In addition to playback, ASAP features conversion and editing metadata.
Exporting audio (WAV/MP3)
For playback on devices where ASAP does not run, you need to convert to popular audio formats such as WAV or MP3.
This can be done using a general-purpose player with an ASAP plugin. For example, in foobar2000 select songs on the playlist, right-click and use the "Convert" menu.
To convert from the command line:
asapconv -o .wav Lasermania.sap
To preserve metadata (title/author/year):
asapconv -o .wav --tag Lasermania.sap
The above will only convert the default subsong. You can select any subsong (counting from zero):
asapconv -o .wav -s 2 Lasermania.sap
Or convert every subsong to a separate file (with numbers in filenames):
asapconv -o Lasermania-%s.wav Lasermania.sap
You can convert many files at once and customize the output filenames using metadata from the source files:
asapconv -o "%a - %n - song %s.wav" --tag *.sap
On Windows, asapconv can output MP3 files using
libmp3lame.dll or lame_enc.dll (not included in ASAP):
asapconv -o Lasermania-%s.mp3 --tag Lasermania.sap
Exporting to Atari executables (XEX)
If you want to play music on your real Atari 8-bit computer, you can export SAP and the tracker formats to Atari executables (XEX format).
On Windows, you can do this from the File Information window, which is available in the fooobar2000 plugin ("View/ASAP info" from the main menu), XMPlay, Winamp and WASAP.
Click "Save as..." and select "Atari 8-bit executable" as the file type.
Alternatively, use the command line:
asapconv -o .xex --tag Euglena_Zielona.tmc
The --tag option includes display of metadata and the remaining playback time
on screen while running the program. Without it, the screen is blank.
Like with WAV files, the above only converts the default subsong.
Use the -s option or the %s output filename placeholder
for subsongs.
Converting tracker formats to SAP
Atari 8-bit tracker files, such as RMT, can be converted to the SAP format. On Windows, use "Save as..." from the File Information window described above. On any operating system, you can use asapconv.
Main reason for such a conversion is the ability to specify metadata. You can type it in the File Information window or specify on the command line:
asapconv -o Komar.sap -a "Lukasz Sychowicz (X-Ray)" -n "Komar" -d "2002" Komar.mpt
Extracting tracker formats from SAP
A SAP file consists of metadata, 6502 code and data. If it was created directly from a tracker file as described above, the original tracker file can be extracted.
Use "Save as..." on Windows or the following command line:
asapconv -o .rmt Colding.sap
Editing metadata
You can edit metadata (title/author/date/time) in SAP files using:
- the File Information window
- Properties in foobar2000
- asapconv
- the Windows Explorer extension
The File Information window is limited to editing one file at a time. The other methods can modify many files (for example, set the same author), for example:
asapconv -o .sap -a "Rob Hubbard" *.sap
Relocating tracker formats
If you are developing a new Atari 8-bit program, you might need to adjust the loading address for your music file. Specify the requested address in hexadecimal:
asapconv --address=a000 -o relocated.rmt original.rmt
Mass conversion
asapconv supports filename wildcards. To recursively process directories on Windows, use for example:
for /r ASMA %f in (*.sap) do @asapconv -o .%e %f
The above command will extract native modules in different formats and write them next to the SAP files in the ASMA directory. On macOS or Linux use:
find ASMA -name \*.sap -exec asapconv -o .%e {} \;