Ultrasound Daily Digest Thu, 5 Nov 92 Volume 1 : Issue 10 Today's Topics: A few minor problems Composition on GUS - how do you guys do it? Flame on Gravis Non-Disclosure Agreement Gravis Talks Memory Upgrade (768k instead of a 1 Meg) Number for the memory? P.S. SB compatibility SBOS & LINKS386 Pro Some questions answered Two questions Ultrasound Daily Digest V1 #9 (2 msgs) ultrassound in New York? 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: Wed, 4 Nov 92 2:50:31 PST From: (Gnit Leirbag) Message-Id: <9211041050.AA16398@fraser.sfu.ca> Subject: A few minor problems To: Ultrasound Daily Digest In digest #9, Bill Locket writes: [quote] 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 edi t 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. [unquote] My guess with the "load patch failed" stuff is to do with the RAM on board. Take a look at the size of the .pat files and some of them are pretty big too. Increasing the size of the ram should take care of the problem. In the meantime, I messed around with the demo0012.cfg file and came up with this file which does sound okay, though certain parts were pretty weird: 0 violin 49 marcato 46 violin 80 acpiano3 *note, instrument #80 is not listed in the default.cfg file, so I had to improvise. 69 oboe 41 violin With my 256k, it comes out alright. Can't help you with EWB2 since I don't have the game. BTW, does anyone know how to get Terminator 2029 to sound proper? I only get like a few zaps at the start and after the first explosion, all sounds quiet down until I blast up another baddie. Thanks. Gab ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1992 07:55:00 +0000 From: "Rob (R.P.) Cheetham" Message-Id: <"21954 Wed Nov 4 07:56:41 1992"@bnr.ca> Subject: Composition on GUS - how do you guys do it? To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Hello readers, First - apologies for the two empty messages in last nights digest. Got my addresses mixed up. Anyway, I got a GUS a week ago, and am impressed with quite a bit of it. I'm not particularly impressed by the AdLib music emulation, though - the voices that it chooses are in many cases not even close to how they sound on the Adlib. Not like I want to go back to the AdLib... One of the main reasons for getting the card was to do music composition and arrangement. Are there any programs for this for the GUS? AdLib had the Visual Composer/ Instrument Maker combination - is there now, or are there plans for, an equiv. on the GUS? I have downloaded MODEDIT and CWB (the demo version), and am *not* impressed by either. MODEDIT sounds very scratchy, and CWB just plain doesn't work, even when I set up the MIDI.DB file to match the GUS. I may have it wrong, so if anyone has done this successfully, would they mind sharing the info? Also, sign my name on the list of people wanting an OS/2 driver. Is someone from Gravis listening? Rob Cheetham BNR Ottawa (613) 763-8601 Not BNR's views... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Nov 92 12:34:48 -0500 From: "What the World needs now..." Message-Id: <9211041734.AA20921@magick.tay2.dec.com> Subject: Flame on To: Ultrasound Daily Digest I certainly don't want to clutter the mailing list with what appears to be a flame war, so this will be my last post here on this and we can take it to email if anyone disagrees... > 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. I doubled checked by calling Gravis directly. They indeed quoted me release dates. Many times. They told me "next day", "any day now", "by the end of August", etc. > Gravis, did misinform people on their 800 and their sales service. But after > a chat with Brad Craig, everything started to fall into place. Er, ah, this is JUST what I said (and you took exception to)! They misinformed me several times, both about release dates, about driver availability, about SCSI info. About everything relating to this product! As for Brad Craig, I also talked with him and yes, "attitude" is the operative word. I've dealt with alot of companies and I recognise good customer support. And that's NOT what I'm getting from Gravis. > What's the INSTALLED (not sold) base of OS/2? What's the INSTALLED (not sold) base of Windows? And what does it matter? I'm sorry that folks in your company didn't like OS/2 but they aren't exactly on the waiting list for a GUS, are they? The point of my statement was that I got alot of different answers to whether or not they were gonna do OS/2 drivers and I'm NOT the only person who has requested them. > 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). I'm glad to hear it. > I find myself repeating continuously the same thing... Is there someone who > read COMPLETELY my emails? If not, i'm probably wasting my time. Yes, Dion, I read your emails, COMPLETELY. And yes, I'm still waiting for my GUS and that's the bottom line. I have not been treated well by this company and I, too, question their customer support. I will not buy from Creative Labs because of the way they handled the SBPro -> SBPro v2.0 -> SB16 "upgrades." And it's likely I won't buy from Gravis again because of this. DDA ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 11:27:15 EST From: cognex!sol_azteca!bobt@ai.mit.edu (Bob Tillman) Message-Id: <9211041627.AA04234@sol_azteca.cognex.com> Subject: Gravis Non-Disclosure Agreement To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Hi folks - What's so odious about this infamous non-disclosure agreement? I assume Gravis wouldn't have any problems with publishing its text here, would they? If it's not too big a job, would anyone care to type it up and post it to the list? I don't think it's fair to complain about it until we see what's actually in it. Cheers, Bob Tillman cognex!bobt@ai.mit.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 12:47:03 PST From: nestlero@chekov.usc.edu (Mikeee) Message-Id: <9211042047.AA14746@chekov.usc.edu> 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 Still no explanation as to why :-( ..That might calm some people down...Gravis? Are you out there? Patiently waiting at my mailbox....... Mikeeeeeeeeeeeee nestlero@spock.usc.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 22:45:38 EST From: Andrew Mccallum Message-Id: <9211042256.aa02177@generic.UUCP> Subject: Memory Upgrade (768k instead of a 1 Meg) To: Ultrasound Daily Digest CH> I picked up my GUS for 189$CAN+taxes [15% more )-:] CH> and it sounds great! Nah ha! I got mine for $179 /wo taxes at Big Boss Computers (Richmond Hill) CH> It is possible to upgrade it to say 512K or 768K but not 1Meg? Why? I upgraded my GUS to 1 meg for $34.50 at Big Boss. No biggie, and it's worth it. PS- Get the midi demo that Yuri sent to the FTP request site. It's AMAZING (Although you have to add in insturment 80 as "fantasia", otherwise you miss out on a big solo.) UUCP: zoo.toronto.edu!generic!terranet!andrewm ARPA: generic!terranet!andrewm@zoo.toronto.edu INET: andrewm@terranet.cts.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 22:38:05 MST From: ddebry@itchy (Dave DeBry) Message-Id: <9211050538.AA11830@itchy> Subject: Number for the memory? To: Ultrasound Daily Digest kdorff@NMSU.Edu writes: > Upgrade your memory. At "Comp USA" 256x4 at 70ns are about > 6.50 a piece. For that price I just went to a meg so I wouldn't have > to mess with it later. You got a number for these folks? -- Dave ddebry@ debry@ \ "Damn right, I got in a fight. Someone left DeBry dsd. peruvian. | the seat up. I hate that." es. cs.utah. | com edu / - David Addison ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 17:21:42 -0600 From: shafer@cs.wisc.edu (John Shafer) Message-Id: <9211042321.AA24908@ordin.cs.wisc.edu> Subject: P.S. To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Oh yeah, one thing I forgot to ask... Can the UltraSound card coexist peacefully with a SoundBlaster card (just in case the emulation doesn't sound good on my machine)? -John ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 16:11:32 -0600 From: shafer@cs.wisc.edu (John Shafer) Message-Id: <9211042211.AA24799@ordin.cs.wisc.edu> Subject: SB compatibility To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Hello all. I've just recently heard all the fervor about GUS. I had heard about it a long time ago but hadn't realized that it's finally out (for a select few at least). Anyway, I was really interested in getting a new sound card and was planning on getting the next generation SB, but this card sounds amazing. The wave-table synthesis has incredible potential. As much as I'd like to buy this card, however, SB compatibility is really a big question. I've heard opinions ranging from "SB emulation sucks" to "SB emulation is perfect & indistinguishable" (I find the latter hard to believe, esp. for FM simulation). Are there others who have the GUS and have opinions on this? Is poor emulation mainly a fault of the driver (meaning an updated driver could solve any discrepencies)? Also, is a developer's kit going to be made public domain? And finally, does anybody have any ideas how the PC game industry is reacting to this card? Will it fall to the wayside due to the almost defacto-standard of the Sound Blaster as THE PC card (no flames please)? I can't imagine a card with this much potential and consumer interest not taking over or at least becoming one of the major players. Whew! Sorry about all the questions, but caveat emptor (or whatever). These are important questions before I place an order (and wait, and wait, and wait...). Thanks! -John Shafer This is not a .sig (really) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 5 Nov 92 0:51:16 CST From: (Ronald S. Woan) Message-Id: <9211050651.AA25443@exeter.austin.ibm.com> Subject: SBOS & LINKS386 Pro To: Ultrasound Daily Digest OK... To get SBOS 1.1 to work with Links 386 Pro, upgrade to version 1.07 of Links 386 (available from Access BBS or Compuserve) and use -x2 parameter of SBOS... Links 386 Pro will still report an IRQ error under the sound test, but everything seems to work. Cheers, Ron +-----All Views Expressed Are My Own And Are Not Necessarily Shared By------+ +------------------------------My Employer----------------------------------+ + Ronald S. Woan (IBM VNET)WOAN AT AUSTIN, woan@exeter.austin.ibm.com + + outside of IBM woan@vnet.ibm.com or woan@cactus.org + + others woan@soda.berkeley.edu Prodigy: XTCR74A Compuserve: 73530,2537 + ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 7:10:06 MST From: kdorff@NMSU.Edu Message-Id: <9211041411.AA18493@NMSU.Edu> Subject: Some questions answered To: Ultrasound Daily Digest It has been posted before, but people have missed it, so I will remention it... The GUS Windows Driver is buggy in that it has trouble loading patches for any program but the Media Player (apparently). WAV files for the different events is fine, but playing midi with cakewalk or other can't be done unless you can play it with the Media Player first (which loads the patches). I hear gravis is fixing this, but don't know when or how or... About the "playmidi" error "Unable to load xxx - 7": This means you ran out of memory trying to load a patch. If you got it to play by switching patches in your ".CFG" file, it just means that new patch is smaller. Solution? Upgrade your memory. At "Comp USA" 256x4 at 70ns are about 6.50 a piece. For that price I just went to a meg so I wouldn't have to mess with it later. Any my feelings on Gravis... They have been very helpful and cooperative with me from the beginning. Good Luck Kevin ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1992 13:07:44 -0500 From: Ryan Kim Message-Id: <92Nov4.130750est.4849@bay.csri.toronto.edu> Subject: Two questions To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Question #1. How do I get this development kit for GUS? I own a GUS already, so will I be getting some discount when I order the development kit? I don't know much about handling sound etc, although I am very good at programming on PC. Will the kit be easy to use for a person like me? I want to write a player (for VOC, WAV etc) for GUS without having to worry about SBOS. Question #2. Has anyone tried "load-drv" (that came with SB) to load various drivers for Sound Blaster? On mine, it doesn't have any effect, so I can't load fmorgan.drv (?) or others. Thanks! __________________________________________________________________________ Ryan Kim University of Toronto, Electrical Engineering, Computer Group, M.A.Sc. Student Rm SF2206 (416)978-5274 e-mail: rkim@csri.toronto.edu __________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 12:25:14 EET From: Lasse Hero Message-Id: <199211041025.AA04253@mdata.fi> Subject: Ultrasound Daily Digest V1 #9 To: Ultrasound Daily Digest >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 I assume (hope!) that this concerns Telemart also, I (and many others, I believe) have been waiting our cards for quite a time from Telemart.. And I hope that those "extra" shippings to EA won't delay Telemart's shipping even more... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 11:20:35 PST From: biggles@berlioz.nsc.com (Winston Worrell) Message-Id: <9211041920.AA09943@berlioz.nsc.com> Subject: Ultrasound Daily Digest V1 #9 To: Ultrasound Daily Digest This may have been asked already, but I can't seem to get the flidemo to work correctly. I can get sound but no animation. I have another PD fli player and that plays the fli fine, but when I use the ultrafli i get a blank screen! (Also the settings were wrong in the batch file it needs to be 16 instead of 8 to get sound) 2 questions: When will the Midi kit be available and how much (what does it come with?) Can the GUS respond as a regular Midi box and play sounds along with other midi boxes connected through the midi cable (ie can i play sounds on the GUS and my TX81Z at the same time vi midi)? On the whole I am happy with my GUS, I ordered it in Mid September from EA and it arrived when I was away in Texas (10/11-10/30). [the thing said 5 weeks for delivery so I didn't really expect it to be there when I got back -- my last name starting with a 'W' and all]. I think the Forte software shipped with it needs to be improved and I really wish it emulated the MPU-401. So how do we get the developers kit? Anybody written software like WAVE for the GUS yet? (waveform editing software). -Biggles ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Nov 92 13:48:29 N From: jbergman@elixir.e.kth.se (Jan Bergman) Message-Id: <9211041248.AA04819@fanta> Subject: ultrassound in New York? To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Hi, anybody who know a shop in New York that have GUS in stock this week. Please answer by email to: jbergman@elixir.e.kth.se ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 11:51:58 GMT From: Christopher Hogg Message-Id: <7942.9211041151@tsunb.ctn.cogs.susx.ac.uk> To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Subject: Windows Drivers The version of the Windows drivers that are only 11kHz and 22kHz Mon are labeled as version 1.00 in the device driver. Is there any reason why the Gravis is not eventually capable of recording / playback of 44kHz stereo in Windows? Except of course the requirement of Windows samples to reside in 'physical' memory during playback. Also does gravis have a technical support e-mail address. Regards Chris Hogg End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V1 #11 ******************************