Discplayer (The)

Search
Votes / Statistics
Rating 
N/A
Hits: 829
Downloads: 469
Votes: 0
My Atarimania
Comments (0)

Screenshots - Discplayer (The)

Discplayer (The) atari screenshot

Information - Discplayer (The)

GenreMusic / SoundYear1991
LanguagePublisher[no publisher]
Developer[n/a]Distributor
ControlsKeyboardCountryUnited Kingdom
Box / InstructionsEnglishSoftwareEnglish
Programmer(s)

Migley, C. P.

LicensePD / Freeware / Shareware
SerialST TypeST, STe / 0.5MB
ResolutionMedium / HighNumber of Disks1 / Double-Sided / HD Installable
Dumpdownload atari Discplayer (The) Download / MSAMIDI
Protection

Instructions - Discplayer (The)

                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                           
                      >> The Disc Player <<            23/05/91
                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~     1991 C. Midgley

  Information file for 'Discplayer' Ver: 2.45

  Here is a tiny program that replays sound samples with a 
  difference. If you have a 520 then this program is for you! A 
  standard half megabyte ST has about 390K or less to load and 
  replay sound samples. Now, you can replay samples up to an 
  incredible 910K! Impossible I hear you say, not any more! All you 
  need is a doubled sided disc drive.......

  >> Program requirements <<

  ST Computer, colour or monochrome monitor, double sided disc drive 
  either as drive A or B. Some ST-Replay compatible sound files..

  >> All you need to do... <<

     1) Format a disc double sided, with the desktop or your 
     favourite formatting program (i.e. Fastcopy III...) You can use 
     as many sectors and tracks as your disc drive allows.

     2) Copy your favourite sound samples to this freshly formatted 
     disc so that it is full.  Only ST-Replay compatible .SPL files 
     will work, PRO-Sound Designer's .SAM files are suitable and so 
     are one or two others. ALL THE FILES MUST BE THE SAME KHz 
     SPEED! Fade each sample in and out using your sampler software, 
     it makes the whole thing sound a lot nicer!

     3) Load DISCPLAY.TOS and select the replay speed. Press F1 or 
     F2 depending on which drive you are playing the samples from, 
     and choose the output device, YM-2149 is the sound chip or Pro 
     Sound Designer and ST-Replay sampler cartridges. That's all 
     there is to it! The program will read the data off the disc and 
     play it using less than 30KBytes of memory!!

  'Discplayer' now supports both old and new ST-Replay frequencies 
  up to 11KHz. Unfortunately 11KHz is, in fact 10 and-a-bit. There 
  isn't enough processor time to read data and play it at and above 
  this speed, so 11KHz may not work on every ST due to this very 
  tight timing limit. You will know if your ST can't cope because 
  the sample will 'break' every second or so. If this happens to 
  you, try and format discs with skewed sectors or otherwise known 
  as twisted and fast format. If you are using Fastcopy III to 
  format discs, select FORMAT DESTINATION by pressing the 'q' key. 
  FAST FORMAT DEST. does not work with 'discplayer' on my ST at all, 
  so best avoid it.

  >> Alternate drives option... <<

  Pressing F3 will cause the computer to alternate from A to B 
  drives, playing all the samples on each disc, needless to say, you 
  will have to have two double sided drives...... Now up to (and 
  over) 3 Minutes of samples can be played continuously!

  >> Disc formatting... <<

  You can format your discs to any amount, the maximum amount I can 
  get from my disc drives is 11 sectors 83 tracks. (about 910K.) 
  Please note that not all disc drives can cope with 11 sector 
  formats.
  N.B. DON'T delete samples off your discs and copy another one back 
  to it. This is because you will probably end up with a fragmented 
  disc, and will not sound correct when played back. You will have 
  to reformat it and copy the files back.

  This sounds a bit of a hassle, but is necessary because of the way 
  the program works. To obtain the data transfer speed it has to 
  read the data from track 1 to the last track on the discs. It 
  never actually reads the directory entries just the actual data 
  held on the disc. Therefore, if you delete a file and play the 
  disc back the file will still be played!
  Confused? The best way to understand it - is to EXPERIMENT!

  >> Using 'Simulated Stereo' <<

  If you have ST-Replay or Pro Sound designer you can try this. It 
  works by playing the standard sound chip 200 bytes ahead of either 
  Replay or Pro Sound whichever you have selected. This creates 
  quite a nice effect and makes some samples sound a lot better! You 
  will need to make up a lead - something like this should do:-
                                                         Stereo Amplifier 

Atari ST (Monitor Socket.)   Pin 1  --------R1------------- Right Channel
                             Pin 13 --
                                      \____________________ Ground
                                      /
                           Ground   --
Pro Sound/ST-Replay (OUTPUT) Core   --------R2------------- Left Channel

  R1 & R2 are variable resistors. I needed them because the ST's 
  output was higher than Pro sound and so one side was louder than 
  the other. 500ê linear resistor should be about right. It does not 
  matter if the left and right channels are connected the other way 
  round.

  >> General Information... <<

  You may notice some clicks when the disc drive moves to the next 
  track. This is to do with a piece of critical timed code that 
  isn't been run fast enough, I'm trying to find a way of improving 
  this. It is only really noticeable using Simulated Stereo with 
  samples containing high pitched frequencies. If a disc error 
  occurs while the sample is being played, then the program will 
  drop back to the initial menu.

  >> Last word... <<

  This program is really only useful to 520 and 1040 owners with one 
  or two double sided disc drives. But should work on any ST. 
  'Discplayer' is FREEWARE and remains ½1991 C. Midgley. You may 
  copy the program only if this file and DISCPLAY.TOS are included 
  and that nothing is modified in ANY way. Use this program at your 
  own risk - don't blame me if it misbehaves... A special 'thank 
  you' must go to Robert Pemberton, as without his time and effort 
  teaching me assembly, I would still be programming in Fast Basic! 
  (Ugh!!) This is my first attempt at writing something challenging 
  in assembly language. After spending a Sunday afternoon 
  disassembling a P.D. sample replay routine to find out how samples 
  were actually played back, I had this great idea - and here it is! 
  I like to write programs as efficiently as possible, (who said 
  programmers are a greedy lot...) if you disassemble it - I don't 
  think you could find a way to make it much smaller. That's why 
  this program is'nt flash with pretty graphics etc.. If you would 
  like the source code (this is heavily commented - even my hamster 
  can understand it....) then send a disc to the same address not 
  forgetting your own address. All comments, suggestions, 
  constructive criticisms are of course welcome. Don't forget to 
  include enough stamps/money for the return of your discs as I'm a 
  school kid and money does'nt grow on trees you know...

  >> New for version 2.45 <<

     o    Bug Fixes. ( Yes, it will now play discs with any track 
          length!) In fact its now totally optimised and bug free (I 
          think...).

     o    Display of current track been played.
           
     o    The VBL has now been turned off during sample replay.
          I had to do this because I needed more processor time.
           
     o    You can now choose between three output devices.
          
     o    Improved 'Simulated Stereo'. Now 200 bytes shift.

  >> Future versions. <<

     1) Hard disc support. If I ever get a hard disc that is......
        
     2) STE support.
        Please Robert, can I borrow your STE? (Need I say more?)
      
Chris Midgley, 4 Westgate, Guiseley, Leeds, LS20 8HL, England, Earth.
About Us - Contact - Credits - Powered with Webdev - © Atarimania 2003-2024