Module formats FAQ 1.4 by Pauli Porkka. (paporkka@freenet.hut.fi)

This FAQ concentrates on module formats that has originated from PC
and has been ported to Amiga or are about to be/may be ported to Amiga.
This text does not discuss about normal Amiga native module formats nor
does it discuss about other PC formats which have not been ported to 
Amiga. (Porting = Modules playable with Amiga, not necessarily editable.)

This text is mainly for Amiga users and it is written accordingly.
You may and SHOULD spread this text around so that as many as possible 
finds out about these things.
Sorry about all the spelling and grammar errors. I am not very good
in english. I just decided to do this since no one has done it yet and
there has been so many questions hanging around.


Date:
        V1.0    08 July 94 
        V1.1    08 July 94   - Added FTP sites to get these modules from.
        V1.2    12 July 94   - Added some text and explanations.
                               Fixed some spelling errors.
        V1.3    18 July 94   - Added some composer information
        V1.4    03 August 94 - Some fixes (suggested by J. Paananen)
                             

Includes FAQ of following (musical) module formats:

    S3M     - Scream Tracker ]I[
    MTM     - MultiTracker Modules
    FT      - FastTracker (6-8CH)
    FAR     - Farandole 

Questions are in following order.
    Q:  What is this?
    Q:  How can I play them with my Amiga
    Q:  Can I make modules myself using this format?
    Q:  14-bit playing in Amiga is it possible??
    Note: Composers worth listening.

Explanations on certain expressions:

    Channel =   Normal OCS/ECS/AGA Amiga has 4 x 8-bit Digital Audio 
                channels. In this FAQ with Channel I mean virtual
                channels which are mixed together. If I am talking
                about 32 channels I am by no means trying to say that
                your Amiga has that many ACTUAL AUDIO CHANNELS.

    14-bit  =   Method used to accomplish quality comparable to
                actual 14 bit samples. Two Amiga's 8 bit channels are
                concatenated and controlled with volume to accomplish 
                this amazing stunt. Most usefull with 12-32 channel 
                modules.
                              
Where to get these modules:
    
    There are several FTP places to get modules of these formats.
    I suggest that you start roaming around the cyberworld as I did 
    and find out what these places have. Always use the nearest site 
    to save bandwith.

    1. /aminet/mods/8voic/ 
        - Several dozens of S3M modules has been uploaded to aminet.
          All s3m modules are named like this: s3m_<mod name>
        - Also few MTM modules has been uploaded so far
          I named them like this: mtm_<mod name> So if you upload
          MTM or any other of these types, please attach appropriate
          prefix to them, it is much easier for the user to get them.

    2. [*] pub/msdos/demos/music/ Which holds several
       sub directories such as "songs", "artists" and so on..
        
    3. [**] /pub/msdos/ultrasound/



[*] Mirror sites for /pub/msdos/demos....

ftp.eng.ufl.edu     - pub/msdos/demos  ??
ftp.uni-paderborn.de- pub/msdos/demos  GERMANY     (contact ?)
ftp.uni-erlangen.de - pub/msdos/demos  GERMANY     (contact ?)
ftp.luth.se         - pub/msdos/demos  SWEDEN      (contact peppar@ftp.luth.se)
ftp.sun.ac.za       - pub/msdos/demos  South Africa (contact ftp@ftp.sun.ac.za)
ftp.uwp.edu         - pub/msdos/demos  USA 1        (contact datta@cs.uwp.edu)

[**] Mirror sites for /pub/msdos/ultrasound/

Main N.American Site:  
    archive.orst.edu              pub/packages/gravis
    wuarchive.wustl.edu           systems/ibmpc/ultrasound
Main Asian Site:       
    nctuccca.edu.tw               PC/ultrasound
European Callers ONLY: 
    theoris.rz.uni-konstanz.de    pub/sound/gus
Submissions:           
    archive.epas.utoronto.ca      pub/pc/ultrasound/submit
Newly Validated Files: 
    archive.epas.utoronto.ca      pub/pc/ultrasound
Mirrors:               
    garbo.uwasa.fi                mirror/ultrasound
    
                
[S3M] *********************************************************

    Q:  What is this?
    
    A:  Scream Tracker III is PC module editor which saves its modules
        in S3M module format. This format supports up to 32 different 
        channels of which 16 are actual digital sample channels, others 
        are Adlib (or something like that) synth channels.
        Effects are mostly compatible with ProTracker effects.



    Q:  How can I play them with my Amiga

    A:  You will need appropriate module player. When I was writing this
        FAQ there were three different players which were capable of playing
        this module format. 

        D.A.S.MP 3.x: With dasS3M0.library
                      - MUI application.
                      - Requires KS2.04++
                      - By Pauli Porkka (yes, thats me.)
    
        PS3M 2.x    : 
                      - Requester driven program
                      - By Jarno Paananen
                      - J.P. Has done the mixing routines which are used
                          in all of the players mentioned here.
    
        HippoPlayer 1.x :
                      - Requires only kickstart 1.2++
                      - Intuition GUI.
                      - By Kari-Pekka Koljonen
        
        Delitracker II (V2.07):
                      - by Peter Kunath & Frank Riffel
                      - Intuition GUI 

    Q:  Can I make modules myself using this format?

    A:  No unless you own an PC to play with. I am not sure if someone
        was doing a Editor for Amiga, but no such thing has yet appeared.


    Q:  14-bit playing in Amiga is it possible??

    A:  YES! Fortunately someone bright enough worked an easy way
        to accomplish this.
        All above mentioned players are capable of playing this format
        in 14 bit.


    Note: Composers worth listening (In alphabetical order).

        Duellist/F10
        HMW <Ho Ming Woei>  
        Miika Kuisma        
        Nemesis/ICE         
        Purple Motion/FC    
        Skaven/FC           
        Zapper/F10
         

[MTM] *********************************************************

    Q:  What is this?
    
    A:  MultiTracker Module Editor is a PC module editor capable of
        max. 32 channels and with 16 bit samples (V1.01b of the editor
        didn't support the 16-bit yet..) unlike with S3M all the 32 
        channels are digital.
        All effects compatible with ProTracker, internal layout is different.


    Q:  How can I play them with my Amiga

    A:  You will need appropriate module player. When I was writing this
        FAQ there were three different players which were capable of playing
        this module format. 
        Same as above with S3M but for D.A.S.MP you will need dasMTM.library.


    Q:  Can I make modules myself using this format?

    A:  No unless you own an PC to play with. I am not sure if someone
        was doing a Editor for Amiga, but no such thing has yet appeared.


    Q:  14-bit playing in Amiga is it possible??

    A:  YES! Fortunately someone bright enough worked an easy way
        to accomplish this.
        All above mentioned players are capable of playing this format
        in 14 bit.

[FT] *********************************************************

    Q:  What is this?
    
    A:  FastTracker supports up to 8 channels. This is exactly like
        protracker module but instead of four tracks per pattern there
        are either 6 or 8 of them. All effects compatible with ProTracker.
        These modules are little harder to find since they are usually
        not separated from normal 4 channel modules and have the same
        suffix (.mod) Occasionally suffix like .6ch or .8ch are found.

    Q:  How can I play them with my Amiga

    A:  You will need appropriate module player. When I was writing this
        FAQ there were four different players which were capable of playing
        this module format. 

        Same as above with MTM and S3M but for D.A.S.MP you will need
        das68CH.library.


    Q:  Can I make modules myself using this format?

    A:  No unless you own an PC to play with. I am not sure if someone
        was doing a Editor for Amiga, but no such thing has yet appeared.

    Q:  14-bit playing in Amiga is it possible??

    A:  YES! Fortunately someone bright enough worked an easy way
        to accomplish this.
        All above mentioned players are capable of playing this format
        in 14 bit.

[FAR] *********************************************************
    
    Q:  What is this?
    
    A:  Farandole Tracker module format supporting up to 16 channels.

        
    Q:  How can I play them with my Amiga

    A:  At this time you have no means of playing modules in this
        format with Amiga. There is hope though... (or is there?)


    Q:  Can I make modules myself using this format?

    A:  No unless you own an PC to play with. 


    Q:  14-bit playing in Amiga is it possible??

    A:  Not with this one, since there isn't player capable of playing
        this module format in Amiga at all.
    
***************************************************************

I know there are lots of other (PC) module formats but since there 
wasn't support for them in Amiga I do not mention them here.

** END OF FAQ **
