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The Sound Site Newsletter Issue 05
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The
Sound
Site
Newsletter
Volume 1 #5 July 11, 1991 (S)
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Copyright (C) 1991 by David Komatsu All Rights Reserved.
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This newsletter may be distributed to bulletin boards, FTP
sites or other media as long as no part of it is changed and
there is no charge to receive the newsletter.
Next Issue due: August 1, 1991.
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Note from the Editor
--------------------
Well here is the fifth edition of the Sound Site Newsletter at this
time I would like to thank Dale Chun and Michael Minakami for their
help in putting this together. Due to final exams, relocation and
just a pile of other stuff there has been a long delay since our
forth edition.
Due to the HUGE overhead of managing the mailing list I ask that only
those who have no alternative but receiving by mail add to the mailing
list. This newsletter will be available on Simtel20, Garbo as well as
posted to comp.sys.ibm.pc, comp.sys.macintosh, comp.sys.amiga and
rec.games.misc.
-----> Dave
In this issue
-------------
o Do you want to announce a new product?
o How you can join the Sound Newsletter family
o Rogue needs a new home... Can you provide it
o Modplay (finally an Amiga player for the PC speaker)
o Specs on the Adlib Gold card
o Anonymous FTP sound Sites
Do you want to announce a new product?
---------------------------------------
If you have written a sound related program that is SHAREWARE,
FREEWARE, or PUBLIC DOMAIN and would like to announce your program
to the world contact us. In addition to an announcement on the
sound-letter we will also see that your program is uploaded to
ROGUE for international access! And best of all its F-R-E-E.
If you wish for us to describe or evaluate your product, please
contact us for further information.
Attention Bulletin Board owners and FTP site administrators
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Starting with this July 1 issue the Sound Newsletter will go monthly.
You can carry the sound newsletter on your site FREE of charge. For
FTP sites please contact me at: komatsu@alcor.usc.edu. For BBS owners
if you can find a copy feel free to post it. We are currently looking
for BBS owner that will be able to keep a current copy posted and allow
for downloads through a special account.
Also starting with this issue if you run a bulletin board system we
will mail copies of the newsletter to you via Fido Net or Compuserve if
you will make them available for public download. If you do so your
bbs will also be listed on our bbs distribution list.
Attention FTP site operators and user of ROGUE
----------------------------------------------
The site at kfps-roble6-dynamic.stanford.edu (Rogue) is no longer
in operation. Unfortunately Mike no longer has the facilities to
run Rogue off his computer. He does recommend that all .mod file
people refer to abcfd20.larc.nasa.gov and all .snd/.voc people refer
to ccb.ucsf.edu for sound files.
Our offer to FTP administrators is as follows.
We need the following
---------------------
(1) Anonymous FTP site
(2) Approximately 100 Megabytes (or whatever space we can get)
We will provide the following
-----------------------------
(1) All files on Rogue
(2) The latest in sound players of all types
(3) The latest mod files as provided before
(4) Complete maintenance of the sound directories.
Thus if you can provide the space we will handle all the details of
keeping the site up to date and smoothly running as ROGUE was. We also
estimate an immediate influx or former ROGUE users. If you are
interested please contact me at: komatsu@alcor.usc.edu.
Sound Bits
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DISCLAIMER: The sound newsletter is not affiliated with any of the
software and products mentioned below. The information is provided
to give the reader a look at the product. We provide no guarantee
on the performance of the software or products mentioned in the sound
letter.
*****
Modplay 1.16
This month I would like to feature a new program on the FREEWARE
market. Modplay will play .mod files through the PC speaker or through
various sound media including the Soundblaster and Adlib boards. Though
many packages exist I especially like this since it plays clearly through
the PC speaker, has the ability to fast-forward through files and is
actively supported by the author Mark Cox. I have taken some excerpts
from the manual to show what the program can do.
_ __ _ __ _ ,
) ) _// / ) ' ) / Amiga module player
M O D /--' / /--/ / / for a 10Mhz or faster
/ /___ / (_ (__/_ IBM compatible PC
//
Version 1.16 (/ (C) Mark J Cox 1991
Modplay allows you to play (most) Amiga soundtracker/noisetracker files
on a PC (10Mhz or faster clock speed). CGA minimum is required for the
graphical display whilst playing, but no display at all is required
just to play modules. MODPLAY detects automatically if a module is
corrupt, and detects if it is a 15 or 31 instrument module.
MODPLAY implements all Amiga effects such as volume sliding, vibrato etc.
except for the looping which, although implemented as described in
Soundtracker v3.0 (plays all the sample first, followed by the loop
the rest of the time) does not seem to work with some modules. (See bugs
section)
MODPLAY will play modules through the PC Speaker as mentioned above,
through an D to A converter on any of the three possible parallel ports,
in stereo if you have an D to A converter on both LPT1 and LPT2 (this
sounds really good) and also through a prototype board (currently in
development by a friend - stereo replay and sampling).
o Special keys to alter speed of playback
o Command line option for people with slower/faster machines
o Crashes less often on slower machines.
o Will play multiple files from the command line.
o Added Playing through LPT1 and 2 in mono mode, so I can listen to
modules in mono without it only coming out just of one of my speakers.
o Bug fixed that meant computer would reboot about 10% of the time when
MODPLAY was started (I was calling the wrong address, so much for QA!)
o Module file sizes are now displayed
o Elapsed time display when playing a module
o Plays to Soundblaster card at any base address (210,220...260)
o Times out if no Soundblaster card found.
o Displays filename of Module playing in multi-play mode (MP *)
o OOOOppps! Someone just pointed out that modules are either 15 or 31 (not
30).. Modplay now will play all 31 samples.
o Full screen display of playing samples
o Resets time from RTC at end of tune
o Stereo playing to 0300/0302 ports
o /v compiled version information
** Coming very soon...
o Autodection of where your Soundblaster card base address is.
o Display estimate of playing time for each module
o Option to write all information about all modules in a directory
(Name, Size, Time etc. ) to a file/screen (stdout)
o Allow individual samples to be played and saved to disk
o Allow samples to be replaced by ones from disk
o User definable output port for Mono and/or Stereo mode (for people
with D/A's on a PC bus card).
For more information please contact Mark at the address listed below.
mp116e.zip (the latest release) can be found uop.uop.edu [138.9.200.1]
In the directory /incoming/Mark_J_Cox.
Mark J Cox Electronic Mail:
29 Lundie Close (JANET) mjhc8@uk.ac.bradford.eleceng
Stenson Fields mjhc8@eleceng.bradford.ac.uk (non UK)
Derby (NETMAIL) Mark Cox 2:250/404.5
DE2 3AN (Kingdom of Greyhawk BBS)
(Or if before July 1991, 17 Kirkburn Place, Bradford, W Yorks BD7 2BZ
is quicker)
(From August 1st the first address will become obsolete.. the new address
will be m.j.h.cox@uk.ac.bradford - please do not use the new address yet
(it works but I don't get the mail!) )
All comments on PLAY, RESPLAY, MODPLAY or future software is welcomed!
*****
Future Looks
*****
Later this summer ADLIB will release what they call Adlib Gold. Listed
below are some of the features.
o 20 channels of synthesized sound plus 2 channels of sound sampling
o Stereophonic recording and playback with programmable volume and tone
controls
o 12 bit stereo DAC accepting 16, 12, and 8 bit data
o Antialiasing filter, plus two-times oversampling and two-times
undersampling digital filters
o Microphone input for voice recording and sound sampling
o Audio mixer for combining CD audio, voice, synthesized sound, and
sampled sound signals.
o Auxiliary input for digital recordings from CDs, audio tapes and other
analog sound sources.
o MIDI input and output for interfacing with any standard MIDI device
o Game port for all popular analog joysticks
o Full Compliance with level 1 multimedia extensions to Microsoft
Windows.
o Fully downward compatible with the entertainment-industry-standard Ad
Lib Music Synthesizer Card
o Choice of PCM or ADPCM digital sampling at rates of 44.1, 22.05, 11.25,
7.35, or 5.5125 KHz
o 3:1 hardware compression/decompression
o 16 byte MIDI I/O FIFO with three programmable timers
o Two 128 byte sampling FIFO with a choice of eight interrupt conditions
o Negligible wait time between successive chip writes
THe care will be available in 3 models
(1) PC-1000. This has microphone, jack, tabletop microphone, MIDI and
game ports, and standard 1/8" stereo output and input jacks.
(2) AT-2000. Same as PC-1000 plus SCSI interfact port of CD-ROM.
(3) MC-2000. Same as AT-2000 with Micro Channel Architecture
For further information contact Adlib
*****
MediaVision Pro Audio Spectrum
------------------------------------------------
Thanks to Michael Minakami who relayed this information from a flier.
MULTIMEDIA FOR YOUR PC HAS ARRIVED!
The power and promise of multimedia is available today with Pro Audio-
Spectrum. As multimedia changes the face of the PC industry, Pro
AudioSpectrum keeps you on the leading edge, bringing together all the
standard audio features required to transform your PC into a Microsoft
Level 1 multimedia platform.
PRO AUDIOSPECTRUM
brings a new dimension to your favorite software by adding CD quality
digital audio to your PC. Not only will you be able to create sounds
and voice-overs for your own applications. but Pro AudioSpectrum is
completely compatible with all games and software applications that
support the AdLib sound board. And with our exclusive 22-voice stereo
synthesizers, you'll hear them like you've never heard them before.
Some Features:
STEREO SYNTHESIZERS
22 simultaneous instrument sounds are provided by two on-board FM synth-
esizers, giving you the richest, purest high-fidelity audio available
for your PC.
Spectrum Sound (TM)
Special shielding and innovative circuitry are combined to produce high
fidelity, low noise audio. Spectrum Sound means audio presentations are
crisp and dynamic, and sound effects are more realistic.
Multi-source analog mixer
Puts a professional mixing board in your PC. The software controlled
mixer creates studio effects like fade-in, fade-out, and pan. It also
adjusts the relative volume of each of the audio sources: stereo FM
synthesizer, stereo CD-audio, stereo digital audio (PCM), external audio
source (such as an external MIDI synthesizer, VCR, laser disc, home
stereo system), and the PC speaker.
Output Amplifier
Our on-board amplifier adjusts volume, bass and treble under full soft-
ware control. The 1 watt per channel amp is powerful enough to drive
headphones or a small set of stereo speakers., Or, you can connect Pro
AudioSpectrum to an amplifier or a set of self-powered speakers.
Stereo Digital to Analog Converter (DAC)
Digitized voice, sound effects and acoustic music are plays back in
full stereo, utilizing Spectrum Sound for high-fidelity, low-noise
playback.
Stereo Digital Recording
Voice, music and sound effects are digitally recorded directly to a
hard drive or floppy disk. 8-bit PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) samples
are taken at user-selectable rates from 2kHz -44.1kHz. Spectrum Sound
eliminates noise and ensures the highest quality digital recording.
MIDI Interface
High performance MIDI interface connects the Pro AudioSpectrum to
other MIDI devices such as keyboard and external synthesizers.
(Requires optional MIDI connector box.)
SCSI Interface
An on-board SCSI interface gives access to CD-ROM drives. SCSI is the
industry standard CD-ROM interface and is supported by all CD-ROM
manufacturers. (Requires optional CD-ROM cable kit.)
IBM Standard Joystick Port
Compatible with standard PC analog joysticks.
The following software is included:
AudioMate
Integrates CD-Audio, stereo PCM, stereo synthesized audio, and MIDI
into you existing Harvard Graphics, Autodesk Animator, or Lotus
Freelance presentation. When combined with the analog mixing feature,
AudioMate allows you to make a powerful statement with synchronized
voice annotation, music and sound effects.
Music Clip Library
A library of music including jazz, classical, rock, pop and fanfares!
Use the editing feature of Sp Spectrum to cut and paste music for the
perfect presentation.
Digitized Sound Effects
Super sound effects to pump up your presentation. Sound effects help
emphasize main points, increase your audience's understanding , or add
humor to your statement.
MIDI Sequencer (Sp Spectrum)
Use Sp Spectrum to compose music with the on-board 22-voice
synthesizers, or with external synthesizers through the MIDI port. Sp
Spectrum can also be used to edit existing music such as the songs in
the music clip library. Easy-to-use features include cut, paste, and
loop for creating custom music segments of any length to fit your
application.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Synthesizers
- 2 YAMAHA YM3812's (one per channel)
- 22 voices (11 per channel)
- 18 Timbres ( 9 per channel)
Audio Mixing
(10 input audio mixing with independent left/right channel control)
- internal synthesizers (stereo)
- internal CD-audio (stereo)
- External line-in audio (stereo)
- Digitally sampled audio (stereo)
- Microphone (mono)
- PC speaker (mono)
Sample Quality (1 Vp-p reference)
- Sample Rate (8-bit PCM):
2kHz - 44.1kHz (programmable frequency step size < 1uS)
- Dynamic Range and Signal-to-noise
- Synthesized mixed audio: -75dB
- Sampled Audio (PCM): -55dB
- Frequency Response: 20Hz - 20kHz (+/- 3dB)
- Filtering: 4kHz - 20kHz programmable
- Volume control (programmable in steps with adjustment of left and
right channels)
- Master Volume: 0 to -80 dB (2dB/step)
- Mixer: +3 to -12dB (1dB/step)
Audio Outputs
- Drive Level: 1.414Vrms (4Vp-p)
- Drive Power: 1W
- Load Impedance: 8 Ohms
- Output Connections: mini-stereo jacks
MIDI Controller: Yamaha 3802
SCSI Interface: 153kB/sec (maximum CD-ROM rate)
Adlib Compatible
System Requirements
- IBM XT/AT, 386, 486, PS/2 (model 25/30), TANDY (except 1000EX/HX)
and compatibles
- 640KB RAM minimum
- DOS 3.0 or higher
- 720KB or 1.2MB disk drive (low density format available)
----------------------------
Anonymous Sound FTP SITES
----------------------------
To connect to an anonymous FTP site do the following (we are using the
sound-site as an example)
ftp ccb.ucsf.edu or ftp 128.218.1.13
name: anonymous
password: <email-address>
If you know of any other Sound ftp sites please forward the information
this way. If you know the administrators of the below sound sites or
you are in charge of one of the below sound sites please e-mail me so
we can join efforts. Your input to this sound-list would be greatly
appreciated.
Name IP# What
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abcfd20.larc.nasa.gov 128.155.23.64 amiga sounds
ccb.ucsf.edu 128.218.1.13 (.snd), players. THIS NEWSLETTER
directory: Pub/Sound_list
garbo.uwasa.fi 128.214.12.37 Scream Tracker files
ems.media.mit.edu 18.99.99.99 csound
neon.stanford.edu 36.80.0.138 sounds for soundblaster
rtag.ee.lbl.gov 128.3.254.68 sounds sounds/*.au
sciences.sdsu.edu 130.191.224.2 sounds
snake.mcs.kent.edu 131.123.2.222 SoundBlaster & Adlib stuff
directory: pub/SB-Adlib
sumex-aim.stanford.edu (.snd) files
terminator.cc.umich.edu 141.211.164.8 sounds and misc archive site
ucsd.edu 128.54.16.1 sounds for sparc
uop.uop.edu 138.9.200.1 modplay,play
directory: /incoming/Mark_J_Cox.
xanth.cs.odu.edu 128.82.8.1 startrek sounds
dir: pub/star-trek/stsounds.
wsmr-simtel20.army.mil 192.88.110.20 Sound players
The sound Newsletter can also be found on the following bulletin
boards. If you operate a board and have a UNIX, FidoNet or Compuserve
address mail it to me and you will be put on a select list to receive
the sound letter. Please also include the name of your board, modem
speed and phone number if you want it listed.
Readers if you choose to sign on to one of this boards please tell
the sysop you found the number in the SOUND NEWSLETTER!
United States
Board Speed Phone Sysop
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Network One Systems
Fantasy Island 9600 (HST) (808) 689-0040 Ken Ludwig
Lost City Of Atlantis 2400 (808) 689-7734 Ken Ludwig
Listening Post 9600 (HST) (808) 689-8583 Lou Braun
Random Motion 2400 (808) 689-4043 Lou Braun
Graphics Plus 2400 (808) 531-6509 Eric Lui
Abroad
Board Speed Phone Sysop
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Einstein BBS 2400 +47 4 53 46 18 Kjetil Krag
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Note: ccb.ucsf.edu contains 15 megs of sound files for REmac & Playmac |
| Mail: sound@ccb.ucsf.edu (with ADD-ME: name@site to be added to the |
| sound list providing information on PC sound programs |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------
| sound@ccb.ucsf.edu | Playmac Technologies |
| komatsu@aludra.usc.edu | Co-author / Public Relations |
| -----> Dave | Playmac 2.00, SIMP, TP, QL etc |
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