Sorry to SonicSilicon. I didn''t read your message properly. No, I don''t think any of the mod-formats support that kind of envelopethings:

"Still, there is the issue over which allows for more control over the playing of the actual notes. I know E-mu has a system for MIDI with 6-sectioned envelopes for each
sample; Delay, Attack, Hold, Decay, Sustain, and Release. These envelopes provide control over how a sample acts such as if it were hammered, plucked, blown, pressed, etc. I have no idea whether this control is provided in any of the "MOD" formats. The 4-sectioned envelope of ADSR is resonable at least."

At least not XM. Maybe IT. But what you wrote sounds great. I''ve only made a few midi tracks (using cakewalk) so I don''t know very much.

I´m no programmer, but I just can´t see why you can not loop audio recordings. With Cubase I do this all the time without problems. All you have to do is to include some sort of audio controller in your software, but you have to do this with with MOD as well if you want it to loop at certain places etc right? I know people are working with real time control over audio to follow interactively. It´s not that hard, I think, just "loop this section" until then "jump here there and everywhere".

Concerning the 1Mb sample of every key: Not likely. There is this software Gigasampler which include a 1GB piano. Not even this one sound really like the real thing.

This MIDI control with 6-steps of the envelope sound interesting. Are you sure this is MIDI controllable? In that case, which envelope? Amplifier, filters, LFO etc? with current MIDI controll identifiers, I don´t know much about MIDI 2 yet, there is not much space to include these controllers for all envelopes. (Just 128 spots). And in any case, would it not be a shame if it only worked with EMU syntheseizers?

But it´s a very good idea, mayby its included somehow in MIDI 2?

Egad! It seams I''ve confused a few people.

Envelopes: These are applied to a sample *before* it is used in playback. Basically your setting the beginning and end points for the different sections of the sample. An Attack is usually a sudden increase in volume, the Decay a decrease to the stable level of the Sustain, and the Release is the drop to silence when the note is ended. A Delay is a period of silence or near silence before the attack. The Hold is similar to a sustain, but much shorter because it''s between the attack and decay.
The 4 section evelope {ADSR} has been a standard in synthesis for a long time. In fact, many of the pre-Sound Blaster books covered music reproduction using ADSR.

Oops, it''s a patch: That 1MB was for the entire piano. I mistakingly called it a sample at the time. It was actually a "patch" of the instrument.

Pre-recorded audio looping: What was refered to earlier was the looping of CD audio. Currently this cannot be achieved, period. It''s a physical-level problem; you just can''t move the CD-ROM drive read head fast enough and buffering is only for data. A similar problem occurs with streaming media. It''s not physical, it''s just the network lag is too much. {And, yes, to be streaming it must be on a network since it is included in the definition of "streaming media."}
However, this can be achieved with correctly edited audio files on local media. Actually, many companies sell "music loops" for multimedia use. You''ll hear them on Shockwave/Flash sites a lot. These are just short, little files, though. Still, the same can be done with any music.
I''ve heard some games that would have the files on CD-Rom or copied to the hard drive. The problem is nobody bothers to make them truly loopable in most cases. They started, played though, faded out, then started again. If they were editted better, they would''ve have worked.
If you wanted, you could make an Intro, Loop, and End and execute them at the appropriate times. I have no idea how to go about making sure they were synchronized properly.

I just want to tell you how I did the music for a game I''m making. In the intro I show some pictures andplay some speech telling the game''s story. During this the music is very moody. Then just as the titlescreen is showing, I make a fill-in and changes the music to a faster tempo. I''ve timed the music. BUT, if you cancels the intro, the music will go immidiately to the "title-music".

OK, then I''ve got music for each stage, currently I''ve got two. I''ve done these tracks in the SAME XM-file! Here''s how the file is done:

1. Stage 1
2. Ending
3. Stage 2

Each track is looped.

You may have noticed track 2 - ending. This pattern can be used to end the tracks. I''ve done it that way that it will sound good wherever you''ve decided to stop and insert the endingtune.

And I''m very happy with the results. No delays in the loopings, trackchange, etc.

Hope you understand my awful english.

This is just to confuse everybody even more.

Sonic, you are very funny. since the development of DEGs, Digital Envelope Generators, in the beginning of the 80s (Korg Poly 800, and such) the ADSR is no more. what you was telling us has thus been around for almost 20 years. But I was correct, they are working on the problems of using GM level 2 to controll envelopes, its just a matter of time.

Yes, I was mistaken. Of course I don´t mean CD-tracks to loop. I was referring to short audio bits which you can loop and add.

Uh, oh!
Most of what I was stating came from the SoundFont Creation FAQ with my Sound Blaste Live! Platinum. {You don''t know how good full-sized DIN-5s are til you have ''em.} I think they were covering the basics of making sets and patches, so I guess this is still somewhat valid.The most complex evelopes they covered was the E-mu 6-level.

I don''t really work with the keyboards themselves. I''ve got a lowly Yamaha PSR-85. It''s adequet for what I do {futzing with melodies and tracking on my computer.} My only complaint is that it isn''t GM compliant.

As for MIDI controlled envelopes, I think XG MIDI was based on, and incorporates, that concept. Unfortunately I couldn''t find any documentation on Yamaha''s sites. I know it''s there, because I read it before, they''re juct poorly laid out.

As a game player, I just have to note that it depends on the game whether music can be more than background noise or not. I play AOK with no music, but I play FPS'' racing, and some strategy games with music. I see no one has mentioned .wav files (ala TreadMarks). They sound just fine for a game where you are listenning for incoming fire as opposed to analyzing the music''s composition and whether that was a bason or an oboe playing that last roll.

I thought mods were great - 4 years ago, before I had a CD player in my computer. I think they sound better than mp3, which sound like crap on my celeron 433 and A3D card. It isn''t my speakers, since I push all my sound out to my Kenwood SRS decoder attached to a great sounding pear of Bose 101''s.

Use the right format for the right job.
Have your buds with the cheap sound cards hear your stuff.
Figure out the role of the music in the game beforehand.

Just a few pointers from a non-industry expert, but an avid game player....

.WAVs do sound good, but are huge. They''re better than CD Audio because they can be buffered for skip-free looping.

The quality of MP3s has nothing to do with the processing power of your systems. It has everything to do with how it was compressed. Too many people "shave" the daylights out of the file, and the result is a warbly sound in the mid-range sound. And, Whirlwind, your SRS decoder is doing a number on the MP3. I have an adjustable level of spatialization on my notebook and an MP3 just keeps sounding worse as I turn it up.
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Back to topic:
I looked at the manual that came with my XG Software Syntesizer. There is no control of the envelope in the XG standard. There is, however, tons of extra controls over the sound of each channel. I listened to some on a WF192X based card. BIG QUALITY INCREASE! The best part is that the WF192X chip is the on-[mother]board audio for most new systems.