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author | Matti Hamalainen <ccr@tnsp.org> |
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date | Thu, 28 Mar 2013 15:09:29 +0200 |
parents | 451e248f4f65 |
children | 1cd7dead1b56 |
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XMMS-SID - SIDPlay input plugin for X MultiMedia System (XMMS) ============================================================== Programmed and designed by Matti 'ccr' Hamalainen (C) Copyright 1999-2013 Tecnic Software productions (TNSP) XMMS-SID is distributed under GNU General Public License version 2, see COPYING for more information, except for: "Kummatti City", theme of XMMS-SID by Ari 'Agemixer' Yliaho (C) Copyright 1998 Scallop NOTICE! "Kummatti City" song is freely distributable as part of XMMS-SID, but it is not distributed under GNU General Public License like the rest of XMMS-SID package is, but "copyrighted freeware". Contact mr. Ari Yliaho if you wish to use this song in any other way. --------------------------------------------------------------------- This release is dedicated to the memory of Richard Joseph (RIP, March 4th 2007) He was one of the old C64 music legends, now gone, but forever in our hearts. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Also dedicated to the memory of Lauri 'Enochian' Sipila (3.5.1979 - 26.7.2007) A friend, who will be sorely missed. --------------------------------------------------------------------- And Jessica 'Kitania' Lanier (23.10.1963 - 30.7.2012) She was wonderful, and most poingy. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Short introduction ================== XMMS-SID is a plugin for XMMS (X MultiMedia System) which provides support for playing "SID tunes", which are music from old Commodore 64/128 computer series software, including games, demos, etc. Configuration ============= Audio-tab --------- - Resolution: 8 or 16-bit. Usually you should select 16-bit, unless your audio hardware/drivers do not support it for some reason. Speed benefit from using 8-bit audio is minimal, audio quality is much worse than 16-bit. - Channels: Mono is the way to go. Original SID (single chip) output is mono, the "stereo" and "autopanning" settings are just artificial additions. - Samplerate: High samplerate means better quality sound. Usually you'll set this to 44.1kHz (44100 Hz), but latest audio hardware may support rates up to 48kHz (48000 Hz) and sometimes 96kHz. Bigger samplerate means also more work for the emulator and thus requires more CPU power. Emu#1-tab --------- - Emulator library selection: Here you can choose a emulator backend from those which for support has been compiled in XMMS-SID. Refer to file "INSTALL" for discussion about emulator libraries and their aspects. - Memory mode: libSIDPlay supports several different memory modes for SID emulation, most of those are for compatibility, though. For SIDPlay 2 emulation, select "Real C64" unless you know better. For SIDPlay 1 emulation, select "Bank switching". Emu#2-tab --------- - Clock Speed: Sets default clockspeed and can also "force" the emulator backend to use it. Usually the tune's clockspeed is automatically detected, so do not set "Force speed" unless you know what you're doing. - SID Type: Sets default SID-chip type. Most fileformats contain information about the preferred SID-chip type to emulate, but here you can select a default for those situations when it is not known. - SIDPlay 2 options: - Optimization mode: If enabled and SIDPlay 2 emulator library has been selected, the emulator is run in "optimization" mode which is partial frame-emulation. Results in faster, but inaccurate emulation. - reSID-emulation / HardSID: Select SIDPlay 2 backend. reSID is a software SID-chip simulation and currently the only option available. HardSID is backend for HardSID card, but it is not supported yet by XMMS-SID. - C64 Kernal/Basic/Chargen ROM image paths. Currently required only by libSIDPlay-FP backend. Set the path to a directory that contains these 3 ROM image files: Filename | Size | Description ----------+------+------------------------------------- kernal | 8192 | C64 KERNAL ROM basic | 8192 | C64 BASIC v2.0 ROM chargen | 4096 | C64 character data ROM These files can be found, for example, from Versatile Commodore Emulator (VICE)'s tarballs. There are other sources as well. For example, if you have VICE installed under /usr/local, the usual path to ROM directories would be: /usr/local/lib/vice/C64 Filters-tab ----------- - Emulate filters: Enable filter emulation. Usually you will want to enable this option, unless you are running on very slow CPU, or on purpose. SID filters affect outcome of most tunes very much. - Filter settings: Unless you are advanced user (and thus know what these are), the defaults will work very well and there is no need to touch filter settings. Songlength-tab -------------- Most of song length settings should be self-explanatory. The "Only when song-length is unknown" option makes playtime limit effective only when song length information is not found from song-length database. - Use XSIDPLAY-compatible database: If enabled, you can specify song-length database file and it is used. If disabled, the database is not used. - DB-file: Specify path and filename, usually Songlengths.txt, that contains lengths for most songs in High Voltage SID Collection (HVSC) in XSIDPLAY compatible format, for example: /media/C64Music/DOCUMENTS/Songlengths.txt Click the "Browse" button to get a file selector dialog. I highly recommend that you download the database and configure XMMS-SID to use it. The SLDB is included with latest versions of HVSC, under DOCUMENTS/Songlengths.txt Title-tab --------- SID Tune Information List (STIL) database: - Use STIL database: If enabled, the settings below take effect and XMMS-SID can utilize additional information from High Voltage SID Collection (HVSC) STIL-database. STIL contains general information about the tune, plus trivia, history and comments from the composers. - STIL file: Path and filename of STIL database (STIL.txt). Usually the STIL database file is under DOCUMENTS/ sub- directory of HVSC, for example: /media/C64Music/DOCUMENTS/STIL.txt - HVSC path: Path to your High Voltage SID Collection directory, for example: /media/C64Music Click the "Browse" button to get a file selector dialog. Song name/title format: - Override generic XMMS titles: Enable to override generic XMMS titlestring setting and use XMMS-SID specific titlestring format. Misc-tab -------- Sub-tune control: - Disabled: No separate sub-tune control. The sub-tune selector in XMMS-SID's fileinfo dialog will still be enabled. - Seek back/forward changes sub-song: This method is similar to the one used in "XMMS-SidPlay" - Pop-up via seekbar (UADE-style): Similar to selector used in Unix Amiga Delitracker Emulator (UADE). Any interaction with XMMS's seeking capabilities pops up a sub-tune control window. Mouse and arrow keys can be used to select a tune. Escape key (ESC) or moving mouse out of the window closes it. - Song-position patch: If you have a patched version of XMMS (patched with song-position patch, which comes with XMMS-SID), you can select this method. Then you can use XMMS's seekbar to select the sub-tune. (Back in XMMS-SID v0.7 this was the only option.) Automatic sub-tune changes: - Go through all sub-tunes in file: When enabled, all sub-tunes in files will be played. The default tune is played first, then others that have not been played. - Only tunes with specified minimum length: Only sub-tunes with this given minimum length will be played by automatic sub-tune changer. NOTICE: You can always manually change to wished sub-tune. Miscellaneous options: - Detect file by contents: Determine if file is a SID-tune by checking the file contents. If disabled, only filename extension (.sid, .dat, ...) is checked. If XMMS-SID doesn't recognize your SID-tunes, try enabling this option. It is EXTREMELY slow if you have a 10000-tune playlist, though. Miscellaneous tips ================== * The emulator engine backends will adjust the preferred configuration settings if they do not support them as they are. To see the adjusted settings, play a tune after configuring and then go back to plugin configuration after that. * SIDPlay2-emulation is heavier, but more accurate. So you need to have more CPU-power for it. * Filter-settings can be usually left as they are, unless you know what you're doing. * For those who don't know it: Autopanning and stereo are not native to the original SID chip, but are extra options implemented in libSIDPlay. So if you think that the tune does not sound as it sounds on real C64, use the Mono setting. * The "kb/s rate" box is actually the play rate in Hz, so you can see if it's an NTSC or PAL song (if you haven't set the Force Speed option). Also see FAQ for more tips, gotchas and such. Contact, support and new versions ================================= New releases of this plugin should be available at TNSP's WWW- homepages, see below for address. Bug-reports, suggestions, patches, etc. should be sent to ccr at least for now, please see the homepage for latest information. E-mail : ccr@tnsp.org Homepage : http://www.tnsp.org/xmms-sid.php