================================================================ AWE32 Sound Driver for Linux / FreeBSD version 0.4.3; Nov. 1, 1998 Takashi Iwai ================================================================ * 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 , 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.