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SOUND BLASTER DIGEST Number 5 April 1991 Edition. A newsletter for Sound Blaster Enthusiasts. Edited and Published by Brad Barclay. Made possible by the contributions of Sound Blaster users. /\ ____________________________ / \/\ \ / \ ________________________________ \ / \ / \/ \ / \/ TABLE OF CONTENTS ================= From the Editor's Desk......................1 Letters.....................................2 SBD Registered BBS's........................2 Review #1: Creative Voice Editor............3 Accessing the Sound Blaster DAC Channel.....4 Review #2: Rise of the Dragon...............6 SBD in the BBS world........................7 Review #3: SPUTTER ver 1.15.................8 Included Files..............................9 Wrapping it up..............................9 Address....................................10 SBD Subscription Form......................11 SBD BBS Registration Form..................12 SBD Advertisement Form......................13 Mail-in Registration for TMC/Telix/Qmail...14 Page 1 FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Wow! I don't know what else to say about this month's SBD. My plea for help has been heard! Three authors have submitted articles for this months SBD. And along with that, VersaWare was kind enough to send me a free registered copy of the newest version of the SPUTTER sound system, which I will review below. Many thanks to those who sent articles! Here's what we have lined up for this issue: software reviews on the Creative Voice Editor, SPUTTER ver 1.15, and Rise of the Dragon, how to directly program the Sound Blaster's DAC channel (that's the digitized voice on the card), more additions to the SBD world-wide music BBS list, another great offer to make the SBD even better, and more! Also, this month's included files are three CMF's that were transcribed from sheet music by myself and my girlfriend, Karen. We hope you enjoy them enough to add them to your collection. I know that this may seem a little unprofessional of me, but there is something I need to say here. If you're interested in the Sound Blaster related topics, please feel free to skip on to the next page. Otherwise, read if you wish: Karen, I love you more then anything in this world, and I'd give anything in my life up just to be with you. And I want the whole world to know this. So I let them know the only way I knew how, and published it here. I know that you'll read this, you always do. I love you honey: may we always be together. And now, on with the show... Page 2 LETTERS =-=-=-= Just a quick note of thanks to the following letter writers this month: Adrienne Cousins of Littleton, MA, USA Bob Blow of Ortonville, Mich., USA Gord Tulloch of Winnipeg, Manitoba, CANADA Michael Davis of Wixom, MI, USA Stanley Cook of New Port Richey, FL, USA ...just to let you know that I have received your letters. Also, thanks to the numerous others who either phoned me at home, or left me E-Mail. ----------------------- SBD REGISTERED BBS'S: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= SYSTEM NAME PHONE NUMBER CITY/PROVINCE/STATE SYSOP'S NAME =========== ============ =================== ============ Arkon BBS (416)593-7460 Toronto, Ontario. Jacky Lee Beltway Bandits (703)764-9297 -- Unknown -- -- Unknown -- Computer Connection (08)384-7316 Christies Beach, Austrailia Vicki Crawford Cyberspace Online (204)667-5919 Winnipeg, Manitoba Gord Tulloch Data Dimension (404)921-1186 Atlanta Georgia -- Unknown -- Dead End BBS (703)821-7544 -- Unknown -- -- Unknown -- Electronic Age (703)620-0851 -- Unknown -- -- Unknown -- Friends & Family (214)960-3189 Dallas, Texas Jim Neargarder House of Ichthys (305)360-2991 Deerfield Beach, FL Leonzo E. Miller Jim's Dream (202)581-1422 -- Unknown -- Jim Walls Lynzie's Motherboard (808)989-3875 California -- Unknown -- Musical Chair (416)438-3009 Toronto, Ontario Jeff Woods REMJEM BBS (703)503-9410 Fairfax, Virginia Bob Mason Running Board (301)229-5342 -- Unknown -- -- Unknown -- Satellite TV BBS (713)623-4899 Bellaire, TX Jim Dolan Snarf's Music Studio (708)351-0288 Roselle, IL Colin Crisanti Stages Remote Access (416)468-2046 Niagara, Ontario Mathew Gordon The Doghouse BBS (713)422-3146 Baytown, TX Ray Cramer The Double AAce (214)606-0703 Grand Prairie, Texas Mike Hutchkins The HUB (703)685-0019 -- Unknown -- -- Unknown -- The Picture Express (512)666-4842 San Antonio, TX David Steward Trolls & Tribulations (703)263-0827 -- Unknown -- -- Unknown -- Why Not RBBS (213)436-1311 Long Beach, CA David Scott Page 3 REVIEW #1: CREATIVE VOICE EDITOR. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Written by Michael Davis, forward by Brad Barclay. Creative Labs has recently came out with a new piece of software to allow you to edit .VOC files graphically. This is the first of three software reviews in this issue. Thanks to Michael for writing the following article! ------------------------- Creative Labs 'Voice Editor' gives you the power to edit your digitized voices files (VOC). A mouse based interface guides you through the numerous selections designed to make the manipulation of the VOC file fast and easy. Not too long ago, I bought my Soundblaster card, plugged it into my 286 and learned how to work it. I first ran the FMorgan, played with that, then went into VOXKIT. I listened to the few VOC files that came with my software. Immediately I sensed a need for a program that would aid me in sculpting the VOC files, editing out noise, adding echo, amplifying, etc, etc... I called Creative Labs Tech Support number and found out that they did in fact have a program that would do just that, although it was not mentioned anywhere in the catalog that I received. Within two days I was editing my VOC files. The Voice Editor can cut, paste, fill, copy, combine, play, record, amplify, and echo voice patterns. In the modify mode, it lets you see a graphic representation of the sound wave. Sound waves can be zoomed in upon to see extreme detail, or zoomed out to see the entire voice wave. Echo can be added to the digitized sample to create amusing alterations. Need to change the sampling rate? No problem, just select the pull down window, and change it. Need to edit out the pops and clicks that are at the beginning and end of a voice file? No problem, go to the modify section, select the offending pop, and highlight it with the mouse, then cut it. Several different VOC files can be loaded into memory, rearranged, and pasted together to make very interesting sounds. The Voice Editor is overall a very good tool to have if you like to have creative power over your sound. One feature that I would like to see added is the ability to reverse a sound, like spinning a record backwards to hear any naughty messages. Also, the ability to use extended or expanded memory would be a major plus. This feature would be of all Soundblaster utilities, and would not be limited only to the Voice Editor. Page 4 ACCESSING THE SOUND BLASTER DAC CHANNEL =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Written by Gary Maddox. The Sound Blaster can add some terrific sounds to games through the use of its FM music synthesizer. But to me, the most fun feature of this sound card is the ability to digitize real-world sounds and play them back at will. Once a sound has been digitized into a data file, the data can be processed into a limitless number of new sounds. There are several ways to create your own sound files. Included with the Sound Blaster is Voxkit, a software program to record, play back and compress VOC files. There is also my own program called BLASTER Master, which features recording, playback, editing and several other ways to process sound files. For those of you who like to "roll their own", or for the curious, this article will reveal some of the techniques used to directly control the DAC channel through software. Since providing examples in assembly language, C, Turbo Pascal and QuickBASIC would make this article too lengthy, I will instead use a type of pseudo code. This should be very easy to both translate into your programming language of choice and to provide information to the non-programmers among you. So here we go... First off, lets find out if a Sound Blaster is present and what port address is being used. (NOTE: Some PC interface cards may not like being tickled by our program...you may wish to have the user configure the software for the proper port.) The Sound Blaster uses one of 6 port addresses, i.e., 210H, 220H, 230H, 240H, 250H, 260H. We will be concerned with 4 addresses, the base address (2x0H), the reset address (2x6H), the read address (2xAH) and the write address (2xCH). Let's look at some code: ---- \* Initialize Variables *\ BPORT = 210H \*DSP port BASE address *\ XPORT = 216H \*DSP RESET port address *\ WPORT = 21CH \*DSP WRITE port address *\ RPORT = 21AH \*DSP READ port address *\ APORT = 21EH \*DSP DATA AVAILABLE port address*\ READY = 0AAH \* Initialize DSP and scan for port base address *\ DO OUTPORT XPORT, 1 \*send 1 to reset port 2x6H *\ WAIT 3ms \*wait about 3 micro seconds *\ OUTPORT XPORT, 0 \*send 0 to reset port 2x6H *\ LOOPCTR = 0 DO \*poll for READYBYTE *\ INPORT RPORT, BYTE \*try to read a byte *\ LOOPCTR = LOOPCTR + 1 LOOP WHILE BYTE # READY OR LOOPCTR < 100 IF BYTE # AAH \*compare byte to AAH *\ BPORT = BPORT + 10H \*else check next port address*\ XPORT = XPORT + 10H WPORT = WPORT + 10H RPORT = RPORT + 10H Page 5 APORT = APORT + 10H END IF LOOP WHILE BYTE # AAH OR BPORT < 270H \* Check BPORT for success *\ IF BPORT = 270H DISPLAY "Sound Blaster Not Found!" STOP ELSE DISPLAY "Sound Blaster Installed at Port ", BPORT END IF ---- Now that we have located the base address and initialized the DSP, we are ready to read data directly from the Sound Blasters DAC. We will do so by writing a command to the DSP WRITE port to fetch a byte. The command to read is 20H. We will then read the DSP DATA AVAILABLE port to see if a byte is ready to be read from the READ port. If the data is ready, we can then proceed with the READ port operation. Once we have a byte of PCM data, we can call a routine to process it. Lets look at the pseudo code to do this: ---- \* DSP READ loop *\ EXIT = FALSE DO OUTPORT WPORT, 20H \*send the READ command byte *\ DO INPORT APORT, byte LOOP WHILE BYTE # 127 \*poll until a byte is ready *\ INPORT RPORT, BYTE \*read our PCM byte from the DSP*\ \* *\ \* insert your code to do amazing things here! *\ \* *\ LOOP UNTIL EXIT ---- Now that we can read sample data coming into the Sound Blaster, we can let our imaginations explore an endless array of applications. We could use the sound data to control a graphics program to change colors and pulse to the music. We could graph the data and make our own oscilloscope. With a bit more effort, we could write a PC answering machine or even a voice recognition system. We could even write a program that recognized the music of the New Kids on the Block and played back loud puking sounds! I hope that this article has been informative and that you will try this out for yourself. I tried to make it as easy as I could, but it is a very technical subject. This is very similar to the technique I used to write my Hi-Res sample program. I suggest that you use assembly language if you can. You will have to execute your code as fast as possible to achieve a very high sample rate. If you have any questions, please feel free to register BLASTER Master and then give me a call. Page 6 REVIEW #2: RISE OF THE DRAGON =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Hello everybody. Glad to be giving something to the SB digest. The game being reviewed in this issue is Rise of the Dragon. ROTD, is created by Dynamix, an offshoot of the Sierra family (who we are all familiar with). The game falls under the category of adventure and is supposedly the first in the Blade Hunter series. You play an ex-cop, private investigator known as Blade Hunter, and are hired by the Mayor, unofficially, to examine the deaths of many youths, including the mayor's own daughter. The place: future Los Angeles. The game is 7.5 meg in size, containing hand painted 256 color graphics. Some of these graphics are contained in 85 Hand painted digitized scenes and locations which are truly awesome. The game interface is one that has been used by Dynamix before with A-10 Tank Killer which they like to refer to as a VCR Interface. Very easy to use and understand. Also the game is supported by all three; keyboard, joystick and mouse, but is best by mouse alone. The game features a point and click interface in which throughout the whole game you never need to type in a single thing on the keyboard. I myself am quite impressed by this system and prefer it over trying to figure out what is exactly needed to be typed in as in older Sierra type games. Rise of the Dragon supports all sound cards. I myself have a Soundblaster and can say that the music is fantastic. It contains an original score which unlike Adlib supported games which have one or two verses played over and over. The music throughout the game is wonderful and splendidly supports the game mood and the listener's interest. Only in the introduction is there dialogue. This disappointed me in the game since I was expecting it else where and it never came. One last note, the game also has arcade sequences which are very good and necessary to complete the game. But do not fret. If you try several time and can not get by the arcade sequence, it allows you to skip it to allow you to complete the game. I personally like this touch except for the fact that the end, is an arcade sequence. It took me a long to get by it and finally see what I had done. Overall the game is fantastic and a joy to play, or to even sit back and listen to the musical score. RATING: Graphics 8.5 Sound (Soundblaster option) 9.5 Playability 8 Overall 8.5 Page 7 \ / ___\/___ Live and on the Now in stereo! || air from Toronto! /||\ Node 2 is now up! || The Musical Chair ==== at Experience the difference of: ====== 438-1686 & 438-3009 ==== 1000's of Adlib and SB music files || _______ 1200-14,400 50 gaming doors online || | | baud & v.32 3 mail networks || | | _____ 1 crazy and caring sysop ______|| | | | | ||\ | |___| | Around the clock..... Sky || \ | | | | Around the world..... Dome || \| | | | Around the bend..... |||| | | | | |||||| | | | | The M sical Chai ...438-3009 ||||||||| | | | |||||||||| | | | What's missing? U R! COMING SOON: Nodes 4 and 5 to serve you better! -------------------- SBD IN THE BBS WORLD: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Written by Brad Barclay. The SOUND BLASTER DIGEST has made it all over the world, thanks to the wonders of the computer Bulletin Board Systems around the planet. But I still get mail every day from people who are having a hard time finding the magazine on their local BBS's. Thus, I have yet another offer to help the SBD to make it way to more BBS's world-wide. If you run a BBS, and you wish to register it with the SBD, you can specify in the comments section that you wish me to call and upload the next edition of the SBD. This requires only two small things: first that you pre- validate me under whatever code and password you wish to use (be sure to let me know what they are!), and send it with a cheque for $5. What you do with the SBD when you receive it is basically unlimited. Some Sysops have already asked me if they could, for example, make it required reading for users entering their Music Conference. Or you could simply leave it in the files section of your BBS for other users to take a look at. Once again, this is just another idea/option for you. If you don't wish me to call and upload the next edition of the SBD, then don't feel obligated to send any money what-so-ever. But if you like the idea, I'd be more then glad to give your system a call. Page 8 REVIEW #3: SPUTTER ver 1.15. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Written by Brad Barclay. This past month I had the great pleasure of looking into my mailbox and finding a diskette mailer sent from VersaWare. Inside, I was even more delighted to find a copy of the SPUTTER sound system, version 1.15, registered and everything. I carefully took it out of the package, and inserted it into my drive. Interestingly enough, both disks were corrupted, and nearly every .COM file in on them were useless. This was by no means the fault of the author: just looks like they need to clean their drive heads. Or perhaps data was scrambled in the mailing process. I waited about a week, and lo and behold, it appeared on The Musical Chair. So I have been able to write a true review of what I have seen the software do for me. Here's what the software features: playback of more then 20 different digitized filetypes, speech synthesis, and the ability to play .ROL and .CMF files. All of these features can be easily executed through the SPUTTER shell, which also allows you to view files, show digitized data waveforms, and allow the playing of multiple sound files. The software supports more cards then I knew existed: from the PC speaker to the Sound Blaster, to the Voice Master, along with many others. As great as this software sounds (mind you, there are a whole lot of other great features of this program: more then I can fit in an entire issue of the SBD), it does have some small problems. The first one that I noticed is that the speech synthesis is much too slow, even when I change the sampling rate and disable all background TSR's. Another problem with running at 8 Mhz, I guess. I also tested one or two of the stranger digitized filetypes over the Sound Blaster, and I found that at least the Voice Toolkit 1-bit format didn't play properly through SPUTTER. Also, the shell is lacking the handy ability to use mouse. The menu is set up such that it would be ideal for mouse support: perhaps the author has this intention in mind for future versions. My overall view on this software: if you don't have it, get it. It has some small problems, but is well worth the registration fee. It's a definite addition to my music software library. RATINGS: Implementation: 7 Ease of Use: 6 Sound Blaster Support: 10 Overall: 8 Page 9 INCLUDED FILES: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Included this month are three .CMF files for your enjoyment, as transcribed by Brad Barclay and Karen O'Hearn. We both hope that you enjoy them enough to add them to your collection: BENNY.CMF --> Bennie and the Jets by Elton John. MAGIC.CMF --> Magic Carpet Ride by Steppenwolf. WNGTI.CMF --> We're not Gonna Take it by Twisted Sister. Okay, I do admit the last one is defiantly different from the last two: we wanted to try to keep some variety. Look for more music by us in future editions! ---------------------- WRAPPING IT UP... =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Well, that's it...yet another edition of the SBD. Hope you enjoyed it. And now, as always, on to the thanks. Thanks go out this month to everyone who wrote letters, called, or sent E- Mail. Also thanks to our 3 great article writers: I hope that they will decide to stay full time here at the SBD, and write articles regularly. And, as always, thanks Karen for being there when I need you the most. Here's what follows: four forms. Three you have probably seen before: The SBD BBS registration form, the SBD Advertisement form, and the SBD Subscription form. The last is a new one...a Musical Chair membership application form. A note to everyone: I AM NOT THE SYSOP OF THE MUSICAL CHAIR! Many people have written me mistaking me for him. We do work fairly close together on the Sound Blaster Digest, but we are two separate people. If you have any questions about the Musical Chair, ask Jeff Woods, there sysop there (see the advertisement above). If you're having a hard time getting a hold of him, let me know and I'll contact him if necessary. If you'd like to contribute an article to the SBD, send it on a 5.25" disk to the address below, and I'll mail it back the next month containing a copy of the SBD for the month in which your article appeared. Next month: hopefully more articles from more authors (my fingers are crossed), plus a copy of real, working software to use with your SB, called SING. This program (if I can get it working by them, of course) will allow you to play any FM or C/MS music and pick up your microphone and sing along with the music! Page 10 Hope you enjoyed this issue! If you wish to contact me, here's the address: SOUND BLASTER DIGEST c/o Brad Barclay 36 Sutter ave. Brampton, Ontario CANADA L6Z 1G7 Phone: (416) 846-5599 Page 11 SOUND BLASTER DIGEST SUBSCRIPTION FORM ====================================== Please enclose a cheque or money order (sorry, I don't accept any major or minor credit cards) for $25 CDN for Canadian orders, or $25 US for American orders. Overseas enclose $30 Canadian funds, payable on a Canadian bank. Please fill out all the spaces provided (except where marked optional), and mail it to the address below. NAME:_____________________________ MAILING ADDRESS: Street address:_____________________________ City, Province/State:_______________________ Country, Postal/ZIP Code:___________________ PHONE NUMBER (don't forget the area code!):___________________ DISKETTE TYPE: (check one): _ _ <_> 5.25" <_> 3.5" OPTIONAL: Please fill this out if possible. Age:____________ Sound Blaster version:_______________ Occupation:________________ Most frequently called BBS (name only):__________________ COMMENTS: Please fill this out also! How would you rate THE SOUND BLASTER DIGEST (circle one): POOR FAIR GOOD EXCELLENT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Please mail this form, along with any additional comments to: SOUND BLASTER DIGEST c/o Brad Barclay 36 Sutter ave. Brampton, Ontario CANADA. L6Z 1G7 Page 12 SOUND BLASTER DIGEST BBS REGISTRATION ===================================== This is a free service of THE SOUND BLASTER DIGEST, intended to allow greater access to Sound Blaster files. Please fill out all blanks (except where marked optional), and send to the address below: LIST INFORMATION: Name of BBS:____________________________________________ Sysop's Name:___________________________________________ City, Province/State:___________________________________ Phone Number (remember the area code!):_________________ Min/Max Transmission speed:_____________________________ OTHER INFORMATION: Although not included in the BBS listing, this information is important for our records. How long has the BBS been running:_________________________ Do you have a Music/Sound Card conference, message area, or file area set aside?:______________________________________ Does your BBS support and Sound Blaster files?:____________ Anything else you can think of to say that would show off your BBS, please write it down here: ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Mail this form, along with any extra comments to: SOUND BLASTER DIGEST c/o Brad Barclay 36 Sutter Ave. Brampton, Ontario CANADA. L6Z 1G7 Page 13 SOUND BLASTER DIGEST ADVERTISEMENT ORDER FORM ============================================= Please fill out this form, and mail it, along with a cheque for $5 (in US funds for American orders, and in Canadian funds for Canadian orders), along with an ASCII only, typed copy of your ad, and mail it to the address below. NAME:_____________________________ MAILING ADDRESS: Street address:_____________________________ City, Province/State:_______________________ Country, Postal/ZIP Code:___________________ PHONE NUMBER (don't forget the area code!):___________________ BEST TIMES AVAILABLE:_________________________________________ Please mail this form, along with your cheque and a copy of the ad as described above, along with any other comments to: SOUND BLASTER DIGEST c/o Brad Barclay 36 Sutter ave. Brampton, Ontario CANADA. L6Z 1G7 Page 14 ======================================================================== Mail-in Registration form for The Musical Chair/Telix/Qmail Registration ======================================================================== Phone number: 416-438-1686 - 5 lines in sequence with USR Dual Standards ======================================================================== Name: _______________________________ Voice Phone: _______________ Mailing Address: ______________________________________________________ Line 2: ______________________________________________________ City: ______________ Province/State: _______ Postal: _______ Age: ______ (Include photo of driver's licence for adult access) [ ] I'd like to look at The Musical Chair first -- please create an account with the above information and a password of ______________ [ ] Enclosed is my check or money order payable to Jeff Woods for: # of Amt. CDN copies incl. The Musical Chair Membership: $25 ____ _____ Telix Registration (non-member): $44 ____ _____ QMail Deluxe (Non-member): $25 ____ _____ Telix Registration (member): $35 ____ _____ Qmail Deluxe (member): $20 ____ _____ QMMSys (member): $20 ____ _____ QMMSys (non-member): $30 ____ _____ Total amt. _____ Please mail to: Jeff Woods Box 130 West Hill, ON M1E 4R4 The Musical Chair thanks you for your support!