FunkTracker 1.08c - Release Notes


Hello Peoples,

This will be the last version of FunkTracker that will be on goingly 
developed by me. It has reached the end of the cycle as far as i'm 
concerned. I believe that Adam Seychell will be taking over this project 
from now on. He most likely be including it in his DOS32 package as 
an implementation example. So you could look for it there.

Future developments in this area (by me) may come in the form of a module
player for X-windows or Windows 95 or something.

It's been a fun project. Pity it never caught on as much as it should've.
I still think it has features that no other format has (ie dual piping).
Thanks to everyone that has supported it over the 1 and a half years it
has been around.

see ya

:Jason Nunn
 SuperReal
 jsno@turtle.apana.org.au OR root@superr.apana.org.au

 Home Page: http://www.cdrom.com/pub/demos/hornet/html/bio_jsno.html
            &
            http://turtle.apana.org.au/~jsno/ (when it's eventually going)

on going notes

 - Just a note to anyone who intends to make changes to Funktracker.
  If you do happen to make amendments, or fix bugs, Could you tell me
  to do it, rather than amending the problems, and re-releasing it
  yourself?. I don't want to seem ungrateful, really i am! :), but i
  have gone to a lot of trouble to make Funktracker as consistant
  cross versions as i can. I pride myself on the fact that  my very
  first FNK songs composed in Fk1.00 still work on my latest versions.
  If people do start doing this, then we would start getting many
  pseudo versions of Funktracker. Also, bugs and incompatabilities
  would start creeping in. This would be my biggest nightmare!.

  So please, if you want something changed in Funktracker, please,
  please please tell me, and i will do it, pronto :). If you want
  some code/feature put in, then give it to me, and i'll compile it,
  and re-release it with a full mention of your efforts both here and
  in the source code (like i have done with adam's & Scott's fix ups).

  Thank you :).

 - Certain cards, need certain drivers, environment variables, for the
  autodetection routines to to fully obtain all needed info. Below is a
  table of requirements:

Card            Requires
Ŀ
 SBX.X,SBPRO     i) BLASTER= in AUTOEXEC.BAT OR                       
                ii) -iXX and/or -dXX options on command line          
Ĵ
 SB16            i) run the "DIAGNOSE.EXE /S" program on bootup       
                    (presumably from your AUTOEXEC.BAT file)          
                    Give up hope, if you haven't run this little      
                    program before hand.                              
Ĵ
 PAS16           i) You MUST have the "MVSOUND.SYS" driver            
                    installed. no MVSOUND.SYS, no detection :)        
Ĵ
 PAS or PAS+     i) Run FUNK with the -c2 override. This will         
                    force your card into Soundblaster mode.           
Ĵ
 GUS family      i) ULTRASND= in AUTOEXEC.BAT OR                      
                ii) -iXX option on command line                       



On going Thankyou's

- Adam Seychell................DOS32 extender, debugging, improvements
- Tom Verbeure/Synergy Design..Optimisation help, suggestions
- Party [KiNETiC DESiGN/dMk]...Debugging, suggestions
- 30SC/MiST....................devoted testing, suggestions
- Brandon Williamson..........." "

                                                                  FTP Sites

 my very own FTP site is...

  turtle.apana.org.au /pub/msdos/jsno/1994

 Here you will find all my programs/projects/contracts i have done
 over the years.


 BBS sites for this demo:

 Site                Place          Number            Fido
 
 Amiga Retreat       Darwin, NT     (61)(089)451516   3:850/105
 Sanctuary           Darwin, NT     (61)(089)272965


SuperReal (The Group)


JsNO.........................Organiser/Coder

SuperReal will be desolved after the Oz96 demo competition. All the
other members have left, and I myself will be leaving the Demo scene
for good. I'll probably be helping out Hornet from time to time with
their projects.

So it's farewell i guess. Look out for my Oz96 entry called "From Real
2 SuperReal", which will be a full blown 640x480 VESA demo.


WHATS NEW


  Support  MIDI  16bit

SB1.X           
SB2.0           
SBPRO           
SB16        X   
PAS16                (NB/ no luck yet supporting MPU-401 for PAS16)
GUS             


Midi Support

To use this feature, you're first going to have to worry about the
connection between your MIDI board and your soundcard... The piece
of equipment you're going to have to make or buy is called a 'MIDI
Breakout box'. If you can adjustify paying $100 for a $10 piece of
circuitry, then you may want to go out a buy one from an electronics
store. If you have a soldering iron, a couple of wires and a bread
board, then you can make your own.

Below is a derivative of a circuit found in "Electronics Australia"
(Feb 1994). I didn't have all the components, so i reduced it slightly.
It's feral, but it does the trick (even with lightly shielded wires,
next to a monitor!).

    P1,9,8 Joystick socket
      C1                               (NB/ If you don't think you
    P4,5 "    "                   can make this, then
      D1                                   don't!. I wouldn't want
   ĳ P15  "    "                   you to cook your sound
                                         card now).
              ¿
        C1  = Approx 10F
      IC1      D1  = LED        
              IC1 = 6N138      
        
      
       P5 of MIDI DIN socket
      P4 "    "    "    "

The above circuit only has MIDI-in abilities, which is enough for
the moment. Seen's that FunkTracker is a module editor and not a
MIDI editor, there is no point in having a MIDI out (unless for
cosmetic purposes).. Later on I may include it. if you want a
full blowen circuit, then go to your local library and grab a
photocopy of Electronics Australia February 1994 (i've forgotten
the pages). You can find the same circuit on P219 of the 1994/95
Dick Smiths Catalogue. There is also some circuitry in the
"Ultimate SoundBlaster" book.

My software will talk to "MPU-401" MIDI hardware that is on the
SB16. To activate, just type in "Alt-K". Hit it again if you want
to switch it off. Use "Alt-Q" to switch chord mode on and off.


DONE:
 1.08c: (December 95)
 - Adam Seychell Modified the "alloc_funk_mem" function as it
   had bugs.

 1.08b: (August 95)
 - modified the exit message for 30SC
 - included Party's (Scott Mackenzie) modifications
 - added IRQ & DMA override in the init routines and command line
 - extra function added in funkobj.asm

 1.08a: (July 1995)
 - ARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!, an introduced bug in the FUNK.ASM
   file. A misplaced register value when pressing the note keys on the
   keypad of the keyboard to play a note :(... fixed now.
 - The minor PAS16 click bug has now finally been fixed!. When you
   played at any pattern (F6), and the code would track to the
   pattern with the backround code masked. This would starve the ISR 
   for too long.
 - Poly key (for none-MIDI keyboard users) (just use the MIDI
   quantise mode key- "Alt-Q" to toggle).
 - Made the tracker read music via pointers etc, for more practical
   usage (as suggested by Adam).
 - FUNKOBJ created
 - OS/2 friendly (i think)
 
 1.07: (Monday 5th June 95)

 - chksum checking has been removed. the "LZH_Checksum" field is now
   used for channel info (the chksum wasn't tested anyway).
 - Unsigned SND loading support
 - The very faint SB16 and PAS16 click bugs (when used in excess of
   any hour) have been fixed.
 - MPU-401 (MIDI keyboard) for SB16 
 - soundcard autodetection
 - configurable memory parameters

 1.06: (17th May 95)

 - DOS32 update. Now uses V3.01. ..the dosshell works.
 - A have now, once and for all made a 256 point, perfectly
   linear GUS table that doesn't lagg. GUSTABLE.INC has been abolished.
 - added badly needed re-sampler. Now you can tune your WAV samples
   in perfectly :).
 - display directories are now sorted
 - Reintroduced full PAS16 support. PAS support currently uses
   MVSOUND.SYS.the p-mode environment will from time to time be
   a problem. (NB/ excessive sampling rates >22050 will sometimes
   cause clicking to occur)
 - SB16 support :)
 - oooppsss :).... RLO's (Reload Sample Attr's). 1.05 accidently
   reloads a samples frequency into the channel. This is NOT in the
   RLO defination. This means that Command C would instantly cut out
   when using RLO's. <dumb> ..This is been fixed so it doesn't do
   it any more.

 1.05: (23rd April 95)

 - First public release (just wanted to release the thing)
 - The GUS volume table sucks
 - OS/2 Unfriendly
 - DosShell doesn't work very well (DOS32 3.00 bug)

 1.00 - 1.04: (July 94 - March 95)

 - development, testing, and minor modifications
 (used to have PAS support in these versions, but experenced
  major problems)
 - Big thankyou's go to Tom Verbeure/Synergy for improving my DAC
 routines, and By Adam Seychell for being "on tap" when problems
 cropped up regarding P-mode, and Dickydick, 30SC, Snowman,
 Brandon Williamson, 30SC, Jase/Enigma and everybody else for
 beta testing.
