)( COCO-TRACKER version 1.3 )(
                 by John Kowalski (Sock Master) May 19, 1996.

Prepare to be amazed!  As of now, something that was thought to be entirely
impossible on the CoCo, is not just possible but an actual reality!

What is it?  It's a MOD file player!  MOD files aren't new, they've been around
for years.  They originated on the Amiga and were pretty much designed around
the Amiga's sound hardware.  Pretty soon there were players for the Atari ST,
and then finally also on the PC and Mac.  All these computers are at least 16
bit, have at least 8Mhz processors and usually special audio hardware.

MOD files have become a sort of generic song file that can be played on many
different kinds of computers, but until now, no 8 bit computer has ever been
able to play them.

Through the magic of creative programming, long hours writing and rewriting
code until it's as fast as can be, and more hours figuring out how to decode
MOD files...etc... (you get the idea), a new technical achievement has been
accomplished.  It's COCOTRACKER - the very first MOD file player on the CoCo.

This new version of CocoTracker can now play Mod files at a higher fidelity,
and also lets you have a MUCH faster oscilloscope on the screen.  This program
is so blindingly fast that my 2Mhz CoCo3 compares very well to my 32bit 80Mhz
PC.  It now also has better Mod decoding, and plays more complex files than
before.  There's also a new 50/60hz selector for Mod files that sound better
with a 50hz based tempo, and for those of you accross the sea. Now it also lets
you play the audio in STEREO if you have the Orchestra-90 Pak - though don't
try it if you don't have one.  I don't have one myself, so I can't be
absolutely certain that it actually works!

COCOTRACKER is still in development, but it's finally starting to look really
good!  Out of the 30 MOD files I've tested with it, it only completely messed
up playing one (it plays, but it sounds all wrong).  The rest of the MOD files
I've tried sound good.  I'll add better decoding of MOD files in future
versions and hopefully fix playback with any problem files.

Requirements:
 *You NEED a 6309 CPU.  A few years ago I did a feasability study to see if
  it could be done with a 6809 and the result was a flat no.  More recently I
  did a study to see if the 6309 could do it, and the result was no - but
  just barely so.  After some creative test programming, the result became
  yes - but just barely.  4 or 5 rewrites of the 'core' audio routine later,
  the results became ABSOLUTELY YES!  With these new breakthroughs in
  programming, it just *MIGHT* be possible to make a 6809 version in the
  future, but the sound quality will definately be worse than it is now.
 *512K is preferred, but you ought to be able to play really small MOD files
  with 128k of RAM.
 *RSDOS will do, but this makes it hard for you to save larger than 153K MOD
  files.  CoCoTracker now patches vanilla RSDOS1.1 to be able to read 80
  tracks and double sided disks - but you till have to find another way to
  actually SAVE your MOD files in that format.
 *The program boots up in RGB colors, but if you have a TV and don't mind
  funny colors you can still use CocoTracker.
 *Orchestra-90 Pak is now supported for even better quality stereo sound.

I've uploaded these files to FTP://os9archive.rtsi.com/RSDOS/MODS/

MOD13.TXT (ASCII TEXT)
MOD13.BAS (BASIC ASCII)
MOD13.BIN (MACHINE BINARY)

You'll need to download some MOD files too to try the program out so I'll put
a few of those there too.

Remember to *quickly* read the shareware notice when the player screen pops up.
(The notice only stays on the screen very briefly.)  The idea is that if you
like the program, then please send 10$ to :

                                     John Kowalski
                                     4885 Legion street
                                     St-Hubert, Quebec, Canada
                                     J3Y 1Z3

Yes it's a new address, but the old one is still good for the next few months
as well.

Enjoy the program.  Please send any comments to sock@axess.com

                                       John Kowalski (Sock Master)