Mercurial > hg > xmms-sid
annotate FAQ @ 124:c8f97c889f55
Improved FAQ, bugreporting part.
| author | Matti Hamalainen <ccr@tnsp.org> |
|---|---|
| date | Wed, 14 Jan 2004 03:55:05 +0000 |
| parents | 7047a6390b08 |
| children | fe350f1692a4 |
| rev | line source |
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| 9 | 1 XMMS-SID - Frequently Asked (and other) Questions |
| 2 ================================================= | |
| 3 | |
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4 - So what IS the "SID"? |
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5 - What are "SID-tunes"? |
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6 - Where to get SID-tunes? |
| 9 | 7 - Why isn't the sub-song control window skinnable? |
| 8 - When using XMMS-SID with the OpenGL Spectrum Analyzer, | |
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9 the sound becomes distorted! |
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10 - Can I make my own SID-tunes??? How?? |
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11 - XMMS-SID plays some tunes too fast / there are severe playback bugs! |
| 9 | 12 |
| 13 >--- | |
| 14 | |
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15 Q: So what IS the "SID"? |
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17 A: "SID" is abbreviation for the sound chip that was used in many |
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18 of the old 8-bit home computers manufactured by Commodore Business |
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19 Machines Inc. in 1980's. Best known of those was the Commodore |
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20 64 home computer (aka C64 or CBM64, also known as VIC-64 in |
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21 some countries). |
| 9 | 22 |
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23 The Sound Interface Device (SID) was designed by Bob Yannes and |
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24 is considered one of the most advanced sound chips at the time. |
| 9 | 25 It's capabilities surpassed all of the other chips on the 8-bit |
| 26 home computer market and even most of the ones used in arcade | |
| 27 game systems. Thousands of games were produced for C=64 in | |
| 28 1980's and beginning of 1990's, many of them having excellent | |
| 29 musical score. | |
| 30 | |
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31 Best of those tunes are still regarded as legendary - such as songs |
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32 by Martin Galway (for games Arkanoid, Green Beret, Yie Ar Kung Fu 1 |
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33 and 2, Parallax...), Rob Hubbard (Commando, Auf Wiedersehen Monty, |
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34 Monty on the Run, Warhawk, Sanxion, Delta...), Ben Daglish (Jack |
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35 the Nipper 1&2, Way of the Tiger, Cobra, Avenger) and numerous |
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36 other famous composers. Some of them quit their composing quickly |
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37 after the 8-bit period, but some are still working in the computer |
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38 music business. (Including Maniacs of Noise, Chris Huelsbeck, |
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39 Richard Joseph and Charles Deenen who worked with Fallout 1 & 2's |
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40 musical score) |
| 9 | 41 |
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42 Today, years after the decline of 8-bit computers, many composers |
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43 mainly from C64 demoscene, continue to compose tunes for SID and |
| 9 | 44 get most amazing things out of it -- things that the designers of |
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45 the SID didn't even imagine. |
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| 47 | |
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48 The SID-chip is based on waveform modulation and synthesis and has |
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49 only three separate sound channels, but there are tunes that use |
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50 special techniques to "multiplex" them to sound like four or even |
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51 six channels. Even with limited number of channels and barely four |
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52 different basic waveforms (saw, triangle, pulse and noise), SID is |
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53 able to create most wonderful sounds. Modulation of channels via |
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54 another, special analog filter (low-, high- and band-pass) add |
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55 to the capabilities of SID. |
| 9 | 56 |
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57 What is even more amazing, using a certain 'bug' in SID chip's volume |
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58 control, composers were able to push the limits farther ... |
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59 Martin Galway's very famous piece on Arkanoid game was one of the |
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60 first to feature DIGITIZED SAMPLES like real instruments and speech. |
| 9 | 61 |
| 62 >--- | |
| 63 | |
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64 Q: What are "SID-tunes"? |
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65 |
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66 A: The "SID-tunes" are files that contain C64 machine code and data |
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67 that plays the music. SID-tune players are programs that emulate |
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68 the SID chip capabilities and other parts of C64 hardware to |
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69 produce almost authentic re-creation of the original music. |
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70 SID-tunes can be created by ripping the music routines and data |
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71 from some game or just composing the music with some editor. |
| 9 | 72 |
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73 XMMS-SID is interface, a piece of "software glue", that puts together |
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74 several emulator libraries and XMMS allowing play of SID-tunes via |
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75 XMMS's interface. |
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76 |
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77 >--- |
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78 |
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79 Q: Where to get SID-tunes? |
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80 |
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81 A: There are many collections of SID-tunes on the Internet, but |
| 9 | 82 probably the best one and best known one is the High Voltage |
| 83 SID Collection aka HVSC. | |
| 84 | |
| 85 It is available at: http://hvsc.c64.org/ | |
| 86 | |
| 87 HVSC contains the tunes ripped from all legendary C64 games, | |
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88 loaders, etc. And more. There are over 20,660 tunes in the |
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89 HVSC version 5.3 and more are coming. HVSC also contains the |
| 9 | 90 STIL database (SID Tune Information List) that contains lots |
| 91 of information about many of the tunes included in HVSC. | |
| 23 | 92 XMMS-SID supports the STIL database and info about the selected |
| 9 | 93 tune can be viewed with the "XMMS fileinfo" window (CTRL+3). |
| 94 STIL information can contain comments from composers, notice | |
| 95 if the tune is a cover and historically interesting facts | |
| 96 about games, etc... | |
| 97 | |
| 98 >--- | |
| 99 | |
| 100 Q: Why isn't the sub-song control window skinnable? | |
| 101 | |
| 102 A: Because the XMMS's code for skins is not exported to | |
| 103 plugins. And besides, you would need new skin(s) anyway. | |
| 104 | |
| 105 Things would be overly complicated if I added a skin support | |
| 106 and I'm not interested, at least for now. | |
| 107 | |
| 108 >--- | |
| 109 | |
| 110 Q: When using XMMS-SID with the OpenGL Spectrum Analyzer, | |
| 111 | |
| 112 A: This is a known problem and occurs usually with NVidia | |
| 113 cards and drivers. It is not directly related to XMMS-SID. | |
| 114 | |
| 115 With certain combinations of hardware, this problem presents | |
| 116 itself with all input-plugins (mp3, mod, ogg..) of XMMS. | |
| 117 | |
| 118 Workaround: Upgrade or downgrade your NVidia drivers. | |
| 119 Try lowering your systemload. Close some unnecessary | |
| 120 CPU-consuming applications. Buy faster hardware. | |
| 121 | |
| 122 >--- | |
| 123 | |
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124 Q: Can I make my own SID-tunes??? How?? |
| 9 | 125 |
| 126 A: Yes you can. You need a real C64 or emulator like VICE and | |
| 127 a composing program. There are many available, I know only | |
| 128 few of them: | |
| 129 | |
| 23 | 130 - JCH's editor (search with google) |
| 9 | 131 - Cybertracker (http://noname.c64.org/) |
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132 - GoatTracker (http://covertbitops.c64.org/) |
| 9 | 133 |
| 134 Some of the mentioned tools can be found from Lemon's | |
| 135 collection which is an excellent place to look for info | |
| 136 on games and other Commodore-related software. | |
| 137 The URL is: http://www.lemon64.com/ | |
| 23 | 138 |
| 9 | 139 You should also check http://www.c64.com/ |
| 140 | |
| 141 Besides the above, you'll need some skill in using the | |
| 142 programs and hardware, understanding of music in some | |
| 143 level and good ideas for tunes. :) | |
| 144 | |
| 145 Rest of that is out of the scope of this document, | |
| 146 please don't ask me about this. | |
| 147 | |
| 148 >--- | |
| 149 | |
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150 Q: XMMS-SID plays some tunes too fast / there are severe playback bugs! |
| 9 | 151 |
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152 A1: If you are using libSIDPlay2 emulator engine, SID-tunes in old format |
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153 are not compatible with it anymore and may play too fast or with some |
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154 other audible glitches. Get new rips of those tunes in PSIDv2NG or |
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155 RSID format (for example from recent version of HVSC). |
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156 |
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157 A2: Please read file "README.bugreport". In general this might be a bug |
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158 in emulation-library or some other component. Or it might be in |
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159 XMMS-SID. Report and I'll see what can be done. |
| 9 | 160 |
| 161 >--- |