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           / ___| |__  _ __ ___  _ __ ___   __ _| |_(_) | _____
          | |   | '_ \| '__/ _ \| '_ ` _ \ / _` | __| | |/ / __|
          | |___| | | | | | (_) | | | | | | (_| | |_| |   <\__ \
           \____|_| |_|_|  \___/|_| |_| |_|\__,_|\__|_|_|\_\___/

               The first International PC Multi-Group Music Disk
                                    Volume I
                                 April 28, 1994

                     Documentation by Trixter (Jim Leonard)

     Table of Contents:

     What is Chromatiks?.........................................2
     Hardware Requirements.......................................2
     Quick start.................................................3
     Detailed Start..............................................3
         command-line options....................................3
     Controls....................................................4
         displays................................................4
         additional keys.........................................5
     Troubleshooting.............................................6
         locks up your machine...................................6
             PAS 16..............................................6
         No sound, or garbled sound..............................6
         songs do not load or play correctly.....................6
         Screen doesn't move.....................................6
         Notes don't display correctly...........................6
         Music sounds wrong......................................6
             16-bit sound card...................................6
         stereo panning method...................................6
         GUS sound is wrong......................................6
         GUS doesn't output sound................................6
             ULTRINIT............................................6
     History.....................................................7
     The Future..................................................7
         submissions.............................................7
     Acknowledgements............................................7
     Music formats that Chromatiks can play......................8
         MOD.....................................................8
         STM.....................................................8
         669.....................................................8
         S3M.....................................................8
         MTM.....................................................8
     Explanation of Terms........................................9
         Chromatiks..............................................9
         Music Disk..............................................9
         Demo....................................................9
         Intro...................................................9
         Group...................................................9
         Scene...................................................9
         Mixing..................................................9













                                                                     Page 2
                              What is Chromatiks?
                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Chromatiks is  the first  International PC Multi-Group Music Disk.  If
     you aren't  familiar with the concept of a music disk, then I strongly
     suggest you  skip to the end of this document and read the section en-
     titled "Explanation  of Terms".  If you are familiar with music disks,
     however, then here's a quick list of "should's" and "shouldn'ts":

     Why you SHOULD listen to Chromatiks:

     -    Variety.   Music has  been contributed  from all  over the world,
          from different groups.  There's something for everyone!
     -    Quality.   This volume  features music from some of the most well
          known composers  in the  scene, like Purple Motion / Future Crew,
          Cybelius / Sonic, and others.
     -    Clarity.  The Chromatiks Player has been optimized for loud, true
          playback on  8-bit cards,  and also  optimized for crystal clear,
          exact playback on 16-bit cards, like the Sound Blaster 16 and the
          Pro Audio  Spectrum.  With the exception of DMP, PMP, or IPLAY, I
          doubt you'll  find a  better player.  (You can even use the Chro-
          matiks player to play your own MOD, 669, STM, S3M, or MTM files!)
     -    Originality.   There have  been many music disks before this one,
          but they have featured music from the same group.  Chromatiks has
          music from different groups, from all over the world!
     -    Versatility.   You can  use the Chromatiks player program to play
          your own songs!

     Why you should NOT listen to Chromatiks:

     -    Since I added GUS support, there isn't one.  :-)

                             Hardware Requirements
                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     -    386 or higher
     -    100% compatible VGA card and monitor (Chromatiks uses tweaked
          modes, split screen modes, and fast palette fades)
     -    570K of RAM (or less, depending on the sound card and quality
          mode used)
     -    2 Meg of EMS memory
     -    Microsoft Mouse
     -    And if you own a GUS, 512K GUS RAM

     And, of course, one of the following sound cards:
          -    Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Pro, Sound Blaster 16
          -    Pro Audio Spectrum, Pro Audio Spectrum Plus, Pro Audio
               Spectrum 16
          -    Windows Sound system
          -    Sierra Aria chipset-based card
          -    Gravis Ultrasound














                                                                     Page 3
                                  Quick start
                                  ~~~~~~~~~~~

     1)   Load Chromatiks onto your hard drive and type "Chromati" and hit
          <ENTER>.
     2)   Use the left mouse button to select things and the right mouse
          button to exit the section you're in.
     3)   Listen to the great music.  Look at the cool displays.  :-)

                                 Detailed Start
                                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Before you  begin, make  sure that you meet the hardware requirements.
     If you  need to use a memory manager to get 580K DOS memory free, then
     please do!  Chromatiks has been tested successfully with QEMM, 386MAX,
     and EMM386.  (Besides, you'll probably *have* to load a memory manager
     to provide  Chromatiks with the 2 MEG EMS memory it needs.)  Load your
     mouse driver  if necessary.  To simply run Chromatiks, type "chromati"
     and hit <ENTER>.

     That's all  there is;  Chromatiks should immediately go into its title
     sequence.   Before you  simply run Chromatiks, though, you should know
     about its command-line options:

          -query overrides  the sound  card autodetection.   (If  you  hear
                    nothing out  of your  sound card,  or what  you hear is
                    garbage, your card may not be autodetected correctly by
                    Chromatiks' internal  routines.   Selecting this option
                    will tell Chromatiks exactly what you have.)

     There are also speed selections that control the mixing speed and
     quality:

          -slow is  for slow  computers, like  a  386  at  16  or  20  MHz.
                    (Hopefully, Chromatiks  is fast enough to avoid the ne-
                    cessity of this switch.)
          -medium is  for medium  speed computers,  like a  25 MHz machine.
                    (Use this  switch if  you feel your computer can handle
                    this quality level.)
          -fast is  for fast computers, like 33MHz or higher.  (Use this if
                    you want to see if your computer can handle the maximum
                    quality level  of your  sound card.  A 33MHz machine or
                    higher is highly recommended to use this switch.)

     Finally, there are miscellaneous switches, like:

          -title, which  skips the  title screen if you've seen it too many
                    times.

















                                                                     Page 4
     You can also pass the name of a MOD, 669, STM, S3M, or MTM file as the
     first argument.   This  way, you  can use  Chromatiks to play your fa-
     vorite songs.

     Example:   If you wanted to play your favorite MOD through your snazzy
     16-bit sound  card, but you only have a 386-16MHz and Chromatiks isn't
     finding your card correctly, then you would type:

          chromati gslinger.mod -slow -query

     After starting Chromatiks, you should see title sequence, and then you
     will be  provided with a stereo selection screen (this depends on your
     sound card,  and whether  or not  your card  supports stereo  output).
     Choose the stereo panning method you want with the mouse.  As you move
     the mouse  onto one of the selections, you'll hear the music change to
     reflect what the panning sounds like.

                                    Controls
                                    ~~~~~~~~

     After you  select your  stereo panning method, you'll go to the player
     screen.  The player screen has two sections; the informational text on
     the bottom,  and the  displays on  the top.  The text on the bottom is
     written by  the composers themselves, and what text you see depends on
     what music  you're listening  to at  the time.   At  the top  are  the
     displays:

     -    The bar display shows the exact volume level of each channel.
     -    The oscilloscope  display shows  what the  sound  waveform  looks
          like.  (Disabled in GUS mode)
     -    The note/staff  display shows  what notes the individual channels
          are playing.
     -    The titles  display shows what song is playing and which song you
          have currently selected.































                                                                     Page 5
     If you  do nothing,  Chromatiks will  start at the first song and play
     all six  songs, and then loop around and play the first one again.  To
     end Chromatiks, press the right mouse button, or the <ESC> key.

     While the  music is playing, you have several options.  To view a dif-
     ferent display,  you can  move the  mouse left  and right, and the top
     section will scroll to follow the mouse.  Once you get over to the ti-
     tles screen,  moving the  mouse up  and down  will move  the selection
     highlight; pressing  the left  mouse button will stop the current song
     and play the one you've selected.

     Here are some additional keys:

     +         Skip the song forward one pattern.
     -         Skip the song backward one pattern.
     L         Make the volume louder.
     S         Make the volume softer.
     P         Toggle playback.  Hit it once to pause the output, hit again
               to resume
     J         Toggle "jumptracks."   When  this is  on, the  display  will
               "jump" in  time to one of the tracks.  Press J again to turn
               "jumptracks" off; press any number key to select which track
               to jump to.  This option is not very useful.  :-)
     <ESC>     Exits the player program and goes to the credits screen.









































                                                                     Page 6
                                Troubleshooting
                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     If you are having problems with Chromatiks, check this list:

          Chromatiks locks  up your  machine or hangs:  Make sure your
          current system  setup meets  Chromatik's hardware and memory
          requirements.   Note:  Some PAS 16 owners with 386-40's have
          noticed that  they cannot get Chromatiks to work unless they
          use the  -medium option;  if you  fall into  this group, use
          that command-line option.

          No sound,  or garbled  sound:   Chromatiks might not be cor-
          rectly autodetecting your sound card.  Use the -query option
          to manually  specify your  card and  it's settings.  If your
          card is  not explicitly  listed, see  if it emulates another
          popular sound  card.  Note:  If you are unsure of your sound
          card's makeup,  use -query  and specify a Sound Blaster with
          IRQ 5  (or 7,  if your sound card is over 2 years old), PORT
          220, and DMA 1.

          Some songs  do not  load or  play correctly:   Make sure you
          have 570K  free DOS  memory and  2 Megabytes  of EMS memory.
          Note:   When Chromatiks  loads it's songs, it displays a pe-
          riod for  every song.   If  any periods  are flashing,  they
          didn't load  correctly.  This can be due to a corrupted file
          or not enough memory.

          Screen doesn't  move around:   Make sure your Microsoft-com-
          patible mouse driver is loaded before you run Chromatiks.

          Notes don't display correctly:  Notes that fall above or be-
          low the  octaves displayed  on the screen are not displayed.
          A larger display will be in a future release.

          Music sounds wrong, staggered, or slow:  Make sure your com-
          puter is  fast enough  to support  the quality of your sound
          card.   Use the  -medium or -slow options if you have to.  A
          386-40 or higher is recommended to hear sound at its highest
          quality setting  on a  16-bit sound  card.   Also, using the
          "speaker" stereo  panning method takes up less CPU time than
          "headphones", so  use the  "speakers" method  if you  have a
          slower machine.

          GUS sound  is wrong:  This version of Chromatiks had its GUS
          support added  late in  its development.   It  uses a vastly
          different playing  engine than the mixing routines, and some
          notes may  be dropped.   Also, you need 512K GUS RAM to hear
          most of the songs correctly.

          GUS doesn't output sound at all:  Sometimes the GUS does not
          get  initialized  correctly  by  Chromatiks.    Try  running
          ULTRINIT with no parameters before running Chromatiks.

     If you  still have  problems, please  contact Jim Leonard using one of
     the methods  described in the submit!.txt file provided with the Chro-
     matiks distribution  package.  I will do everything I can to get Chro-
     matiks working on your computer.







                                                                     Page 7
                                    History
                                    ~~~~~~~

     Chromatiks started in October of 1993 as my personal project: I'd seen
     many music  disks, but  none that had music from all different groups.
     I posted  a message  to the  Usenet group comp.sys.ibm.pc.demos asking
     for interest,  and Kalle Kaivola (Edge / Unexpected) replied.  He con-
     tacted all  of his  friends in  different groups and got the first six
     songs rounded  up.   With his  help (and beta testing), Chromatiks was
     released on April 28, 1994.

     My sincere gratitude goes to Kalle and all of the people who were kind
     enough to  donate tunes  to a project they knew nothing about:  Kalle,
     Prism, Purple  Motion, Tonedeaf,  Cybelius, and  Jayjay; that  kind of
     generosity is hard to come by.

                                   The Future
                                   ~~~~~~~~~~

     Chromatiks is not "a flash in the pan"; rather, we plan for Chromatiks
     to come  out every  two months,  with all  new tunes and continued ad-
     vancements to  the player  program.  Chromatiks depends on submissions
     from musicians  to continue,  however.   If you're part of a group but
     don't have  a project  planned, please contact us!  What better way to
     have your  great music  spread around?  If you're not part of a group,
     that's okay  too:   Chromatiks is not necessarily limited to people in
     groups.   To contact  us, see  the file  submit!.txt included with the
     Chromatiks package.

                                Acknowledgements
                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Trixter would like to thank the following people:

          Jussi and  Otto of Virtual Visions, for their suggestions and in-
          sight.  Those guys are real professionals.

          Brian Hirt,  for always  looking at my code (even though he knows
          he's a  *much* better programmer than I am), offering insight and
          a simple fix to a complicated problem.

          The XLIB  people, for  providing the best information yet on pro-
          gramming Mode X.

          Tristan Tarrant,  for translating  the XLIB  library to something
          more manageable.

          NDanger /  Unexpected, for redrawing my idea into a masterwork of
          a title  screen, and  for providing  the credits font.  (My mouth
          hung open the first time I saw the new title screen!)















                                                                     Page 8
                     Music formats that Chromatiks can play
                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     MOD:           Amiga Protracker.   The  most popular music file format
                    in the  demo scene.  Originating on the Amiga computer,
                    MODs contain  up to  4 channels of music.  Later PC im-
                    plementations of the MOD format introduced 6 or 8 chan-
                    nels.

     STM:           Scream Tracker.  This music format was created by Psi /
                    Future Crew.   Very  similar to the MOD format, it also
                    contains up to 4 channels.

     669:           This music  format was created by Tran, formerly of Re-
                    naissance.   It was  the first 5+ channel format on the
                    PC; contains up to 8 channels.

     S3M:           Scream Tracker  3.0.   A later  modification of the STM
                    format.   Supports up  to 16 channels; the tracker used
                    to create  these modules  is possibly  the best  on the
                    scene.

     MTM:           MultiTracker.  A new format created by StarScream / Re-
                    naissance.  Supports up to 32 (!) channels.









































                                                                     Page 9
                              Explanation of Terms
                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Chromatiks:    The first  truly multi-group  music disk  for  the  PC.
                    Chromatiks was  coded by  Jim Leonard in Borland Pascal
                    7.0 and  it's built-in  assembler.  Additional routines
                    were provided by Otto Chrons and Jussi Lahdenniemi.

     Music Disk:    A program  that  plays  music  from  musicians  of  the
                    demo/intro scene.   PC music disks use mixing and other
                    demo techniques to play MODs and other file formats.

     Demo:          A program  that shows off the power of the computer and
                    the skill of its programmer using light, color, shapes,
                    sound, music,  and ingenuity.  Many demos have detailed
                    artwork, 3D  objects swirling  around the  screen,  and
                    rousing music, for example.

     Intro:         A demo  that is  smaller than  100K.   Usually does one
                    thing only, like introduce a new group, event, or BBS.

     Group:         A group of individuals who write a demo or intro.  Usu-
                    ally consists  of at  least one  of  the  following:  a
                    coder, a graphics artist, and a musician.

     Scene:         Slang; a  collection of  groups that share a common in-
                    terest.

     Mixing:        A technique  to overcome  the limitations  of PC  sound
                    hardware.   Normally, PC  sound cards can output one or
                    two channels  of digitized sound, which isn't very use-
                    ful if  you want to play music with 8 or more channels.
                    Mixing overcomes this limitation by utilizing the power
                    of the  computer to mathematically mix all of the chan-
                    nels into  only one  or two channels inside of the com-
                    puter.   The resulting channel or channels is then out-
                    put through the sound card.  (The number of channels in
                    the output depends on whether the sound card is mono or
                    stereo.)   The quality  of the output is usually excel-
                    lent, but  can depend  on the  number of channels being
                    mixed and the speed of the computer.




















