GENERATING A SONG
-----------------

Once you've finished a song under STarKos, perhaps you want to use  it  in  your
own productions. This is a very simple procedure. Just run the GS (GENSONG) file
(or |GS if you've connect the right ROM) and follow the instruction below.

This program will convert a SKS file into one to  eight  BINARY  file(s).  These
files can then be used, along with the STarKos player (see PLAYERS.ENG, and  the
GP prog), in any of your program, whether it's coded in Basic or Assembler.

So,  you've  probably  understood  that  it's  most  the  same  as   the   BSC's
Soundtrakker, except that the song you generate is NOT in the same file  as  the
player. This has no convenience, and only advantages : you can  use  ONE  player
for a multitude of songs ! And you can put  them  everywhere  in  memory  (well,
there're some restrictions if you code in basic). Don't  forget  the  2  modules
that allow you to relocate both song and player... That's what makes STarKos the
most flexible music editor available.


WHY A COMPILER ?
----------------
Because !! I think it's a terrible mistake to prevent the compiling of  a  song,
like the AMC.  Why  ?  Because  most  of  the  times,  a  song  contains  unused
instruments, patterns, and the format used under an editor follows most  of  the
time more 'opened' rules.  The  format  used  by  the  Starkos  player  is  more
optimized. Every unused data is cut, as well as data that will never be reached,
at the end of patterns for example.



THE SONG GENERATOR MAIN MENU
----------------------------

Once GS is loaded, a menu appears :
1) Show all files on disc
2) Show SKS files on disc
These two options are pretty self explanatory, so I won't  tell  you  what  they
were made for...

3) Load and compile a song
This option is of course the main one. See below.

4) Drive A
Allows you to switch between Drive A and B.




LOADING AND COMPILING A SONG
----------------------------

First of all, is asked the name of the SKS file. Then you'll have to  enter  the
address of the song, from 0 to #ffff. After that, the screen turns to black  and
the CPC's going to work, the longer the song is the longer you'll have to  wait,
but hey, who cares.

--> For technical reason, the screen is  turned  off  because  it's  used  as  a
buffer. If an error disc happens, the screen turns to red and you will  have  to
press 'R' to Retry or 'C' to Cancel.

Then a screen appears and tells you the size  of  the  compiled  song,  and  the
number of files it will take. What is that ? Well, STarKos song  can  reach  the
size of 54kb. For both editor and compiler, the SKS file is handled in the banks
memory. However, the compiler is going to generate another song that can  be  as
big ! The CPC doesn't have enough memory to manage this. That's why the compiler
can generate single files of #8800 (34kb) only, the rest  of  the  memory  being
taken by the compiler, the buffers and the system. If your song is  bigger  than
that, then a second file is created.

The screen shows 2 options : Automatic or Custom size.

What does it mean ?
Well, it's very simple. 'Automatic' means that the files are as big as they  can
be. If you song size is #A000, then the first file size will be #8800,  and  the
second #1800 (#8800+#1800=#A000). Most users will use the Automatic size.

'Custom' allows you to define the size of each file. You can save up to 8 files,
with a size from 1 to #8800 (34kb). What is the use of this ? Well,  it  can  be
useful if the song is big and you need to load it in several parts. You can want
to first have a multitude of files, to be linked later before playing it.

This brings me to an important point :
Even thought you can create several files, THE FILES MUST BE  LINKED  ONE  AFTER
THE OTHER ! So it's not possible for the moment to  cut  the  songs  in  various
parts in the memory. The song data must be put in a LINEAR way. However, you can
open a bank and put a part of the song inside, even if the other part  get  over
it. Example : A song could start from #6000 to #7fff of bank #c4,  and  continue
from #8000 to #a000 in the 'normal' memory. Just remember that the  player  must
have access to any data of the song, so don't forget opening the bank if needed.


Once the choice is done, Automatic or Custom (and the sizes given), a
SECOND pass begins. The compiler creates indeed the song in 2 pass,
like most assembler in fact. Just wait the same time as previously !
However, this time the files are saved on disk. When it's done, a
message indicated you whether the song has been successfully saved or
not.

It's over !

The files created have the same name as the  SKS  song,  but  the  extension  is
different. For a song called TRY.SKS, the output files will be...
TRY.BIN
TRY.BI1
TRY.BI2
...
TRY.BI7


WARNING : The files generated don't have the right START address if you look  at
their header. So when you load them, you MUST precise their address.
LOAD"TRY.BIN" will NOT work. But LOAD"TRY.BIN",&4000 will.


That's all. Now that you have a song compiled, just use  GP,  that  generates  a
player. Please read GENPLAY.ENG for more info !
