Mercurial > hg > xmms-sid
annotate FAQ @ 185:af7c0e0ce11a
It's -> Its
| author | Matti Hamalainen <ccr@tnsp.org> |
|---|---|
| date | Wed, 18 Aug 2004 05:24:01 +0000 |
| parents | 352a465de261 |
| children | 6117c326cc3e |
| 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> | |
| 17 -> Audio I/O Plugins -tab | |
| 18 -> Select XMMS-SID, press "Configure" | |
| 19 -> Misc -tab, Sub-song control | |
| 20 | |
| 21 There is also a selector in song-information window of XMMS | |
| 22 (Press <ctrl+3>) | |
| 23 | |
| 24 --- | |
| 25 | |
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26 Q: So what IS the "SID"? |
| 9 | 27 |
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28 A: "SID" is abbreviation for the sound chip that was used in many |
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29 of the old 8-bit home computers manufactured by Commodore Business |
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30 Machines Inc. in 1980's. Best known of those was the Commodore |
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31 64 home computer (aka C64 or CBM64, also known as VIC-64 in |
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32 some countries). |
| 9 | 33 |
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34 The Sound Interface Device (SID) was designed by Bob Yannes and |
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35 is considered one of the most advanced sound chips at the time. |
| 185 | 36 Its capabilities surpassed all of the other chips on the 8-bit |
| 9 | 37 home computer market and even most of the ones used in arcade |
| 38 game systems. Thousands of games were produced for C=64 in | |
| 39 1980's and beginning of 1990's, many of them having excellent | |
| 40 musical score. | |
| 41 | |
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42 Best of those tunes are still regarded as legendary - such as songs |
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43 by Martin Galway (for games Arkanoid, Green Beret, Yie Ar Kung Fu 1 |
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44 and 2, Parallax...), Rob Hubbard (Commando, Auf Wiedersehen Monty, |
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45 Monty on the Run, Warhawk, Sanxion, Delta...), Ben Daglish (Jack |
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46 the Nipper 1&2, Way of the Tiger, Cobra, Avenger) and numerous |
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47 other famous composers. Some of them quit their composing quickly |
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48 after the 8-bit period, but some are still working in the computer |
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49 music business. (Including Maniacs of Noise, Chris Huelsbeck, |
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50 Richard Joseph and Charles Deenen who worked with Fallout 1 & 2's |
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51 musical score) |
| 9 | 52 |
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53 Today, years after the decline of 8-bit computers, many composers |
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54 mainly from C64 demoscene, continue to compose tunes for SID and |
| 9 | 55 get most amazing things out of it -- things that the designers of |
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56 the SID didn't even imagine. |
| 9 | 57 |
| 58 | |
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59 The SID-chip is based on waveform modulation and synthesis and has |
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60 only three separate sound channels, but there are tunes that use |
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61 special techniques to "multiplex" them to sound like four or even |
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62 six channels. Even with limited number of channels and barely four |
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63 different basic waveforms (saw, triangle, pulse and noise), SID is |
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64 able to create most wonderful sounds. Modulation of channels via |
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65 another, special analog filter (low-, high- and band-pass) add |
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66 to the capabilities of SID. |
| 9 | 67 |
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68 What is even more amazing, using a certain 'bug' in SID chip's volume |
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69 control, composers were able to push the limits farther ... |
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70 Martin Galway's very famous piece on Arkanoid game was one of the |
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71 first to feature DIGITIZED SAMPLES like real instruments and speech. |
| 9 | 72 |
| 171 | 73 --- |
| 9 | 74 |
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75 Q: What are "SID-tunes"? |
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76 |
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77 A: The "SID-tunes" are files that contain C64 machine code and data |
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78 that plays the music. SID-tune players are programs that emulate |
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79 the SID chip capabilities and other parts of C64 hardware to |
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80 produce almost authentic re-creation of the original music. |
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81 SID-tunes can be created by ripping the music routines and data |
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82 from some game or just composing the music with some editor. |
| 9 | 83 |
| 171 | 84 XMMS-SID is interface, a piece of "software glue", that pieces |
| 85 together several emulator libraries and XMMS, allowing it to | |
| 86 play SID-tunes. | |
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87 |
| 171 | 88 --- |
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89 |
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90 Q: Where to get SID-tunes? |
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91 |
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92 A: There are many collections of SID-tunes on the Internet, but |
| 9 | 93 probably the best one and best known one is the High Voltage |
| 94 SID Collection aka HVSC. | |
| 95 | |
| 96 It is available at: http://hvsc.c64.org/ | |
| 97 | |
| 98 HVSC contains the tunes ripped from all legendary C64 games, | |
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99 loaders, etc. And more. There are over 20,660 tunes in the |
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100 HVSC version 5.3 and more are coming. HVSC also contains the |
| 9 | 101 STIL database (SID Tune Information List) that contains lots |
| 102 of information about many of the tunes included in HVSC. | |
| 23 | 103 XMMS-SID supports the STIL database and info about the selected |
| 9 | 104 tune can be viewed with the "XMMS fileinfo" window (CTRL+3). |
| 105 STIL information can contain comments from composers, notice | |
| 106 if the tune is a cover and historically interesting facts | |
| 107 about games, etc... | |
| 108 | |
| 171 | 109 |
| 110 --- | |
| 111 | |
| 150 | 112 Q: Why isn't the sub-song control window skinned? |
| 9 | 113 |
| 114 A: Because the XMMS's code for skins is not exported to | |
| 167 | 115 plugins. And besides, you would need new reworked |
| 116 skin(s) anyway, piecing a skin together from existing | |
| 117 components would probably be impossible in most cases. | |
| 9 | 118 |
| 171 | 119 --- |
| 9 | 120 |
| 121 Q: When using XMMS-SID with the OpenGL Spectrum Analyzer, | |
| 167 | 122 the sound becomes distorted! |
| 9 | 123 |
| 124 A: This is a known problem and occurs usually with NVidia | |
| 125 cards and drivers. It is not directly related to XMMS-SID. | |
| 126 | |
| 127 With certain combinations of hardware, this problem presents | |
| 128 itself with all input-plugins (mp3, mod, ogg..) of XMMS. | |
| 129 | |
| 130 Workaround: Upgrade or downgrade your NVidia drivers. | |
| 131 Try lowering your systemload. Close some unnecessary | |
| 132 CPU-consuming applications. Buy faster hardware. | |
| 133 | |
| 171 | 134 --- |
| 9 | 135 |
| 166 | 136 Q: Can I make my own SID-tunes? How? |
| 9 | 137 |
| 138 A: Yes you can. You need a real C64 or emulator like VICE and | |
| 139 a composing program. There are many available, I know only | |
| 140 few of them: | |
| 141 | |
| 23 | 142 - JCH's editor (search with google) |
| 9 | 143 - Cybertracker (http://noname.c64.org/) |
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144 - GoatTracker (http://covertbitops.c64.org/) |
| 9 | 145 |
| 146 Some of the mentioned tools can be found from Lemon's | |
| 147 collection which is an excellent place to look for info | |
| 148 on games and other Commodore-related software. | |
| 149 The URL is: http://www.lemon64.com/ | |
| 23 | 150 |
| 9 | 151 You should also check http://www.c64.com/ |
| 152 | |
| 153 Besides the above, you'll need some skill in using the | |
| 154 programs and hardware, understanding of music in some | |
| 155 level and good ideas for tunes. :) | |
| 156 | |
| 157 Rest of that is out of the scope of this document, | |
| 158 please don't ask me about this. | |
| 159 | |
| 171 | 160 --- |
| 9 | 161 |
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162 Q: XMMS-SID plays some tunes too fast / there are severe playback bugs! |
| 9 | 163 |
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164 A1: If you are using libSIDPlay2 emulator engine, SID-tunes in old format |
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165 are not compatible with it anymore and may play too fast or with some |
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166 other audible glitches. Get new rips of those tunes in PSIDv2NG or |
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167 RSID format (for example from recent version of HVSC). |
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168 |
| 166 | 169 A2: Generally speaking this might be a bug in emulation-library or some |
| 170 other component. Or it might be in XMMS-SID. Report and I'll see | |
| 171 what can be done. | |
| 9 | 172 |
| 171 | 173 --- |
| 167 | 174 |
| 175 Q: Some tunes are so short that I don't have time to change sub-tune | |
| 176 before XMMS moves on to next song in playlist! | |
| 177 | |
| 178 A: Enable "Minimum playtime" option in XMMS-SID configuration | |
| 179 (Songlength -tab in configuration dialog) and you have more | |
| 180 time to change the sub-tune. | |
| 181 | |
| 171 | 182 --- |
| 167 | 183 |