Ultrasound Daily Digest Sat, 12 Dec 92 Volume 1 : Issue 46 Today's Topics: .ROL files and Ultrasound afraid of the dark Gravis Ultra Sound OS/2 driver GUS & Falcon 3.0 GUS at Fry's Electronics Sunnyvale $169.99 GUS on a 483 EISA Joystick / MIDI MIDI connector More OPTi dicussion My story with GUS New SBOS works better OS/2 patch testing playmidi and memory usage Star Con 2 with 1 Mb GUS Problems StarControl 2 Tech Line help?? Really?? Ultrasound Daily Digest V1 #45 Ultrasound For Sale What GUS needs ASAP! Information about the UltraSound Daily Digest (such as mail addresses, request servers, ftp sites, etc., etc.) can be found at the end of the Digest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 11 Dec 92 16:04:49 EST From: Mark Pfeifer Message-Id: <9212112104.AA27617@eden.avo.hp.com> Subject: .ROL files and Ultrasound To: Ultrasound Daily Digest New soundcard owner question: How can I play .ROL files on my Ultrasound? Windows, DOS, or file converter options are all acceptable - I'd just like to play a file I got from alt.binaries.sounds.misc. Thanks. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Mark Pfeifer (302) 633-8260 Internet: pfeifer@lf.hp.com Hewlett-Packard Little Falls Site #include Wilmington, DE 19808 #define OPINIONS mine ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 08:38 MST From: Dustin Caldwell Message-Id: Subject: afraid of the dark To: Ultrasound Daily Digest In response to Ian Mercado's report that his computer won't boot completely with the case on: Have you tried a boot disk? - If so, and no difference, you may be dealing with something I encountered many years ago with my Atari 800 and RANA systems disk drive. It would not read/write correctly with the case on, but with it off- No problems. That was 7th grade, and my assumption was that the drive's internals were afraid of the dark. But, after a few physics/electronics classes, I found that I had a floating ground. when the case is on, the one place that the drive connects it's internal ground to chassis ground is intermittent. This caused the intermittent read/writes. In your case, it may be that a screw from the case pushes against the motherboard, or it could be that because of paint, etc, the case is not truly grounded. this could cause stray currents in your case, and cause currents to be inducted into some of the computer's chips. Anyway, I am waiting until the beginning of next year to get my GUS. A friend found one at a local store, and hopefully I will be able to get one. Its nice to know that so many people are so gung-ho about new (and better) technologies - it restores some confidence in the future of the computer industry. Dustin Caldwell Computer Engineering dustin@gse.utah.edu dcaldwel@peruvian.utah.edu dustin@ed.gse.utah.edu ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Dec 92 21:43:02 EST From: dan@modcomp.com (Dan Grostick) Message-Id: Subject: Gravis Ultra Sound OS/2 driver To: Ultrasound Daily Digest I'm sold on the GUS. However, I haven't bought one yet as I'd like to know if you have a driver for OS/2. There are about a million OS/2 users out there, and no defacto standard has yet occured for sound on OS/2. There has been a lot of questions on the usenet group comp.os.os2.misc regarding this subject, but no answers! I think that Gravis can get the lead if they act fast. Sound Blaster already has a beta driver available, and the early bird gets the worm. How about a status update! Thanks in advance. ___ Dan Grostick Director, REAL/IX, Advanced Operating Systems, MODCOMP Telephone: +1 305 977-1558 Uucp: uunet!modcomp!dan Facsimile: +1 305 977-1250 Internet: dan@modcomp.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 19:53:59 GMT From: ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca (Phat H Tran) Message-Id: Subject: GUS & Falcon 3.0 To: Ultrasound Daily Digest In article <1g8j53INNt7@male.EBay.Sun.COM> briant@ebba8.EBay.Sun.COM writes: >Just got my GUS, managed to run Starcon2 - sounds great ! went to run Falcon3, >but I don't have enough low memory. > >With SBOS taking apporx 17k of low mem, eemem386 (or whatever) and the bit of >DOS that remains low, how do you get enough memory to run this beast!! > You have to load SBOS high. To do this, make a batch file with the following commands: @echo off lh sbosdrv loadsbos %1 %2 %3 %4 Name the file sboshi.bat and place it in your ultrasnd directory. Run it each time you want SBOS to load high. BTW, I've heard that the old version of SBOS will not work properly with Falcon 3.0 when loaded high, so this solution may solve one problem and introduce another. Look for SBOS 1.22 if this turns out to be the case. Phat. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Dec 92 10:12:33 PST From: biggles@berlioz.nsc.com (Winston Worrell) Message-Id: <9212111812.AA04446@berlioz.nsc.com> Subject: GUS at Fry's Electronics Sunnyvale $169.99 To: Ultrasound Daily Digest I saw the GUS at Fry's yesterday for $169.99, they had about 10 of them on the shelf. On another note... It seems I'm missing alot of information about what exactly comes with the GUS. In my manuals, there's absolutely no information about the midi instruments, and I only get patch numbers in windows, and I have yet to get even the faintest acknowledgement of the fact I have a GUS from GRAVIS. Anybody else feel this way....? Also, when people are loading up to epas, could somebody atleast supply the full name of the site and the full directory path where the stuff is loaded in the proper case (ie if its in 'UPLOADS' write 'UPLOADS' and not 'uploads' since I have to ftp by mail and I can't 'look-around' the site to find out where the stuff really is). Thanks in advance. Biggles. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Dec 92 17:25:59 -0800 From: cliff@trifid.astro.ucla.edu (cliff UCLA Astronomy) Message-Id: <9212120125.AA15343@trifid.astro.ucla.edu> Subject: GUS on a 483 EISA To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Well I'm one of the unlucky people who have a great sounding GUS on a flaky motherboard with an OPTI chipset. Actually flidemo and mididemo worked fine. The media player in windows worked perfectly with the midi files that came with the GUS. Then I got StarControl II and that is when I discovered that my motherboard has an OPTI chipset with a flaky DMA controller. I came upgrade my ISA motherboard to an EISA for about $370. My question is: do any of the current GUS owners use it on an EISA bus computer? I would like to know if this works before I plop down the money..... Thanks cliff ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 11:28:19 +0000 (GMT) From: Dave Ingles Message-Id: <13112.9212111128@central1.lancaster.ac.uk> Subject: Joystick / MIDI To: Ultrasound Daily Digest > 1 - +5V Line out for joysticks coords NOTE : THIS IS JUST A GUESS > 2 - Joystick 1, Button 1 In I HAVE NOT TESTED OR > 3 - Joystick 1, X Coord In BUILT THE ADAPTER YET > 4 - Ground for buttons (connect buttons here) NO WARRANTIES ON THIS > 5 - Joystick 1, Y Coord In USE THIS INFORMATION > 6 - Joystick 1, Button 2 In AT YOUR OWN PERIL!!! > 10 - Joystick 2, Button 1 In > 11 - Joystick 2, X Coord In > 13 - Joystick 2, Y Coord In > 14 - Joystick 2, Button 2 In > ************************* > 5 - Ground (MIDI In data) NOTE : BASED ON MIDI CONNECTOR FILE INFO. > 15 - +5V for MIDI In MAYBE YOU COULD JUST USE THE > 9 - +5V for MIDI Out JOYSTICK'S +5V LINE, BUT I'M TRYING > 12 - Ground (MIDI Out data) TO ISOLATE THE MIDI STUFF. > ************************* I don't think you will find this to work. According to my IBMPC manual : For a start, pin 5 is a ground not '> 5 - Joystick 1, Y Coord In' pin 6 is Joystick 1, Y Coord In not '> 6 - Joystick 1, Button 2 In' pin 7 is Joystick 1, Button 2 In A lot will depend on whether the joystick manufacturers have stuck with IBM's specification or not as IBM specify that Joystick A gets its power from pin 1 and its ground from pin 4 and joystick B gets its power from pin 9 and its ground from pin 12. As yet, I don't have a Joystick to hand so I can't check this out, but looking at the soundblaster pinouts, it doesn't look like it, as pin 9 which the joystick expects to be a +5v rail is used by the soundblaster as MIDI RX. Also I don't know if the buffer and 220R resistor as required to keep within the MIDI specification for the MIDI out, exist on the GUS card or has to be added externally. I feel that we have been let down by GRAVIS in not having access to this information. I would also like to know what the specifications for the audio inputs / outputs are. Davei -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> D.Ingles@uk.ac.lancaster << >> Telephone (0524) 59 3679 << >> Higher Education National Software Archive, << >> Computer Centre, The University, Lancaster, LA1 4YW, United Kingdom << -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: 11 Dec 92 18:21:16 +0100 From: BJORNHK@dhhalden.no Message-Id: Subject: MIDI connector To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Okay, here comes some corrections regarding MIDI connectors, and this time I've got it all from Gravis, so it's supposed to be right: The SB MIDI connector CANNOT be used without modification. The modification required is to replace the 6N136 (I think it was) circuit in the SB connector with a 6N138, alternatively adding 5.6K ressistors between legs 5-7, and 5-6. This is what I was told. Why we have been told the SB connector can be used without modifications, I have no explanation for. Perhaps it can, I'm no guru on electronics. -=* Bjorn :: bjornhk@sofus.dhhalden.no ACCESS DATA :: TEL: (+47)-9-17 50 48/61-97 791 FAX: 61-97 791 BBS: 61-97 304/97 94 945 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Dec 92 14:17:47 PST From: nestlero@chekov.usc.edu (Mikeee) Message-Id: <9212112217.AA27104@chekov.usc.edu> Subject: More OPTi dicussion To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Here's my story: I've got: Comtrade 486/33 Local Bus S3 video 4 Mb ram 210 Mb IDE HD DOS 5.0 Windows 3.1 Nothing special....the box is pretty empty right now OPTi chipset(if I remember right...haven't opened it up in awhile) GUS works great on DMA 1....Kills my computer on 7...haven't played with anything else... Absolutely no problems with installation (except for standard Setup crashes) and everything runs fine. I haven't tried too many games yet, but the ones I have all work with the settings that everyone else is using... Conclusion: IMO, the problems with the OPTi chipsets are not that bad...the sounds I get noware still incredible, so what if I can't use the 16 bit(?) DMA...I only paid $99 for the damn thing....that's less than 4% of what I paid for the computer..... not a big deal.. There are some out there that don't want to buy the GUS because of the OPTi problem... Not a good enough excuse. The GUS is still a great soundcard. Just my 2 cents Mikeeeeeeeee ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Dec 92 22:37:27 -0600 From: wity@iastate.edu Message-Id: <9212120437.AA09263@iastate.edu> Subject: My story with GUS To: Ultrasound Daily Digest I've just got my GUS from Disk-Count Software today. I ordered it on Monday night, and receive it on Friday. Don't have to wait for 3-4 months. :-) My card is Rev 2.4, and the software is v2.1. The installation is very easy, in spite of the horror stories that I read on the digest. Has anyone been able to use BoomBox software (from Dr. T's) with the GUS ?? (Btw, the installation menu of BoomBox is identical to the one for GUS). +=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+ | Wity Ganda | wity@iastate.edu | | Iowa State University | as101@cleveland.freenet.edu | +=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Dec 92 05:14:44 -0600 From: captain@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Bran Muffin) Message-Id: <9212111114.AA24186@pooh.cc.utexas.edu> Subject: New SBOS works better To: Ultrasound Daily Digest I've had better luck with the new SBOS, but it still doesn't work all that well with the "demos" I've downloaded from ftp.uwp.edu /pub/msdos/demos. In fact, most of them just crash, requiring a cold boot to get my computer to work again. However, more of them work now than with the old SBOS. Inca demo, for instance runs perfectly (except for some bad timing of explosions and flybys.) I can run vv, theparty, and several others WITHOUT sound, but when I run SBOS, and turn on the sound...CRASH! Has anyone else managed to get these demos to work? I especially would like to run unreal, but even without SBOS it tells me that I'm 9K shy of enough memory (600k free). Can anyone explain to me how to load DOS and SBOS into high memory, so that I'll have enough base mem to run things like this? My system info FTR: Toshiba T3200SXC (this is a laptop, so there aren't many mods) 5meg ram 120meg HD GUS installed 2400baud internal modem on COM3: ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 17:11:11 -0500 (EST) From: Philip Andrew Nemec Message-Id: Subject: OS/2 To: Ultrasound Daily Digest I can add another to your list - the main reason I'm not using OS/2 is because of the sound. I tried (not extremely hard) to get OS/2 beta (Win 3.1) working, but couldn't get the drivers loaded... Gravis hasn't released a driver yet, and I don't think one is in the works (I asked them a while ago, and they basically said that they wanted to work on DOS first)... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Dec 92 08:53:30 -0600 From: captain@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Bran Muffin) Message-Id: <9212111453.AA25362@pooh.cc.utexas.edu> Subject: patch testing To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Has anyone figured out a way to go through patch by patch and listen to them? It sure would be helpful when trying to locate the best patch for a song. Can anyone explain exactly how a patch gets loaded into the mem on the card, and then how it gets played back? How are the patches identified and organized in that 256k-1meg of memory? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 12:15:59 -0500 From: msl5864@ultb.isc.rit.edu (M.S. Leibow) Message-Id: <9212111715.AA04521@ultb.isc.rit.edu> Subject: playmidi and memory usage To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Hi, >According to tech suuport at Grivs.. > "Sorry, out of memory" refers to my machine's memory has run out > and "Out of Memory (hold_buffer)! " refers to out of memory on the > ultrasnd card.. > > can someone confirm this. > No. This is how playmidi works. Playmidi first reads the entire midi file into the PC's memory. MIDI files are not well structured. All of the events for different tracks have to be sorted and made into a single track before they can be played. This sorting takes a lot of memory. Up to this point, playmidi will report "out of memory" if it can't allocate memory. During the sort, playmidi finds the list of patches that need to get loaded. In order to load patches, there has to be a 64K buffer (pc's) memory which can be used to DMA data from the PC down to the card. If playmidi can't allocate that buffer, "Out of memory (hold_buffer)!" will be reported. Once you make it past that point, the patches start to get loaded. If a patch won't fit into the card, a "load patch failed - 7" message is reported. Playmidi was only intended for playing the demo files and relatively short pieces. It could have been written more like a multitrack sequencer and used disk caching to save pc memory. Window's on the other hand is much more effecient with it's memory allocation. If you can't play a huge .mid file from DOS, try Windows, or wait a few months until somebody writes a good DOS midi sequencer. Of course, if you REALLY want to hear an extremely huge .mid file, go out and buy a general midi keyboard, and attach it to the GUS. THen use playmidi -m file.mid to play the midi file through your keyboard. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Dec 92 15:03:07 EST From: BARRYM@TOROLAB2.VNET.IBM.COM Message-Id: <9212112009.AA12705@orca.es.com> Subject: Star Con 2 with 1 Mb GUS Problems To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Was there a solution to the problems with the 1 Mb GUS and Star Con 2? It's not a big deal, but it does make the music sound weird when you can hear parts of the planet exploration sounds after you're done exploring. Oh, to get it working on my PS/1 486DX/33 w. GUS, Roland SCC-1, IBM IMF's, and OS/2 I had to make the program use the board explicitly using the command line option (whatever it is). It ran, but some of the sounds were screwed up. I'm running the Service Pack on this, so I've got the Int_During_IO to ON. Anyone else out there had any luck? Happy GUSing! Barry - BARRYM@TOROLAB2.VNET.IBM.COM * Not an IBM rep, my words and not IBM's * ------------------------------ Date: 11 Dec 1992 22:46:13 +1000 From: "S.H. LEE (61) 49 21 5566" Message-Id: <01GS7FJ8TTQQ8Y4X5B@wombat.newcastle.edu.au> Subject: StarControl 2 To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Hi guys, Star control 2 would not work with my GUS unless SBOS is loaded (!) . I thinks I must be one of the most unlucky...I have tried using QEMM, EMM386/himem, and just plain configuration without memory managers.... help. LEE ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Dec 92 13:03:03 EST From: Chad@hel-cclhd.brl.mil Message-Id: <9212111203.aa09326@HEL-CCLHD.BRL.MIL> Subject: Tech Line help?? Really?? To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Hello GUSers, this is my first post to the Ultrasound digest, but hopefully not my last. I paid $155 for the card, a little high, but all I had to do to get it was drive to my local Games -n- Gadgets and get it.. they had plenty. Anyways, I called the tech line at Gravis to ask about some memory chips that I had lying around to see if they would work.. here is the rather interesting conversation: ring..ring..ring..ring..ring..ring..ring..ring..ring.. Uh Hello, I mean Gravis. me: hello.. I have a question concerning my Ultrasound card that I hope you can help me with. I have 6 44c4265-70 chips that I would like to use to upgrade to 1 meg on the card, will the faster chips work? tech: uh, I dont know.. what kid of chips does the book call for? me: hmm.. 44c4256-10 tech: uh, then you should probably use them. me: but I was led to believe, in my limited computer experience, that my chips will work as long as they are 100ns or faster, which these are, 70ns. tech: uh, dont know.. maybe.. me: can you find out? or will that be too much trouble? tech: hmm.. dunno.. me: ok.. thanks for all your help . My second question is how much will the daughter board for the Ultrasound card cost? tech: what daughterboard? me: the one that will allow me to record in 16 bits. tech: I dont know.. it isnt available yet.. probably $100 -$150 or so. me: do you know when it will be for sale? tech: dunno me: well thanks a LOT for all the help you have been tech: uh-huh I was amazed by the lack of intelligence on the other end of the phone. If all the people are Gravis are like that, I am wondering how they even get around to creating the cards. I had to go to a local computer store and sit down with a good friend and talk to him about the card, and he explained the card in better detail. I'm finished whining now.. Just a little food for thought Gravis, try to higher competent people to answer the tech support line. Maybe looking for employee's at the drug and alchohol rehab isnt a good place interview! Chad Yates ------------------------------ Date: 11 Dec 92 18:13:40 +0100 From: BJORNHK@dhhalden.no Message-Id: Subject: Ultrasound Daily Digest V1 #45 To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Some replies: > According to tech suuport at Grivs.. > "Sorry, out of memory" refers to my machine's memory has run out > > and "Out of Memory (hold_buffer)! " refers to out of memory on the ultrasnd card.. > > > can someone confirm this. > > referring to exactly.. ( I have a 1 MEG upgrade) > > > please comments. thanks. The only time I have ever got a 'Out of memory (hold_buffer)' msg, was back when I tried some of my system RAM on the GUS, leaving the PC with only 512KB and the GUS with 768 (!). It thus seems logical that this msg also refer to PC memory shortage. > I have yet to hear any stereo from Windows actually... > Also, on the issue to patch loading in windows; I've looked in the multimedia > programmers reference and there are two calls wich load patch caches into > boards. I'm waiting for an answer from gravis but I suspect this is what loads > the patches into the GUS. If this is true it should be a simple matter to put > together a Visual Basic program to let you select which program #'s (patches) > you want enabled for which midi channels. This is the support which needs to be > built into the sequencers themselves I beleive. Gravis has a beta-version of a patch-loader for Windows running, and are planning to include it with GUS-shipments within a few weeks. > Hi! I bought a GUS two days ago, and I am very satisfied. > Now I am very interested in programming the card, and would like > to know where I can get a software developers kit. > Is it available, and if so, at what cost? > Do I have to order it from Gravis, or can it be bought in a computer > shop? I suspect you would have to wait a while, awaiting the new, improved, non-disclosure-arrangment version. > So this is an earnest plea to Gravis for a promise of OS/2 support. It seems > only fair since they wish other game manufacturers to support their board. They are working on OS/2 support. How far the project has got, I don't know, but they're definitively working on it. -=* Bjorn :: bjornhk@sofus.dhhalden.no ACCESS DATA :: TEL: (+47)-9-17 50 48/61-97 791 FAX: 61-97 791 BBS: 61-97 304/97 94 945 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Dec 92 17:23:28 -0800 From: hsiaa@ucs.orst.edu (Arthur Hsia) Message-Id: <9212120123.AA06751@ucs> Subject: Ultrasound For Sale To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Hi, I would like to sell my Ultrasound, since I will not be having a computer. The soundboard has not gotten much use. Please make me an offer. The buyer pays what ever shipping they decide on. No offers under $140. The shipping will be added to that price. Don't flame about price, because I paid more than that and I understand the supply is still limited before Xmas. Arthur ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 12 Dec 92 0:15:11 EST From: lebeld@JSP.UMontreal.CA (David Lebel) Message-Id: <9212120515.AA27189@spp3.jsp.umontreal.ca> Subject: What GUS needs ASAP! To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Well, my previous USD posting was about static. Well, I first thought it was my card, but no, its not the card, as I just exchanged it today, and found that this one show the exact same problem. After a nice meeting with Francois Dion, we discussed patch, and we ended up that the GUS was a nice card, but MANY patches NEED to be redone, or reworked in a such way that clipping should not occur when those patches are used in a high volume situation, or when many notes of the same patch are played simultaneously. Is there any inside information regarding Gravis and a possible upgrade in their patches? Right now, some of them sucks, and the static is almost unbearable. Just for the sake of it, just try 'ragtime.mid', which you can find in archive.epas.utoronto.ca. This file will show you what I mean by "static". I just hope this "static" problem is patch (and/or software related) and *NOT* hardware related, cause I will then KNOW why this card got a so low price... THIS IS NOT A FLAME at GRAVIS, or the GUS in general, as I find most of it superb and blow away SB and SBpro out of the water, but as an ex-Amiga user, be sure I wouldn't show of this card the way it is right now to other Amiga fans. It would be fun if this message would be re-directed to a Gravis representative (Chris Yuzik, do you read me?), I want to know when this will be fixed. -- / David Lebel | " I don't want to start any blasphemous | / Universite de Montreal | rumours, but I think that God's got a sick | / lebeld@jsp.umontreal.ca | sense of humour and when I die, I expect | / (514) 343-6532 ext. 44644 | to find Him laughing. " - Depeche Mode | ------------------------------ End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V1 #46 ******************************