                            MakeCUE             last update 10 jan 98
                          ~~~~~~~~~~~
      CUE sheet editor for audio discs, designed for DAO


What is MakeCUE?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MakeCUE is a small DOS application which allowes you to create a
cue sheet file for use with DAO (Disc At Once CD recording software
by Golden Hawk Technology).
You can browse through the directory and add the WAV files.
You can add/remove these files to the cue list, add pregaps to tracks,
add additional track or subindex markers to a WAV file, move files
up and down the cue list.... anything you need (I hope so ;) ).

As a bonus MakeCUE detects CUE markers saved with Cool Edit (96)
and includes track/index markers at these positions. So you don't
need any copy-paste-sessions if you want to divide a big WAV into
several tracks.

Freeware!
~~~~~~~~~
MakeCUE is FREEWARE. Use it, copy it, paint it in red color....,
but don't send me any flames after recording 187 CDRs with a wrong
cue file. To be safe, please verify the cue files of MakeCUE!
If you have problems with MakeCUE or any critics, wishes or BUG
reports (OH MY GOD!!), just contact me by email. See below.

Installation
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Actually MakeCUE does not need any installation. You just need the
MakeCUE.exe file, there are no other important files.

How to use it
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I think MakeCUE doesn't need much explanation. If you have written
all your cue sheet files by hand yet, you'll understand what is
going on there.
Here are some points concerning some internal things you might want
to know:

When MakeCUE starts, it looks for an environment variable named
"MAKECUEPATH". This specifies the directory MakeCUE will start to
look for WAV files.
You might set it in your AUTOEXEC.BAT like:

   set MAKECUEPATH=e:\tmp\cdroot

If this variable is not set, MakeCUE will start in the current
directory. If you are using Win95, you can edit this working dir by
opening the context menu of MakeCUE.exe and select "properties".
The resulting new association file can be put in your start menu
for a quick startup (if wanted).

While browsing through a directory MakeCUE with find and display all
WAV files. All files will be tested if everything is okay to add it
to the cue list (right side of the display). The file is tested
for 44100Hz, Stereo, 16Bit, PCM and data length (to filter incomplete
files). If everthing was allright the file is displayed with its
size (in mm:ss,ff) and the number of cue points inside this file (or '-').
Otherwise you will read "<not valid for CD>" and you're not able to
add it to the cue sheet.

If you add a WAV file to the cue (by hitting [a] or [return]), MakeCUE
adds a default pregap to every track (which doesn't already have an
index 0). This default pregap can be changed in the files-menu by using
the "[D]efault pregap" function.
So if you are planning to compile a live recorded CD you might want to
set it to 0.

In contrast to the PREGAP function you can create an index 0 (which is
the part just before a new track when your audio player displays a
negative time counting down) WITH sound. See the DAO manual for more
information about pregaps and data consumption.
Every time you create a new track using the [S]wap index->track
function, MakeCUE checks the possibilty to start with index 0 and will
ask you if this is possible. You need at least one INDEX marker after it
(index 2), which will be index 1 (track start) after the change.
You cannot change the first track mark at the beginning of a new WAV to
an index, but if you try it you can start the track with index 0 instead
of index 1 (default), but again you need at least one more index point
during the same track.
Just play with the [S]wap function and you will find out how it works.

There is one of the finest sound editors, COOL EDIT (Shareware), which
has the feature to add time positions to a "CUE LIST". You can
save single points and ranges. These information will be handled by
MakeCUE (see LIMITATIONS below for an important note!).
Per default single points will become new tracks, ranges will become new
tracks, too, but the part inside the range will get an index 0.
This way you can edit a live recording very easy on a graphic display
of a sound editor.
If one of the above defaults didn't represent your wishes you can change
the status of your cue points using the "[S]wap index<->track" function.

In MakeCUE all time information is formated in "mm:ss,ff". For
compatibility (for some cut and paste jobs) you can use the more
common format "mm:ss:ff" for inputs, too.
My format variation has the feature, that you can make it very short
for inputs like "1:"=1min, "2,30"=1s,30f or "2"=2s - and it more easy
to read in my opinion.

Limitations, known problems:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You MIGHT find files, which are not marked "okay". Instead of the length
there is "<read/write error>". This is a problem I was NOT
able to solve yet (any tips?)... I have to read some portions of the
file, so I open it using BINARY mode. This mode implies a read
AND WRITE (!) access. Of course there is NO write to the WAV file, but
the write feature implies, that the file must NOT be READONLY.
If you copy the file from a CDROM drive to your harddisk it will get a
READONLY status automatically! So this file will cause this
<read/write error> message. You cannot add this file to the cue list.
To solve this problem make sure your WAVs are not READONLY!
WAV files, which are still located on a CDROM do work... strange...

I tried to avoid situations, which are not good for CD recording,
e.g. a track only consisting of index 0, a pregap in front of track 1
or similar things. I put some work in several user limits, but I can't
guarantee for an always correct cue sheet, so please verify the file!
If you are able to get into an illegal situation, please tell me how!
There is no check of overlapping ranges in the cue information of the
WAV file yet, for example!
On the other hand I expect that you want to work with the program and
not to get it into a mental breakdown, mh? ;)

The cue point import feature is only designed and tested for
Cool Edit 96! I analized several WAVs and their format and found out
the systematics of how Cool Edit 96 SEEMS to save this information in
a WAV file. This format may vary in the future or I missed some
important details, so please be careful - and tell me if there is
something going wrong. To be on the save side I put a very 'narrow road'
through the cue information in the WAV. If there is a small difference
MakeCUE will ignore the cue information and will only add the file as
one track - like MakeCUE does on WAV files without cue information.

Contact
~~~~~~~
For bug reports, critics, wish lists etc. please contact me via email:

   junglas@student.uni-kl.de (Marcus Junglas)

Happy CDing!

      /\/\arcus