Mercurial > hg > xmms-sid
annotate FAQ @ 325:2e82a1742254
Updated FAQ
| author | Matti Hamalainen <ccr@tnsp.org> |
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| date | Wed, 12 Jan 2005 02:29:02 +0000 |
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| 9 | 1 XMMS-SID - Frequently Asked (and other) Questions |
| 2 ================================================= | |
| 3 | |
| 174 | 4 --- |
| 5 | |
| 6 Q: How do I change the sub-tune? | |
| 7 | |
| 8 A: Starting from XMMS-SID 0.8.0, there are several methods for | |
| 9 changing the subtune. The default is a pop-up selector which | |
| 10 can be summoned by clicking XMMS's song-position slider | |
| 325 | 11 while a SID-tune is playing. (This only works if the song |
| 12 length is defined, since otherwise XMMS does not show the | |
| 13 position slider.) | |
| 14 | |
| 15 Other methods are available, including support for the XMMS | |
| 16 patch used by old versions of XMMS-SID (0.7.x and earlier), | |
| 17 refer to XMMS-SID configuration for more information: | |
| 174 | 18 |
| 19 -> Press <ctrl+p> | |
| 199 | 20 -> Select "Audio I/O Plugins"-tab |
| 21 -> Choose "XMMS-SID x.y.z [libxmmssid.so]" from the list | |
| 22 -> Click "Configure" | |
| 23 -> Select "Misc"-tab, Sub-song control | |
| 174 | 24 |
| 25 There is also a selector in song-information window of XMMS | |
| 26 (Press <ctrl+3>) | |
| 27 | |
| 28 --- | |
| 29 | |
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30 Q: So what IS the "SID"? |
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32 A: "SID" is abbreviation for the sound chip that was used in many |
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33 of the old 8-bit home computers manufactured by Commodore Business |
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34 Machines Inc. in 1980's. Best known of those was the Commodore |
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35 64 home computer (aka C64 or CBM64, also known as VIC-64 in |
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36 some countries). |
| 9 | 37 |
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38 The Sound Interface Device (SID) was designed by Bob Yannes and |
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39 is considered one of the most advanced sound chips at the time. |
| 185 | 40 Its capabilities surpassed all of the other chips on the 8-bit |
| 9 | 41 home computer market and even most of the ones used in arcade |
| 42 game systems. Thousands of games were produced for C=64 in | |
| 43 1980's and beginning of 1990's, many of them having excellent | |
| 44 musical score. | |
| 45 | |
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46 Best of those tunes are still regarded as legendary - such as songs |
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47 by Martin Galway (for games Arkanoid, Green Beret, Yie Ar Kung Fu 1 |
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48 and 2, Parallax), Rob Hubbard (Commando, Auf Wiedersehen Monty, |
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49 Monty on the Run, Warhawk, Sanxion, Delta), Ben Daglish (Jack |
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50 the Nipper 1&2, Way of the Tiger, Cobra, Avenger) and numerous |
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51 other famous composers. Some of them quit their composing quickly |
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52 after the 8-bit period, but some are still working in the computer |
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53 music business. (Including Maniacs of Noise, Chris Huelsbeck, |
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54 Richard Joseph and Charles Deenen who worked with Fallout 1 & 2's |
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55 musical score) |
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57 Today, years after the decline of 8-bit computers, many composers |
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58 mainly from C64 demoscene continue to compose tunes for SID and |
| 9 | 59 get most amazing things out of it -- things that the designers of |
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60 the SID didn't even imagine to be possible. |
| 9 | 61 |
| 62 | |
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63 The SID-chip is based on waveform modulation and synthesis and has |
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64 only three separate sound channels, but there are tunes that use |
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65 special techniques to "multiplex" them to sound like four or even |
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66 six channels. Even with limited number of channels and barely four |
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67 different basic waveforms (saw, triangle, pulse and noise), SID is |
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68 able to create most wonderful sounds. Modulation of channels via |
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69 another, special analog filter (low-, high- and band-pass) add |
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70 to the capabilities of SID. |
| 9 | 71 |
| 199 | 72 What is even more amazing, using a certain 'bug' in SID chip's |
| 73 volume control, composers were able to push the limits farther | |
| 74 ... Martin Galway's very famous piece on Arkanoid game was one of | |
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75 the first to feature digitized samples of real instruments. Later |
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76 on speech and more advanced sampling techniques were developed. |
| 9 | 77 |
| 171 | 78 --- |
| 9 | 79 |
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80 Q: What are "SID-tunes"? |
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81 |
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82 A: The "SID-tunes" are files that contain C64 machine code and data |
| 199 | 83 that plays the music. These files usually have names ending in |
| 84 .sid, .psid, .dat or .inf. | |
| 85 | |
| 86 SID-tune players are programs that emulate the SID's capabilities | |
| 87 and other parts of C64 hardware to produce almost authentic re- | |
| 88 creation of the original music. SID-tune files can be created by | |
| 89 ripping the music routines and data from a program (game/demo) or | |
| 90 just composing the music with some editor. | |
| 9 | 91 |
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92 XMMS-SID is interface and piece of "software glue", that knits |
| 171 | 93 together several emulator libraries and XMMS, allowing it to |
| 94 play SID-tunes. | |
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95 |
| 171 | 96 --- |
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97 |
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98 Q: Where to get SID-tunes? |
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99 |
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100 A: There are many collections of SID-tunes on the Internet, but |
| 199 | 101 probably the best and best known one is the High Voltage |
| 9 | 102 SID Collection aka HVSC. |
| 103 | |
| 325 | 104 It is available at: http://www.hvsc.c64.org/ |
| 9 | 105 |
| 106 HVSC contains the tunes ripped from all legendary C64 games, | |
| 199 | 107 loaders, etc. And more. There are over 20,000 tunes in the |
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108 HVSC version 5.3 and more are coming. HVSC also contains the |
| 9 | 109 STIL database (SID Tune Information List) that contains lots |
| 110 of information about many of the tunes included in HVSC. | |
| 23 | 111 XMMS-SID supports the STIL database and info about the selected |
| 9 | 112 tune can be viewed with the "XMMS fileinfo" window (CTRL+3). |
| 113 STIL information can contain comments from composers, notice | |
| 114 if the tune is a cover and historically interesting facts | |
| 115 about games, etc... | |
| 116 | |
| 171 | 117 --- |
| 118 | |
| 199 | 119 Q: Why the SID-tunes just loop on forever and XMMS does not |
| 120 advance in playlist?! | |
| 121 Q: Why there is no length shown for SID-tunes? | |
| 122 Q: Why are all tunes same length? | |
| 123 | |
| 124 A: Above problems come from the fact that SID-tunes are not | |
| 125 really files containing music comparable to MP3/Ogg/MOD/etc. | |
| 126 A SID-file/tune is actually a piece of program and data, | |
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127 which are executed in emulated system to produce sound. |
| 199 | 128 |
| 129 These programs (often called "drivers" or "players") come | |
| 130 in various shapes and forms, there are usually not many | |
| 131 common factors. While not delving deeply into technology | |
| 132 of Commodore 64 computer and it's brethen, there are | |
| 133 various ways how such "driver"/"player" can work. The | |
| 134 only access points are provided by some extra information | |
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135 in SID-tune file's header, including information how to |
| 199 | 136 execute the player inside the emulator, etc. |
| 137 | |
| 138 This lengthy explanation is required to understand that | |
| 139 there is simply no _direct_ way to know the duration of | |
| 140 any SID-tune! | |
| 141 | |
| 142 There are, however, few _indirect_ ways: | |
| 143 | |
| 144 - HVSC Song Length Database (SLDB): There exists a database | |
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145 of song-lengths for High Voltage SID Collection. XMMS-SID |
| 199 | 146 supports this database, please refer to README for more |
| 147 information. | |
| 148 | |
| 149 - Maximum and Minimum playtime: These help, when SLDB does | |
| 150 not provide a duration for given song. Maximum playtime | |
| 151 should be self-explanatory. Minimum playtime may be | |
| 152 preferred if the tune's length is very short and there | |
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153 are subtunes. Refer to XMMS-SID's configuration and |
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154 README for more information. |
| 199 | 155 |
| 156 --- | |
| 157 | |
| 150 | 158 Q: Why isn't the sub-song control window skinned? |
| 9 | 159 |
| 160 A: Because the XMMS's code for skins is not exported to | |
| 167 | 161 plugins. And besides, you would need new reworked |
| 162 skin(s) anyway, piecing a skin together from existing | |
| 163 components would probably be impossible in most cases. | |
| 9 | 164 |
| 171 | 165 --- |
| 9 | 166 |
| 167 Q: When using XMMS-SID with the OpenGL Spectrum Analyzer, | |
| 167 | 168 the sound becomes distorted! |
| 9 | 169 |
| 170 A: This is a known problem and occurs usually with NVidia | |
| 171 cards and drivers. It is not directly related to XMMS-SID. | |
| 172 | |
| 173 With certain combinations of hardware, this problem presents | |
| 174 itself with all input-plugins (mp3, mod, ogg..) of XMMS. | |
| 175 | |
| 176 Workaround: Upgrade or downgrade your NVidia drivers. | |
| 177 Try lowering your systemload. Close some unnecessary | |
| 178 CPU-consuming applications. Buy faster hardware. | |
| 179 | |
| 171 | 180 --- |
| 9 | 181 |
| 166 | 182 Q: Can I make my own SID-tunes? How? |
| 9 | 183 |
| 184 A: Yes you can. You need a real C64 or emulator like VICE and | |
| 185 a composing program. There are many available, I know only | |
| 186 few of them: | |
| 187 | |
| 23 | 188 - JCH's editor (search with google) |
| 9 | 189 - Cybertracker (http://noname.c64.org/) |
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190 - GoatTracker (http://covertbitops.c64.org/) |
| 9 | 191 |
| 192 Some of the mentioned tools can be found from Lemon's | |
| 193 collection which is an excellent place to look for info | |
| 194 on games and other Commodore-related software. | |
| 195 The URL is: http://www.lemon64.com/ | |
| 23 | 196 |
| 9 | 197 You should also check http://www.c64.com/ |
| 198 | |
| 199 Besides the above, you'll need some skill in using the | |
| 200 programs and hardware, understanding of music in some | |
| 201 level and good ideas for tunes. :) | |
| 202 | |
| 203 Rest of that is out of the scope of this document, | |
| 204 please don't ask me about this. | |
| 205 | |
| 171 | 206 --- |
| 9 | 207 |
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208 Q: XMMS-SID plays some tunes too fast / there are severe playback bugs! |
| 9 | 209 |
| 325 | 210 A1: If you are using libSIDPlay2 emulator engine, some SID-tunes in old |
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211 format (PSIDv1) are not compatible with it anymore and may play |
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212 too fast or with some other audible glitches. Get new rips of those |
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213 tunes in PSIDv2NG or RSID format, for example from recent version |
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214 of HVSC. |
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215 |
| 166 | 216 A2: Generally speaking this might be a bug in emulation-library or some |
| 217 other component. Or it might be in XMMS-SID. Report and I'll see | |
| 218 what can be done. | |
| 9 | 219 |
| 171 | 220 --- |
| 167 | 221 |
| 222 Q: Some tunes are so short that I don't have time to change sub-tune | |
| 223 before XMMS moves on to next song in playlist! | |
| 224 | |
| 225 A: Enable "Minimum playtime" option in XMMS-SID configuration | |
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226 (Songlength -tab in configuration dialog), which adds silence to |
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227 end of short tunes and you have more time to change the sub-tune. |
| 167 | 228 |
| 171 | 229 --- |
| 167 | 230 |