)( COCO-TRACKER version 1.2 )(
                 by John Kowalski (Sock Master) May 14, 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 special 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, and have at least 8Mhz processors and sometimes 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.

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), and slightly messes up a
second (it's recognizable, but some things are missing). 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 resounding
  no.  More recently I did a study to see if the 6309 could do it, and the
  result was a 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 result became ABSOLUTELY YES!
 *512K is preferred, but you ought to be able to play really small MOD files
  with 128k of RAM.
 *RSDOS will do, but this limits you to 156k MOD files.  An 80 track DOS will
  definately help.  Many MOD files are larger than 156K
 *The program boots up in RGB colors, but if you have a TV and don't mind
  funny colors you can still use CocoTracker.

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

MOD.TXT (ASCII TEXT)
MOD.BAS (BASIC ASCII)
MOD.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 Twilight@axess.com

                                       John Kowalski (Sock Master)