MacFormat 1995 March/macformat-022.iso/Shareware City/Info/mod-file-solutions.txt

Internet Message Format | 1994-11-22 | 36.2 KB | [TEXT/unix]

From: [e-mail]
Date: Wed, 09 Nov 1994 09:39:20 CST
Subject: .MOD file info summary

Hello fellow netters!

Long ago I promised a summary posting of suggestions and info regarding my
request for
information on the .MOD file format on the Macintosh. Well, I finally have
prepared
one. I realise that this is a frequent question and that this response may be
over-
due, but better late than never.

I will post the replies I received here.  Those recommending SoundTrecker:

get the newest version of the soundtrecker.
its great!
and shareware
ciao    kp <klaus-peter gores>

also <Alan Piszcz>

Try a program called SoundTrecker.. It's a German program redone in
English, but is quite good. It even lets you perform surround sound effects
on MOD files, as well as the requisite save to disk as Sys7 sound.

It should be in either Info-Mac or Umich archives.. if you have trouble
locating it, let me know and I'll mail it to you!

Joel Moses
WSMV-TV (NBC)
[e-mail]

There is a shareware called "the Sound-Trecker" that can
play .MOD files on the Mac. If you cannot find it on
a ftp site, I can email you a copy.
Where do you get .MOD files?

            Louis <Louis Moreau>

Try Sound-Trecker. It's avaliable at most mac ftp sites, or email me and
I'll sen it to you (230k).

        [e-mail] (Adam Fouse)

Try Sound Trecker 2.2. It is EXCELLENT.

It is available in the sounds/utilities folder of your favourite Info-Mac
mirror site. The path once inside info-mac is:

/info-mac/snd/util/sound-trecker-22.hqx

Have a nice day :-)

Any trouble? Let me know.

Arthur Day, Electron Microscopy Group
Ansto Advanced Materials Program                        Phone: [phone]
PMB 1,  Menai (Sydney), NSW, 2234                        Fax: [phone]
Australia
Email: [e-mail]

Try Sound-Treker its available from many sites. It seems pretty good and
can read many .MOD formats at various sampling rates. It seems pretty
good. I have a copy on a CD at home if you can't find it in the archives
just drop me a line and I'll bin-hex it to you.

Regards Ralph Buckley                     Baldrige Silver Project Manager
                                              Customer Satisfaction Group
BUCKLR at UKSSVM1 / GBIBMZGZ at IBMMAIL          ISSC Service Delivery
[e-mail]                               PO BOX 41, North Harbour
                                                 PORTSMOUTH, Hampshire
Int:(7)255504 / Ext:[phone]                UK, PO6 3AU.
_________________________________________________________________________

Standard Disclaimer: These are my comments; not the views of IBM-ISSC.

X-MX-Comment: QUOTED-PRINTABLE message automatically decoded

Hi there... What you are looking for is a program called THE SOUND TRECKER, a
beautiful nifty interfaced .mod player for the mac. (if you are lucky enough to
own a PowerMac, you'll be pleased to know it comes with it's own PowerPlug, to
take adv
The program is definitely in SUMEX. I have version 2.2, and I believe it's the
latest. I'm sure you'll get loads of mail telling you to get Player Pro, but I
recommend The Sound Trecker instead.. It is not only faster, but niftier.
        Enjoy...!

Cheers,
CRISTIAN

[e-mail] (Agustin Viola)


Hi,
 I have a utility called sound Trekker which plays amiga mods. If you
haven't sorted your problems out by the time you get this then drop me a
line and I will post it to you.


Cheers,


Rob. \\//

Public service announcement: This signature file is under construction....
******************************************************************************
* Confused? You Will be! * Okay here's the way to contact me,if you want to! *
* Sodomy non sapiens..   *    [e-mail] is for email..             *
* Oh No, another boring  *    [phone], answered as Digital Domain *
* signature file..Ho Hum *    [phone], for faxes and stuff..      *
******************************************************************************
... and normal service will be resuming shortly, just like British Rail ;-)


*****The following posts were more detailed than most. Note that the
overwhelming
response was in favor of SoundTrecker. I liked Player Pro and SoundTrecker --
try
both and see which is better for your situation.  Thanx again for all the help
everyone.  Cheers!

====

There are a couple of MOD players for Macintosh.  The one I like best is
The Player Pro, which you can find at:

ftp://sumex-aim.stanford.edu/info-mac/snd/util/player-pro-42.hqx

The other one I've looked at is called Sound Tracker.  It seems to work
well; I just like The Player Pro better.

I don't know if you can easily convert a .MOD file to a snd file.  As
SoundApp's documentation states, MOD files are not sound files, but music
files.  A MOD player will take relatively short sound samples in a .MOD
file and play them according to the pitch and sequence score also stored in
the file.  By using this method, you can produce several minutes of music
from a very small file.  If you could convert this to a snd file (strictly
a sample, with no sequence information), the result could take up an
enormous amount of disk space.

I hope this helps.  If you want to find out more about music file formats,
try looking at:

ftp://sumex-aim.stanford.edu/info-mac/info/music-file-formats-10.hqx

Bill Cameron                                       sdg
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

====

regarding your questions about .MOD files in the info-mac digest,
(also C.S.M.D? I don't have Usenet access :-( )

SoundApp converts only the samples in a mod file, not the wholr
song.  SoundApp plays the MODs with routines borrowed from Sound
Trecker. Sound Trecker will play the MODs just the same way, but
with a better IMHO interface, and will also convert them to AIFF,
SYS7, and Soundmover? suitcases, or such... anyway, a few different
formats. and with sampling of 11 to 44 Khz and 8 or 16 bits and
stereo or not. if you don't know about all that stuff, the higher
each of the settings is, the better it sounds, and the more it
fills up your hard drive :-)
        you might want to just keep them as MODs, though, they
take up a few megs apiece as SYS7 sound files. as MODs, they are
just a bunch of samples, and instructions on what to do with them,
so they are very small. The Sound trecker is available on info-mac
in the sound or sound/util folder, I'm not sure which. hoe this
helps. TTYL
--
Jim "Chr0med Aardvark" Russell of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
Internet: [e-mail]

=====Player Pro info.

From: [e-mail] (Jamal Hannah)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: playerpro-info.txt (this is a little old.. sorry..)

THE PLAYER PRO DEMO INFORMATION FILE (FAQ)
by Jamal Hannah <[e-mail]>, 6/21/94, version 1.21
-------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS:

* What is the Player PRO Demo?
* What is the latest version of Player PRO?
* What are the features of Player PRO?
* What Hardware do I need to run the Player PRO?
* Where can I get the Player PRO?
* What Software do I need to run the Player PRO?
* What are MOD files?
* What file format is native to Player PRO?
* What do I need to do to make my own MOD files?
* Where can I find MOD files?
* How do I go About Writing MOD-Playing Code?
* How do I Register the Player PRO so I can Edit MOD files?
* What do I do if I cant get the Player PRO to work?
* What other programs for the Macintosh play or Edit MOD files?
* Seeking further technical information.
* Electronic Mailing-List Address


WHAT IS THE PLAYER PRO DEMO?

"The Player PRO" is a shareware music/soundtrack file player and
editor for the Apple Macintosh.  The version available on public FTP
sites and BBS systems is a _DEMONSTRATION_ version and does not have editing,
and some other capabilities activated, and is commonly known as the "BBS"
archive.


WHAT IS THE LATEST VERSION OF THE PLAYER PRO?

As of June 9, 1994, the latest version of the Player PRO is version
4.15(6)  (Released: 6/6/94)

In some erlier versions of The Player PRO, it's hard to tell exactly what
version it is, because in some places it will say one version number, and
in other places it will say another.  The best way is probabaly to check the
version in the "Get Info" window, in the Finder.  (Though even this may
not be reliable... just look at all the different version numbers and try
to find the latest one.)


WHAT ARE THE FEATURES OF THE PLAYER PRO?

A registered version of the Player PRO can currently import and play music
module files of the following types:

Amiga SoundTracker 4 voice, 15 instrument
Amiga NoiseTracker 4 voice, 31 instrument (M.K. signature)
Amiga ProTracker 4 voice, 31 instrument, 64 pattern (M.K. sig.)
Amiga ProTracker 4 voice, 31 instrument, 128 pattern (M!K! sig)
Amiga Star Tracker (StarTrekker) 4 voice (FLT4 sig)
Amiga Star Tracker (StarTrekker) 8 voice (FLT8 sig) [Not tested]
Amiga Oktalyzer 4-8 voice [beta]
IBM FastTracker (ver 1.0) 6 & 8 voice (6CHN, 8CHN sig)
Macintosh MADF 1-16 voice, 8 bit instruments (Player PRO ver 4.1x? - 4.154)
Macintosh MADG 1-32 voice, 16 bit instruments (Player PRO ver 4.155 - ?)

The Player PRO does not yet properly import the following music formats:
MIDI, IBM 669 ("Composd" editor), IBM ScreamTracker 3.0 (S3M),
Amiga MED/OctaMED, and IBM Multi-Tracker Module (MTM), but these
are being worked on!

Note: The "FastTracker 1.0" 8-channel module type is actualy identical
to IBM GraveMod (.WOW files with "M.K." sig), and at least two 8-track
Atari STe formats ("FA08" and Octalyser's "CD81").. one simply needs to
change the 4-byte signature at position 1080 in the file to "8CHN" in
order to import them with Player PRO.


WHAT HARDWARE DO I NEED TO RUN THE PLAYER PRO?

The Player PRO will run on any Apple Macintosh with an Apple Sound Chip
(ASC) in it, or possibly a non-ASC Macintosh with System 7.1 and
Sound Manager 3.0 extension. (System 7.2 and above have Sound Manager 3.0
built-in) This includes the Mac SE/030 and the Mac LC, though they probably
do not have performance which is as good as machines like the Macintosh
Quadra family, or the AV series.

The Player PRO also works on the Power PC series, and has a "FAT" binary
code block in the data-fork for this purpose. The data fork contents can be
deleted by those who do not have a Power PC and wish to save some disk space.


WHERE CAN I GET THE PLAYER PRO?

The Player PRO version 4.15x is available from FTP site
sumex.stanford.edu, in directory path: /info-mac/snd/util
or these info-mac mirror sites:
wuarchive.wustl.edu in path: /systems/mac/info-mac/snd/util
ftp.hawaii.edu in path: /mirrors/info-mac/snd/util

As well as:  mac.archive.umich.edu, path: /mac/sound/soundutil

The file name (often) is: player-pro-415x-demo.hqx  (stored in Stuffit
Lite/Stuffit Delux format, and encoded with BinHex 4.0)


WHAT SOFTWARE DO I NEED TO RUN THE PLAYER PRO?

All versions of the Player PRO need System Software that takes
advantage of the Apple Sound Chip.  This includes system version
6.0.5 to 6.0.8, but is better implemented in System 7.0 and 7.1.
however, none of these contain the specific information for using
the Player PRO's current capabilities optimally.. you need
"Sound Manager 3.0" _and_ "System 7.1" specificly for this.
The Sound Manager 3.0 extension (as well as an enhanced Sound Control
Panel, version 8.0.1) is available via FTP at ftp.apple.com, in the file:
system-update-2-0-1-image.hqx, in directory path:
/dts/mac/sys.soft/7.system.updates.  The file must be
downloaded in ASCII mode, unless you have an automatic BinHex converter.
You must then un-BinHex the file, and then use the utilities called
"MountImage" (a Control Panel) or "DiskCopy" (an application), both from
Apple, in order to access the *.image file  (the file will have to be
decompressed first.)

If you don't have System 7.1 with Sound Manager 3.0, the sound quality
will depend completely on the performence of the Apple Sound Chip and
specialized routines that Player PRO uses for it, rather than standard
routines from Apple Computer.

Once you install the Sound Manager Extension, reboot your machine, and
launch Player PRO.  Go to the "Preferences" menu selection and set it
to use the "mono" Sound Manager 3.0 routines if you don't have your
Mac connected to a stereo.  This will significantly reduce problems
with the software, though it may run slower than it would with the
specialized, hardware-accessing sound routines.  Also, make sure you
turn on the "32-bit addressing" mode, in the "Memory" control panel
before running the latest version of Player PRO.

A Wish List:

All of the above is of course a lot of trouble.  It would be nice if
Antoine would add to the "Preferences" the option to use some
"Sound Manager 2.0" playing code, for use on non-32-bit-clean Macs running
system software erlier than 7.1.  (The shareware program "MacTracker 1.2"
has source code like this)  It would be even nicer if Antoine would
also include "Sound Driver/Sound Manager 1.0" routines, for the very old,
pre-ASC Macintoshes to be able to use The Player PRO!  (in Black and White,
with a small screen, of course.)

If you have a wish list of your own, feel free to contact Antoine Rosset
in email or with a fax, and suggest it to him.

A Note About Bugs:

Player PRO currently crashes if you attempt to "Import S3M" (IBM
ScreamTracker 3.0 MODs), so don't bother with it. (this will only
work in version 4.155 for now)  IBM FastTracker 8-voice
MODs load and play fine, however.  (Though you may run out of memory)
An actual 8-voice Amiga "StarTrekker" MOD file has not been tested yet,
but 4-voice StarTrekker (also called "Star Tracker" v 1.2) play fine.

Player PRO will force mod files from other Mac programs which
_already_ have an icon to have a Player PRO icon when it plays them.
You may or may not want this to happen. (too bad it isn't optional..)

Sometimes the icon for the Player PRO 4.15x application will look like
the icon from "The Player II", even on a color screen.  But it
also may look like a colorful Compact Disk... I have no idea why it is
sometimes one or the other.

Files do not always repeat correctly if they have a "pattern jump"
command at the very end.. also, there are problems with modules
that do not set the speed in the beginning: if they repeat, and the
speed has been altered, they will replay at this new faster or slower
playing speed!

The editor actualy displays octave ranges C2-B6, though MOD files
use octave ranges of C1-C3 (extended versions use C0-C4).  This does not
seem to effect pitch playback quality, however.  The General-MIDI and XTracker
formats support up to 9 full octaves!


WHAT ARE MOD FILES?

"MOD" files, also called "music modules", or "soundtrack" files, were
originally created on the Amiga computer by a man named Karsten Obarski,
in a program called "SoundTracker".  They were intended to be compact
ways of storing music inside games and demos, especially background music.
The files consist of "patterns" of musical notes inside "partitions"
(pattern lists) which can be played in different order, and more than once.
(Note: the term "pattern" sometimes refers to a single set of 4 notes &
commands in a 4-voice module, or sometimes to an _entire_ pattern list
(partition) of 64 patterns.)

The musical notes are played as sampled sounds which are stored at the end
of the MOD file.  The sounds are played back at different pitches to give
the effect of a real musical instrument or synthesizer.
(Note: The term "sample" sometimes refers to a single byte inside
an 8-bit digitized sound, and sometimes to the _entire_ digitized
sound (intrument or "patch".)

Simmilar "memory dump" formats were written by Amiga programmers like
Armin Sander (Oktalyzer), and Teijo Kinnunen (MED), though later they were
changed both to something more extensible. (see below)

The origional SoundTracker format was later extended by "Mahoney and Kaktus"
of Switzerland in an Amiga program called "NoiseTracker", and later even
further extended in "ProTracker" by Lars "ZAP" Hamre (PT 1.1),
Peter "CRAYON" Hanning (PT 2.3A), and eventualy various members of
an Amiga coding group called "CryptoBurners".  Version 3.10 or 3.15
is the current version of ProTracker for the Amiga.

Since the origional version of the MOD format spec, there have been many
new types of MOD file, some simply adding more patterns so the MODs could
hold more "voices", while others added more effects.  These types include
Star Tracker, Oktalyzer, and OctaMED on the Amiga, and GraveMod (WOW modules),
FastTracker 1.0, ScreamTracker 2 & 3.0, Farandole, MultiTracker,
XTracker (DMF modules), TakeTracker (almost identical to FastTracker 1.0),
and UltraTracker on the IBM.

Newer, more advanced and flexible module formats are always being written,
and future version of the IBM "ScreamTracker" and "FastTracker" programs
will have completely new, extended formats.


WHAT FILE FORMAT IS NATIVE TO PLAYER PRO?

The module format that The Player PRO currently uses is called "MAD",
and is commonly referred to as "MADF", though a newer, extended version
with the internal signature "MADG" is now being used.


WHAT DO I NEED TO DO TO MAKE MY OWN MOD FILES?

In order to edit your own MOD music files on the Macintosh, you need to
register the Player PRO Demo so that the editing capabilities can be
activated.  Also, you need specific information about the internal
structure of MOD files, as well as the different musical effects "commands"
which you can use within the MOD.  This information is available on
FTP site sumex.stanford.edu, in the files "mod-info.txt" and
"mod-form.txt", both of which reside in directory path
/info-mac/sound/util, or on the mirror site wuarchive.wustl.edu
in /systems/mac/info-mac/sound/util.  You _must_ have these files,
or something else with similar information, because most MOD editors
(Sound Trackers) are not like traditional music composition software,
and they do not rely on placing notes on a musical staff.  (which would
be far more intuitive.)  Rather, the user must edit the patterns directly.
The Player PRO npw offers a limited form of "Classical Partition" editing,
which is a step in the right direction.

Some helpful information for editing MOD music would be in the
"LESSON_1.TXT" file by Per Almered of Sweden, which origionaly
came with an Atari STe 8-track module-editor called "Octalyser".
This is available with it's accompanying module on info-mac ftp sites.
(info-mac/info/sft/mod-editing-lesson.hqx).

Also, the electronic magazine called "SIGNALS" has some very valuable
information about editing mods, by an IBM programmer called "Necros",
at email address: <[e-mail]> (this address
seems to be out of date)... "Necros" and other IBM music programmers
and composers can sometimes be found on Internet Relay Chat (IRC),
in channel "#coders".

It might also be a good idea to have the Mac shareware utility "HexEdit"
(System 7 only), which is great for editing the data inside a Macintosh
file data fork.


WHERE CAN I FIND MOD FILES?

If you simply want to play MOD files, a good place to look is the aminet
FTP site.  You will need the Macintosh utility "MacLHA" in order to
decompress archive files with names that end in ".lzh" and ".lha".
Aminet's FTP address is: wuarchive.wustl.edu  path:
/systems/amiga/aminet/mods


HOW DO I GO ABOUT WRITING MOD-PLAYING CODE?

You can get source code for playing MOD files several different ways.
Antoine Rosset's MADF module playing libraries are available in info-mac
as a developer package.  Frank Seide's Sound-Trecker MOD-playing routines
are available at the same location.  Tom Lawrence & Marc Espie's Macintosh
Tracker source code is also available.  Other source-code tends to be in
Amiga 68000 Assembly, or IBM C & Pascal (or assembly) source.  The other
thing you will need, of course, is the format specification for
the type of module files you wish to play.  (This is available in
a Macintosh "UnZIP 2.0.1" archive file called "MUSFMTxx.ZIP",
or on info-mac FTP sites as: info-mac/info/music-file-formats-xx.hqx)

A good module for testing a MOD player is "shadfant.mod" ("Shaded Fantasy"),
by "mub" of "lsd".. Most mod players can't play it correctly, but it _is_
a ProTracker module, written in 1991.  [info from "Sungod" on IRC]


HOW DO I REGISTER THE PLAYER PRO?

The Player PRO's shareware fee is $20 US money.  The author would
like cash sent to him, or money transferred to his postal account
(number = 12-34943-1), or a transfer to his bank (Societe de
Banque Suisse, SBS) account (number = D1-107.121)

If you must send a check, add $15  (total: $35)

The author's address is:

Antoine Rosset
16 BD Tranchees
1206 GENEVA
SWITZERLAND

Internet email: [e-mail] or [e-mail]
Compuserve email: 100277,164
Fax: [phone]
BBS: First Class, 2400-14400baud, (41 22) 320 11 95, User ID: ROSSET Antoine

If you send email to Antoine Rosset, expect 1-2 weeks for him to reply.
The same goes for fax orders.  If you send him regular mail, it's
likely to be 2-3 weeks or so before you receive a diskette.


WHAT DO I DO IF I CANT GET THE PLAYER PRO TO WORK?

If the program crashes, be sure to note the machine you are using, the
system software version, how much memory you have (RAM), what sort of
extensions and control panels you are running that are not from Apple,
and what exactly it was that you did just before the crash, and what sort
of error it gave you.  Send this information to Mr. Rosset, and he will
work to correct the problem and get a bug-fixed version to you.


WHAT OTHER PROGRAMS FOR THE MACINTOSH PLAY AND EDIT MOD FILES?

Currently, the Player PRO is the only Macintosh program that edits Amiga
MOD files.  There is a commercial program for the Macintosh called
"Super Studio Session" which edits and plays files somewhat similar to
MODs, and it works on non-ASC Macintoshes too! (Like the Mac Classic)

There is a non-shareware product for producing General-Midi musical
soundtracks for games, etc., called "Halestorm", by Steve Hales, of
Halestorm, Inc. <[e-mail]>.  This product was used for the
music in games such as: SimCity 2000, Lemmings for the Mac, and
Disney After Dark.

QuickTime 2.0 will be able to support Midi-style "music tracks".

Some other shareware programs that play MOD files on the Mac:
-------------------------------------------------------------
SoundApp 1.1, by Norman Franke <[e-mail]>
The Sound-Trecker 2.0.1, by Frank Seide <[e-mail]>
MacTracker 1.2, by Thomas R. Lawrence <[e-mail]>
-------------------------------------------------------------

HyperCard shareware MOD Players:
--------------------------------
MusicBox XCMD 2.1, by Alex Metcalf <[e-mail]>
PlayMOD 1.1, by K. Harris <[e-mail]>
-------------------------------------------------------------

If someone would write a Macintosh MOD player for the Mac Plus, that would
be great.  There are ways to squeeze up to 8 "voices" out of the original
Mac, but it takes some fancy waveform mixing while the file is playing.  It
would also use older Sound Manager or Sound Driver routines.

Note: Macintosh mod-players tend to support instrument samples larger
than 64K (mabye up to 128K), but mod-players on other systems often
do not.  If you want your exported MOD file to be playable on as many
systems as possible, make sure your instruments are not too big!
(the smaller the better.  A "ChipTune" is a module with instruments that
are generaly under 1024 bytes in length!


SEEKING FURTHER TECHNICAL INFORMATION

In addition to the people listed above, following people seem to know a lot
about music related programming on the Macintosh:

Joe Zobkiw <[e-mail]>
Bill Williams <[e-mail]>
Jim Reekes <[e-mail]>

Another person with lots of info about module-formats is Harald Zappe
<[e-mail]>, an IBM programmer, and Peter Kunath
<[e-mail]>, an Amiga programmer.

Please write to me ([e-mail]> if you know a lot about Macintosh
music and sound programming and can help other programmers.


ELECTRONIC MAILING-LIST

If you need more info, join the Player PRO Electronic Mailing List,
by sending email with your name and preferred email address to:

[e-mail]

(This is not the actual address of the list, but rather a seperate
address for sending personal email-address add/drop requests...
please don't use the actual list address for personal messages
to the list moderator!  The list is not automated.)

Antoine is on this list, along with several other Mac mod-player
programmers, so your comments will be heard by them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: mac-mod-info (old too)

MOD Players for the Macintosh
11/8/93 Release, by Jamal Hannah <[e-mail]>

Yes!  There are Mod players for the Mac!  All of them can be
found on FTP site sumex.stanford.edu in /info-mac/snd/util
or wuarchive.wustl.edu in /mirrors/info-mac/snd/util

Name        Vers    Author        Edits?    Note
-----        ----    -------        ------    -----
Sound-Trecker    2.0    Frank Seide    no      The De Facto Mac Mod player.
AlphaTrecker    2.0    Fred Condo    no    Plays MOD at startup
MOD Voicer    1.1    Kip Walker    no    Utility to rip samples from mod
The Player II    2.5    Antoine Rosset    no    Same playing code as S. Trecker
Mac Tracker    1.00    Thomas Lawrence    no    Slow.  Plays some thing ST wont
Player Pro beta    4.09    Antoine Rosset    yes    Editor! (Limited in beta.)

"The Sound-Trecker" was origionaly in German but called "SoundTracker"..
it comes with source code and compiled modules for playing some mods.

SoundTrecker's name is of course derived from the Amiga "SoundTracker"
program.  It isnt a "true" tracker though, because it does not edit
MODs!  (It's an annoying trend to see all these players called "trackers".)

AlphaTrecker 2.5 and The Player II both use Frank Seide's MOD playing code,
so the playing quality is much the same.

"Mac Tracker" and "Player Pro" play many mods that those programs do not,
but some mods that don't work with Mac Tracker or Player Pro work on
Sound Trecker/Player II.  Go figure.

The Player Pro is a beta version, and does not let you create new partitions
when you are editing a MOD, nor can you import MIDI (.MID) files,
but it is lot's of fun to use!  Also has special code for the Macintosh "AV"
series.


"Phony" Mac Sound Trackers:
The following programs have some limited capabilities that would be desirable
in Sound Track/Sequancing software, but they do not save their constructed
sequences to MOD (or any other music format).  If you like the features
of these programs, it might be a good idea to pressure the authors to add
MOD saving functionality, along with other sound-sequencing features.

Name            Vers    Author          Note
-----           ----    -------         -----
MultiTrack    1.0    Apple Comp.    Small prgram by "Kip, Neil & Hugh"
DigiTrack    0.41    Mark Armantrout    Simmilar to "Mod Voicer"
RapMaster    1.01    Bryan K.Ressler    Very Nice effects
Canon 2        1.03    Glenn Anderson    Nice, simple interface


Newest Macs:
The Cyclone, and the smaller Tempest (Centris 660AV), represent 2 new Macs
with enhanced sound capabilities (probabaly like the Atari Falcon, with it's
DSP.. or the NeXT).. including 16 bit sounds at 44khz sampling (CD quality).
A DSP also means the potential for "unlimited" sound channels, instead of just
4.. as well as built-in DMA.  This all makes for some pretty impressive music
capabilities at very minimal impact on system performance/CPU time.

The Tempest stats: 25MHz 68040, 55MHz DSP 16bit colour, built-in DMA,
one slot which can be made into a nubus slot.  Otherwise identical to the
Quadra 840AV.  Pretty much the ideal Mac model for MOD playing, and can
probably deliver sound comparable to an Amiga 4000 or Atari Falcon, for
around $2000.

Old Macs:
There is no MOD player for the older Macintoshes right now (any
Mac without an "ASC" Chip.. i.e. Apple Sound Chip.)  This includes the
Mac 128, Mac 512 ("Fat Mac"), Mac 512e, Mac Plus, or Mac SE.
(I don't know if the Classic or Classic II can use the new Sound Manager,
though the SE/030 and the Mac LC can, but probabaly with low quality.)
There is, however, a commercial product that works on older Macs called
"Studio Session" that produces files more or less just like MODs, but with
6 voices! (The Music for the games "Falcon" and "Tetris" for the Mac was
produced with this program.)  It's interesting to realize that the Studio
Session format has been around since about 1986 (2 years before the Amiga
Sound Tracker was 1st written by Karsten Obarski).  The problem with the
Studio Session File Format is that the music and instrument data are in
seperate files.  A description of the Studio Session File formats follows:


THE STUDIO SESSION SONG FILE FORMAT (Editor version 1.0)
--------------------------------------------------------
Format created by: Steve Capps <[e-mail]>, Mark Zimmer,
Tom Hedges, Ed Bogas, Nick Borelli, Ty Roberts, and Neil Cormia
of Bogas Software in 1986.

This hacked-together description by: Jamal Hannah <[e-mail]>

There are 12 fields and 6 tracks to this format.. on old Macs, since you
use complex waveforms for these sounds, you'll probabaly have to
simulate the multiple sound channels by combining them on the fly
with some fancy math.  I think there is actualy a Mac Toolbox call
to do this in the origional "Sound Driver" chapter of Inside Macintosh.

File Signatures (Macintosh Only)
Type:        'XSNG' (sometimes 'DSNG' or 'JSNG')
Creator:    'XPRT'

Offset    Field        Length
0    Tempo        2    range: 10-450
2    unused        2    should be nul ($0000)
4    TimeSignature    2    decimal ranges of each byte: 1-32,1-32
6    Pascal string names of Instrument Files begin here, each followed
by 2 nul bytes. ($00 $00)
??    unused        1    (should be $00.. if there are no instruments,
                this will come right after TimeSignature)
??    unused        64
??    Data for track 1, terminated by $B0
??    Data for track 2, terminated by $B0
??    Track 3  "
??    Track 4  "
??    Track 5  "
??    Track 6  "

Instruments are implicitly numbered from 01 onward, starting with the
first one listed.  They are the exact name of the Studio Session
Instrument file, which should be on the same volume or directory.

Track data consists of the following commands, which represent notes
and other components on a musical staff:

COMMANDS (with fields and field names):

ending          $C0 xx (endingNumber)
timeSignature    $BD xx xx (timeSigTop,timeSigBottom)
barLine        $BA
newInstrument    $B9 xxxx (instrumentNumber)
dashedBarLine    $B5
keySignature    $B4 xx (keyMode)
tempoChange    $B3 xxxx (tempoSpeed)
repeatBarEnd    $B2
repeatBarStart    $B1 xxxx (numRepeats)
coda        $B0
musicalNote    xx xx xx  (pitch, unit#, slurStatus)

NOTE UNITS:
A "musicalNote" is really either a rest, or a note. Normaly a unit is
a rest, but if it has anything in the pitch field (mentioned above)
then it is a note.  A rest always has $00 in the pitch and slurStatus
fields.

unit32        $03    1/32nd rest or note
unit32_3    $02    1/32nd rest or note triplet
unit32_2    none
unit32_1    none
unit16        $06    1/16th rest or note
unit16_3    $04    1/16th rest or note triplet
unit16_2    none
unit16_1    $09    1/16th rest or note, dotted
unit8        $0C    1/8th rest or note
unit8_3        $08    1/8th rest or note triplet
unit8_2        $15    1/8th rest or note, double-dotted
unit8_1        $12    1/8th rest or note, dotted
unit4        $18    1/4th rest or note
unit4_3        $10    1/4th rest or note triplet
unit4_2        $2A    1/4th rest or note, double-dotted
unit4_1        $24    1/4th rest or note, dotted
unit2        $30    1/2 rest or note
unit2_3        $20    1/2 rest or note triplet
unit2_2        $54    1/2 rest or note, double-dotted
unit2_1        $48    1/2 rest or note, dotted
unit1        $60    Whole rest or note
unit1_3        $40    Whole rest or note, triplet
unit1_2        $A8    Whole rest or note, double-dotted
unit1_1        $90    Whole rest or note, dotted

(A triplet is a rest/note with a little 3 over it, with playing length
multiplied by 2/3 (shortened).  A double-dotted unit's length is multiplied
by 1 3/4, and a single dotted unit length is multiplied by 1 1/2... if
I am wrong, a good book on musical notation can clear this up!)

PITCH:
Pitch values range from "C0" (lower C, at the bottom of the scale) up to
"C6" (upper C, at the top of the scale).. and are represented by the
numbers $01-$2B (1-43).
Accidentals: If the pitch value has $40 added to it, then it is "flat".
If it is "sharp", it has $80 added.

SLUR STATUS:
The slur is that little curvy line that links two notes together and "slurs"
them together at playtime.  Here are the byte values:

$00    No slur on this note
$01    Slur start/line curving from this note toward one on the right
$02    Slur end/line coming from a note to the left
$03    Slur joint (two slur lines coming from both left and right)

(There are other codes that go here too.. sometimes a note has a little
letter floating over it.  I still have yet to decode these variations.)

BAR LINE:
This byte represents the vertical bar line that marks the end of a measure.
I'm not sure what a dashed bar line is for!

ENDING:
An "ending" command is followed by the number that the ending is repeated,
ranging from 1-10 ($01-$0A)

REPEAT BAR:
The Command byte is followed by a word-length number representing the number
of times to repeat the following notes.  The repeated section is terminated
by the next instance of a "repeatBarEnd" command.

TIME SIGNATURE:
The "timeSignature" command is followed by bytes representing the top and
bottom of the time signature, respectivly.

KEY SIGNATURE:
The key signature command is followed by codes representing the following
modes of the notes that follow:

Value    Key        Number to add to pitch-bytes of notes following
$00    C Major        $00
$01    G Major        $00
$02    D Major        $80
$03    A Major        $80
$04    E Major        $80
$05    B Major        $80
$06    F Sharp Major    $80
$07    C Sharp Major    $80
$08    F Major        $00
$09    B flat Major    $00
$0A    E flat Major    $00
$0B    A flat Major    $00
$0C    D flat Major    $00
$0D    G flat Major    $40
            (note: dont add this value if the note already has
            a sharp or a flat)

TEMPO CHANGE:
A tempo change command byte is followed by a word-length value representing
the new tempo speed, ranging (in decimal) from 10-450.

CODA
A coda is a byte representing the end of a track.  If a track is empty,
the coda byte holds it's place.  Since the file ends with the end of the
6th track, there will always be at least one $B0 at the end of the file.


SUPER STUDIO SESSION SONG FILE FORMAT (Editor version 2.1)
----------------------------------------------------------
The only real difference between verion 1 and 2 is the addition of two more
tracks, for a total of eight.  The second two are represented just like
the 1st six, with $B0 bytes as ending markers.  There is also one additional
command:

VOLUME:
The volume command is represented by (hex) byte $BF, with a word-length
value following, and 3 bytes after that which I havn't figured out.
Volume always defaults at "fff" (loudest).  "ppp" is the softest volume.

BF xxxx xx xx xx    Volume

BF 0000 58 88 9A    ppp
BF 0001 12 40 80    pp
BF 0002 12 40 80    p
BF 0003 12 40 80    mp
BF 0004 58 88 9A    mf
BF 0005 12 40 80    f
BF 0006 58 88 9A    ff
BF 0007 58 88 9A    fff

Editor version 2 also places a (incremental) number above most bar lines,
but this has nothing to do with the file format.


(SUPER) STUDIO SESSION INSTRUMENT FILES (From Bogus Prod. Docs)
---------------------------------------------------------------
The format of instrument files is very simple.  The samples are eight bit
unsigned samples (silence =128).  There is an eight byte header with the
following format followed by the samples themselves.

No. Bytes    Description

2        Loop Start: byte offset of loop start
2        Loop End:  byte offset of loop end
1        Recorded pitch:  #37 is middle C
1        0:  reserved
2        Length in bytes
n        The samples

Note:  If loopback is used, there must be at least 370 samples after the
loop end.

For more information, look at "Flute mid" in SoundEdit(tm) and then look at
the binary version of the file with any file utility.
Note:  some older files are compressed on disk so they won't follow the above
description and some files have "0" for the pitch which implies middle C.

(Special Note: This file format is basicly the origional Macintosh "Sound Cap"
and SoundEdit recorded instrument format (Type/Creator: 'DEWF'/'FSSC' or
'DEWF'/'SFX!') respectivly. - JH )

The SoundEdit manual has a good explanation of sampling techniques.
SoundEdit will create Super Studio Session(tm) or Jam Session(tm) instrument
files or convert them from most other formats.


    Bogas Productions
    751 Laurel Street, #213
    San Carlos, California  94070
    Phone:    [phone]
    Fax:    [phone]

(April, 1992)
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