


      /----------------------------------------------------------------\
      |            A M P   f o r   W i n d o w s    1 . 2 2            |
      |  The module player for Sound Blaster AWE32 and compatibles     |
      |              Copyright (c) 1996-1998 Lada Kopecky              |
      \----------------------------------------------------------------/





1. CONTENTS
   ========

        2.  OPENING WORDS
        3.  FEATURES IN DETAIL
        4.  REQUIREMENTS
        5.  FILES IN THIS PACKAGE
        6.  INSTALLATION
        7.  UNINSTALLING
        8.  USING THE PLAYER
        9.  BASIC COMMANDS
        10. PLAYER OPTIONS
        11. COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS
        12. UNSUPPORTED MODULE EVENTS
        13. SOMETHING ABOUT THE EQUALIZER SETTING
        14. FUTURE PLANS
        15. DISCLAIMER
        16. DISTRIBUTION RULES
        17. THE LICENSE AGREEMENT
        18. HOW TO REGISTER
        19. COMMON QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
        20. COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS
        21. CONTACTING THE AUTHOR




2. OPENING WORDS
   =============

 Welcome to the AWE Module Player for Windows!

 What you have now in your hands is the first and only native Windows module
 player that uses a hardware mixing on the Sound Blaster cards.

 The hardware pitch-shifting and mixing performed by the EMU8000 synthesizer
 has 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) the music is generated without sacrificing the computer's power and
     another resources

 So, with AMP for Windows, you can do your regular work, run compilers and
 DTP applications, or to play your favorite games _WHILE_ listening to a high
 quality music. This player running in background consumes just a negligible
 fraction of your computer's power (about 1% with an even old 486 processor).

 If you're using Windows 95, then you can also simultaneously run games or
 applications which perform another audio operations through the sound card's
 Wave-Out and Wave-In interfaces.

 The player has been designed and optimized mainly for running in background
 without a user intervention. A built-in file selector with an easy to use
 playlist editor is included. Many options are available to tune the resulting
 sound to your personal taste and to customize the playlist's behavior.

 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, sophisticated dynamic channel
 allocation, SBK protection, an attack control, a reliable loop removal, and
 others.

 This updated version brings a full support for latest Impulse Tracker modules
 and other enhancements.

 So if you are interested in a top quality playback of music modules on the
 Sound Blaster AWE32/64 or Sound Blaster 32 cards with a minimal processor load
 and a system memory consumption, then the AMP for Windows is the right choice.

 Before you start using the player please do read through this description file.
 It will help you to get the maximum of every function provided by the AMP.

 In case you are totally unfamiliar with playback of music 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 music
 scene and music modules available on the Internet (see the FAQ section below).




3. FEATURES IN DETAIL
   ==================

 This player is being developed to do a single thing perfectly - to play all
 modules as correctly as possible and to deliver a maximal sound quality.
 An excellent GUI of some other module players does not help you to enjoy a
 music when the sound is degraded by a ringing distortion and various clicks,
 when some notes or instruments are missing, or the modules are replayed
 incorrectly. Try it yourself and you'll hear the difference.

 Another advantages of AMP are its stability and a fast and simple use both with
 or without a mouse.


 Why AMP sounds so smooth and clean?
 -----------------------------------

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

  1. a 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 and rarely three-point quadratic (or they are unknown - hidden behind
   magic and meaningless names like FFT, FOI, IDO, 32-bit etc.). But those
   basic mathematical algorithms are not suitable for signal processing, so such
   interpolators can't remove the unwanted artifacts while preserving the high
   frequencies contained in the original waveform.

   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 the note C3 at the 40kHz output rate.
   To do it, you have to increase the number of sample points (i.e. decrease
   a pitch) by factor of four _without_ changing the information content.
   If you obtain the 3 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.
   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.

   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.
   If anyone wants to see the details how the EMU8000 synthesizer works and how
   complex are the computations required for the high quality resampling,
   I recommend to check the US patent # 5,111,727 (available also for free
   on the Internet - e.g. from the Patent Server operated by IBM).

  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 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


 Additionally, to get most of the hardware and to consider hardware limitations,
 AMP performs following tasks in software:

  1. a sophisticated dynamic allocation of 30 usable hardware channels

   This allows to play 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 tracker's channel.

  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 the EMU8000)

   Without resampling (reducing the length and the rate), some notes or sounds
   would be lost.
   To avoid aliasing distortion and to preserve high-frequency parts of sounds,
   a very high quality digital filter (equivalent to a 13-point optimized
   interpolation) is used.
   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 destination sampling
   rate.

  3. avoiding clicks caused by hardware interpolation

   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.


 The complete list of features:
 ------------------------------

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

 - plays IT modules (IT1.01+, including the newest IT2.14 format with compressed
   samples and with resonant filters!)

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

 - plays MTM modules

 - plays PTM modules (max. 128 instruments)

 - plays MOD/NST modules (M.K.  FLT4  nCHN  nnCH  OCTA  N.T.)

 - plays the Ultimate SoundTracker modules (an old MOD clone) correctly

 - up to 64 channels and 30 sounding notes

 - a strict 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 this:
      "Don't play with ***** player because it will **** up"
   With AMP, you're going to hear what you are supposed to hear.

 - 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 
   the best possible!

 - runs perfectly even in background
 
 - a minimal processor and memory usage!
   If you want to see some numbers: Microsoft WinTop utility shows a processor
   load of 0.7 - 1.0% when playing a complex 16-channel module (CRONOLOG.S3M)
   on the old 486DX2-66 machine with the player minimized.
   The latest MOD4WIN player (in the multimedia task mode, with the same 44kHz
   mixing rate and surround disabled) shows 80-110% CPU usage on its own panel
   and about 100% in WinTop with the same module on the same machine.

 - 100% precise timing  (a true BPM value is guaranteed)
   Timing is guaranteed to be correct even for longest songs.
   (In AMPW, the timing is derived from the system clock generator)

 - the synthesizer hardware is held only when a module is loaded
   You don't have to exit AMP when you want to use the EMU8000 synth in another
   application.

 - can play multiple modules in batch (using wildcards and/or listfiles)

 - the listfiles are just pure text files so that they can be created manually
   or by a third-party software

 - includes an internal file selector and listfile editor

 - can play modules in a random order

 - the support for the "Drag and Drop" 

 - all kinds of song loops can be reliably disabled - a 'must have' option for
   background playback with listfiles

 - all functions are reachable from both the keyboard and mouse

 - basic control commands are available also when the player is minimized

 - most parameters are configurable from a command line so you can create
   different icons for a quick start with predefined configurations or playlists

 - the fast forward mode, pattern skip in both directions, the module restart

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

 - 4 modes of a loaded SBK's protection

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

 - can load and play even slightly corrupted MOD files

 - 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




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 restrictions)

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

 - Windows 3.1+ (in the Enhanced Mode only) or Windows 95

 - Windows AWE drivers as follows:
    Win 3.x ... version 2.25 (June 96) or newer
    Win 95 .... version 4.00 (original Win95 distribution) or newer
                version 4.25 (April 96) or newer is recommended for PnP cards




5. FILES IN THIS PACKAGE
   =====================

 Here is a list of files enclosed to this package:

   AMPW.EXE     - the AMP player application
   AMPSEQ.DLL   - the AMP sequencer engine
   AMPW.INI     - configuration file (it remains in the app's directory)
   AMPW.TXT     - this file
   HISTORY.TXT  - AMP revision history
   REGFORM.TXT  - Registration Form
   FILE_ID.DIZ  - short program description
   AMPWINST.INF - a script for an automated install/uninstall in Windows 95
   ASSOC-W3.REG - a script for easy registration in Windows 3.x
   ASSOC-95.REG - a script for easy registration in Windows 95




6. INSTALLATION
   ============

 New installations
 -----------------

 a) Automated installation (Windows 95 only)

   Unzip the archive into a temporary directory.
   Right-click the file AMPWINST.INF and select "Install".
   Then wait for disk activity to stop.
   After that, you can delete the temporary files.

   What happens?
    1. The files are copied to C:\Program Files\Amp
    2. The file type "Tracker Module" is registered
    3. The player is assigned as a default application for modules so you
       can start it by double-clicking a module file
    4. A second command is prepared for the DOS based AMP player (you should
       place the DOS player in the same directory to have it work)


 b) Manual installation

   Unzip the archive into a destination directory of your choice. Don't copy
   or move anything into the windows directory.
   Then create an icon (a shortcut in Windows 95) pointing to AMPW.EXE.

   You can also assign the player as a default application for opening files
   with extensions MOD, NST, S3M, XM, MTM, PTM, IT. The suitable command line
   is: "ampw -s -p- -x %1".

   To easily associate the player with modules take following steps:

   1. use a text editor (e.g. Notepad) to verify the program path in the file
      ASSOC-W3.REG (or ASSOC-95.REG if you have Windows 95) and change it
      if needed.

   2. double-click the verified REG file from the File Manager or Explorer


 Upgrades from previous versions of AMPW
 ---------------------------------------

 If you have Windows 95 then you can use either the manual procedure (see below)
 or the standard AUTOMATED installation to upgrade the player. In the later case
 you'll have to take care about two things:

 1. The automated installation goes into the directory "C:\Program Files\AMP"
    If your old AMP was in another directory, you should copy the old INI file
    into the new location and then remove the old directory completely.

 2. The automated installation replaces your AMPW.INI with a new file.
    The old INI file (if it exists) is backed-up as AMPW.IN0 so you may want
    to copy it back over the new file, especially if you own a registered
    copy of the player.

 To upgrade the player MANUALLY you should just manually replace all files
 except the AMPW.INI with new versions.




7. UNINSTALLING
   ============

 a) Automated uninstalling (Windows 95 only)

   Open the Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs, then double-click
   "AMP for Windows" and wait for disk activity to stop.

 b) Manual uninstalling

   Delete the whole directory and shortcuts/icons you created.




8. USING THE PLAYER
   ================

 The player keeps an internal queue (a "playlist") of modules to be processed.
 The playlist can be loaded from, merged with or saved to a disk file (the
 default extension is LST) and edited with the internal playlist editor.
 NOTE: The playlist length cannot exceed 64 KBytes. When the limit is reached,
 a warning is displayed and remaining modules are discarded.

 The modules are fetched from the queue either sequentially or in a random order
 (the Jukebox mode). They are kept in the queue (just marked as processed).
 When all modules were processed and the playlist looping was disabled, the
 playback terminates. Then a user can rewind the playlist by selecting the
 Next Module command. Or he can clear the playlist and create or load another.

 If you want, you can start the player with modules or listfiles specified
 on the command line. All these modules are added into the internal queue and
 processed in a standard way. For more details on the command line arguments,
 see the section #11.
 If you start the player without any arguments you'll have to use the playlist
 editor to select some modules or you can load an existing playlist from disk.

 It's important to know that the synthesizer device is held only when the status
 is 'Playing' or 'Paused'. As soon as the playback stops, the AWE device is made
 available to other applications (e.g. MIDI player or a sequencer).




9. BASIC COMMANDS
   ==============

 NOTE: Most commands and corresponding hotkeys are the same as in the DOS-based
 player.


 Playlist Editor

   Keyboard: Insert
   Mouse:    click the left-most button in toolbar (with a note symbol)

   Both the playlist and the file list allow multiple selections in a standard
   way (holding Ctrl or Shift, or dragging the mouse inside a list).
   You can easily add or remove a single module by the mouse double-click.
   The modules which have been already processed are marked by a leading space.
   Once added it is not possible to change the position of a module in a queue
   (but you can remove it and insert it again into any other position).

   The playback will continue while the editor window is open, but only within
   a current module.

   When you press Enter (or the <Ok> button) the action is as follows:
   1. if the playlist is empty and some modules are selected then they are added
      to playlist (this allows the fastest selection of modules to play)
   2. then, if the playlist is not empty, the editor window is closed and
      a playback is started (only if no song is being replayed)
   The side effect of this feature is that you can't clear the whole playlist
   here. Use the command 'New' instead.


 Open Playlist

   Keyboard: Ctrl-O

   The content of the playlist specified becomes the current queue.

   If the old playlist has been modified, you are first prompted whether to
   update it on the disk.

   The listfile is a pure text file containing one filename per line.
   The processed files are marked by a leading space.
   The lines with leading ';', '#' are ignored.
   This simple format allows to create playlists also by "DIR /B" or using
   a third-party software (e.g. the Batch command in XTree).


 Merge Playlist

   Keyboard: Ctrl-R

   The content of the playlist specified is appended to the current queue.


 Save Playlist

   Keyboard: Ctrl-S

   You will have to type in or to confirm the old target file name.


 New Playlist

   Keyboard: Ctrl-N

   This is the only way how to clear the internal queue completely.


 Next Module

   Keyboard: Enter
   Mouse:    click the corresponding button in toolbar

   If no module is being played and if there is an unprocessed module in the
   queue, the playback starts.
   If all modules are marked as processed, the user is asked to confirm
   queue rewinding.


 Pause/Resume, Stop

   Keyboard: Space, Esc
   Mouse:    click the corresponding button in toolbar


 Fast Forward

   Keyboard: Up arrow
   Mouse:    click the right arrow on the horizontal slider

   Until you release the key or the button, the playback runs 4-times faster.
   No pattern data is skipped in this case.


 Pattern Back/Forward

   Keyboard: Left or Right arrow (this allows only skipping by a single pattern)
   Mouse:    click anywhere in the horizontal slider or drag the thumb on either
             side (the target position is being displayed on the main panel)

   Remaining pattern data is ignored in this case.
   Active notes are terminated (so that they could not hang).


 Module Restart

   Keyboard: Ctrl + Left arrow
   Mouse:    drag the thumb on the horizontal slider to the very left position

   Note that you can't restart a song after the playback has finished (like in
   the DOS-based player). Instead, the song has to be reloaded.
   This is a price for releasing the synthesizer device to another applications.

   Note that you can restart the song even from the paused state.


 Equalizer

   By mouse: click on the equalizer values on the right side of the main panel

   The child window is displayed which allows you to control all the equalizer
   settings including the effect parameters.
   The internal effect types are marked by a leading asterisk.

   You can control these values also directly from keyboard (without invoking
   the equalizer window) as follows:
     -   +           Main Volume down/up
     F5  F6          EMU8000 equalizer Bass Level down/up
     F7  F8          EMU8000 equalizer Treble Level down/up
     F9  F10         Reverb Level down/up
     F11 F12         Chorus Level down/up


 Song Message

   Keyboard: F4
   By mouse: click on the song name (or anywhere on the left side of the panel)

   This command toggles the Song Message (only if it is present) and Instrument
   Info windows. Note that you don't have to press Shift-F9 or other extra key.
   The columns displayed in Instruments Info are:
     - instrument name
     - instrument type: 8-bit, 16-bit, Adlib
     - sample length (in samples)
     - loop length (in samples)
     - downsampling factor (in octaves)
   If all IT instrument names are blank, then sample names are shown. But in
   this case, the names may not correspond with remaining columns.

   To change the number of lines displayed, drag the window border by mouse
   or use the 'Size' command from the system menu.
   The range allowed is 5 to 31 lines of information. When the player is closed,
   the last value is saved for a next session (along with the font size and the
   main window position).


 Options

   Keyboard: Alt + O

   This command invokes the configuration window.
   For details, see the next section.


 About AMP

   The software versions of AMP and Windows AWE drivers are displayed
   as well as the amount of sample memory available on the sound card.
   NOTE: If SBKs have been overwritten, the whole sample memory is available
   (i.e. free) to the player.


 Other important keyboard shortcuts are:
   F1                a simple help on the keyboard commands
   PgDn PgUp         scroll the Song Message or Instrument info
   Home End          for a faster scrolling (also with Ctrl-key)
   Ctrl-PgUp/PgDn    - " -

 The old keyboard shortcuts not available in the Windows version:
   F2                Fullscreen Log
   F3                Channels Screen
   Ctrl Up/Down      Force Tempo
   1-9 a-Z / *       Channels On/Off
   Alt-F9..F12       Effect Types switching

 You can control the playback even if the player is minimized.
 The main transport control commands have been added into a control menu
 (reachable by a right click on the minimized player in Windows 95 or a left
  click in Windows 3.x):
   - Next module
   - Stop
   - Pause
 NOTE: You can reverse the position of these commands by adding the following
 line into the [Settings] section in AMPW.INI:
    SysMenuReversed=1

 A second group of commands is available through standard AMP hotkeys if the
 minimized player has got the keyboard focus. These are:
   - Pattern skip, Fast forward, Module restart
   - volume, equalizer and effect level controls


 Finally, here is a brief summary how you can get modules into AMP...

 To add modules to the current playlist, you can do one of the following:
   a) use the internal Playlist Editor
   b) double-click the module in the File Manager / Explorer
   c) drag and drop the module(s)/listfile(s) into the player's main window
   d) drag and drop the module(s)/listfile(s) into the AMPW.EXE or into its
      icon resp. shortcut
   e) to merge another playlist, use the Merge command from the menu

 The first module added is started immediately, if:
   a) the player is not currently playing
   b) or if you drop the modules into the caption bar or the menu bar
 



10. PLAYER OPTIONS
    ==============

 Single mode
   Possible internal module loops are disabled in this mode.
   NOTE: The loop detection works at the pattern level (it may fail only if some
   patterns are splitted into non-continuous parts).

 Pause mode
   In this mode the playback stops between modules and possible error messages
   are displayed in a message box (they need to be acknowledged).
   To play the whole playlist without any user intervention you have to set the
   Pause mode = Off and Single mode = On.
   HINT: If you're having any problems with the player, enable the pause mode
   temporarily to see possible error messages.

 Exit at the end
   In this mode the player is closed after the last module was played or after
   you pressed Esc.
   This option is suitable for starting AMP by double-clicking modules in the
   Windows Explorer or File Manager.

 Jukebox mode
   Modules will be fetched in a random order.

 Force play
   A module will be loaded even if there is not enough sample memory (then some
   samples will be missing).
   NOTES:
   The value 'AWE memory' on the main panel indicates the sample memory used
   for the current module.
   The total and free sample memory is displayed in player's About window
   (or in AWE Control Panel).

 No Playlist Looping
   The playlist won't rewind automatically if this checkbox is marked.

 Save Playlist Position
   If the playlist's file name has been defined, the file will be updated (for
   a next session) when AMP terminates.

 SBKs loaded
   Windows MIDI drivers allocate the sample memory from the top.
   The AMP allocates the memory from the end.
   You can choose a level of protection for SBKs loaded in sample memory:
    0. Overwrite    - the memory will be overwritten without notifying the user
    1. Warn at exit - the user will be notified if SBKs have been overwritten
    2. Ask before.. - the user will be asked before overwriting any SBKs
    3. Protect      - the memory used by SBKs will never be used
   NOTE: The protection works only if the sample memory is not fragmented.
   The fragmentation appears if you load multiple SBKs and then you clear any
   SBK except the last one.

 Smooth Attacks
   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 (attack time = 6ms)
   If you prefer a perfect reproduction of percussion instruments, you should
   keep the default mode 0.
   On the other side, if you prefer to hide all clicks produced by poorly
   sampled instruments, you should use the mode 2.
   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.
   The mode 1 is meant as a compromise as percussion samples are mostly not
   looped.
   NOTE: Changes are applied immediately when you press the "Ok" or "Save"
   button. You don't need to reload a song.

 Timer precision
   This option serves mainly for diagnostic purposes. It's recommended to leave
   it set to "Auto" (which gives 5ms for 386 machine and 3ms for 486 or better).

 Default panning separation
   This is the initial panning separation of the left/right MOD/S3M channels
   (0..100%, default 56%). It is similar to the N switch in the old DMP player.

 Downsampling control
   Use it to set the EMU8000 pitch safety value in semitones (1 to 24).
   A zero value 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, so it's better to avoid virtual
   sample rates above 44.1 kHz.

 Effects directory
   The directory where your FXR and FXC files reside. If you've configured it
   correctly you'll be able to use your custom effect types as well.
   An example: c:\awefxws\  (the final backslash is appended automatically)
   NOTE: All effect files should be placed in a single directory. Don't use
   the original AWEFXWS subdirectories (named FXC and FXR).

 Initial data directory
   Here you can override the starting data directory used by AMP.
   An example: d:\modules\kosmic
   NOTE: Command line arguments are processed before this setting applies,
   of course.

 Initial values
   These are equalizer and effect settings that will be set when each module
   is loaded.
   The Volume can be set to "Automatic" (it replaces a zero value). Then the
   initial volume will depend on a number of channels used in current module.
   The volumes above 20 are not recommended as a sound distortion can appear.

 Font size
   You can choose a size of Windows OEM font that is used in the main window.
   To display the pseudographic characters correctly, only fixed pitch fonts
   with OEM (MS-DOS) character set are available.
   The size of the main window depends directly on this choice.
   NOTE: The font size and the window placement are saved every time the player
   is closed.

 Save button
   The displayed values are saved into AMPW.INI as well.




11. COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS
    ======================

 You can specify one or more modules and/or listfiles on the command line.

 The listfiles (i.e. saved playlists) are distinguished by a leading '@'.
 You can omit the '@' for the listfiles with extension 'LST'.

 You can use wildcards in module names. The standard module extensions may be
 omitted.

 You can use relative pathnames as well.

 You can override the default options (saved in AMPW.INI) by specifying any
 number of the following command line switches (they are not case sensitive
 and they have to be preceded by '-' or '/'):

   -S    Single mode
   -P    Pause mode
   -J    JukeBox mode
   -F    ForceLoad mode
   -L    No Playlist Looping
   -Y    Save Playlist Position
   -X    Auto Exit mode

   -Nn   Default Panning   n = 0..100 [%]
   -Mn   Volume            n = 0..64
   -Bn   Bass              n = -12..+12 [dB]
   -Tn   Treble            n = -12..+12 [dB]
   -Rn   Reverb Level      n = 0..100 [%]
   -Cn   Chorus Level      n = 0..100 [%]
   -Et   Reverb Type       t = a valid effect name (or FXR file)
   -Ot   Chorus Type       t = a valid effect name (or FXC file)
   -Dn   Downsample Ctrl   n = 0..24 [halftones]
   -An   Smooth Attacks    n = 0/1/2  (never / looped samples only / always)
   -Kn   SBK protection    n = 0/1/2/3

   -Un   base port in hex, e.g. 620 (when there are multiple AWE cards present)
   Or you can add the following line manually into the [Settings] section in
   AMPW.INI:
        EmuBasePort=620

 The modes can be reset from the command line by appending the minus sign
 (e.g. -S-).

 Examples of usage:

  a) To play all modules from a directory (with MOD/NST/MTM/S3M/XM/PTM/IT
     extensions) you can create the shortcut as follows:
        AMPW  E:\MODULES\*

  b) To play your favorite songs in a random order without a user interaction:
        AMPW  @E:\MODULES\MY-BEST.LST  -J  -P- -S -L-

  c) To play specified modules with looping enabled:
        AMPW  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    (creates a listfile)
        AMPW  @ALL.LST




12. UNSUPPORTED MODULE EVENTS
    =========================

 Unsupported pattern effects:
  - Set Filter             (unsupported by ST3/FT2/IT; Amiga HW specific effect)
  - Old ST Stereo Control  (unsupported by ST3.01+; anybody knows the function?)
  - Funk Repeat            (unsupported by ST3/FT2; I've never seen it)
  - Set Finetune           (an obsolete effect in ST3, FT2, IT)
  - PTM effects J,K,L,M    (does anybody know the function?)
 All other pattern effects are fully 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 the modules would eat twice
 the sample memory and time to load.

 Remaining minor IT limitations:
  - IT sample sustain loops are emulated by normal loops
    (I've never seen a module with a correctly used sample sustain loop)
  - instrument random volume variation ignored
  - an embedded MIDI Output configuration is ignored
    This is not fully documented in ITTECH.TXT.  Therefore the AMP expects
    that default settings are used to control resonant filters.
 All other IT features are fully supported (NNAs, DCTs, background channels,
 envelopes, new pattern effects, a sample vibrato, modes, resonant filters with
 envelopes, etc.).



13. SOMETHING ABOUT THE EQUALIZER SETTING
    =====================================

 When playing a song, there are 2 or 3 equalizers in chain:
     1. the digital equalizer in EMU8000 synth
     2. the equalizer in AWE mixer (controlled by SB16SET or Windows mixer)
     3. the equalizer in external amplifier
 I believe that there should be used only last one in chain.  So, I decided
 to set the default bass & treble levels of the EMU8000 equalizer to zero.
 But the EMU8000 hardware defaults to the treble level approx. +10dB.
 That's why you can hear some loss of high frequencies compared to other AWE
 players which use the hardware default.




14. FUTURE PLANS
    ============

 - commands for stepping back and selecting a song directly in the playlist
 - more views / screens
 - an output of warnings (as in the DOS based AMP)
 - a full support for sample sustain loops (if such modules appear)
 - internal option allowing to reload the overwritten SBK samples
 - a support for PnP cards configured to non-standard ports (only if there is
   a sufficient demand)
 - support for ZIP/ARJ/etc. archives
 - Win32 version (with long filenames, a better toolbar, ...)
 - online help

 After all, everything depends on a feedback and registrations I'll get.




15. 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. (E.g. deafness or blown speakers
 by the volume being turned up too high).




16. DISTRIBUTION RULES
    ==================

 This program is shareware.

 The free unregistered version can load and play only the MOD and S3M modules.
 To enable all module formats, you have to register.
 The first reason for requiring the registration was to prevent users from
 staying anonymous as before. The registration fee is very affordable
 and should be considered as a way how the author can get a minimal satisfaction
 for thousands of hours spent when writing the player (the source code size is
 now about 1000 KBytes). If I wanted to take that work as a real job, the price
 would have to be much higher.

 The unregistered 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.




17. THE LICENCE AGREEMENT AND COPYRIGHT
    ===================================

 In contrast with standard shareware rules the author grants you a permission
 to test and use the unregistered version for an unlimited time period. You are
 not required to delete the files if you've decided not to register.

 By registration a user obtains the fully functional version of the software
 and is granted the license to use the player on a single machine at a time.
 It is strictly prohibited to distribute registered copies of the software
 or registration information or to make it available to a third party.

 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, patching, hacking, cracking of this program, and all
 attempts to defeat the registration 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 for Windows software, you are hereby
 agreeing to all these license conditions.




18. HOW TO REGISTER
    ===============

 First of all, complete the registration form (REGFORM.TXT). Don't forget to
 include your computer's stamp string that appears in AMPW.INI once the player
 was used.

 Then there are two ways of delivery:

 a) If you have an access to the Internet mail, send the completed REGFORM.TXT
    to the address 'kopecky@tsoft.cz'. Then I'll provide you with information
    how and where to send the registration fee (18 USD).
    Please note that the price has changed from the previous player versions
    (but it has no impact on users that registered the player in the past).

 b) If you can't use E-mail, send the completed REGFORM.TXT on a 3.5" diskette
    along with the registration fee via regular mail to the address specified
    at the end of this file.
    The registration costs 23 USD in this case. Only USD, DM, or CZK will be
    accepted. Send a pure cash only - no credit cards payments, no cheques.
    Enclose the cash securely wrapped and hidden into envelope. Avoid coins.
    I strongly recommend to send your letter in some reliable way (a registered
    letter, with an 'inscription' or whatever it's called in your country).

 Then I will create a "genetic information" being able to initiate transmutation
 of your AMP player into the full version. I'll send it back to you along with
 instructions how to inject it.

 You should know that the registered player is not transferable. It will work
 only on the computer that was used to generate the stamp.

 Your registration will be applicable also for next player versions.
 Once registered you'll also be informed about new versions by e-mail if you've
 asked for it.




19. COMMON QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
    ============================

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

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

   2. "Kosmic Free Music Foundation"
        http://www.kosmic.org

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

     "SDC FileServer - Sound Distribution Channel"
        ftp://sdc.wtm.tudelft.nl/pub/music/utils

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

     "MAZ Sound Tools"
        http://www.maz-sound.com/awe.html

     "Slovak Antivirus Center FTP"
        ftp://ftp.elf.stuba.sk/pub/pc/sound
        ftp://ftp.vse.cz/pub/mirror/ftp.elf.stuba.sk/pc/sound

     "Toni Lindroos's page"
        http://www.sip.fi/~tonilind

     "Jonas's AWE32 page"
        http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/~til/modpage.html

 Q. How to check the drivers version?
 A. All the versions are displayed in the About window.
    Or you can check the Windows drivers directly as follows:
    Windows 3.x:  Control Panel -> Drivers -> SB AWE32 MIDI Driver -> Setup
    Windows 95: Settings -> Control Panel -> System -> Device Manager
                -> Sound... -> Advanced Wave Effects... -> Properties
                -> sbawe32.drv

 Q. Where to get updated Windows AWE drivers?
 A. The most preferable way is from Internet (www.creaf.com or ftp.creaf.com)

 Q. Why Windows NT is not supported?
 A. Windows NT has a different device driver architecture. It does not support
    VxD drivers and the direct access to hardware is not allowed.
    Also the DirectSound API is not usable. It has been developed mainly for
    games and it has limitations which make it unusable for a module player.
    The result - there is no way how to use hardware mixing on Windows NT.

 Q. The player's look is rather simple.
 A. Make your own decision: are you interested in music or in graphics?
    I wanted to release this long awaited and innovative piece of software
    as soon as possible. There was not enough time to play with bitmaps, custom
    sliders, help file etc.
    A second reason is that I don't like huge libraries like MFC or BWCC. :)
    The player offers the best sound quality. It works with a minimal CPU load.
    It successfully lives with Windows MIDI drivers. It allows to create and use
    playlists. All other things are less important at the moment.



 Q. Why the player is not a 32-bit application?
 A. Two reasons:
     1. There are people still using Windows 3.x
     2. The whole Windows multimedia system is 16-bit based (even in Windows 95)

 Q. Can I use my playlists with a DOS version of the AMP player?
 A. It depends. This player can use a leading space for distinguishing modules
    that have been already processed. But old DOS versions (up to 2.01) ignore
    such lines. So, you should either upgrade your DOS player to some newer
    version or to save your playlists with '-A' option disabled to make them
    compatible with the old DOS player.

 Q. Will my registered version continue working if I buy a new motherboard,
    processor, or hard disk?
 A. I can only tell here that some upgrades are allowed and some are not.
    It depends on hardware you have. I've designed the copy protection to allow
    secure upgrades of your hardware. Don't be afraid of loosing your money.
    In case that your registration would not survive, just let me know about 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 very small sample memory.
    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 very big loss of high frequency parts
    and the sound becomes unacceptable.
    HINT: To hear the difference, just set the Downsampling control to a maximum
    of 24 halftones and try listening to a couple of today's huge modules.

 Q. Sometimes the font used in main window gets changed. Why?
 A. This is a known internal bug in Windows. The problem may appear e.g. when
    a DOS based application is started or terminated.
    You can repair the screen by changing a font size temporarily in player's
    options. Sometimes pressing F4 can help as well.

 Q. I've got two AWE32 compatible cards installed. How can I specify which one
    to use?
 A. Add the 'EmuBasePort' line manually into your AMPW.INI (as described above),
    or use the -U option on the command line.
    NOTE: Multiple hardware instances are not supported in Windows 3.x
    architecture. There are no problems under Windows 95.

 Q. I'm not able to run the player on my Windows 3.1. When I start it, it just
    gives me an Application Error / Stack Fault.  What's wrong?
 A. Your computer's hardware does not meet all standard specifications.
    Add the following line manually into the [Settings] section in AMPW.INI:
        CompatibilityMode=<value>
    Try values of 1 and then 2 (the default is zero).
    If this wouldn't help, you will have to upgrade to Windows 95 to be able
    to use AMP for Windows.

 Q. Can I use AWE Control Panel to play sounds or to load SBKs while the AMP is
    playing?
 A. Although it's very strange, Windows drivers allow to control the EMU8000
    hardware through AWEMAN API even if it is owned by other application
    (e.g. by AMP or a 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. I experience delays in playback when I'm accessing my floppy drive.
 A. It happens every time when the OS kernel or some device driver disables
    the CPU interrupts (mostly when a floppy disk is transferring the data,
    when a new application is launched, or when a window is being scrolled with
    an old VGA card).
    The same delays would appear in all multimedia applications, of course.

 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, a DAT or a minidisk recorder connected to the sound card's
    digital output (the SPDIF interface).
    Anyway, you can obtain good recordings by sampling the AMP's output sound
    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 signal) muted, you should reach
    a quite good quality.

 Q. Is there any way to get a registered copy of AMP, as a beta-tester?
 A. Yes. If you find a few major bugs in AMP (either in DOS or Windows version),
    you'll get the registration for free.
    I'm always looking for good beta-testers.




20. COMMENTS, SUGGESTIONS OR ANYTHING ELSE
    ======================================

 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.




21. CONTACTING THE AUTHOR
    =====================

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

        kopecky@tsoft.cz

 To 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
