Ultrasound Daily Digest Wed, 4 Nov 92 Volume 1 : Issue 9 Today's Topics: A few minor problems cadwdemo.zip cakewalk Can Gravis be trusted for future support? card-review Digest Admin: FTP site -- new requirement Flame on Gravis, are you listening? gravis-talks GUS Shipments gUS shipping in the US? Memory upgrade MID files. Windows drivers Digest Address: ultrasound@dsd.es.com To post to tomorrow's digest. Request Server Address: ultrasound-request@dsd.es.com To subscribe, unsubscribe, and request files. Owner Address: ultrasound-owner@dsd.es.com To contact a human if the server has troubles. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 3 Nov 92 10:12:44 CST From: Bill Lockett Message-Id: <9211031612.AA04949@tamsun.tamu.edu> Subject: A few minor problems To: Ultrasound Daily Digest I recieved my GUS last Monday from EA. I guess I was one of the early buyers I am having problems with Earl Weavers Baseball II and playmidi. I can play The demos, but I tried playing the La primavera demo that I got from this list, and it sends me the message load patch failed Marcato -7. I tried to edit the default.cfg file but I guess I really don't know what to do to it. I did get it to finally play the song, but it sounded horrible with the wrong instruments rl Weaver Baseball uses SBOS -o2, great I get sound and music from my GUS. Then I throw the first pitch. Strike comes blaring out of the PC speaker and no more sound the rest of the game, except for the crappy PC speaker. Any information on how to fix these problems, and maybe some tutorial on using playmidi and midi files would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Bill "Friend don't let friends use Macintoshes!" ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Nov 1992 09:06:58 -0500 (EST) From: "Adam K. Rixey" Message-Id: Subject: cadwdemo.zip To: Ultrasound Daily Digest I've gotten the cadwdemo.zip that was mentioned in yesterday's newsletter, but I can't get any sound out of it. I've set it up for the Multimedia extensions as the MIDI port, and when I choose one of the setup options it lists the Ultrasound as output, but I can't hear anything - do I need to connect some sort of MIDI instrument to the port to be able to hear music? Speaking of MIDI files, only about half of the ones I have play any sound. Is there a program out there better than Windows' own Media Player that will play all my MIDI files? [Most of them came from archive.cs.ruu.nl] - AkR - ar2w@andrew.cmu.edu ------------------------------ Date: 3 Nov 92 10:15 -0800 From: Thomas Wong Message-Id: <2362*twong@civil.ubc.ca> Subject: cakewalk To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Hello all. Unforntunately, I mistakenly deleted my copy of cakewalk. And I can't find the message which told us where the ftp site is at. Can someone let me know, or just post a reply on the mailing list in case anyone else wants to know. Thanks in advance. Thomas. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Nov 1992 10:09:51 -0500 (EST) From: The Mad Scribbler Message-Id: Subject: Can Gravis be trusted for future support? To: Ultrasound Daily Digest > Also, Gravis should indeed pay for both their "predictions" and their > attitude about said "predictions." They just don't seem to get it; they > can't play fast and loose with their customers and expect to not suffer the > consequences. OS/2 drivers? Who cares, we might do 'em. Developer's kits; > well, 300 other folks don't have a problem with that nondisclosure. Yea, > we'll ship "next week." :-( Come on now... > > Now, I'm sure the board sounds bloody awesome, but for most folks it's > still vapourware! I for one and extremely anger and frustrated over this > whole thing, Gravis's excuses and justifications notwithstanding. I want > their attitude "corrected" and if they won't take the hints, let them > suffer the consequences... > > DDA I'm sorry to say I agree. I've been on back order since September and if I'd been told the Ultrasound was to be released in December, I would definately have waited. Instead, however, I was told it would be out in two weeks, next week, next week, next monday, and now another 10 days. If I now heard that a great new card was soon to be released, I'd still wait for it, but Gravis has lost my confidence. I'd really love to have a great new sound card, but how can I trust this company to give me future support? It's an honest question. I don't believe for a second that it's going to be in my hands next week! Is Gravis a company I want to rely on for future support? I know Gravis is on the mailing list. Could you please respond to this and tell me why I haven't received my soundcard so I can trust your company enough to do business with you? -Morgan *************************************** * Morgan Stair * * BC / Institute for Space Research * * (617)552-8783 * *************************************** ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Nov 1992 10:06:00 +0000 From: "Rob (R.P.) Cheetham" Message-Id: <"28601 Tue Nov 3 11:09:02 1992"@bnr.ca> Subject: card-review To: Ultrasound Daily Digest ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Nov 92 16:35:54 MST From: ddebry@itchy (Dave DeBry) Message-Id: <9211032335.AA04335@itchy> Subject: Digest Admin: FTP site -- new requirement To: Ultrasound Daily Digest When we actually do find an ftp site for this mailing list, I think we'll have to put all the back issues of the digest up. I've been getting a lot of requests for these. BTW #1: Yes, there is someone who is looking for an FTP site for us. BTW #2: Please don't request back issues from me right now. I'm busy with other stuff. When an FTP site is found, you can get them there. For now, anything important enough to be reprinted is generally up for request on the request server. (If there's something you'd like to see there, let me know.) BTW #3: No, there never was a digest #1. The counter started off wrong, and since it's incremental, it won't get fixed until I up the volume number from 1 to 2. I'll probably do that on January 1. (There were, however, several digests mailed out before I started numbering from 2. So, when the FTP site goes up, I'll probably just pack all those into one file and call it Digest #1.) -- \\\ "No ma'am, I'm a dolphin." \\\ \\\ - Chevy Chase in Jaws II, "Saturday Night Live" \\\ \\\ \\\ \ ddebry@dsd.es.com \ debry@peruvian.cs.utah.edu \ Email either address \ \\ Dave DeBry \\ `finger debry@peruvian.cs.utah.edu` for contact info. \\ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Nov 92 13:28:09 EST From: dionf@ERE.UMontreal.CA (Francois Dion) Message-Id: <9211031828.AA03574@brise.ERE.UMontreal.CA> Subject: Flame on To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Misinformation is the biggest plague of Internet... Now as the almost ex-president would say: read my lips! > From: "What the World needs now..." > Subject: EA Delivery > Sorry, I REALLY have to disagree with this attitude. In my opinion, EA > should indeed have nothing to do with Gravis ever again. Consider that EA > has taken an immense amount of flak/heat for something over which they have > no control, namely Gravis's delivery fantasies. EA is a business and their If EA was not lying then that would be fine, but if they kept on OFFICIAL releases date then people wouldn't expect it next day. Since august distributors had 2 release dates, the second beeing the good one (in Canada). In the states, no fixed date was quoted. Now, beeing in the telecom business, i know that sometimes people LIE to you in the hope that you'll wait and still do business with them. It can be the manufacturers, the distributors or the resellers. Most of the times, resellers don't even check with distributors and quote anything that looks reasonnable. If they do check, distributors probably won't check it with the manufacturer. They will quote something that looks reasponnable again. That is why we have had almost everyday on the calendar as release dates. Someone even quoted that it would be released on the x of whatmonth, and another person replied that it was a SUNDAY! Gravis, did misinform people on their 800 and their sales service. But after a chat with Brad Craig, everything started to fall into place. EA also misinformed people. I didn't call EA to ask why... So, who's to blame? EA is as guilty as Gravis, so stop this non productive flame. > Also, Gravis should indeed pay for both their "predictions" and their > attitude about said "predictions." They just don't seem to get it; they > can't play fast and loose with their customers and expect to not suffer the Ok, now read what i just typed. > consequences. OS/2 drivers? Who cares, we might do 'em. Developer's kits; What's the INSTALLED (not sold) base of OS/2? In our company three person bought OS/2 but removed it from their HD since most of our applications had problems (Excel 4.0 if i remember correctly). There is not enough applications for OS/2 at the moment to make a big installed base, which would warrant an OS/2 driver. This is not a flame on OS/2. Of course, as OS/2 2.1 with multimedia is almost a reality, Gravis should look at doing an OS/2 driver a bit more seriously. I would expect one in february or march from either Gravis or a third party... Speaking of which, there was someone working on a OS/2 driver. Who was it? > well, 300 other folks don't have a problem with that nondisclosure. Yea, This is over. There is absolutely no problem with the non-disclosure. There will be a UNIX SOURCE DRIVER. I have posted here and on comp.soundcard.whatever about the agreement i finally concluded with Gravis (Brad Craig). There can be an amendment if you find something unacceptable in the non-disclo sure form. And after looking at it, i had a concern only for the Unix driver (to protect my but), so i wrote an ammendment, send it to Gravis, and they found that acceptable. So there. If any one has a problem with the non disclosure, email me stating where you find it abusive or whatever... I find myself repeating continuously the same thing... Is there someone who read COMPLETELY my emails? If not, i'm probably wasting my time. > Now, I'm sure the board sounds bloody awesome, but for most folks it's > still vapourware! I for one and extremely anger and frustrated over this > whole thing, Gravis's excuses and justifications notwithstanding. I want > their attitude "corrected" and if they won't take the hints, let them > suffer the consequences... What attitude? The problem is with misinformation going at the speed of light on this network... *flame off* > ------------------------ > From: dchien@boole.seas.ucla.edu (David H. Chien) > Subject: The Multisound and Adlib/SB software & cards > > A Sierra game often is compatible with the Adlib, SB, and Roland > sound cards. Many times, other programs are compatible with one > or more of these sound cards. > > Is the Multisound compatible with these programs? Are you talking of the Turtle beach multisound? Then you are on the wrong mailing list. > y - Which one(s)? and how compatible? > n - Can it be made compatible? Does it coexist with the above > cards inside a PC? If you are talking about the Ultrasound, then yes it is compatible with Adlib and SB. Not with Roland. It doesn't seem to coexist with a SB. Cant say why...(even without sbos, the sb and adlib software emulator). BTW, for everybody: SBOS is for Sound Board operating system not sound blaster operating system. Ciao, -- Francois Dion ' _ _ _ CISM (_) (_) _) FM Montreal , Canada Email: CISM@ERE.UMontreal.CA (_) / . _) 10000 Watts Telephone no: (514) 343-7511 _______________________________________________________________________________ Audio-C-DJ-Fractals-Future-Label-Multimedia-Music-Radio-Rave-Video-VR-Volvo-... ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Nov 92 8:52:10 MST From: Stuart Yoshida Message-Id: <9211031552.AA06511@elektra.fc.hp.com> Subject: Gravis, are you listening? To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Before I begin, I'd like to say that I think Gravis has shown a willingness to listen to their customers and share information about the GUS (up to the point of disclosing proprietary information about their implementation of wavetable synthesis). It also seems that they are making a solid effort to give decent customer support for the GUS. I have personally had a good experience with Gravis' customer support (and I don't even own one yet!), and I hope they will continue to provide the same level of customer support in the future. I'm also very looking forward to receiving my GUS from Telemart. But-- I also agree with "DDA" (dantonio@magick.tay2.dec.com) that Gravis needs to be more upfront with us about delivery dates. Gravis MUST give us realistic schedules. The company I work for has experienced the negative impact of failing to deliver a product at the promised time, and I think Gravis might feel that same negative impact if they pull this stunt with any future card(s). If you're going to be late, then give us the bad news right away. BE HONEST! Don't kid yourselves (and the customers) by setting unattainable delivery dates. And PLEASE DON'T LEAD US ON! It only disappoints and frustrates customers like me. Take a hint from Borland and look at the way they dealt with the schedule slip for Quattro Pro for Windows. That's a good example of how a company should deal with a product being late. I hope that DDA writes to Chris Yuzik (yuzik@sfu.ca), the Gravis representative on Internet, to express any concerns DDA has. I hope EVERYONE who feels this way sends a letter to Gravis. No need to be nasty; just let 'em know how you feel about this issue. I'm certain that the GUS is a fantastic card for the money. I'm also certain that I'll get hours (days, weekends, months :-) of enjoyment out of it -- once I receive it, that is. But if Gravis wants to keep me buying cards from them in the future, then they should take heed: IF YOU'RE GOING TO SLIP A SCHEDULE, BE HONEST WITH YOURSELVES AND THE CUSTOMERS! P.S. I've sent a copy of this letter to Chris Yuzik. -- Stuart Yoshida Internet: yoshida@elektra.fc.hp.com Voice: (303) 229-2324 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Nov 1992 10:08:00 +0000 From: "Rob (R.P.) Cheetham" Message-Id: <"28674 Tue Nov 3 11:09:23 1992"@bnr.ca> Subject: gravis-talks To: Ultrasound Daily Digest ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Nov 92 19:57:25 PST From: yuzik@sfu.ca Message-Id: <9211040357.AA24869@fraser.sfu.ca> Subject: GUS Shipments To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Hi Everyone! I have just had a meeting with upper-management this evening regarding shipments, especially to EA. We (Gravis) will be sending out the completion to EA's order in the latter part of this week, and EA should receive it in the first couple of days of next week. Hopefully, all who ordered from EA will receive their cards shortly thereafter. On behalf of Gravis, I would like to sincerely apologize for the delay in shipping GUS to Electronic Arts, as well as our distributors and retailers. We at no time intended to mislead anyone with regards to shipping dates. Our production is being stepped up in an attempt to meet current demand for GUS. Sincerely, Chris Yuzik chris_yuzik@sfu.ca ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Nov 1992 08:04:58 EST From: Hard On The Beaver Message-Id: <009630D7.1DFCB140.3671@UALR.EDU> Subject: gUS shipping in the US? To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Does anyone know of the GUS has shipped in the US yet? If not, how legal would it be for a canadian to purchase one and send it to a friend? Thanks, Jacque Andre' Bussey jabussey@ualr.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Nov 1992 15:35:00 +0000 From: "Nhut (N.) Nguyen" Message-Id: <"19003 Tue Nov 3 15:36:05 1992"@bnr.ca> Subject: Memory upgrade To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Hello everybody, I picked up my GUS for 189$CAN+taxes [15% more )-:] and it sounds great! However, 256K of memory seems not enough for complex patches. So I am thinking of upgrading it. Now comes the question: It is possible to upgrade it to say 512K or 768K but not 1Meg? Please post any info. here. Thanks. Cheers, Nhut. A new GUS owner. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Nov 1992 12:23:14 -0400 (AST) From: Marc Paulin <8900795@clement.dsd.ES.COM> Message-Id: Subject: MID files. To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Hi, I noticed by using 'midi-demo' that I could receive a MID file for my GUS. I tried that MID file but I received a 'unable to load marcato - 7' and my marcato patch is in my current directory. Anyways, I have a collection of three MID files. They're not outstandings but they're not bad. I have another collection, on the other hand, that has two very clear, outstanding, REAL stereo MID files that sound just awesome on the Gravis. I was thinking, since you have a demo available on-line, if you would accept my MID files and put them available for the mailing list members. We need support and I'm giving my share. :) So, what do you say? ____ _ _ _ / \ \ /' )' )' ) | | | / / / | (_|__/ \ / / __. .__ ___ | | __. . . \ . ___ / (__(_/|__) )__/(__ \_/__(_/|__)\_)__/\__)__) <_ Markus on QuartzPARADISE and AfterFive +---------------------------------------------+-----------------------------+ | markus@clement.info.umoncton.ca | "My son, ask for thyself | | For Talk: 8900795@clement.info.umoncton.ca | another kingdom. For that | |---------------------------------------------+ which I leave is too small | | When all else fails, read the instructions | for thee" - King Philippe | +---------------------------------------------+-----------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Nov 1992 16:03:48 +0000 (GMT) From: Christopher Hogg Message-Id: <2428.9211031603@tsuna.ctn.cogs.susx.ac.uk> Subject: Windows drivers To: Ultrasound Daily Digest I have reasently discovered that the set of windows drivers included with my GUS are supporting only a limited sub set of what the card is capable of. According to the driver it can record and playback 11kHz and 22kHz mono samples only. this is even worse than the Sound Blaster Pro (urghh !). Does anyone know if there are newer drivers available or in development. Also is there any kind of technical notes / development kit available. Cheers Chris ------------------------------ End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V1 #9 ******************************