Ultrasound Daily Digest Sun, 13 Dec 92 Volume 1 : Issue 47 Today's Topics: Patch by patch testing & kbmidi Star Control II Tidbits from the Gravis BBS Where are you Chris Yusik? 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: Sat, 12 Dec 92 07:17:46 -0500 From: ylee@norton.uwaterloo.ca Message-Id: <9212121217.AA25516@norton.uwaterloo.ca> Subject: Patch by patch testing & kbmidi To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Whoever wants to try out all the instrumnet patches on GUS patch by patch, try KBMIDI available at archive.epas.utoronto.ca. It lets you choose patches by instrument names and adds velocity & pitch wheel control. This one is modified to work with GUS windows driver. - Yuri ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 10:28:55 -0400 (AST) From: Shadow Of Fear <8900795@info.umoncton.ca> Message-Id: Subject: Star Control II To: Ultrasound Daily Digest /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Directly from his dark office on the top of a dark Tower..... \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ For those who wants to heard the GUS with a game, buy Star Control II. It blew my mind away at the moment I started the game. AWESOME!!! And they only use 8 voices. The game says that a 386 20MHz or better is recommended. Well, I have a 286 16MHz and the game is fast and sharp. I guess with a SoundBlaster, the game uses the MOD style to produce sound so that's why they recommend a 386 or better. With a GUS, it's completely different. I recommend the game. Buy it! Music, sound effects, etc. ____ _ _ _ / \ \ /' )' )' ) | | | / / / | (_|__/ \ / / __. .__ ___ | | __. . . \ . ___ / (__(_/|__) )__/(__ \_/__(_/|__)\_)__/\__)__) <_ Markus on QuartzPARADISE and AfterFive (506)855-4974 - Canada +---------------------------------------------+-----------------------------+ | markus@info.umoncton.ca | "My son, ask for thyself | | For Talk: 8900795@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: Sat, 12 Dec 92 3:01:44 PST From: (Gabriel Ting) Message-Id: <9212121101.AA00319@fraser.sfu.ca> Subject: Tidbits from the Gravis BBS To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Here's something I picked up from the Gravis BBS which some of you might find interesting... Begin incl message---- Date: 12-12-92 00:14 From: Harry Skibbe To: All Subject: GTN0001 *GUS:MEMORY:GENERAL 92-12-11 The memory on GUS is used as a sound data buffer. The usage of this buffer is determined by the GUS application. Example #1. The application PLAYFILE.EXE (the version when this GTN was released) uses about 128k of GUS ram. When a *.SND file is played, PLAYFILE.EXE sets up a buffer in main memory where the audio data copied from the HD is placed. The data is then transfered by DMA to a 64k buffer, which weUll call buffer A, in GUSUs memory. After GUS is told to play, PLAYFILE proceeds to fetch, from the HD, the next 64k chunk of data and places it in second 64k buffer (buffer B) after buffer A. An interrupt (IRQ) is generated when GUS has RplayedS the first 64k chunk (buffer A) while continuing to RplayS into buffer B. This IRQ signals PLAYFILE to reload buffer A. After GUS has played buffer B, it generates an IRQ and loops back to start playing at the beginning of buffer A which has been reloaded with new data while it was playing buffer B. The RloopbackS IRQ signals PLAYFILE that buffer B can now be reloaded and the cycle repeats. The FLIDEMO uses this technique. An application is not limited to a 64k buffer. In theory, an application could use the maximium current configuration of 1 meg and control two or more GUS boards! The limitations are HD access speed and CPU speed. Example #2, The current version of SBOS uses 256k bytes of GUS ram. SBOS fills this ram with small pieces of sound data and plays them as instructed by the SB/Adlib application. The sound data is not replaced or swapped by SBOS, as in the above example. Unlike the above example no further HD access is required once the ram is loaded. SBOS currently needs no more than the stock 256k bytes of ram. Example #3 PLAYMIDI.EXE will attempt use as much ram as it needs for wave-table data, called patches. The amount of memory required is dependent on what the composition requires for its patches. The current MIDIDEMO demonstrates the compositions possible with 256k of available ram. More complex compositions are possible with more available ram. The more instruments in a composition, the more ram required to hold the patches. Patches sizes are determined by the type and quality of the instrument patch. *END End----- Happy GUS'ing Gab. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 10:44:03 -0400 (AST) From: Shadow Of Fear <8900795@info.umoncton.ca> Message-Id: Subject: Where are you Chris Yusik? To: Ultrasound Daily Digest /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Directly from his dark office on the top of a dark Tower..... \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ What is Chris Yusik's internet address? Gravis (on compuserve) gave me an address but I get a 'unknown user' error each time. They say it's the right address but it doesn't work. They gave me chris_yusik@sfu.ca . Is it the right address? ____ _ _ _ / \ \ /' )' )' ) | | | / / / | (_|__/ \ / / __. .__ ___ | | __. . . \ . ___ / (__(_/|__) )__/(__ \_/__(_/|__)\_)__/\__)__) <_ Markus on QuartzPARADISE and AfterFive (506)855-4974 - Canada +---------------------------------------------+-----------------------------+ | markus@info.umoncton.ca | "My son, ask for thyself | | For Talk: 8900795@info.umoncton.ca | another kingdom. For that | |---------------------------------------------+ which I leave is too small | | When all else fails, read the instructions | for thee" - King Philippe | +---------------------------------------------+-----------------------------+ ------------------------------ End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V1 #47 ******************************