Programming Sound Cards

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Sound Card State SelectorTM Version 2.01 Copyright July 1993 - August 1994 All Rights Reserved ZittWare 940 N. Jackson St. APT 7D Starkville, MS 39759 Sound Card State Selector, herein referred to as SNDSTATE, is dis- tributed under the Shareware concept and it is not free. The program(s) may be used for a Trial Period of thirty days. At the end of this trial period you must do one of the following: ■ Send in the required registration fee OR ■ Delete all programs from your use. Copying of this program in welcomed and encouraged provided the following guide lines are followed: ■ The program package or archive is not copied or distributed after January 15, 1995. ■ All of the files contained in this package remain intact and unaltered. ■ None of the files are altered or modified without prior written permission of the Author. ■ No fees are charged to anyone except for the following: 1. Disk Duplication/Costs. 2. Shipping. 3. Downloading fees. 4. Membership fees This program package may be placed on ANY BBS granted the above conditions are met. DISCLAIMER: SNDSTATE is offered to the Public without warranty and is offered as-is. The author takes no responsibility implied or otherwise to the loss/damage of data or information. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. What is SNDSTATE? SNDSTATE is designed to complement some of the software present in many sound card packages. It is a program that will either save or restore certain settings of many sound cards to or from storage for later retrieval. These sound cards are listed below. 1) ProAudio Spectrum 16 2) ProAudio Studio 3) Fusion 16 4) Logitech SoundMan 5) Sound Blaster Pro Throughout this document, the ProAudio Spectrum, Studio, Fusion and Soundman will be referred to collectively as a PAS card. The Sound Blaster Pro will be referred to as a SBPro. SNDSTATE provides a Graphical User Interface, GUI, for modifying most of mixer and volume settings of these cards. A list of these settings appear below. Mixer Settings (Input, Output, Default): FM (1) Internal Mixer (2) External Audio (Line-In) (1) Internal CD-ROM Audio (1) Microphone (1) PCM Internal PC speaker SoundBlaster DAC Cross Channel settings (2) Sound Settings: Loudness Switch Enhanced Switch Bass Treble Volume Left (1) Volume Right (1) Mode (2) Filter setting (2) RealSound setting (2) (1) Denotes settings that the SNDSTATE GUI supports when using a SBPro sound card. (2) Denotes settings not supported by the SNDSTATE GUI when using a PAS sound card; however, SNDSTATE does store these settings on disk. SNDSTATE will also save, restore, and display the following settings when using a SBPro: Voice Volume Input Source Input Filter Output Filter Voice Mode What are the requirements for SNDSTATE? The requirements for the shareware version of SNDSTATE are shown below: 1) MS-DOS 3.0 or Higher. 2) IBM AT, 286, 386, 486, or other 100% compatibles. 3) A Proaudio Spectrum 16, Proaudio Studio, Fusion 16 CD-ROM kit, Logitech SoundMan, or Sound Blaster Pro. (*) 4) Some free disk space. In addition to these requirements, the SNDSTATE GUI requires a VGA card capable of 640x480x256. (*) It is presently unknown if SNDSTATE will work consistently with sound boards from other manufacturers. If you determine that it does, please let me know. How do I use SNDSTATE? The program is run by the simply typing SNDSTATE at the OS prompt. SNDSTATE can be run in a combination of ways. The command-line options are shown below: SNDSTATE [-R|-S|-V] [filename] [/SBP] First, there is a full interactive mode by simply running the program without any arguments. You will then be prompted on whether to Restore, Save, View, or Abort. Enter either a R, S, or V or you will abort the program. Next, you will be asked for the filename you wish to operate on. Type in the filename and press Enter. You may include PATH designations. If you need to restore a file and are not sure of the complete filename, type the filename as you know it and a wildcard (*) at the point you are unsure of the filename. SNDSTATE will attempt to complete the filename by finding the first file matching what you have entered. If you are Restoring a file, the program checks to see if the file exists as you typed it. If it does not find the setting file, it will abort with an error message. Otherwise, the program will ask you to verify the restore operation. If you are Saving a setting file, SNDSTATE will ask you to confirm the save operation. If you confirm, SNDSTATE will then check to see if a file with the same name exists. If it determines that file already exists, SNDSTATE will ask you to verify replacement of the old file. You can force a partial interactive by specifying a -R or -S, as the first argument, to restore or save respectively. You will then be prompted for a filename. You can take it one step further and make the next argument a filename such as PROAUDIO/DEFAULT.P16. Then the program will only ask you to verify. The /SBP option is used to force SNDSTATE to run when there is a Sound Blaster Pro in the same system with a PAS compatible card. It will cause the automatic detection code to check for a SBPro first. If no SBPro is found in the system, it will ask if the user would force SNDSTATE to assume there really is a SBPro at 220h. This feature may have catastrophic consequences if there really is not a SBPro at 220h, so use this option with care. This option can be used with care if SNDSTATE does not accurately detect the SBPro in the system. Using the SNDSTATE GUI The SNDSTATE GUI is invoked by the command line switch, -V. If you have a graphics card capable of 640x480x256 colors and either MVSOUND.SYS or a SBPro, SNDSTATE should come up with a LED DIGIT display with bar graphs showing the current settings of your card. Each display is either a percentage or an error code. The error code is shown as EE. An error means that the value retrieved by the program was in error or that your sound card does not support this mixer. The keys allowed by the GUI are listed below in Table 1 with their functions for various cards. If the File menu is brought up, you may either Restore or Save a setting file or you may exit the GUI. If a mouse driver is installed before SNDSTATE is executed, you may use a mouse in the GUI. The supported settings of the card can be changed by placing the cursor on the desired value on the bar graph and clicking the left mouse button. By holding the left mouse button down, the setting may be modified by moving the mouse to the left or the right. The mouse is disabled during a restore or save request. Table 1. Graphical User Interface Key Sequences. ╔════════════╤══════════════════════╤══════════════════════╗ ║ Key │ ProAudio │ SoundBlaster ║ ║ Sequence │ compatible cards │ Pro compatible cards ║ ╟────────────┼──────────────────────┼──────────────────────╢ ║ Alt-B │ Bass │ ║ ║ Alt-E │ External Audio In │ External Audio In ║ ║ Alt-F │ Brings up File Menu │ Brings up File Menu ║ ║ Alt-H │ Enhanced Stereo │ Voice Mode ║ ║ Alt-I │ Internal Audio In │ CD Volume ║ ║ Alt-L │ Filter │ Input Filter ║ ║ Alt-M │ Microphone │ Microphone ║ ║ Alt-N │ Internal Speaker │ ║ ║ Alt-O │ Loudness │ Output Filter ║ ║ Alt-P │ Pulse Code Modulator │ ║ ║ Alt-R │ Frequency Modulator │ Frequency Modulator ║ ║ Alt-S │ Sound Blaster DAC │ Voice Volume ║ ║ Alt-T │ Treble │ ║ ║ Alt-U │ Mute │ Input Source ║ ║ Alt-V │ Main Volume │ Main Volume ║ ║ Alt-X │ Exit │ Exit ║ ║ ESC │ Exit │ Exit ║ ║ DownArrow │ Next Setting │ Next Setting ║ ║ UpArrow │ Previous Setting │ Previous Setting ║ ║ LeftArrow │ Decrease Setting │ Decrease Setting ║ ║ RightArrow │ Increase Setting │ Increase ║ ╚════════════╧══════════════════════╧══════════════════════╝ SNDSTATE Naming Conventions SNDSTATE supports many different types of sound cards which have many different features. For this reason, a general guideline for file extensions has been adopted. These file extensions are guidelines and may be changes as the user sees fit. Table 2 shows the adopted file extensions below. Table 2. Adopted SNDSTATE file extensions. ╔═══════════════════╤════════════════╗ ║ Sound Card Family │ File Extension ║ ╟───────────────────┼────────────────╢ ║ ProAudio │ .P16 ║ ║ Sound Blaster Pro │ .SBP ║ ╚═══════════════════╧════════════════╝ As an example, you own a ProAudio Studio, and you would like to save the new file as GENERAL. Your saving file name would be GENERAL.P16. Miscellaneous Information and Contacting the Author As a Full-Time College Student, I hope one day to graduate and move to bigger and better things, such as good Electrical Engineering job. My expected graduation date is now December of 1994. Since this is copyrighted material, I do not want it to become "Abandoned Shareware". If after January 1995, you read this Document just after downloading the package, please contact me for a replacement and ask the SYSOP of the site or BBS to remove the package. Please note that the SYSOP will have little choice since the will expire and cease to function on February 1, 1995. If you contact me I will attempt to get the SYSOP a new version of the package with my new address. If all else fails, I plan to keep an America OnLine account for a very long while. You can contact me there for sure. Please see "REGISTRATION" for more information on how to contact me. If you got this package off a CD-ROM, please contact the company and ask for it to be removed. As a shareware author, I am _ALWAYS_ interested in any ideas, comments, or improvements that can be made to SNDSTATE. If you find your- self with some ideas, please do not hesitate to contact me personally. By keeping close contact with my users, I hope to expand SNDSTATE to be an important and versatile tool for you, the user. REGISTRATION As stated above this is a Shareware Package. To continue to use it after the trial period you MUST send me a registration fee of $10US + $5US for shipping and handling. Canadian and Foreign order will require add- itional costs for shipping and handling. A invoice form is included in this package as REGISTER.FRM or use the registration option in the SNDSTATE GUI. Registering SNDSTATE will get the user the following benefits: ■ A more efficient, latest version of SNDSTATE which will -AT LEAST- include: ° Quiet operation mode. This is helpful for initial setups in the AUTOEXEC.BAT during startup or in BATch files. ° Smooth transition mode. Eliminates the "click" heard during set- ting transistions. ° Removal of all Shareware messages and limitations. ° Removal of the Registration option in the GUI. ■ A neat, well written printed manual which will include some tips and ideas for the uses of the program. ■ A list of the all SNDSTATE's error codes. ■ Notification of any significant address or technical changes. ■ Discounts on this and other new versions of Zittware products. Site and Network Licenses are available, contact the address below for more information. The current U.S. address to send this fee is: ZittWare c/o John Zitterkopf 940 North Jackson Street 7D RoseHill Place Starkville, MS 39759 If you have any questions, comments, problems, or just want to talk, I presently have numerous Electronic Mail (E-Mail) addresses. If you have access to INTERNET try the following addresses in the order they appear: jdz1@Ra.MsState.Edu jdz1@Isis.MsState.Edu PCCJohnZ@aol.com zitt@aol.com jdz1@MsState.Bitnet bo262@freenet-in-a.cwru.edu If you do not receive a response within 72 hours, please try another address. If you have an America Online account my USERID is PCC JohnZ. This is a staff id on America OnLine, so you may need to try ZITT if I do not respond within 72 hours, If you have another E-mail accounts like CompuServe, MCImail, FidoNet, etc.. there should be a way to mail out to INTERNET addresses. For your information only, I have included a text file called that should aid you in contacting me. I will do my best to answer any mail I get. Acknowledgments * MS-DOS is of course a trademark of Microsoft. * The Proaudio Spectrum 16 and Fusion 16 are trademarks of Media Vision. * The Logitech Soundman is copyrighted product distributed and sold by Logitech. * The Sound Blaster Pro is a trademark of Creative Technology Ltd. * Many thanks to Media Vision for their PAS-SDK, without it this project would not have been possible. * Melissa Zitterkopf for her help and patience. {You know I can't leave the wife out ;-)} * Shane Zehnder as one of my better friends and programming help. * And last but not least, All the Beta Testers.