        MIDAS Sound System 1.0 Beta 1, release notes
        --------------------------------------------

A Sahara Surfers production.

Copyright 1996, 1997 Housemarque Inc.

Written by Petteri Kangaslampi and Jarno Paananen
(a.k.a. Alfred & Guru / S2)

This file is part of the MIDAS Sound System, and may only be used,
modified and distributed under the terms of the MIDAS Sound System
license, LICENSE.TXT. By continuing to use, modify or distribute this
file you indicate that you have read the license and understand and
accept it fully.



1. Introduction and news
------------------------

This file accompanies MIDAS Sound System version 1.0 Beta 1. Although the core
functionality in MIDAS is essentially complete, quite a bit work still remains
in the documentation and the API. In addition, we are in the process of
rewriting the mixing routines, which should bring both a better sound quality
and higher performance.

This release is mainly intended for Win32 users. Linux support is not even
included, as it is not really tested at the moment, and MS-DOS has not been
heavily tested either. Gravis UltraSound hardware mixing support has also been
removed, to make stream support under DOS possible. In addition, source code
is no longer included in the main distribution. It will be back, along with
GUS hardware mixing support for DOS, in a MIDAS "lite" distribution, or upon
request for commercial licensees. Because of this, MS-DOS users may want to
stick to MIDAS 0.7 beta 1 for the time being.

This release has been delayed by several weeks due to some network problems at
kalahari, but we have put the time to good use: There is now WAVE file support
for both samples and streams, the documentation is also available in Win32
format, the mixing routines should be slightly faster, and we have added
optional filtering for the sound output. Also all older enhancements,
including DirectSound support, are included. See the documentation for
information on how to use these.

Finally, MIDAS Sound System is now officially called "MIDAS Digital Audio
System", but the names have not yet been changed in this release. Just don't
be surprised to find another MIDAS from us :)



2. Brief introduction to MIDAS
------------------------------

So what is MIDAS Sound System anyway?

In brief, MIDAS is a multichannel digital sound and music system,
capable of playing an unlimited number of channels of digital sound on
all supported platforms. It can play music modules, individual samples,
and digital audio streams, in any combination.

MIDAS supports the following module formats:
        - 4-channel Protracker modules plus 1-32-channel variants (.MOD)
        - 1-32 -channel Scream Tracker 3 modules (.S3M)
        - 2-32 -channel FastTracker 2 modules (.XM)

Under Win32 and Linux, MIDAS plays sound through the system sound API,
so all cards that have drivers installed are supported. Under DOS,
MIDAS supports the following sound cards:
        - Creative Labs Sound Blaster series (1.0, 1.5, 2.0, Pro, 16)
        - Media Vision Pro Audio Spectrum series (regular, Plus, 16)
        - Windows Sound System and compatible sound cards
        - Gravis Ultrasound (regular, max, PnP)

This release of MIDAS can be used for free for free programs, and full
source code is included. Licenses for commercial purposes are also
available, contact "midas@housemarque.fi" for details.



3. What's New?
--------------

Changes since MIDAS 0.6 releases include:
	- Stream support for MS-DOS
	- DirectSound support
	- WAVE file support for both samples and streams
	- Enhanced documentation, now also in WinHelp format
	- Sound output filtering
	- The ability to play multiple modules simultaneously (but with some
          restrictions - see the documentation)
	- Music channel fading
	- 4:1 ADPCM compression for streams
	- Miscellaneous smaller changes and bug fixes


4. Supported platforms
----------------------

MIDAS supports the following platforms and compilers:
        - 32-bit MS-DOS under DOS/4GW, with Watcom C/C++
	- 32-bit MS-DOS under any DPMI host (such as CWSDPMI) with DJGPP
        - Windows NT/95 with Watcom C/C++
        - Windows NT/95 with Visual C/C++
        - Windows NT/95 with Borland Delphi
        - Linux with GNU C/C++

In addition, under Win32 MIDAS can be used with any programming
environment that supports DLLs. Direct examples are provided only for
Watcom and Visual C and Borland Delphi though.

Under Linux background and stream playing needs a pthreads compatible
package, preferably the LinuxThreads-package available at:

ftp://ftp.inria.fr/INRIA/Projects/cristal/Xavier.Leroy/linuxthreads.tar.gz



5. Using MIDAS
--------------

Before trying to use MIDAS, make sure you read all documentation
available in the "doc" directory. The documentation is included in
several formats: WinHelp, LaTeX source (*.tex, produced by m4), PostScript
(*.ps), Adobe PDF (*.pdf) and HTML (separate directories). PostScript or
PDF is recommended for printing, and WinHelp for reading online. If you
prefer, you can also use Adobe Acrobat Reader for reading the PDF
documents, or read the LaTeX source code directly (mostly ASCII) if you
don't have access to a web browser. At the moment the HTML documentation
requires long filenames, so it is not very usable from plain DOS.

After at least browsing through the documentation, you should check of
the examples in the "samples" directory. The directory "samples/common"
should be especially useful, as it contains several small programs that
demonstrate the MIDAS API. DOS programmer's should also check
"samples/dos". "samples/midpnt" contains the source code for MIDAS
Module Player for Windows NT, a slightly bigger and more complex
program. Finally, see "samples/dsound" for an example on how to use
DirectSound.

Some of the examples might require a bit tweaking, depending your
target system. In particular, you may need to edit a few lines at the
beginning of the Makefiles in the directories. However, the code itself
should compile cleanly on all supported platforms.

When you are ready to use MIDAS in your own programs, it is probably
useful to use one of the examples as a model. Remember that you are
allowed to use MIDAS for free programs as is, but for commercial usage
you will need to negotiate a license with us. In addition, your program
HAS to include proper credits for MIDAS, either in the program itself
or its documentation. This is even a requirement in the MIDAS license,
and if you fail to include the credits you are breaking it.



6. Contact Information
----------------------

Comments? Bug reports? Want more information about MIDAS or MIDAS
licensing? Contact us! Just select the correct e-mail address:

Technical questions and comments: Petteri Kangaslampi, pekangas@sci.fi

Licensing information: Housemarque Inc., midas@housemarque.fi

Linux-specific questions: Jarno Paananen, jpaana@iki.fi. Jarno is in the army
  at the moment, so answers might be a bit delayed.

The MIDAS WWW-pages are currently being moved to www.housemarque.com, but for
the time being the most up-to-date information is still available at
http://kalahari.ton.tut.fi/s2/midas/. All the latest MIDAS releases and news
can be found there.

In addition, there is a mailing list available for MIDAS-related
announcements. Send mail to "majordomo@kalahari.ton.tut.fi", with the
words "subscribe midas" in the BODY of the message. This is a standard
Majordomo list, so all normal Majordomo commands apply.



7. Getting MIDAS
----------------

The best and fastest way to get MIDAS is the Internet. The latest MIDAS
version is always at "http://kalahari.ton.tut.fi/s2/midas/". In
addition, you can find there the latest MIDAS news, MIDP releases, and
general information.

In addition, MIDAS is available at the following fine BBSes:

        Edge Of Delight
                Node 1: +32-2-3755651   Boca 28.8K (V34/VFAST)
                Node 2: +32-2-3758923   ZyXEL 19.2K (V32terbo)
                Node 3: +32-2-3721089   ISDN 64K (X75)
                Chaos Managers: Cobra, aCceSs & Fredy

        The Underworld BBS
                Node 1: +41-22-9600621  USR Courier V.34+, ISDN Analog
                Node 2: +41-22-9600622  USR Courier V.34+, ISDN Analog
                Node 3: +41-22-9600623  ZyXEL Elite 2864I 64kb ISDN,
                                                ISDN Digital
                Sysop: Synoptic

        WarmBoot BBS
                Node 1: +55-194-261993
                Sysop: Warmbooter

        South of Heaven BBS
                Node 1: +1-916-567-1090 (2x28.8k)
                Sysop: Pantera

        Psycho Beaver BBS
                Node 1: +972-9-8320175 (2x28.8k)
                Sysop: riff raff

	Splatter Punk BBS
		 Node 1: +49-2378-2627 (28.8k, 20:00-06:00 CET)
		 Sysop: Teasy

        Apologies for any boards we forgot - email us with your current
        information and you are back on the list. I have to confess I
        haven't kept very good track on our distribution sites, and now
        deliberately left out everybody I haven't heard from in a year
        or so...


Go code.

-- Petteri Kangaslampi, 24 May 1997







