| ================================================================ |
| AWE32 Sound Driver for Linux / FreeBSD |
| version 0.4.3; Nov. 1, 1998 |
| |
| Takashi Iwai <iwai@ww.uni-erlangen.de> |
| ================================================================ |
| |
| * GENERAL NOTES |
| |
| This is a sound driver extension for SoundBlaster AWE32 and other |
| compatible cards (AWE32-PnP, SB32, SB32-PnP, AWE64 & etc) to enable |
| the wave synth operations. The driver is provided for Linux 1.2.x |
| and 2.[012].x kernels, as well as FreeBSD, on Intel x86 and DEC |
| Alpha systems. |
| |
| This driver was written by Takashi Iwai <iwai@ww.uni-erlangen.de>, |
| and provided "as is". The original source (awedrv-0.4.3.tar.gz) and |
| binary packages are available on the following URL: |
| http://bahamut.mm.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~iwai/awedrv/ |
| Note that since the author is apart from this web site, the update is |
| not frequent now. |
| |
| |
| * NOTE TO LINUX USERS |
| |
| To enable this driver on linux-2.[01].x kernels, you need turn on |
| "AWE32 synth" options in sound menu when configure your linux kernel |
| and modules. The precise installation procedure is described in the |
| AWE64-Mini-HOWTO and linux-kernel/Documetation/sound/AWE32. |
| |
| If you're using PnP cards, the card must be initialized before loading |
| the sound driver. There're several options to do this: |
| - Initialize the card via ISA PnP tools, and load the sound module. |
| - Initialize the card on DOS, and load linux by loadlin.exe |
| - Use PnP kernel driver (for Linux-2.x.x) |
| The detailed instruction for the solution using isapnp tools is found |
| in many documents like above. A brief instruction is also included in |
| the installation document of this package. |
| For PnP driver project, please refer to the following URL: |
| http://www-jcr.lmh.ox.ac.uk/~pnp/ |
| |
| |
| * USING THE DRIVER |
| |
| The awedrv has several different playing modes to realize easy channel |
| allocation for MIDI songs. To hear the exact sound quality, you need |
| to obtain the extended sequencer program, drvmidi or playmidi-2.5. |
| |
| For playing MIDI files, you *MUST* load the soundfont file on the |
| driver previously by sfxload utility. Otherwise you'll here no sounds |
| at all! All the utilities and driver source packages are found in the |
| above URL. The sfxload program is included in the package |
| awesfx-0.4.3.tgz. Binary packages are available there, too. See the |
| instruction in each package for installation. |
| |
| Loading a soundfont file is very simple. Just execute the command |
| |
| % sfxload synthgm.sbk |
| |
| Then, sfxload transfers the file "synthgm.sbk" to the driver. |
| Both SF1 and SF2 formats are accepted. |
| |
| Now you can hear midi musics by a midi player. |
| |
| % drvmidi foo.mid |
| |
| If you run MIDI player after MOD player, you need to load soundfont |
| files again, since MOD player programs clear the previous loaded |
| samples by their own data. |
| |
| If you have only 512kb on the sound card, I recommend to use dynamic |
| sample loading via -L option of drvmidi. 2MB GM/GS soundfont file is |
| available in most midi files. |
| |
| % sfxload synthgm |
| % drvmidi -L 2mbgmgs foo.mid |
| |
| This makes a big difference (believe me)! For more details, please |
| refer to the FAQ list which is available on the URL above. |
| |
| The current chorus, reverb and equalizer status can be changed by |
| aweset utility program (included in awesfx package). Note that |
| some awedrv-native programs (like drvmidi and xmp) will change the |
| current settings by themselves. The aweset program is effective |
| only for other programs like playmidi. |
| |
| Enjoy. |
| |
| |
| * COMPILE FLAGS |
| |
| Compile conditions are defined in awe_config.h. |
| |
| [Compatibility Conditions] |
| The following flags are defined automatically when using installation |
| shell script. |
| |
| - AWE_MODULE_SUPPORT |
| indicates your Linux kernel supports module for each sound card |
| (in recent 2.1 or 2.2 kernels and unofficial patched 2.0 kernels |
| as distributed in the RH5.0 package). |
| This flag is automatically set when you're using 2.1.x kernels. |
| You can pass the base address and memory size via the following |
| module options, |
| io = base I/O port address (eg. 0x620) |
| memsize = DRAM size in kilobytes (eg. 512) |
| As default, AWE driver probes these values automatically. |
| |
| |
| [Hardware Conditions] |
| You DON'T have to define the following two values. |
| Define them only when the driver couldn't detect the card properly. |
| |
| - AWE_DEFAULT_BASE_ADDR (default: not defined) |
| specifies the base port address of your AWE32 card. |
| 0 means to autodetect the address. |
| |
| - AWE_DEFAULT_MEM_SIZE (default: not defined) |
| specifies the memory size of your AWE32 card in kilobytes. |
| -1 means to autodetect its size. |
| |
| |
| [Sample Table Size] |
| From ver.0.4.0, sample tables are allocated dynamically (except |
| Linux-1.2.x system), so you need NOT to touch these parameters. |
| Linux-1.2.x users may need to increase these values to appropriate size |
| if the sound card is equipped with more DRAM. |
| |
| - AWE_MAX_SF_LISTS, AWE_MAX_SAMPLES, AWE_MAX_INFOS |
| |
| |
| [Other Conditions] |
| |
| - AWE_ALWAYS_INIT_FM (default: not defined) |
| indicates the AWE driver always initialize FM passthrough even |
| without DRAM on board. Emu8000 chip has a restriction for playing |
| samples on DRAM that at least two channels must be occupied as |
| passthrough channels. |
| |
| - AWE_DEBUG_ON (default: defined) |
| turns on debugging messages if defined. |
| |
| - AWE_HAS_GUS_COMPATIBILITY (default: defined) |
| Enables GUS compatibility mode if defined, reading GUS patches and |
| GUS control commands. Define this option to use GMOD or other |
| GUS module players. |
| |
| - CONFIG_AWE32_MIDIEMU (default: defined) |
| Adds a MIDI emulation device by Emu8000 wavetable. The emulation |
| device can be accessed as an external MIDI, and sends the MIDI |
| control codes directly. XG and GS sysex/NRPN are accepted. |
| No MIDI input is supported. |
| |
| - CONFIG_AWE32_MIXER (default: not defined) |
| Adds a mixer device for AWE32 bass/treble equalizer control. |
| You can access this device using /dev/mixer?? (usually mixer01). |
| |
| - AWE_USE_NEW_VOLUME_CALC (default: defined) |
| Use the new method to calculate the volume change as compatible |
| with DOS/Win drivers. This option can be toggled via aweset |
| program, or drvmidi player. |
| |
| - AWE_CHECK_VTARGET (default: defined) |
| Check the current volume target value when searching for an |
| empty channel to allocate a new voice. This is experimentally |
| implemented in this version. (probably, this option doesn't |
| affect the sound quality severely...) |
| |
| - AWE_ALLOW_SAMPLE_SHARING (default: defined) |
| Allow sample sharing for differently loaded patches. |
| This function is available only together with awesfx-0.4.3p3. |
| Note that this is still an experimental option. |
| |
| - DEF_FM_CHORUS_DEPTH (default: 0x10) |
| The default strength to be sent to the chorus effect engine. |
| From 0 to 0xff. Larger numbers may often cause weird sounds. |
| |
| - DEF_FM_REVERB_DEPTH (default: 0x10) |
| The default strength to be sent to the reverb effect engine. |
| From 0 to 0xff. Larger numbers may often cause weird sounds. |
| |
| |
| * ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
| |
| Thanks to Witold Jachimczyk (witek@xfactor.wpi.edu) for much advice |
| on programming of AWE32. Much code is brought from his AWE32-native |
| MOD player, ALMP. |
| The port of awedrv to FreeBSD is done by Randall Hopper |
| (rhh@ct.picker.com). |
| The new volume calculation routine was derived from Mark Weaver's |
| ADIP compatible routines. |
| I also thank linux-awe-ml members for their efforts |
| to reboot their system many times :-) |
| |
| |
| * TODO'S |
| |
| - Complete DOS/Win compatibility |
| - DSP-like output |
| |
| |
| * COPYRIGHT |
| |
| Copyright (C) 1996-1998 Takashi Iwai |
| |
| This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify |
| it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by |
| the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or |
| (at your option) any later version. |
| |
| This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, |
| but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of |
| MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the |
| GNU General Public License for more details. |
| |
| You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License |
| along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software |
| Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. |
