GUS Daily Digest Mon, 28 Nov 94 9:37 PST Volume 16: Issue 28 Today's Topics: .MID to .AU (2 msgs) 16 bit recording comparison between gusMAX and gus FS: 16-bit Recording Daughterboard Gus and Armored Fist GUS and Music GUS and Soundblaster ? GUS Daily Digest V16 #24 (2 msgs) GUS Daily Digest V16 #27 GUSDMX? gus memory and others... GUS Version? IndyCar Racing 2 AIL support??? Memory Upgrade? Reading from the mic and new install disks SAW and GUSmax? The 7th Guest UltraMID under OS/2 WinDoom Windows NT Drivers Standard Info: - Meta-info about the GUS can be found at the end of the Digest. - Before you ask a question, please READ THE FAQ. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 27 Nov 1994 14:21:05 -0500 (EST) From: Mike Batchelor Subject: Re: .MID to .AU Not the GUS Server once wrote... > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Date: Sun, 27 Nov 1994 01:52:53 EST > From: timkwan@MIT.EDU > Subject: .MID to .AU > > Hi, does anyone know if there is a shareware program out there that will > allow me to convert my .MID file to a .AU file? I tried connecting the > speaker outlet of the GUS to the microphone input of of the GUS. I ran > the Windows Media Player to play the .MID file, and at the same time > pressed Record on a Windows-based .WAV recorder. I did get a .WAV file > but it was very noisy but was still listenable. Then I ran the convert13 This is really the only practical way to do it. Essentialy, you playback the MID file, and record what it sounds like. MID is sequencing instructions, and instrument assignments. It has no audio data whatsoever - it's the job of the synth to supply sounds as instructed in the MID file. AU is a straightforward digitized audio file, that is nothing *but* audio data. The two file formats represent completely different kinds of data. It's like the difference between PostScript and GIF. You don't need to do any fancy cable-jumping to record a MID file with a GUS 3.4 or newer. Play the MID file, and record the line-in with the WAV recorder. The GUS mixer will route the synth output to the line input. You have to have the record and play DMA on separate channels, though. You can change it with the GUS setup program. You can also get better recordings if you record a file to the RAM disk, or directly into memory. Recording to disk introduces skips. -- M.Batchelor@babylon4.clark.net Prediction #1: Taxes will be the same or higher in 1996 as they are now. Prediction #2: There will be no balanced budget amendment. Prediction #3: No term limits will be enacted. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Nov 1994 10:09:35 GMT From: Clarke Brunt Subject: Re: .MID to .AU >Hi, does anyone know if there is a shareware program out there that will >allow me to convert my .MID file to a .AU file? I tried connecting the >speaker outlet of the GUS to the microphone input of of the GUS. I ran >the Windows Media Player to play the .MID file, and at the same time >pressed Record on a Windows-based .WAV recorder. I did get a .WAV file >but it was very noisy but was still listenable. Then I ran the convert13 >program (downloaded from epas) to convert the .WAV file to a .AU file. >When I then tried to listen to the .AU file via Mosaic, all I heard were >screeches and static noises. Since the .MID only has note on/off messages, and does not contain the samples that it plays (these are in the .PAT files), a direct converter seems unlikely. I guess your method of recording a .WAV *could* have worked - if it is noisy, then that sounds to be some sort of electrical problem looping the GUS output back to its input. Is it more noisy than when you record other things - remember that you only have 8-bit recording on a standard GUS? How about taping the output and then recording the playback of the tape in a second operation? Converting your .WAV to .AU should be possible as long as the converter correctly takes account of stereo/mono, sampling rate, signed/unsigned, 8/16-bit. Screeching and static sounds like what you might get if the signed/unsigned option is wrong. I guess when you say you play with Mosaic, you mean using a 'viewer' program which Mosaic is configured to use for .AU files - I didn't think Mosaic could play .AUs by itself. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Nov 94 08:32 MET From: hst@mh.nl (Klaas Hemstra) Subject: Re: 16 bit recording > >Nice to see how many answers I got on my thought. But all >involved a cd-rom player. What if I don't have a cd-rom >player, but I do have a normal audio cd-player with digital >out. Would it be possible then? I guess it is, but then >again the question is: Where are the 16 bit lines? > >Martinus. If you want to do that and you are into hardware a little bit, then you are better off building your own interface. Your CD-Player probably has a serial digital line-out hasn't it ? So you must make something that shifts the bits into a shift register anyway, so that you have the 16 bits in parallel. If you want to use the GUS to read those 16 bits in the computer, then you have a big problem synchronizing the two. You can much easier read the data with a simple 8 bit interface (the parallel printer port could do the job, if it can keep up with the 175Kb/sec coming from the CD-ROM drive). Now you still don't know where the 16 bit lines are, sorry :-) If you want to do it for fun then do it, but if you want my advise, you should really consider what you want to do with the samples. I wrote my READCDA program, sampled a little with it, and found that making your own patches is not so simple. It takes a lot of time, which i don't have enough for all the things i want to do. Try getting a good sample through a friend, play with it and see if it is really worth it then build your interface. Klaas Klaas Hemstra (hst@mh.nl) | / / ,~~~ ~~/~~ uucp: ..{uunet!}sun4nl!mh.nl!hst | /--/ `-, / ___ |_/ |__| Multihouse Automatisering B.V. Gouda,Netherlands| / / ___/ / --- | \ | | Kb's of data = Kb's of information, Mb's of data = Kb's of information .!?!.. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Nov 1994 21:21:31 -0600 (CST) From: Antonio Guia Subject: comparison between gusMAX and gus it has been suggested to me by Emory Macfee (yes, i'm horrible at spelling names!) that others may benefit from a message i sent someone today, so i'm forwarding the same message (only slightly doctored to protect the innocent) to the list... the message follows: As per your questions, the difference between a gusMAX and a regular gus card deals mostly with the recording, but there's a few more features. The gusMAX has 16-bit recording whereas the gus has only 8-bit recording and the recording quality of the 8-bit gus is not that great, even for an 8-bit adc. The MAX also offers an attenuator for the line input and for the cd input lines (meaning you can turn down the volume on those inputs) and an auxilliary amplifier (preamp really) for the mic input in case your microphone does not pick up very well. The sound recording side has adpcm encoding built-in so that the info comes through already compressed meaning less cpu time needed and less disk space taken while recording. The playback is the same as with the original gus (no audible or measureable differences from what i can test) with only a few differences in the drivers (mostly because of the various available volume adjustments for the various inputs). The final difference is in the cdrom interface: the gusMAX comes with three different cdrom interfaces and sound input lines and you just have to choose which one you want to use. I don't think you can use more than one cdrom at any one time though although i haven't tested this. If you don't have a mitsumi, panasonic, or sony cdrom, or have room to use the interface that comes with it (on the bus slots), and if you don't need to be able to record or use a microphone with it then you probably won't benefit from getting the gusMAX. I wanted it since i need to use the microphone to embed vocal descriptions of my data with my files to save me the time of having to read through the whole data file to find out what it is, and to record my telephone messages (computerized answering machine with a voice/fax/modem). hope this helps. -tg ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Nov 1994 10:48:47 -0500 (EST) From: Len Moskowitz Subject: FS: 16-bit Recording Daughterboard For Sale: GUS 16-bit recording daughterboard. Includes disk, manuals and registration card. $50 plus $2 shipping. Len Moskowitz moskowit@panix.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Nov 1994 14:52:14 -0500 (EST) From: Pete Kilcullen Subject: Gus and Armored Fist Has anyone obtained sound effects from AF?? I can get music using MEGAEM and with the AF files set to DMA1 IRQ7 for SFX and MT-32 for music. Novalogic has a beta sound file out to try to fix all the complaints about no SFX, but I still get no SFX from my 1 meg GUS. Novalogic and GUS did support Comanche.. so I'm suprised that AF hasn't been supported. I f anyone has any news, please reply. Pete ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Nov 1994 09:52:02 -0500 (EST) From: Len Moskowitz Subject: GUS and Music I'm trying to use my PC as a project studio. The first order of business is to use it as a multi-track recorder. I have a GUS Max but don't care for its recording sound quality, so I record to an outboard DAT and use a PC/DAT interface card to let me transfer the DAT's tracks into the PC as .WAV files. This part works fine except none of my sound file editors will recognize the interface card/DAT combination as a soundcard, so I still have to use my GUS to play the files. Most of my recordings are acoustic instruments so I don't use midi yet. But now I need a drum machine. Are there any natural sounding drum kit patches for the GUS Max? I'm also looking at the Boss DR-660 and Alesis SR-16 drum machines. Can the GUS Max compare to them in sound quality? Can someone recommend drum patches that sound good and a good quality/reasonably-priced sequencer software package? Once I have a sequence programmed, can I capture the midi data stream directly to a WAV file or do I have to play it analog and then record it to either the DAT or the GUS Max's recording input? I've also played with a few software mixers/editors. Goldwave is a nice shareware program but only handles files that will fit in RAM. Cool is crippled in its shareware form and doesn't handle recording and multi-tracking very well. WAVElite is a joke; I can't even get it to recognize the GUS Max's 48 kHz sampling rate. SAW is professional quality software (it is not cheap) that does everything I need but, though it is supposed to work with MPC soundcards, it seems to prefer Turtle Beach and DAL's boards; it has problems with the GUS Max. Also, SAW likes Windows to run without the memory manager and the GUS windows driver needs the manager. Are there any other multi-track mixers/editors that I've missed? Is there any way to get SAW running with the GUS Max? Thanks for all comments! Len Moskowitz moskowit@panix.com ------------------------------ Date: 27 Nov 94 00:00:00 GMT From: Rincewind@salem.heide.de (Michel Mohrmann) Subject: GUS and Soundblaster ? Hi, is there a way to run a Soundblaster and a GUS in one computer at one time ? so i can use the Soundblaster if the Game does not support GUS (Magic Carpet) and SBOS ? Is there a way to "switch off" the GUS ? Michel Mohrmann ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Nov 1994 10:07 -0500 From: DANTONIO@PROCESS.COM (Momentary Language, Sexual Situations) Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V16 #24 > Date: Wed, 23 Nov 1994 17:35:27 -0800 (PST) > From: Stephen Thomas Brindle > Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V16 #23 > First of all, if you're going to get a GUS, get a GUS MAX. This has > higher recording ability, and has twice as much memory as the original > GUS. It also has 3 CD-ROM interfaces. I got mine for $175. Hmmmm. I don't think this is a true; I think the GUSMax has 1 MB of memory same as the GUS. In addition, the GUSMax uses funky memory chips of 512K each whereas the GUS uses "normal" 4x256 chips... DDA ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Nov 1994 10:24 -0500 From: DANTONIO@PROCESS.COM (Momentary Language, Sexual Situations) Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V16 #24 > Date: Thu, 24 Nov 1994 01:52:50 -0330 > From: Aaron Cameron > Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V16 #23 > Creative labs has no email, no ftp... I'm not sure how many would care, but Creative Labs does have an ftp site... ftp.creaf.com, has the latest DOS, Windows and OS/2 drivers... DDA ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Nov 1994 11:28 -0500 From: DANTONIO@PROCESS.COM (Momentary Language, Sexual Situations) Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V16 #27 > Date: Sat, 26 Nov 1994 14:35:00 -0500 > From: dave.stubbs@canrem.com (Dave Stubbs) > Subject: Ultramid / OS/2 > I have a question: does Ultramid work under OS/2 with the Manley > drivers installed? When I try to run it, it locks up the VM, but > not the entire operating system (better than SBOS, at least...) Ultramid works just fine for me in a DOS VDM using the Manley drivers (it worked fine using no drivers, too). I did have to use DMA channel 1 to get some DOS games to work, though... DDA ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Nov 1994 12:43:27 -0800 (PST) From: Marty Danko -Khertz- Subject: GUSDMX? Hello, I have a problem with the music in doom2, levels 13 and 14. I get like this static noise from certain intrments, but this only happens in doom2. I want to change the DMX settings (like ultramid.ini cept its in the wad file). Now I found a wad file called DMXGUSC.WAD or something that had the default insturments to be loaded , only problem is it sounds like shit! The wrong insturments are being loaded for all the levels. My question is, is there a way to pull the DMX settings from the main wad file? Then I could change the 2 insturments that are giving my trouble... btw I have a 1mb gus. I figure I could just copy whatever names of the patches I want in my \ultrasnd\midi\ directory... but I'd have to find out what ones...... thanks.. -Marty mdanko@dhs.ucdavis.edu ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Nov 1994 17:19:47 -0700 (MST) From: Ignatius Tam Subject: gus memory and others... Forwarded message: > Date: Sat, 26 Nov 1994 23:48:03 -0600 (CST) > From: Left Tackle > Subject: GUS/Windows setup problem > > message, something to the effect of "ULTRASND.DRV and GRVSULTR.386 have a > version mismatch". I checked the FAQ, and made sure that only the needed seems to me the install don't put the newer files inside the windows dir, try to dig up those files from the install disks or wipe out the gus dir to reinstall again see if it works. > ------------------------------ > > Date: Sat, 26 Nov 1994 16:36:25 -0600 (CST) > From: Left Tackle > Subject: GUS Version? > > have one of the earliest versions. There is no CD-ROM interface, there > is no CD Audio connector on it, and those are two things that I need. I oops, you've bought the original ultrasound, be careful next time... :) but... no cd audio connector? no way, it should be on the top beside the gf1. check again, if not, sorry... > deal if I have to trade it away. So, my questions are, what version of > the GUS do I have, and, would buying a new one solve my CD-ROM woes? what "woes" do you have? if you have an empty slot, buy a cheap multi-cd card under $20 would do the trick since the cd interface only allows panasonic, sony and mitumi anyway.... good luck > > Date: Sat, 26 Nov 1994 20:04:52 -0400 (EDT) > From: SSARTOR@TrentU.ca > Subject: Memory Upgrade? > > I have a gravis ultrasound with 256k and am wondering how necessary > it will be to upgrade the memory on this card. I do not do any recording, > but I use it for windows and games. Will upgrading this card do anything > for me. Considering the upgrade to 1 meg is almost $90 from gravis. since you're using original gus, look for an old/used vga video card and take out its memory (those 4256 chips) and put into gus, but you need 6 of them tho. sure you will benefit from upgrading since you can play more instruments at once and some games seems not stable when you have less than 1 meg ram, and megaem will sound better if you have more ram to store the instruments. > > Date: Sat, 26 Nov 1994 14:35:00 -0500 > From: dave.stubbs@canrem.com (Dave Stubbs) > Subject: Ultramid / OS/2 > > I have a question: does Ultramid work under OS/2 with the Manley > drivers installed? When I try to run it, it locks up the VM, but > not the entire operating system (better than SBOS, at least...) yup, actually the registered version uses ultramid to emulate GM in a dos box, very nice indeed. but do you have v1.12? I used 1.12 and got lock up so i dug up the older ultramid (v.1.11) in the ultrasound experience cd and it worked really fine. > Date: Sat, 26 Nov 1994 20:02:55 -0400 (EDT) > From: SSARTOR@TrentU.ca > Subject: What's The Deal With Patches > > I do not understand how this patch thing works? I have a stock GUS > with 256k. I notice when I play some games with SBOS or MEGAEM emulation > that some of the sounds sound kind of funky. From what I understand, this > is fixable by getting better sound patches and installing them. Is this > true, and if so how do I go about doing this? no, see my post above. you don't have enough memory to hold enough patches, so megaem loads a very small subset of instruments and that's why megaem sounds funky. if you installed the windows drivers and played around with patch manager you will see loading a patch requires 20-30k of memory. Too bad the gus can only have at most 1 meg memory installed. however, sbos *ALWAYS* sounds funky since it's not hardware adlib emulation. > Date: Sat, 26 Nov 94 19:50:38 +0100 > From: jpdgreve@vub.ac.be (De Greve Jean-Pierre) > > It uses AIL3 drivers (that's what the headers show) > which got .DIG & .MDI as extension. It also uses the DOS4GW extender ... is gus not supported ? if it is, download ail321X.zip (X a number) from the ftp sites see if it works (i don't know about warcraft, sorry :) ) -iGnatius ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Nov 1994 10:14:15 GMT From: Clarke Brunt Subject: Re: GUS Version? > There is no CD-ROM interface, there is no CD Audio connector on it, > and those are two things that I need. There are CD-ROM daughterboards for the ordinary GUS, while I think the GUS MAX comes with several interfaces. Personally, I prefer a separate SCSI interface than anything attached to a sound card. As for the CD Audio connector, surely all GUS have these? It's not an external connector - it's just 4 pins in a line on the board to which you can connect a cable from the CD-Audio-out pins on the CD drive. (Getting the right cable is most peoples problem - R and L are the outside pins, with two grounds in the middle.) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Nov 1994 22:31:28 -0600 From: lala@interaccess.com (Imre Olajos) Subject: IndyCar Racing 2 AIL support??? Hi, I replaced the sbdig.adv with gf1dig.adv and I replaced sbfm.adv with gf1mid.adv, I load UltraMID v1.12 in the memory - and there is absolute silence. Indy 2 runs fine, everything works perfectly, but there is no sound at all! Any tips anybody? Imre OLAJOS, Jr. (LaLa of TranSByte) lala@interaccess.com ___ __o U.S.A. (Chicago suburbs) ___ _-\<,_ Phone/fax/modem: 1 (708) 595-7038 ___ (_)/ (_) _-~-_-~-_-~-_-~-_-~-_-~-_-~-_-~-_-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Nov 94 11:02:33 MST From: dchow@stu.athabascau.ca (Donald Chow) Subject: Re: Memory Upgrade? > Date: Sat, 26 Nov 1994 20:04:52 -0400 (EDT) > From: SSARTOR@TrentU.ca > Subject: Memory Upgrade? > > I have a gravis ultrasound with 256k and am wondering how necessary > it will be to upgrade the memory on this card. I do not do any recording, > but I use it for windows and games. Will upgrading this card do anything > for me. Considering the upgrade to 1 meg is almost $90 from gravis. > Well alot of music files will sound right unless you have a full meg of memory, if you listen to and mod music, you can only use those with less than 256K of samples. Midi files will also sound better w/1meg, since you can then usually load more instruments at 16bits, instead of 8bits reduced patches you can't even load some midi files with only 256k. For games, some will not sound 'right' with only 256K, such as The Horde, where if a Hordlin steps into the water the sound will be a garble instead of a splash. Games like DOOM will have enhanced music. And games with genmidi will sound much better when you can load more instruments. As for price I found a local store that sold the chips for $8 each Canadian, so I spent $48+gst for my upgrade, so check around. Your gus is better and easier to live with when you have the full meg. Don -- Donald Chow | X-Phile, GATB & SSTB dchow@a.stu.athabascau.ca | Call (202) 555-6431 for a 'IDDG' time bf298@freenet.carleton.ca | Go-o uchi masuka? ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Nov 94 15:11:05 EST From: john@snowhite.cis.uoguelph.ca (John Morton) Subject: Reading from the mic and new install disks I am trying to write a windows program where I have to get the mic input. In VB I can record a wav to memory but I want to be able to read at a specified sample rate. Is there a dll to do this? Can I read the mic port? I realize this is more of a windows programming question but I am lost. The other question I have is about the new install disks. (I think it is 3.68? I can't remember the exact number) Anyway I got them off the net and sbos is complaining about my sbos.cfg file. Is this a common problem? Is there a patch? Thanks for any help, John CS160 TA john@snowhite.cis.uoguelph.ca ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Nov 1994 09:28:34 -0500 (EST) From: Len Moskowitz Subject: SAW and GUSmax? Has anyone tried using the GUS Max with Innovative Quality Software's SAW? SAW is a pro-quality audio workstation with four stereo tracks, mixing, effects and more. It is not cheap. SAW is supposed to work with any MPC card but seems to lock up after a short time using the GUS. All comments appreciated! Len Moskowitz Core Sound moskowit@panix.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Nov 94 14:22:12 MET From: (Martijn de Jong) Subject: The 7th Guest Hi Gussers, I just got a Philips CM206 Dual speed CD-Rom drive and the 7th Guest v1.4 I believe. I installed the install part of The 7th guest on my stacked (4.0) drive, put the gravis adv's in the dir and edited the groovie.ini file to use the adv's. I run ultramid 1.03 with options -l -c1000 -m80 from my autoexec.bat to be able to have enough free base mem. (576K). I use Himem and emm386. My problem is this: When I start the 7th guest everything goes fine. I then start a new game -> demo starts. Great music, but then the speech starts. it is clear but it sounds like some static is influencing my card. It has big scratches from time to time. It's only in the speech and I haven't had this with other games so far. It makes the speech annoying to listen too and so blews the game. Has anyone else had the same problem and how did he/she solve it? Any help is greatly appreciated! Martinus. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Nov 1994 11:12:53 -0500 (EST) From: rjm@dciem.dnd.ca (Robert Manley) Subject: UltraMID under OS/2 dave.stubbs@canrem.com (Dave Stubbs) wrote: > Subject: Ultramid / OS/2 > > Hello all, > > Is Gravis thinking about coming out with OS/2 drivers any time soon? > For the time being, Robert Manley's drivers are VERY nice... Thanks for the kind words. > I have a question: does Ultramid work under OS/2 with the Manley > drivers installed? When I try to run it, it locks up the VM, but > not the entire operating system (better than SBOS, at least...) > > I would like to run Sierra games under Warp, but they require me > to install Ultramid. Of course, I don't have enough memory under > plain old DOS, so I just can't do it there... > > Any help on this would be appreciated... With all versions of UltraMID beyond 1.08, make sure you set DOS_HIGH off for the session. With this setting, I haven't had any problems at all. FYI, this was discovered purely by trial and error. Robert. -- # Robert J. Manley, NEW: rjm@dciem.dciem.dnd.ca # # NTT Systems Inc., Toronto, Ontario, CANADA # # OS/2:OSs :: 92,93 Blue Jays:MLB :: Canada:World # ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Nov 94 09:47:29 CST From: rjf1@ho1focus.ho.att.com Subject: Re: WinDoom > My question specifically: WinDoom - Where is it? No where. >Is it commercial? Shareware? Vaperware? (as of today?) As I understand it, WinDoom was written by ID to test the WinG API for Microsoft. Microsoft does not have it, only Id and they have have not officially released it. Also WinDoom is not a complete port of Doom. bob flynn noprophead@aol.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Nov 1994 20:07:29 -0600 From: tmcgoug@metronet.com (Timothy J. McGough) Subject: Windows NT Drivers I hope I'm not reposting a previous question, but I've looked in all the GUS listings and can't find any info on a GUS driver for NT 3.5. Anyone able to point me in the right direction or tell me if there is even such an animal? ------------------------------ End of GUS Daily Digest V16 #28 *******************************