STARKOS 1.1
-----------
By Targhan/Arkos
Released on January 2004.


Welcome ! STarKos is a  new  tool  for  any  CPC  with  128kb  !  STarKos  is  a
sountrakker, like BSC's one or AMC. Of course, it was designed to be much more.

This text is not a notice ; you'll find it on this side, as well as  many  other
help files. The other side contains the kit in itself.

***********************
You'll find the new features at the end of this text file.  Most  files  haven't
been modified since the improvments concern the interface mostly.
***********************

STarKos is FREEWARE. You can  freely  copy  and  spread  it  around  the  world.
However, feedback, comments,  ideas,  bug  reports  or  donations  are  welcome.
STarKos IS supported by its author. Bugs will be  corrected,  and  I  intend  to
release enhanced versions later.

STarKos help files are ENTIRELY translated in english AND  in  french,  but  the
tool remains in english. Everything was made to  be  understandable,  but  don't
hesitate to ask me for any more help.

Please do not modify any of the files on the original disk. When  spreading  the
disc, please SPREAD ALL THE FILES !


STarKos 1.1, side 1, contains 40 files :

STK.               The main STarKos file.
GS.                Generate the STarKos SKS files into BIN file, usable in your
                   own productions !
GP.                Generate the player for you to play any STarKos song in
                   assembler or Basic.
PLAY.              Little prog to play any non-digidrum STarKos song.
DIGIDRUM.          A example song using digidrums.
STARK2YM.          Convert any STarKos into YM file.

RELPLAY.BIN        Player Relocator, compiled in #9000.
RELPLAY.DAM        DAMS Source
RELPLAY.MXM        MAXAM Source

RELSONG.BIN        Song Relocator, compiled in #A000.
RELSONG.DAM        DAMS Source
RELSONG.MXM        MAXAM Source

DIGIDRUM.DAM       Sources for digidrum managment.
DIGIDRUM.MXM

PLAYASM9.BIN       Assembler/Basic/Interruption players assembled in #9000.
PLAYBAS9.BIN       You can use them but do not modify them !
PLAYINT9.BIN

STARK2YM.BIN       Binary files for the modules. Useless to you.
DIGIDRUM.BIN

STK11-1.ROM        Two roms for your RAMCARD, including STarKos 1.1.
STK11-2.ROM
STKGENS.ROM        One more rom including the generators.

AKSCREEN.SKS/BIN   Musics to use under STarKos (SKS)
AKSDIGI.SKS/BIN    or compiled version (BIN) to use with the external player.
COOLTRY.SKS/BIN
KILLER.SKS/BIN
LXCESS.SKS/BIN
MEGADIST.SKS/BIN
OOOPS.SKS/BIN
TCBSPRIT.SKS/BIN

BDLXS.SPL        ;8 bits samples for the DIGIDRUM demo.
SNLXS.SPL


Starkos 1.1, side 2, contains the 34 help files :

README.ENG / LISEZMOI.FRA        This file.
GENPLAY.ENG/FRA                  About the generators.
GENSONG.ENG/FRA
KEYS.ENG/FRA                     Hotkeys list for the editor.
PLAYERS.ENG/FRA                  Technical info about the players.
RELOC.ENG/FRA                    How to relocate your players and songs.
ROMS.ENG/FRA
STK11.ENG/FRA                    Editor notice. Important !
YM.ENG/FRA                       How to use the STarKos to YM converter.

ACCMAJ.SKI        STarKos Instruments
ACCMIN.SKI
BDBIGMUS.SKI
BDBSC.SKI
BDDEDICA.SKI
BDK8MIX.SKI
BDXLR8.SKI
HBASS4.SKI
HBASS4A.SKI
HBASS5.SKI
HBASS5A.SKI
NORMAL.SKI
SNBIGMUS.SKI
SNBSC.SKI
SNK8MIX.SKI
SNXLR8.SKI

Please do not spread your disc if any of these are missing !


Note that the musics that come along with  this  kit  are,  for  most  of  them,
beginnings of adaptation of ST songs.  Why  just  beginnings  ?  Simply  because
they're already available in YM ! In order  to  save  some  time,  I  made  only
beginnings, to show what STarKos was capable of. Note finally  that  differences
exist between my conversions and the  original  versions.  However,  the  result
sound quite alike ; I didn't have the music sources in my possession.


************
NEW FEATURES
************

Starkos 1.1 main improvment is the pattern scrolling while playing the song !

Two bugs were corrected in the external player, including the one with  the  RST
bad behaviour.

IT IS IMPORTANT to use the new players, and not the old  ones.  Note  that  they
have all exactly the same size and take the same machine time as before.

- Also, thanks to Sice from Dirty Minds, I corrected a bug in the digidrum  kit.
Some sounds weren't correctly retriggered after a digidrum. Thanks Sice !
- A strange (but harmless) thing  could  happen  very  rarely  in  the  GET  DIR
option.
- When converting your song, a very rare case could encode badly the last HEIGHT
value.

Other improvments :
- ENTER in the Pattern Editor captures the number of the instrument  pointed  by
the cursor, to set the current instrument. Very handy while composing !
- In the Linker and Instrument Editor, modifying a value set the END too. So you
don't have to do it yourself !
- Inserting/deleting a value does the same.
- DEL in the Instr Editor set the current value to 0. Shift+Del  set  the  whole
line to 0.
- In the Linker or Instr Editor, Shift+Control+down makes the cursor go  to  the
END of the list (goto END).
- Changing the current position (F7/F4) doesn't force the cursor to go  to  line
0.
- COPY in the Instr editor copies the current value to the next line. Useful !
- The Shift+Control step when modifying the Arp value is now an octave. Handy.

IMPORTANT : I had to remove the Copy/Cut/Paste 3  Tracks  feature,  because  the
buffer it used took too much memory. On top of that this buffer was  overflowing
on some others !! I hope no one will be annoyed by this.

Last remark : The SKI files are now of side 2. If was done to avoid using  187ko
format on side 1, which can prevent people from extracting files from the DSK.
*************************



Feel free to contact me here :
targhan@cpcscene.com
targhan@netcourrier.com

This address will always work :
Julien Nevo
Le Louya
35290 GAEL
FRANCE


Please remember : FEEDBACK is VITAL for coders ! Do NOT hesitate to write !

Thank you for your attention. I really hope STarKos will improve your creativity
and that great songs will be made off it.

Targhan from Arkos.
