Sound Programs for DOS

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Emphasis here is on CD players and sound, MIDI, MOD, MP3, etc., players. No specialized support programs or format converters listed. I tend to emphasize programs that don't require sound cards, although some (more) listed here do require them.


AUDIO CD PLAYERS

Also see:


1. ACP- Programmable text mode audio CD player.

* * * *

This is a complete, full screen text mode audio CD player with a full set of features. Command line mode supported as well. I (almost) stopped my search for cd players after I found ACP. Author: Andras Kekesi. Hungary. (1996)

Hints: In full screen mode, the ESC key permits background playing. On fast Pentiums you will need to patch the exes using bp7pat. Does not work properly under Win9x.

download acp_112.zip (26K)


2.CD-V- Programmable, VGA CD player.

unrated [added 11-02-99]

This non-tsr, VGA-mode CD player offers a full suite of on-screen controls including track programming, volume control, mute button, repeat mode, fast foward/reverse (coarse).

Requirements: 386+, VGA card, mouse. Two versions of player are included- one requires a co-processor/fpu.

Author: Itamar Grutman, Israel (1994); Suggested by Mike Wann.

download cd-v19.zip (160K)


3. SJGPlay- Audio CD player with cataloging and lyric features.

unrated [added 5-20-98]

This 167K text mode program caters to the more serious audiophile, but is still quite easy to use.

Concise outline of features:

Win31 and Win9x versions are also available from the author's home page. Author: Steve Gray (1996). Suggested by Dev Teelucksingh.

download sjgpl129.zip (398K)


4. CDPLAYER- Non-TSR, command line CD player.

unrated [added 05-14-99]

If you're a DOS memory miser you'll probably prefer this command line cd player. It will start a track and then kill itself. Unlike TSR players, CDPLAYER requires no memory after your track starts. Command line switches include:

  Switch       Operation                     
  ---------    -------------------------------   
  <track>      Starting track for the whole CD   
  T <track>    Play only one track           
  S            Stop playing current track    
  E            Eject tray                    
  C            Close tray
  L            Lock door                      
  U            Unlock door      
  R            Random track
  I            Info screen
  ? or H       Help

Included batch files: Play.bat - play selected track; Stop.bat - stop the current track. Eject.bat- eject the tray; Close.bat - close the tray; Random.bat- play random track; Lock.bat- lock the tray; Unlock.bat- unlock the tray; Info.bat - tell you some info about your drive.

Author: Jani Ponkko, Finland (1996) Cardware.

download cdplay10.zip (14K)


5. CDPTSR- Memory efficient TSR CD player with pop-up status line.

* * * * [added 8-9-98]

If you spend lots of time in DOS, this unobtrusive tsr cd player will definitely be worth a look. When activated, CDPTSR displays a single status line at top of screen, with playing status, track, time, and volume information.

Limitations: Author: Martin Goebbel, Germany (1998).

download cdptsr12.zip (6K)

Also see: ACP (has background playing mode)


SOUND FILE PLAYERS


1. SBPlay- SND, VOC, WAV, AIF, IFF, RAW sound files player- no sound card required.

unrated [added 6-4-98]

"SBPlay is a utility for playing back sound files. It works with Sound Blaster compatible cards and other types of sound cards with the use of DIGPAK drivers. It will also use the regular PC speaker."

Supported formats: SND, VOC, WAV, AIF, IFF, RAW. Limited support for MAC files and .AU files. Plays samples in (MOD) files at last used frequency. "It will try to play back unknown files or raw data files such as MAC SND files at 11,000 samples per second. SBPlay will also rip sound samples from MOD files and will create the SAM sample files which were used to create the original mod file. WAV and VOC sound files can also be created." "...The major enhancement [for v2.57] is for the PC speaker driver. The playback speed can be fine tuned and saved."

Get most recent updates at SBPlay home page.

Postcardware.

Author: John A. Ball, Canada (1998). Suggested by Lars-Erik Sandberg

download sbply.zip (188K; v2.57, 5-22-98)


2. LxVox- Tiny WAV file player (8-bit mono)- no sound card required.

unrated [added 11-10-98]

From the docs: "LxVox is a very small (1700 bytes) WAV file player running in 64KB of memory on any x86 machine. It plays 8bit mono WAV files of any size and supports any sampling rate...If called without parameters, LxVox searches the current directory for all files with the extension WAV. If files are found, they are played. If no files are found, LxVox exits and displays a small help screen." Good documentation. Author: Stefan Peichl, Germany (1998).

/H    Help screen display
/L    Loop endless through files
/N    No file info output
/S    Scan all subdirectories too
/Vx   Volume set to x=1-3 (HP200LX only)
download lxvox.zip (9.5K)


3. Xtc-Play- Multi-format sound file player (requires sound card).

unrated [added 7-8-98]

Soundcards supported:

Loads: Author: Sanction Team (1997)

download xtcp097c.zip (395K)


MIDI FILE PLAYERS

Also see Harmony-Central for other MIDI utils (freeware/ shareware)


1. Megamid- Full-featured DOS MIDI Player.

unrated [added 5-23-98]

See full review of Megamid.

Features:

Author: Fong Chee Keat, Singapore (1997). Cardware. Suggested by Dev Teelucksingh.

download megam166.zip (299K)


2. MIDIplay- Play MIDI files through PC speaker.

unrated [added 5-23-98]

From a reader: "MIDIplay is a freeware 19K DOS program which plays a MIDI file through a PC's internal speaker. While the quality of the sound reproduced won't make you take out your soundcard...this might be the best. (or only) bet for laptops."

From the docs: "...The output is monophonic, so some notes may be lost. Where two or more notes should be played simultaneously, midiplay plays the highest pitch one. If the MIDI file is type 1, midiplay chooses the first non-empty track to play unless some other track has been specified with the -t option. While a file is playing, press any key to stop it."

usage : midiplay midifile <options>
         -t <track>
         -c <channel>
         -s <semitones to transpose>
         -p <percentage of original speed> 100 = no change
         -i more information

Author: James Allwright (1997). Suggested by Dev Teelucksingh.

download midiplay.zip (23K) Link adjusted 8-21-98


Midget- Easy to use MIDI composer.

unrated [added 10-17-99]

"The main aim of Midget is to provide an interface that allows the user to create good music in short time, using MIDI....The interface allows the composer to hear notes as they are entered, and review them if necessary. With most MIDI programs, the user has to enter data on to an image of a music manuscript. This takes considerable skill and time to get it right all the time... Midget allows the composer to enter a note, instantly change it if necessary, and continue, in a fraction of the time this operation would take with common MIDI file editors....

....Midget uses it's own file format (.MGT) [export to MID format is supported], and a Midget File Player is also available [from home page]. Both programs work in DOS, and run best under Windows 95/98. Midget requires a fast processor (75MHz *bare minimum*, 200MHz or higher recommended), a VGA graphics card, 8MB of free XMS/EMS, and a Sound Blaster Pro/16 with a wave-table daughterboard or an external MIDI instrument. Other sound cards will fail to work if they do not support SB Pro/16 features. It will work without a sound card, but then it must be configured to use the internal speaker which doesn't produce very good results..." Author: Andrew Greenwood (1999). Home Page.

download midget12.zip (389K)


MOD PLAYERS

Some free one's I've run across including a couple that don't require sound cards. For an (almost overwhelming) list of available free and shareware MOD players (with comparison charts), see Randy Abel's MOD players site.

Also see: XTCPlay


1. Cubic Player- MOD player (requires soundcard)

[added 7-22-98]

This player seems to get very high marks from MOD experts.

Free for non-commercial use.

Authors: Niklas Beisert, et al. Germany. (1996)

download cp17.zip (329K)


2. IPLAY- MOD player doesn't require sound card.

[added 7-8-98]

Quick facts culled from the docs:

Authors: Stefan Danes, Ramon van Gorkom, et al. (1995)

download iplay122.zip (148K)


3. MMP- SVGA MOD player.

[added 7-8-98]

A high quality MOD player. Can use XMS memory for memory hungry samples. Supported formats: 669, MOD, MTM, NST, S3M, XM. Also: XI, WAV. Requires SB or SB-Pro soundcards, VESA compatible display

Author: Charles Attard (1998); Multi Module Player Home Page

download mmp5585.zip (127K)


4. OPLAY- SVGA 4 channel-only MOD player; sound card not required.

[added 7-8-98]

From the docs: "Optical Player is a fast SVGA MOD-player for DOS. and uses various visual effects to show the sounds that are currently played. OPLAY can also be used to view MOD and sample info.

Authors: Bruno Babic & Matija Tomaskovic, Croatia. (1997)

download oplay105.zip (101K)


AUDIO MPEG (MP3) PLAYERS

1. DOSamp- Play MPEG Layer 3 files (MP3).
1a. DOSAMPEX- Extender for DOSamp MP3 player.

unrated

1. DOSamp: [added 8-16-98] Untested. "DOSamp is a quick port of amp (a freeware MP3 decoder) to DOS. It uses our jSound drivers, so it supports SB and GUS Pnp cards. DOS32 (djgpp)..."-Nullsoft web page. Requires soundcard. No documentation.Author: Nullsoft. (1996). Suggested by Dev Teelucksingh.

Usage: DOSAmp file.mp3 [-downmix -downsample -8 -dmasize 32768]

download dosamp08.zip (109K)

1a. DOSAMPEX: [added 8-16-98] Requires DOSamp for playing. "Extended features are: repeat (play playlist reapetly), reverse (play reverse order playlist), shuffle (play random order playlist) modes....create and edit playlist(s)." Built in configuration screen and playlist organizer.

Author: Henrich Fukna (1998).

download dax092.exe (82K, proprietary extracter)


2. MPXPLAY- Audio Mpeg (MP3) and uncompressed Wav player, CD ripper.

unrated [added 9-12-98; updated 10-02-99]

"MPXPLAY is a DOS Audio Mpeg 1.0, 2.0, Layer II & III player (MP3) for SB16 and compatible sound cards; it will run only on 486's and up. It has a directory window to browse your harddrive and it also displays the ID3 tag (identifier tag listing song title, artist etc). Also features a sprectrum analyzer and some sound correction features (e.g., decode left channel only)." Plays WAV files, audio CD's and can copy CD tracks to wav files. Win9x LFN compatible. Under development; free for personal use only. See Home Page for latest version and betas.

Author: A. Pádár, Hungary (1999); Suggested by Dev Teelucksingh.

10-02-99: latest release v1.41 (9-99); See docs for version history.

download mpxp141.zip (210K)




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© 1994-1999. Rich Green