Using the ole ModPLug Player

[Sam_Zen]

Download can be found at the Software Downloads Forum or here.
Indeed no installation, just unpack in a chosen directory and run. But afterwards it appears to be in the registry yet.
Unfortunately, it doesn't use an INI file for the settings. Like color or enabling a stereo spectrum display.



It has the option to make a playlist, using the .MOL extension. When opening MPP again, it remembers the last one,
due to some registry key, still under the name of "Olivier Lapicque".


The ascii syntax of a .MOL file (using MOD files in the same directory) looks like this :

Code: [Select]


[DIRECTORIES]
 \extmods2\wolfchild
[ARCHIVES]
[ARCHIVDIRECTORIES]
[FILES]
$  01 - title1
$  02 - title2
$  03 - title3
etc

Quite simple to convert to other playlist formats I guess.

The ModPLug Player appears to have the same dialog as the ModPLug Tracker for actual sound-settings : The Setup tab.
Where before or during playback e.g. panning can be widened, or a reverb added.
This Setup setting doesn't matter if one resaves a tracker-module.
But MPP has an option (as MPT does) to export the piece as a WAV file.


Here, the Setup defines the final output. Make a WAV file with Bass Expansion.
Starting with the possible variation on the Sound Card tab :


The Stereo Separation.

Then the Player tab. Bass expansion, reverb, and surround are the main variables.
The reverb has 29 presets. And surround will mean not only widening, but also short echoes between L-R.


Then there is the Equalizer tab, which has presets and saved custom settings.


This function can be switched on/off in other dialogs.

An option of MPP which MPT hasn't : it can open a WAV file as well to play.
Which means it can also save that file as another WAV file, including the Setup.
So MPP could be a tool to quickly upgrade some soundfile with adding a reverb or so.
A simple WAV editor in a sense.

EDIT: in the meantime I discovered another MPP option via R-click : Mixer Controls.



At least I found out that is has channel volume control plus speed and pitch.
I still have to investigate this. It also opens a new MPP dialog with a 'record' option.



I activated the record button but so far nothing specific happens.

[bvanoudtshoorn]

Yeah, I never quite figured out the point of that second MPP window... A bit odd. I actually fired it up recently, to listen to some old tracks that I downloaded from Novus' archive. It's still got a better sound than Winamp. =D

[LPChip]

The second MPP window is used to play a second song. The mixer is used to be able to fade channels or global volume between the two active players so you can mix 2 songs together like a DJ.

[Saga Musix]

The second MPP window is used to play a second song. The mixer is used to be able to fade channels or global volume between the two active players so you can mix 2 songs together like a DJ.

correct.

Sam_Zen, you are not quite right about the playlist format because you only tested ONE directory with ONE type of module files.
I wrote a mol->m3u converter once and it was clear that the first character in a line ("$") indicates the module format (3 = it, - = s3m, / = xm, $ = mod) and the second character the directory which is listed in the [DIRECTORIES] part. This "path byte" starts at character 32 (blank) for directory 1 and increases with every new directory.

[Sam_Zen]

This clarifies a lot. I already wondered what the numb channels at the right were doing in the mixer.
And you're right Jojo, it wasn't a very thorough investigation of the playlist format.

So I opened another MOD file in the second MPP window, and the two songs also can be played simultaneously.
Indeed the second song is represented at the right channel-group of the mixer.
A bit of a clumsy construction is the fact that no single slide crossfade seems possible.
A confusing aspect also is, that the sound of window 2 is still shown in the window 1 spectrum analyzer.
Wndow 2 can't have it's own spectrum analyzer, although it looks the same as dialog 1.

Still, I haven't been able to figure out what the REC function in window 2 means.

And the Mixer dialog itself stays a very rudimentary window.
Color settings of MPP doesn't seem to have influence on readability.
So some zooming and modification was necessary to confirm the sections :



So the L slider is BPM, the small M slider moves L+R, and the R one is the pitch.

Thanks to bvanoudtshoorn for mentioning the quality of MPP playback.
This encourage me to state that this player is an underestimated gem in the MP history.
Olivier released the source of the Editor app. but it would be nice for the Player as well.
It has a lot of potential routines to become a powerful realtime performance.
I strongly believe in a seperation between considering 'editor' and 'player' of some format.
Because they deserve different attention to different aspects of functioning.
Of course an editor should be able to reproduce the result, but a playback application can't
be blamed by having no editing facilities.
If MPP was developed further, then the discussion would be different about all those extra
codes in OMPT, to perform all kinds of realtime actions, like transitions during playback.

[LPChip]

I believe the REC button allows you, in combination with the save wav button, to record a live playback in both MPP's.

Oh, and in case it wasn't clear. The mixer playerwindow has a slider where the vu meter is on the other player that controls which of the two you're playing. Its called mix.

[Sam_Zen]

Yep, I noticed this too after my post.  :oops:

I expected the REC button to do as you said, but so far it failed saving a piece of mixed playback.
Each 'Save Wav' of the windows only writes its own song. I also tried this with 2 WAV files, they mix fine, but no proper record.
But maybe I do something in the wrong order.