Sound Recorder
Version 2.2

Copyright (C) 1991 by David Mullen

Sound Recorder is a VOC file player and recorder for the Creative Labs Sound Blaster card. In order to run this software, the following is needed:

- Creative Labs Sound Blaster sound card (or 100% compatible sound board)
- Windows 3.0 running in Standard or 386 Enhanced mode
- Microsoft-compatible mouse

Version 2.2 of this software is not fully functional - it is a demo version. This version of Sound Recorder corrects problems in earlier versions that caused computer lock-ups. The program runs entirely in protected mode (including the driver), and only 4 K of DOS memory is used. Voice data is stored in extended or expanded memory, allowing playing/recording large voice files. Version 2.2 also includes a record/play timer and the ability to save voice card settings in your WIN.INI file.

Sound Recorder can read/write both .VOC files and .SND files. VOC files are files based on the Creative Labs "Creative Voice File Format", while SND files contain only digitized sound data. This allows easy translation of files between different sound hardware.

LISCENSE AGREEMENT
* YOU MUST READ THIS IN ORDER TO USE THE PROGRAM!! *

SOFTWARE LICENSE

YOU MAY NOT DISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM SREC22.EXE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAM FOR PROFIT WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION OF DAVID MULLEN.

No one may modify or patch SREC22.EXE in any way, including but not limited to decompiling, disassembling, or otherwise reverse engineering the program.

INSTALLATION

Copy SREC22.EXE and all desired VOC files to your hard disk using the DOS "copy" command or Windows FIle Manager. Refer to your Windows manual for instructions on how to create a Program Manager program group for Sound Recorder.

INSTRUCTIONS

Start Windows in Standard or 386 Enhanced mode. Start Sound Recorder by performing one of the following:

- double-clicking on the Sound Recorder icon
- selecting File - Run from Program Manager's main menu and typing SREC22.EXE
- double-clicking on SREC22.EXE from File Manager.

When Sound Recorder is started, it first checks the WIN.INI file for the I/O address and IRQ to use on the Sound Blaster card. If none is found, it uses defaults of 220H for the I/O address and 3 for the IRQ. It then tests these two parameters by attempting to initialize the Sound Blaster hardware. If these settings are not correct, a message box with an error message will appear. Click OK in the message box and immediately choose SETTINGS... and HARDWARE from the menu bar. In the dialog box that appears, choose the correct I/O address and/or IRQ, and click OK. The program will test these settings and indicate any problems. It will then give you the option of saving these settings in your WIN.INI file (so that you don't have to go through this each time you run the program).

After all settings have been checked, the main window will appear containing a menu and four buttons. If this does not appear or an error message is shown, refer to the ERROR MESSAGES and PROBLEMS sections of this text file.

The menu in this version of the program contains four items - File, Edit, Settings, and About.

File - Open: Select this to load a voice file into memory. Click the ".VOC" button to load a file that is in the "Creative Voice File" format or ".SND" to load a raw voice data file.

File - Save: Choose this to save the current file to disk.

File - Save As: This option allows you to save the current file under a different name or in a different format. Click ".VOC" to save in the "Creative Voice File" format or ".SND" to save as raw voice data.

File - Exit: Select this to end Sound Recorder.

Edit: These functions are not available in this version of Sound Recorder.

Settings - Hardware: This option allows you to change the IRQ and I/O address used by driver (These should correspond to the actual settings on the Sound Blaster card).

Settings - Data: Select this option to change the data file's sampling rate and packing format.

About - About Sound Recorder: This option displays information about Sound Recorder.

The four buttons Play, Stop, Recorder, and Pause have the following functions:

Play - This button causes the current voice data in memory to be played through the Sound Blaster.

Stop - Push this to stop playing the voice file or stop recording voice data.

Record - This button allows you to record sound into memory. Pressing this button causes another button, Start, to appear. Push the Start button to begin the recording process and the Stop button when finished.

Pause - Push this to pause the currently playing sound. Push again to continue the sound.

When Voice data is loaded into memory, a horizontal scroll bar appears along with a graphic representation of the sound. The scroll bar can be used to easily change the sampling rate.

ERROR MESSAGES

If you get the messages "Voice card fails!", "IRQ for DMA fails!", or "I/O read/write fails!", check the settings under the menu item Settings - Hardware. These should match those set on the Sound Blaster card.

If the message "This program will not run in Windows Real mode!" appears, make sure Windows is running in either Standard or 386 Enhanced mode.

"Only one copy of this program will run at a time!" will appear if you attempt to run multiple copies of Sound Recorder.

If "No DOS memory available!" appears at start-up, there is not enough DOS memory free to run the program. Try freeing up DOS memory by removing unnecessary TSR's or device drivers.

If the message "No memory available!" appears when attempting to load a voice file, the file is too large to load into memory.

The message "No voice data in memory!" will appear if the Play button is pushed with no voice file loaded. Select File - Open and choose a file to load.

"Bad file block header!" will appear if you try to load a non-VOC file in VOC format. Select ".SND" from the File - Open dialog box to load the raw data file.

If the message "Too many clocks or timers!" appears, close all aplications which mack use of timing functions ( Windows Clock, etc.).

PROBLEMS

Because this program has been tested only on a limited variety of computer hardware, a problem may arise on some machines which may not have been previously observed. To distinguish this type of problem from other commonly occurring ones, common problems and their solutions are listed below.

If the program locks up when playing or recording a file, check the DMABufferSize setting in the Windows SYSTEM.INI file. Setting this number to a larger value may help.

An UNRECOVERABLE APPLICATION ERROR message will appear if an attempt is made to play a corrupted voice file. Try playing the file with VOXKIT or some other .VOC player to check the integrity of the file.

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Although the differences between Sound Recorder Version 2.2 and earlier versions may not be visually evident, this version does operate differently internally. Much time was required to convert the driver to be completely protected-mode compatible.

Please send your comments, criticisms, and features you would like to see in this program to the author at the address below or via Prodigy (THRF83A), America Online (DavidM348), or Compuserve (70164,2120).

If you find this program useful, a donation of $10 with your name and address would be most appreciated. This will register your copy of Sound Recorder and allow you to be quickly notified when the program is updated. A donation of $25 will not only register your copy, but also allow the full-functioning version of Sound Recorder (when available) to be sent directly to you on disk with printed instructions (specify disk type and format). The full-featured version of Sound Recorder will allow cutting, copying, and pasting of voice data, voice volume control, voice special effects, and many other features. Your donations will allow work on this program to continue.

All correspondence regarding Sound Recorder, Version 2.2, should be directed to :

David Mullen
8335 Summa Ave. #C-4
Baton Rouge, LA 70809