Sonique 1.30 What's New

WHAT'S NEW IN SONIQUE 1.30

Revision History:
11.24.99 Sonique 1.30
10.03.99 Sonique 1.20
06.27.99 Sonique 1.05
05.26.99 Sonique 1.0
05.01.99 Sonique .97 Beta
04.13.99 Sonique .95 Beta
03.24.99 Sonique .92 Beta
03.05.99 Sonique .90 Beta
02.08.99 Sonique .75 Beta
11.16.98 Sonique .62 Beta

SONIQUE™ 1.30 - 11.24.99

Weeding out all those really hard to find bugs.

Fixed the Up/Down Arrow behaviour in certain screens
Some registration modifications
CD insert not sticking/not reversing bug.
Added master volume control option.
Made setup screens enter/leave in a more cool fashion.
Added plugin info query interface for visuals.
Improved shuffle randomness & made first song random when shuffle is turned on.
Fixed bug : playlist progress in small mode was different to nav mode.
Fixed bug : dropping a song with append off and play immediately off didn't stop the playing.
Added ability for visuals to change their names at any time.
Added Individual Mode Positions and Lock Window Positions options.
Rearranged setup options between General & Playlist.
Fixed bug where pressing "d" to delete the current song would keep playing that song if shuffle was on.
Changed spelling/text layout of window titles.
Fixed redirection problems in stream library.
Added Intellimouse keyboard support
Fixed playlist selection combo. with mouse+keyboard.

SONIQUE™ 1.20 - 10.03.99

The first release after the team sonique relocation.

Added search engines page.
Plugin crash exception handling (will print message if visual plugin crashes & plugin will be disabled until Sonique is restarted).
Added commandline option "-debugvisuals" for visual developers, disables exception handling.
Fixed bug when files are dropped onto Sonique and "Play Immediately" is selected (would play wrong song & slow down loading).
Fixed QuickStart bug which would make it crash if it downloaded a new radio station listing with more than 10 items.
Removed occasional crash when changing between songs of different types.
Added vertical sync. option for fullscreen visuals, to reduce shearing.
Added option to scan playlist for info when idle (will read song length and title).
Fixed problem where starting Sonique with a playlist loaded left the current file open.
Added playlist screen arrows for large playlists - mini arrows indicate whether list can be scrolled up or down.
Improved EQ settings loaded on startup - will remember EQ name, etc.
Double clicking an audio enhancement knob causes it to reset to 100%
Fixed a skin bug (EQ sliders).
Added EQ slider alpha mask support.
Added playlist total time display.
Added append/play immediately key shortcuts to drop files to be consistant with "open file".
Added ability to import WinAmp extended playlists (and when saving .pls files, extra info is now readable by WinAmp).
Fixed streaming DLL problems (might get "Connection Aborted").
Fixed QuickStart problem (when one upgrade of a batch failed, windows freezed up).
Added >1000 song capability - song # is underlined when it wraps.
Fixed bug in fullscreen, if there was an error initializing directdraw it could crash.
Added remembering fullscreen mode option.
Removed concurrency problems while loading songs of a different type than the currently playing song.
Added vertical sync. option.
Fixed bug - vis selector in mid mode would sometimes get 'stuck' on.
Rearranged online music screen.
Fixed some FTP streaming problems. (Leading / in CWD & ignoring error responses).
Fixed stream buffering problems.
Fixed problem where QuickStart doesn't close properly if Online Update window is open.

SONIQUE™ 1.05 - 06.27.99

A hefty bunch of fixes and revisions. This thing is SOLID.

Fixes various skin loading bugs
Mode change bug fixed (caused Sonique to disappear when changing modes)
Saves last skin used on exit.
Radial fill for progress indicators
WAV Writer bug fixed
Drawer/Knob overdraw issues fixed
Append files on right click
Install skins by right clicking on skin files
Drag n drop / Double-click skin loading
Sonique supports non-standard display regions better
Better handling of transparent regions in skins
Timing issues with full-screen mode solved
Audio buffer latency reduced
Decode priority adjusted to minimize song load impact
Escape from full-screen handled better
Allow positioning of blue-circle icons in skins
Round / Square corner detection for skins
360 degree fill mode for playlist progress ring allowed
Href icon link added
Full-screen keyboard support improved (less lag)
TAB key displays "www.sonique.com" in full-screen mode
Logo blend color option added to skins
Now uses registry in addition to sonique.ini
Left/Right motion will turn knobs
Streaming compatability improved
TAB key will shift between visual mode and playlist editor
Toggle added to clear text from full-window mode
Quickstart CPU issues resolved
Multiple Quickstart instances issue resolved
Online update improved
New Version of WMA (Win 98 Memory Leak Fixed - Thanks Microsoft)
Info is only available when playing.
Skins dir created on install
Fixed CD Player Alias Problem
Dynamic-Automatic Audio Buffering Added
Quickstart Overhauled (like majorly man)
Installer kills sonique & quickstart (no more reboot)
Pressing keys in full-screen mode no longer hangs win 98

SONIQUE™ 1.0 - 05.26.99

This is it, the BIG ONE ZERO!! There's a lot of new stuff and coolness in this release. And it's still FREE!!

Windows Media Technology 4.0 Built In.
Sonique Quickstart Utility.
Skin support Added
Demo Song Added, plays on first run - huge thanks to Molly Boyles for providing us with this great sounding audio clip! Keep rockin' girl!
Online Tools button changed to Music Download.
Enlarged Mode button changed to Visual Mode.
Full Screen & Full Window Visuals.
Visual selector arrows removed from Visual Mode. You must now use the BIG GRAY ARROW buttons to switch visuals in Visual Mode.
New version of STARDUST Mpeg Audio Decoder. This version (1.9) is the best sounding and fastest yet (perhaps best decoder in the world?)
Setup Options System tab modified (quickstart added, show sonique on taskbar added)
More keyboard shortcuts - (see hotkeys.html)
Performance issues addressed (visual system faster)
Song Information Moved, and it works now!
Track Quick Picker Removed (it was pretty much lame)
Online Tools (now Music Download) Screen Modified.

SONIQUE™ .97 BETA - 05.01.99

Help System Added, Bug Fixes

New HTML based help system. Click the blue question mark icon on any screen to receive contextual help in your default web browser.
Mikit Module Plug-in Fixed - No longer cuts off last few seconds of song.
Internal revisions and fixes to prep for 1.0 release.

SONIQUE™ .95 BETA - 04.13.99

More Bug Fixes and now MS Audio 4.0 Support

We now support Microsoft Audio 4.0 (via a plug-in)! See www.sonique.com/plugs.html for details.
CD Audio Support improved! (Will now play through a CD without you having to click NEXT TRACK)
Clear Playlist on Insert Button not working bug is now fixed.
.Wav file support improved - better buffereing, no more clicky sound.
Vis plug-ins now go into their own directory ../sonique/vis (Installer will automatically move previously installed plug-ins)
and more!

SONIQUE™ .92 BETA - 03.24.99

A pretty minor release - mostly just bug fixes - diskwriting & stream saving are big improvements though

Improved Streaming Support
Bug where CD Audio would only come out of one channel fixed
Bug causing sonique to litter sonEque.sqf files everywhere fixed
AMP knob actually works now
Setup Options screen modified to make bottom menu more obvious
Visual screen labels reworded for clarity
Proxy Support Added (Internet Tab in SETUP OPTIONS)
Diskwriting to .wav files added (allows you to decode your mp3s to .wavs)
Stream Saving option added (save streams to .wav files)
Hotkeys Finalized (click here to view list)
Vis selector becoming inaccessible in mid-mode fixed
mp3->cd->mp3->cd crashing bug fixed

SONIQUE™ .90 BETA - 03.05.99

The Big News of .90 - Streaming support. Now you can stream mp3 audio from just about any remote source.

URL Streaming Support - Click a link or enter URL into FILE OPEN dialog. Will save recently visited URLs.
Completely re-written audio system - faster, better & more compatible! (note: audio system and decoder are two different things)
Cyrix/K6 optimzations - See SETUP OPTIONS within Sonique to enable them
Improved frame code
Vis Plug-in support
Playlist Fixes - more random shuffle mode, 15 song bug fixed, misc fixes
Fixed spectrum 2.0
Vix fx now saves REVERSE
Saves current vis on exit
Default buffer size enlarged
ID3 tag handling enhanced (song name strings)
Title/URL scrolling in all modes
Open File dialog modifed, URL form added
Additional settings added to STARDUST screen
Mask calc removed - Sonique will start MUCH faster!
Hot Keys!! (see web site for details)
Mouse wheel support added
EQ settings can now be saved as presets
Knob overdraw problem fixed
Dexter added
Play once error fixed
Stream seek

SONIQUE™ .75 BETA - 02.08.99

Here's the LENGTHY list of additions/fixes from .62 to .75. They are listed in order of relative importance.
If you wonder why there was 3 months between .62 and .75, just notice that number one on the list is a
completely new MP3 decoder -- and that's only 1 of 24. There are actually many more fixes, but we
can't remember all of the hundred or so we've done since .62.

Added our own Completely New MPEG Audio Decoder (Stardust™). This fixes most of the crashing
problems from .62 and includes support for Xing AudioCatalyst™ encoded files, VBR files and also
just plain corrupted/badly encoded files. It plays all files and plays them better.
New version of Mikit™ Module Decoder. Module files sound better than ever.
Playsafe™ v1.00 implemented. This is a security system we've developed. See our website for details.
New INSTALLSHIELD™ Installer - Also with an UNINSTALLER.
Support for European characters added.
Additional visualizations - Added Spectrum 2.0.
Additional visualization effects - you can now apply smoke and zoom effects to the vis as well as blur.
Includes our Right On Time™ Visual System for fast, accurate visualization display.
CD-Player Replacement / Auto Insert Detection Added. Sonique can now be your default CD-Player.
We know have ID3 display support. If a file as an ID3 tag, the song title/artist will display.
WAV File player added/improved.
Added ability to switch from TIME ELAPSED to TIME REMAINING - Click on the time while playing a song to switch.
Equalizer Presets added.
Seek bugs fixed. At time of release, we are only player to support accurate seek in VBR files.
Antialiasing Fixes - Text and Graphics in Sonique look cleaner and smoother. No more black edges.
Playlist highlighting fixed visually and made more windows-like.
Fixed aliasing problems around edges of navigator (finally)
Added shadow to volume knob in mid mode (how did that get left out in the first place?).
Re-did some of the layout in the preferences, got rid of silly bounding boxes.
Got rid of file output info text in mid mode for now.
Added some information to the file info output text in enlarged mode.
Update info works correctly.
A bug where Sonique would crash if stop was pressed while song was paused is now fixed.
Pitch/Tempo settings are no longer saved.
Text break issue solved.
Hover Issue - Part One.
You can now drag and drop multiple files from a CD.
Various Playlist Bugs fixed - Added support for up to 999 files. Faster Load/Sort operations (MUCH MUCH Faster).
BEAUTIFUL new Splash screen.
These swooby new HTML pages.

SONIQUE™ .62 BETA - 11.16.98

Additions/Revisions for Sonique .62 Beta:

Improved audio output. This should work with all soundcard drivers.
Fixed annoying volume/balance bug.
Added support for drag 'n' drop of directories.
Added support for mp2, mp1 and mpx file extensions.
New icons.
Minimize to system tray enabled.
Added pls, m3u and pl to the list of associated filetypes.
Now can click on audio controls drawer and have it slide out from any screen.
Fixed & added status text for all buttons and hotspots.
Load & save balance & pitch.
Load & save last window position and state.
Load & save last playlist and current song.
Added "open file(s)" button to small mode.
Fixed window placement of open & save dialogs.
Changed format chooser in "open file(s)" dialog.
Added default extension ".pls" to playlist save dialog.
Made repeat mode button toggle in standard order.
Made the shuffle playmode more random.
Window position is saved between window states.
Double left click on "border" jumps up a state. Double right click jumps down.
Auto selects a file in playlist editor.
Remove option in playlist editor removes selected files also.
Can select a range of files in playlist editor holding down shift.
Selecting "add" from playlist editor will always append to list.
Fixed disabled track bug from enlarged mode track selector.
Added more command line support. -stop, -play, -pause, -resume, -removecursong, -clearplaylist, and -seekto <tracknumber>.
Fixed fade in playlist editor.
Fixed video for various video cards.
Next and previous song buttons wrap around when shuffle(all) is selected on.
Fixed "sonique.sgf not found" error during loadtime.
Registered files work from "run" dialog and "start" command.
Files with an extra '.' in them display correctly now.
Erratic ".mp3" removed from song name display.
Prompts user when overwriting an existing playlist.
Large arrows switch views in enlarged mode!
Launching several files at once from explorer with multiple instances turned off works.
Repeat and shuffle play modes save and restore.
Fixed glitch in sliding drawer.

SEE README FILE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION