

Documentation for CompactSplit 2.0 & CDread1.0
CompactSplit is copyrighted by Linus Elman
CDread is copyrighted by Alexander Boczar

email: dat96lel@lustudat.student.lu.se (Linus Elman)


DESCRIPTION:
CompactSplit 2.0 is a utility for analyzing, splitting and saving samples
from the .WAV files created by the soundtrack cd-grabber 'CDread.exe'
(included in this archive), and other waves containing multiple samples.

COMPACTSPLIT2.0 REQUIREMENTS:
* 386+
* Windows
* 8MB ram for splitter (may run on 4, not tested).

CDREAD1.10 REQUIREMENTS:
* CD-ROM. Note that it works on MOST drives. E g Mitsumi drives do not
  support RAW read.
* Not much memory. Saves to disk if needed memory is unavailable.

FORMATS:
Both CS2.0 and CDread1.10 handles waveforms in 8 bit, 16 bit, mono, stereo
and different samplerates. CS2.0 also reads 8-bit signed samples (often used
in trackerprograms like fasttracker, protracker aso).


NEWS:
You may have seen the predecessor of CS2.0, namely Esplit0.9b. That
program is just a huge bug. Almost as big as windows itself. :D
The differences between the programs may not be very big visually, but in
other aspects, this is a revolution:
* Unlimited filesize (well, a bit over 2GB is the limit).
* Virtually no memory is used. (well, not much, that is)
* Cd-grabber included! (the program referred to in the esplitversion
  costs somethin like 120$!)
* File conversion works fine.
* 16 bit support.
* Numerous bugs removed.


BRIEF EXPLANATION:
As sample-cds become a more common used medium for professional musicians,
the difficulty of accessing these huge stacks of data is becoming a wider
spread problem. Most cd-players are slow and hard to handle, and the noise
added when sampling though analog wires is unacceptable. Now, CDread
(integrated in CS2) is a program that digitally (identical copy of original,
no noise!) grabs the tracks from the cd onto your harddisk, wich gives you
faster access to them and relieves you from the sampling noise. But there
still are horrifying problems that must be solved if the track-samples are
going to be of any help to you as a musician:

* You may not feel like, and don't have MONTHS (years?) to spare, cutting out
  the samples manually.
* You may not have enough memory on your soundcard to load the track-
  samples.

CompactSplit2.0 processes the tracksamples by finding, cutting and saving
the different samples in the tracksamples, and puts them into directories
so they can be easily found! You can do this manually, track by track, or
just let it process all the tracks automatically and within seconds, your
harddisk is filled with a few thousand nicely cut samples!

Now, both your and our samplestruggles are over..


SHAREWARE VERSION:
Since this is just the sharewareversion, the following features are disabled:

* 16-bit support for splitter.
* Automode (automatic handling of series of tracks).
* Maximizing of samples
* 16-bit, 44KHz, stereo (grabber)

However, by sending 40$ (30UKP,60DM or 300SKR) to this adress..
Linus Elman
Allingavagen 7,b222
22734 LUND
SWEDEN
..you'll recieve a full version by mail or e-mail.


CS2:

Fileoptions
  Sourcedir     : Where tracks can be found.
  Savedir       : Where sampledirectories will be created.
  Createdir     : Prefix for created directories.
  Savesuffix    : Suffix for saved samples.
  Saveprefix    : Prefix for saved samples.
  Starttrack    : Tracknumber to start with.
  Endtrack      : Tracknumber for the last track in the serie of tracks.

Sampleimages and lower part of screen
  Samples found : Number of accepted samples found, all found in parentheses.
  Upper image   : Shows current track loaded.
  Lower image   : Shows the different samples cut out.
  View previous : Views previous sample.
  View next     : Views next sample.
  Saveflag      : If the checkbox is checked, current samples will be saved.
  Analyze       : Analyzes current track.
  Analyze next  : Analyzes next track.
  Split&save    : Creates a new trackdirectory, and saves all samples with
                  checked sampleflag.
  Automode      : Automatically analyzes, splits and saves all tracks in the
                  trackrange.

Fileformats
  Loadformat    : Format of the tracks being loaded. Normally .wav files.
                  (unsigned 16 bit/8 bit).
  Saveformat    : Format of the samples being saved.

Processing
  Maximize      : Stretches the amplitude to maximum dynamic. If source is
                  16 bits and destination is 8 bits, the soundquality will
                  be better since there will only be compression, no
                  stretching.
  Autorunenabl. : Enables the autorunbutton.
  Delete proc.. : Toggles wether the processed trackfiles will be deleted
                  or not.
  Manual file.. : Not yet implemented.
  Same source.. : Makes the destinationdirectory follow the sourcedirectory.

Triggers
  Noise         : Maximum amplitude for noise (for defining what silence is)
  Silence       : How long (in samples (byte/word)) silence is needed for
                  deciding the sample is over. These bytes will be cut off.
  Min. size     : The minimum size of samples that are to be saved. Prevents
                  clicks, humms, and other noices to be saved.


SETTINGS FOR COMPACTSPLIT2.0:
The standard settings are suitable for normal sample-cd conditions. If you
want higher sensitivity, say, for splitting a noisy drumsequence into it's
parts, you should increase the noiselevel and decrease the silencevalue.
Note that if you set a high noiselevel, you may loose some fadeout, but
if you've got limited harddiskspace this should be considered.


SETTINGS FOR CDread1.10:
This is the grabber, that digitally reads the samples from the CD.
Since windows is the way it is (!), the program does not work when windows
is running. In other words, it's a DOS-program. This is what you do to
test it:

Known bugs:
The program may not find the drive instantly. A good way to cure this is
to type 'dir d:', and abort. Then the program works the way is should. This
bug was found just before release, and will be removed in future versions.

Insert a nice CD, and go to the directory where you would like the
tracksamples to be and write:

cdread tracks 4 1

This means, read 1 track, beginning with track 4, 8bit signed 22KHz sample.
Now run windows and CS2. Locate the directory where the track was saved with
the directorylistbox, select output fileformat, change the 'starttrack' value
to 4, press analyze, watch the beautiful samples and when you've had enough,
press split&save.. In that very directory, a new one has been created,
containing the extracted samples!

For complete syntax, just type 'cdread'.
Note that the following features are only available in registered version:
* 16bits
* Stereo
* 44Khz

Practical info:
16 bit samples take twice as much HD-space as 8bits.
44KHz samples take twice as much HD-space as 22KHz (amazing!)
Stereosamples take twice as much HD-space as monosamples.
This means, a 16bit, 44KHz stereosample needs 8 times the space of an
8bit, 22KHz monosample!
Before you start grabbing, make sure you have HD space left (no danger if you
havn't though). Normally, a sample-cd track read in 44KHz, 16-bit, mono
uses something like 2-20MB, so an entire CD will fill your harddisk up a bit.
If you don't enable the 'delete processed files' option, the cut samples
will use almost as much on top of that.

Your old CD-driver may report that 'somethings wrong' or that it should be
re-installed since there's another one installed. Just ignore these
messages.


SUPPORT:
By e-mailing your registered copy to us, we will return the latest version
to you (2.x). Please don't send your archive once a week, since only major
upgrades will be updated.


INFORMATION:
If you have any questions, comments, bugreports or tips concerning the
programs, please e-mail:

Linus Elman      [dat96lel@lustudat.student.lu.se]
