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º A M P 3 . 0 º
º The module player for Sound Blaster AWE32 and compatibles º
º Copyright (c) 1995-2000 Lada Kopecky º
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³ 1. CONTENTS ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
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2. INTRODUCTION
3. FEATURES IN DETAIL
4. REQUIREMENTS
5. FILES IN THIS PACKAGE
6. INSTALLATION
7. UNINSTALLING
8. USING THE PLAYER
9. FILE SELECTOR PLUGINS
10. COMMAND LINE SWITCHES
11. KEYBOARD
12. UNSUPPORTED MODULE EVENTS
13. MIXER AND EQUALIZER SETTINGS
14. DISCLAIMER
15. THE LICENCE AGREEMENT AND COPYRIGHT
16. REGISTRATION
17. FUTURE PLANS
18. COMMON QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
19. COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS
20. CONTACTING THE AUTHOR
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³ 2. INTRODUCTION ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
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Welcome to AWE Module Player - a 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) 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 the risk of system hang-ups or crashes
The player engine has been developed and updated for many years and it
provides many excellent features such as the most correct module playback,
protection of highest notes by high quality resampling, sophisticated dynamic
channel allocation, event reporting, SBK protection, the attack control,
reliable loop removal, and others.
So, if you are interested in top quality playback of musical modules on
Sound Blaster AWE32/64 or Sound Blaster 32, AMP is your choice.
<< NOTE: I'm not saying that AMP is the 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 your 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.
What is the tracker module?
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In case you are totally unfamiliar with modules and tracked music, you can
visit some of the many Web pages on the subject of the demo scene and tracked
music (see the FAQ section below).
For a quick orientation, here is a comparison between a MP3-encoded song and
a song stored in a module format (e.g. an IT file):
File content:
- A tracker module is a native format in which computer music is created.
The file contains a high-level musical data such as notes, instruments and
sound samples. While listening to the song you can watch how the music is
written (the tracks, notes, effects etc.). You can even modify the tune
easily (using a tracker program).
- In contrast, a MP3 file contains just a single resulting waveform - just
like a CD disc or a magnetic tape.
File size:
- An average size of a module is about 0.5 MB
- MP3 files are considerably bigger (about 1 MB per minute of playback)
Sound quality:
- The sound in MP3 file is compressed by a lossy algorithm -> it means that
the sound quality is always degraded by some degree.
- The sound samples in a module are stored without compression or they are
compressed by a lossless algorithm, therefore the sound quality is not
compromised (provided you're using a high quality hardware and/or software
to render the sound).
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³ 3. FEATURES IN DETAIL ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
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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 maximum 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, have
problems with memory managers and protected mode extenders, players that need
5 seconds or more to load and initialize themselves, then AMP may be what
you are looking for.
Why does AMP sound so smooth and clean?
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The major advantage of AMP is the direct use of the EMU8000 synthesizer that
performs the 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 the removal of signal distortion that is so typical for all
software-mixing players. Their interpolators (if any) are mostly two-point
linear or rarely three-point quadratic (or they are unknown - hidden behind
magic and meaningless names like FFT, FOI, IDO, 32-bit, spline etc.). But
those basic mathematical algorithms are not suitable for signal processing,
therefore such interpolators can't remove the unwanted artifacts while
preserving the high frequencies contained in the original waveform.
<< NOTE: For those of you being unfamiliar with digital signal processing,
here is a brief explanation:
Let's take an example. You have an instrument sampled at 20kHz when playing
the C4 note. But you need to play e.g. the C3 note at 40kHz output rate.
To do it, you must increase the number of sample points (i.e. decrease
the pitch) by factor of four _without_ changing the information content.
If you obtain the three new points by repeating the old sample value, then
the resulting frequency spectrum will include new high-frequency replicas
(mirrors) of the original signal's spectrum. In our example, the original
spectrum 0..10kHz would be shifted to 0..5kHz and also mirrored to ranges
5..10kHz, 10..15kHz and 15..20kHz. These replicas would add an ugly ringing
distortion to the output sound. To remove them, you need a sharp-cutoff
low-pass filter that won't damage the signal that is passed through.
The result will be the "right" new samples smoothly inserted between old.
This kind of digital filter is often unfortunately called an "interpolator"
even if it does not perform "interpolation" in a common mathematical sense
(such as linear or polynomial interpolation between known points).
It is important to realize that a well-designed filter response is more
crucial then just a number of input sample points used for interpolation.
>>
2. mixing at 44.1 kHz frequency allows output frequencies up to 22 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
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 a 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 theory and experience. 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
per second! << (4+4+1) * 30 * 44100 = 11,907,000 >>
This means that the sole multiplication would consume all cycles on 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.
The MMX technology can be 3-10 times faster, though - that may be a real
chance for software-mixing players. Time will show.
(If anyone wants to see the details on how the 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
This allows to handle modules with more than 30 channels without losing
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 the 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 beginning 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 could be lost.
To avoid aliasing distortion and to preserve high-frequency parts of sound,
AMP uses a digital filter of very high quality (equivalent to a 13-point
optimized interpolation).
Special care must be taken in order to preserve the exact pitch of
looped samples.
<< NOTE: The "aliasing" distortion appears when a signal containing
frequencies above the Nyquist frequency (equal to 1/2 of the sampling rate)
is sampled. These high frequencies are then aliased (mirrored) under the
Nyquist frequency in the form of distortion. The same thing happens when you
downsample a signal without removing all frequencies above 1/2 of the target
sampling rate. >>
If anyone wants to verify the 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, special care must be taken to avoid clicks.
The situation gets much more complicated if bi-directional loops are present
and/or if downsampling is involved.
4. Special handling of duplicate voices
Duplicate voices (i.e. doubled channels) are sometimes used by module
composers to amplify some instruments. If such doubled samples are not
being replayed perfectly in sync, unwanted interference effects appear.
These can be heard as a loss of high frequencies or a flanger-like effect.
The duplicate voices make a lot of trouble with all hardware-mixing devices,
where starting multiple notes at once is very difficult (if not impossible
at all).
AMP has got a unique feature to eliminate the interference effects if
duplicate voices are used in a module.
<< NOTE: The elimination may not be 100% perfect on very slow computers
(such as 386) or if more than two equal voices are used >>
5. Panning noise suppression
The EMU8000 does not interpolate panning changes.
Without panning noise suppression, clicks or noise would be heard in some
modules.
(*) All mentioned sample songs can be downloaded from 'www.hornet.org'
The complete list of features:
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- plays XM modules (FT2.0x, format version $0104)
- plays IT modules (IT1.01+, incl. compressed samples and resonant filters!)
- plays S3M modules (ST3.0+, IT1.01+)
- plays MOD/NST modules (M.K. M!K! FLT4 nCHN nnCH OCTA SoundTracker)
- plays the Ultimate SoundTracker modules (an old MOD clone) correctly
- plays MTM modules
- plays PTM modules (max. 128 instruments)
- up to 64 channels and 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 overflow. A very high quality anti-aliasing filter is used and
numerous secondary complications involved by downsampling are properly
handled. So, you won't lose *any* note and the quality of playback is
not compromised.
- special handling of duplicate voices (i.e. doubled channels) to eliminate
interference effects
- panning noise suppression
- high compatibility with the FT2.08 / ST3.21 / IT2.14 playback routines,
including emulation of many undocumented bugs.
You've probably seen some songs with attached instructions like "Don't play
with ***** player because it will **** up". With AMP, you can hear exactly
what you are supposed to.
- can play under Windows, even in background
For background playback, you have to ensure that AMP window is allowed to run
in background. To change this, use the PIF editor in Windows 3.x or the
Properties dialog for the AMP icon in Windows 95/98.
<< NOTE: To allow a smooth background playback in all conditions, I've
developed a native Windows version (AMP for Windows) which is available
separately. >>
- 100% accurate 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 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
- support for file selector plugins
- all kinds of song loops can be reliably disabled - a 'must have' option for
unattended playback of multiple songs
- offers a fast forward mode, pattern skip in both directions, a module
restart command, and a forced tempo mode
- supports animated messages using sample names (sometimes found in S3Ms)
- can take all (!) settings from AMP.INI and/or from the command line
So, you can create different batches/icons for starting AMP with predefined
configurations or playlists
- 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 keys to check whether a message is present)
- 3 modes of the sample attack control
- 2 screen modes
- the number of used EMU8000 voices is shown in the bottom of the Log window.
NOTE: This number also includes running samples with volume=0 and all active
background IT channels.
- can play even if not enough AWE memory (but with some instruments lost)
- no problems with memory or extenders (85-230 kB of DOS memory is enough)
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³ 4. REQUIREMENTS ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
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- PC 386 or better (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 type, the EMU ports have to be configured
into compatible locations (400h apart). There should be no problem here
as this is the default setting.
- 90..250 kB of free DOS conventional (low) memory
- HIMEM.SYS must be loaded as the player may need some Extended memory
(NOTE: if you're using Windows 9x, you don't have to care about this)
- no Expanded memory needed
- no sound card drivers needed
- the BLASTER environment variable is used, though it is not necessary
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³ 5. FILES IN THIS PACKAGE ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
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Here is a list of the files enclosed in this package.
AMP.EXE - the player itself
AMP.INI - a sample configuration file
AMP.TXT - this file
HISTORY.TXT - revision history
NEWCTRLS.TXT - description of the new XM effect controls
REGFORM.TXT - a registration form
AMP.PIF - Program Information File for MS Windows
FILE_ID.DIZ - short program description
AMPFS.AFS - a simple file selector by X-Brain
AMPFS.TXT - file selector documentation
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³ 6. INSTALLATION ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
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Just unzip the archive into a destination directory of your choice.
Make sure that both 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 95/98.
For more information about associating AMP player with your modules, please go
to section #8.
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³ 7. UNINSTALLING ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
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Delete the whole directory and shortcuts/icons you created.
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³ 8. USING THE PLAYER ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
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AMP player can be started in three different ways:
1. Since version 3.0 AMP includes a support for third-party file selector
plugins. If a plugin is present you can start LMP without any arguments and
use the plugin to select modules for playback.
For details about using the file selector plugins, see the next section.
2. Setup AMP as a default application for module files in your favorite disk
or file manager (e.g. Norton Commander or Windows Explorer).
For information how to setup associations between modules and the player,
see the documentation of your file/disk manager. For example, in case of
Xtree Gold, just create files MOD.BAT, S3M.BAT ... in a directory where XTG
resides. These files should contain just a single line like this:
@C:\SOUND\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.
3. Start the player manually and specify modules on the command line
Using the command line arguments
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You can specify one or more modules and/or listfiles on the command line.
For module names, you can use wildcards and omit extensions.
The listfiles are pure text files containing a list of modules to play, one
filename per line. Lines starting with ';' or '#' will be ignored.
The listfiles are distinguished by a leading '@'. You can omit the '@'
for files with extension 'AML' or 'LST'.
You can also use listfiles (playlists) created with AMP for Windows.
Examples of use (the default 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.AML -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.AML (this makes a playlist)
AMP ALL.AML
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³ 9. FILE SELECTOR PLUGINS ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
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The file selector is invoked when you start AMP without any modules specified
on the command line or when you press the 'Insert' key.
The distribution package contains a simple selector written by Jakub Svozil
/ X-Brain. For detailed instructions how to use it, see the separate
documentation file (AMPFS.TXT).
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³ 10. COMMAND LINE SWITCHES ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
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The list of command line switches (they must be preceded by '/' or '-'):
? Show a help on command line arguments
V Verbose mode
- all available information goes into the Log window
- message colors: INFORMATION - white, WARNING - yellow, ERROR - red
W Wait on errors
- if this mode is off, you won't see any error messages
(AMP just skips the song or terminates)
S Repeat each song (loop mode)
- this mode enables song and playlist looping
- the song loop detection works at a pattern level -> it may trigger
prematurely if some patterns are divided into non-continuous parts
P Pause mode
- if this mode is enabled, then AMP waits until you press spacebar,
Enter, or Esc in these circumstances:
a) at the end of each module (this can happen only if the single
mode is enabled as well)
b) in case of a module loading error
While waiting, you can continue switching and scrolling the screens.
N Random mode (shuffle)
- modules are replayed in a random order
- you can combine this mode with the single and/or pause mode
- some additional DOS memory is needed to store the filenames
<< This mode replaces the Jukebox mode from older player versions >>
F Forced module loading (if not enough sample memory)
- all modules will be loaded but with some samples left out
Z Extended screen mode
- 50 lines on the screen (or 43 lines with an EGA card)
Today's tracked songs often use more than 16 channels.
In extended screen mode, you can watch them all at once.
I Show numeric pan values 0 to F (instead of just L/R/M/S)
Gn Default panning separation 0..100 [%] (default 57)
- this is the initial panning separation of the left/right MOD/S3M
channels (similar to the 'n' switch in DMP player)
Mn Initial volume level 0..-70 [dB] (without a minus sign, default is
'automode')
- in automode the initial volume depends on the number of channels
- for 4 or less channels it's -12 dB (equal to linear volume = 16)
If you are not familiar with decibels, here are a few tips:
- decreasing the level by 3 dB means 1/2 of the power (i.e. acoustic
pressure)
- decreasing the level by 6 dB means 1/2 of the linear volume
(i.e. the output voltage)
- decreasing the level by 10 dB means 1/10 of the power
- decreasing the level by 20 dB means 1/10 of the linear volume
Bn initial bass level -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 14)
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
ÄÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
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).
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 mode 0.
On the other hand, if you prefer to hide all clicks produced by poorly
sampled instruments, you should use mode 2.
Mode 1 is meant as a compromise because the percussion samples are
mostly not looped.
<< NOTE: Fortunately, songs having clicks are very rare. Such clicks
show up also in other MOD players, obviously. You have to complain to
the one who created those bad samples. >>
All switches above can be used in AMP.INI, one option per line. Lines starting
with ';' or '#' will be ignored.
The command line switches take precedence over the INI file settings.
The mode switches (V,W,S,P,N,F,Z,I) can be reset from the command line
by appending the minus sign (e.g. -S-).
Remember that AMP.INI must be placed in the same directory as AMP.EXE !
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³ 11. KEYBOARD ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
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F1 Help screen
F2 Log screen
- available only in verbose mode
F3 Channel Info screen
- instrument names, channel volumes and panning are shown
- the signal meters reflect the final volume (-32 to 0 dB)
(incl. envelope, tremolo, tremor, volume swing, and
the global volumes)
F4 Song Message / Instrument Info screen
- this key toggles the song message (only if it's present)
and instrument information
- note that you don't have to use Shift-F9 or other extra
key to show the song message
- 16-bit sample points are displayed in sample units
- looped samples are truncated to the end of loop and
invalid loop points are fixed
- envelopes, bi-directional loops and instrument vibratos
are indicated by proper symbols. Filter and pitch
envelopes are distinguished by color.
- the downsampling factor for each sample (1 to 4 octaves)
is in the last column
- if all IT instrument names are blank, then sample names
are shown (but in such case, the names might not
correspond with remaining columns).
PgDn PgUp for scrolling channels or instruments
Ctrl-PgUp/PgDn
Home End for a faster move
Up Fast Forward (4-times faster, no pattern data is skipped)
<- -> Pattern Back/Forward
- remaining pattern data is ignored
- active notes are terminated (so that they wouldn't hang)
Ctrl <- Module Restart (without reloading the module from a file)
Esc Without a file selector plugin:
- stop the playback and exit
With file selector:
- stop the playback and enter the file selector
- if you press Esc twice in a short period during playback,
the player will exit immediately
Enter skip to the next module in playlist
Spacebar Pause/Resume playback
Insert switch to the file selector window
(only if a plugin is available)
Backspace fadeout and skip to a previous module in playlist
NOTE: This can work only if a file selector plugin supports
this feature.
Ctrl Up/Down enables and controls the Forced Tempo mode
(once enabled, all tempo-related commands are ignored)
'-' '+' Main Volume down/up
F5 F6 Bass Level down/up (EMU8000 equalizer)
F7 F8 Treble Level down/up (EMU8000 equalizer)
F9 F10 Reverb Depth down/up
F11 F12 Chorus Depth down/up
Alt display the active effect types
Alt-F9 Alt-F10 Reverb Type down/up
Alt-F11 Alt-F12 Chorus Type down/up
'1' to '9' channels 1 to 9 off/on
'a' to 'z' channels 10 to 35 off/on
'A' to 'Z' channels 36 to 61 off/on
'(' ')' '0' channels 61 to 64 off/on
'/' '*' all channels off/on
Mouse is not supported.
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³ 12. UNSUPPORTED MODULE EVENTS ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
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Unsupported pattern effects (commands):
- Set Filter (unsupported by ST3/FT2/IT; Amiga HW specific effect)
- Funk Repeat (unsupported by ST3/FT2; I've never seen it)
- MOD/PTM/MTM Set Finetune (an obsolete effect with no proven standard)
- PTM effects J,K,L,M (does anybody know their function?)
- IT MIDI Macro Select (SFx - I've never seen it)
ALL OTHER pattern effects are supported.
The S3M AdLib instruments and channels are ignored.
Up to 128 instruments are used in PTM modules.
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.
All other IT features are fully supported (NNAs, DCTs, background channels,
envelopes, new pattern effects, sample vibrato, volume and panning swing,
resonant filters incl. envelopes, carry envelopes etc.).
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ 13. MIXER AND EQUALIZER SETTINGS ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
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When replaying a song, there are 2 or 3 equalizers in chain:
1. the digital EQ inside EMU8000
2. the analog EQ in AWE mixer (controlled by SB16SET or a Windows mixer)
3. and possibly an equalizer on your external amplifier
I believe that only one EQ in the chain should be used. For that reason, AMP
resets the analog equalizer to the middle positions.
To maximize the signal to noise ratio, the analog mixer MIDI level is set to
maximum. The master output level is not changed.
When AMP is terminated, all mixer settings are restored to the previous state.
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³ 14. DISCLAIMER ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
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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.
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³ 15. THE LICENCE AGREEMENT AND COPYRIGHT ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
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This program is distributed as freeware, but only for NON-COMMERCIAL use.
No payment of any kind may be charged for this product or any combination of
products or services including this product without my authorization and
official written license.
The software can be made available on Internet and BBS sites, as well as
included on CD-ROMs containing other shareware/freeware programs provided
that all files are distributed in their original unaltered form, preferably
in the original archive.
The software is owned by its author and is protected by copyright laws.
You may not remove the copyright notice from any copy of the software.
Reverse engineering or patching of this program are a violation of the
copyright and are strictly prohibited. Any violation against this rule
may be subject to prosecution under copyright law.
By installing and/or using the AMP software, you are hereby agreeing to
all these license conditions.
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³ 16. REGISTRATION ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
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If you are using AMP for more than 4 weeks, you should register.
You don't have to pay anything - I just need to know who is using my product.
I've been working on this free software for many years - it's my tribute
to the world of free music. But my effort can't continue forever, especially
without massive response from users. Therefore I decided to gather some
information from users and then use it to see whether to keep updating
this freeware player.
To register, just complete the form (REGFORM.TXT) and send it to the address
specified at the end of this file. E-mail is preferred.
And of course, if you like the player very much, you can add a small donation.
It will be greatly appreciated. (In such a case I recommend dropping me
a message by e-mail first)
By registering, you vote for future development of AMP. By being silent, you
vote against it.
Once registered you'll also be informed about new versions by e-mail if you
asked for it.
<< You need not worry about your e-mail address privacy - it won't be passed
on to third parties. >>
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³ 17. FUTURE PLANS ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
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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.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ 18. COMMON QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
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Q. Where to get some nice songs (modules)?
A. There are numerous Internet sites with gigabytes of tracked music.
You can start e.g. with one of these:
1. "Kosmic Free Music Foundation"
http://www.kosmic.org
2. "scene.org"
http://www.scene.org/
ftp://ftp.scene.org/
3. "Hornet Archive"
http://www.hornet.org
Q. Where can I find the latest AMP version?
A. It is likely to be found at these locations:
"Slovak Antivirus Center FTP"
ftp://ftp.elf.stuba.sk/pub/pc/sound
ftp://ftp.vse.cz/pub/mirror/ftp.elf.stuba.sk/pc/sound
(A great archive with lots of interesting stuff of all kinds, and always
up to date)
"MAZ Sound Tools"
http://www.maz-sound.com/awe.html
(This is a place where you may find also patches and beta releases)
http://www.maz-sound.com/
(Here you'll find everything concerning sound and certainly also
something what you haven't seen yet :)
Q. Why isn't Windows NT / Windows 2000 supported?
A. NT has a different device driver architecture. It does not support VxD
drivers and the 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 the result.
Q. I've got only 512kB sample memory. Why doesn't AMP 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 amount of sample RAM.
The reason is that I prefer 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 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 300kB?
A. Unfortunately, it is not possible. The EMU8000 synthesizer has got no
access to the system RAM (and I do not plan to make AMP a software-mixing
player).
Anyway, I think that it shouldn't be a problem for anybody to add some
sample memory to his/her card now, when old 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 either have 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
a MIDI sequencer). But this is very dangerous and you can expect a lot of
trouble, including a 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?
A. No. A native Windows version of AMP is available for background playback.
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 digital data directly. Simply,
there is no data path.
The only way how to record the sound without quality loss is by using
a sampler, DAT or a minidisk recorder connected to the sound card's digital
output (SPDIF interface). You can also use the digital input of the new
Sound Blaster Live for such a conversion.
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 full rate (44.1 kHz) with all other
inputs (except the MIDI synth) muted, you should get quite good quality.
Note that you need to use AMP for Windows, as it retains the ADC part of
your sound card and enough free CPU power available to another applications.
Q. I'd like to know how to pronounce your name correctly.
A. If you have the Creative Text Assist software installed, launch Text Assist
Dictionary, type "laadya kopetzki" (without the quotes) into the Sound Like
box, and then push Say It. What you get is not too far from reality. :-)
Q. Are you planning to make a version of AMP for Linux?
A. Currently I have no such plans. Reasons are:
- the source code is not portable (due to many 16-bit specific constructions
and optimizations)
- lack of time for coding
Q. Does AMP work with the new Sound Blaster Live?
A. No, as the new chip EMU10K1 is not backwards compatible with EMU8000.
For SB Live you need to get the new AMP clone, called LMP. To download it,
check the official AMP distribution sites.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ 19. COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
In case you find any major or minor problem with the player, don't hesitate
to contact me. But first, please, try to find the circumstances in which the
problem appears.
I would also appreciate your comments (both positive and negative) on the
software itself. A preferred way how to send your very first comments is to
go through the process of registration, as described in section #16.
<< NOTE FOR PROGRAMMERS: If you want to contribute by writing another file
selector plugin, you're welcome. Just drop me a message. >>
But enough words! Now it's time to launch AMP and enjoy the music...
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ 20. CONTACTING THE AUTHOR ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
If you wish to contact the author for any reason, send e-mail to:
kopecky@tsoft.cz