Mod File Solutions

From: kylea@INS.INFONET.NET
Date: Wed, 09 Nov 1994 09:39:20 CST
Subject: .MOD file info summary

Hello fellow netters!
 
Long ago I promised a summary posting of suggestions and info regarding my
request for
information on the .MOD file format on the Macintosh. Well, I finally have
prepared
one. I realise that this is a frequent question and that this response may be
over-
due, but better late than never.
 
I will post the replies I received here.  Those recommending SoundTrecker:
 
get the newest version of the soundtrecker.
its great!
and shareware
ciao    kp <klaus-peter gores>
 
also <Alan Piszcz>
 
Try a program called SoundTrecker.. It's a German program redone in
English, but is quite good. It even lets you perform surround sound effects
on MOD files, as well as the requisite save to disk as Sys7 sound.
 
It should be in either Info-Mac or Umich archives.. if you have trouble
locating it, let me know and I'll mail it to you!
 
Joel Moses
WSMV-TV (NBC)
jmoses@edge.ercnet.com
 
There is a shareware called "the Sound-Trecker" that can
play .MOD files on the Mac. If you cannot find it on
a ftp site, I can email you a copy.
Where do you get .MOD files?
 
			Louis <Louis Moreau>
 
Try Sound-Trecker. It's avaliable at most mac ftp sites, or email me and
I'll sen it to you (230k).
 
		adamf@isx.com (Adam Fouse)
		
Try Sound Trecker 2.2. It is EXCELLENT.
 
It is available in the sounds/utilities folder of your favourite Info-Mac
mirror site. The path once inside info-mac is:
 
/info-mac/snd/util/sound-trecker-22.hqx
 
Have a nice day :-)
 
Any trouble? Let me know.
 
Arthur Day, Electron Microscopy Group
Ansto Advanced Materials Program                        Phone: 61-2-717-3457
PMB 1,  Menai (Sydney), NSW, 2234                        Fax: 61-2-543-7179
Australia
Email: ard@atom.ansto.gov.au
 
Try Sound-Treker its available from many sites. It seems pretty good and
can read many .MOD formats at various sampling rates. It seems pretty
good. I have a copy on a CD at home if you can't find it in the archives
just drop me a line and I'll bin-hex it to you.
 
Regards Ralph Buckley                     Baldrige Silver Project Manager
                                              Customer Satisfaction Group
BUCKLR at UKSSVM1 / GBIBMZGZ at IBMMAIL          ISSC Service Delivery
Ralph@vnet.ibm.com                               PO BOX 41, North Harbour
                                                 PORTSMOUTH, Hampshire
Int:(7)255504 / Ext:(0705) 565504                UK, PO6 3AU.
_________________________________________________________________________
 
Standard Disclaimer: These are my comments; not the views of IBM-ISSC.
 
X-MX-Comment: QUOTED-PRINTABLE message automatically decoded
 
Hi there... What you are looking for is a program called THE SOUND TRECKER, a
beautiful nifty interfaced .mod player for the mac. (if you are lucky enough to
own a PowerMac, you'll be pleased to know it comes with it's own PowerPlug, to
take adv
The program is definitely in SUMEX. I have version 2.2, and I believe it's the
latest. I'm sure you'll get loads of mail telling you to get Player Pro, but I
recommend The Sound Trecker instead.. It is not only faster, but niftier.
        Enjoy...!
 
Cheers,
CRISTIAN
 
aviola@conicit.ve (Agustin Viola)
 
 
Hi,
 I have a utility called sound Trekker which plays amiga mods. If you
haven't sorted your problems out by the time you get this then drop me a
line and I will post it to you.
 
 
Cheers,
 
 
Rob. \\//
 
Public service announcement: This signature file is under construction....
******************************************************************************
* Confused? You Will be! * Okay here's the way to contact me,if you want to! *
* Sodomy non sapiens..   *    w.r.brady@ncl.ac.uk is for email..             *
* Oh No, another boring  *    +44 (0)91 266 8998, answered as Digital Domain *
* signature file..Ho Hum *    +44 (0)91 266 9995, for faxes and stuff..      *
******************************************************************************
... and normal service will be resuming shortly, just like British Rail ;-)
 
 
*****The following posts were more detailed than most. Note that the
overwhelming
response was in favor of SoundTrecker. I liked Player Pro and SoundTrecker --
try
both and see which is better for your situation.  Thanx again for all the help
everyone.  Cheers!
 
====
 
There are a couple of MOD players for Macintosh.  The one I like best is
The Player Pro, which you can find at:
 
ftp://sumex-aim.stanford.edu/info-mac/snd/util/player-pro-42.hqx
 
The other one I've looked at is called Sound Tracker.  It seems to work
well; I just like The Player Pro better.
 
I don't know if you can easily convert a .MOD file to a snd file.  As
SoundApp's documentation states, MOD files are not sound files, but music
files.  A MOD player will take relatively short sound samples in a .MOD
file and play them according to the pitch and sequence score also stored in
the file.  By using this method, you can produce several minutes of music
from a very small file.  If you could convert this to a snd file (strictly
a sample, with no sequence information), the result could take up an
enormous amount of disk space.
 
I hope this helps.  If you want to find out more about music file formats,
try looking at:
 
ftp://sumex-aim.stanford.edu/info-mac/info/music-file-formats-10.hqx
 
Bill Cameron                                       sdg
camerowd@picard.ml.wpafb.af.mil
billc55122@aol.com
 
====
 
regarding your questions about .MOD files in the info-mac digest,
(also C.S.M.D? I don't have Usenet access :-( )
 
SoundApp converts only the samples in a mod file, not the wholr
song.  SoundApp plays the MODs with routines borrowed from Sound
Trecker. Sound Trecker will play the MODs just the same way, but
with a better IMHO interface, and will also convert them to AIFF,
SYS7, and Soundmover? suitcases, or such... anyway, a few different
formats. and with sampling of 11 to 44 Khz and 8 or 16 bits and
stereo or not. if you don't know about all that stuff, the higher
each of the settings is, the better it sounds, and the more it
fills up your hard drive :-)
        you might want to just keep them as MODs, though, they
take up a few megs apiece as SYS7 sound files. as MODs, they are
just a bunch of samples, and instructions on what to do with them,
so they are very small. The Sound trecker is available on info-mac
in the sound or sound/util folder, I'm not sure which. hoe this
helps. TTYL
-- 
Jim "Chr0med Aardvark" Russell of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
Internet: jrussell@unibase.Unibase.SK.CA
 
=====Player Pro info.
 
From: jamal@bronze.lcs.mit.edu (Jamal Hannah)
Message-ID: <199409212114.RAA24231@bronze.lcs.mit.edu>
To: kylea@INS.INFONET.NET
Subject: playerpro-info.txt (this is a little old.. sorry..)
 
THE PLAYER PRO DEMO INFORMATION FILE (FAQ)
by Jamal Hannah <jamal@gnu.ai.mit.edu>, 6/21/94, version 1.21
-------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS:
 
* What is the Player PRO Demo?
* What is the latest version of Player PRO?
* What are the features of Player PRO?
* What Hardware do I need to run the Player PRO?
* Where can I get the Player PRO?
* What Software do I need to run the Player PRO?
* What are MOD files?
* What file format is native to Player PRO?
* What do I need to do to make my own MOD files?
* Where can I find MOD files?
* How do I go About Writing MOD-Playing Code?
* How do I Register the Player PRO so I can Edit MOD files?
* What do I do if I cant get the Player PRO to work?
* What other programs for the Macintosh play or Edit MOD files?
* Seeking further technical information.
* Electronic Mailing-List Address
 
 
WHAT IS THE PLAYER PRO DEMO?
 
"The Player PRO" is a shareware music/soundtrack file player and
editor for the Apple Macintosh.  The version available on public FTP
sites and BBS systems is a _DEMONSTRATION_ version and does not have editing,
and some other capabilities activated, and is commonly known as the "BBS"
archive.
 
 
WHAT IS THE LATEST VERSION OF THE PLAYER PRO?
 
As of June 9, 1994, the latest version of the Player PRO is version
4.15(6)  (Released: 6/6/94)
 
In some erlier versions of The Player PRO, it's hard to tell exactly what
version it is, because in some places it will say one version number, and
in other places it will say another.  The best way is probabaly to check the
version in the "Get Info" window, in the Finder.  (Though even this may
not be reliable... just look at all the different version numbers and try
to find the latest one.)
 
 
WHAT ARE THE FEATURES OF THE PLAYER PRO?
 
A registered version of the Player PRO can currently import and play music
module files of the following types:
 
Amiga SoundTracker 4 voice, 15 instrument
Amiga NoiseTracker 4 voice, 31 instrument (M.K. signature)
Amiga ProTracker 4 voice, 31 instrument, 64 pattern (M.K. sig.)
Amiga ProTracker 4 voice, 31 instrument, 128 pattern (M!K! sig)
Amiga Star Tracker (StarTrekker) 4 voice (FLT4 sig)
Amiga Star Tracker (StarTrekker) 8 voice (FLT8 sig) [Not tested]
Amiga Oktalyzer 4-8 voice [beta]
IBM FastTracker (ver 1.0) 6 & 8 voice (6CHN, 8CHN sig)
Macintosh MADF 1-16 voice, 8 bit instruments (Player PRO ver 4.1x? - 4.154)
Macintosh MADG 1-32 voice, 16 bit instruments (Player PRO ver 4.155 - ?)
 
The Player PRO does not yet properly import the following music formats:
MIDI, IBM 669 ("Composd" editor), IBM ScreamTracker 3.0 (S3M),
Amiga MED/OctaMED, and IBM Multi-Tracker Module (MTM), but these
are being worked on!
 
Note: The "FastTracker 1.0" 8-channel module type is actualy identical
to IBM GraveMod (.WOW files with "M.K." sig), and at least two 8-track
Atari STe formats ("FA08" and Octalyser's "CD81").. one simply needs to
change the 4-byte signature at position 1080 in the file to "8CHN" in
order to import them with Player PRO.
 
 
WHAT HARDWARE DO I NEED TO RUN THE PLAYER PRO?
 
The Player PRO will run on any Apple Macintosh with an Apple Sound Chip
(ASC) in it, or possibly a non-ASC Macintosh with System 7.1 and
Sound Manager 3.0 extension. (System 7.2 and above have Sound Manager 3.0
built-in) This includes the Mac SE/030 and the Mac LC, though they probably
do not have performance which is as good as machines like the Macintosh
Quadra family, or the AV series.
 
The Player PRO also works on the Power PC series, and has a "FAT" binary
code block in the data-fork for this purpose. The data fork contents can be
deleted by those who do not have a Power PC and wish to save some disk space.
 
 
WHERE CAN I GET THE PLAYER PRO?
 
The Player PRO version 4.15x is available from FTP site
sumex.stanford.edu, in directory path: /info-mac/snd/util
or these info-mac mirror sites:
wuarchive.wustl.edu in path: /systems/mac/info-mac/snd/util
ftp.hawaii.edu in path: /mirrors/info-mac/snd/util
 
As well as:  mac.archive.umich.edu, path: /mac/sound/soundutil
 
The file name (often) is: player-pro-415x-demo.hqx  (stored in Stuffit
Lite/Stuffit Delux format, and encoded with BinHex 4.0)
 
 
WHAT SOFTWARE DO I NEED TO RUN THE PLAYER PRO?
 
All versions of the Player PRO need System Software that takes
advantage of the Apple Sound Chip.  This includes system version
6.0.5 to 6.0.8, but is better implemented in System 7.0 and 7.1.
however, none of these contain the specific information for using
the Player PRO's current capabilities optimally.. you need
"Sound Manager 3.0" _and_ "System 7.1" specificly for this.
The Sound Manager 3.0 extension (as well as an enhanced Sound Control
Panel, version 8.0.1) is available via FTP at ftp.apple.com, in the file:
system-update-2-0-1-image.hqx, in directory path:
/dts/mac/sys.soft/7.system.updates.  The file must be
downloaded in ASCII mode, unless you have an automatic BinHex converter.
You must then un-BinHex the file, and then use the utilities called
"MountImage" (a Control Panel) or "DiskCopy" (an application), both from
Apple, in order to access the *.image file  (the file will have to be
decompressed first.)
 
If you don't have System 7.1 with Sound Manager 3.0, the sound quality
will depend completely on the performence of the Apple Sound Chip and
specialized routines that Player PRO uses for it, rather than standard
routines from Apple Computer.
 
Once you install the Sound Manager Extension, reboot your machine, and
launch Player PRO.  Go to the "Preferences" menu selection and set it
to use the "mono" Sound Manager 3.0 routines if you don't have your
Mac connected to a stereo.  This will significantly reduce problems
with the software, though it may run slower than it would with the
specialized, hardware-accessing sound routines.  Also, make sure you
turn on the "32-bit addressing" mode, in the "Memory" control panel
before running the latest version of Player PRO.
 
A Wish List:
 
All of the above is of course a lot of trouble.  It would be nice if
Antoine would add to the "Preferences" the option to use some
"Sound Manager 2.0" playing code, for use on non-32-bit-clean Macs running
system software erlier than 7.1.  (The shareware program "MacTracker 1.2"
has source code like this)  It would be even nicer if Antoine would
also include "Sound Driver/Sound Manager 1.0" routines, for the very old,
pre-ASC Macintoshes to be able to use The Player PRO!  (in Black and White,
with a small screen, of course.)
 
If you have a wish list of your own, feel free to contact Antoine Rosset
in email or with a fax, and suggest it to him.
 
A Note About Bugs:
 
Player PRO currently crashes if you attempt to "Import S3M" (IBM
ScreamTracker 3.0 MODs), so don't bother with it. (this will only
work in version 4.155 for now)  IBM FastTracker 8-voice
MODs load and play fine, however.  (Though you may run out of memory)
An actual 8-voice Amiga "StarTrekker" MOD file has not been tested yet,
but 4-voice StarTrekker (also called "Star Tracker" v 1.2) play fine.
 
Player PRO will force mod files from other Mac programs which
_already_ have an icon to have a Player PRO icon when it plays them.
You may or may not want this to happen. (too bad it isn't optional..)
 
Sometimes the icon for the Player PRO 4.15x application will look like
the icon from "The Player II", even on a color screen.  But it
also may look like a colorful Compact Disk... I have no idea why it is
sometimes one or the other.
 
Files do not always repeat correctly if they have a "pattern jump"
command at the very end.. also, there are problems with modules
that do not set the speed in the beginning: if they repeat, and the
speed has been altered, they will replay at this new faster or slower
playing speed!
 
The editor actualy displays octave ranges C2-B6, though MOD files
use octave ranges of C1-C3 (extended versions use C0-C4).  This does not
seem to effect pitch playback quality, however.  The General-MIDI and XTracker
formats support up to 9 full octaves!
 
 
WHAT ARE MOD FILES?
 
"MOD" files, also called "music modules", or "soundtrack" files, were
originally created on the Amiga computer by a man named Karsten Obarski,
in a program called "SoundTracker".  They were intended to be compact
ways of storing music inside games and demos, especially background music.
The files consist of "patterns" of musical notes inside "partitions"
(pattern lists) which can be played in different order, and more than once.
(Note: the term "pattern" sometimes refers to a single set of 4 notes &
commands in a 4-voice module, or sometimes to an _entire_ pattern list
(partition) of 64 patterns.)
 
The musical notes are played as sampled sounds which are stored at the end
of the MOD file.  The sounds are played back at different pitches to give
the effect of a real musical instrument or synthesizer.
(Note: The term "sample" sometimes refers to a single byte inside
an 8-bit digitized sound, and sometimes to the _entire_ digitized
sound (intrument or "patch".)
 
Simmilar "memory dump" formats were written by Amiga programmers like
Armin Sander (Oktalyzer), and Teijo Kinnunen (MED), though later they were
changed both to something more extensible. (see below)
 
The origional SoundTracker format was later extended by "Mahoney and Kaktus"
of Switzerland in an Amiga program called "NoiseTracker", and later even
further extended in "ProTracker" by Lars "ZAP" Hamre (PT 1.1),
Peter "CRAYON" Hanning (PT 2.3A), and eventualy various members of
an Amiga coding group called "CryptoBurners".  Version 3.10 or 3.15
is the current version of ProTracker for the Amiga.
 
Since the origional version of the MOD format spec, there have been many
new types of MOD file, some simply adding more patterns so the MODs could
hold more "voices", while others added more effects.  These types include
Star Tracker, Oktalyzer, and OctaMED on the Amiga, and GraveMod (WOW modules),
FastTracker 1.0, ScreamTracker 2 & 3.0, Farandole, MultiTracker,
XTracker (DMF modules), TakeTracker (almost identical to FastTracker 1.0),
and UltraTracker on the IBM.
 
Newer, more advanced and flexible module formats are always being written,
and future version of the IBM "ScreamTracker" and "FastTracker" programs
will have completely new, extended formats.
 
 
WHAT FILE FORMAT IS NATIVE TO PLAYER PRO?
 
The module format that The Player PRO currently uses is called "MAD",
and is commonly referred to as "MADF", though a newer, extended version
with the internal signature "MADG" is now being used.
 
 
WHAT DO I NEED TO DO TO MAKE MY OWN MOD FILES?
 
In order to edit your own MOD music files on the Macintosh, you need to
register the Player PRO Demo so that the editing capabilities can be
activated.  Also, you need specific information about the internal
structure of MOD files, as well as the different musical effects "commands"
which you can use within the MOD.  This information is available on
FTP site sumex.stanford.edu, in the files "mod-info.txt" and
"mod-form.txt", both of which reside in directory path
/info-mac/sound/util, or on the mirror site wuarchive.wustl.edu
in /systems/mac/info-mac/sound/util.  You _must_ have these files,
or something else with similar information, because most MOD editors
(Sound Trackers) are not like traditional music composition software,
and they do not rely on placing notes on a musical staff.  (which would
be far more intuitive.)  Rather, the user must edit the patterns directly.
The Player PRO npw offers a limited form of "Classical Partition" editing,
which is a step in the right direction.
 
Some helpful information for editing MOD music would be in the
"LESSON_1.TXT" file by Per Almered of Sweden, which origionaly
came with an Atari STe 8-track module-editor called "Octalyser".
This is available with it's accompanying module on info-mac ftp sites.
(info-mac/info/sft/mod-editing-lesson.hqx).
 
Also, the electronic magazine called "SIGNALS" has some very valuable
information about editing mods, by an IBM programmer called "Necros",
at email address: <segaag@craft.camp.clarkson.edu> (this address
seems to be out of date)... "Necros" and other IBM music programmers
and composers can sometimes be found on Internet Relay Chat (IRC),
in channel "#coders".
 
It might also be a good idea to have the Mac shareware utility "HexEdit"
(System 7 only), which is great for editing the data inside a Macintosh
file data fork.
 
 
WHERE CAN I FIND MOD FILES?
 
If you simply want to play MOD files, a good place to look is the aminet
FTP site.  You will need the Macintosh utility "MacLHA" in order to
decompress archive files with names that end in ".lzh" and ".lha".
Aminet's FTP address is: wuarchive.wustl.edu  path:
/systems/amiga/aminet/mods
 
 
HOW DO I GO ABOUT WRITING MOD-PLAYING CODE?
 
You can get source code for playing MOD files several different ways.
Antoine Rosset's MADF module playing libraries are available in info-mac
as a developer package.  Frank Seide's Sound-Trecker MOD-playing routines
are available at the same location.  Tom Lawrence & Marc Espie's Macintosh
Tracker source code is also available.  Other source-code tends to…

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