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Text File | 1994-10-04 | 13.0 KB | 263 lines

Compact Disc MASTER v3.2 (c) Copyright 1994 by Gary Maddox Compact Disc Master was designed to be a full-featured, graphical based, CD audio player for CDROMs. There are several good Windows 3.1 audio CD controllers but not many for the DOS world. CDM was written to fill that void. OVERVIEW: CDM supports the standard CD player controls: PLAY, PAUSE, REWIND, FAST FORWARD, PREVIOUS TRACK, NEXT TRACK. An individual track selection can be made by pressing the 1 thru 0 keys to select tracks 1-10 and ALT-1 thru 0 to select tracks 11-20. CD audio will continue playing after exiting CDM until the end of the CD. The following features are supported if you have a Soundblaster Pro, SB16, SB AWE32, Pro Audio Spectrum or compatible soundcard: * Playback volume can be easily adjusted by using the CD Volume slider. * The SCOPE function graphically diplays a realtime oscilloscope The following command line switches are also supported: /Sxx - Where xx = the number of seconds to skip during fast forward/rewind /Dx - Where x = the CDROM drive to select (Default = drive 1) /Pxx - Play single Track xx and exit /R - Start up in RANDOM Mode /NS - No Spin, turn off spinning CD sprite for slower PCs /? - Display a help screen for all commands and switches REQUIREMENTS: Compact Disc Master requires a CDROM drive, EGA/VGA graphics and a mouse is very desirable. The audio out of the CDROM must be installed on the soundcard, although headphones may also be used. THE CONTROL DECK: The Control Deck is the first screen you see when you start up CDM. The functions are listed below: PLAY Pressing the PLAY button causes playback of a audio compact disc in the drive to begin on Track 1. Playback will continue to the end of the disc unless other options are selected. STOP Pressing the STOP button causes playback to stop immediately. PAUSE Pressing the PAUSE button causes playback to be temporarily halted. The word "pause" will appear in the track/time display to indicate that the CDROM drive is in PAUSE. Pressing the PAUSE button again will resume playback. An alternate method to pause the player is to press the SPACE BAR. SPACE BAR is very useful in the SCOPE function. REW Pressing the REW button "rewinds" the point of playback to a few seconds earlier. The amount of time to "rewind" can be set using the /Sxx command switch, where "xx" equals the number of seconds to skip. Pressing the "+" and "-" keyboard keys will also adjust the "skip seconds". FF Pressing the FF button "Fast Forwards" the point of playback to a few seconds later. The amount of time to "fast forward" can be set using the /Sxx command switch, where "xx" equals the number of seconds to skip. Pressing the "+" and "-" keyboard keys will also adjust the "skip seconds". PREV Pressing the PREV button selects the Previous track for playback. In other words, if the player is currently playing Track 6, pressing PREV will immediately set playback back to the beginning of Track 5. Pressing the PREV button while the player is playing Track 1 will set playback to the last track on the disc. An alternate method to pause the player is to press the DOWN ARROW key. The DOWN ARROW key is very useful in the SCOPE function. NEXT Pressing the NEXT button selects the Next track for playback. In other words, if the player is currently playing Track 6, pressing NEXT will immediately set playback back to the beginning of Track 7. Pressing the NEXT button while the player is playing the last track on the disc will set playback to the First track on the disc. An alternate method to pause the player is to press the UP ARROW key. The UP ARROW key is very useful in the SCOPE function. EXIT Pressing the EXIT button exits CDM and returns you to the DOS prompt. Playback of the compact disc will continue until the the last track of the disc. Special functions like RANDOM, REPEAT and PLAY LIST will also terminate. TRACKS Pressing the TRACKS button selects the TRACKS selector screen. This function is described in detail below. MODE Pressing the MODE button toggles the player through the various modes of playback. Pressing the MODE button selects RANDOM, REPEAT, LIST and normal playback mode. During RANDOM mode, the tracks of the disc are played back in a "random" order. The word "random" appears in the "track/time" display. During REPEAT mode, the current track is played again and again until the mode is switched off. The word "repeat" appears in the "track/time" display. The LIST function requires that a play list has been set up for the particular disc being played in the dBase function. The dBase function will be described in detail below. SCOPE Pressing the SCOPE button selects the oscilloscope function. A realtime oscilloscope is displayed on the screen allowing you to "see" the waveforms being played on the CDROM drive. During the SCOPE function, most of the standard control keys are supported, like the numeric keys for selecting a track, space bar to pause, and the arrow keys. Pressing ALT-T will toggle a track/time display just below the oscilloscope. CD PLAYER VOLUME Using the CD PLAYER VOLUME slider changes the soundcard mixer volume to allow you to adjust the playback volume. This function may not be supported on all soundcards. EJECT Pressing the EJECT button opens and closes the CD tray. Only drives with a tray is supported by this function. Most double-spin drives use a tray these days. dBASE Pressing the dBASE button selects the Database Screen function. The Database Screen function is described in detail below. THE TRACKS SCREEN: The Tracks Screen allows you to easily select a CD track to play either by track number or song title if it has been entered into the CD database. A more expanded play MODE selection is also included through use of the RANDOM, REPEAT and LIST buttons. A more detailed description of the functions is listed below: THE KEYPAD At the left of the TRACKS SCREEN is a familiar set of numeric keys. An individual track can be selected by using these numeric buttons and pressing the ENTER button. This is a very convenient option for playing tracks on CDs with a large number of titles, like sound effects collections. A compact disc can have a maximum of 99 tracks and any one of these can be selected using the keypad. If a track is selected greater than the total number of tracks on the current disc, a warning tone will sound and the highest track number of the current disc will appear in the TRACK NO display. The numeric key buttons can be selected using the mouse or your PC's keyboard if any dialog item but the SONG TITLE MENU is active. Pressing the ENTER button will immediately play the track you selected and you will be returned to the CONTROL DECK. THE SONG TITLE MENU At the right of the TRACKS SCREEN is a menu of the song titles entered in the database for the current compact disc. If no song titles have been entered, then each menu item will be listed as Track No 1, Track No 2, etc... IF the current disc has more than 12 tracks, a scroll bar will appear on the right side of the menu. Selecting a song from this menu will immediately play that song and return you to the CONTROL DECK. RANDOM Selecting the RANDOM button puts the player in random mode. During RANDOM mode, the tracks of the disc are played back in a "random" order. The word "random" appears in the "track/time" display. REPEAT Selecting the REPEAT button puts the player in repeat mode. During REPEAT mode, the current track is played again and again until the mode is switched off. The word "repeat" appears in the "track/time" display. LIST Selecting the LIST button puts the player in playlist mode. The word "list" appears in the "track/time" display. The LIST function requires that a play list has been set up for the particular disc being played in the dBase function. The dBase function will be described in detail below. SINGLE Selecting the SINGLE button puts the player in single track mode. The track you choose from the TRACKS SCREEN will play once and stop. Using the Fast Forward or Rewind functions will set the player back to continuous playback. THE dBASE SCREEN: The dBASE or DATABASE SCREEN allows you to build a database of your compact discs by entering information about the current CD such as disc title, artist name and individual song titles. Once this information has been entered, each time the disc is played, the database information will be referenced and displayed. Registered users who opt for the Deluxe Package also have access to a "browser" program that supports more advanced access to your compact disc collection database such as printing, sorting, importing, exporting, etc... (see below for information on the Deluxe Package) The supported fields of the CD database are: DISC TITLE The DISC TITLE field can be upto 34 characters in length. This information will be displayed on the Control Deck each time the CD is played. ARTIST The ARTIST field can be upto 34 characters in length. This information will be displayed on the Control Deck each time the CD is played. TYPE Choosing this field displays a menu of music catagories or types to assign the CD to. Only a type supported by the menu can be used. If your CD does not fit into any of the listed catagories, then choose OTHER. Registered users may suggest other catagories for future updates. PLAY LIST The PLAY LIST field can be upto 34 characters in length. This information is used to set up a custom order and/or selection of tracks to play. Enter the track numbers in the order you wish played seperated by a space. A series of tracks can be specified by using a "-" between the first and last selections. Entering "5-11" would select tracks 5 through 11. To play all track on a 12 track CD except for track 4, you could enter "1-3 5-12" or "1 2 3 5-12". If a PLAY LIST exists for a particular CD, the player will default to using this list each time it is played. Pressing the MODE button will deactivate the play list at any time. SONG TITLES There are 30 song title fields supported. Since very few CDs contain more than 30 tracks, this should be an adequate number in most cases. There is no limitation to how many of the 30 fields you may enter data into. If a CD only has 12 tracks, for instance, the remaining fields may be used to enter notes and other information about the CD. During playback, the song title will be displayed on the Control Deck. SAVE/CANCEL The SAVE and CANCEL buttons are used to either save the current record or to cancel any changes made. Pressing the ESC key will also exit the DATABASE Screen without saving. USE OF COMPACT DISC MASTER: CDM is a copyrighted work. You are free to use and distribute CDM as is and without modifications of any kind to the program or this documentation. CDM IS NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN. It may only be distributed free of charge. If you would like to see updates and enhancements, such as CD direct sampling, then I would appreciate a donation of at least $15. If enough people donate to pay for my time, then I will make updates. You may use CDM for 30 days without registering. After that period, you must discontinue use or register. STANDARD REGISTRATION ($15) Users who register at the Standard registration level receive a personal code to remove the opening and ending reminder screens and 10 record database limitation. This code need only be entered once. An update diskette is not sent at this level. DELUXE REGISTRATION ($25) Users who register at the Deluxe registration level receive a personal code to remove the opening and ending reminder screens and 10 record database limitation. This code need only be entered once. The Deluxe level registration also includes a 1.4" diskette with an update of the software newer than is available on BBSs, etc... Also included is a database "browser" that supports advanced access to your compact disc database collection such as printing, sorting, importing, exporting, etc... Windows format documentation files for CDM (Write and Word) are also included that you may print on your own printer. The remaining space of the diskette will be filled with other interesting shareware such as the latest edition of BLASTER Master VOC/WAV editor and the best related shareware I have come across. Registering at the Deluxe level also helps to further insure that future updates of CDM will be possible. To register, send $15 (Standard) or $25 (Deluxe) to: Gary Maddox 210 Camelot Drive Weatherford, TX 76086 USA Thank you for using my software. NOTE: CDM.EXE should work with a variety of CDROM drives. I have tested it with the various drives sold by Creative Labs, Weanes, Sony, Toshiba, NEC and Mitsumi.