MIDI and FLC's in DOS
5 messages in this thread
David,
There is a solution that works really well.
I use Paul Mace GRASP in conjunction with a MIDI TSR called PLAYD from FM
Software. GRASP plays back FLC's in DOS as fast as any FLC players, and in
some cases faster. You can control the FLC's starting and end frames, speed and
whether it is read from memory or the hard drive. An interface between GRASP
and PLAYD allows you to start and stop the song at any point, alter the volume
interactively, rewind the song, pause it, etc. This allows you to sync the
visuals to music and even test the user's system for speed.
Philip
Philip, Thanks a lot for the information about GRASP! I just bought a
book today that talks about GRASP and then saw your message. It's
"Walkthroughs and Flybys CD" by Phil Shatz (The Waite Group), and has
lots of demos. My desire is to access the Roland SCC-1 or use the
Roland E-15 keyboard through the Sound- Blaster MIDI port (in DOS).
Your suggestion sounds like it might work because of GRASP's ability
to access the PC resources and hardware. VOC files sound pretty good,
but the memory req's are prohibitive. Thanks again!
The book Multimedia Creations from the Waite Group press comes with a
demo version of GRASP (all functions, but limited to 16 colors) and a
MIDI TSR from FM software with an interface to GRASP. It includes
LEYA's Song from Roland (used with their permission) and specifically
support the SCC1. If you want to test it out, the book is available
in bookstores or from the publisher direct. ISBN number
1-878739-26-3. Waite Group Press's number is 1-800-368-9369. It also
contain a coupon for MMGRASP, which is the 16 bit color version
(32,000 colors). GRASP will compile targas into its own DFF animation
format. This allows you to play back 16 bit animations to Roland's
gorgeous sound. I'm the author of the book, but I also use the
combination professionally. Good luck! Philip Shaddock
Philip, I feel a little idiodic! After I wrote the last message to you
and mentioned Phil Shatz's book, I found out you are in it! I was
browsing the the CD directories and saw your name. I played the
presentation you have and was absolutely blown away! It's great! I
have gone through the complete Animator Pro tutorial book, and was
real pleased with the business presentation. I am putting together a
similar presentation (demo) for my boss as a surprise since he really
likes fancy presentations and has never seen animations in that type
of format (meetings, etc.). However, that's NOTHING compared to what
you're doing! I was amazed, and can't imagine how much you have had
to learn in order to be able to do that. By the way, I ordered your
book the very next day directly from the publisher (2 day express)
and am looking forward to getting it next Weds. Actually, I had seen
it in Fry's in Sunnyvale, CA, but really didn't understand what I was
looking at, at the time. After a lot more struggle (that was about
three weeks ago), and a little more learning, I am really looking
forward to studying it. I remem- ber at the time I saw it, it seemed
to be very comprhensive. Paul Paul Mace's company is sending me
literature on GRASP, and I'll check out the GRASP forum on
Compuserve. Thanks again for taking the time to answer my questions
and provide suggestions. David
Thanks indeed. GRASP has its own forum on CIS (GO GRASP). Some people
have run into problems running the demo that comes with the book
until they free up about 550K worth of memory. Memory limitations are
removed with the latest version of GRASP. Have fun with the book.