Mercurial > hg > xmms-sid
annotate FAQ @ 167:01944a16cb81
Updated FAQ
| author | Matti Hamalainen <ccr@tnsp.org> |
|---|---|
| date | Wed, 11 Aug 2004 03:03:05 +0000 |
| parents | 1a9628783f23 |
| children | 78e06aecad7f |
| rev | line source |
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| 9 | 1 XMMS-SID - Frequently Asked (and other) Questions |
| 2 ================================================= | |
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4 Q: So what IS the "SID"? |
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6 A: "SID" is abbreviation for the sound chip that was used in many |
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7 of the old 8-bit home computers manufactured by Commodore Business |
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8 Machines Inc. in 1980's. Best known of those was the Commodore |
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9 64 home computer (aka C64 or CBM64, also known as VIC-64 in |
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10 some countries). |
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12 The Sound Interface Device (SID) was designed by Bob Yannes and |
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13 is considered one of the most advanced sound chips at the time. |
| 9 | 14 It's capabilities surpassed all of the other chips on the 8-bit |
| 15 home computer market and even most of the ones used in arcade | |
| 16 game systems. Thousands of games were produced for C=64 in | |
| 17 1980's and beginning of 1990's, many of them having excellent | |
| 18 musical score. | |
| 19 | |
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20 Best of those tunes are still regarded as legendary - such as songs |
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21 by Martin Galway (for games Arkanoid, Green Beret, Yie Ar Kung Fu 1 |
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22 and 2, Parallax...), Rob Hubbard (Commando, Auf Wiedersehen Monty, |
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23 Monty on the Run, Warhawk, Sanxion, Delta...), Ben Daglish (Jack |
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24 the Nipper 1&2, Way of the Tiger, Cobra, Avenger) and numerous |
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25 other famous composers. Some of them quit their composing quickly |
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26 after the 8-bit period, but some are still working in the computer |
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27 music business. (Including Maniacs of Noise, Chris Huelsbeck, |
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28 Richard Joseph and Charles Deenen who worked with Fallout 1 & 2's |
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29 musical score) |
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31 Today, years after the decline of 8-bit computers, many composers |
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32 mainly from C64 demoscene, continue to compose tunes for SID and |
| 9 | 33 get most amazing things out of it -- things that the designers of |
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34 the SID didn't even imagine. |
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| 36 | |
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37 The SID-chip is based on waveform modulation and synthesis and has |
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38 only three separate sound channels, but there are tunes that use |
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39 special techniques to "multiplex" them to sound like four or even |
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40 six channels. Even with limited number of channels and barely four |
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41 different basic waveforms (saw, triangle, pulse and noise), SID is |
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42 able to create most wonderful sounds. Modulation of channels via |
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43 another, special analog filter (low-, high- and band-pass) add |
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44 to the capabilities of SID. |
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46 What is even more amazing, using a certain 'bug' in SID chip's volume |
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47 control, composers were able to push the limits farther ... |
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48 Martin Galway's very famous piece on Arkanoid game was one of the |
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49 first to feature DIGITIZED SAMPLES like real instruments and speech. |
| 9 | 50 |
| 51 >--- | |
| 52 | |
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53 Q: What are "SID-tunes"? |
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54 |
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55 A: The "SID-tunes" are files that contain C64 machine code and data |
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56 that plays the music. SID-tune players are programs that emulate |
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57 the SID chip capabilities and other parts of C64 hardware to |
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58 produce almost authentic re-creation of the original music. |
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59 SID-tunes can be created by ripping the music routines and data |
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60 from some game or just composing the music with some editor. |
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62 XMMS-SID is interface, a piece of "software glue", that puts together |
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63 several emulator libraries and XMMS allowing play of SID-tunes via |
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64 XMMS's interface. |
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65 |
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66 >--- |
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67 |
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68 Q: Where to get SID-tunes? |
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69 |
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70 A: There are many collections of SID-tunes on the Internet, but |
| 9 | 71 probably the best one and best known one is the High Voltage |
| 72 SID Collection aka HVSC. | |
| 73 | |
| 74 It is available at: http://hvsc.c64.org/ | |
| 75 | |
| 76 HVSC contains the tunes ripped from all legendary C64 games, | |
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77 loaders, etc. And more. There are over 20,660 tunes in the |
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78 HVSC version 5.3 and more are coming. HVSC also contains the |
| 9 | 79 STIL database (SID Tune Information List) that contains lots |
| 80 of information about many of the tunes included in HVSC. | |
| 23 | 81 XMMS-SID supports the STIL database and info about the selected |
| 9 | 82 tune can be viewed with the "XMMS fileinfo" window (CTRL+3). |
| 83 STIL information can contain comments from composers, notice | |
| 84 if the tune is a cover and historically interesting facts | |
| 85 about games, etc... | |
| 86 | |
| 87 >--- | |
| 88 | |
| 150 | 89 Q: Why isn't the sub-song control window skinned? |
| 9 | 90 |
| 91 A: Because the XMMS's code for skins is not exported to | |
| 167 | 92 plugins. And besides, you would need new reworked |
| 93 skin(s) anyway, piecing a skin together from existing | |
| 94 components would probably be impossible in most cases. | |
| 9 | 95 |
| 96 >--- | |
| 97 | |
| 98 Q: When using XMMS-SID with the OpenGL Spectrum Analyzer, | |
| 167 | 99 the sound becomes distorted! |
| 9 | 100 |
| 101 A: This is a known problem and occurs usually with NVidia | |
| 102 cards and drivers. It is not directly related to XMMS-SID. | |
| 103 | |
| 104 With certain combinations of hardware, this problem presents | |
| 105 itself with all input-plugins (mp3, mod, ogg..) of XMMS. | |
| 106 | |
| 107 Workaround: Upgrade or downgrade your NVidia drivers. | |
| 108 Try lowering your systemload. Close some unnecessary | |
| 109 CPU-consuming applications. Buy faster hardware. | |
| 110 | |
| 111 >--- | |
| 112 | |
| 166 | 113 Q: Can I make my own SID-tunes? How? |
| 9 | 114 |
| 115 A: Yes you can. You need a real C64 or emulator like VICE and | |
| 116 a composing program. There are many available, I know only | |
| 117 few of them: | |
| 118 | |
| 23 | 119 - JCH's editor (search with google) |
| 9 | 120 - Cybertracker (http://noname.c64.org/) |
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121 - GoatTracker (http://covertbitops.c64.org/) |
| 9 | 122 |
| 123 Some of the mentioned tools can be found from Lemon's | |
| 124 collection which is an excellent place to look for info | |
| 125 on games and other Commodore-related software. | |
| 126 The URL is: http://www.lemon64.com/ | |
| 23 | 127 |
| 9 | 128 You should also check http://www.c64.com/ |
| 129 | |
| 130 Besides the above, you'll need some skill in using the | |
| 131 programs and hardware, understanding of music in some | |
| 132 level and good ideas for tunes. :) | |
| 133 | |
| 134 Rest of that is out of the scope of this document, | |
| 135 please don't ask me about this. | |
| 136 | |
| 137 >--- | |
| 138 | |
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139 Q: XMMS-SID plays some tunes too fast / there are severe playback bugs! |
| 9 | 140 |
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141 A1: If you are using libSIDPlay2 emulator engine, SID-tunes in old format |
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142 are not compatible with it anymore and may play too fast or with some |
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143 other audible glitches. Get new rips of those tunes in PSIDv2NG or |
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144 RSID format (for example from recent version of HVSC). |
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145 |
| 166 | 146 A2: Generally speaking this might be a bug in emulation-library or some |
| 147 other component. Or it might be in XMMS-SID. Report and I'll see | |
| 148 what can be done. | |
| 9 | 149 |
| 150 >--- | |
| 167 | 151 |
| 152 Q: Some tunes are so short that I don't have time to change sub-tune | |
| 153 before XMMS moves on to next song in playlist! | |
| 154 | |
| 155 A: Enable "Minimum playtime" option in XMMS-SID configuration | |
| 156 (Songlength -tab in configuration dialog) and you have more | |
| 157 time to change the sub-tune. | |
| 158 | |
| 159 >--- | |
| 160 |