FIVE TO FIVE V0.9

by Harald Sch”nfeld and Bernd Spellenberg

4/12/93


525 coverts sound samples from/into different formats:

- DVSM (Falcon)
- AVR (ATARI)
- SND, AU (Sun, Mac, NeXT)
- WAV (PC)
- raw data

This program uses the conversion routines of FORTUNE V1.0 that works only on
computers of the FALCON series and is even able to play these sounds in
real time from hard disk.

This program is Public Domain in this version. It may and shall be copied
and spread under the condition that all program- and text- files of this
archive are included.



1. System requirements

525 runs on all computers of the 680x0 series, no matter if MultiTOS is
installed or not. 525 needs about 160 KB free RAM.



2. Installation

Copy the program (525G.PRG=german, 525E.PRG=english) onto your
harddisk.



3. Usage

After the program starts the 525 menu appears. There are the following
menu items:


Desk/about Five to Five...

Informs about the current version number.



File/Convert...

Here you can select samples for conversion and choose a new file format.

To select an import file click on the PopUp "Import Sample".

If 525 is unable to recognize any header, a dialog appears, where you can 
select the format of the sample to load:
- The frequency
- The pack/data format
- The number format: Signed or unsigned
many old ST samples are 8 Bit Mono unsigned.

"Info" shows informations about the current input file. Please pay attention
to the fact that length is the length of the raw sound data without any
headers.

"Select sample format"

525 can read and write samples in 5 different formats:
- DVSM: For Fortune and WinRec
- AVR: Many ATARI St/Falcon Programs
- SND: Sun, NeXT, Mac
- WAV: PC
- Raw data: Raw data for many programs

"Data reduction"

You can choose in which pack format the samples sould be exported. Basically
the following formats are possible (not all are implemented in every case):

- Keep: the sound data will not be changed.
- 16 Bit Stereo: save in 2 channels with 16 Bit each.
- 16 Bit deltapack: save as logarithmic compressed data, that needs 50%
less memory but sounds nearly like 16 Bit.
- 16 Bit ć-LAW: Only needs 8 Bit, sounds better than 8 Bit, but worse than
deltapack. Used on Sun and NeXT.
- 8 Bit Stereo
- 16 Bit Mono: if stereo data should be saved as mono, both channels are
added together.
- 16 Bit Mono deltapack
- 16 Bit Mono ć-LAW
- 8 Bit Mono: Better use deltapack!

Notice that it is almost useless to convert a worse format to a better one.
It only requires more memory but sounds the same. But it is possible that
other programms support only some formats.
Converting ć-LAW to deltapack can result in slightly worse sound quality,
although deltapack is the better format.
"Keep" does not always really keep the pack format because not every format
is supported in every file format. In this case the sample will be converted
to the next better pack format.

Save options

When saving samples, 525 can maximize the volume of the sample.

You can select a fade in/out effect, too, which ranges over the first and
last 0.2 seconds of the selected part of the sample. You should use this
effect only once with the same sample. This effect can not be heard until
the sample is saved and reloaded.

"Export" converts the sample. A file select box will be opened to enter
the destination file name.

If import and export sample have the same name, a temporary file will be
created on the harddisk. Therefore it is possible that the data could not be
saved even if there should be enough space on the disk.


File/Quit

Terminates the program.



4. Internals

One supported sample format is the DVSM-Format of the programs "WINREC" and
"FORTUNE". Those are programs for the ATARI FALCON.

A DVSM sample file has the following structure:

typedef struct
{
	char magic[6];     /* "DVSM" */
	int headlen;       /* Headlen in Bytes*/
	int freq;		   /* Sample freqency 0=8kHz 7=50kHz*/
	char pack;		   /* 0 unpacked, 2=DVS packmethod (not yet supported)*/
	char mode;         /* 0=Stereo 8Bit,1=Stereo 16Bit,2=Mono 8Bit*/
	long blocklen;     /* if pack=1: Length of a packed block*/ 
} DVSMHEAD;

followed by the 16 Bit stereo data (or DVS 8 Bit data).

The sample frequencies 0 to 7 correspond to the following frequencies:
sam_freq[8]={8195,9834,12292,16490,20770,24585,33880,49170};
For further information refer to the WinRec documentation.



5. Known Bugs

None - at the moment ;-)



6. Contact

Send suggestions, criticism, comments, bug reports and nice cites (esp.
suggestions and information about compression methods and file formats) to:

Harald Sch”nfeld
Email:
mppi76@cd4680fs.rrze.uni-erlangen.dbp.de
Postal:
Lerchenstrasse 2, D-W-8501 Veitsbronn, Germany

Bernd Spellenberg
Email:
mppi04@cd4680fs.rrze.uni-erlangen.dbp.de
Postal:
Fuerther Strasse 11, D-W-8501 Puschendorf, Germany



7. Release History

4/12/93: Version 0.9