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1 xmms-sid - SIDPlay input plugin for X MultiMedia System (XMMS)
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2 ==============================================================
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3
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4 XMMS-SID is originally by Willem Monsuwe.
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5 Additional fixes, features added were added by
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6 Matti "ccr" Hamalainen of Tecnic Software productions (TNSP),
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7 who also nowadays maintains this package.
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8
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9 !! NOTICE: Please do not contact Willem about this version,
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10 since the bugs and quirks are probably made by me (ccr) now. !!
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11
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12 General Introduction
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13 ====================
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14 XMMS-SID is a plugin for XMMS (X MultiMedia System) which provides
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15 support for playing the so-called "SID tunes". For the actual playing,
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16 XMMS-SID uses the excellent libsidplay SID-chip/6502 emulator engine.
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17 (See "INSTALL" where to get libsidplay)
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18
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19 If you are not familiar with the term "SID tune" or "SID" concept at
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20 all, a short (yes it is! ;-) explanation follows:
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21
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22 SID is the sound chip that was used in many of the old 8-bit home
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23 computers manufactured by Commodore Inc. in 1980's. Best known of
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24 those was the Commodore 64 home computer (aka C64 or CBM64, also
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25 known as VIC-64 in some countries).
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26
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27
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28 The Sound Interface Device (SID) was one of the most advanced sound
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29 chips at the time. It's capabilities surpassed all of the other chips
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30 on the 8-bit home computer market and even most of the ones used in
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31 arcade game systems. Thousands of games were produced for C=64 in
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32 1980's and beginning of 1990's, many of them having excellent musical
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33 score. Best of those tunes are still regarded at least legendary,
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34 such as songs by Martin Galway (for games Arkanoid, Green Beret,
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35 Yie Ar Kung Fu 1 & 2, Parallax...), Rob Hubbard (Commando, Auf
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36 Wiedersehen Monty, Monty on the Run, Warhawk, Sanxion, Delta...),
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37 Ben Daglish (Jack the Nipper 1&2, Way of the Tiger, Cobra, Avenger...)
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38 and numerous other legendary composers. Some of them quit their
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39 composing quickly after the 8-bit period, but some are still working
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40 in the computer music business. (Like Maniacs of Noise, Chris
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41 Huelsbeck, Richard Joseph and ex. MON member Charles Deenen who
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42 worked with Fallout 1's musical score)
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43
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44
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45 Today, years after the decline of 8-bit computers, many composers
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46 (mainly from C64 demoscene) continue to compose tunes for SID and
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47 get most amazing things out of it -- things that the designers of
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48 the SID would have never believed.
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49
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50 For example: SID has only three sound channels, but there are tunes
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51 that use special techniques to "multiplex" them to sound like four
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52 or even six channels. Also these three channels are "limited" to
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53 synthesized sounds, kind like the FM sounds produced by old Sound Blaster
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54 cards on PC. But again, using a certain 'bug' in SID chip, composers
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55 were able to push the limits farther ... Martin Galway's very famous
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56 piece on Arkanoid game was the "first" (later it has been proven that
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57 Chris Huelsbeck's Bad Cat was the first but was released later) to
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58 feature DIGITIZED SAMPLES like speech, etc.
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59
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60 ...
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61
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62 So this is the story in short. The "SID tunes" are usually understood
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63 to be the files that contain the C64 machine code and data that plays
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64 the music. SID players (or emulators) are programs that emulate the
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65 SID chip capabilities and other parts of C64 hardware to produce
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66 almost authentic re-creation of the original music. SID-files (aka
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67 SID tunes) can be created by ripping the music routines and data from
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68 some game or just composing the music with some editor.
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69
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70 XMMS-SID is interface for one of those emulators, probably the best
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71 one: (lib)SIDPlay by Michael Schwendt.
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72
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73 ...
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74
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75 Hopefully I didn't make you bored with my chit-chat :)
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76
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77 -ccr/TNSP
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78
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79
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80 Where to get SID tunes?
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81 =======================
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82 There are many collections of SID tunes on the Internet, but
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83 probably the best one and best known one is the High Voltage
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84 SID Collection aka HVSC.
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85
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86 It is available at: http://hvsc.c64.org/
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87
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88 HVSC contains the tunes ripped from all legendary C64 games,
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89 loaders, etc. And more. There are over 15,000 tunes in the
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90 HVSC version 4.0 and more are coming. HVSC also contains the
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91 STIL database (SID Tune Information List) that contains lots
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92 of information about many of the tunes included in HVSC.
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93 XMMS-SID supports the STIL database and info about the playing
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94 tune can be viewed with the "XMMS fileinfo" window (CTRL+3).
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95 STIL information can contain comments from composers, information
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96 about if the tune is a cover and historically interesting facts
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97 about games, etc...
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98
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99
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100 Usage
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101 =====
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102 Using the plugin is quite simple, if you are familiar with XMMS,
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103 then you already know how to use XMMS-SID. The configuration of
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104 the plugin should be quite self-explanatory and the default settings
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105 are usually satisfactory. The only thing that you probably
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106 need to touch in the config dialog is the "STIL-database path"-setting,
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107 if you have the HVSC-collection and want to use STIL-database.
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108
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109 Simply point the STIL-db path to "STIL.txt"-file that resides
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110 under "DOCUMENTS"-subdirectory of HVSC-rootdir. For example,
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111 I use the following path: "/usr/src/C64Music/DOCUMENTS/STIL.txt".
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112 (My HVSC resides under "/usr/src/C64Music")
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113
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114
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115 Notes
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116 =====
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117 * If the plugin doesn't recognize your sidtunes, try checking the
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118 'Determine filetype by contents' option in the xmms-sid config window.
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119 This is horrendously slow if you're reading a 10000-tune playlist,
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120 though.
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121
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122 * For those who don't know it: Autopanning and stereo are not native to
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123 the original SID chip on C64&all, but are extra options implemented in
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124 libsidplay. So if you think that the tune does not sound as it sounds
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125 on the real C64 (or other SID using machine), use the Mono setting.
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126
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127 * xmms-sid's configuration panel has been enchanged (from v0.6)
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128 to have the libsidplay's SID filter configuration parameters. You
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129 can tune them if you know what you're doing and maybe want to make
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130 xmms-sid sound more like your own C64's SID (as some of you may
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131 remember, the original SID 6580 had the infamous filter bug that
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132 made every chip sound somewhat different!). If you don't know what
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133 to do with these settings, just press the Reset Values button to
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134 get the working defaults of libsidplay.
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135
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136 * The "kb/s rate" box is actually the play rate in Hz, so you can
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137 see if it's an NTSC or PAL song (if you haven't set the Force Speed
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138 option).
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139
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140 * Read file "README.songpos" for additional fun.
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141
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142
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143 Contacting and where to get new versions
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144 ========================================
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145 New releases of this plugin should be available at TNSP's WWW
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146 homepages, see below for address. Bug reports, suggestions,
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147 patches, etc. should be sent to ccr.
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148
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149 ccr's e-mail: mhamalai@ratol.fi
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150
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151 OR : ccr@iobox.com (if the one above does not work)
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152
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153 TNSP's WWW : http://www.tnsp.org/
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154
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155 TNSP e-mail : tnsp@iobox.com
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156
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