

      ͻ
                              L M P   0 . 9                           
                  The module player for Sound Blaster Live            
                        Copyright (c) 2000 Lada Kopecky               
      ͼ



Ŀ
 1. CONTENTS 


         2. INTRODUCTION
         3. FEATURES IN DETAIL
         4. REQUIREMENTS
         5. FILES IN THIS PACKAGE
         6. INSTALLATION
         7. UNINSTALLING
         8. USING THE PLAYER
         9. FILE SELECTOR PLUGINS
        10. COMMAND LINE SWITCHES
        11. KEYBOARD
        12. UNSUPPORTED MODULE EVENTS
        13. DISCLAIMER
        14. THE LICENCE AGREEMENT AND COPYRIGHT
        15. REGISTRATION
        16. FUTURE PLANS
        17. COMMON QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
        18. COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS
        19. CONTACTING THE AUTHOR




Ŀ
 2. INTRODUCTION 


 Welcome to the first public version of LIVE Module Player - a module player
 that takes advantage of the powerful wavetable synthesizer chip found on
 Sound Blaster Live cards.

 The hardware pitch-shifting and mixing performed by the EMU10K1 synthesizer
 offers these two major advantages:

  a) superb sound quality, unreachable in today's software-mixing module players
     (the output is absolutely clean (without usual ugly artifacts) and can
      be directly enhanced by built-in reverb and chorus effects)

  b) music is generated without big demands on the computer's power 

 The LMP player incorporates the same engine as the well known AMP player,
 which has been developed and updated for many years. It provides many excellent
 features such as the most correct module playback, protection of highest notes
 by high quality resampling, sophisticated dynamic channel allocation, the
 attack control, reliable loop removal, event reporting, and others.

 When compared to the AWE Module Player, LMP offers many advantages:

  1. No more troubles with a limited amount of memory for samples.
     LMP can use as much as 60 MBytes of memory for samples -> far enough for
     everyone.

  2. The sound quality is unbeatable, thanks to 8-point interpolation,
     a 48 kHz sampling rate and a high quality output circuitry.

  3. More concurrent voices are available (64, instead of 30).
     -> no voices are lost when replaying recent IT songs

  4. Faster uploading of samples

 Unfortunately, this version of LMP has one major drawback: it can't run
 in a multitasking environment (in a window). This is caused by a design of the
 Windows SB Live drivers (by Creative Labs), which do not allow applications to
 access the EMU10K1 chip directly.
 Therefore before using LMP, you'll need to start your PC into the MS-DOS Only
 mode (exactly like for running some older computer games).
 Future versions are expected to overcome this limitation in some way.


 Before you start using the player, please do read through this manual. It will
 help you to get the maximum out of every function provided by LMP.


 What is the tracker module?
 

 In case you are totally unfamiliar with modules and tracked music, you can
 visit some of the many Web pages on the subject of the demo scene and tracked
 music (see the FAQ section below).

 For a quick orientation, here is a comparison between a MP3-encoded song and
 a song stored in a module format (e.g. an IT file):

  File content:
  - A tracker module is a native format in which computer music is created.
    The file contains a high-level musical data such as notes, instruments and
    sound samples. While listening to the song you can watch how the music is
    written (the tracks, notes, effects etc.). You can even modify the tune
    easily (using a tracker program).
  - In contrast, a MP3 file contains just a single resulting waveform - just
    like a CD disc or a magnetic tape.

  File size:
  - An average size of a module is about 0.5 MB
  - MP3 files are considerably bigger (about 1 MB per minute of playback)

  Sound quality:
  - The sound in MP3 file is compressed by a lossy algorithm -> it means that
    the sound quality is always degraded by some degree.
  - The sound samples in a module are stored without compression or they are
    compressed by a lossless algorithm, therefore the sound quality is not
    compromised (provided you're using a high quality hardware and/or software
    to render the sound).



Ŀ
 3. FEATURES IN DETAIL 


 This module player does not offer twenty screen modes nor a spectrum analyzer.
 It was developed to do a single thing perfectly - to play all modules as
 correctly as possible and to deliver a maximum sound quality.


 Why does LMP sound so smooth and clean?
 

 The major advantage of LMP is the direct use of the EMU10K1 synthesizer that
 performs the following tasks in hardware (that means with no CPU load):

  1. high quality pitch-shifting using a patented dynamic 8-point interpolating
     filter

   This allows the removal of signal distortion that is so typical for all
   software-mixing players. Their interpolators (if any) are mostly two-point
   linear or rarely three-point quadratic (or they are unknown - hidden behind
   magic and meaningless names like FFT, FOI, IDO, 32-bit, spline etc.). But
   those basic mathematical algorithms are not suitable for signal processing,
   therefore such interpolators can't remove the unwanted artifacts while
   preserving the high frequencies contained in the original waveform.

   << NOTE: For those of you being unfamiliar with digital signal processing,
   here is a brief explanation:
   Let's take an example. You have an instrument sampled at 20kHz when playing
   the C4 note. But you need to play e.g. the C3 note at 40kHz output rate.
   To do it, you must increase the number of sample points (i.e. decrease
   the pitch) by factor of four _without_ changing the information content.
   If you obtain the three new points by repeating the old sample value, then
   the resulting frequency spectrum will include new high-frequency replicas
   (mirrors) of the original signal's spectrum. In our example, the original
   spectrum 0..10kHz would be shifted to 0..5kHz and also mirrored to ranges
   5..10kHz, 10..15kHz and 15..20kHz. These replicas would add an ugly ringing
   distortion to the output sound. To remove them, you need a sharp-cutoff
   low-pass filter that won't damage the signal that is passed through.
   The result will be the "right" new samples smoothly inserted between old.
   This kind of digital filter is often unfortunately called an "interpolator"
   even if it does not perform "interpolation" in a common mathematical sense
   (such as linear or polynomial interpolation between known points).
   It is important to realize that a well-designed filter response is more
   crucial then just a number of input sample points used for interpolation.
   >>


  2. mixing at 48 kHz frequency allows output frequencies up to 24 kHz

   You would need a very fast Pentium machine to get just a simply interpolated
   sound in 64 channels at the 48kHz mixing rate with a software-mixing player.
   And it would eat most of the CPU processing power.
   With LMP, all you need is a Sound Blaster Live card with a sufficient memory
   allocated.


  3. starting/terminating the notes and changing the volume without any clicks
     (using the EMU10K1 envelope engine)

   The software-mixing players usually can't afford such smooth volume ramping.


  4. customizable reverb and chorus effects

   Without effects, the sound is dry and flat.
   Any good effect processing requires many additional complex computations.


  5. smooth panning in 256 steps


 << NOTE: I've heard a few people saying that software mixing performed by
 their interpolating routines sounds better than hardware mixing on the EMU
 chip. That's a big nonsense from both theory and experience. High quality
 pitch shifting and mixing equivalent to that performed by EMU10K1 (8-point
 resampling in 64 voices at 48 kHz) requires about 52 million multiplications
 per second!     <<  (8+8+1) * 64 * 48000  =   52,224,000  >>
 This means that the sole multiplication would consume all cycles on a P500
 machine. But just multiplying is not enough. We have to do other things as
 well. And what's even worse, we still don't have any reverb and chorus.
 The MMX technology can be 3-10 times faster, though - this might be a first
 real chance for software-mixing players. Time will show.
 (If anyone wants to see the details on how EMU synthesizer chips work and
 how complex the computations are, I recommend checking the US patent
 # 5,111,727 - available also for free on Internet, e.g. from the Patent
 Server operated by IBM).
 >>


 Additionally, to get most of the hardware and to eliminate its limitations,
 LMP performs following tasks in software:

  1. A sophisticated dynamic allocation of hardware voices

   This allows to handle modules with more than 64 channels without losing
   notes.
   The dynamic allocation is also necessary to avoid all clicks when notes are
   being replaced in each master channel.


  2. Downsampling the samples that are to be played at rates above 192 kHz
     (i.e. 2 octaves above 48 kHz - this is a hardware limit of EMU10K1)

   Without resampling (reducing the length and the final rate), some notes
   or sounds could be lost.
   To avoid aliasing distortion and to preserve high-frequency parts of sound,
   LMP uses a digital filter of very high quality (equivalent to a 13-point
   optimized interpolation).
   Special care must be taken in order to preserve the exact pitch of looped
   samples.

   << NOTE: The "aliasing" distortion appears when a signal containing
   frequencies above the Nyquist frequency (equal to 1/2 of the sampling rate)
   is sampled. These high frequencies are then aliased (mirrored) under the
   Nyquist frequency in the form of distortion. The same thing happens when you
   downsample a signal without removing all frequencies above 1/2 of the target
   sampling rate. >>


  3. Avoiding clicks caused by sample loops

   If sample loops are present, special care must be taken to avoid clicks.
   The situation gets much more complicated if bi-directional loops are present
   and/or if downsampling is involved.


  4. Special handling of duplicate voices

   Duplicate voices (i.e. doubled channels) are sometimes used by module
   composers to amplify some instruments. If such doubled samples are not
   being replayed perfectly in sync, unwanted interference effects appear.
   These can be heard as a loss of high frequencies or a flanger-like effect.

   The duplicate voices make a lot of trouble with all hardware-mixing devices,
   where starting multiple notes at once is very difficult (if not impossible
   at all).

   LMP has got a unique feature to eliminate the interference effects if
   duplicate voices are used in a module.


  5. Panning noise suppression

    The EMU10K1 does not interpolate panning changes.
    Without panning noise suppression, clicks or noise would be heard in some
    modules.





 The complete list of features:
 

 - plays XM modules (FT2.0x, format version $0104)

 - plays IT modules (IT1.01+, incl. compressed samples and resonant filters!)

 - plays S3M modules (ST3.0+, IT1.01+)

 - plays MOD/NST modules (M.K.  M!K!  FLT4  nCHN  nnCH  OCTA  SoundTracker)

 - plays the Ultimate SoundTracker modules (an old MOD clone) correctly

 - plays MTM modules

 - plays PTM modules (max. 128 instruments)

 - up to 64 channels and 64 active voices

 - sophisticated dynamic voice allocation in all modes
   Therefore the sound is without clicks and there are no problems with IT
   background channels.
   LMP is also able to handle (without any notable sound degradation) even
   those IT songs that claim 70 or more voices in Impulse Tracker!

 - professional quality downsampling of highest samples to avoid the EMU10K1
   pitch overflow. A very high quality anti-aliasing filter is used and
   numerous secondary complications involved by downsampling are properly
   handled. So, you won't lose *any* note and the quality of playback is
   not compromised.

 - special handling of duplicate voices (i.e. doubled channels) to eliminate
   interference effects

 - support for surround panning (quite often used in IT modules)

 - panning noise suppression

 - high compatibility with the FT2.08 / ST3.21 / IT2.14 playback routines,
   including emulation of many undocumented bugs.
   You've probably seen some songs with attached instructions like "Don't play
   with ***** player because it will **** up".  With LMP, you can hear exactly
   what you are supposed to.

 - 100% accurate timing  (the true BPM value is guaranteed)
   The timing is correct even for longest songs. 
   All timing is derived from a crystal clock generator on the sound card.

 - thorough error checking to avoid crashes and to assure correct playback
   (other module players behave mostly unpredictably when a corrupted module
   is loaded)
   Even so, LMP can load and correctly handle slightly corrupted songs.

 - can report all suspicious or unsupported events during the module load and
   playback, e.g.:
    - invalid, unknown, unsupported, or improperly used pattern effects
    - the synthesizer hardware limits exceeded
    - AdLib instruments and channels in S3M modules
    - invalid notes / instruments / samples / envelopes etc.
    - bad sample/envelope loop points
    - and many more
   It also informs about another interesting facts, such as:
    - data found in disabled S3M/IT channels
    - unused patterns
    - stereo disabled
    - and more
   This is a unique feature, not available in any other player or tracker.

 - can play multiple modules in batch (using wildcards and/or listfiles)

 - the listfiles (playlists) are pure text files so that they can be created
   manually or by third-party software

 - can play multiple modules in a random order

 - support for file selector plugins

 - all kinds of song loops can be reliably disabled - a 'must have' option for
   unattended playback of multiple songs

 - offers a fast forward mode, pattern skip in both directions, a module
   restart command, and a forced tempo mode

 - supports animated messages using sample names (sometimes found in S3M's)

 - can take all (!) settings from LMP.INI and/or from the command line
   So, you can create different batches/icons for starting LMP with predefined
   configurations or playlists

 - multiple reverb types
   << NOTE: the EMU10K1 effect engine is not backwards compatible with that of
     EMU8000. Therefore it is not possible to use custom reverb/chorus presets
     created by AWE32FXWorkShop  >>

 - an easy to use song message viewer (you don't have to press Shift-F9 or
   other extra keys to check whether a message is present)

 - 3 modes of the sample attack control

 - 2 screen modes

 - the number of used voices is shown in the bottom of the Log window.
   NOTE: This number also includes running samples with volume=0 and all active
   background IT channels.

 - the peak digital output level is displayed

 - no problems with memory or extenders (85-230 kB of DOS memory is enough)




Ŀ
 4. REQUIREMENTS 


 - PC 386 or better (CPU speed is not important)

 - at least 8 MB of system memory

 - Sound Blaster Live or a compatible sound card with the EMU10K1 synthesizer

 - 90..250 kB of free DOS conventional (low) memory

 - HIMEM.SYS must be loaded
   (NOTE: if you're using Windows 9x, you don't have to care about this)

 - no Expanded memory needed

 - EMM386 can be loaded, but it is not needed

 - SB16 emulation drivers (SBE) must NOT be loaded



Ŀ
 5. FILES IN THIS PACKAGE 


 Here is a list of the files enclosed in this package.

   LMP.EXE      - the player itself
   LMP.INI      - a sample configuration file
   LMP.TXT      - this file
   HISTORY.TXT  - revision history
   NEWCTRLS.TXT - description of the new XM effect controls
   REGFORM.TXT  - a registration form
   LMP.PIF      - Program Information File for MS Windows
   FILE_ID.DIZ  - short program description
   AMPFS.AFS    - a simple file selector by X-Brain
   AMPFS.TXT    - file selector documentation



Ŀ
 6. INSTALLATION 


 Just unzip the archive into a destination directory of your choice.
 Make sure that both LMP.EXE and LMP.INI are stored in the same directory.

 For information about associating LMP player with your modules, please go to
 section #8.




Ŀ
 7. UNINSTALLING 


 Delete the whole directory and shortcuts/icons you created.




Ŀ
 8. USING THE PLAYER 


 LMP player can be started in three different ways:

 1. LMP includes a support for third-party file selector plugins.
    If a plugin is present you can start LMP without any arguments and
    use the plugin to select modules for playback.
    For details about using the file selector plugins, see the next section.

 2. Setup LMP as a default application for module files in your favorite disk
    or file manager (e.g. Norton Commander or Windows Explorer).
    For information how to setup associations between modules and the player,
    see the documentation of your file/disk manager. For example, in case of
    Xtree Gold, just create files MOD.BAT, S3M.BAT ... in a directory where XTG
    resides. These files should contain just a single line like this:
        @C:\SOUND\LMP\LMP.EXE %4.%5
    After that, LMP is invoked automatically when you 'Open' or 'Start' the
    module (also a mouse double-click does it in most cases).
    In a similar way, it's also possible to establish an association of
    listfiles with LMP.

 3. Start the player manually and specify modules on the command line


 Using the command line arguments
 

 You can specify one or more modules and/or listfiles on the command line.
 For module names, you can use wildcards and omit extensions.

 The listfiles are pure text files containing a list of modules to play, one
 filename per line. Lines starting with ';' or '#' will be ignored.
 The listfiles are distinguished by a leading '@'. You can omit the '@'
 for files with extension 'AML' or 'LST'.
 You can also use listfiles (playlists) created with AMP for Windows.

 Examples of use (the default LMP.INI is assumed):

  a) To play all modules from a directory (MOD/MTM/S3M/XM/PTM/IT extensions):
        LMP  E:\MODULES\*

  b) To play your favorite songs in random order without pausing between them:
        LMP  E:\MODULES\MY-BEST.AML -N -P-

  c) To play specified modules with looping enabled:
        LMP  E:\MODULES\DOPE  C:\*.XM  -S

  d) To play all modules from a directory sub-tree:   (hint by Roger Dahl)
        DIR /B /S /A-D  E:\MODULES  >ALL.AML    (this makes a playlist)
        LMP  ALL.AML



Ŀ
 9. FILE SELECTOR PLUGINS 


 The file selector is invoked when you start LMP without any modules specified
 on the command line or when you press the 'Insert' key.

 The distribution package contains a simple selector written by Jakub Svozil 
 / X-Brain. For detailed instructions how to use it, see the separate
 documentation file (AMPFS.TXT).



Ŀ
 10. COMMAND LINE SWITCHES 


  The list of command line switches (they must be preceded by '/' or '-'):

  ?     Show a help on command line arguments

  V     Verbose mode
          - all available information goes into the Log window
          - message colors: INFORMATION - white, WARNING - yellow, ERROR - red

  W     Wait on errors
          - if this mode is off, you won't see any error messages
            (LMP just skips the song or terminates)

  S     Repeat each song (loop mode)
          - this mode enables song and playlist looping
          - the song loop detection works at a pattern level -> it may trigger
            prematurely if some patterns are divided into non-continuous parts

  P     Pause mode
          - if this mode is enabled, then LMP waits until you press spacebar,
            Enter, or Esc in these circumstances:
              a) at the end of each module  (this can happen only if the single
                 mode is enabled as well)
              b) in case of a module loading error
            While waiting, you can continue switching and scrolling the screens.

  N     Random mode (shuffle)
          - modules are replayed in a random order
          - you can combine this mode with the single and/or pause mode
          - some additional DOS memory is needed to store the filenames
          << This mode replaces the Jukebox mode from older player versions >>

  F     Forced module loading (if not enough sample memory)
          - all modules will be loaded but with some samples left out

  8     Enable direct usage of 8-bit samples (no conversion to 16 bits)
          - advantage: less sample memory used
          - disadvantage: 8-bit samples may sometimes produce a small click
            when a note is started

  Z     Extended screen mode
          - 50 lines on the screen (or 43 lines with an EGA card)

          Today's tracked songs often use more than 16 channels.
          In extended screen mode, you can watch them all at once.

  I     Show numeric pan values 0 to F (instead of just L/R/M/S)

  Gn    Default panning separation 0..100 [%]  (default 57)
          - this is the initial panning separation of the left/right MOD/S3M
            channels (similar to the 'n' switch in DMP player)

  Mn    Initial volume level 0..-70 [dB] (without a minus sign, default is
        'automode')
          - in automode the initial volume depends on the number of channels
          - for 4 or less channels it's -12 dB  (equal to linear volume = 16)

        If you are not familiar with decibels, here are a few tips:
          - decreasing the level by 3 dB means 1/2 of the power (i.e. acoustic
            pressure)
          - decreasing the level by 6 dB means 1/2 of the linear volume
            (i.e. the output voltage)
          - decreasing the level by 10 dB means 1/10 of the power
          - decreasing the level by 20 dB means 1/10 of the linear volume

  Bn    initial bass level   -15..+15 [dB]  (default 0)
  Tn    initial treble level -15..+15 [dB]  (default 0)

  Rn    initial reverb depth 0..100 [%]  (default 12)
  Cn    initial chorus depth 0..100 [%]  (default 2)

  En    reverb type  0..7  (default 2)

          n      Reverb Type
              
          0       Slapback
          1       Plate
          2       Room-1  (default)
          3       Room-2
          4       Hall-1 
          5       Hall-2
          6       Hall-3
          7       LongVerb

        << NOTE: These reverb types are different from those provided by Windows
        drivers. >>

  Xn    Amount of memory to allocate for samples (in MB) 0..60 (default is 8 MB)

  Dn    Downsampling control (0..24, default 12)

        Use it to set the EMU10K1 pitch safety value in semitones (1 to 24).
        Zero has a special meaning - it disables downsampling at all.
        The default value of one octave (12 semitones) means that samples will
        be downsampled so that the highest note won't exceed the virtual sample
        rate of 96 kHz.
        Very small values are not recommended as there must be some range left
        for vibratos and slides. Another reason is that EMU10K1 doesn't avoid
        an aliasing distortion when doing a pitch up-shifting, therefore it's
        better to avoid virtual sample rates above 48 kHz.

  An    Smooth attacks 0..2  (default 1)

        There are 3 modes of the attack control:
          0. Never           - the attacks are always fast (zero attack time)
          1. Looped samples  - the attacks are smooth for looped samples only
          2. Always          - the attacks are always smooth (6 ms attack time)
        If you prefer a perfect reproduction of percussion instruments, you
        should use mode 0.
        On the other hand, if you prefer to hide all clicks produced by poorly
        sampled instruments, you should use mode 2.
        Mode 1 is meant as a compromise because the percussion samples are
        mostly not looped.
        << NOTE: Fortunately, songs having clicks are very rare. Such clicks
        show up also in other MOD players, obviously. You have to complain to
        the one who created those bad samples. >>


 All switches above can be used in LMP.INI, one option per line. Lines starting
 with ';' or '#' will be ignored.
 The command line switches take precedence over the INI file settings.
 The mode switches (V,W,S,P,N,F,Z,I) can be reset from the command line
 by appending the minus sign (e.g. -S-).
 Remember that LMP.INI must be placed in the same directory as LMP.EXE !



Ŀ
 11. KEYBOARD 


  F1              Help screen

  F2              Log screen
                   - available only in verbose mode

  F3              Channel Info screen
                   - instrument names, channel volumes and panning are shown
                   - the signal meters reflect the final volume (-32 to 0 dB)
                     (incl. envelope, tremolo, tremor, volume swing, and
                     the global volumes)

  F4              Song Message / Instrument Info screen
                   - this key toggles the song message (only if it's present)
                     and instrument information
                   - note that you don't have to use Shift-F9 or other extra
                     key to show the song message
                   - 16-bit sample points are displayed in sample units
                   - looped samples are truncated to the end of loop and
                     invalid loop points are fixed
                   - envelopes, bi-directional loops and instrument vibratos
                     are indicated by proper symbols. Filter and pitch
                     envelopes are distinguished by color.
                   - the downsampling factor for each sample (1 to 4 octaves)
                     is in the last column
                   - if all IT instrument names are blank, then sample names
                     are shown (but in such case, the names might not
                     correspond with remaining columns).

  PgDn PgUp       for scrolling channels or instruments

  Ctrl-PgUp/PgDn
  Home End        for a faster move

  Up              Fast Forward (4-times faster, no pattern data is skipped)

  <-  ->          Pattern Back/Forward
                   - remaining pattern data is ignored
                   - active notes are terminated (so that they wouldn't hang)

  Ctrl <-         Module Restart (without reloading the module from a file)

  Esc             Without a file selector plugin:
                   - stop the playback and exit

                  With file selector:
                   - stop the playback and enter the file selector
                   - if you press Esc twice in a short period during playback,
                     the player will exit immediately

  Enter           skip to the next module in playlist

  Spacebar        Pause/Resume playback

  Insert          switch to the file selector window
                  (only if a plugin is available)

  Backspace       fadeout and skip to a previous module in playlist
                  NOTE: This can work only if a file selector plugin supports
                        this feature.

  Ctrl Up/Down    enables and controls the Forced Tempo mode
                  (once enabled, all tempo-related commands are ignored)

  '-' '+'         Main Volume down/up
  F5  F6          Bass Level down/up   (EMU8000 equalizer)
  F7  F8          Treble Level down/up (EMU8000 equalizer)
  F9  F10         Reverb Depth down/up
  F11 F12         Chorus Depth down/up
  Alt             display the active effect types
  Alt-F9  Alt-F10 Reverb Type down/up
  Alt-F11 Alt-F12 Chorus Type down/up

  '1' to '9'      channels  1 to  9 off/on
  'a' to 'z'      channels 10 to 35 off/on
  'A' to 'Z'      channels 36 to 61 off/on
  '(' ')' '0'     channels 61 to 64 off/on
  '/' '*'         all channels off/on

 Mouse is not supported.




Ŀ
 12. UNSUPPORTED MODULE EVENTS 


 Unsupported pattern effects (commands):
  - Set Filter             (unsupported by ST3/FT2/IT; Amiga HW specific effect)
  - Funk Repeat            (unsupported by ST3/FT2; I've never seen it)
  - MOD/PTM/MTM Set Finetune  (an obsolete effect with no proven standard)
  - PTM effects J,K,L,M    (does anybody know their function?)
  - IT MIDI Macro Select   (SFx - I've never seen it)

 ALL OTHER pattern effects are supported.

 The S3M AdLib instruments and channels are ignored.
 Up to 128 instruments are used in PTM modules.

 IT sample sustain loops are emulated by normal loops.
 All other IT features are fully supported (NNAs, DCTs, background channels,
 envelopes, new pattern effects, sample vibrato, volume and panning swing,
 resonant filters incl. envelopes, carry envelopes etc.).




Ŀ
 13. DISCLAIMER 


 This software program is spread "as is", without express or implied warranty
 of any kind. In no event will author of this software program be liable for
 any special, incidental or consequential damages resulting from possession,
 use or malfunction of this software product.




Ŀ
 14. THE LICENCE AGREEMENT AND COPYRIGHT 


 This program is distributed as freeware, but only for NON-COMMERCIAL use.

 No payment of any kind may be charged for this product or any combination of
 products or services including this product without my authorization and
 official written license.

 The software can be made available on Internet and BBS sites, as well as
 included on CD-ROMs containing other shareware/freeware programs provided
 that all files are distributed in their original unaltered form, preferably
 in the original archive.


 The software is owned by its author and is protected by copyright laws.
 You may not remove the copyright notice from any copy of the software.
 Reverse engineering or patching of this program are a violation of the
 copyright and are strictly prohibited. Any violation against this rule
 may be subject to prosecution under copyright law.

 By installing and/or using the AMP software, you are hereby agreeing to
 all these license conditions.




Ŀ
 15. REGISTRATION 


 If you are using LMP for more than 4 weeks, you should register.
 You don't have to pay anything - I just need to know who is using my product.

 I've been working on AMP/LMP software for many years - it's my tribute
 to the world of free music. But my effort can't continue forever, especially
 without massive response from users. Therefore I decided to gather some
 information from users and then use it to see whether to keep updating
 this freeware player.

 To register, just complete the form (REGFORM.TXT) and send it to the address
 specified at the end of this file. E-mail is preferred.
 And of course, if you like the player very much, you can add a small donation.
 It will be greatly appreciated.  (In such a case I recommend dropping me
 a message by e-mail first)

 By registering, you vote for future development of LMP. By being silent, you
 vote against it.

 Once registered you'll also be informed about new versions by e-mail if you
 asked for it.

 << You need not worry about your e-mail address privacy - it won't be passed
 on to third parties. >>




Ŀ
 16. FUTURE PLANS 


 What is planned:

 - compatibility with Windows / a native Windows version

 - disk writer mode
   (it will allow a direct digital recording without any loss of quality)


 In general, the future depends on you - users, on your comments and a number
 of registrations.




Ŀ
 17. COMMON QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 


Q. Where to get some nice songs (modules)?
A. There are numerous Internet sites with gigabytes of tracked music.
   You can start e.g. with one of these:

   1. "Kosmic Free Music Foundation"
        http://www.kosmic.org

   2. "scene.org"
        http://www.scene.org/
        ftp://ftp.scene.org/

   3. "Hornet Archive"
        http://www.hornet.org

 Q. Where can I find the latest LMP version?
 A. It is likely to be found at these locations:

     "Slovak Antivirus Center FTP"
        ftp://ftp.elf.stuba.sk/pub/pc/sound
        ftp://ftp.vse.cz/pub/mirror/ftp.elf.stuba.sk/pc/sound
      (A great archive with lots of interesting stuff of all kinds, and always
      up to date)

     "MAZ Sound Tools"
        http://www.maz-sound.com/awe.html
      (This is a place where you may find also patches and beta releases)

        http://www.maz-sound.com/
      (Here you'll find everything concerning sound and certainly also
      something what you haven't seen yet :)

 Q. Are you planning to implement a DOS shell?
 A. No. Hopefully a native Windows version will be available soon for background
    playback.

 Q. Every time I start LMP, my computer hangs. What's wrong?
 A. So far I received just one report of such a problem - with Asus motherboard.
    Try to remove EMM386.EXE from your Config.sys.

 Q. I get the "Not enough sample memory" message. How can I avoid it?
 A. By default, LMP reserves 8 MB of memory for samples. This should be enough
    for all common modules.
    But if some of your tunes are very huge, you may want to reserve more memory.
    You can modify this setting in LMP.INI (look for the '-X' option).

 Q. I'd like to know how to pronounce your name correctly.
 A. If you have the Creative Text Assist software installed, launch Text Assist
    Dictionary, type "laadya kopetzki" (without the quotes) into the Sound Like
    box, and then push Say It. What you get is not too far from reality. :-)

 Q. Are you planning to make a version of LMP for Linux?
 A. Currently I have no such plans. Reasons are: 
    - the source code is not portable (due to many 16-bit specific constructions
      and optimizations)
    - lack of time for coding




Ŀ
 18. COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS 


 In case you find any major or minor problem with the player, don't hesitate
 to contact me. But first, please, try to find the circumstances in which the
 problem appears.

 I would also appreciate your comments (both positive and negative) on the
 software itself. A preferred way how to send your very first comments is to
 go through the process of registration, as described in section #15.

 << NOTE FOR PROGRAMMERS: If you want to contribute by writing another file
 selector plugin, you're welcome. Just drop me a message. >>

 But enough words!  Now it's time to launch LMP and enjoy the music...




Ŀ
 19. CONTACTING THE AUTHOR 


 If you wish to contact the author for any reason, send e-mail to:

        kopecky@tsoft.cz
