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+-----.. . . ..-----+ +-----------------------------------------------------| #| n-Factor's |--+ +-----------------------------------------------------| #| |--+ | | |###| ~ |###| ~ | | | === DIGITRACKER === FILE-FORMAT DESCRIPTION === | # #| #| # #| #| | | | | |###| #| |###| #| | | +-----------------------------------------------------| #| |--+ +-----------------------------------------------------| t r a c k|##|e r |--+ +-----.. . . ..-----+ --------------------------- by prodatron/n-Factor ---------------------------- This file contains information about the songmodule-format "MDL", the instrument-format "IST" and the old sample-format "SPL". If you have some problems or if you have questions about these formats, which are not answered in here, just contact me. +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | THE SONGMODULE-FORMAT (MDL) V1.1 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Offset Lenght Description 000 004 "DMDL"; the four letters mark the mdl-format 004 001 version; the current version is 11h (=1.1) 005 ??? the different data-blocks are stored at this position Some words to the format version-number: - if the low-nibble increases, there are extensions in the format, but old loaders should be able to load the new modules (or most of them...) - if the high-nibble increases, there are changes in the format which make old loaders unable to read the new songfiles The MDL-songmodule-format is subdivided into the following blocks: "IN" infoblock; contains most songparameters, like speed, length etc. "ME" songmessage; contains the songinformation from the composer "PA" c pattern; contains the length, names and tracklists for every pattern "TR" tracks; contains all the tracks for the pattern "II" n instruments; contains all information for the used instruments "VE" n volume-envelopes; contains the construction of all used vol-envelopes "PE" n panning-envelopes; the same for the used pan-envelopes "FE" n1 frequency-envelopes; ...used frq-envelopes (LFO) "IS" c sampleinfos; contains information for every used sample "SA" samples; contains the sample-datas [[ c = blockstructure changes from v0.0 to v1.0 ]] [[ n = new in version 1.0 ]] [[ n1 = new in version 1.1 ]] The sequence of the blocks in a file is not fixed so they can be stored in any way. Digitrakker uses the descripted sequence. The structure for every block is the same: Offset Lenght Description 000 002 "xx"; block-ID (example: "IN" for infoblock) 002 004 blocklength; this dword contains the length of the FOLLOWING datas. 006 <blocklen> datas for this block... The next block will be at offset (006 + <blocklength>). +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | The Song-Infoblock (IN) | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Offset Lenght Description 000 002 "IN"; infoblock-ID 002 004 blocklenght 006 032 songname; name of the songmodule (filled with spaces [32]) 038 020 composername; name of the song-composer 058 002 songlength; Digitrakker supports up to 255 songpositions 060 002 songrepeat 062 001 mainvolume (001-255) 063 001 song-speed (001-255) 064 001 beats per minute (004-255) 065 032 channel-information: bit 0-6 - panposition (0=left,127=right) bit 7 - 0=channel on, 1=channel off [number of channels = last active channel] 097 <snglen> sequencer; contains the number of the pattern for every songposition ??? <chnnam> the names for every channel (8 chars for one name). <chnnam> = 8 * <number of channels> +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | The Songmessage (ME) | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Offset Lenght Description 000 002 "ME"; songmessage-ID 002 004 blocklenght 006 ??? songmessage; every line is closed with the CR-char (13). A 0-byte stands at the end of the whole text. +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | The Patterndatas (PA) | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Offset Lenght Description 000 002 "PA"; patterndata-ID 002 004 blocklenght 006 001 number of pattern; values from 1 to 255 are possible 007 <patlar> the datablocks for all saved pattern The structure of one pattern-datablock: 000 001 number of used channels (0-32) 001 001 patternlength-1 (0-255 for 1-256 lines) 002 016 pattern-name (filled with [32]) 018 <trklar> tracksequencing-list <trklar> = 2 * number of channels in this pattern The tracksequencing-lists descripe which track is used as which voice in the pattern. The first word in this list is the number of the track at voice 0. The second is track for voice 1 and so on... As every track is saved independend, it is possible to save some discspace by this methode: If the song contains equal tracks at several positions in the patterns, these double tracks will only saved one time. Track 0 is not saved and represents an empty track. +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | The Trackdatas (TR) | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Offset Lenght Description 000 002 "TR"; trackdata-ID 002 004 blocklenght 006 002 number of tracks 008 ??? track-datablocks; every trackdatablock is stored in this way: Ofs.000 Len.002 length of the trackdatas 002 <trackdatalen> datas for this track Every track consists of 1-256 notepositions and every notposition contains 6 bytes: byte 0 - note-value; 1 = C-0, 2 = C#0,..., 120 = B-9, 0 = nothing (---), 255 = key off (^^^) byte 1 - sample-number; 1-255; 0 = nothing byte 2 - volume; 1-255; 0 = no volume change byte 3, low nibble - number of the first effect-command byte 3, high nibble - number of the second effect-command (commands "g"-"l" get the numbers 1-6) byte 4 - databyte for the first effect-command byte 5 - databyte for the second effect-command Digitrakker stores the tracks in a packed way. The structure of this VERY effective (!!!) packformat is the following: bit 76543210 byte 0 - xxxxxxyy if yy = 00 -> <xxxxxx>+1 is the number of the empty notepositions which are following. if yy = 01 -> the last noteposition will be repeated <xxxxxx>+1 times. if yy = 10 -> the noteslot from position <xxxxxx> is copied to the actual position. if yy = 11 -> the following datas will be put in the actual noteslot: bit 2 = 1 -> note bit 3 = 1 -> sample bit 4 = 1 -> volume bit 5 = 1 -> effectcommand numbers bit 6 = 1 -> databyte for effect 1 bit 7 = 1 -> databyte for effect 2 To find out the number of notepositions in a track you should decrease a counter (startvalue: length of the packed trackdatas) while depacking. Every depacked track has to be filled out with 0-values up to position 256. When you copy the track into a pattern just take the number of positions you need for the pattern (if the pattern has a length of 64 positions only take the first 64 positions from the track). +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | The Instruments (II) | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Offset Lenght Description 000 002 "II"; intrument-ID 002 004 blocklenght 006 001 number of saved instruments; values from 0 to 255 are possible 007 <inslar> the datablocks for all used instruments The structure of one instrument-datablock: 000 001 instrument-number; (1-255) 001 001 number of samples in instrument; (1-16) 001 032 instrument-name; the name of the instrument (filled with [32]) 033 <is-len> this block contains the infos for all defined samples in the instrument; every info consist of 14 bytes, so <is-len> = 14 * number of defined samples The structure of one instrument-sample datablock: 000 001 sample-number; (1-255) 001 001 playrange-end (0-119,0='c-0'); the last note for this sample; a higher note uses one of the next samples 002 001 volume (1-255) 003 001 bit 0-5 -> volumeenvelope-number (0-63) bit 6 -> flag, if volume is used bit 7 -> flag, if volumeenvelope is used 004 001 panning (0-127) 005 001 bit 0-5 -> panningenvelope-number (0-63) bit 6 -> flag, if panning is used bit 7 -> flag, if panningenvelope is used 006 002 fadeout-speed (0-65535) 008 001 vibrato-speed (0-255) 009 001 vibrato-depth (0-255) 010 001 vibrato-sweep (0-255) 011 001 vibrato-form (0-2) 012 001 ** reserved ** (should be set to <0>) 013 001 bit 0-5 -> frequencyenvelope-number (0-63) bit 6 -> ** reserved ** (should be set to <0>) bit 7 -> flag, if frequencyenvelope is used +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | The Volume-Envelopes (VE) | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Offset Lenght Description 000 002 "VE"; volume-envelope-ID 002 004 blocklenght 006 001 number of saved vol-envelopes (0-64) 007 <ve-lar> volume-envelope datas; a datablock contains 33 bytes, so <ve-lar> = 33 * number of saved vol-envelopes; The structure of one envelope-datablock: 000 001 envelope-number; (0-63) 001 030 the positions of the 15 points are stored here; the first byte is the x-distance from the last point (1-255; 0 means, that no more points are defined; take 1 for the first point), the second byte is the y-position (0-63) 031 001 bit 0-3 -> sustain-point (0-14) bit 4 -> flag, if sustain is on bit 5 -> flag, if loop is on bit 6-7 -> ** reserved ** (should be set to <0>) 032 001 bit 0-3 -> loop-start (0-14) bit 4-7 -> loop-end (0-14) +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | The Panning-Envelopes (PE) | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Offset Lenght Description 000 002 "PE"; panning-envelope-ID 002 004 blocklenght 006 001 number of saved pan-envelopes (0-64) 007 <pe-lar> panning-envelope datas; a datablock contains 33 bytes, so <pe-lar> = 33 * number of saved pan-envelopes see at "VE" for the description of an envelope-datablock +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | The Frequency-Envelopes (FE) | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Offset Lenght Description 000 002 "FE"; frequency-envelope-ID 002 004 blocklenght 006 001 number of saved frq-envelopes (0-64) 007 <fe-lar> frequency-envelope datas; a datablock contains 33 bytes, so <fe-lar> = 33 * number of saved frq-envelopes see at "VE" for the description of an envelope-datablock +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | The Sample-Infoblocks (IS) | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Offset Lenght Description 000 002 "IS"; sampleinfo-ID 002 004 blocklenght 006 001 number of saved samples; values from 0 to 255 are possible 007 <samlar> sample-infoblocks; an infoblock for one sample contains 59 bytes, so <samlar> = 59 * number of saved samples The structure of one sample-infoblock: 000 001 sample-number; (1-255) 001 032 sample-name; the name of the sample (filled with [32]) 033 008 filename of the sample 041 004 C-4 sample-frequency in hz 045 004 sample-length 049 004 sample-repeatstart 053 004 sample-repeatlength; if this value is set to 0, the sample will not loop 057 001 ** not used ** (this was the volume in old v0.0-modules) 058 001 infobyte: bit 0 -> 0=8 bit sample, 1=16 bit sample bit 1 -> 0=forward looping, 1=bidirectional looping bit 2,3 -> packmethode (0=not packed, 1=8bit packing, 2=16bit packing, 3=not defined) bit 4-7 -> ** reserved ** (should be set to <0>) +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | The Sampledatas (SA) | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Offset Lenght Description 000 002 "SA"; sampledata-ID 002 004 blocklenght 006 ??? sampledatas; samples are stored in numeric sequence Unpacked samples are stored in signed form. Packmethode (1) is designed for 8 bit samples, Packmethode (2) for 16 bit samples. Methode (3) isn't defined in this version. A packed sample begins with a dword which contains the length of the following datastream. The description of the sample-packmethode (1) [8bit packing]:... ---------------------------------------------------------------- This methode is based on the huffman-algorithm. It's an easy form, but very fast and effective on samples. The packed sample is a bit-datastream: Byte 0 Byte 1 Byte 2 Byte 3 Bit 76543210 fedcba98 nmlkjihg ....rqpo A packed byte is stored in the following form: xxxx10..0s => byte = <xxxx> + (number of <0>-bits between s and 1) * 16 - 8 ; if s=1 then byte = byte xor 255 If there are no <0>-bits between the first bit (sign) and the <1>-bit, you have the following form: xxx1s => byte = <xxx> ; if s=1 then byte = byte xor 255 To depack one byte, you have to use the following algorithm: +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | read bit | | sign = bit | | read bit | | if bit = 1 | | then read [3bits] | | byte = [3bits] | | goto next | | else byte = 8 | |loop: read bit | | if bit = 0 | | then byte = byte + 16 | | goto loop | | else read [4bits] | | byte = byte + [4bits] | |next: if sign = 1 | | then byte = byte xor 255 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Two examples: xxxx s 1001101 = ( 9 + 1 * 16 - 8 ) xor 255 = 238 xxx s 01010 = 2 Note that the depacked bytes are delta values. To convert them to real data use this algorithm: oldbyte = 0 for sampleposition = 1 to samplelength newbyte = byte [sampleposition] + oldbyte byte [sampleposition] = newbyte oldbyte = newbyte next sampleposition The description of the sample-packmethode (2) [16bit packing]:... ---------------------------------------------------------------- This works as methode (1) but it only crunches every 2nd byte (the high- bytes of 16 bit samples). So when you depack 16 bit samples, you have to read 8 bits from the data-stream first. They present the lowbyte of the sample-word. Then depack the highbyte in the descripted way (methode [1]). Only the highbytes are delta-values. So take the lowbytes as they are. Go on this way for the whole sample! +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | ** Differences to older formats ** | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Changes from v0.0 to v1.0: - block "PN" (patternnames) doesn't exist in v1.0-modules (patternnames now stored in block "PA") the old v0.0 structure of the "PN"-block: 000 002 "PN"; patternnames-ID 002 004 blocklenght 006 <patnam> the names for every pattern (16 chars for one name). <patnam> = 16 * <number of patterns> - structure of block "PA" changes completely the old v0.0 structure of the "PA"-block: 000 002 "PA"; patterndata-ID 002 004 blocklenght 006 001 number of pattern; values from 1 to 255 are possible 007 <patlar> tracksequencing-list for the used patterns; <patlar> = 64 * number of patterns (32 words with the tracknumbers for every pattern) - new blocks in v1.0-modules: "II" (instruments), "VE" (volume-envelopes) and "PE" (panning-envelopes) - volumebyte (byte 57) in the sample-datablocks (block "IS") isn't used; the C-4 sample-frequency increases from a word (2 bytes) to a dword (4 bytes), so one whole sample-infoblock has a length of 59 bytes Extension from v1.0 to v1.1: - new block: "FE" (frequency-envelopes) +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | THE INSTRUMENT-FORMAT (IST) V0.1 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ The IST-format has the same structure like the MDL-format: Offset Lenght Description 000 004 "DIST"; the four letters mark the ist-format 004 001 version; the current version is 01h (=0.1) 005 ??? the different data-blocks are stored at this position The IST-instrument-format is subdivided into the following blocks: "II" instruments; contains all information for the saved instrument "VE" volume-envelopes; contains the construction of all vol-envelopes for this instrument "PE" panning-envelopes; the same for the pan-envelopes "FE" frequency-envelopes (new in v0.1); the same for the frq-envelopes "IS" sampleinfos; contains information for every used sample "SA" samples; contains the sample-datas The structures for the several blocks are the same as in the mdl-format. The instrument-infoblock ("II") contains one instrument only. +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | THE SAMPLE-FORMAT (SPL) V0.0 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Here comes the description for the old sample-format "SPL", which was used in older tracker-versions (V2.0-V2.2). This format isn't supported any longer in Digitrakker, that means you can read it, but you can't save samples in this form. The reason for this step was the fact, that there are too many sample-formats and it makes no sense to introduce a new one, because the existing IFF-format nearly contains all infos you need for a Digitrakker-sample. Offset Lenght Description 000 004 "DSPL"; the four letters mark the spl-format 004 001 version; the current version is 0 005 032 sample-name; the name of the sample (filled with [32]) 037 008 filename of the sample 045 002 C-4 sample-frequency in hz (00000-65535) 047 004 sample-length 051 004 sample-repeatstart 055 004 sample-repeatlength; if this value is set to 0, the sample will not loop 059 001 sample-volume (1-255) 060 001 infobyte: bit 0 -> 0=8 bit sample, 1=16 bit sample bit 1 -> 0=forward looping, 1=bidirectional looping bit 2,3 -> packmethode (0=not packed, methodes 2 and 3 doesn't exist in this version) bit 4-7 -> not used (should be set to 0) 061 ??? sampledatas... (see above) |