occurred between 0.96 and 1.0)
it might work with a different setup (boot with F5), though this
can only be a temporary solution. please tell us (if it works with
a clean boot) which driver, or which combination of drives causes
cp to crash on which soundcard. Does it crash with WSS or PAS at all?
strange thing... sorry if it happens!
- midis are not played 100% correctly all the time..
(docs, docs, docs, please! (but not the standard ones))
(especially about the .PAT format (not the SDK one))
- the first-note-after-a-loop in no-loops-mode bug
- If you press the <pause> key, the player may stop playing.
We could remove this bug, but then there will be another bug...
some keystrokes will be missed... hmm, there sure is another way... :)
- my GUS does not work :-(
OK, we know, that's because CP can't handle IRQs greater than 7.
You can avoid this problem by specifying the switches -cg,t
(Apparantly that's not our fault but DOS4GW's. The DOS Extender does
not pass IRQs above 7 from real mode correctly) As Every GUS owns a
second IRQ, that is normaly set to IRQ5 in 95% GUSes do work. If you
have set your second (or MIDI) GUS IRQ to above 7 CP will take 2 or
more seconds longer to load all the modules and will most probably
stop playing after a few seconds). You can solve this by changing your
SET ULTRASOUND=port,dma1,dma2,irq1,irq2 commmand in the autoexec.bat
to any free IRQ below 8, or use the above switches.
5: Information on Cubic Player
===============================
The player was started somewhere in 1993, (was it?) using Borland C++ 3.1
and TASM 3.1, and was used in VEX-intro, which was presented at the
Assembly '94. That version was still quite buggy, but the bugs did not
appear in the VEX-tune... In late September '94 I got Watcom C++ v10 and
transformed the sources to Watcom's C++ implementaton. Then the player
was given a user interface, which was worked out in the following
nine months. The playback quality was also improved, so you now have
one of the best and fastest module players. The mixer is especially fast
(that's what my speed test program told me, a simple loop per time count
program, no tricks) with multi channel modules that use panning, faster
than any other players I know of.
This is quite astonishing, since less than 5% of the player was coded in
assembler, the rest in C/C++. (900k source in C++, 20k source in ASM,
10k assembler object code, the rest in C/C++, takes 15 min to compile ;)
Cubic Player uses Rational Systems' DOS4G DOS extender, so the player
can use all (or 16M at maximum) your extended / expanded memory.
[no time for more facts, David!]
6: Greets, Credits
===================
thanks go to:
--------------
Master of the Matrix / DN for great support
Jens Uwe Rumstich / Green Apple
Scholar / $EEN
Abyss
Matthias Beilicke
Iron Eagle / TC
Turcs<63>nyi Tam<61>s aka Tragic for fileid design
SS.C
Chaos for nice little tool coding info.
Crap for v1.666 idea :)
Roadrunner for hidden part
for <20>-testing:
---------------
the Sodomist
Scholar / $EEN
Green Apple
Zomb
Shadow Dancer / $EEN
Encounter
the Frontier
Michael Erdmann
Flying Kiwi
greets:
--------
THE COEXiSTENCE
Green Apple
Future Crew
Legend Design
Cascada
Iguana
$EEN
Libertine & "Mr Vectorengine"-Jinx!
AVATAR / LD
Zodiak / Cascada
SiPiYou / VD
Zomb
Ratzkartoffel for nice hints!
Christophe Yvon for hints
Moku / Assembly Organizing
Baldric / Extreme
Cygnus-X1 and Judge Dredd for releasing info on AWE
Pole & Garlick
Michael Erdmann
David "that cool spanish guy that writes loong and booring letters"
M<>rquez Hern<72>ndez :)
credits:
---------
Niklas Beisert / pascal
-code
-design
-fido support
-docs
-organizing
Dirk Jagdmann / DOJ
-feature ideas
-organizing
-design
Bertolt Meyer / ?hook
-ex internet support
6.1: Addresses
--------------
Please note, that we can not reply to every mail we get.
Any question already answered in one of the documentation files
will simply be neglected. Please also note that we will most probably
not give permission to anyone to use this version in a commercial
production. Please contact ROMWARE (see below) for CP1.5 sublicenses.
SNAILMAIL:
Niklas Beisert
Oberstrasse 84
20149 Hamburg
Germany
FiDO-NET:
Niklas Beisert@2:2437/301.44
INTERNET:
lukas@harz.de, subj:cp (wrong subject, no reply!!! :) )
SUPPORT BBS:
+---------------------------------------+
| DIGITAL NIGHTMARE |
| |
| +49-5121-157107 [33.6 USR] |
| +49-5121-39236 [16.8 ZyXEL] |
| +49-5121-157636 [64k/128kISDN] |
| |
| with a special menu for cubic player |
+---------------------------------------+
Have fun with CUBIC-Player...
meet you at SYMPOSIUM '96 in Hamburg
pascal / doj
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