Wayzata's Best of Shareware PC/Windows 1

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Text File | 1992-01-08 | 35KB | 928 lines

InTune v2.5 An AdLib ROL File Music Player Copyright (c) 1990-1992 by Doug Brandon -- All Rights Reserved Table of Contents 1. InTune Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2. System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3. License and Disclaimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 4. Registration Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 5. InTune Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 6. Loading a Sound Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 7. InTune Command Line Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Playing Songs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Getting Technical Information . . . . . . . . . . 7 8. InTune Full Screen Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Selecting Songs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Marking Songs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Issuing Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Command Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 The Play Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 9. InTune Script Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Script Mode Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 10. Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 11. History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 1. InTune Overview ----------------------------------------------------------------- InTune is a very versatile and easy to use program that plays AdLib ROL format music files in a variety of ways: 1) via command line mode in which songs to play are specified on the command line at the DOS prompt, 2) via the full screen mode in which all files are listed on the screen and you use the keyboard and/or mouse to select songs to play, and 3) via the script mode where songs to play, and additional commands are specified in a file. InTune supports playing of ROL files from within compressed PKZIP files, saving valuable disk space (most ROL files compress up to 80% using PKZIP). InTune also supports 43/50 line display mode on EGA/VGA displays, allowing display of up to 240 songs per screen. InTune can play songs at random, and you may also mark multiple songs to be played in any order you desire. 2. System Requirements ----------------------------------------------------------------- InTune requires the following to run: - IBM PC or compatible with DOS 3.0 or higher - AdLib music synthesizer card (or equivalent) with SOUND.COM driver from AdLib, Inc. Sound Blaster card requires SB-SOUND.COM driver from Creative Labs, Inc. - 95K of free memory minimum (more depending on size of instrument bank file and number and size of ROL files) The following hardware is not necessary, but supported: - Mouse - EGA/VGA display hardware 3. License and Disclaimer ----------------------------------------------------------------- InTune is copyrighted software, and all rights are reserved. InTune may not be changed or modified in any way except by the author. All warranties, whether expressed or implied, are disclaimed relating to this software. The author will not be liable for any type of damage created by the use of InTune. The user of the software bears all risk as to the quality and performance of this software. You are free to use, copy and distribute InTune for non commercial use if: 1) The InTune distribution files are not modified in any way, and 2) no fee is charged for use, copying or distribution. Computer user groups or clubs, or disk distributors of shareware may distribute InTune for a fee of $10 or less in order to cover duplication and administrative costs. Page 1 4. Registration Information ----------------------------------------------------------------- InTune is distributed as a "shareware" product. The "shareware" concept gives perspective buyers an opportunity to use and evaluate a software package before deciding whether or not to purchase it. You may use InTune freely for a ten (10) day trial period. After the ten day trial period expires, you should have evaluated this programs usefulness. If you find InTune useful, and continue to use it beyond the ten day trail period, you must register it with the author. Registration ensures continued support and development of InTune, as well as supporting the shareware concept. Please support the user-supported (shareware) concept! You determine whether or not it will be worthwhile for myself and other shareware authors to continue developing quality software. The one-time InTune registration fee is $20. The file REGISTER.TXT is a registration form which is distributed with this package. A registration form may also be generated by typing the command "INTUNE /R". I realize that some people have problems finding new ROL files, so I am also making a library disk of compressed ROL music files (over 550 ROL files, 6MB uncompressed) available for an additional $5. To register your copy of InTune, print out the registration form and fill it in. Please do not forget to include shipping/handling charges. Send the completed form and funds to: Doug Brandon 712 Stardust Drive Placentia, California 92670-4507 This one-time registration of InTune will get you several things. You will receive a 5.25" disk which contains the latest version of the InTune files. This disk also contains a program named REGTUNE.EXE (and instructions) which will register all present, and future versions of InTune obtained from any BBS. You will also receive a formatted hardcopy of the latest documentation. Registration of InTune also removes the delays and registration notices at the beginning and end of the program. Page 2 5. InTune Options ----------------------------------------------------------------- All of the options to be used with InTune are entered on the command line at the DOS prompt. The options used with InTune are explained in detail in the following section, along with examples. Listed below is a summary of important facts to keep in mind while specifying InTune options. - The options can be typed using either upper case or lower case. - All options must be preceded by a '/' or '-' character. - Typing "INTUNE ?", "INTUNE /? ", or "INTUNE /H" will display a help screen showing all options. - Options may appear in any order. - Options can NOT be combined. - If an option is specified which contains a filename, and the extension on the filename is omitted, the appropriate extension will automatically be appended (.BNK for /B, and .ZIP for /Z). The following table lists all of the InTune options, and a brief description of each option. A more detailed explanation of each option is in the next section. Option Summary ------ -------------------------------------------------- /B Specify bankfile to use instead of STANDARD.BNK /D Specify an alternate directory for ROL files /H Display InTune options and help screen /I Display technical information on named ROL files /R Generate a registration form /X Use extended display in full screen mode /Z Specify PKZIP file to read songs from /? Same as /H /B = Specify an alternate instrument bank file InTune defaults to using the instrument bank file STANDARD.BNK. This option allows you to tell InTune use a different instrument bankfile. The name of the instrument bank file you wish to specify must immediately follow the "/B". If a filename extension is omitted, ".BNK" is automatically appended. Examples: "INTUNE /BBIGBANK.BNK" "INTUNE /BCUSTOM Page 3 /D = Specify an alternate directory for ROL files InTune defaults to looking in the current directory for the ROL files to play. This option allows playing of songs from other directories. The directory specification must immediately follow the "/D". Examples: "INTUNE /D\ADLIB\ROLS" "INTUNE /DC:\ROLFILES" "INTUNE /D.." /H (and /?) = Display InTune options and help screen This option displays how to invoke the three different modes of InTune, and a list of the various options which may be specified. /I = Display ROL technical information. This option forces InTune to read and display information contained in the specified ROL files. The information displayed for each ROL file includes the following: name of instrument bank file, number of instruments in bankfile, name of ROL file, ticks per beat, beats per measure, music mode, basic tempo, play time, instruments used, instruments used which are missing from the instrument bank file, and event counts. This option is only valid when using the command line mode of InTune, and is ignored otherwise. This option may be used in combination with /Z. Examples: "INTUNE /I NEWS.ROL" "INTUNE /I ZARDOZ" /X = Use extended display in InTune full screen mode If this option is specified, and InTune detects your system is equipped with an EGA or VGA display, it will switch to hi-resolution display mode in the InTune full screen mode. Depending on your type of display, EGA or VGA, InTune will switch to 43 or 50 line mode. This mode can allow InTune to display up to 240 ROL filenames at once. If you do not have the correct hardware to support this function, an error message is displayed. This option is only valid when using the full screen mode of InTune, and is ignored otherwise. Example: "INTUNE /X" Page 4 /Z = Specify PKZIP file to use InTune supports playing of ROL files from within compressed PKZIP files. Most ROL files compress up to 80% which can save a lot of valuable disk space. When this option is used, all ROL files will be extracted and played from the specified PKZIP file, and deleted afterwards. The name of the PKZIP file to use must immediately follow the "/Z". If a filename extension is omitted, ".ZIP" is automatically appended. The PKUNZIP program must be in one of the directories specified in the DOS PATH variable in order to use this option. Examples: "INTUNE /ZROLS.ZIP" "INTUNE /ZROLLIB" 6. Loading a Sound Driver ----------------------------------------------------------------- Before you can run InTune, a sound driver must be loaded. This is a memory resident program (TSR) supplied by manufacturers of sound cards that manages the low level hardware interface to the sound card. If you run InTune and a sound driver is not loaded, an error message will be displayed. All AdLib cards are shipped with a sound driver program named SOUND.COM. To load the driver, just type "SOUND" on the DOS command line. This sound driver optionally takes one parameter, which is the size of an internal memory buffer used by the sound driver. For best results, use a buffer size of 1K. To load the sound driver with a 1K internal buffer, type "SOUND B1000" on the DOS command line. You only need to load the sound driver once. To use InTune with the Sound Blaster card, you must obtain the sound driver program named SB-SOUND.COM from Creative Labs, Inc. 7. InTune Command Line Mode ----------------------------------------------------------------- The command line mode of InTune allows you to specify which songs to play on the DOS command line. This mode gives you a quick way to play the songs you want with no hassle. It also allows you to use InTune with other programs which require an external program to play ROL files. Both of the DOS wildcard characters ? and * are supported for filename specification. The option /X is ignored in the command line mode of operation. Page 5 Playing Songs ------------- Playing songs with the command line mode is very easy. Simply type INTUNE followed by the files you want to play. If you do not specify file extensions, ".ROL" with automatically be appended to each filename. The songs will then begin play in the order you specified. While songs are playing you may press the space bar to skip the currently playing song, or you may press the escape key to stop the playing of all songs. The following examples show a variety of ways to play songs using the command line mode: Play all ROL files in the current directory INTUNE * or INTUNE *.ROL Play the three named ROL files in the current directory INTUNE ZARDOZ.ROL AXEL-F STAIRWAY Play all ROL files beginning with the letter 'A' INTUNE A* or INTUNE A*.ROL Play all three letter ROL files INTUNE ??? or INTUNE ???.ROL Play all ROL files contained in the PKZIP file ROLS.ZIP INTUNE /ZROLS.ZIP * or INTUNE /ZROLS *.ROL Play RAIDERS.ROL from within the PKZIP file THEMES.ZIP INTUNE /ZTHEMES.ZIP RAIDERS.ROL Play the three named ROL files from various directories INTUNE C:\ROLS\REDBARCH ..\DARKMOON D:\ROCK\CROWLEY.ROL Play all songs using an alternate instrument bank file INTUNE /BBIGBANK.BNK * Page 6 Getting Technical Information on Songs -------------------------------------- You can get technical information on the specified songs by simply adding the /I option to the command line. A sound driver does not need to be loaded in order to perform this operation. The following examples show a variety of ways to obtain technical information on songs using the command line mode: Get info on all ROL files in the current directory INTUNE /I * or INTUNE /I *.ROL Get info on the three named ROL files in the current directory INTUNE /I ZARDOZ.ROL AXEL-F STAIRWAY Get info on all ROL files contained in the PKZIP file ROLS.ZIP INTUNE /I /ZROLS.ZIP * or INTUNE /I /ZROLS *.ROL Get info on RAIDERS.ROL from within the PKZIP file THEMES.ZIP INTUNE /I /ZTHEMES.ZIP RAIDERS.ROL Get info on all songs using an alternate instrument bank file INTUNE /I /BBIGBANK.BNK * 8. InTune Full Screen Mode ----------------------------------------------------------------- The full screen mode of InTune is a user interactive mode in which you are presented with screens of ROL filenames. You use the keyboard and/or mouse to select songs to play, and issue commands. This is the most powerful and useful mode of InTune. The top line of the screen always displays the InTune full screen commands. The bottom two lines display various items of information including name and size of currently selected song, time of day, number of instruments loaded from the instrument bank file, sound driver version number, amount of free memory, and the name of the PKZIP file being used (if the /Z option was specified). All other lines in between are used to display the names of songs. Page 7 Selecting Songs --------------- Selection of songs involves positioning a highlighted cursor over the desired song to select or play. To select songs using the keyboard, the following keys may be used: - The four arrow keys may be used to move the cursor up, down, right or left. - The home key moves the cursor to the first song. - The end key moves the cursor to the last song. - The page up and page down keys move forward and backward through the various display screens. - Pressing a letter between 'A' and 'Z' moves the cursor to the first song beginning with that letter. To select songs using the mouse, position the mouse pointer over the desired song, and single click the left mouse button. The page up and page down keys may be simulated by placing the mouse pointer on either the right or left arrow characters located on the top righthand of the screen and single clicking the left mouse button (note: these arrow characters are displayed only if a mouse is detected). Marking Songs ------------- You may mark multiple songs for playing. To mark a song using the keyboard, position the cursor to the song you wish to mark, and then press the space bar. To mark a song using the mouse, place the mouse pointer over the song you wish to mark, and single click the right mouse button. If the song was not previously marked, a green number indicating the songs position in the marked song queue will appear next to the song. To unmark a song, just hit the space bar again, or single click the right mouse button again, the green number will disappear, and the song will be unmarked. Issuing Commands ---------------- The InTune full screen mode commands are listed on the top line of the display. Each command has a highlighted letter in its name, which is the "command letter" for that command. Pressing the ALT key together with the highlighted "command letter" invokes the command. To invoke a command using the mouse, just place the mouse pointer over the desired command, and single click the left mouse button. Page 8 Command Summary --------------- A description of each command, as well as the keyboard sequence to invoke each command follows: About (ALT-A) Pops up a window and displays a copyright notice, program version information, and how to contact the author. The release date of the program is also located in the lower right corner of this window. Play (ALT-P or <return> or double-click left mouse button) Begins playing songs, and pops up the play window (described later). If there are no songs marked, the currently highlighted song is played, otherwise the first marked song begins playing. Repeat (ALT-R) This command enables or disables the repeat mode, which only takes effect when songs are playing. This command will be highlighted if the repeat mode is enabled, otherwise it will be displayed normally if disabled. If no songs are marked, the currently highlighted song will play repeatedly until stopped. If there are marked songs, the entire marked song queue will be played repeatedly until stopped. Shuffle (ALT-F) The shuffle command continuously plays songs at random until stopped. A song will never be played twice in a row unless there is only one song. Clear (ALT-C) The clear command unmarks all songs, clearing the marked song queue. Markall (ALT-M) The markall command marks all songs, placing all songs in the marked song queue. If there were already some songs marked before invoking the Markall command, the position of those songs in the marked song queue is retained, and all unmarked songs are place in the queue after the already marked songs. Info (ALT-I) Displays technical information for the currently selected song. This information includes the following: name of the current instrument bank file being used, version of the instrument bank file, number of entries used in the instrument bank file, name and version of ROL file, number of ticks per beat, number of beats per measure, music mode, basic tempo, playing time, instruments used in the song, instruments used in the song which are missing from the instrument bank file, and a table of event types and counts. Most of this information is useless to the average user, but is supplied for the people who are experimenting with ROL files. Page 9 DOS (ALT-D) Invokes a DOS shell. This command will only work when there are no songs playing. When you are finished using the DOS shell, type "EXIT" to return to InTune. Quit (ALT-Q) Immediately stops playing songs and exits the program. Help (ALT-H or F1) Pops up the on-line help information window. Arrows If a mouse is detected in your system, left and right arrow characters are displayed, and may be used by mouse users to switch between pages (same as page up and page down when using the keyboard). These arrows will only appear if a mouse is detected in your system. Page 10 The Play Window --------------- When songs are played in the InTune full screen mode, the play window appears. This window displays information about the song currently being played, and adds three song control commands. The play window looks like this: ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ Playing ZARDOZ.ROL ║ ║ ║ ║ Progress Indicator ║ ║ ▐▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▌ 0% ║ ║ ║ ║ Time Remaining 01:38 Time Elapsed 00:00 ║ ║ ║ ║ Stop Pause Skip ║ ║ ║ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ The top line of the window describes what InTune is presently doing (unzipping, loading, playing, or deleting), and the name of the ROL file it is operating on. Error messages are also displayed on this line. The next line contains three items of information. The musical note on the left side of the window will be red when the song is still being loaded into the sound driver queues, and will change to green when the entire song has been loaded. The middle of this line contains a "meter" which gives you a visual indication of the progress of the song currently being played. There are twenty positions on the meter, and one position is lighted for every 5% of the song played. The right side of this line shows the percentage of the song which has been played. The next line displays the time remaining of the current song, as well as elapsed time of the current song. The bottom line gives you the option of stopping the play of all songs, and pausing or skipping the current song. These three options are additional commands which may be invoked by command key sequences, or by using the mouse. 9. InTune Script Mode ----------------------------------------------------------------- The InTune script mode reads InTune commands from an ASCII text file. Not only does this mode play songs, but also provides screen output and control, as well as access to other DOS programs. This mode of InTune can be useful for creating simple demonstrations. Page 11 Script Mode Commands -------------------- # Any line with the # character in the first column signifies that the rest of the line is to be ignored. This is useful for placing commands in your script files. Blank lines are also ignored. Example: #this line is a comment ! Any line with the ! character in the first column signifies that the rest of the line is to be treated as a DOS command. The entire line past the ! character is passed to COMMAND.COM and is executed. This is useful for shelling out to DOS to temporarily run other programs. For example, it is possible to run VPIC to display and leave a GIF picture on the screen, and play a song at the same time, or run another program which modifies the screen before playing a song. Example: !vpic /r astron.gif GOTOXY column row This command places the cursor at the position specified by the user specified coordinates column and row. This is mainly used to position the cursor before using the SAY command to output text. Example: GOTOXY 1 20 SAY text This command outputs the specified text. If there is no text specified with this command, a carriage return and linefeed are output. Example: SAY Now playing "Stairway to Heaven" SAY SAY Press escape to quit CLS This command clears the screen. Example: CLS Page 12 COLOR foreground [ON background] This command sets the attributes which are to be used when the SAY command is used to output text. This command sets either the foreground color, or both the foreground and background colors. If you want to set both the foreground and background colors, the keyword "ON" must separate the color names. Valid color names are black, blue, green, cyan, red, magenta, brown, lightgray, darkgray, lightblue, lightgreen, lightcyan, lightred, lightmagenta, yellow, and white. Examples: COLOR RED COLOR WHITE ON BLUE PAUSE [KEY] [seconds] This command either pauses InTune until a key is pressed, or pauses for the specified number of seconds. Examples: PAUSE KEY ;pauses until a key is pressed PAUSE 5 ;pauses for 5 seconds PLAY rolfile This command starts playing the specified song, and outputs the message "Playing rolfile...". If an extension is omitted, ".ROL" is automatically appended to the filename. The space bar may be pressed to skip the currently playing song, and the escape key aborts the script file and returns to the DOS prompt. Examples: PLAY STAIRWAY.ROL PLAY STAIRWAY PLAYX rolfile This command starts playing the specified song, but does not output any message. This command is intended for the user who wants to output his own message describing the song which is about to play. If an extension is omitted from the filename, ".ROL" is automatically appended. The space bar may be pressed to skip the currently playing song, and the escape key aborts the script file and returns to the DOS prompt. Examples: PLAYX STAIRWAY.ROL PLAYX STAIRWAY Page 13 10. Miscellaneous ----------------------------------------------------------------- If you use the extended display mode and the mouse pointer does not go below the 25th row, you must get a newer version of your mouse driver. Earlier versions of various mouse drivers do not support the mouse pointer below the 25th row. The compression related routines used in InTune have been tested with PKUNZIP version 1.1. The InTune program and documentation is copyright (c) 1990-1992 by Doug Brandon. All rights reserved. If you have comments or suggestions for future versions of InTune, please send them to me at the following address: Doug Brandon 712 Stardust Drive Placentia, California 92670-4507 I can also be reached by the following: Prodigy: CTJP63A Motown LA-BBS: (714) 535-1319 HST N.S.T.T.Z: (714) 879-4052 HST Page 14 11. History ----------------------------------------------------------------- 01/08/92 - Version 2.5 released, minor revision * Now loads large instrument bank files bigger than 64K. * Added command line parameter /R to generate registration forms. * Reads PKZIP file directory 100% faster * Added DOS Shell to full screen mode * Time of day added to full screen mode * Instrument count added to full screen mode * Added shadows to most pop-up windows * A few minor bug fixes * ROL Library Disk made available * Changed my mailing address 05/01/91 - Version 2.0 released, major revision * Rewritten sound routines * Command line mode & script mode added * ZIP file support added * Shuffle mode added * Multiple song queue added (marking songs) * Online help added * 43/50 line display support added * ROL technical information display added * several minor bug fixes * option help screen added (INTUNE /?) 09/25/90 - Version 1.0, Initial Release Page 15