This is a new version of Forte, almost completely rewritten.
The program itself is mostly OOP now, using class modules for lots of things.
This keeps the code tidier, and this version should be more stable!

StarLaunch Homepage

Front End Central

ZSnes
homepage
Butcha's
homepage
WinSPC
homepage
Snes9X
homepage

Forte is a frontend for SPC players / emulators. It currently supports SpcPlay, OpenSpc, and WinSpc. It can create and manage playlists, and unzip and play files from Zip files, and comes with a load of nifty little gadgets that you'll probably never use :).

By the way, it's written in Visual Basic 5. It is possible to write good Apps in VB5! For anyone that doubts it, take a look at Jump Point Ion.

What's New

3.3X

Supports ZD-Spc, somewhat.
Fixed a bug where Forte wouldn't set itself as the foreground window when double clicking on the tray icon.
Revised some of the source, it's still available!

3.2X

Released the source, for anyone that wants to look at it.
Supports the new WinSPC.

3.1X

New parameter, "/assert". If you have a copy of Forte already open, and explorer restarts, leaving you without the tray icon, start Forte with this parameter, and it'll reassert it's icon. (Thanks to Nitro for sending me the syntax for the new Tray functions, but i can't port them to VB.., damn MFC...)
Supports drag and drop from windows! Drop files onto the main form.
Updates window can now be shown.
If you loaded a new playlist via the playlist editor, it'll now force Forte to reload the active playlist.
Plays a short wave file preceeding launching a spc player, to prevent windows system async playing sounds.
Continues playing a file if an element in the playlist has the same name as the currently playing song.
About window now bounces the credits :)
Compiled to P-Code, no need for the Native code compiler in this app.
Numerous bugfixes.

If anyone wants the source, email me. I'm considering making it available to the public, with the advent of SpcAmp :) Problem will be releasing the files in a workable state... ( 3 usercontrols, two aren't mine :) )

Known problems:

Volume positioning is automatically centered. This is fine for most people.
Doesn't support ZD-SPC, as of yet.
Of course, it doesn't support SpcAmp.
(I could support the two above players, depends if it's worth it. Postmessage is a very useful API call..)
Might try to run WinSPC or OpenSPC with .zst files, if you ask it to.
Won't minimize if you ask windows to minimize all windows (anyone know the message's name?)

3.0X

Decided to write this readme in html, since almost everyone has a web browser.
Rewrote most of Forte, and ditched the é, because it was annoying to type, and now i think it's stupid :)

If anyone really really likes this app, send me an anime tape :)

Installing

Forte requires the comctl32.ocx, unzip32.dll and msvbvm50.dll runtimes. Everything else in the frontend is done with VB. If you download the full install, these are included. If not, then please check your windows system directory for the presence of these files. Comctl32.ocx and msvbvm50.dll must also be from the VB5 SP3 release, or greater, otherwise Forte probably won't run.

When you first start the program, you should be prompted with a welcome message. You should then click the Options arrow (below options) to bring up the Options menu. Then click Setup, and configure your Player paths, and Forte settings.

After that, you're ready to go! If you want to play single files, click on the play button, and Forte will prompt you for a file to play. If you want to create or play a playlist, click the option arrow again, and click on Playlist mode. You can then click the Playlist arrow to bring up the playlist window, where more options are available.

Both single file player, and playlists support Zip files.

Features

Playlists!
Zip file support
SpcPlay, Openspc and Winspc support
Detects if the player is closed in playlist mode
Variable countdowns in playlist mode
Onboard volume control
Forte can hide the player session (except for winspc, it won't let me)
Forte can use a redirected stdinput for Spcplay, for more accurate app closing
Tried to keep away from a typical VB-created GUI :)
Supports explorer associations
Will stop playing and switch to an explorer associated song

Notes

You can't switch which player you're using while a song is playing. This is because some variables within the SpcEmu FE class module are dependant on the player, and switching them while it's playing can result in problems, so switching the player while a song is playing is disabled.

You can't specify a player for an individual SPC. The player setting is global for all playlists, and single files.

The volume will adjuster will cancel any panning options set in volume control. This is because VB doesn't actually support unsigned longs, and calculating the volume involves using logic operators, and i'm not sure how windows' volume control keeps the volume setting independant of the panning.

Windows, except the playlist, will center relative to the available workarea.

The playlist will always be on top of all other windows when shown.

Thanks to:

--(See the about window in Forte)

SPC Archives!

Snes Music Archive
--My archive. Seiken Densetsu 3, Tales of Phantasia, and more!

SPC-tacular SPCs!
--Lots of SPC music, including Terranigma

Rika's SPC archive
--More SPC music, including Variable Geo, and Violinist of Hamelin

Cat Sith2's Final Fantasy music page
--Music from the Final Fantasy Snes games (including FF5)

Zophar's Domain
--Console Emu site, has a large SPC collection

Other SPC Frontends

(These i know of, and work :) )

TK's SPC Frontend