



      ͻ
                               A M P   2 . 4                          
          The module player for Sound Blaster AWE32 and compatibles   
                     Copyright (c) 1995-1998 Lada Kopecky             
      ͼ




Ŀ
 1. CONTENTS 


        2.  INTRODUCTION
        3.  FEATURES IN DETAIL
        4.  REQUIREMENTS
        5.  FILES IN THIS PACKAGE
        6.  INSTALLATION
        7.  UNINSTALLING
        8.  HOW TO USE AMP
        9.  SWITCHES
        10. KEYBOARD
        11. UNSUPPORTED MODULE EVENTS
        12. RECOMMENDED EQUALIZER SETTING
        13. FOR CUBIC PLAYER USERS
        14. DISCLAIMER
        15. DISTRIBUTION RULES
        16. THE LICENSE AGREEMENT
        17. REGISTRATION
        18. FUTURE PLANS
        19. COMMON QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
        20. COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS
        21. CONTACTING THE AUTHOR




Ŀ
 2. INTRODUCTION 


 Welcome to AWE Module Player - the module player that takes advantage of the
 wavetable synthesizer found on Sound Blaster AWE32 compatible sound cards.

 The hardware pitch-shifting and mixing performed by the EMU8000 synthesizer
 offers these two major advantages:

  a) the superb sound quality, unreachable in today's software mixing players
     -> the output is absolutely clean (without usual ugly artifacts) and can
        be directly enhanced by customizable reverb and chorus effects

  b) music is generated without big demands on the computer's power and memory
     -> you get the same sound quality on all 386 or better computers and
        without a risk of system hang-ups or crashes

 The player engine has been developed and updated for many years and it has got
 many excellent features such as the most correct module playback, a protection
 of highest notes by a high quality resampling, a sophisticated dynamic channel
 allocation, event reporting, SBK protection, an attack control, a reliable loop
 removal, and others.

 So, if you are interested in a top quality playback of musical modules on the
 Sound Blaster AWE32/64 or Sound Blaster 32, then AMP is the choice.
 << NOTE: I'm not saying that it is best for everyone - perhaps there are many
 users who don't care about the true sound too much.  Just try this player and
 then make a decision.... and of course, let me know, please. >>

 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 AMP.

 In case you are totally unfamiliar with playback of musical modules on your PC
 in general, you may need more information than this text provides. Then I
 suggest you to visit some of the many Web pages on the subject of a demo scene
 and tracked music (see the FAQ section below).




Ŀ
 3. FEATURES IN DETAIL 


 This 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 maximal sound quality.

 AMP is very compact, stable, and easy to use. Modules are loaded as fast as
 possible. If you don't like players that can't work on all machines, having
 problems with memory managers and protected mode extenders, players that need
 5 seconds or more to load and initialize themselves, then AMP can be what you
 were looking for.


 Why AMP sounds so smooth and clean?
 

 The major advantage is a direct use of the EMU8000 synthesizer that performs
 following tasks in hardware (that means with no CPU load):

  1. high quality pitch-shifting using a patented dynamic four-point
     interpolating filter

   This allows a removal of a 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've got an instrument sampled at 20kHz when playing
   the note C4. But you need to play e.g. the note C3 at the 40kHz output rate.
   To do it, you must increase the number of sample points (i.e. decrease 
   a pitch) by factor of four _without_ changing the information content.
   If you obtain those 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 which is passed through.
   A 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 frequency 44.1 kHz allows output frequencies up to 20 kHz

   You would need a very fast Pentium machine to get just a simply interpolated
   sound in 30 channels at the 44kHz mixing rate with a software mixing player.
   And it would eat most of the CPU processing power.
   With AMP, all you need is a Sound Blaster AWE32 compatible sound card with
   a sufficient sample RAM and any 386 or better computer.


  3. starting/terminating the notes and changing the volume without any clicks
     (using the EMU8000's 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 few people saying that software mixing performed by their
 interpolating routines sounds better than hardware mixing on the AWE card.
 That's a big nonsense from both the theory and experience. A high quality
 pitch shifting and mixing equivalent to that performed by EMU8000 (four-point
 resampling in 30 voices at 44.1 kHz) requires about 12 million multiplications
 in every second!     <<  (4+4+1) * 30 * 44100  =  11,907,000  >>
 That means that the sole multiplication would consume all cycles of a P120
 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.
 Well, an MMX processor can be 3-10 times faster - that is a first real chance
 for software mixing players. Time will show.
 (If anyone wants to see the details how EMU8000 works 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,
 AMP performs following tasks in software:

  1. a sophisticated dynamic allocation of hardware voices

   That allows to handle modules with more than 30 channels without loosing
   notes.
   The dynamic allocation is also necessary to avoid all clicks when notes are
   being replaced in each master channel.

   If anyone wants to verify importance of this feature, he can replay e.g.
   the following tunes in Impulse Tracker (through either SB16 or AWE32 driver):
        BLUPEARL.IT - "blue pearl" by Basehead
        K_FIELD.IT  - "fieldtrip" by ChuckB     (*)
   Ugly clicks will be heard in the beginnings of these songs.


  2. downsampling the samples that are to be played at rates above 176kHz
     (i.e. 2 octaves above 44.1kHz - this is a hardware limit of EMU8000)

   Without resampling (reducing the length and the final rate), some notes or
   sounds would be lost.
   To avoid aliasing distortion and to preserve high-frequency parts of sound,
   AMP uses a digital filter of a very high quality (equivalent to a 13-point
   optimized interpolation).
   A special care must be taken 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 as a distortion. The same thing happens when downsampling
   a signal without filtering-out the frequencies above 1/2 of the target
   sampling rate. >>

   If anyone wants to verify importance of downsampling, he can replay e.g. the
   following modules in any other player or tracker using EMU8000:
        LIQUIDAT.XM - "Liquidation" by Vogue
        K_HUMAN.IT  - "Humanalogue" by ChuckB    (*)
   Unless you have a small sample memory on your card (then samples could have
   been crunched to fit there), some notes or sound effects will be missing.


  3. avoiding clicks caused by sample loops

   If sample loops are present, a 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.

  (*)  all mentioned sample songs can be downloaded from 'www.hornet.org'



 The complete list of features:
 

 - plays XM modules (FT2.0x, format version $0104)

 - plays IT modules (IT1.01+, including those new resonant filter controls)

 - plays S3M modules (ST3.0+, IT1.01+)

 - plays MOD/NST modules (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 30 active voices

 - sophisticated dynamic voice allocation in all modes
   Therefore the sound is without clicks and there are no problems with channels
   above 30.
   AMP is also able to handle (without any notable sound degradation) even
   those IT songs that claim 50 or more voices in Impulse Tracker!

 - professional quality downsampling of highest samples to avoid the EMU8000
   pitch overflows. A very high quality anti-aliasing filter is used and
   numerous secondary complications involved by downsampling are properly
   handled. So, you won't loose *any* note and the quality of playback is
   not compromised.

 - a high compatibility with the FT2.08 / ST3.21 / IT2.14 playback routines,
   including emulation of many undocumented bugs.
   You've probably seen those songs with attached instructions like "Don't play
   with ***** player because it will **** up".  With AMP, you will hear exactly
   what you are supposed to.

 - can play under Windows, even in background
   To achieve a smooth background playback, you'll need to increase the Priority
   (using PIF editor) in Windows 3.x or to decrease the Idle Sensitivity
   (in Properties of AMP icon) in Windows 95. But be aware that this would also
   increase a CPU usage significantly, and the background playback still may be
   affected by running other resource intensive tasks.
   To allow a smooth background playback in all conditions, I've developed
   a native Windows version (AMP for Windows) which is available separately.

 - the 100% precise timing  (the true BPM value is guaranteed)
   The timing is correct even for longest songs. The only exception is when AMP
   is running under Windows and another CPU intensive tasks are active.
   All timing is derived from a crystal clock generator on the sound card.

 - under Windows, loaded SBKs are protected by allocating the sample memory
   from the end. (Windows drivers allocate the memory from the top)
   << NOTE: This protection works only if there is enough free sample memory. >>

 - thorough error checking to avoid crashes and to assure the correct playback
   (other module players behave mostly unpredictably when a corrupted module
   is loaded)
   Even so, AMP 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

 - all kinds of song loops can be reliably disabled - a 'must have' option for
   unattended playback of multiple songs

 - supports animated messages using sample names (sometimes found in S3Ms)

 - can take all (!) settings from AMP.INI and/or from a command line
   So, you can create different batches/icons for starting AMP with predefined
   configurations or playlists

 - offers a fast forward mode, pattern skip in both directions, a module restart
   command, and a forced tempo mode

 - a direct(!) support for custom reverb/chorus types created by AWE32FXWorkShop
   (no importing or conversion needed)

 - an easy to use song message viewer (you don't have to press Shift-F9 or other
   extra key to check whether a message is present)

 - 3 modes of the sample attack control

 - 2 screen modes

 - a number of used EMU8000 voices is shown in the bottom of the Log window.
   NOTE: This number includes also running samples with volume=0 and all active
   background IT channels.

 - can play even if not enough AWE memory (but with some instruments lost)

 - no problems with memory or extenders (80-230 KB of DOS memory is enough)

 - does not use the SB DSP chip so that you can simultaneously run e.g. games,
   a tracker, or a MIDI application (configured to SB16) under Windows 95

 - does not change the Sound Blaster mixer settings




Ŀ
 4. REQUIREMENTS 


 - PC 386 or better (the CPU speed is not important)

 - Sound Blaster AWE32 or a compatible sound card with the EMU8000 synthesizer
   (at least 2 MB of on-board sample RAM is *strongly* recommended; 4-8 MB is
   needed to play all today's huge modules without limitations)

 - if your card is a plug-and-play one, the EMU ports have to be configured into
   compatible locations (400h apart). There should be no problem here as this is
   the default setting.

 - 80..230 KB of free DOS conventional (low) memory

 - the player can need a small amount of Extended memory during the downsampling
   (only if there is not enough low memory)

 - no Expanded memory needed

 - no sound card drivers needed

 - the BLASTER environment variable is used though it is not necessary




Ŀ
 5. FILES IN THIS PACKAGE 


 Here is a list of the files enclosed to this package. 

   AMP.EXE      - the player itself
   AMP.INI      - a sample configuration file
   AMP.TXT      - this file
   HISTORY.TXT  - a revision history
   REGFORM.TXT  - a registration form
   AMP.PIF      - Program Information File for MS Windows
   FILE_ID.DIZ  - short program description




Ŀ
 6. INSTALLATION 


 Just unzip the archive into a destination directory of your choice.
 Make sure that AMP.EXE and AMP.INI are stored in the same directory.

 If you also have "AMP for Windows" installed on your computer, then it's best
 to have both players in the same directory. Then you can directly use the play
 command that has been registered during the automated installation of AMPW
 into Windows 95.

 For more information about associating AMP player with your modules, please go
 to the section #8.




Ŀ
 7. UNINSTALLING 


 Delete the whole directory and possible shortcuts/icons/associations that you
 had created.




Ŀ
 8. HOW TO USE AMP 


 Everyone working with a computer uses some kind of a file/disk manager (e.g.
 Norton Commander or Windows Explorer). All these tools allow a user to setup
 a default application for different file types. The AMP player has been
 designed to serve as a default application for musical modules. (for that
 reason AMP does not include any internal file selector or manager)

 << NOTE: Another situation comes if we want to replay music in background.
 Then we need something more - to create and edit playlists, and share CPU time
 with other applications. To satisfy these demands, I wrote a brotherlike player
 - AMP for Windows, available as shareware. >>

 For information how to setup an association between modules and AMP player,
 see the documentation of your file or 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\AMP\AMP.EXE  %4.%5
 After that, AMP 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 AMP.


 The generic use of command line arguments
 

 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 listfile is a pure text file containing a list of modules to play, one
 filename per line. The lines starting with ';' or '#' will be ignored.
 The listfiles have to be preceded by '@'. You can also use listfiles (i.e.
 playlists) created with AMP for Windows.

 Examples of use (the default AMP.INI is assumed):

  a) To play all modules from a directory (MOD/MTM/S3M/XM/PTM/IT extensions):
        AMP  E:\MODULES\*

  b) To play your favorite songs in random order without pausing between them:
        AMP  @E:\MODULES\MY-BEST.LST  -N  -P-

  c) To play specified modules with looping enabled:
        AMP  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.LST    (this makes a playlist)
        AMP  @ALL.LST




Ŀ
 9. SWITCHES 


  The list of command line switches (they must be preceded by '/' or '-'):

  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
            (AMP just skips the song or terminates)

  S     Single mode
          - this mode disables both 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 AMP waits until you press a 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

  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 and M (instead of just L/R/M)

  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   -12..+12 [dB]  (default 0)
  Tn    initial treble level -12..+12 [dB]  (default 0)
          - valid values are: -12, -8, -6, -4, -2, 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12

  Rn    initial reverb depth 0..100 [%]  (default 20)
  Cn    initial chorus depth 0..100 [%]  (default 2)

  En    reverb type  0..7  (default 4)
  On    chorus type  0..7  (default 0)

          n      Reverb Type      Chorus Type
                    
          0       Room 1           Chorus 1 (*)
          1       Room 2           Chorus 2
          2       Room 3           Chorus 3
          3       Hall 1           Chorus 4
          4       Hall 2 (*)       Feedback Delay
          5       Plate            Flanger
          6       Delay            Short Delay
          7       Panning Delay    Short Delay Feedback

        (*) are default values

  Kn,filename       (n=0..7)
        A request to overload the n-th reverb/chorus preset from a FXR/FXC file
        (created in AWE32FXWorkShop by Vincent Vu)

  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

  Dn    Downsampling control (0..24, default 12)

        Use it to set the EMU8000 pitch safety value in semitones (1 to 24).
        A 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 88.2 kHz.
        Very small values are not recommended as there must be some range left
        for vibratos and slides. Another reason is that EMU8000 doesn't avoid
        an aliasing distortion when doing a pitch up-shifting, therefore it's
        better to avoid virtual sample rates above 44.1 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 the mode 0.
        On the other hand, if you prefer to hide all clicks produced by poorly
        sampled instruments, you should use the mode 2.
        The 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 AMP.INI, one option per line. Lines starting
 with ';' or '#' will be ignored.
 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 AMP.INI must be placed in the same directory as AMP.EXE !



Ŀ
 10. KEYBOARD 


  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 a final volume (-32 to 0 dB)
                     (incl. an envelope, tremolo, tremor, volume swing, and
                     a global volume)

  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.
                   - a 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 a case, the names may 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 from a file)

  Esc             fadeout and exit to DOS
  Enter           fadeout to a next module in batch (or exit the player)
  Spacebar        Pause/Resume playback

  Ctrl Up/Down    controls the Forced Tempo mode 
                  (in this mode, all following tempo changes 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

 A mouse is not supported.




Ŀ
 11. UNSUPPORTED MODULE EVENTS 


 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 the function?)
 ALL OTHER pattern effects are supported.

 The S3M AdLib instruments and channels are ignored.
 Up to 128 instruments are used in PTM modules.
 The surround panning is not supported because then modules would eat twice the
 sample memory and time to load.

 Remaining IT limitations:

  - IT sample sustain loops are emulated by normal loops
    I've never seen a sample with a real sustain loop.
    Impulse Tracker itself also does not support sustain loops with AWE32.

  - an embedded MIDI Output configuration is ignored
    This is not fully documented in ITTECH.TXT.  Therefore AMP expects that
    default settings are used to control the resonant filters.

 All other IT features are fully supported (NNAs, DCTs, background channels,
 envelopes, new pattern effects, sample vibrato, volume swing, resonant filters
 incl. envelopes, etc.).




Ŀ
 12. RECOMMENDED EQUALIZER SETTING 


 When replaying a song, there are 2 or 3 equalizers in chain:
     1. the digital equalizer inside EMU8000
     2. the equalizer in AWE mixer (controlled by SB16SET or a Windows mixer)
     3. and possibly an equalizer inside your external amplifier
 I believe that there should be used only the last one in chain. So, I decided
 to set the default bass and treble levels of the EMU8000 equalizer to 0 dB.
 But EMU8000 hardware has a default treble level equal to approx. +10 dB. That's
 why you can hear less high frequencies than in some other AWE players which
 may use the hardware default setting.



Ŀ
 13. FOR CUBIC PLAYER USERS 


 Old versions of Cubic Player (up to v1.7) did not initialize the EMU chip
 properly.  If used after any program using the new type of initialization
 (compatible with ADIP 2.52+ and new Windows drivers), some sounds were lost.
 For this reason I created a simple utility called AWERESET (available
 separately) for resetting EMU8000 in the style of ADIP 2.0. You'll need it
 to prepare the AWE hardware for the old Cubic Player after AMP was used.
 Instead of my AWERESET utility, you can use the command 'AWEUTIL /S' as well.

 There are no such problems when running Cubic Player under Windows 95.




Ŀ
 14. DISCLAIMER 


 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.




Ŀ
 15. DISTRIBUTION RULES 


 This program is freeware 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.




Ŀ
 16. THE LICENCE AGREEMENT AND COPYRIGHT 


 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.
 The 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.




Ŀ
 17. REGISTRATION 


 If you are using AMP for more than 4 weeks, you should register.
 You don't have to pay anything and there are no reminder screens - I just need
 to know who is using my software.

 I've been working on this free software for three years - that is my tribute
 to the world of free music. But my effort can't continue forever, especially
 without a massive response from users. Therefore I decided to gather some
 information from users and then use it for a decision 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 first to drop
 me a message by e-mail)

 By registering, you vote for a future development of AMP. By being silent, you
 vote against it.
 << You need not to worry about your e-mail address - it won't be passed on to
 third parties. >>

 Once registered you'll also be informed about new versions by e-mail if you
 asked for it.




Ŀ
 18. FUTURE PLANS 


 To tell the truth, there are no real plans left. It is quite possible that
 this is a final PUBLIC release.
 The future depends on you - users, on your comments and registrations.




Ŀ
 19. COMMON QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 


Q. Where to get some nice songs (modules)?
A. There are numerous Internet sites with gigabytes of tracked music.
   You can start with one of these:

   1. "Hornet Archive"
        http://www.hornet.org
      (A huge archive where songs are rated and a nice search engine is waiting
       for you. There is also a lot of another interesting stuff here.)

   2. "Kosmic Free Music Foundation"
        http://www.kosmic.org
      (Many nice tunes along with a description. Mailing list is available.)

 Q. Where can I find the latest AMP version?
 A. It is likely to be found at these locations:

     "Hornet Archive"
        http://www.hornet.org
        ftp://ftp.hornet.org

     "MAZ Sound Tools"
        http://www.maz-sound.com/awe.html
      (This is a place where you may find also AMP patches and beta versions)

        http://www.maz-sound.com/
      (Here you'll find everything concerning a sound and certainly also
      something, what you haven't seen yet :)

     "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)

 Q. Why Windows NT is not supported?
 A. Windows NT has a different device driver architecture. It does not support
    VxD drivers and a direct access to hardware is not allowed.
    There is no standard way how to use hardware mixing in a module player under
    Windows NT - at least without rewriting the AWE32 driver.
    If you want to do something for this to change, then ask Creative Labs to
    incorporate a low-level EMU8000 API into their drivers. But I'm very
    skeptical about a result.
    << Unofficial news: there have been rumors that NT 5 can change it >>

 Q. I've got only 512KB sample memory. Why AMP does not shrink samples in order
    to push them into my sound card?
 A. After many experiments with the resampling feature I've decided not to
    support sound cards with a small amount of sample RAM.
    The reason is that I do prefer the sound quality and fidelity (these are
    still and forever the main goals of AMP player).
    Let's take an example: If 1MB of 8-bit samples has to fit into 512kB sample
    RAM (== 256k samples), most samples would be reduced by factor of 4.
    Every such downsampling involves a big loss of high frequency parts.
    HINT: To hear the difference, just set the Downsampling control to a maximum
    (24 semitones) and try listening to a couple of today's huge modules.

 Q. Why not use the normal SB16 DAC to play those instruments that don't fit
    into sample memory? Is there any method to use computer RAM (I have 16 MB)
    to load samples for playing mods larger than 300 KB?
 A. Unfortunately, it is not possible. The EMU8000 synthesizer has got no
    access to the system RAM. (And I do not plan to implement any SW mixing).
    Anyway, I think that it shouldn't be a problem for anybody to add some
    sample memory to his/her card now, when SIMMs are as cheap as never before.
    But if your sound card is a Value Edition one with no SIMM sockets on it,
    then you're out of luck - you'll have either to get a better one, or switch
    to one of the many software mixing players for SB16.

 Q. Can I use AWE Control Panel to play sounds or to load SBKs while AMP is
    playing?
 A. Although it's very strange, drivers allow to control the EMU8000 hardware
    through AWEMAN API even if it is owned by other application (e.g. by AMP or
    MIDI sequencer). But this is very dangerous and you can expect big troubles
    including the total crash of your system when you try to do it.
    So, you can have AWECP running simultaneously, but do not make any changes
    while AMP is replaying a song.
    The same limitation applies to AweToy or similar utilities.

 Q. Are you planning to implement a DOS shell or a file selector?
 A. No. A native Windows version is available for background playback.
    If you need a file selector, use AMP for Windows or an external file manager
    (as described in section #8).

 Q. I've got two AWE32 compatible cards installed. How can I specify which one
    to use?
 A. Use '-Xn' option on the command line (or add it into your AMP.INI).

 Q. There is one more feature I would appreciate: Writing the output as WAV
    files
 A. The EMU8000's output is not available as a digital data directly. Simply,
    there is no data path.
    The only way how to record the sound without a quality loss is by using
    a sampler, DAT or a minidisk recorder connected to the sound card's digital
    output (SPDIF interface).
    Anyway, you can obtain good recordings by sampling the output with the
    internal A/D converter on the SB AWE card. No external cabling is required
    for this analog path. If you sample at the full rate (44.1 kHz) with all
    other inputs (except the MIDI synth) muted, you should reach a quite good
    quality.
    Note that you should use AMP for Windows to do this so that you have enough
    free CPU power for the recording process.

 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. :-)




Ŀ
 20. COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS 


 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) and
 suggestions on the software itself.

 A preferred way how to send your very first comments is to go through a process
 of registration, as described in section #17.


 But enough words!  Now it's time to launch AMP and enjoy the music...




Ŀ
 21. CONTACTING THE AUTHOR 


 If you want to contact me for any reason then send me a mail to:

        kopecky@tsoft.cz


 For those of you without an access to Internet, here is a snail mail address:

        Lada Kopecky
        Nad lesnim div. 1116
        142 00    Praha 4
        Czech Republic
