============================================================================== P O W E R P L A Y E R .....User-Manual..... ============================================================================== PLEASE READ ----------- If you tried PowerPlayer and agree that it is a good program, you can send me 30 DM and then you'll get a keyfile & free support with all future versions of PowerPlayer. Yours Stephan Fuhrmann, author of POWERPLAYER ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The author of this software can't be held liable for the contents of this package and every damage caused by it. © 1991-94 STEPHAN FUHRMANN, GERMANY These freely distributable shared libraries are included in the PowerPlayer-Package: -ReqTools.Library © by Nico François -PowerPacker.Library © by Nico François -Lh.Library © by Holger P.Krekel and Olaf 'Olsen' Barthel These docs are included in the PowerPlayer-Package: -deutsch by Stephan Fuhrmann -english by Stephan Fuhrmann -français by Jean Yves Proux These catalogs are included in the PowerPlayer-Package: -deutsch by Stephan Fuhrmann -english (built-in) by Stephan Fuhrmann -français by Jean Yves Proux -português by ??? -norsk by Bjørn A.Lynne Version 4.1 (2 JAN 1995) ============================================================================== Greetings (random order) ------------------------ -Delta/TCC -Flynn/TRSI for his great NoisePlayer -Holger P.Krekel & Olaf 'Olsen' Barthel for their lh.library -Bryan Ford (Mr.Multiplayer) -Nico François for his _GREAT_ reqtools.library & powerpacker.library and his hints concerning the reqtools.library -Teijo Kinnunen for his routines & 68030 tests -Steve / Silicon Designs 3003 -Thomas Eibl -Turbo / Infect -Wayne Mendoza / Masque -Bernhard Zahler -Thomas Ansorge ============================================================================== History ------- V 3.7: Uses new improved routine for 'RND', added ProRunner packed replay, PMC outputs correct percentages, under OS 2.0 PowerPlayer will flush out the data caches after decrunching V 3.8: The position won't be pasted over the gadgets any longer - PowerPlayer will display the percental position instead, you may load and save songlists now (in other players they are called 'programs') - read "Keyboard Functions" and the "Songlist" chapter, fixed NP 2.0/NP 3.0/ David Whittaker/Fred/Sonic Arranger-Recognition routines, new Promizer replay V 3.9: Improved PMC's CLI-interface, UNIC-replay now sounds normal on faster AMIGAs, Window repositions correctly on OS 2.0-screens when deiconifying, PMC doesn't write to unallocated memory, PowerPlayer restores the initial state of the power led when exiting, added a pretty timer, removed all ENFORCER hits (I hope), TOOLPRI WB- & CLI-Argument, PowerPlayer-Support-Mailbox (no feature, but everybody will notice it here :) V 4.0: POWERPLAYER IS NOW INTERNATIONALIZED!, PMC got a version string, added ProPacker replay, new great CBM installer script, supports OS 3.0 defaultbusypointer, new moduleinfo function for ProTracker modules V 4.1: Added OctaMED v5 Replay, PowerPlayer now notifies an already running PowerPlayer about the selected files, adjusted the style of the gadgets to OS 2.0, fixed bug in ASL-Filerequestersetup, LhA-support!!!, new more comfortabledistribution method for british users (look up at 'service') ============================================================================== This version of the PowerPlayer supports: David Whittaker DeltaMusic 1.0 + 2.0 Digital Sound System Fred Future Composer 1.0-1.4 Game Music Creator Jam Cracker Jochen Hippel (untested) Kris Maniacs Of Noise Mark II Morten Grouleff's MusicProgram Music Assembler NoisePacker 2.0 + 3.0 NoiseTracker NoiseTracker 1.3D packed modules NoiseTracker 1.3D packed modules with replay routine OctaMED-Modules (MMD0, MMD1 & MMD2) Oktalyzer Promizer I + II ProPacker 2.1 ProRunner packed modules ProTracker CIA (V2.1a) SidMon 1.0 and 2.0 Sonic Arranger with replay routine SoundFX 1.3 + 2.0 SoundMon SoundTracker 2.6 Startracker 4 voice Tfmx with replay routine The Musical Enlightenment Unic ============================================================================== Installation ------------ The PowerPlayer NEEDS the PowerPacker.Library and the ReqTools.Library in your libs:-directory. The script included in this package will install them for you. Optionally the Lh.Library is used. If you feel fit enough you can crunch your modules with the powerful PMC which uses the LH.Library. ============================================================================== Introduction ------------ Hello and welcome to the world of PowerPlayer! This fantastic tool was written in 1991-94 by Stephan Fuhrmann, using the outstanding abilities of the -ReqTools.Library by Nico François for the File- and Text-Requestors -PowerPacker.Library by Nico François for uncrunching powerpacked files -Lh.Library by Holger P. Krekel and Olaf 'Olsen' Barthel for _BEST_ compression of modules, executable simple cruncher included. The PowerPlayer is a tool for playing music made with one of the supported music-programs or compatibles with the good old AMIGA stereo digital sound-facilities ! There have been many of these programs before, but PowerPlayer is something different: -cool fast tricky optimized 100% assembly code, most parts PC-Relative -works on CPU 68000, 68010, 68020, 68030, 68040 and it should work on the 68060 and all future CPUs -works with OS 1.3, 2.0, 3.0 without any problems -little pretty (?) play-window -maaaany optimized replays -PowerPacker-Library for using always the latest and fastest decrunch-routine -supports xpk crunched modules ! -Lh-Library for deepest compression ever seen on modules (try it out !) -automatically extracts LhA-archives -powerful ARexx-Port for remote control of PowerPlayer -may be used in thousands of ways from WorkBench and from CLI -allocates its audio-channels with the audio.device -sends a message to an eventually running PowerPlayer, resulting in a better cooperation between PowerPlayer and directory utilities But let us start at the beginning: Calling PowerPlayer ------------------- WorkBench --------- DoubleClick ----------- DoubleClick the icon of the PowerPlayer, choose the file in the File-Requester, hit 'OK' and enjoy ! DefaultTool ----------- You have a module with an icon. Select this icon and activate the info-function of the Workbench. Now select the DefaultTool. Enter the path of PowerPlayer and press to terminate the input. Press the SAVE-Gadget. Now everytime you doubleclick the project-icon PowerPlayer will be loaded and will play your song ! MultiSelect ----------- Move the mousepointer over the PowerPlayer-Icon and press the left mousebutton ONCE. Now press SHIFT and leave it pressed. Select the songs you want to hear with the mouse. Now doubleclick the last song and release SHIFT. Your songs will be loaded ! ToolTypes --------- Place the mousepointer over the powerplayer-icon and activate it by choosing "Info" out of the Workbench-menus. You have got the possibility to add/change the following ToolTypes: QUALIFIER=(qualifier for hotkeys) This specifies the qualifier you want for the hotkeys DIRECTORY=(directory you want in the filerequester) This specifies the directory that will be displayed first in the filerequester Example: DIRECTORY=DF0:Modules PATTERN=(pattern you want in the filerequester) This specifies the pattern all files in the filerequester are matched with Example: PATTERN=MOD.#? LED=[0|1|M] This specifies the mode of the filter-LED: 0=Force filter-led off 1=Force filter-led on M=Let the module decide (default) Example: LED=0 NOREQ=[TRUE|FALSE] Tells PowerPlayer to pop up *NO* filerequester if it started without any files specified. Useful for ARexx since you can't control Nico's Filrequester with ARexx ;-). NOWIN=[TRUE|FALSE] Tells PowerPlayer to open *NO* window on startup. ASL=[TRUE|FALSE] Tells PowerPlayer to use the filerequester of the asl.library. You need OS 2.0 to do this. If PowerPlayer failed to open the library or the requester the reqtools- requester will be used. NOTIMER=[TRUE|FALSE] Tells PowerPlayer that you do/don't want to have a timer. The timer tends to need some CPU cycles once a second. TOOLPRI=[-128..127] Sets the task priority of PowerPlayer to the specified value. DANGER! Stay in the range from -3 to +3, otherwise you will disturb important system tasks! LHA=[Work:Arc/LhA >%s -nmM x %s %s] Specifies the call of LhA. At the beginning of the line there's the path of the LhA-command. Next is the redirection (">%s") of the output of LhA that must be interpreted by PowerPlayer. After this there's some needed Options ("-nmM") for the work with LhA, and finally the substitutes ("%s") for the archive name and the destination path. LHADIR=[t:] For decrunching LhA archives PowerPlayer needs to know a temporary destination path for the bufering of all decrunched files. Usually that's 't:', but when handling bigger archives a directory on harddisk may be more useful. AppWindow --------- (WB 2.0+ only) Additional to the possibility to use awkward filerequesters, it is possible to drag icons of modules directly into PowerPlayer's window! PowerPlayer will load and play all modules dropped into its window at once. CLI/Shell --------- Filerequester ------------- Everyone knows how to handle filerequesters, so I do not want to explain the very sophisticated one of the reqtools.library. Type the name of PowerPlayer in the CLI/Shell you have opened and add the parameter '-r' to the command. You will see a filerequester where you can select your songs. This flag is obsolete, PowerPlayer will pop up the filerequester if there are no files specified on startup. Example: PowerPlayer -r Filename -------- If you do not want to select the file by making use of the filerequester (i.e. in scripts) you may also add one or multipe modulenames with its/their path to the commandline. Example: PowerPlayer df0:MOD.PowerTheme ram:SID.Mega Information ----------- If you want to see the cool information-page, enter: PowerPlayer ? Version ------- If you want to find out the version of PowerPlayer, simply enter: PowerPlayer -Ver Flags ----- There are multiple flags that can make the time you pass using the PowerPlayer more convenient: -r........use filerequester (obsolete) -nr.......don't pop up filerequester at start when there are no files specified -nw.......don't open a window at start -dDIR.....set the directory of the filerequester i.e. '-dDF0:modules'. -pPAT.....set the pattern of the filerequester i.e. '-pMOD#?'. -qQUAL....set the qualifier for the hotkeys (see hotkey-chapter) -l0/1/M...set the mode of the filter-led. 0=force filter off 1=force filter on M=module controls filter -ASL......Tells PowerPlayer to use the filerequester of the asl.library. You need OS 2.0 to do this. If PowerPlayer failed to open the library or the requester the reqtools-requester will be used. -nt.....Tells PowerPlayer to use _NO_ timer. The timer tends to need some CPU cycles once a second. Default is timer on. -ToolPri=[-128..127]..sets the task priority of PowerPlayer to the specified value. DANGER! Stay in the range from -3 to +3, otherwise you will disturb important system tasks ! "-xWork:Arc/LhA >%s -nmM x %s %s" Specifies the call of LhA. The reason for the quotation marks is that there are spaces in the line. At the beginning of the line there's the path of the LhA-command. Next is the redirection (">%s") of the output of LhA that must be interpreted by PowerPlayer. After this there's some needed Options ("-nmM") for the work with LhA, and finally the substitutes ("%s") for the archive name and the destination path. -yt: For decrunching LhA archives PowerPlayer needs to know a temporary destination path for the bufering of all decrunched files. Usually that's 't:', but when handling bigger archives a directory on harddisk may be more useful. Play-Requester -------------- The Play-Requester contains information about the module and some gadgets. If you start PowerPlayer without a window (NOWIN) and have specified a qualifier for hotkeys you are able to open the window by pressing qualifier and 'w'. Questionmark....displays the usual information concerning copyright & features. Eject...........ejects the current list of songs & asks you with a filerequester for a new one. FirstSong.......will load & play the first song from the list. PrevSong........will load & play the previous song from the list. Play............will play the song. Will automatically unpause, if you hammer the PLAY again the song will start from the beginning. FastForward.....will play the song twice as fast as normal. This gives a nice FF-effect ! Rehammer will switch back to normal speed. NextSong........will load & play the next song from the list. LastSong........will load & play the last song from the list. Stop............will stop the song. Automatically unpauses, unFFs and unplays! Pause...........stops the song until you repress pause or push play. Reset...........will start the song again. RND.............will load & play a randomly chosen song. For further information about the keyboard functions of Powerplayer read the Chapter 'Keyboard Functions'. Pressing the right mousebutton will change to the iconify-mode. The window will shrink to a minimum height of 10 pixels. The gadgets will disappear, but you can still control PowerPlayer with the keyboard-shortcuts. To unshrink the window to its normal size you just have to hit the right mousebutton again. The display of the window contains -the name of the module (top of window) -type of the module & length of the module in bytes (middle of window) -the gadgets and the position-indicator that displays your position in the file-list. My GUI works with a recolor-routine that can handle crazy palettes in a clever way. It searches for the brightest and darkest colors for the shadows and it searches for the color with the biggest contrast to the background for text-output. Songlist -------- Songlists are a replacement for the torture of selecting ever and ever the same files with the filerequester. Songlists contain the information that PowerPlayer usually gets from the filerequester. FOR SAVING SONGLISTS YOU REQUIRE AMIGAOS 2.0 OR HIGHER. Songlists are loaded like songs. You may load a songlist with the filerequester, you may load it by multiselecting it with PowerPlayer from the Workbench etc. If a songlist is being loaded PowerPlayer will act as if you just selected the files with the filerequester: it'll read the first song and play it. You may save a songlist at every time you want to. Press '#' and a filerequester will appear and ask you for the name of the songlist you wish to save. Because of technical reasons the whole path of a song will be saved. This means that you can use a songlist only for one volume (disk/harddrive), the volume name will be used in the path. Since songlists are loaded like songs, it is free to you to crunch them. Keyboard Functions ------------------ PowerPlayer offers for advanced users shortcuts and hotkeys which enable you to control PowerPlayer much better than with gadgets. An additional feature are the hotkeys. You have got to use the normal keymapping for hotkeys, but read this later on. Key Function ............................................................................. 'm' Shows all instruments names of ProTracker modules with a requester '#' Save current songlist. A filerequester will appear, choose the songlistfile to save. Saving the songlist will take a little while, but loading the songlist is as fast as usual. CTRL-F Puts the PowerPlayer window to the front and unshrinks it. Better: 'x'. 'x' & 'X' Puts the Workbench and the PowerPlayer window to the foreground, and unshrinks it. Better than CTRL-F, CTRL-F was left in the code to reach downwards- compatibility of the keyboard control. CTRL-F couldn't be used as a hotkey, but 'x' can. ESC / CTRL-C Quits PowerPlayer RETURN loads & plays the next song '-', '[', '(', '{', '3' loads & plays the previous song '+', ']', ')', '}', '6' loads & plays the next song 'e', 'E', '2' works like the 'Eject' gadget 'p', 'P', '4' works like the 'Play' gadget 'f', 'F', '5' works like the 'FastForward' gadget 's', 'S', '7' works like the 'Stop' gadget 'r' & 'R','9' works like the 'Reset' gadget ' ' & '*','8' works like the 'Pause' gadget 'i' & '1' displays the information-requester '~', '/' works like the 'RND' gadget 'w' & 'W' opens the PowerPlayer window, if it isn't open yet Hotkeys ------- Hotkeys enable you to use PowerPlayers standard set of keys - no matter what the active window or screen is. This means that you can control PowerPlayer from your wordprocessor without leaving the wordprocessors screen/window. This feature is turned on by the QUALIFIER ToolType or by the -q flag. Valid qualifiers are: LSHIFT/LEFT_SHIFT RSHIFT/RIGHT_SHIFT CAPSLOCK CONTROL LALT/LEFT_ALT RALT/RIGHT_ALT LCOMMAND/LEFT_COMMAND/LAMIGA/LEFT_AMIGA RCOMMAND/RIGHT_COMMAND/RAMIGA/RIGHT_AMIGA To mix these qualifiers you have to seperate the qualifiers with a '!' or a '|': CONTROL!LSHIFT!LALT This is the recommended standard qualifier that is preset in PowerPlayers ToolType. ============================================================================== ARexx support ------------- PowerPlayer offers an ARexx-Port named "PowerPlayer.REXX". The ARexx-Port supports the following commands: PlEject acts exactly like the "Eject"-button PlFirst acts exactly like the "First"-button PlPrevious acts exactly like the "Previous"-button PlPlay acts exactly like the "Play"-button PlFF acts exactly like the "FF"-button PlNext acts exactly like the "Next"-button PlLast acts exactly like the "Last"-button PlStop acts exactly like the "Stop"-button PlPause acts exactly like the "Pause"-button PlReset acts exactly like the "Reset"-button PlRnd acts exactly like the "Rnd"-button PlQuit tells PowerPlayer to quit. Don't try to access the ARexx-Port after this command! PlLoad "" loads and plays it. PlName returns the name of the current module PlLength returns the length of the current module PlType returns the type of the current module PlListPos returns the current position in the filelist PlListLen returns the length of the current filelist PlMemPlay plays the module that can be found at in the memory with the size of bytes. bytes will be freed at after the module has been replayed. A of 0 signals that PowerPlayer mustn't free the memory area. ============================================================================== The PowerPlayer Music Cruncher ------------------------------ PMC has been developed to crunch modules only and I think that it does its job very good. It beats the compression-ratio of _EVERY_ known cruncher/archiver on the AMIGA and it is very fast when crunching & decrunching. I have developed the new "SFCD" (Stephan Fuhrmanns Compact Density) mode which is based upon the old "SFHD" (Stephan Fuhrmanns High Density) mode. To crunch/decrunch "SFCD"/"SFHD" type modules you require Lh.Library v1.8+. MOD.TEST |UNCRUNCHED |SFCD |SFHD |POWERPACKER ----------------+---------------+-------+-------+----------- SIZE (bytes) |320044 |189734 |210540 |237832 SUCCESS |00% |40% |34% |25% CRUNCHTIME |0:00 |2:37 |2:47 |2:58 DECRUNCHTIME |0:00 |0:17 |0:17 |0:07 Using PMC is rather simple: PMC [SOURCENAME] [DESTNAME] PMC will load [SOURCENAME], crunch it (or decrunch, if already crunched) and save it as [DESTNAME]. Another possibility is to specify only one filename. PMC will read the file you specified, crunch/decrunch it and will overwrite the old file: PMC [FILENAME] With this method PMC is able to work with CBM's SPat. PMC writes "SFCD" type modules only, but it can read & decrunch "SFCD" and "SFHD" type modules. PowerPlayer reads & decrunches "SFCD" & "SFHD" type modules automatically if the Lh.Library is in your Libs: directory. I have seen some guys loading up modules on BBSs in the PMC-format. PLEASE use '.PMC' as suffix and note that they need PowerPlayer to replay. AND check the BBS wether there's PowerPlayer existing or not, they won't be very happy if they download the stuff and don't find the PowerPlayer ! An example BBS-entry could look like this: SONG.PMC Very good module, use PowerPlayer to replay I recommend uploading the modules in the PMC-format without unimportant 'trash' in an archive. You don't have to decrunch manually, the file needs less diskspace (it's still crunched) and there's last but not least the PMC-format that has been developed ONLY for the PowerPlayer, so you _NEED_ the PowerPlayer to decrunch ß-} ! By doing this you can show your consent to the PowerPlayer! ============================================================================== Technical Information --------------------- PowerPlayer won't create his own process. It seems to be a modern feature to launch everything in the background, but I wanted to give the user the possibility to stop the computer i.e. in the startup-sequence as long as the song plays. I think this is the best way to realize this, if you want to create a background process for PowerPlayer you will have to "RunBack" it yourself ! If you examine songlists saved by PowerPlayer you'll notice that PowerPlayer stores the whole path of a file. This may fatten the songlists a little bit, but it is nessesary for WB & AppWindow filemodes. ============================================================================== Service ------- Since there are sooo many music-proggies for the AMIGA, it is impossible to include all the existing replays. To give you and me the possibility to expand PowerPlayer to the best moduleplayer ever written, I will built in any replay-routine sent to me, if the following work is done: -Sourcecode of the Music-Routine in ASSEMBLY, PC-Relative if possible. At this time I can only include replayers at the base of the verticalblank-interrupt. The sourcecode has to be on a 3.5"-disk -Add a description how to recognize that certain kind of module or other- wise simply enclose 3 or more of those modules and I'll find out myself -In any case,though, I would like you to add 3 or more Songs that can be played with your replay, if possible. I have to test the routines, and a music-proggy with less than 3 adequate songs is surely not very useful. -If the disk has only ONE error, I'll take for granted that you do not want it back and shred it. So do use high-quality-disks formatted carefully before using (verify) ! SHAREWARE-INFORMATION: Only registered users receive an update for 5 DM. One update is automatically provided if you pay the 30 DM shareware fee. If you want some cool features added to the PowerPlayer, do this: -Write a detailed letter with all new features you think of -If you would like to have the new version include a disk for PowerPlayer and 5 DM (DEUTSCH MARK) for my working on it ! If you want an update, do this: -Include a disk for PowerPlayer and 5 DM (DEUTSCH MARK) for all the work (envelope, stamps...) ! -I will send you the actual version of PowerPlayer If you just want to write to an AMIGA programmer -do it! My Address: Stephan Fuhrmann Erikstr. 30 24837 Schleswig Germany Bank connection: Commerzbank Schleswig, Bank code number 210 400 10 Account-No. 8226516 Those living in Great Britain can obtain their registered user keyfile by sending £8.00 + £1.00 postage to the following address: RBF Software. 169, Dale Valley Road, Southampton. S016 6QX ( please make cheques, postal orders out to RBF Software ) Always add the version of the PowerPlayer you are using and where you got it from! email: fury@doomsday.shnet.org no files > 16 kB! ============================================================================== OctaMED routines used under licence from the Copyright owners RBF Software. OctaMED User Support BBS +44 (0) 703 703446 (EOF)