Sonique2 Beta Release

http://sonique.lycos.com/sonique2

What is Sonique2?

Sonique2 is a media player written on top of the powerful Mantis GUI engine. Sonique2 plays media files, displays visuals, maintains playlists, and supports advanced, free form interface design. We retained the same high quality audio experience that has made Sonique famous through our high quality audio engine and audio enhancement features.

System Requirements

Windows 98(2nd Ed. and up)/Me/NT4/2000/XP

Why release a Beta version?

We are releasing this Beta version of Sonique2 to give you a chance to get an idea of what Sonique2 is, and what it will be. A Beta is a pre-release version designed to have users test for usability and bugs, so that the final release candidate can be the best it can be. The feedback from our users will also allow us to start working on the next set of features for Sonique.

Where do I report bugs?

We have created a public bug reporting and tracking site using Mozilla's "Bugzilla" bug-tracking software. You can create an account, enter and track bugs at http://bugzilla.sonique.com.

Known Issues

These are some known issues that may affect your usage of Sonique2.

If you get an error on startup related to wmvcore.dll and WMCreateReader, you need to update your Windows Media libraries. You can do this by either upgrading your Windows Media Player itself, or by running this Microsoft utility: WMFDist.exe. We apologize for any inconvenience.
The video window has a handful of bugs where it doesn’t interact with sonique2 as well as it should. Bear with it for now – and enjoy your movie.
CDRaw is a plugin that reads the raw audio data from audio CD's in your CD drive - this is cool for many reasons (which i won't go into here). Unfortunately, not all drives support this mechanism, so it is possible you won't be able to play CD's with the current plugin. If you are having problems playing CD's with CDRaw, please see the appendix below or use the CDPlay plugin.
Windows Media Audio (WMA) support is only available for win98SE and later.
The Settings Window has some design issues that will be fixed in later builds.

Installing Sonique2

Download the installer. Run it and follow the instructions. See the known issues above for any problems.

Restoring Default Settings

In the Sonique2 start menu group there is an entry for a batch file that will delete your sonique2 settings files. Run this if you get trapped in a language you don't understand, or worse, a skin you don't understand. It may not work on all operating systems.

Systray Support

Sonique2 has some support for the Windows system tray. To enable systray options, go to the advanced section of the Sonique2 settings screen.

Video Support

Sonique2 now has some video support. It will play avi (divx and xvid) and mpg files. Basically, if you have the codec installed, Sonique2 should be able to play it. We recommend http://doom9.org/ as a good place to find codecs.

Removing Sonique2

In the sonique2 directory, find the uninstall.exe file and run it. Select sonique2 alpha2 from the list, and click ok.

Resources

Go to http://sonique.lycos.com/sonique2/ for links to resources. You can download skins and remotes, visual plugins, and get access to documentation to write your own!

Credits

Sonique2 was conceived and created by the original Team Sonique: Andrew McCann, Ian G. Lyman, Tony Million, Nicholas Vinen and others. See http://sonique.lycos.com/team/credits.php for a complete list of the originators.
The visuals that are being shipped with this Alpha were created by CoR. He was kind enough to let us include them.
Most of the icons included in this install were kindly created for us by shift. Many thanks, shift.
All of the non-English languages included in this build were translated by members of the sonique community. Thanks to everyone who has contributed, a complete list of translators will be included at a later date. Any language updates can be sent to me at john@sonique.com.

CDRaw Appendix

CDRaw is a plugin that allows sonique2 to do raw reads of CD audio data, as opposed to simply playing the CD. This is cool for many reasons like allowing you use visuals and equalization on CD audio, and to allow for ripping of CD audio. Unfortunately, raw reading of CD's is not all that straightforward due to the many types of CD drives out there. CDRaw tries two mechanisms to read your CD, if you have windows NT4, XP or 2000, you should be able to use the native window calls (method 1) - otherwise, you'll need to use CDRaw's ASPI code (method 2).

If you are having problems with sonique2 and CDRaw, the first thing you should try to do is update your ASPI manager and drivers. ASPI stands for Advanced SCSI Programming Interface and is how sonique2 communicates with your CD drive. Adaptec developed this handy mechanism for communication with SCSI devices (like your CD drive). You can read more about it and find updated drivers at http://www.adaptec.com/.
Here are links to the drivers for your system. Update them at your own risk.

for Windows 98, NT 4, Me, 2000 and XP:
http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/support/drivers_by_product.html?sess=no&cat=/Product/ASPI-4.70
for Windows 95:
http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/support/driverdetail.html?sess=no&cat=/Product/EZ-SCSI_5.0&filekey=aspi32.exe