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1994-10-27
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Creative Dimensions - 510 317 0292 $79 + 4 s&h
S o u n d C l u b - t h e r e a r e n o l i m i t s !
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 1994 Creative Dimensions & Blue Moon Software
This limited demo version is to be considered Shareware and
may be distributed as such.
To run right away: type SCLUB at the dos-prompt, follow on-screen instructions.
1. The Idea of Sound Club
2. What Is Needed to Run Sound Club?
3. Facts and Technical Specifications
4. Getting Started
4.1 The Menu System
4.2 Setup
4.3 Concepts
4.4 The Main Screen
4.5 Creating a Song
5. Sound Club license policy
6. Our Contact Address + Ordering Info
1. THE IDEA OF SOUND CLUB.
--------------------------
The idea behind producing SC was to take a giant leap on the area of digital
music processing. Since we began developing SC about three years ago, we had
to predict the upcoming changes of hardware, i.e. computers and sound cards.
We put the limit of simultaneous voices to 32, a task appropriate for a
fast 486 only, and all sound wave calculations are done with 16-bit precision
to make use of the 16-bit sound cards.
In SC we simply put together the features essential for the digital music
editor of the future. They are:
* User-friendly, simply-point-and-click, well planned and designed
interface. All the present digital editors have the problem being
so called 'tracker type', forcing the user to learn the hexadecimal
system of numeration, giving him strongly limited number of
'channels' to 'fit' the desired notes in, and having no mouse
support, to say nothing about nongraphical user interface. In other
words, they produce the false impression that the joy of creating
digital music is available for hackers only. SC is definitely going
to change that!
* Converter for wide range of different music file formats,
including MOD, CMF and MIDI files of different synthesizers. SC is
surely a song editor with the largest support of different file
formats on the Earth (the number of them is 8 plus its own song
format and growing!). This feature casts the user right into the
middle of the world of computer music! Please refer to the "Facts
and Technical Specifications" section for the complete list of
supported formats.
* Easy but effective instrument editor. Most of the music editors
have really clumsy instrument editor or do not have one at all. Of
course there are good independent instrument editors, but usually
they are 'too professional' demanding a lot of dedication while
learning them.
* Powerful sound synthesizer. This enables you to create well
sounding instruments each of which take only several bytes of disk
space! Since it is compatible with FM synthesizer used in AdLib and
SoundBlaster cards, the sound of converted CMF & ROL songs is
adequate. (CMF and ROL are the song formats written for such FM
synthesizer).
* Fast data compressor. The problem with digital song files is that
digitized instruments take a great amount of disk space. That's why
the usual routine of maintaining digital music files was: unzip it,
change/listen to it, zip it again. SC will change this.
Compressing/ decompressing song files is performed automatically
when saving/ loading them. The average compression rate exceeds the
one achieved when using ordinary archievers. And due to extreme
optimation, the time taken by compression routine is almost
innoticeable.
* Uncompromised sound mixer (sampler). We've spent a lot of time and
effort designing and optimizing this part of SC in order to ensure
the maximum possible output quality. It is thus possible that you
won't even recognize your old sound card if you let SC to preform
on it!
* A long list of sound card drivers ranging from Disney Sound Source
to Gravis UltraSound. This means that actually the only thing
Sound Club demands from a card is the presence of digital to analog
converter (DAC).
* A complete illustrated users guide.
2. WHAT IS NEEDED TO RUN SOUND CLUB?
------------------------------------
Computer type: IBM AT or compatible.
Memory: 640k recommended. About 150k of free RAM is needed for
the program, but you will need more memory for song
data.
Graphics: EGA (with 256k video memory) or VGA is required.
Sound Club automatically detects the type of your
graphics adapter and switches to VGA mode if possible.
A command line switch (SCLUB -e) is also provided to
force EGA mode even if your computer has a VGA.
(Demo version works only with VGA)
Sound cards: Sound Club can play music through the PC Speaker
without any additional hardware. But for quality sound
output, a special sound output device is *GREATLY*
recommended. See 'Facts and technical specifications'
for details.
Mouse: A mouse is also required to use all editing features
of the program.
Disk space: The registered version of Sound Club takes up about
3Mb of disk space.
3. FACTS AND TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS.
--------------------------------------
Sound generation: Digital stereo, using digitized 8-bit instruments. Sampling
rate depends on the speed of computer and character of the song.
Sound card used Stereo Max sampling rate Bits
-----------------------------------------------------
none (PC speaker) No 16000 6
Ad Lib card No 43000 8
Covox Speech Thing No 65000 8
2 Covox Speech Things Yes 65000 8
Covox Sound Master II No 65000 8
Sound Blaster No 22050 8
Sound Blaster 2.0 No 44100 8
Sound Blaster Pro Yes 44100 8
Sound Blaster 16 Yes 44100 16
Pro AudioSpectrum Yes 65000 8
Pro AudioSpectrum 16 Yes 65000 16
Gravis UltraSound Yes 44100 21
Aria chipset soundcards Yes 44100 16
Full stereo: Different instruments can be located anywhere between the right
and left stereo channels. In addition, it is possible to change their
location at any time. For example, you can create "sliding" effects
where the sound source moves freely between stereo channels.
Playback: You can playback the whole song or a part of it. You can also
playback only one instrument, or a group, to hear how it sounds
separately from the others.
Trace mode: When in Trace mode, the program displays the current position in
song during playback.
Song lyrics: You can write lyrics for a song and watch them while playing in
Trace mode.
Fast forward and rewind during playback.
Real time editing: You can playback repeatedly a short part of song and edit
it at the same time, hearing the changes you made at once.
Keyboard playing: You can play notes with the PC keyboard or external MIDI
keyboard before writing, in order to listen how a melody sounds. In
addition, you can record your own performance in real-time.
Music file formats: Sound Club can load directly song files created by other
music editors, such as:
Amiga SoundTracker (.MOD)
Amiga NoiseTracker (.NST or .MOD)
Amiga Oktalyzer (.OKT)
Composer 669 (.669)
ScreamTracker (.STM)
Ad Lib Visual Composer (.ROL)
Sound Blaster software (.CMF)
MIDI software (.MID)
Sound Club has also its own compressed song file format (.SN). Since
it is compressed, files converted to Sound Club format take up much
less disk space.
Sound Club can save songs in SN, 4 channel MOD, 8 channel MOD,
and MIDI format.
Instruments: An instrument bank file with 500+ instruments is included
with the registered version of the program.
4. GETTING STARTED.
-------------------
To run Sound Club, type "SCLUB" and press Enter.
4.1 The Menu System.
--------------------
Once you have started up Sound Club, you need to know how to move
around through the various available options. Main options are selectable from
the main menu, a line of buttons at the top of the screen.
To select a button, just press either mouse button on it.
Alternatively, you may press Alt-'letter', where 'letter' is the highlighted
letter on the desired button. For instance, the File submenu may be chosen by
pressing Alt-F. To escape from any menu or option, press the Esc key.
Certain menu options require you to input text. When Sound Club
requires input from you, a small window will be created in which you may type
the required input. The standard cursor editing keys apply here (left, right,
backspace, delete). Press Enter when you are finished, or Esc to abort the
input.
Certain menu options (e.g. loading, saving, etc.) require you to input
a filename. When Sound Club requires filename input from you, a big file
window will be created in which you may select the file you wanted to load,
for example. The file window consists of three parts: filename, file list and
directory list. When the file window is opened, you will be in the filename
part, where you may input the desired filename directly. You may also input a
wildcard filename (like "*.sn"). In this case, the file list window is
updated to list only files that can be expressed as the wildcard filename.
You may also input "*.song". This means "list all songfiles that can be loaded
by Sound Club". To move to the next part of file window, press Tab. To move
back to the previous part, press Shift-Tab. In the file list part you may
select the desired file using standard cursor movement keys (left, right, up,
down, home, end, page up, page down) and press Enter if you have found the
file. In the directory list part of file window you may change the current
disk and directory. In this case, the file list window is updated to list
files in new directory.
Sometimes some window is too small on screen to display all the data
at the same time. In this case it will display only a part of the data and you
can "scroll" the window to see more. You can scroll a window using scroll
bars. A scroll bar is located on the right (for scrolling up and down) or
lower (for scrolling left and right) border of the window. To scroll a window,
press buttons located at both ends of the scroll bar. For more flexible
scrolling, press and hold down a mouse button on the button located somewhere
in the middle of the scroll bar. Then, holding down the button, drag the
mouse back and forth to the direction you want to scroll.
4.2 Setup.
----------
Now that you know how to move around in Sound Club, you can configure
Sound Club to your particular system and preferences. Select the "Setup"
button from the Main Menu.
You will be presented with the Setup submenu. Here you may set various
options about Sound Club, such as sound cards, directories, etc. The only ones
you really need to set right now are the following:
- Song directory: this is where Sound Club will look for your
songfiles. This option is under the "Directories" button of the
Setup submenu.
- Sound Card: this is the device to which Sound Club will play
music. When you press the "Sound Card" button, a device list is
opened. Here you can select your device with up/down arrow keys.
If you have found your device, press Enter.
When you are done, press "Save configuration" button to save the
new settings to a configuration file called SCLUB.CFG. Next time you start up
Sound Club, this file will be read and the defaults set according to your
specifications.
4.3 Concepts.
-------------
To use Sound Club, it is necessary first to understand some general
terminology and concepts dealing with song structure.
The fundamental piece is a note. It consists of pitch, volume and
balance.
A voice is a string of notes. An instrument is also associated with a
voice.
Several voices together form a pattern. A pattern has also tempo
information and song lyrics. Each pattern has also a name.
The final part of song is called Sequence. It determines the order in
which the patterns are played. By arranging patterns into a sequence, you can
group musical motives into a song. A given pattern can appear in the sequence
more than once, if desired -- this means that for repeated musical passages,
you need not create another identical pattern. The sequence can be viewed and
edited by pressing the Sequence button in View submenu.
A digitized instrument (sometimes called "sample") is a collection of
digitized data which mimics a particular instrument (e.g. flute, piano,
guitar, etc.). Using digitized instruments make your music sound "real" as
opposed to "computerish" (simple square wave beeps of simple synthesizers).
A complete song, therefore, consists of a number of PATTERNS, each of
which contains several voices. These patterns are SEQUENCED into a particular
order, which defines the song the listener will hear. The INSTRUMENT that is
associated with each voice determines the timbral quality (sound) that the
notes of the voice make as they are played.
4.4 The Main Screen.
--------------------
The main screen is divided into three main parts: main menu buttons
at the very top of the screen, the note windows, and the Voices window at the
bottom of the screen.
The name of the current song you are editing is displayed in the upper
right corner of the screen.
The name of the current pattern you are editing is displayed in the
upper right corner of the Notes window.
When you start Sound Club, an empty pattern with no voices is created
and this pattern is placed in the Sequence. The name of this first pattern is
"Pattern I".
+------+------+-------+-------+------+-------+------+------------------------+
| File | View | Block | Voice | Play | Setup | Help | *** Song name *** |
+------+------+-------+-------+------+-------+------+---+----------------+---+
| Notes | - |* Pattern name *| + |
+----+----------------------------------------------+---+------------+-+-+---+
|B -2| | | | |Mouse|
|A#-2| | | | | |
|A -2| | | | +-----+
|G#-2| | | | |Key- |
|G -2| ---- |---- ---- |---- -| |board|
|F#-2| | | | +-----+
|F -2| | | | |Port |
|E -2| | | | | |
|D#-2| | | | +-----+
|D -2| - | | | |Copy |
|C#-2| | ================| | | |
|C -2| |======== | | +-----+
|B -1| | | =| |Trans|
|A#-1| | |======== | | pose|
|A -1| ========| | | +-----+
|G#-1| | | | |Load |
|G -1| | | -| |Block|
|F#-1| | |-------- | +-----+
|F -1| --------| | |@| | |
|E -1| | | | +--+--+
|D#-1| | ------ -------- | | | | |
|C#-2| | | | +--+--+
|C -2| | | | | | |
|B -1| | | | +--+--+
|A#-1| | | | | Ins |
+-+--+---------------------------------------------------------------+-+-----+
|-| Volume | All |
+-+--+---------------------------------------------------------------+-+-----+
| 30 | |================================|=================|@| |
| | =| | | | |
| | = | | | | |
| | = | | | | |
| 26 | = | | | | |
+-+--+---------------------------------------------------------------+-+ |
|<| @ |>| |
+-+------------------------------------------------------------------+-+-----+
| Voices |
+------------------+------------------+------------------+-----------------+-+
| Soft Piano | Bass Guitar | Bass Guitar | Snare |^|
| Cymbal | Oboe | | |@|
| | | | |v|
+------------------+------------------+------------------+-----------------+-+
When you start Sound Club, you will see only one note window: the
main one, called "Notes". In this window, you can see the pitch of notes. Each
note is represented by a black or gray bar. Bars that are located higher on
the screen are also higher in pitch. This is also represented by a piano
keyboard on the left end of this window.
Other note windows are Volume, Balance, Tempo and Lyrics. You can open
and close them as you wish by pressing the corresponding buttons in View
submenu. In Volume window you can see the volume of each note. In Balance
window you can see the stereo location of a sound that a note makes when it is
played.
Notes, Volume and Balance windows work together with the Voices
window, which is located at the bottom of the screen. In Voices window you can
select which Voice is shown in Notes, Volume and Balance windows. To select a
voice, press the left mouse button on the name of instrument whose voice you
want to select. The selected voice is shown with white color in Voices window
while other voices are gray. In Notes, Volume and Balance windows, notes of
the selected voice are black while other notes are gray.
All five note windows can be scrolled in left/right direction together
using the note scroll bar, which is located between note windows and Voices
window.
4.5 Creating a Song.
--------------------
So, when you start Sound Club, you find yourself editing an empty
pattern called "Pattern I". The first step in creating a song should be
adding a voice to the pattern. After all, you need voices in order to hear
your music at all.
This can be done by pressing the Voice button in main menu. This
opens the Voice submenu, from which you should choose the Add option.
This opens the 'Add Voice' window. Now you must choose the instrument you want
to associate with the new voice. The 'Add Voice' window consists of two parts.
The upper part lists instrument types, such as guitars, pianos, etc. The
lower part lists all instruments of the selected type. You may move around in
the 'Add Voice' window with the arrow keys or mouse. Use the Tab key to select
which part of the window is "active". In the lower part you can play each
listed instrument without leaving the window by pressing the Play button. When
you have found the instrument you wanted to use, press the Ok button (or just
press the Enter key).
Now you should define some notes on the voice. This can be done by
pressing the left mouse button in the Notes window.
5. SOUND CLUB LICENSE POLICY
----------------------------
The Sound Club program is copyright (c) 1994 BlueMoon Software Inc.,
all rights reserved. This Sound Club demo software may not be distributed in
incomplete or modified form, nor sold for profit, without written permission
from us. You may spread this demo freely otherwise, or sell it under the
shareware concept.
All individual users must register Sound Club if they continue to use
Sound Club Demo after the 3 week trial period has ended.
All commercial distributors that include Sound Club demo on a disk, CD ROM,
or any other media, must have a written permission from the author, unless the
product containing Sound Club demo is sold under US $10.00 or equivalent.
6. OUR CONTACT ADDRESS.
-----------------------
CREATIVE DIMENSIONS
P.O.BOX 20157
CASTRO VALLEY, CA 94546-8157
Tel 510 484 5918 or 510 317 0292
Fax 510 484 3292
E-mail Internet: cdusa@netcom.com
Outside North America you can contact:
BlueMoon Software
P.O. Box 3689
Tallinn EE0090
Estonia
PHONE: +Estonia 641-00-48
BBS/FAX: +Estonia 641-00-49BlueMoon Software
CREATIVE DIMENSIONS
Product Info 1994
CD-MAN - This game turns a favorite classic into a whole new arcade
experience filled with fabulous graphics. Creepy characters test
your reflexes in a series of challenging mazes. Known as the
best Pac-man game ever. This is ver 1.5 and is available as
shareware. (vga/ega 512k) registration: $15
CD-MAN VERSION 2.0 - The rest of CD-MAN. Loaded with great new mazes and
adversaries. New main character and new features! Includes
levels from cd-man 1.5, but the Snoofer is in charge of the
munching.
(vga/ega 512k) Joystick/KB $29 + S&H
CHEWIT - A form of Cd-Man with all the levels from ver.1.5 and 2 but with
few extras like: Endless life function, Unlimited levels in diff-
iculty, jump directly to any maze, no copy-protection, Extended
graphics. Highly recommended for serious CD-MAN players.
(vga/ega 512k) Joystick/KB $39 + S&H
SKYROADS - 3D! Great 3D 256 color VGA action game. Dangerously addictive and
challenging. Learn to cruise and jump your craft on dangerous
roads in space, collect fuel and oxygen and solve problems
to get through, set to great backdrops.30 levels with extensive
Ad Lib soundtracks and digitized effects. Joystick and mouse
support. (vga/ega 512k) 286+, Action Arcade $29 + S&H
MORE SKYROADS - Even more action. 30 more levels of skyroads. New Roads &
new sites that need to be cleared! Rev it up and jump like mad.
Ad Lib soundtracks and digitized effects. Joystick and mouse
support. (vga/ega 512k) 286+, Action Arcade $29 + S&H
SOUNDCLUB - Full fledged musicstudio, soundeditor, synthesizer, FX maker!
32 channel mixer - stereo compact disk quality sound output
with most soundcards. 526+ instrument selection. MIDI interface.
play back, create and save MIDI files, ROL and many more. Super
compression of soundfiles. Up to 64 instruments simultaneously.
Full digital sampling up to 65000 Hz for crisp digital sound.
Unleash your soundcards true potential! full bit by bit control
of all attributes for all instruments. Complete synthesizer.
- intuitive bar interface allows people who know nothing of
music to create masterful professional compositions in
minutes. Play it out at CD quality and record it! Make sound-
tracks for any occasion. Will even play quality music on your PC
speaker! Soundcard highly recommended! Lyrics window included
for karaoke fans. This program replaces thousands of dollars of
music equipment, be a pro for 79 bucks!
Supports all major soundcards and file formats. Mouse or KB
(vga/ega 512k) 130 page user guide. Ver 1- 05/94 $79 + S&H
Commercial products:
CD-MAN 1.5 - $15.00
CD-MAN VERSION 2.0 - $29.00 + S&H
CHEWIT - $39.00 + S&H
SKYROADS 3D - $29.00 + S&H
MORE SKYROADS - $29.00 + S&H
SOUNDCLUB MUSIC STUDIO - $79.00 + S&H
Demo's available as shareware:
COBRA - $ 5.00 Free w/any order
CD-MAN DEMO (V1.5) - $ 5.00 Free w/any order
SKYROADS 3D TRAINER - $ 5.00 Free w/any order
buying CHEWIT or CD-MAN VERSION 2.0 automatically includes ver 1.5
M.C. & VISA- CHECK & M.O. ACCEPTED, (510) 317 0292 TO ORDER
CREATIVE DIMENSIONS VOICE:(510) 484-5918
P.O.Box 20157 FAX:(510) 484-3292
Castro Valley, CA 94546-8157
U.S.A.
Internet: cdusa@netcom.com