Large Pack of OldSkool DOS MOD Trackers

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Text File | 1996-01-01 | 28.6 KB | 660 lines

Networked Impulse Tracker What is Networked Impulse Tracker? ---------------------------------- Networked Impulse Tracker is simply that - a session of Impulse Tracker where multiple composers can all edit the same song at the same time! It may sound a little bizarre, but networked sessions can be both extremely fun and productive. Requirements ------------ 1. Impulse Tracker, 7 Apr 99 or later 2. Impulse Tracker Network driver file. (*.NET) 3. Some form of network supported by the network driver file. To Use ------ To initiate a Network session, Press Shift-ESC. A list of available drivers will be shown. Select one with Enter. ITIPX.NET --------- ITIPX.NET is an IPX Network driver for Impulse Tracker. It is recommended that this is used over a LAN (ie. you will need a network card in your computer). Although Kali will work (IPX over the internet), performance will probably be unacceptable for most people through a modem. The IPX driver *will not be stable* under Win95. Upgrade to Win98. To install IPX to run under Windows, go to Start Menu->Settings->Control Panel. Select Network, and under the Configuration Tab, press Add, then select Protocol->Microsoft->IPX/SPX Compatible Protocol The IPX driver will list the available sessions in the left hand box. Select a session to join by pressing Enter. The Username that the IPX driver transmits is associated with each driver file. The public distribution identifies itself as "Unregistered". Different usernames are availble for US$10 each. Payment can be made via Kagi at http://order.kagi.com/?4ZM Please specify a username, maximum length 15 characters, or else one will be chosen for you. Updated versions of the driver, if made, will be provided free of charge. However, changing your username will still cost $10. 'Normal' usage of this driver should run quite stably. However, if you try hard to make it crash, I'm sure you will be able to. Note that connections will be automatically dropped if queued packets fail to be transmitted for more than 10 seconds. General Notes ------------- Impulse Tracker supports a maximum of 4 users per session. Extra users will be automatically discarded. Many functions have been disabled under network mode. You will receive warning messages in these cases. Do *NOT* use hardware mixed drivers for networked sessions. This specifically means the AWE32, GUS and Interwave drivers. Since networked sessions can change samples 'behind your back', these drivers will not update correctly. Contributors Additions - IT215 file format saving. Note that this is an alternative compression format and is often better, but not always. Public releases of IT214 Patch 1 and later can read IT215 compressed files. There is also a version of MikIT that can read IT215 compression. - Sample sorting enabled. On the sample/instrument list screens, files will be priority sorted alphabetically if you don't move the cursor. If you do move the cursor, then you can force a resort once all the files have been loaded by pressing Alt-S. - Reordering of order list with Alt-R while on the order list screen (easier to try it out, than to try to explain it) - Row lock in pattern editor if holding shift - very useful for chords (ie. use Shift+note) - 10 configurable 'preset' envelopes slots - Extra instrument filter controls (under pitch menu). - Alt-W on the sample list saves as .WAV format, not .RAW - Individual Sample/Instrument solo. - Personalised Network username Contributions of US$30 or more - Stereo Diskwriter - MIDI .IT -> .MID converter IT214 Network - This includes the first version of Networked Impulse Tracker. Check NETWORK.TXT for more information. - Rewrite of all MMX routines for stability when networked. Non MMX drivers have not been changed. - ITSB16B.MMX for SBLive! users which shouldn't require reinitialisation. IT214 Patch 4 - This release has been made entirely for the VSOUND drivers, which will allow you to setup IT to run under Windows '95/'98 with *ANY* soundcard. Check ITVSOUND.TXT for more information. - Addition: Included command line option /V3 to wait for vertical retrace. - Addition: Included command line option /X4 to disable cache file creation. - Bug fix: Several fixes to the MIDI Out implementation - Bug fix: S3M saver sometimes caused crash problems and pattern errors - Bug fix: SCx and Qxx commands and will work with MIDI Out instruments - Bug fix: 64 channel view doesn't skip channels with only volume-effects - Driver news: 4-band EQ in diskwriter Minor miscellaneous upgrades Fixes to MMX drivers that clicked on 0 volume (oops) Clarification (only because I saw some arguments on usenet) - the MMX drivers use 32-bit precision mixing, not 16-bit. IT214 Patch 3 - Merry XMas guys! - If anyone who has contributed has NOT received an EMail from me, please write to me! I've sent out EMails to every one of you.. but a few addresses have changed.. or I could have accidentally missed you (huge apologies if so) - Bug fix: IFF loader <incorrect info given to me before> - Bug fix: XM modules with no patterns won't crash IT. (Apologies to the GroovyCompo Organisers - for those interested in online music tracking competitions, check http://www.groove.org) - Bug fix: CACHE files stored on CDROMs will now work, irrespective of their datestamp. Thanks to Humanoid/Prophecy for the Morbid Minds CD on which I could finally test these routines! - Bug fix: Obscure bug on instrument list under rare circumstances causing playing notes to do weird things. - Driver news: Updated driver format (incompatible with previous ITs) Resonant filters - check FILTERS.TXT for information. This stuff has been released basically so that contributors can distribute their songs that use filters.. - MMX drivers implemented. - WAV driver - time accuracy improved - can specify destination directory (on shift-F5) - handles resonant filters IT214 Patch 2 - Bug Fix: 16-bit samples of an exact multiple of 32768 bytes in size were getting corrupted on saving. - Bug fix: MIDI Macros (unparameterised) were somehow disabled somewhere after IT212.. now reenabled IT214 Patch 1 - Bug fix: EMM4.0 mode reenabled - Bug fix: Volume envelopes were skipping some ticks (sounded too fast) - Bug fix: Slight problems with the wav writer fixed - Bug fix: S3M saving bug fixed (was introduced in IT214 due to a 'bug report') - Other miscellaneous fixups IT214 - Version jump to make sure samples don't get screwed up by the prerelease (IT213) loader. This is the FINAL public release. Apart from bugfixes/new soundcard drivers, don't expect to see anything in the future... - Samples are now compressed on the fly when saved and loaded from disk. Note that this is NOT the same as using MMCMP. - Several unimportant (debug) procedures removed to make slightly more memory available. - Driver news: Diskwriter interpolation changed from quadratic spline to cubic spline. (Requires a FPU) IT213 Update - Modification: Sample panning reset to override instrument panning due to demand. - Update: .IFF loader updated. Should deal with almost any .IFF file now. - Update: EMS Stability improved - Update: Several miscellaneous changes - Update: If old effects is *ON*, then a looped volume envelope will NOT include the last node (for XM compat) - Update: More memory available (Help text was manually compressed) - Row hilight information is now stored within the .IT module.. - Automatic MIDI Pitch wheel handling. Vibrato, pitch slides, portamentos all handled. <Note: REQUIRES a FPU.. the program will hang if you enable this on Shift-F1 and you don't have a FPU (486DX+ chips have FPUs)> - MIDI Configuration can be embedded into .IT files. (Option is on Shift-F1) - Driver news: Terratec EWS64 XL Codec software mixing driver Terratec Maestro 32/96 Codec software mixing driver Terratec Maestro 16/96 Codec software mixing driver Ensoniq SoundscapeVIVO Codec software mixing driver Sound Track PCI Codec software mixing driver ES1688 Audiodrive Codec software mixing driver (for ViperMAX) MPU401 generic driver. Direct to Disk writer now uses logarithmic volume ramping and quadratic spline interpolation Read DRIVERS.TXT for information on all of these. IT212 Update - Special thanks go out to all those that did stability testing of the beta versions of IT212. - Bug fix: "Available Samples" in the instrument loading screen will be correct if you're loading an instrument from within a module. - Bug fix: Sample files will store default pan values. - Bug fix: Trying to show pattern data past the end of a pattern will not crash IT anymore. This could have occurred before if the number of rows in a pattern were reduced during playback, then switching to the info page. - Bug fix: Deleting samples/instruments "within" a module has been disabled (as it should be), so that the module itself cannot be deleted. - Bug fix: Default sample pan will override instrument pan whether "Old Effects" is on or off. - .669 Loader, since Snowman is collecting 'em :) This loader hasn't been extensively tested, maily because Composd.Exe will not run on my machine (64MB is "Not enough extended memory" ?!?! ). Most songs should play though.. Please don't bug me to update the loader any further - you won't get a reply. - *Much* better memory handling for patterns. EMM386 parameter H=255 should not be required in MOST cases now (you will only need it if you use a large number of samples (ie. > 50) ). You should also have more FreeMem to work with. Beta testers have noted that QEMM shows even more stability problems in this version than previous versions - please avoid QEMM as it DOES cause crashing for as yet unknown reasons. The old memory allocation routines can still be found if you have EMS problems by using /P2 on the command line. - Keyboard handling on instrument lists has been improved to handle multiple keypresses/releases. (but not on sample list due to usability) - Default volume display in *NORMAL* (5 channel) pattern editor if you press Ctrl-V. If you use a custom font, you will need to upgrade your font set with FONTUPGR to see this properly. Example: C-4 01 .. ... <-- what volume is this?? Press Ctrl-V: C-4 01 [32] ... <-- it'll show that the default volume of sample/instrument 1 is 32. Alt-K has been upgraded to 'pick up' these default values. (So that you can also slide from volume 0 to the sample's default without having to explicitly key in the value). - Automatic filename extension replacement on Ctrl-S, so that if you press Ctrl-S after loading a .MOD, .669, .MTM or .XM, the filename will be automatically modified to have a .IT extension. - CDRom check for CACHE.IT? files. If you burn a CDRom of samples or instruments, include the CACHE.ITI and CACHE.ITS files from IT211+ and they should accelerate loading of sample and instrument names on all future versions of IT. < Not tested, since I can't :( > - 64 channel miniview on the info page. (note: doesn't show all fields) - Note dots added on the info page. (You may have to update your info page settings by re-saving all prefs) - Changed the old Alt-C on the instrument list to Alt-W (wipe data) New Alt-C removes the instrument name and filename, but does NOT remove the instrument parameters (like the Alt-C on the sample list) - MIDI OUTPUT! Fully configurable output 16 parameterised macros 128 constant macros Check MIDI.TXT for details. (Big thanks to Ozone for writing this) - Soundcard Driver news ■ Inserted a new algorithm into the direct-to-disk writer to remove clicks at the end of samples in cases of Note Cut commands, Note Cut NNA and instantaneous sample changes in sample mode. For those who have sent me money and would like to receive the upgrade, EMail me. ■ ESS ES1868 AudioDrive driver. This will NOT support any other ESS chipsets than the ES1868. Do not write to me asking for support for other ESS chips unless you are willing to buy me a card (or send me the money to do so). This driver supports mixing rates up to 56.8kHz (16 bit, stereo) and it also supports MIDI In. ■ AWE32 driver update: More accurate tempo control and less clicks under Win95 ■ TB Tropez users: I received an EMail telling me that the GUSMAX drivers were working fully with the TB Tropez cards! See how it works... ■ Sound drivers for the ST97 and EWS64 coming... as soon as I get them working.... Other news: It seems that some people really don't care how much work I've put into IT - Warez versions of the full ITWAV.DRV are being sought after. Let me make this clear: Distribution of the full version of ITWAV.DRV is NOT appreciated and if I ever find the full version anywhere, IT will no longer be publically released. IT211 Update - Not so much this time, as I have been working full time, so since IT has been sitting on my HDD without changes for a couple of weeks, I decided to release the update anyway. - Saving a song with Ctrl-S or from the menu will not prompt about 'overwriting' the file. - Compatibility Gxx volume fadeout fixed. - Matrox autodetection fixed to set mouse cursor properly also. - You can press 'L' or 'R' on the "load stereo sample" prompt to select left or right channels. - Increased file-header 'load-buffer' so that more Sound Forge .WAV files should be recognised. - Bug fix to: swap samples/instruments, insert/remove sample/instrument and update instrument *could* have caused the current editing pattern to skip being modified. - Bug fix: Pressing delete on a non-note column in template mode should work as expected. - Note: If you delete your old IT.CFG files and run IT afresh, you'll get an extra 'line' on the infopage to work with. - .KRZ sample-library loader. Note that this does NOT support multiple .KR* files (ie. .KR1, .KR2, .KR3). To use these files, you will have to run MERGEKRZ.EXE (supplied) to create a single .KRZ file. (BIG thanks to Markus Jonnson for the info!) - .PAT sample-library loader. - Creating a 'host instrument' after loading a sample will first attempt to use an instrument of the same number as the sample before finding the first empty instrument. - Holding down Caps Lock in the pattern editor will allow you to play notes without entering them into the patterns. Driver modifications - Bug fix for SB16 drivers which caused patterns not to 'play'. For those that still have troubles with the SB16 driver, read DRIVERS.TXT - For those of you who couldn't get the GUSMAX driver working, check out DRIVERS.TXT also :) - The ITWAV.DRV file now writes proper .WAV files instead of .RAW - ITAWE32.DRV uses floating point calculations to reduce memory usage. ITAWE32B.DRV (the old driver) still exists for people who don't have math coprocessors IT210 Update - some MAJOR fixes here. - Approximate song length on Ctrl-P. Note that *some* soundcards will require reinitialisation after this (almost all won't). The time given is the 'ideal' time for the playback of the song and should correspond *exactly* to GUS/AWE non-IRQ playback times. - A few more player bug fixes for XM compatibility - IT won't crash if you try to load instruments from an 'empty' drive (eg. disk not inserted or no files present) - In the pattern editor, Insert/Delete, Note Cut/Note Off/Note Delete are all 'template aware' - they will span more than 1 channel if you are editing in template mode and the template has height 1. Also, 'picking up' data with Enter will turn off Template mode's except for "Template-Notes Only" - Volume column effects Ex/Fx/Gx in combination with effect Jxx should operate as expected now. - Deleting a file on the instrument list will update the instrument cache file appropriately. - Sample/Instrument cache file time check fixed. - Slight modification to the handling of SBx commands to prevent infinite loops. - Simple crash recovery mechanism should you ever encounter a problem. (You shouldn't need it!) This is on Ctrl-Alt-Del in DOS or Ctrl-Alt-Ins in Windows. It is not guaranteed to work, but if it works once, then I guess that the amount of time I spent on it was worth it (~10 minutes). For the technically minded lot, what it does is it tries to 'kick start' the tracker again directly from the keyboard interrupt handler. - Loading a stereo WAV file will cause a pop-up menu to appear to select loading the left or right channels. - GUSMAX users interested in using software mixing, check out DRIVERS.TXT - Memory corruption error found and fixed which produced 3-sets of invalid values in the order list/instruments (main reason for this release!) IT209 Update ************************* FONT FILES REQUIRE UPDATING ********************* If you have your own custom font file, you will need to change character number 184 to 190. If you have used one of the 'standard' font sets, you will need to run ITF and grab an updated file. Failure to do so will just make the sample page look stuffed - You have been warned :) *************************************************************************** Many Many MANY miscellaneous fixes to the XM loader and playback routines -> XM support should be *MUCH* better now. Volume effects have been debugged... hopefully :) Some major errors fixed around (ie. dumping to DOS from the Instrument screen, Pattern's not updating in memory correctly (which went wrong in IT208) ) Added default sample pan to the sample list (default instrument pan WILL override this if present). Note that using default pan is the equivalent of using a 'set pan' effect on that row - the channel will be set to the default sample pan. You can change whether the info page displays sample names or instrument names by pressing 'i' IT208 Update So much so quickly? Well, I had exams. And when I have exams, I code, 'cos it's better than having to study :) ************************* FONT FILES REQUIRE UPDATING ********************* If you have your own custom font file, you will need to change character number 184 to. If you have used one of the 'standard' font sets, you will need to run ITF and grab an updated file. Failure to do so will just make the info page and 10-channel editor look stuffed - You have been warned :) *************************************************************************** - Bug fix: Keyboard configuration files could have cause MAJOR problems... fixed! - Bug fix: Some files with the .MOD ID "CH" which actually were NOT MODs were being identified as "Fast Tracker 2" modules. (You may have to delete your CACHE.ITS files to force IT to refresh it's data) - Bug fixes: MIDI input won't corrupt input on the order list MIDI input won't interfere with button presses MIDI input won't insert effect SDF into patterns when recording where inappropriate. - Old Left Ctrl+Shift-1 'removed', Left-Ctrl+Shift 1->4 still work - and have been updated. PROPER 10-channel editing mode available (complete with half sized cursors!) as well as some minor logic improvements. (Try Left-Ctrl+Shift 2) - ";" and "'" made to change the samples/instrument in the pattern editor as '<' and '>' do - just much easier to do so on American keyboards. - Dragging mouse nodes past boundaries is more accurate. - "Channel details" display (on the infopage) *can* show the 64th channel (oops in IT207) - Matrox bug autodetection (Many thanks to Csaba Pankaczy for working with me on this!) - Message system hooked to a timer (ie. all those messages that appear towards the top of the screen).. so that they will last a consistent amount of time (independent of machine). - Player Improvement: NNA mechanism will eliminate channels on two extra conditions now (no difference to playback, but should maximise channel usage) - Improvement: Persistence of cache files through different sessions of IT - ie. once the sample/instrument cache files are created, they are NOT recreated unless necessary. - Root "\" directory has replaced "." directory on all loading screens. - Several Template input related functions improved. Also, Block-Cut in template mode won't overwrite your clipboard if you're working with templates. - Template: "Notes only" added. This is different from the other templates in that it will NOT copy the template's instruments, volumes or effects. Instead, it will change it's instrument/volume/effect according to the last used instrument/volume/effect, and will insert whatever is speicfied by the edit mask. - Addition: Volume Column effects, Ax, Bx, Cx, Dx, Ex, Fx, Gx and Hx!!!! Ax = Fine volume slide up by x Bx = Fine volume slide down by x Cx = Volume slide up by x Dx = Volume slide down by x Ex = Pitch slide down by x Fx = Pitch slide up by x Gx = Portamento to note with speed x Hx = Vibrato with depth x Note that the pitch/portamento scale here is DIFFERENT from the standard effect slideup/down * Note that if you use these in your songs, IT < 2.08 will NOT play them * correctly... (in fact, it'll probably play it extremely painfully) - Alt Up/Down/Ins/Del added to the note translation table. - Minor modifications around the tracker - Windows Sound System Driver! (Operates at mixing rates up to 64kHz!) Impulse Tracker has the greatest soundcard support of any tracker by far! - Old Effects will 'unlink' the memory of Gxx from Exx/Fxx - XM LOADING!!!!!!!!!! Don't write to me complaining about incompatibilities - I am aware of lots of them and you probably won't get a reply. :) *MOST* songs should have a near perfect conversion tho... - Big safety feature!! Playback dying because of overload? Bad NNA selection? F8 *should* stop playback immediately now! (in DOS). In Windows '95, there may be a noticeable stall before playback stops (ie. several seconds), or it may not function at all... IT207 update - Some bug fixes to MIDI input. - Ctrl-PgUp/PgDn on the sample list will redraw the waveforms - Jxx memory should work fine (The memory didn't operate if the channel wasn't active before) - Template limits should be correctly applied. (ie. clipped within C-0 and B-9) - Going to a pattern from the Info Page ('G') will also go to the current order playing. - MIDI input can be enabled/disabled in the pattern editor with Alt-Scroll Lock - MOD in-module sample library loop points fixed. - Envelope drawing algorithm slightly more tolerant of corrupt information - Mouse envelope routines slightly improved for more accurate handling of nodes. - Added Message editor to main menu. - Added 10 channel view to the info page (you may need to reset your info- page settings and "save your preferences") - Squished up the info page view to get a couple of extra lines! :) - Ctrl-F7 on the order list will set the next pattern to play (at request of ChuckB) - for DJ use - Due to Win95's unstable disk-EMS routines, if you load a MMTSRed sample, instrument or module (sample library), playback *will* stop to prevent corruption of samples currently in memory. - Notes in templates of height 1 will be played back in the pattern editor (very useful for "multi sample" note entry) - Added effects T0x and T1x for Tempo slide down and tempo slide up. - Added .IT and .XM *INSTRUMENT* library support. Note that .ITs that aren't in instrument mode or have no instruments will NOT be shown on the instrument loader list. - Added Alt-Ins and Alt-Del on the sample and instrument lists to add in samples/instruments **** NOTE: /Sx command line parameters have been changed around just for neatness. CHECK SUMMARY.TXT FOR NEW /Sx VALUES OR RUN "IT /?" *** IT 2.06 - Update: Yet another update to the EMS routines.. for those of you who couldn't be bothered to read the FAQ. Also new command line switch: /Px - Set pattern memory allocation strategy. Check SUMMARY.TXT for info on this. - Minor update: The 10-stage undo buffer will now use EMS memory under most circumstances. - Minor update: S3M and IT loader routines slightly modified for more efficient memory usage. - Minor update: "Song modified" flag logic slightly modified. - Minor update: .WAV loader slightly improved. (should read any 8 or 16-bit format.) - Minor Addition: IT will now release time slices to multitasking OS/s if you specify /T2 on the command line. If you are using the MIDI input capabilities of IT, you SHOULD NOT enable this (timing gets effected badly) - Minor Addition: Set pattern length command on Ctrl-F2 (can set multiple patterns) - Minor Addition: Command line switch /T1 to disable "usage time" indication - Addition: TX Wave loader for .W?? samples (eg. from Kosmic's sample dirs) Note: These are actually 12-bit samples, which are converted to 16-bit at load time. - Addition: .MOD sample library loader. This "only" recognises the following MOD Identifications - "M.K.", "M!K!", "FLT4", "FLT8", "4CHN", "6CHN", "8CHN" And FT2's extended MOD identification, "xxCH" If you have an "Old Amiga-MOD format" MOD (which doesn't have an ID), then you'll have to save it as another format if you want to rip directly from it. So sample library support in total: .MOD, .669, .FAR, .MTM, .S3M, .PTM, .XM, .IT - Addition: Intelligent MIDI Input for SB16 and Interwave cards! MIDI options screen is on Shift-F1 (those of you who have IT.CFG from older versions of IT *WILL* need to visit this screen at least once if you want to use MIDI - "Save All Preferences" will save these settings) In the pattern editor, Ctrl-Z is "Change MIDI playback trigger." Normally, it is quite difficult to start at a row/pattern with MIDI - this options allow you to control whether a pattern or song should START playing when you play the first note. (IT will play either from the start of the current pattern or the song starting from the current row depending on your choice) Once this is done, the trigger is immediately unset, so you will have to setup this trigger again if you want to use it. Note that this *will* turn on pattern tracing. To disable it, use Scroll-Lock. ****** NOTE ****** SB16's MIDI input is somewhat 'iffy'. If you stop receiving MIDI input, you need to reinit the soundcard (Ctrl-I) (possibly several times). I don't know why it does this. Dont' write to me about it, 'cos I have spent MANY MANY hours on this little problem and I don't want to know about it. Also, in Win95, I found it necessary to change my SB16's configuration to EXCLUDE the MIDI port (and I used a Microsoft MPU401 driver instead), otherwise MIDI input was ignored. Sorry, no GUS MIDI at the moment, as I couldn't get it working. Please do NOT write to me about this, you will not get a reply. An updated GUS driver will be released if/when I get it working.