BACKTRACK¿ v4.02 by Karl Anders ²ygard Copyright ½ 1992, Delta Force. All Rights Reserved This program may be distributed without charge, provided that this text file is present and that it and the program files are unmodified. -- Overview ---------------------------------------------------------- BackTrack¿ is an program that will play any standard >Soundtracker 2.2 or Pro/Noisetracker module in the background (in a multitasking fashion). The program may also be run as an accessory. -- Installation ------------------------------------------------------ BackTrack¿ may be installed either as an accessory or a program, depending on the extension of the program name. If you wish to use it as an accessory, rename BackTrack¿ to BACKTRAK.ACC, place it at the root of your bootdrive and make a reset. BackTrack¿ will automatically appear in the menubar, ready for use. If you wish to use BackTrack¿ as a program, rename it BACKTRAK.PRG. Running as a program, BackTrack¿ is really only useful running under MultiTOS. -- Usage ------------------------------------------------------------- To load a module and play it, click 'LOAD' once. The fileselector will pop up and you may choose a module. Sufficient memory will be allocated and the module will be loaded. Unless something goes wrong, control will be returned to BackTrack¿ with the module playing in the back- ground. To stop playing the module, click 'KILL' once. Playing will be discontinued and memory is released. To pause and restart sound, press the 'PAUSE' and 'PLAY' buttons, respectively. The playback frequency can be controlled by clicking the '6.259 kHz', '12.517 kHz', '25.036 kHz' or '50.072 kHz' buttons. Upon clicked, playback will immediately set to the corresponding frequency. Higher frequency gives better sound, but requires more processor time. BackTrack also has a Multiplex mode. This mode implies some pretty clever cheating, and was first introduced to me by Jarle Kloppbakken of Imagina. It speeds up playback vastly, but also introduces some very high frequency noise. In my opinion, it is really only useful at the 50kHz mode. Multiplex mode may be toggled with the 'M/PLEX' button. On an unexpanded 8MHz STe, the timings are somewhat like this: Normal mode: 6.259 kHz - 15%, 12.517 kHz - 30%, 25.036 kHz - 60%, 50.072 kHz - 120% Multiplex mode: 12.517 kHz - 15%, 25.036 kHz - 30%, 50.072 kHz - 60% Note the 120% timing on 50kHz. Practically this means that this frequency is inconceivable on a unexpanded 8MHz STe. Only if run on a Mega STe or a TT will this frequency make sense. When timings exceed 100%, the computer will skip ticks to prevent the computer from crashing. When a lot of interrupts occur at the same time, (i.e. the used moves the mouse manically around the screen etc.) the accumulated timings _may_ exceed the magical limit, and the sound scrapes a bit. This is especially true when running 25kHz on the 8MHz STe. Selecting a frequency that is too high for your computer does not harm anything, but it generally does not sound very nice. -- Notes on memory management ---------------------------------------- Desk accessories should not allocate memory. However, I've been naughty and not bothered about it. This trouble is that if you start playing a module inside a program, the memory allocated will belong to the program and not the accessory (this is not a bug in BackTrack, rather than a "feature" from Atari). I can't be bothered to get around this right now, so you'll just have to use your brain a little. I may add that any accessories launched from Chameleon by K. Isakovic allocates memory that belongs to the desktop. Thus, running BackTrack from Chameleon fixes the aforementioned problem. Running under MultiTOS, both accessories and program can allocate as much memory as they please. Also, BackTrack supports memory protection, and is perfectly well at home in a MultiTOS computer. For various reasons it does not yet work on the Falcon computers. This will be looked into as soon as I can get my hands on one. -- Requirements ------------------------------------------------------ BackTrack¿ requires a DMA soundchip as featured in the STe and TT computers. Thus, this program will *not* work on an ST. If there is interest, I just *might* look into writing a version for the ST. (This will most likely not feature the multitasking bit). Also, if you would like to use the 50kHz option without multiplexing mode on, you had better have a >8MHz STe (Mega STe or TT). -- Disclaimer -------------------------------------------------------- This program may contain several bugs. It works nicely for me, but it may turn *your* STe/TT into a toaster. Thus I cannot take any responsibility for any harm done with or by this program. Use this program at your own risk. -- Donations? -------------------------------------------------------- This program is freeware. If you like it, send some cash or a couple of High Quality disks to the author stating so. All requests cannot be answered, but some bribing may help ;^) BackTrack may not be sold in a public domain library unless the author gets a reasonable share of the cake. -- Buy! Buy! Buy! (Commercial break ;-) ------------------------------ ProTracker ST¿ v2.0 (formerly Esion XLII) The ultimate music tool. Coming soon. 4 channels with separate volume control and frequency. Realtime volume and pitch bending Volume slide/Arpeggio/Vibrato/Portamento 6 - 50 (!) kHz playback frequency (STE) 4 - 50 kHz playback frequency (ST) 64KB sample buffer Flexible editor with powerful cut and paste operations (cut/copy/paste/transpose) Polyphonic Midi support with realtime recording and touch control Graphical easy to use sampleeditor (cut/copy/paste/reverse/fade/boost/echo/mix) Powerful sampler option (sample/trig/resample/listen, frq. 4-32kHz) Edit up to 32 songs simultaneously Runs on any ST, STE, Mega STE and TT using low rez - 320x248 pixels Intuitive graphical user interface Compatible with ProTracker Amiga ... and bunches more. Replay sources included: 8.2 kHz ST, uses regs. d5-d7/a6, 30% processor time 12.2 kHz ST, " " " , 50% " " 8.2 kHz ST, vol+pitch, uses regs. d5-d7/a6, 40% processor time 12.2 kHz ST, " " , " " " , 60% " " 12.5 kHz STE, uses no regs., 19% processor time 25.0 kHz STE, " " " , 38% " " 12.5 kHz STE, vol+pitch, uses no regs., 30% processor time 25.0 kHz STE, " " , " " " , 60% " " ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Happy listening, Mail: Karl Anders ²ygard Box 8 N-6180 S’B² Norway Internet: Karl A Oygard , Karl A Oygard or "Wizzcat" on the IRC Phone: +47 70 40015 (weekends only)