Mercurial > hg > xmms-sid
annotate FAQ @ 199:6117c326cc3e
Updated documentation
| author | Matti Hamalainen <ccr@tnsp.org> |
|---|---|
| date | Wed, 18 Aug 2004 15:23:05 +0000 |
| parents | af7c0e0ce11a |
| children | 6a82506329ae |
| rev | line source |
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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 | |
| 11 while a SID-tune is playing. Other methods are available, | |
| 12 including support for the XMMS patch used by old versions of | |
| 13 XMMS-SID (0.7.x and earlier), refer to XMMS-SID configuration | |
| 14 for more information: | |
| 15 | |
| 16 -> Press <ctrl+p> | |
| 199 | 17 -> Select "Audio I/O Plugins"-tab |
| 18 -> Choose "XMMS-SID x.y.z [libxmmssid.so]" from the list | |
| 19 -> Click "Configure" | |
| 20 -> Select "Misc"-tab, Sub-song control | |
| 174 | 21 |
| 22 There is also a selector in song-information window of XMMS | |
| 23 (Press <ctrl+3>) | |
| 24 | |
| 25 --- | |
| 26 | |
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27 Q: So what IS the "SID"? |
| 9 | 28 |
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29 A: "SID" is abbreviation for the sound chip that was used in many |
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30 of the old 8-bit home computers manufactured by Commodore Business |
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31 Machines Inc. in 1980's. Best known of those was the Commodore |
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32 64 home computer (aka C64 or CBM64, also known as VIC-64 in |
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33 some countries). |
| 9 | 34 |
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35 The Sound Interface Device (SID) was designed by Bob Yannes and |
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36 is considered one of the most advanced sound chips at the time. |
| 185 | 37 Its capabilities surpassed all of the other chips on the 8-bit |
| 9 | 38 home computer market and even most of the ones used in arcade |
| 39 game systems. Thousands of games were produced for C=64 in | |
| 40 1980's and beginning of 1990's, many of them having excellent | |
| 41 musical score. | |
| 42 | |
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43 Best of those tunes are still regarded as legendary - such as songs |
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44 by Martin Galway (for games Arkanoid, Green Beret, Yie Ar Kung Fu 1 |
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45 and 2, Parallax...), Rob Hubbard (Commando, Auf Wiedersehen Monty, |
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46 Monty on the Run, Warhawk, Sanxion, Delta...), Ben Daglish (Jack |
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47 the Nipper 1&2, Way of the Tiger, Cobra, Avenger) and numerous |
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48 other famous composers. Some of them quit their composing quickly |
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49 after the 8-bit period, but some are still working in the computer |
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50 music business. (Including Maniacs of Noise, Chris Huelsbeck, |
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51 Richard Joseph and Charles Deenen who worked with Fallout 1 & 2's |
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52 musical score) |
| 9 | 53 |
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54 Today, years after the decline of 8-bit computers, many composers |
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55 mainly from C64 demoscene, continue to compose tunes for SID and |
| 9 | 56 get most amazing things out of it -- things that the designers of |
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57 the SID didn't even imagine. |
| 9 | 58 |
| 59 | |
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60 The SID-chip is based on waveform modulation and synthesis and has |
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61 only three separate sound channels, but there are tunes that use |
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62 special techniques to "multiplex" them to sound like four or even |
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63 six channels. Even with limited number of channels and barely four |
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64 different basic waveforms (saw, triangle, pulse and noise), SID is |
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65 able to create most wonderful sounds. Modulation of channels via |
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66 another, special analog filter (low-, high- and band-pass) add |
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67 to the capabilities of SID. |
| 9 | 68 |
| 199 | 69 What is even more amazing, using a certain 'bug' in SID chip's |
| 70 volume control, composers were able to push the limits farther | |
| 71 ... Martin Galway's very famous piece on Arkanoid game was one of | |
| 72 the first to feature DIGITIZED SAMPLES like real instruments and | |
| 73 speech. | |
| 9 | 74 |
| 171 | 75 --- |
| 9 | 76 |
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77 Q: What are "SID-tunes"? |
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78 |
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79 A: The "SID-tunes" are files that contain C64 machine code and data |
| 199 | 80 that plays the music. These files usually have names ending in |
| 81 .sid, .psid, .dat or .inf. | |
| 82 | |
| 83 SID-tune players are programs that emulate the SID's capabilities | |
| 84 and other parts of C64 hardware to produce almost authentic re- | |
| 85 creation of the original music. SID-tune files can be created by | |
| 86 ripping the music routines and data from a program (game/demo) or | |
| 87 just composing the music with some editor. | |
| 9 | 88 |
| 171 | 89 XMMS-SID is interface, a piece of "software glue", that pieces |
| 90 together several emulator libraries and XMMS, allowing it to | |
| 91 play SID-tunes. | |
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92 |
| 171 | 93 --- |
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94 |
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95 Q: Where to get SID-tunes? |
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96 |
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97 A: There are many collections of SID-tunes on the Internet, but |
| 199 | 98 probably the best and best known one is the High Voltage |
| 9 | 99 SID Collection aka HVSC. |
| 100 | |
| 101 It is available at: http://hvsc.c64.org/ | |
| 102 | |
| 103 HVSC contains the tunes ripped from all legendary C64 games, | |
| 199 | 104 loaders, etc. And more. There are over 20,000 tunes in the |
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105 HVSC version 5.3 and more are coming. HVSC also contains the |
| 9 | 106 STIL database (SID Tune Information List) that contains lots |
| 107 of information about many of the tunes included in HVSC. | |
| 23 | 108 XMMS-SID supports the STIL database and info about the selected |
| 9 | 109 tune can be viewed with the "XMMS fileinfo" window (CTRL+3). |
| 110 STIL information can contain comments from composers, notice | |
| 111 if the tune is a cover and historically interesting facts | |
| 112 about games, etc... | |
| 113 | |
| 171 | 114 |
| 115 --- | |
| 116 | |
| 199 | 117 Q: Why the SID-tunes just loop on forever and XMMS does not |
| 118 advance in playlist?! | |
| 119 Q: Why there is no length shown for SID-tunes? | |
| 120 Q: Why are all tunes same length? | |
| 121 | |
| 122 A: Above problems come from the fact that SID-tunes are not | |
| 123 really files containing music comparable to MP3/Ogg/MOD/etc. | |
| 124 A SID-file/tune is actually a piece of program and data, | |
| 125 which are executed in emulated system to produce simulated | |
| 126 audio. | |
| 127 | |
| 128 These programs (often called "drivers" or "players") come | |
| 129 in various shapes and forms, there are usually not many | |
| 130 common factors. While not delving deeply into technology | |
| 131 of Commodore 64 computer and it's brethen, there are | |
| 132 various ways how such "driver"/"player" can work. The | |
| 133 only access points are provided by some extra information | |
| 134 in PSID-file's header, including information how to | |
| 135 execute the player inside the emulator, etc. | |
| 136 | |
| 137 This lengthy explanation is required to understand that | |
| 138 there is simply no _direct_ way to know the duration of | |
| 139 any SID-tune! | |
| 140 | |
| 141 There are, however, few _indirect_ ways: | |
| 142 | |
| 143 - HVSC Song Length Database (SLDB): There exists a database | |
| 144 of song-lengths for High Voltage SID Collection. XMMS-SID | |
| 145 supports this database, please refer to README for more | |
| 146 information. | |
| 147 | |
| 148 - Maximum and Minimum playtime: These help, when SLDB does | |
| 149 not provide a duration for given song. Maximum playtime | |
| 150 should be self-explanatory. Minimum playtime may be | |
| 151 preferred if the tune's length is very short and there | |
| 152 are subtunes. Refer to XMMS-SID's configuration and README | |
| 153 for more information. | |
| 154 | |
| 155 --- | |
| 156 | |
| 150 | 157 Q: Why isn't the sub-song control window skinned? |
| 9 | 158 |
| 159 A: Because the XMMS's code for skins is not exported to | |
| 167 | 160 plugins. And besides, you would need new reworked |
| 161 skin(s) anyway, piecing a skin together from existing | |
| 162 components would probably be impossible in most cases. | |
| 9 | 163 |
| 171 | 164 --- |
| 9 | 165 |
| 166 Q: When using XMMS-SID with the OpenGL Spectrum Analyzer, | |
| 167 | 167 the sound becomes distorted! |
| 9 | 168 |
| 169 A: This is a known problem and occurs usually with NVidia | |
| 170 cards and drivers. It is not directly related to XMMS-SID. | |
| 171 | |
| 172 With certain combinations of hardware, this problem presents | |
| 173 itself with all input-plugins (mp3, mod, ogg..) of XMMS. | |
| 174 | |
| 175 Workaround: Upgrade or downgrade your NVidia drivers. | |
| 176 Try lowering your systemload. Close some unnecessary | |
| 177 CPU-consuming applications. Buy faster hardware. | |
| 178 | |
| 171 | 179 --- |
| 9 | 180 |
| 166 | 181 Q: Can I make my own SID-tunes? How? |
| 9 | 182 |
| 183 A: Yes you can. You need a real C64 or emulator like VICE and | |
| 184 a composing program. There are many available, I know only | |
| 185 few of them: | |
| 186 | |
| 23 | 187 - JCH's editor (search with google) |
| 9 | 188 - Cybertracker (http://noname.c64.org/) |
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189 - GoatTracker (http://covertbitops.c64.org/) |
| 9 | 190 |
| 191 Some of the mentioned tools can be found from Lemon's | |
| 192 collection which is an excellent place to look for info | |
| 193 on games and other Commodore-related software. | |
| 194 The URL is: http://www.lemon64.com/ | |
| 23 | 195 |
| 9 | 196 You should also check http://www.c64.com/ |
| 197 | |
| 198 Besides the above, you'll need some skill in using the | |
| 199 programs and hardware, understanding of music in some | |
| 200 level and good ideas for tunes. :) | |
| 201 | |
| 202 Rest of that is out of the scope of this document, | |
| 203 please don't ask me about this. | |
| 204 | |
| 171 | 205 --- |
| 9 | 206 |
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207 Q: XMMS-SID plays some tunes too fast / there are severe playback bugs! |
| 9 | 208 |
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209 A1: If you are using libSIDPlay2 emulator engine, SID-tunes in old format |
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210 are not compatible with it anymore and may play too fast or with some |
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211 other audible glitches. Get new rips of those tunes in PSIDv2NG or |
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212 RSID format (for example from recent version of HVSC). |
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213 |
| 166 | 214 A2: Generally speaking this might be a bug in emulation-library or some |
| 215 other component. Or it might be in XMMS-SID. Report and I'll see | |
| 216 what can be done. | |
| 9 | 217 |
| 171 | 218 --- |
| 167 | 219 |
| 220 Q: Some tunes are so short that I don't have time to change sub-tune | |
| 221 before XMMS moves on to next song in playlist! | |
| 222 | |
| 223 A: Enable "Minimum playtime" option in XMMS-SID configuration | |
| 224 (Songlength -tab in configuration dialog) and you have more | |
| 225 time to change the sub-tune. | |
| 226 | |
| 171 | 227 --- |
| 167 | 228 |