MegaTracker Player for Win32 v2.20
----------------------------------

MegaTracker Player (MTP) is a program which enables you to play most
SoundSmith and MegaTracker songs from the Apple IIgs on an appropriately
equipped PC-compatible computer, often with higher quality than the real IIgs
due to the GS's low (26 kHz) mix rate compared with the 44.1 kHz CD-quality
possible on the PC.

System Requirements
-------------------

- Pentium-class or faster PC compatible computer.

- Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT 4.0 or later with
  DirectX6 installed (DirectX 5 should still work, but I now use the DX6
  SDK's headers and libraries so I can't guarantee that).

- DirectSound-compliant drivers for your sound card.  MTP has been
  tested on several soundcards, including a Gravis Ultrasound Plug N Play
  with version 2.2 drivers, an ESS AudioDrive, a Sound Blaster AWE64
  and a Sound Blaster Live!

(optional, for better sound and lower CPU usage)

- Soundcard with DirectSound 2D accleration (Sound Blaster AWE series cards
  and most PCI sound cards (Monster Sound, SB Live) provide this).

How To Use It
-------------

Unpack MTP and the example song (UNITA2) to any directory.

Run MTP from the DOS prompt by typing "mtp unita2" without the quotes to
start playing the example song.

MTP also accepts these options:

-i = don't use interpolated mixing.  This sounds a bit 'harsher' and
     introduces aliasing noise, but is also faster.  Try it if you have
     a slow (P90 or less) machine without DirectSound hardware acceleration
     and experience messed up playback.

-o = emulate old MegaTracker 3.x pitchbend effects.  This is only needed
     by one song, "LeCube" off of the GS<>IRC Demo Disk #1 (this is the
     song you hear if you try to boot the disk).


New and Exciting
----------------

From 2.10 to 2.20:

- Software mixer reworked.  Improved signal-to-noise ratio and partially
  corrected a DC offset problem that caused a pop at the beginning and
  end of playback.

- Experimental WinAMP plugin (IN_MTP.DLL) now available.  Copy it into your
  WinAMP plugins directory.  It should work with WinAMP 2.0 or later (tested
  with 2.03 and 2.04).  Note that the plugin expects song files to end with
  the .MTP extension.

  Caveats for the plugin:
  * The seek bar doesn't work
  * The "mono" indicator lights up even though the sound is obviously in
    stereo.
  * The equalizer is not supported.
  * DSP plugins may or may not function properly with MTP - this is untested.

- DOC DATA file locator now will detect a DOS extension on the song filename
  (such as the .MTP the WinAMP plugin looks for) 


From 2.00 to 2.10:

- Volume scaling table for hardware acceleration corrected.  "LeCube" and
  "VIAD5" sound much better on the SB Live! now.

- Primitive anti-click code added to the software mixer.

- 3Dfx GLIDE graphic player is back.  Should work on Voodoo Graphics,
  Voodoo2, and Voodoo Banshee cards with GLIDE 3.0 or later installed.
  The Voodoo Rush version of GLIDE 3 currently available does not appear
  to work, and this is born out via testing in GLIDE 3 games like Madden 99.
  Note that MTSCREEN.GS must be in the current directory when you run the
  program.  This will be fixed.

From 1.10 to 2.00:

- Win32 version now compiled with Visual C++ 6.0 - it should be a bit faster.

- Now supports DirectSound hardware acceleration.  On my SB Live! this
  dramatically improves sound quality and reduces CPU usage to be almost
  unmeasurable.

- Win32 version now can play without having focus (ie, as a background
  app, which is what you'd want a music player for anyway).  Mixer/player
  thread priority also boosted for proper output when backgrounded.

From 1.00 to 1.10:

- Win32 version now compiled with Visual C++ 5.0 rather than Watcom 10.6

- Bug fixes to ASIF instrument loading - nearly all songs should play
  properly now.


From 0.95 to 1.00:

- Win32 version GUI removed again in the interests of portability.

- Switched from using DirectSound's mixing to using a custom software mixer,
  using DirectSound only for actual output.

- Removed priority class fiddling, since we didn't really need it and it
  makes Win95 kinda cranky.

- Source code majorly cleaned up for easy porting.

From 0.9 to 0.95:

- Win32 version now has a GUI with menus and stuff, and the same graphical
  player as the DOS version (thanks to DirectDraw).

- MTP Win32 now bumps itself into the REALTIME priority class, which
  means background processes in Windows 95 no longer cause hiccups
  in the music; I can launch Word 7 with virtually no interruptions
  in the music while MTP plays now.

From 0.8.1 to 0.9:

- New Win32 version using DirectX3's DirectSound so all soundcards work.


Known Problems To Be Fixed
--------------------------

- Not all of the MegaTracker effects commands are implemented yet, so some
  MT-specific songs may not sound exactly correct.

- Need to fix up the timing so the MTP tempo clock change effect works.

- The software mixer still isn't great, although it's quite a bit better
  now.


Special Thanks
--------------

Jason Andersen, Richard Wifall, and James Brookes for various assistance
and support.

Contact Me
----------

If you have any problems, comments, or suggestions for MTP, let me
know at:

E-mail: irsman@iag.net


Legal
-----

MTP is copyright (c) 1996-1998 Ian Schmidt.  All Rights Reserved.  MTP is 
supplied 'as-is', and although bugs or other errors may exist in the program,
the user assumes all liability for it's use.  If anything evil happens as
a result of use of MTP, Ian Schmidt cannot be held liable.  If anything
cool happens, well, we'll see ;-)

MTP is freeware.  This means you can download MTP and give it to all your
friends and owe me nothing.  No features are disabled, and no Apple IIgses
were harmed during the making of this program.
