The Psychedelic Screen Saver - Version 3.9
Copyright (C) 1995-1998
All Rights Reserved
http://www.synthesoft.com


This file contains the following information:

OVERVIEW ..............: What is The Psychedelic Screen Saver?
CD/SPECTRUM PRO........: What is it and why do you mention it?
RELEASE NOTES..........: What should I know about version 3.9?	
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ...: What do I need in order to run it?
INSTALLATION ..........: How do I install it? / How do I get rid of it?
REGISTRATION ..........: Where can I find info on how to register it?
QUESTIONS/SUPPORT .....: Where can I get help with problems?
UPDATES................: When is the next version due?


                               OVERVIEW

  The Psychedelic Screen Saver generates an endless variety of mesmerizing 
patterns. As the patterns materialize on your screen, the colors will shift, 
undulate, and generally speaking, look cool. Whether you're into abstract 
art, mathematics, or just have a history of mental illness, you'll love 
this screen saver.  
  
  Version 3.9 of The Psychedelic Screen Saver has been designed to work in 
conjunction with CD/Spectrum Pro 3.3 in order to provide stunning visual 
effects that synchronize with the sounds from an audio device (like the CD 
player in your computer). With many of the module controls you can now 
associate a sound frequency, a range of effect, and a sensitivity.  
Fluctuations in the amplitude of the frequency will oscillate the control 
values within the range of effect. 


                            CD/SPECTRUM PRO

  CD/Spectrum Pro is a 32 bit shareware CD-Audio Player with a Graphical 
Spectrum Analyzer for Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0.  It can be used in 
conjunction with The Psychedelic Screen Saver in order to allow the patterns 
and the colors generated by the screen saver to be synchronized with sound.  

  CD/Spectrum Pro has almost every feature you can find on any software CD 
player.  It supports programmed mode, intro mode, optional taskbar icon 
operation, auto-play, auto-exit, auto-eject, artist/track/title database, 
etc. It also recognizes CDP files which can save you from typing in all the 
track/title information for your CDs. The spectrum analyzer graphically 
depicts the frequency spectra of the CD music in real time. 

  CD/Spectrum Pro is not a part of The Psychedelic Screen Saver, it is a 
separate product and must be registered.   However, if you register both 
CD/Spectrum Pro and The Psychedelic Screen Saver at the same time you can 
do it at a reduced price.  

See the file "OrderFrm.TXT" for complete information on registration.



                       PSYCH V3.9 RELEASE NOTES	

* Installing The Psychedelic Screen Saver v3.9 will overwrite prior 
  versions of The Psychedelic Screen Saver. If you've installed a 
  previous version (2.5 or higher) you may want to backup, rename, 
  or otherwise save the file "psych.scr" in your \system directory 
  (on Win95) or \system32 directory (on WinNT).  Psych v3.9 is 
  compatible with your existing saved settings.

* The Psychedelic Screen Saver v3.9 is free to users who have 
  registered any 3.x version and is available to users who have 
  registered an earlier version of The Psychedelic Screen Saver as 
  a $10 upgrade. This fee licenses you for Psych 3.9 but not for CD 
  Spectrum Pro. 

* Registering Psych v3.9 gives you a license to use all updates of 
  The Psychedelic Screen Saver prior to version 4.0 and *ALL* 
  previous versions.

* You must have a sound card installed (and properly configured) in 
  your system in order for Psych 3.9 to sync with sound.

* CD Spectrum Pro 3.3 must be running in order for Psych v3.9 to sync 
  with sound.



                           SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Suggested:
*  The Psychedelic Screen Saver v3.9 runs quite nicely on a 80486 DX2-66 
   system.  However, if it is being used in conjunction with CD Spectrum 
   Pro then you'll probably want at least Pentium 90 (or better <g>)

*  Microsoft Windows NT or Windows 95

*  We recommend (but dont require) a 256 color display card.  While the 
   screen savers will work just fine in high/true color modes, you will 
   only get the palette animation effects in 256 color video modes.

   In order to get some of the effects that they use, the screen savers 
   use a palletized video mode. This means that colors are referenced by 
   index rather than by RGB value. By using a palletized  video mode, the 
   screen savers can change the RGB value that corresponds to a particular 
   palette index and the result is that all of the colors on the screen 
   that use that index are immediately updated. Neither high or true color 
   modes use a palette, so it is not possible to achieve the effects without 
   manually updating the entire display. Since updating the entire display 
   is far too slow, we didn't code the screen savers to do it. 

   If you have Microsofts DirectX extensions installed then you can use 
   the "Video Mode" panel inside the Psychedelic Screen Saver configuration 
   dialog to set the video mode that the screen saver will run in.  The 
   screen saver can only provide this feature if the DirectX extensions are 
   installed on your system.  You can find out if you have the extensions 
   installed by selecting the "Video Mode" panel.  If there is a message 
   telling you that they are not installed then you can download them from 
   Microsofts web site at: http://www.microsoft.com/directx/



                         INSTALLATION / REMOVAL

To install the Psychedelic Screen Saver, run the setup program (INSTALL.EXE) 
and then follow the directions.  If you later decide that you would like to
remove the software from your system, run the un-install program 
(UNINSTALL.EXE) that's in the directory you installed to. 


                              REGISTRATION

Registration is easy!  The file "ORDERFRM.TXT" contains all the information 
you need on how to register "The Psychedelic Screen Saver"

Please refer to LICENSE.TXT for information on the license agreement. 



                            QUESTIONS/SUPPORT

If you have access to the World Wide Web, please take a look on our web site
(http://www.synthesoft.com) where we maintain a "Frequently Asked Questions" 
page.  The FAQ provides answers to the vast majority of the questions we get 
via email.   If you can't find the information you need there, send us email 
at: psych@synthesoft.com.




                                 UPDATES

We post updates to the software on our web site fairly often.  When we're feeling
particularly creative we may post updates as many as 2 or 3 times a month.  You 
can visit our web site at: http://www.synthesoft.com
