@DATABASE OctaMED ReadMe

@NODE Main "OctaMED ReadMe"
**************************************************************************
** OctaMED Soundstudio Amiga Version 1.03c by Teijo Kinnunen 1991-1997  **
**                  © Teijo Kinnunen & Ray Burt-Frost ©                 **
**           Now designated as freeware but copyrights retained         **
**                Original On Sale Date   01.08.1996                    **
**          Copyrighted RBF Software-Teijo Kinnunen-Ray Burt-Frost      **
**************************************************************************
This file contains important information, so please read all topics
carefully before doing anything else.


                       @{"       Disk Contents      " LINK rm_disks}
                       @{"       Compatibility      " LINK rm_comp}
                       @{"     The OctaMED Club     " LINK rm_mems}
                       @{"         Copyright        " LINK rm_copyright}
                       @{"     Contact Addresses    " LINK rm_addr}
                       @{"  About OctaMED & Thanks  " LINK rm_thanks}
                       @{"  Aura Soundcard Update   " LINK rm_aura}
                       @{"Devware do the dirty on us" LINK rm_devware}
@ENDNODE

@NODE rm_disks "Disk Contents"
The OctaMED distribution consists of two disks:

    Disk 1  OctaMED_Soundstudio
    Disk 2  OctaMED_Soundstudio2

Disk 1:

    Contains the main program and instructions etc.


Disk 2:

    OctaMEDPlayer (dir)

        A freely distributable OctaMED player program, and its
        documentation.


    RexxDocs (dir)

        Contains:

        OCTAMED_AREXX.doc   OctaMED's ARexx documentation

        Rexx (dir)

        ARexx scripts written by Eberhard to make the transition
        from the old protracker commands easier for those used
        to using that program.

        Read the omed.guide in the RexxDocs drawer

        Keyboard (dir)

        Some useful keyboard shortcut collections that
        you may want to use:

        PadI1/PadI2.keyboard    Alternative numeric keypad
                    configurations for changing
                    instruments.

        PadT1/PadT2.keyboard    Alternative numeric keypad
                    configurations for turning
                    tracks on/off.

        PTKeys.keyboard     Emulates some keyboard
                    functions of Protracker.

        LAmiga.keyboard

            Defines Left-Amiga shortcuts for menu items not
            having a Right-Amiga shortcut. (By Ed Wiles)

        Return.keyboard

            Makes the Return key close windows. (By Ed Wiles)

        Note that as with Eberhards omed rexx scripts, due to space
        restrictions, these have had to be archived with .lha


@ENDNODE

@NODE rm_comp "Compatibility"
OctaMED requires operating system 2.04 or later.
(Note that the OctaMEDPlayer is the ONLY part of this disk that is freely
distributable).

OctaMED and OctaMEDPlayer support the AmigaGuide® system to provide on-line
help, allowing you to press HELP at any time to get a complete manual in
hypertext format. Use the guide via OctaMED, by pressing the HELP key
whilst the prog is running. No commercial printing of the docs is allowed
by law, they may be printed out for the purchaser's personal use only, they
may not be passed on. Printing any portion of the on disk help or "OctaMED
Companion" IS illegal and any Company wishing to do so must first apply for
a licence.

OctaMED uses the following disk-based operating system libraries:

amigaguide.library® (optional), but required to use the on-line help.
            Available on WB 3.0 or later, but for WB 2 users an
            older version is provided in the LIBS directory.
asl.library     (obligatory)
diskfont.library    (optional, required for font support)
iffparse.library    (optional, required for loading IFF samples)
lh.library      (optional), great compression, licenced with
            author (Olaf Barthel).
powerpacker.library (optional), needed for crunching etc, it is
            available on this disk. Licenced with author
            (Nico François).
reqtools.library    (optional, if ReqTools requesters desired)
xpkmaster.library   (optional, required for XPK support, not included
            with OctaMED)

Maestrix.library    Required for the MaestroPro soundcard
Toccata.library     For use with the MacroSystem Toccata card
Delfina.library     Use this with the Delfina DSP card

 Amigaguide® and wb 2.1 files are trade marks of Amiga Technologies.

 After a year attempting to obtain new licences from AT we are
 releasing this program anyhow as they don't appear to be interested
 or able to sell us new licences, we have the impression that as long
 as we continue to support their machine, they are quite happy!

Besides AmigaGuide, the following programs may be optionally used as
OctaMED's hypertext display program:

Hyper©               .guide reader, reads PowerPacked .guide files.

Hyper, from version 1.19b was copyright to RBF Software but the licence
has been rturned to it's author.

XPKGuide v1.6        .guide reader, reads PowerPacked .guide files.

The author of XPKGuide is Simon Dick and he has very kindly given specific
permission to include his program for use within OctaMED (why not e-mail
him on sidick@essex.ac.uk and say hello).

@ENDNODE


@NODE rm_mems "MED USERS GROUP"
If you haven't yet joined the MED Users Group (or MUG for short), we
strongly recommend that you do! This is, in the main, a non-profit
making group which is the only group recognised and helped financialy
by the publishers of OctaMED.

MUG offers a great deal of help and very friendly guidance on OctaMED.
By joining you will receive lots of OctaMED info, songs, help, etc, etc.


Contact the med user editor, ( address below ),for details!

Write to Richard ( MUG )
         6 Glevum Road, Stratton St. Margaret,
         Swindon, Wilts. SN3 4AF England




     PLEASE..you must enclose an S.A.E or IRC coupon for your reply!!

 Or you can email:  mug@symposium.clara.net

@ENDNODE




@NODE rm_copyright "Copyright"
©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©
©                                                                          ©
©     OctaMED Soundstudio V1.03c is copyright © 1991-1997 Teijo Kinnunen   ©
©     and Ray Burt-Frost.   Distribution is copyright to  RBF Software.    ©
© Worldwide distribution Copyrights owned by R. Burt-Frost (RBF Software). ©
©                                                                          ©
© OctaMED Soundstudio is NOT public domain but this Amiga version is now   ©
© freely distributable for your personal use only, it may not be sold!     ©
©                                                                          ©
© If you intend to use this  (or V2,3,4,5,6) within Commercial Software    ©
© or hardware, please note that as it is a fully copyrighted program, you  ©
© are required by law to contact RBF Software for a licence and any person ©
© individual/Company found to be using this program for such a purpose     ©
© without first having obtained a licence will be deemed to have broken    ©
© the copyrighted usage of the program and solicitors will be instructed.  ©
© The exception to this is the program titled "OctaMEDPlayer", which may   ©
© be treated as Public Domain, this will allow enthusists to pass out any  ©
© songs you've composed to others, without breaking any copyright laws.    ©
©                                                                          ©
© The OctaMEDPlayer and the player library may be freely used/distributed  ©
© with non-commercial programs (PD/Shareware etc), you do not need         ©
© permission from the owners to distribute them with your PD program/s.    ©
© If you wish to make use of the source/library routines that are on       ©
© disk number two, then please read the Copyright licence file.            ©
©                                                                          ©
© OctaMED is provided "as is". Every effort has been made to keep OctaMED  ©
© as bug free as possible, but if there are bugs that may cause you to     ©
© lose something, it is important that you note by loading and launching   ©
© this program, you are agreeing to absolve the author or RBF Software     ©
© from any liability and you are agreeing not to pursue any claim for      ©
© such losses be they deemed civil or criminal.                            ©
©                                                                          ©
©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©

Powerpacker.library used with permission of the author
LH.library used with permission of the author
XPKGuide used with permission of the author
The WB and files, such as AmigaGuide, AmigaGuide.info and the amigaguide
library are (c) Copyright Amiga Technologies. All Rights Reserved.

AMIGAGUIDE®, INSTALLER SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS-IS" AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE;
NO WARRANTIES ARE MADE. ALL USE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. NO LIABILITY OR
RESPONSIBILITY IS ASSUMED.

Note that the owners of our dear miggie are likely to alter again soon!
@ENDNODE

@NODE rm_thanks "About OctaMED & Thanks"
This program has been entirely designed and programmed by Teijo Kinnunen.

The Copyrighted OctaMED.guide files have been authored on our behalf by
Ed Wiles.
(based in part on the documentation of older versions of OctaMED).

Note that these may not be reproduced without permission.


OctaMED has been pre-release-tested by many people, read the manual
to see their names etc.

@ENDNODE


@NODE rm_devware "DevWare Do The Dirty On Us and their OctaMED Customers"


Note that DevWare are no longer licenced to act as our N. American
distributors as after having sold thousands of Dollars worth of our program
in America, instead of sending us the agreed payments, they chose to steal
the Royalties and plough it back into the company to attempt to keep
themselves bouyant!!

So all customers that purchased V5 from them, are, unfortunately, not
entitled to "upgrade" prices as the great majority of the money taken
from you for our program, never arrived here!

**Update on the DevWare Saga

The Boss of DevWare pulled the plugs of all the phone numbers at his
DevWare offices, claimed bankruptcy and then proceeded to start up
all over again calling himself NT Inc, so, be very carefull......

After the way he treated us, you would be well advised to place any
orders with NT Inc, with a tremendous amount of precaution!!!

They certainly will not be allowed to distribute our forthcoming
PC version, that's for sure!!  ;(

@ENDNODE

@NODE rm_aura "Aura Update"

The Aura Window


This window appeared in OctaMED V5.02 under the name Microdeal Sampler Opts.

Sampling via this card was not as good as we had hoped for in the
previous versions and this was realy unfortunate but unlike other
soundcard manufacturers, HiSoft are unable to supply we programmers
with a good support library ( aura.library ), for their card, which
has made it extremely difficult to support it as we would have liked to.

Allthough we have practicaly pleaded with the manufacturer to help
programmers wanting to support their card in music utilities by supplying
that much needed Aura.library they seem reticent or unable to do this.

However, Teijo has included some new code for the Aura in this new
version and we gave HiSoft a copy to test and give them their due,
at the last minute, ( few days prior to this version being completed),
Dave Woodhouse has kindly supplied the following information to us and
we are placing it here for all Aura users to read...

From: David Woodhouse  at: davew@hisoft.co.uk
Subject: Re: OctaMED Soundstudio<>Aura Support


Hi Ray

I took another look at Octamed last night and got it all working.

I just had to set the period value lower as the machine was a basic
A1200 with no expansion.

I think it sounds a better than before, its not brilliant but it will
probably do.

Perhaps it it would be a good idea to explain in the manual that any
period of 360 or less with Aura on a basic machine will be unusable
and anything below 200 and the machine needs a reboot.

Regards

Dave
--
David Woodhouse - davew@hisoft.co.uk
HiSoft Systems  Tel: +44 1525 718181 Fax: +44 1525 713716
The Old School, Greenfield, Bedford, MK45 5DE, UK

So, there you have it, we thank Dave for his help.

It's just a shame that programmers can do very little to fully
support the Aura card as we sincerely would have liked to due
to the lack of a good support library

Therefore, if the software supplied with Aura ( or some other sampler ),
happens to sample better than it does via OctaMED, simply utilise that and
after saving the sample, load it into OctaMED, it may not be convenient,
but without a support library, it is the only way round these problems.

Believe it or not, when we asked the manufacturers of the Sunrize card
for their library support routines, they said that as they were no longer
supporting the Amiga, they would not supply any help!!
( so much for a company supporting it's customers )
@ENDNODE

@NODE rm_addr "Contact Addresses"
For any matters concerning distribution and sales of the next release,
copyright, licencing etc., you should contact the world copyright owners
 RBF Software:

    RBF Software
    169, Dale Valley Road
    Hollybrook
    Southampton
    SO16 6QX
    ENGLAND

    +44 (0)1703 785680  This is an Answerphone/Fax line.

Copyright ©1991-1996 Teijo Kinnunen & Ray Burt-Frost (RBF Software).

    We can also be reached on the net by e-mail:

    Info@octamed.co.uk

    rbfsoft@cix.co.uk

    OR,

    via the OctaMED World Wide Web Site:

    http://www.octamed.co.uk/




                          =========================

For matters concerning the program itself, e.g. suggestions, ideas
and bug reports, you can email the authors ( Amiga or PC versions ),
directly by connecting to our web site at:

 http://www.octamed.co.uk/request.html

The authors may not be able to reply individually to every email received,
but you are still very welcome to write and share your ideas and feelings.
All suggestions/ideas will be considered.

Please remember to indicate the version number of OctaMED you are using.
@ENDNODE
