Dream 55/Amiga_Dream_55.iso/RISCOS/APPS/MUSIC/0-N/HDSAMP.ZIP/!HDSamples/!Help

Text File | 1994-07-16 | 29KB | 555 lines

!Help for !HDSamples 0.87 (16 July 1994) - By Tim Gladding, ⌐ 1994.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hard Drive Samples is, quite simply, a sound sample player.  The difference
between this application and other sample players is that it plays samples
directly from your hard drive (or floppy, network etc. see the section
'filing systems and discs' below) while still allowing you to use your
machine by multi-tasking under the WindowManager.

Hard Drive Samples only functions with RISC OS 3.10 or later.  If enough
people ask for a RISC OS 2 cut-down version then I'll do it.  I've had no
chance to try this application with a Risc PC and RISC OS 3.5, so if
anybody gets the chance - let me know!  I think it should, though... :-)

Throughout this document, this application (Hard Drive Samples) may be
referred to as 'the player' where appropriate.  The main iconbar/filer icon
sprite (a gold disc with notes around it) was created by Justin Washtell.
The introduction sample was taken from an unidentified bunch of Tracker
songs.  I hope somebody out there doesn't mind, if you do, mail me!.

If you want to setup the player as some kind of alarm clock, just setup
a task alarm on either a sample or a script, and !Alarm & !HDSamples will
do the rest.  A nice feature, and !HDSamples doesn't even have to be
loaded for the alarm to ögo offò (handy, eh Gatch?).

Using Hard Drive Samples - A quick start guide for new users.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The most simple way to use the player is to locate its filer icon and
double-click on it.  Now, locate your sound sample (file type &D3C - in
Armadeus format) and double click on that.  Your sample will play and, as
this is the first sample to be loaded since you started the player, the
playback status window will be opened automagically (see windows).

As this is a unregistered version, a short sample will automagically be
played upon start-up every time load the player into memory.  You may not
remove this and the player won't work without it.  The quality of the
sample is deliberately bad, too keep the file small.  8-(

A full description of what happens when you playback a sample can be found
in the section below entitled 'Sample Playback Details'.

If you are in any doubt about any of the functions provided in any of the
windows you might be interested to know that Acorn's interactive !Help is
supported very fully and, where applicable, is context sensitive.

The player works best on *long* samples (the longer, the better) and was
primarily designed for such use.  However, short samples are no problem,
you just don't see all of the benefits of direct from disc playback.
If you don't have any really long samples, and would like to try some,
just send me a couple of (800k) floppies and I'll archive/split a couple
across how ever many discs you send.  Also, you'll get !HDSMerger, which
will take the split files, and make one big file on your hard drive!

Quitting Hard Drive Samples
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Open the players menu in the usual way from any of its windows, and select
Quit.  If a sample is playing it will be stopped first.

Windows
~~~~~~~
The Playback status window:

From this window (entitled 'Hard Drive Sample player') you can stop the
current sample from playing via. the Abort icon, or replay the current/last
sample via. the Replay icon.  Clicking ADJUST on the Abort icon will kill
a selection of samples as opposed to just the current sample.

The display provides the Replay rate applied to the current/last sample,
the time it will/did take to play the sample, the filename (or at least the
last 33 characters when there is a long path name).  If you change the
speed of playback while a sample is playing the playback time won't be
changed to compensate.

In the bottom section of this window you can see the sample size in bytes
and the percentage of the current/last sample to be played.  You may notice
the window looks rather like a filer action window.

The first time you play a sample this window will automagically be opened at
the bottom right hand corner of your screen.  If you then close the status
window it will not be opened when you play your next sample.  If you wish to
re-open the status window, click SELECT on the players iconbar icon.
Incidentally, you can close the status window by clicking with the ADJUST
button on the players iconbar icon, which is useful if you like to quickly
pop up/put away the status window.  The automagic open option can be
disabled, see the section entitled 'Player options'.

If you close the playback status window with the ADJUST button, the parent
directory viewer of the current/last sample will be automagically opened,
ala !Edit.  Holding down the SHIFT key will also keep this window open.

The Options window:

This window allows you to change several options concerning the playback
of your sound samples.  There are two groups, which are:

>>> Replay options...

Internal : This option controls the state of the internal speaker.
Speaker    The action of clicking this icon is instantaneous and will
           effect any programs currently using the sound system.

Stereo   : Activate this option to start up the stereo effect system.
Effect     When this option is selected samples will be played on both the
           left and right stereo channels, separated by a small delay giving
           much more depth to samples output.  You can hear the effect
           best when using stereo headphones.  This option will NOT take
           effect until the start of the next sample to be played.

Load Any : Normally, the player will only accept files of type &D3C
Type       (Sample, Armadeus format) and type &1CD (HDScript - see scripts
           later).  Selecting this option will allow the player to attempt
           to play any file dropped onto one of its widows.  Registered
           versions of the player will allow you to drop a directory on to
           it and will (recursively) search any such directories for
           samples.  See the section entitled 'Upgrading your copy of
           Hard Drive Samples'.

Volume   : Here you can select the volume of your samples to be played back.
           Enter 0 (no sound!) to 100 (full loud sound).  Click on the
           arrows or enter a number directly.  This number is a percentage
           (do *1.27 for the system volume).  My internal/infernal speaker
           doesn't do anything lower than about 60%, although my stereo amp
           can pick up samples at a lot lower volume levels.  If possible,
           use an external volume control rather than this (ie: on a
           monitor or on an amp).

>>> Replay speed...

96uS, 72uS, : These options select the speed of the sample replay.
48uS, 24uS    Just click on an icon! or...

User (Hz)   : You can enter a sample rate directly, or use the up/down
              arrows to alter the current sample rate.  The default rate of
              any samples played will be entered into here unless the next
              option is selected...

Finally ... Ignore sample rate stored in file - ie: use the sample rate
            shown in the options window rather than look at the sample for
            the sample rate to be used.

Other options in the options window are:

 Store: Store the current options in the system variable HDSamples$Options.
        This is read upon start-up so can preserve your options between
        sessions, even if you quit the player.  Incidentally, the current
        options are also saved into any Desktop Boot files created while
        the player is running.

 OK   : This icon closes the options window, making sure that all the
        options displayed within the window are used.

All windows can be iconised, complete with it's own little icon... 8-)

Scripts
~~~~~~~
Hard Drive Samples provides a VERY simple scripting system (well, file
listing system actually).  Files of type &1CD (HDScript) are read in, line
by line, and are used as such. The format is:

  # This is a comment line, and will be printed on the screen!
  <filename>
  | This is a remark line, and will be *TOTALLY* ignored.
  <filename>...
  # ... and this is another comment.  These can appear anywhere!

an example is:

 # And now for some Nickelodeon samples...
 ADFS::ADFSDisc 4.$.Noise.Sampling.Samples.Clarissa.TitleáMusic
 ADFS::ADFSDisc 4.$.Noise.Sampling.Samples.Nickelodeon.Nicktoons
 ADFS::ADFSDisc 4.$.Noise.Sampling.Samples.Clarissa.DaHouse
 ADFS::ADFSDisc 4.$.Noise.Sampling.Samples.Ren+Stimpy.Friend Ad

which would, when dragged or double clicked, play the samples 'TitleáMusic',
'Nicktoons','DaHouse' and 'Friend Ad'.  I use this system to enable me to
just simply double click on one icon to play several samples from several
different sources (even different discs etc.).  In future a far better
system will be employed.  All comments will be displayed before any samples
are played, regardless of where they are located within your script file.

The most simple way to create a script is:
  1. Load !Edit from the Apps directory.
  2. Open Edit's iconbar menu and follow the create entry.
  3. Now, at the bottom of the menu, enter 1CD.
  4. Locate a sample and, while holding down the SHIFT key, drag the icon
     for that sample into newly opened Edit window.
  5. Repeat step 4 until you have included all the required samples.
  6. Now save the script to disc, its ready to use!

NOTE  : You can't include the filename of scripts in scripts.
        Doing this will make the player bomb.  Registered users will
        be able to do this, of course (see the section 'the bottom line').

You can abort a script from playing by using ADJUST on the Abort icon, or
choosing Abort with the ADJUST button from the players iconbar menu.

Filing Systems and Discs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hard Drive Samples is primarily designed, surprise surprise, to play sound
samples directly from your hard drive.  However, you may like to know that
samples may also be played from any other filing system, and any device
(providing that the data transfer rate is high enough and the sample
playback rate is low enough).  You can experiment as you like and the only
side effect of your choice of filing system/backing store type is, because
the player cannot obtain the data it needs fast enough to send to the sound
system, parts of your sample will start repeating itself.

If you experience this effect, simply abort the current playback, lower
the sample replay speed, make sure that the option to 'Ignore sample rate
stored in file' (from the options window) is switched on and click on
REPLAY.  Alternatively, give more time to the player by changing to a lower
res screen mode and/or quitting other processor intensive tasks.

I know that samples will playback from floppy disc (adfs 800k E) at low
sample rates (20,833Hz appears to work), although the desktop is almost
unuseable (even with an ARM 3) without interfering with the sample.
Samples from any kind of RAM drive will always play at almost any speed,
but that kills the whole point of what the player is designed to do!

As for networks, a not so busy network, at a low sample rate might work.
If anybody has chance to try this out, or any other filing system then
please let me know...  I'll include your information within this document
with further releases of the player.

Player Options
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The player currently supports seven different start-up options.  These can
be set in, for instance, your !Boot file or more permanently within the
!Run file of the player.  If you set an option using the options window then
save a new desktop !Boot file (using the Task Manager) your altered options
will be used next time you start up your computer.

The options available are read from two system variables.  They are
HDSamples$Options and HDSamples$StereoDelay.

HDSamples$Options may contain any of the following options.  You can use
-~option to mean NOT -option. ie: -~loadany to NOT load any.  Any other
data within the system variable will be totally ignored.

Option      Description                                             Default

-stereo     selects the stereo effect system on/off.                  off
-loadany    selects load any type option.                             off
-ignore     selects 'Ignore sample rate stored in file'.              off
-nodisplay  stops the display window from automatically opening.      off
-noiconbar  stops the player for placing an icon on the iconbar.      off
-options    opens the options window automatically.                   off
-quit       inform the player to play the passed file then quit.      off

HDSamples$StereoDelay

This system variable controls how long a delay (in system beats) there is
between the sound channels when the stereo effect system is used.  The
default is 4 but this can, currently, be altered to any value between
two and sixteen.  An out of range value will be reset to 4 automagically by
the player.  This option was mainly for my own personal use, while creating
the player I needed to make sure the system was actually working.  A large
delay demonstrates how the system works.

Future versions may not have this feature available.  This variable
would then just be ignored.

Upgrading your copy of Hard Drive Samples
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This version of the player has been made freely available to all users at
no cost.  You should, however, register your ownership of the player as
soon as possible, and within one month of first using this software.
Registered users will receive updates to the software as soon as they
become available.  Unregistered users won't be supported.

Registration will require you to send at least 5 UK pounds sterling (in
what-ever form, as long as the end result after charges works out to at
least 5 pounds sterling) to the address below.  This isn't much to ask for
when you consider how much time/effort has gone into the development of
the player - you just try an find a repeating bug!  Also you'll receive
all of !HDSamples supporting utilities, which is currently !HDSMerger
(an application to merge any number of samples into one big sample with
disc space being the only limitation).  Registration will also allow you
to request particular samples from me, if you don't have your own sampler!.

Under the Acorn User Public Domain programs scheme which applies to
programs appearing on their cover disc, you will not be able to register
your copy of the player for three months after the magazine first hits the
streets.  This is expected to be August 11th 1994.  This will make the
player available anytime from November 11th 1994 - I am willing to take
advance orders and send them out to arrive just after this date!. :-)

Some BBS systems are known to run on 0898-style premium rate phone numbers.
This application must NOT, under no circumstances, ever be uploaded onto
such a system anywhere.  However, this unregistered version of the player
may be uploaded onto BBS systems running on standard rate phone numbers,
once the three month time limit has expired.

This application may not be included within or as part of any commercial
package as an 'extra' under any circumstances without my ABSOLUTE WRITTEN
PERMISSION.  Special versions can be made up as required.

Finally, registered users will be receiving early versions of my next
application, Hard Drive Sampler.  Like Hard Drive Samples it operates on
samples directly from your hard drive but rather than playing back from
disc Hard Drive Sampler will sample directly TO disc ... using your
regular sampler!!!  And all this at absolutely no cost!Ñ.

Just think, you could sample your favourite TV program on to your
(incredibly large) hard drive.  Current tests are going..erm..'ok'...

  (Ñ) You must, of course, already own a sound sampler!

Sample playback details
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These are the steps the player takes when playing back a sound sample.
Assuming that the sample was dragged onto the player's iconbar icon.
Other methods such as double-clicking are almost identical.

1.  The filename and file type are recorded.  The type is examined with an
    error being reported if the type is an application and/or directory,
    or not a sample/script with 'Load any type' de-activated, otherwise
    the file is added to the internal to-be-played list (or files if a
    script) and queued for playback at a later date, much more
    convenient for me!

2.  The player then returns back to its main polling loop where it will find
    that there are still samples left on its internal list.  At this point
    it grabs the next from the top of the list (first on/first off)
    (registered versions will have random grab from middle of list feature)
    and jumps to the play me now sub-routine.

3.  The player now sends out a request to grab the sound system (see The
    device claim protocol, page 3-247 RISC OS 3 PRMs - device 6,0.  Also
    see note below).  When the wimp next returns with a null poll then
    the player assumes nobody rejects to this move.  The sample is then
    actually played actually, at last.  Actually.  If another task objects
    to the players claim on the sound system no attempt to play the sample
    is made.  An error box will be produced as a result.

4.  In the data_load_actual_ack routine first any files already open by
    the player are closed (with any errors reported).  An error is also
    generated if the file could not be found, was empty or isn't valid in
    most any other way possible!.  The file is then opened and the sample
    rate calculated.  Various sound system parameters are recorded so that
    when the sample has finished the system can be put back how the player
    found it EXACTLY (other programmers PLEASE TAKE NOTE!).  The system
    beep is disabled during playback so error boxes do as little damage as
    possible.  Note: leaving an error box on the screen prevents multi-
    tasking from taking place and will therefore mess-up the playback of
    your sample!

    The sound system is then öSound_Configureòd correctly for the players
    needs.  The first block of sample is then loaded and flags are set to
    show sample % played etc.  The display window is updated and, if this is
    the first sample to be loaded and the option '-nodisplay' has not been
    used the display window is opened.  The player then drops back through
    to its normal polling loop keeping an eye out for when to load another
    chunk of the sample from disc.  Any attempt from other programs to claim
    the sound system are rejected ONLY WHILE A SAMPLE IS PLAYING.  Any
    options (from the options window or the display window) are taken in to
    account while playing back the sample.

    Registered versions will have a function to NOT multitask (funny?).  Its
    so you can play back samples at even higher rates on slower machines in
    higher res modes without it jump'in about...

5.  When the player sees that the sample is over it closes the file and then
    restores the sound system to its former glory.  The system beep is re-
    activated on its old channel.  Claims over the sound system are now
    allowed again.

NOTE:  This version of Hard Drive Samples (in fact all versions that ever
       existed past 0.07) claim the sound system before doing anything to
       it.  This is GOOD practice and can even be used in RISC OS 2
       applications as its only a matter of message passing between apps.

       Acorn's !Maestro supports it ... NOT!  The PRM's say the sound system
       is major device number 6, while !Maestro says its device number 7 -
       which do I believe?  Easy, the PRMs.  Also Maestro claims the sound
       system when it starts up, and doesn't release it until it closes
       down, even when its not playing any sounds!.  Hard Drive Samples will
       only claim the sound system when it actually needs it, allowing you
       to keep it running and use other sound applications at the same time.

Program history & bug fixes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This section was introduced into version 0.77 (19 June 1994)...

0.77 (19 June 1994) - Removed start-up sample, while developing!
                      If you supplied a short filename (such as samp*) via.
                      Filer_Run you couldn't close the play back window
                      with ADJUST as the filer needs full path names.  All
                      filenames are now fully expanded before they are used.
                      (with thanks to OS_FSControl 37! RO 3 PRMs 2-118).
                    - Added all new E-Mail address to help file!!
                    - Some messages changed to make more sense!

0.78 (24 June 1994) - Added check on scripts to see if they are empty!
                      Also added '| <rem>' to script files.
                      Fixed Desktop Save to ack Task Manager on errors.

0.79 (29 June 1994) - Interactive !Help now shows the full filename of the
                      current/last sample.  Sometimes useful as the standard
                      status window can never be wide enough to do this.
                    - Now enables the sound system (Sound_Enable) just
                      incase you have done a *Audio Off sometime.  The
                      system is reset after the sample has been played.
                      I spotted this after deliberately making Desktop
                      Hacker crash which left the sound system disabled!

0.80 (01 July 1994) - Fixed file loading bug where program didn't work right
                      when a sample/script has the wrong access (ie: Private
                      on a network, or no read access on ADFS etc.).  Some
                      messages are now redundant/removed.

0.85 (04 July 1994) - Put back start-up sample, and generally tidied up! :-)
                      ... just posting this off to AU in the morning!

0.87 (16 July 1994) - Ooops! I introduced a small bug into the !Help system
                          while tidying, fixed and re-posted off to AU... sorry!
                        - Also fixed Desktop Save bug after a *Unset HDS* cmd.

Contact me! - PLEASE!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I absolutely adore receiving letters, Email & discs from other Acorn users
out there in the Acorn community so ... send me your work! (I also do
beta-test work, don't I Andrew...) :-)

I reply to EVERYTHING, and quickly too.  I especially like people who send
me their own software and I'm always glad to return your discs with more
stuff of my own.

Please send anything to me at...      or you can phone anytime on...

     Tim Gladding (Stimpy!)               United Kingdom - +44
     130 Cromwell Road                    Cambridge  0223 573133
     Cambridge
     CB1 3EG                           (don't be fooled if you get the
     United Kingdom                     answer phone, that's not me on it!)

     E-Mail: Arcade BBS user #1687, Fidonet Tim Gladding @ 2:254/27.2


            And now by Internet!!! : [e-mail]


... I quite like chatting on the phone (as my bill will tell you) so do
feel free to call anytime after 6 weekdays, and anytime weekends.

> I'm looking out for the original software to drive my Armadillo A448bm    <
> sampler/midi podule, I lost my original disc (I still have the manual)    <
> and I'm running it using Armadeus.  So if you have it a copy would be     <
> appreciated... especially as Armadillo don't appear to exist any more 8-( <

At this point I would like to thank THE greatest satellite TV channel,
öNickelodeonò (Astra 1C 19.2░E at 11.156V), for the inspiration to write
this software by having a whole bunch of funny/excellent/very watch-able
programs that make really good samples when played at the appropriate
moments! ... oh and at 20(!) I'm no kid either!!! ;-)

Here are some hello's, in no apparent order...

  Gatch :-) (Gareth S. Long), Matthew Farrow, Davedan, Grunthos (Flatch!),
  Berty (Tom 'Hamsters/Bananas' Cooper), Aquarius, Matthew Israelsohn,
  Loretta Anne Krimholtz, Melissa ?, James D. Staples, Worlock,
  Anthony Frost, Peter Reeves-hall, Cy Booker, Cerebus, DaviD Dade,
  David Coleman, Peter Gaunt, Tim Browse, Peter Greenham,
  Chris Davis (for using my !ZAnsi hack...), Robin Abecasis (for using
  my little !Intro in !ArcQuoter...) and finally Piers Wombwell!!!

    ... ie: regular users of Arcade BBS (081 654 2212 & 081 655 4412)
    Also *HI* to everybody else I may have (accidentally) left out!

The bottom line...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ok, so you've read the babble of the last 20k or so of text, well done!
I'd have probably just pressed Ctrl-è a long time ago...

Seriously, thanks for using Hard Drive Samples but it would be better if
you registered ... You get all£ of the extra features listed below and more:

  * Turn multi-tasking off to allow the playback of higher rate samples on
    slower machines in higher res screen modes.  Hourglass displays percent.

  * Squashed sample playback, un-squashing on-the-fly using either Acorn's
    Squash module or perhaps some other sample squashing/compressing method.

  * The ability to playback samples that are not in Armadeus format (ie:
    DSEdit, Tracker, Relocatable Modules, SoundSynth etc).

  * More resilient playback code, like attempting to re-open the sample file
    if some other naughty program closes it, and re-configuring the sound
    system if/when required.

  * Real time sound effects like echo etc.  All I need is some code to
    actually produce those effects ... >|8-)

  * An 'About this Sample' type window giving extra details like the date
    stamp, the actual replay rate (which can be different from the status
    window), access etc.

  * A far far FAR better script system, with loops, variables, conditions
    and scripts from scripts.  This could possibly take the form of another
    background application which would pass filenames onto the player, thus
    saving memory when not required ([X] Enable scripts).  What do you think
    of this?, it saves loading everything up every time, and saves on RAM.

  * Control over playback options from within scripts (ie: setting volume,
    stereo-delay, speaker state, replay rate etc).

  * An auto-scripter system.  You provide an output filename, play a
    bunch of samples, close the script and that is you script created.

  * Random selection from the sample playback list + a window giving
    details on the sample list where you can re-order & delete samples from
    the list at will.

  * Removal of the sample played upon start-up which CANNOT IN ANY WAY be
    changed without registering!!! ha!...  (unless you like it, that is?)

  * ... I might even make the whole (or part of) application a relocatable
    module, allowing background playback OUTSIDE OF THE DESKTOP!!!
    (while retaining the rather nice wimp front end).

  * A bunch of other features not available to non-registered users!
    + any suggestions I receive between now and then...

As you can see, I have plenty of ideas just waiting to be implemented but
this is as far as the PD version will go (except any major bug fixes).
See the information in the section 'Contact me!' for my address.

£ Not all the above features will be immediately available, but updates will
  be available for registered users when they are ready in due course.

Bugs I know about...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Current bugs and generally annoying things in this release include:

  * As not everybody uses Acorn's !NewLook, I suppose, I've had to include
    the sprites "up, down, pup & pdown" in the !Sprites file as the
    original RISC OS 3 blue/white arrows don't fit the templates.  I hate
    doing this but what else can I do? The nice arrows look funny when
    spaced the same as the big blue boxes...

    You may delete these four icons from the !Sprites file if they
    interfere with your setup but please only do this to your backup copy,
    and do NOT re-distribute any of the files you may have modified to
    suit your own setup.  Others may require these sprites to be present.

  * After hours of use, along with other programs, the players
    Stereo Effect system stopped working, and I can't find out why!
    Maybe some other app. was forcing 1 sound channel? I'll look into it...

If you find a bug please, let me know.  You may even get a mention in the
next release !Help file... 8-)



       *** End of !Help file - By Tim Gladding, ⌐ 16 July 1994 ***