America Online APPLE II DEVELOPMENT FORUM CONFERENCE LOG Tuesday, June 2, 1992 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time Topic: Sound Programming Forum Leader: Gary Jacobson (AFL GaryJ) AFL GaryJ Welcome to the Apple II Development Forum! Tonight our topic is AFL GaryJ Apple II Sound Programming! We'll be using forum protocol, so if you have AFL GaryJ a question, type a "?" on a line by itself, or if you have a comment on the AFL GaryJ current topic, type a "!" on a line by itself. AFL GaryJ Is anyone here working on any software dealing with Apple II sound? FredW GS Can someone explain the sequence of toolbox calls to... FredW GS play a long sound sample. >64K...I believe one must move it FredW GS to Sound RAM in 64K chunks...then what? AFC DYAJim Can't you just use FFStartSound? That will do all the work for you.. AFC DYAJim And I believe it does it in 32k chunks, but don't quote me :) AFL GaryJ I think that's right, Jim. The Sound Tools handle all that stuff for you. Sheppy Yeah, it does. Dave Lyons (The chunk sizes are up to you...see waveSize parameter in FFStartSound parm block.) AFL GaryJ Doesn't matter if the sound is huge or not. AFL GaryJ Thank you, Dave FredW GS You just pass it where the sample resides in RAM? Dave Lyons Yup! FredW GS Will there be pops in between the 32K chunks ala Ian's program? Dave Lyons It uses two buffers in the DOC chip, so that while one half is playing it can Dave Lyons load the next piece of your sound into the other half. Whenever it hits the end of a Dave Lyons half-buffer, the chip switches to the other half & generates an interrupt that transfers Dave Lyons the next half-buffer. [I -think- I've got that Dave Lyons right--sitting here, I'm not sure whether the chip switches to the next half automatically, or not Dave Lyons until the interrupt handler tells it to. But it works smoothly, no clicks. ga AFL GaryJ That "sounds" right to me. AFL GaryJ Thanks, Fred and Dave AFC DYAJim Doesn't it insert a $80 byte tho during the swap? AFL GaryJ I don't think so, Jim Dave Lyons Don't know...my knowledge at that level is limited. AFC DYAJim maybe that was when it loops. I know it gets busy and during some operation, AFC DYAJim either a swap or a loop, it has to play a $80 byte while it swaps or repeats AFC DYAJim to the beginning of the wave. I know it does this, but I can't remember AFC DYAJim when AFC DYAJim and this can make a slight click in some cases AFL GaryJ I've experimented with the various modes, and I'm trying to remember AFL GaryJ where I read something similar to what you are discussing, Jim. (Oh well, AFL GaryJ one of the signs of old age :) WinkieJim Any word on the System 6 docs? AFA Jay Last I heard Mike Westerfield was going to try to do them. AFL GaryJ Has anyone heard from Resource Central on this issue recently? AFL GaryJ About two weeks ago, I got the June A2-Central with their catalog, and AFL GaryJ the deal was that the docs weren't ready then, but would be soon. AFL GaryJ (That was two weeks ago) WinkieJim How about this, where can the CD be bought? AFC DYAJim I believe the CD is now for sale for something around $99. AFC DYAJim From Resource Central. AFC DYAJim It's worth it. AFL Marty It's exactly $99. AFL GaryJ Here's the exact quote.... AFL GaryJ "Apple's complete System 6 package, with six disks and user AFL GaryJ documentation, hasn't shipped yet. But you can be among the first to get this AFL GaryJ package by letting us hold your order until they arrive" WinkieJim Don't really care about user docs, programming docs is WinkieJim what I'm looking for AFA Jay Well, like I said, last I heard was that Mike Westerfield was going to try to AFA Jay do them, but I haven't been over to his area to see what progress has been AFA Jay made. AFC DYAJim Yeah, I haven't read new messages in byteworks in a few weeks. AFC DYAJim Last I heard tho he was gonna make a press announcement the "next week" of AFC DYAJim the beta dox (printed) AFL Marty Why can't the docs be uploaded? AFA Jay Marty, that makes me ask, what happened to technotes? AFL GaryJ Is there a reason for that, Matt or Dave? (That you know of?) AFC DYAJim I was wondering too, Jay.. AFL GaryJ It's been a long time since there was an online release of Tech Notes. WinkieJim I just got some just before sys6 was released... WinkieJim Dated Dec 1991 AFA Jay We don't have december here yet. AFC DYAJim Ack.. 6 months ago AFA Jay Last were July, 11 months ago. AFC DYAJim Isn't december in text on the CD-ROMs? Matt DTS We never uploaded them because we never finished converting them to text files. AFC DYAJim Oh, maybe not then :) Matt DTS (no index, no about, etc.) We've just finished May TNs, and they should be converted and be... Matt DTS ...uploadable within a few weeks. We've found someone to do text conversions for us, but we have... Matt DTS ...to get him a copy of Microsoft Word so he can read the original files, and everyone's on vacation. AFL GaryJ That's good news. AFA Jay Just as long as they haven't been forgotten :) AFL GaryJ Anyone else have a sound question/comment? FredW GS Yes, if anyone could send me what needs... FredW GS to be passed to FFStartSound I'd appreciate it. AFL GaryJ It's on page 21-15 of Toolbox reference Volume 2 Dave Lyons It's all in Toolbox Reference volumes 2 and 3. Dave Lyons You NEED the toolbox books! AFL GaryJ (Parameter block is listed on pabe 21-17) FredW GS I just got Mastering the IIgs toolbox today. AFL GaryJ Look around and find them used. I've seen a few sets up for sale, from AFL GaryJ time to time. FredW GS OK thanks. AFC DYAJim Used you can get them REAL CHEAP if you look hard enough AFL GaryJ Anyone try doing sound using the sound registers directly? AFL GaryJ Some of the newer Sound Tool toolbox calls have made using the sound hardware AFL GaryJ directly less necessary. GNO Jawaid Has anyone thought about what it would take to expand the DOC RAM? AFC DYAJim Hey, wasn't Harold Hislop going to make a card to do that? ;> FredW GS The dsp card will effectively do that :) AFA Jay Is the DSP card still a reality? Matt DTS "still"? FredW GS I doubt it at this point. AFA Jay I guess it was NEVER a reality.. GNO Jawaid Official DSP News (straight from the horses mouth): GNO Jawaid Pete Snowberg is now living in Burma. That's the official story. In reality, GNO Jawaid he's taking a break. But I was promised that a prototype card would be ready GNO Jawaid by KFest. AFC SteveB Ok... AFC SteveB I'd just like to talk more about my internal modem question on the boards. (Ouch!) AFC SteveB The way I understand it... AFC SteveB In order to use any toolcalls to access an internal modem, I'd need to do it via a AFC SteveB Modem driver, so I'd be better off to just AFC SteveB write my own routines to access the firmware directly. But that's where AFC SteveB I'm "out in the cold." I'm not sure how to take it from there. AFC SteveB I suppose... AFC SteveB What I need to know... AFC SteveB Is where to look for stuff...ie: where to send stuff to, and where to look to recieve AFC SteveB stuff. AFL GaryJ There are some examples in the Super Serial Card manual. AFL GaryJ (And I think there is some code uploaded in our forum that does this... at least AFL GaryJ one CDA comes to mind) AFC SteveB I checked Gary, couldn't find anything myself... GNO Jawaid As I found out, the info in the SSC manual is incomplete; you need to also GNO Jawaid get the 6551? data sheet. AFC SteveB It's bad enough I don't have a SSC manual, now I need some data sheet? :( GNO Jawaid That is, you need the data sheet if you're going to deal with interrupts GNO Jawaid (assuming a SSC or compatible). AFL Marty I can get you a SSC manual. AFC SteveB Just to get info on how to pump characters into and yank 'em out of a modem? GNO Jawaid Non-interrupt mode is much simpler, and can be used with just the SSC ref. AFL GaryJ The IIc Technical Reference Manual has some good stuff too. AFL GaryJ (I found a IIc Ref Manual in my local library) AFL GaryJ Do you have access to any old Nibble magazines? AFC SteveB Not really, Gary. AFC SteveB Gary, what's that CDA you said deals with the serial firmware? AFL GaryJ Just a second..... (let me check) AFA Jay Gary, there's stuff in old nibbles? I've got a LOT of them :) AFL GaryJ Hmmm.... I can't seem to find it (the CDA) AFL GaryJ Jay: If you have the "August 1988" Nibble, it has a nice article AFL GaryJ that helped get my feet off the ground (in the way of SSC programming) AFA Jay NibbleTerm, have it right here :) AFL Marty Gary... are you sure it was a CDA? AFL GaryJ There was some kind of modem CDA AFA Andy Seems like I remember a CDA Term program, but I don't recall the name. AFL GaryJ I can't find it in the quicksearch, but I know it was there. I seem to AFL GaryJ recall it being by Guy Rice or Jason Harper :) AFC DYAJim GS+ has an NDA called "transfusion" that does background file xfers AFC DYAJim But I think it is only for externals AFC DYAJim Joe wrote it.. AFL GaryJ JWankerl was doing some development in that area, if I recall.