May 14, 2000

Sid Sound Designer -> SND v1.1

Anders Eriksson
ae@dhs.nu



This package converts Sid Sound Designer (tri+tvs files) into
an SND file that is replayable with SND Player. Okey, the way
this converter works isn't optimal in user-friendlyness but
in the end, it's rather simple to understand anyway.


What it does is basicly this:

It assembles the makesnd.s with the "asm" tool included.
The "asm" tool creates makesnd.prg, this prg is loaded
and the exec fileheader is cutted away, and then the file
is resaved as "track.snd" and the makesnd.prg is erased.
After this ICE-Packer v2.4 is launched and you are prompted
with a couple of alerts and then a little bit of packing 
time.


Below you can find a detailed step-by-step instruction how
to use the conversion utility.


1.	Load 'makesnd.s' into your favourite text editor,
	please note that it must be an editor that can 
	save as plain ASCII, such as Qed, Everest or Devpac.
	
	In the file, you should edit the "composer" together
	with release year, which person converted the song
	to SND and etc, it's at beginning of the file.
	Also try to avoid using ' and " characters in these
	fields as it will make you some troubles. The already
	existing ' chars must stay as they are.
	The width of each field is free, but we recomend that
	you check with SND Player so your text fits inside
	the window.

	Special notice: If you have composed the song on 
	Falcon VGA monitor or in 60Hz refresh on the RGB/TV,
	you need to change TC50 into TC60 for proper speed
	replay.
		
	At the end of the file, the filenames for the TRI
	and TVS are found, edit these to fit the actual
	filenames, or ignore to edit this and make sure your
	files are called song.tri and song.tvs.
	
	When done editing, save and goto step 2.


2.	Start the "convert.prg" tool. 

	It will begin with assembling the makesnd.s, and if 
	everything is fine, it reports "0 errors found".
	However if something went wrong, it is most probably
	an error is makesnd.s (filenames or text fields at
	the top).
	
	If everything went fine, ICE-Packer should appear on
	screen any second now, 
	
	In ICE-Packer you are prompted by two alerts at the
	beginning, answer like this:
	
	Q: What do you wish to pack?
	A: DATA
	
	Q: Do you wish to use an additional....
	A: NO
	
	Now you the file selector appears, doubleclick
	'track.snd' and the file begins to compress. It 
	might take from a couple of seconds to a few minutes
	depending on filesize and computer speed.
	
	At the end of ICE-Packer you are prompted with one
	more Alert:
	
	Q: Do you wish to pack another file?
	A: NO


	Now the convert util jumps back to desktop.
	

3.	Rename track.snd to the correct filename and voila!
	The conversion is ready.



Testing
this is simple, I have included an example song
as test.tvs and test.tri, just run the convert.prg and
see how it works directly.


Problems
Email me at the address in the beginning of this document.


Sourcecode
for the convert.prg util can be found in the src folder.
It's nothing worth spending time checking, just a bunch of
os calls.


Latest version
of this tool, plus other SND related  programs and files,
can be found at http://sndplayer.atari.org/ webpage.


More tools
of this kind (like megatizer->snd, tao->snd etc) can be made
if somebody requests it.



eof