;		AT LAST SOMEONE DID A CHANGE ON IT!
;
;		    AMICOM - THE HARDWARE WIZARD
;
;			     PRESENTS
;
;		 AMICOM'S FAST SOUNDTRACKER PLAYER
;
;			  DONE IN 8-1989
;		    BY THE POWER OF SPREADPOINT
;
;--------------------------------------------------------

This is the official documentation file for a new generation
of soundtracker players.



	MAJOR CHANGES:
--------------------------------------------------------

1)	THE MEGASTUPID SHIT THAT THE SOUNDFILE COULD NOT BE
	SEPERATED FROM THE PLAYER IS NOW GONE!!!!

	You can now locate your player in fast (32bit if you have)
	RAM and only the sound data in CHIP memory.
	You must write the base address of your sound file in
	a longword at 'songPtr' before you call 'soundinit'.

2)	THE MEGASTUPID WAITING ROUTINE (FOR DMA OFF) HAS BEEN FIXED.

	Now, the waiting delay time is no longer wasted, but can
	fully be used by your other routines - thanks to interrupts.
	As an automatic consequence, the waiting delay does no longer
	depend on the CPU type and speed, but is fix and can be
	specified in raster lines. The default value used in the
	player is 8 raster lines. This appears to be the minimum
	required for correct operation. You can specify any value.
	The amount of time consumed by the routine does not depend on
	this delay. However, too large a delay might be audible.

3)	EXTRA SPEED IMPROVEMENT USING PIPELINING

	The problem in the old version was that usually 5 times
	almost nothing was done, then everything in one go.
	This caused an even higher loss of CPU time.
	The current verion has a pipelining system that spreads
	some of the work over 5 access times. As a consequence, the
	maximum play speed can no longer be less than 5.

4)	PC-RELATIVE CODE
	At last! This version was made PC-rel by Power Point.
	You can locate it anywhere without using violated absolute
	addressing mode or 'relocation' code modification.

5)	CODE OPTIMIZATION BY POWER POINT
	An overall code optimization reduces code length as well as
	the consumed time.

6)	ERRORS CORRECTED
	There was a bug in the command routine 'setSpeed' which
	could cause a short pause during soundplay when used.

	In the portamento routines, a funny value (less than 124)
	was used as lower boundary for the sample play period.
	The Amiga cannot by DMA play samples correctly at a period
	less than 124.


	COMPATIBILITY
-----------------------------------------------------------------

1)	The soundtracker is NOT ibm-compatible. (Thank God for that)

2)	It is compatible with 31 instrument modules. Use the soundtracker
	to upgrade your old 15 intrument modules to the new standard.

3)	You can not use songs that need a soundspeed less than 5
	at any time during play. (Such songs are very uncommon)

	As far as we know, everything else should be the same
	as in earlier Spreadpoint players.



	HOW TO USE: low-level applications
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Do everything like normal except:

1)	if yuo're not located in CHIP-memory, allocate regions for the
 	the modules you want to use. Copy the sounddata into CHIP memory.

2)	To enable the player
	- call 'timerinit'
	- enable the level6 ('Exter') interrupt

3)	When you want to play a specific module:
	- write its base address to the label 'songPtr'
	- call 'soundinit'
	Also call 'soundinit' when you want to rebegin the current song.

4)	When youre finished playing sound
	- call soundoff
	- then call timerexit

5)	All routines except the actual player are saving all
	CPU registers they use. ( stp35 only )

6)	You need not preserve the status of any hardware register.
	All registers used by the player are automatically
	restored to the values they had on init.




	HOW TO USE: high-level (DOS) applications
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This player cannot be used while AmigaDOS is running.
Try starting the exampleplayer, then click on an icon using
keyboard-mouse functions!
A seperate version suitable for multitasking will soon be
provided.