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SOUND BLASTER DIGEST Number 6 May 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 ================= Title: Page: ===== ==== From the desk of the Editor..........1 Letters..............................2 Digital Sampling on the SB...........3 Software of the Month: TrakBlaster ver 2.0........5 JMPlayer ver 1.1...........7 SBD in the BBS World.................6 Included File........................8 Wrapping it Up.......................8 SBD Advertisement Order form.........9 SBD BBS Registration form...........10 SBD Subscription form...............11 TMC Registration form...............12 The SOUND BLASTER DIGEST (SBD) is a free monthly publication. Editor: Brad Barclay Copyright (c) 1991 WAFFER! Productions. Page 1 FROM THE DESK OF THE EDITOR: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Welcome to the SOUND BLASTER DIGEST, issue #6! This is a big issue for me: it means that the magazine has lasted for an entire half a year! And to start off this memorable 0.5 year issue, I'd like to tell you a bit about how the SBD came to be, and some of the strange things that have happened to me since I've began writing it. I began writing the SBD because there seemed to be no standard place where Sound Blaster owners could get good and reliable information. Also, in many areas in the world, there were perhaps only a handful of Sound Blaster users, and so they had a hard time getting in touch with other users. Also at the time someone else had made a vain attempt at writing a newsletter about the Sound Blaster, but all that it did was to put down nearly everything about the Sound Blaster, without giving much solid evidence to support such conclusions. I felt that something had to be done... And so the SBD was born last December. I had been a SOUND BLASTER user since last February (when I bought mine for $359 CDN: for contrast a friend of mine saw one at a computer show for $150 the other day) and had made some good contacts, amongst them Gary Maddox, author of BLASTER MASTER, and I had amassed a pretty good amount of software. I felt I was ready to begin my own magazine. This magazine hasn't been my only computer publishing venture: in August 1989 I wrote a series of text files that contained a very detailed comparison between the four most popular file compression utilities. This file made it's way around the area, and I had planned to continue this publication once every 2 months, but never got around to making a #2. Also, a fantasy/comedy titled THE QUEST OF SIM will be released by myself sometime in the near future (it's been completed for ages, I just haven't released it yet. But it's received excellent reviews from those who have read it). Some odd things have happened since I began writing/editing/publishing the SBD. Two of the strangest happened in the past week. The first was a call from Texas from a reader who wished to send me a 1.44 Mb, 3.5" disk drive! I haven't received the drive yet: I'll let you know about it next issue. The second was that a good friend of mine's uncle had found a copy of the SBD, and had decided that it was the greatest thing since the invention of the 80386. Then he was doubly excited to find that his nephew (who has helped me produce a few of the articles this issue by testing some software that was beyond the capabilities of my system) was one of my best friends...small world, isn't it? Hope you enjoy this month's issue! Page 2 LETTERS... =-=-=-=-=-= Many thanks to those who wrote in this month: Colin Crisanti of Arlington Heights, IL, USA Ron Jones of Bellevue, WA, USA Erik Leirdal of Reinsvoll, Norway David J. Ludwig of Fullerton, CA, USA Sean Neese of Marietta, GA, USA Dan Sarber of Pheonix, AZ, USA Star-Link Network BBS of New York, NY, USA Stefan Thulin of Lagan, Sweden UF BBS & SBC of The Hague, Netherlands. There has been one small problem in this month's mail. Both of this month's new subscribers made the enclosed cheque payable to THE SOUND BLASTER DIGEST. Please make cheques payable to BRAD BARCLAY, else I won't be able to cash them in (my account is under my own name). It's my fault I didn't make that very clear last issue it seems: note that the subscription/advertisement forms have been changed due to this. ------------------ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ You Are Invited To Call: STAR-LINK NETWORK BBS - (718) 972-6099 │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ Multi-Line Access (9 Access Lines - 15 Coming Soon) │ │ 3/12/24/9600/14.4K Baud Support (V32/V42/MNP5/HST/HAYES) │ │ 3.0 Gigabytes of On-line Storage (3000 Megabytes) │ │ More then 80,000 Files for Your PC, AT, PS/1 & PS/2 to Download │ │ On-Line CD-ROM w/Complete PC-SIG Program Library (1400 Disks Worth) │ │ 129 Active Conferences Areas - Member of ILink International Echo │ │ On-line Edition of USA TODAY Newspaper - CB Simulator - 24 Hour FAX │ │ 60 On-line Doors - Running On FAST LAN - PC Pursuit - Subscriptions │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ STAR-LINK NETWORK BBS has been featured in such publications as │ │ Personal Computing, Computer Shopper, PC Computing and PC Magazine. │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ████████████████████ Dial (718) 972-6099 ██████████████████████ Page 3 DIGITAL SAMPLING ON THE SOUND BLASTER =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Written by Steven J. Lee This article will focus on the digital sampling input of the Sound Blaster card. This is from my experience with the SB card and hopefully will save you from long hours of grief of wondering "why doesn't this work or sound good"? As most of you will note, the manual states that a microphone should be -75dB or better and 600 ohm impedance. As an Electrical Engineer, I am able to understand these specs and apply them accordingly. Well, suffice to say, the specs in the manual does not agree with what the tech support group at Creative Labs say. They say that you need a dynamic mic with -40 to -60 dB (this is greater sensitivity) and 600 ohms impedance. They also recommend a Radio Shack cheapo mic that they say works. DON'T YOU BELIEVE IT. The Radio Shack cheapo mic (around 20 to 25 dollars) has a sensitivity of -79dB and 600 ohms. There is a conflict of knowledge at Creative Labs as far as I'm concerned. I'm not knocking them, it's just that they do not know their facts to the questions I have asked. Well, what now you say. A VERY expensive mic, around 60 dollars may give you a -65 to -69dB and yield some plausible results if you want to go that route. The more substantial way is to digitize in a two step method. Record your sound, music, demo, etc... onto a cassette tape machine, or use a CD player if you want digitize music. Then, with a cable, connect the tape recorder or CD to the Sound Blaster DAC input, set the volume almost to zero and then start the playback on the tape/CD machine and record on the PC via Voxkit or compatible software. When you are done recording, just stop recording then stop the tape/CD machine. Check the digital sampling, if the sound is too low, then repeat the above steps and raise the volume on the tape/CD machine slightly and start again. Raise the volume slightly so you don't overdrive the input to the SB card. If you overdrive a little, don't worry too much, all you'll get is some clipping or distorted playback. Please do not do this too much so always start low and work your way up. Why do it this way? You'll have no background noise when recording (especially for CD music), you can do it more than once with the same source and it is very cheap to do compared to buying a very expensive microphone. I have taken some of my video tapes and found some nice clips, patched my stereo into my computer via a cable and then record away. You will get some very nice and clean results. Page 4 I am offering the cable that goes between a tape recorder/portable CD player to SB digital input for $5.00 plus $2.00 s/h. To make the cable yourself will cost you more in parts from Radio Shack or other place unless you have them lying around your home. Just send a check to: Steven Lee, 28 Dustin Homestead, Rochester, NH 03867 and a note with your name, address, phone and what you want to connect to the SB input so I can match the connecters. ------------------- \ / ___\/___ Live and on the Now in surround stereo! || air from Toronto! /||\ Node 5 is now up! || The Musical Chair ==== at Experience the difference of: ====== 438-1686 ==== 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 ...438-1686 ||||||||| | | | |||||||||| | | | What's missing? U R! Now running with 5 HST lines!!! Page 5 SHAREWARE REVIEW: TrakBlaster ver 2.0 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Written by Brad Barclay TrakBlaster is one of the many Sound Blaster related programs that are now making their way around the world from Europe. Up until now most of the really popular Sound Blaster programs came from North America: but this is no longer true. TrakBlaster 2.0 is an excellent song playing utility to allow Sound Blaster owners to play Amiga .MOD music files. These music files use a different sound generation method then .ROL/.CMF (FM generation) and .CMS (AM generation) files. .MOD files use PCM generation, like many of the better keyboards out on the market today. Each instrument is digitized once, and the computer then must re- calculate each successive note to play at a different frequency. The result is an excellent piece of music, which although much larger then a corresponding .ROL/.CMF/.CMS, is still much smaller then a purely digitized file. Not only do you get excellent sound, but you are also given the option upon installation to have the program display VGA waveform graphs of the entire song, and each separate voice. Due to the limitations of my system (namely VGA/MDA/Hercules only) I was not able to see these graphs myself, but from my sources, they are very nice indeed. The program does have it's limitations, though. The lowest CPU that it's compatible with is the NEC V20 (an improved version of the 8088), and I've found that the minimum speed your computer should be running at is 8Mhz for normal resolution playback, and even then the speed sometimes slows down when multiple instruments play together for large amounts of time. 10Mhz is probably much better for playback. The reasons for this is that the program is very CPU intensive. It must re- calculate 4 voices for new frequencies at once in real time, and must at the same time combine these four voices into one for playback into the DAC of the Sound Blaster. Due to this, even on faster 16Mhz+ systems, TrakBlaster may not work very well in a multitasking environment. But even with this little CPU drawback, TrakBlaster is still a must for any Sound Blaster user who enjoys listening to many different types of music. SBD RATING: Overall: 8 Page 6 SBD IN THE BBS WORLD. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Here's this month's updated list of those BBS's in the world that support the Sound Blaster card's software. If you're looking for good SB software, try giving the nearest one a call. All BBS's have been registered through myself, and thus should be considered trustworthy. 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 Bch, Austr. Vicki Crawford Data Dimension (404)921-1186 Atlanta Georgia Ricky Lacy Dead End BBS (703)821-7544 -- Unknown -- -- Unknown -- Electronic Age (703)620-0851 -- Unknown -- -- Unknown -- Friends & Family (214)960-3189 Dallas, Texas Jim Neargarder Gollum's Corner (404)992-1309 Marietta, GA Sean Neese 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 Nat. PC and MIDI... (708)593-8703 Chicago, IL Duane Antor Open Access BBS +47 61 97304 Reinsvoll, Norway Erik Leirdal Point of Know Return (602)867-0488 Phoenix Arizona Dan Sarber << Prism BBS (914)344-0350 Middletown, NY Janis Kracht Punkin Duster BBS (714)522-3980 Buena Park, CA Dave Ludwig Running Board (301)229-5342 -- Unknown -- -- Unknown -- Satellite TV BBS (713)623-4899 Bellaire, TX Jim Dolan Snarf's Music Studio (708)290-9993 Arlington Hgts., IL Colin Crisanti Stages Remote Access (416)468-2046 Niagra, Ontario Mathew Gordon Star-Link Network BBS (718)972-6099 Brooklyn, NY Michael Keylin The Doghouse BBS (713)422-3146 Baytown, TX Ray Cramer The Double AAce (214)606-0703 Grand Praire, 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 -- VGER Control (714)371-4789 Corona, CA Bob Altenburger Page 7 SHAREWARE REVIEW: JMplayer ver 1.1 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Written by Brad Barclay, data gathered by Rod Toll. JMplayer is yet another one of the many pieces of software that have been trickling through from Europe for the Sound Blaster card. This specific piece of software was mailed to the SBD this past month: many thanks to the authors for doing so. JMplayer is yet another program to play those synth/digi files (like .MOD's) that are available for the Amiga system. It will play .MOD files, but has some nice features that are not available on TrakBlaster. The first thing that you will notice about the program is that it is set up to look like a CD player: complete with amplitude bar graph, song selection, fast forward and rewind. The graphics are nice, but you do need at least EGA to be able to run it: those of us with CGA and Hercules are left out in the cold, and aren't able to make use of it at all. Another nice feature of this program is the ability to specify many songs in a file, and then be able to select which ones to play, just like with a CD player. This is similar to the necessary JUKEBOX.DAT file needed to run Ad Lib's Jukebox program. It's very handy for playing multiple .MOD files without having to reload the program with each new song like TrakBlaster has to. Just as you would now come to expect with this sort of player, though, it is very CPU intensive. As the SBD testing was done on a 386 SX this time around, I am unable to determine wether or not it is coded such to play well on an 8Mhz machine or not: if anybody finds out, drop me a line and let me know. All in all, JMplayer is a very nice program to have in your Sound Blaster library, along with TrakBlaster. It's limitations on graphics is the greatest thing that sets this program apart from TrakBlaster. OVERALL RATING: 7 Page 8 INCLUDED FILE: =-=-=-=-=-=-= This month's Included File is a request from one of our readers (and a personal friend), Mark Rostek: White Room by Cream. Included is a lyrics sheet for those of you who would like to sing along. The Sing-Along program that I had promised last issue still doesn't work: hopefully this will be corrected by next issue. -------------------- WRAPPING IT UP... =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Well that's it for this month. Remember, if you'd like to write something for the SBD, either upload it to THE MUSICAL CHAIR (please address the file to Brad Barclay, and leave a message in the main board letting me know it's there), mail it in printed form, or mail it on a disk: anybody who mails it on a disk will get their disk returned with the edition of the SBD that their article appears in! Also, about mail to myself: please address all cheques to BRAD BARCLAY, and *not* the Sound Blaster Digest. Also, if mailing disks, it would be preferred if you mail them in 360k, 5.25" diskette format, if possible. I can have other formats converted for my use, but this takes a few days, and could delay a reply. Not too much more to say: just some thanks. So, thanks to Steven Lee for writing the article on Recording with the SB, Larry Cooper who sent a printed article (which I was unfortunately unable to use), Rod Toll and Don Choi for testing software for me, and for converting disks, and finally, as always, many thanks to my loved one, Karen: you are my greatest success in life. Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you again this time next month! Please send all correspondence to: SOUND BLASTER DIGEST c/o Brad Barclay 36 Sutter ave. Brampton, Ontario CANADA L6Z 1G7 Page 9 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. PLEASE MAKE CHEQUE/MONEY ORDER PAYABLE TO BRAD BARCLAY! 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 10 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 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. MAKE CHEQUE/MONEY ORDER PAYABLE TO BRAD BARCLAY! 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 ======================================================================== 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!