GUS Daily Digest Fri, 30 Dec 94 9:37 PST Volume 17: Issue 29 Today's Topics: Armored Fist Crystal CODEC chip? Oh oh, no more reprimands please. Dark Forces WILL support the GUS Does Gravis turn back to GUS ???? part 2 Gravis OS/2 Drivers. Gravis sends you stuff? GUS and Descent GUS Daily Digest V17 #28 (2 msgs) GUS Incompatibility? GUS MAX and popping during MIDI playback gus midi interface KQ7 crashes with GUS window drivers? Manley drivers vs. Gravis' alpha OS/2 drivers Megaem & Qemm Rebel Assault Reposting Entire Digest Ultrasound Internet Archive Services - New Files Validated - Dec. UUDECODE 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: Thu, 29 Dec 1994 21:07:47 +0200 (EET) From: Samuli Niiranen Subject: Armored Fist ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Dec 1994 20:18:29 -0800 (PST) From: "Peter C. Chien Jr." Subject: Crystal CODEC chip? Oh oh, no more reprimands please. >I thought there was no signiffigant hardware differences between the GUS >and the GUSMAX. So what's the deal with the Crystal CODEC chip then? I >own a MAX (for the CDROM interface, mainly) and it's amazing. So what's >in the Crystal CODEC that the standard GUS ain't got? Just wondering. > Remember how everyone totally cut down on the guy who was wondering why patches had to be loaded on the hard disk even though Gravis uses a Crystal to store its patches? Well, I think this is just another confusion that should be clarified. Crystal is a referral to Voice Crystal (tm), a patch set that Gravis uses for the UltraSound. Analogous to Creative Labs using EMU for its ROM samples. Other Voice Crystal products are RAM cards to insert into synthesizers. So that's it for Voice Crystal; it's just a company. It's not really a technology like Superman's ice computer or the gizmos they use on Star Trek. -Peter ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 Dec 94 01:38:56 -0400 From: "Chris Campbell" Subject: Dark Forces WILL support the GUS I got mail from a LucasArts employee saying that they are working on GUS support for the commercial release of Dark Forces! YEAH! -- Merry Christmas and a happy New Years! Chris Campbell campbell@fox.nstn.ca ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Dec 1994 21:31:48 -0500 (EST) From: Maillet Martin Subject: Does Gravis turn back to GUS ???? part 2 In reponse to Kevin who ask:"I was going to upgrade but decided not to since there was not supposed to be any difference from a sound-quality point of view and I don't need to do any sampling. Now I'm wondering if I made the right decision. Am I the only one who's getting these bad vibes? Any comments Gravis?" I can said no, your not the only..... Since the beginning, I have a GUS. I think since many years that the GUS is the best sound card in the market but the most important problem of this card is DEFINITLY the support. This problem is not the fault of users but of company (Gravis and software companies) who not do their best (lack of support, time in releasing software, delay, etc.) The GUS is suppose to be a BIG card, but for now, any LITTLE card already got the OS/2 support. Lets go Gravis, talk to us!!!! I really think that if the GUS is alive today, its beacause we support and participe (Digest, GUS ftp, demos, interest....). Like Kevin, I haved not upgrade because I don't need the 16 bit recording and the CD-rom port. If you (Gravis) decided to ignored all ancient GUS users say it write now! I think we have writes to know what is going on in the ULTRASOUND future. Martin mailletm@ERE.UMontreal.ca ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Dec 1994 11:09:49 -0800 (PST) From: Eric Hobbs Subject: Gravis OS/2 Drivers. Hi. I installed the new Gravis OS/2 Drivers and I found them to work quite well. Folks have been saying that they skip a bit on MIDI playback. It's just a guess, but they seem to be skipping due to patchloads. In Windows, there would always be a delay before the song started playing because the patches were being loaded. It seems that in the OS/2 Drivers, there is a small patch set in the GUS, and when a MIDI file playes, it just plays with what the card has loaded until it gets a request for a new instrument and then tries to load it on the fly, resulting in a skip. If you played a song all the way through, then immediately played it agin from the beginning, you may find, as I did, that the song playback will not skip at all. I assume because the patches that the song needs are already loaded in the GUS. Just a thought. Sorry for the spelling errors... -------------------------------------------------------------------- Eric Hobbs erich@pacifier.com "SysAdmin in training..." -------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Dec 1994 20:11:46 -0800 (PST) From: "Peter C. Chien Jr." Subject: Gravis sends you stuff? >the disks are real... i uploaded them myself... 8) they were sent to >me by Gravis.... (i hear 3.59 is out.... anyone care to upload it ?) Gravis sends you disks?! I've never gotten anything since I sent in my registration cards -- and that's for two products -- the UltraSound and the Gamepad, not to mention a personal response from Gravis email saying that they will re-enter my registration information that I've sent them over email! I never get anything from them -- why me? I've never gotten the MAX upgrade offer (I only heard it through this digest), I've never gotten an offer to beta test their super cool super expensive new joystick (heard it through the net), and I've never gotten any offers for MIDI adapters, add-on boards, UltraSound-AMD news from Gravis. All from the net; nothing from Gravis. You, my digest friends, are my product support, not Gravis. You. Thanks for being there when Gravis was never. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Dec 1994 21:36:51 -0600 (CST) From: "Mark T. Heintz" Subject: Re: GUS and Descent I have an old GUS (1 meg) and a DX2-66 w/ 8 meg ram, and Descent works fine for me... From experience, it seems Descent respects a very clean boot... No EMM, no smartdrv... Load as little as possible and give it a try... It worked for me and my friends... Just a thought, I don't think the problem is with the Ultrasound. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Dec 1994 14:22:34 -0700 (PDT) From: Shannon Bradford Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V17 #28 The Warcraft patch is out. The file is called CD115.EXE and is about 400k. I downloaded it from Blizzard's BBS 1(714)556-4602 last night. Warcraft now supports the GUS! The sounds are great. Unfortunately, There's a bug with my server, so I can't upload to the net. Hopefully someone will upload the file to the net soon and post the site. There are also many other bug fixes in this patch. Shannon ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Dec 94 22:31:25 -0400 From: "Chris Campbell" Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V17 #28 >Date: Wed, 28 Dec 1994 16:24:49 +0800 >From: "Christopher Bolin" >Subject: Dark Forces and NO GUS support! > >The Dark Forces demo does *NOT* support the GUS Yeah I know I just couldn't belive it. I mean thanks a lot. They support the AWE32 etc but do that support the GUS? They have lost my business. >Be sure to write LucasArts and tell them how much you would enjoy >GUS Support >Internet E-Mail: 75300.454@compuserve.com >Or send e-mail to LucasArts3@AOL.com Thanks for the address, let's send them so much e-mail they will be sorry they didn't support the GUS 8D8D You should post that in the soundcard groups too! >Date: Thu, 29 Dec 1994 11:34:10 -0500 >From: am246@freenet.carleton.ca (Nam H. Pham) >Subject: Dark Forces GUS sound solution > >Using SBOS v3.82, I found that if you load it with sbos -o4 >Set digital sound to Sound Blaster and if you want music (abit scratchy), >set music to 4-OP FM. Yeah but who wants crappy SBOS sound? I hope AG writes a MAXSBOS for the normal GUS. That really makes me mad ya know. Sure now all they are going to do is support the GUS MAX even though we GUS users have been supporting them from the start. >The same appends with me. The game works fine with the -nosound parametre >though. >I have GUS with 768k in a 486/66 8M >PLEASE HELP > -Dan Oops deleted the header by mistake oh well. Dan, I have a GUS with 768k as well, maybe it's a bug with 768k GUS'? Anyone that has 768k that has Descent working? >Date: Wed, 28 Dec 1994 12:57:07 -0800 >From: an136978@anon.penet.fi >Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V17 #27 > >> >>GUS Daily Digest Wed, 28 Dec 94 9:37 PST Volume 17: Issue = > 27=20 What's the deal with this? I didn't want to read all of yesterdays digest all over again! -- Merry Christmas and a happy New Years! Chris Campbell campbell@fox.nstn.ca ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 31 Dec 1994 01:10:59 +0800 From: jchen@hs.hkis.edu.hk (Jonathan Chen) Subject: GUS Incompatibility? Hello GUSers, Here is a problem that my friend has with his GUS card. HE has a ASUS PVI-486AP4 motherboard (with both VL-Bus and PCI slots) plus 8Mb of RAM. When he installed his GUS, the Diagnostics in the setgus program reported "Busy (read)" when he checked the SBOS mode and DMA. The Test function also reported failure while the SoundBlaster selection was being tested. Another intresting thing is that his Windows will hang his machine when the GUS drivers are loaded unless ULTRAMID is loaded before Windows startup. I myself used to have this problem when I tried to install my GUS in my other computer (absolutely no relations with my friend's computer except they both use 486-66's and have VL-Bus slots, and are made in TaiWan, but not by the same company). Is it some sort of incompatibility with the VL-Buses or some of the chips in the motherboard? Can it be fixed or does it require a motherboard replacement? -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- * Jonathan Chen *** HKIS student * * Internet: jchen@hs.hkis.edu.hk *** I will procrastinate... tomorrow. * -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 Dec 1994 02:55:21 -0500 From: fta@wbb.com Subject: GUS MAX and popping during MIDI playback Well, I have a GUS Max rev 1.8 and I have some problems with popping and crackling sounds, too (especially when I move my mouse!). First of all, how loud is the noise and does it happen when your GUS Max is NOT playing anything? Are you sure it's not just interference from neighbouring boards? Just my $0.02. I'm not a long-time GUS user, but these seem to be the most obvious causes and should be ruled out as early as possible. I am having problems with noise as well (not very loud, but annoying), and would be very interested in what others have discovered. In my case, all I can think of is some kind of flaw (design or accidental) in my motherboard, video card/IDE interface, GUS Max, or power supply. Really narrowing it down there! Good luck! --------------------------------------- | Call me "FRED" | | | Toronto, Canada | | --------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Dec 1994 13:09:42 GMT From: Arthur@cattell.demon.co.uk (Arthur Cattell) Subject: gus midi interface My help is limited, but having bought a gus interface, I could get no response from the keyboard. I checked that midi thru was on and all my windows drivers. Dos drivers would not work either. Help came in a free update in software from a mag. I installed the new software and everything works fine. -- Arthur Cattell ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Dec 1994 16:13:28 EST From: "Carl" Subject: KQ7 crashes with GUS window drivers? I have KQ7 which is a Windows only program and it crashes as soon as I start up. It plays about 1 second of audio and then complains about a WaveOutHeader problem, and won't let me continue. What's the deal? Is there any work around? I've tried to get the wave to play out my SBPRO and it works but I can't seem to get music (MIDI) to play out my GUS... headaches..! -- Carl Mueller cRaNeScUrEpJhArVeY WSU Detroit, Michigan :P "the way the rain comes down hard, that's the way i feel inside" ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Dec 1994 22:26:11 -0500 (EST) From: rjm@dciem.dnd.ca (Robert Manley) Subject: Manley drivers vs. Gravis' alpha OS/2 drivers lala@interaccess.com (Imre Olajos) wrote: > Subject: OS/2 Alpha driver > > Hi, everybody! > > Just a few comments on the Alpha release of the OS/2 drivers. I have > Warp installed on my machine (parallel with DOS/Windows). The Manley > drivers were OK, but the still unofficial Gravis drivers are somewhat > better than the shareware (!) Manley-drivers. My OS/2 can now play > MIDI musics through the GUS sytnh while still playing the system sounds. > A big drawback is that the GMIDI musics seem to have timing problems, > plus they get stuck once a while, but then keep on playing after a sec. > I didn't try it yet in a DOS box, but then I just installed Warp a few > days ago (it was a christmas present for myself... :), so I hardly know > OS/2 itself... If you're going to use these drivers, be sure to shut down all OS/2 audio apps before running a DOS app which touches the card (including ultrinit inside your AUTOEXEC!). Without the serialization provided by AUDIOVDD (or ULTRAVDD in my drivers), doing this could cause a TRAP. Many people have asked me what I think about them and I would have to agree with the original poster - the MIDI support seems solid and the WAVE playback is acceptable. What it doesn't have is any soundcard emulations inside DOS sessions or WinOS2 support AT ALL. These are the features that I have been working on for the last couple of months to allow me to still offer a product when this day finally arrived. One other comment. The functionality provided in my VDD could easily be integrated with their PDD. Gravis could either purchase my code or implement the standard AUDIO VDD/PDD interface (which is a subset of an extended interface I used). An offer has been submitted. 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: 28 Dec 1994 00:00:00 +0000 From: lars@istda.north.de (Lars Ehrichs) Subject: Megaem & Qemm >With Qemm 7.5 it's simple: Use the option "Pentium:VME" which is also >good for 486's Thousand excuses, of course , as others wrote, it's P:VME:N or Pentium:VME:N. Next time I'll look in the manual.(Page 91) It says it costs some system performance, does anyone know how much ? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 Dec 94 11:37:05 MET From: (Martijn de Jong) Subject: Rebel Assault Hi Gussers, I know this question was asked before, but I forgot the answer. What do I have to do get Rebel Assault working as fast with the native ultrasound support as with SBOS. In native the game's much slower which shows for example on the speech. The speech and the mouths aren't synchronous. Using SBOS they are, but you hear a bit of a popping in the music. I have version 1.7 of Rebel Assault. I guess I have something to change on my buffer configuration, but I don't know what. Thanks in advance, Martinus. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Dec 1994 17:21:12 EST From: "Scott C. Savett" Subject: Reposting Entire Digest Have we discovered who is reposting the digest to itself? It appeared that someone with an anon account did it this time. Couldn't we ask the anon service to yank their account? This IS getting annoying.... (just echoing sentiments of everyone else, I'm sure). Scott ------------------------------ Date: 29 Dec 94 13:28 -0800 From: Thomas Wong Subject: Ultrasound Internet Archive Services - New Files Validated - Dec. 29, 1994 GRAVIS ULTRASOUND INTERNET ARCHIVE SERVICES NEWS ============================================================================== Hello everyone. It's finally done....... I've just finished validating a new batch of files from EPAS' submit directory for Dec. 29, 1994 for the Ultrasound Internet Archive Services. Please allow 24 hours for all Ultrasound sites to be updated. Lot's of good stuff this time around so I'll get to it right away. Here are the file listings and the corresponding directories the files has been moved to..... ____________________________________________________________________ Subdirectory: .../demo ignite.zip - Ignite demo by Xtatic Subdirectory: .../game GF166.ZIP - DIGPAK Sound Driver for US Navy Fighter to work with GUS doom2p16.zip - patch DOOM II Ver 1.666 to 1.7a, fix some GUS problems esgusfix.zip - Metaltech: Earthsiege GUS fix from Sierra gus1m.wad - Optimized MIDI mapping for 1MB GUS for DOOM indycar.zip - Patch for Indy Car Racing for Ultrasound wc3d_gus.zip - Sound hack for GUS for Wing Commander III Demo 1994pool62.zip - 1994 Pool Ver 6.2, COOL billiard game! VGA, GUS 1995card62.zip - 1995 Card Ver 6.2, Cool card game! VGA, GUS Subdirectory: .../gravis/disk gus357-1.zip - Gravis Ultrasound Install Disk Version 3.57 gus357-2.zip / gus357-3.zip / gus357-4.zip / gus357-5.zip / gus357-6.zip / Subdirectory: .../gravis/util ail30.zip - Pre release version of AIL Ver 3.0. Not from Gravis BBS ssisbos.zip - Special SBOS Ver 3.60 for Flashback ultrahlp.zip - Ultrasound SDK Ver 2.21 Reference Version 1.0 Subdirectory: .../info GUSCD_LS.ZIP - Ultrasound Experience CD directory listing g1123.zip - G-List, date revised 11-23-94, GUS info list Subdirectory: .../sound/midi/files doomid11.zip, nausica1.zip, omd.zip, sukii.zip (GM), xmasmids.zip Subdirectory: .../sound/midi/util advent.zip - Advent Shareware program with 25 midi Xmas cards Subdirectory: .../sound/misc JUKER44.ZIP - The Juker Ver 4.4 multimedia jukebox for Win, multi-format support ck-vr.arj - DMF Files to be used by DMF X-TSR Player ck-watis.arj - DMF X-TSR Player Ver 0.10beta + DMF Files klf-vrtx.zip - KLF's first .XM release xmipack.zip - XMI Pack includes XMI to Mid convertor Ver 1.2 + XMI ripper Subdirectory: .../sound/mod/files CaveIn.zip, happyha.zip, happyha2.arj, kobold.zip, remix1.zip, vsand.zip, workrob.zip, sky_doit.arj, sky_psyc.arj, sky_stan.arj Subdirectory: .../sound/mod/util NTRAC10B.ARJ - NordTracker Ver 1.0b1, NTC + NTS tracker cmod205.zip - CapaMod Ver 2.05 MOD + S3M player for the GUS etrck07.zip - Extreme's Tracker Ver 0.7 beta, GUS tracker, many mod formats grind13.zip - GRIND Ver 1.3, Mod player with sync people dancing morgl110.zip - Morgul Ver 1.10 Mod player, file system, support compressed files scrmt32.zip - Scream Tracker Version 3.2 Subdirectory: .../sound/mtm/files mm-mercy.zip, mm-rave.zip, mm-retro.zip, sky_extr.arj, sky_nagd.zip, sky_nwpr.zip, sky_swme.arj Subdirectory: .../sound/patches/files PIANO_CD.ZIP, ar-tr808.zip, e_guitr2.zip, e_power.zip, e_reeda1.zip Subdirectory: .../sound/s3m/files asp_mhz.zip, dorado.zip, dream.zip, farewell.zip, futurist.arj, gww.zip, lumin.arj, micpho.zip, nighacid.zip, ptdrs3m.zip, spacy-c.zip, sky_armg.zip, sky_marj.zip, sky_moex.zip, sky_mosq.zip, sky_pand.zip, sky_psrx.zip, sky_sbvr.zip, sky_trex.zip, sky_wait.zip Subdirectory: .../sound/wav/files 3d_demo.arj Subdirectory: .../util/dos cdinfo14.zip - CDINFO Ver 1.4, raw audio CDROM reader/player jale067e.zip - Jaleo Ver 0.67e, Super audio system for DOS kardp10.zip - KaraDOS Ver 1, Karaoke player for DOS, supports Ultrasound kards01.zip - Song files for KaraDOS Subdirectory: .../util/os2 ultra06c.zip - Manley's GUS MMPM driver for OS/2, Version 0.6c NOTES TO UPLOADERS: =================== INTENSE.ZIP - Not GUS related. Please upload to a games site. britrpno.zip - Can't unnzip. Please re-upload. cgtab14.zip - Nothing to do with GUS. darklight.mid - Crashes when played on GUS. fracbmit.zip - Can't unzip. Please re-upload. hminscr.zip - What is this? No text file, can't tell what it is. holodeck.au - Not GUS related. Please upload to a sound clip archive. momgus.zip - Can't unzip. Please re-upload. moo_gus.zip - Can't unzip. Please re-upload. nad004.zip - No advertising on this site. q-t.zip - Can't unzip. Please re-upload. readcda.zip - Not GUS related. Please upload to other archive sites. roar1.wav - Not GUS related. Please upload to a sound clip archive. sftk700e.zip - Don't support GUS. Leave off GUS site. shades.mid - Don't seem to work with GUS. Crashes players. tililey.zip - Can't unzip. Please re-upload. uudecode.com, uuencode.com - Not GUS related. Please re-upload to DOS sites. wmidas.zip - Not GUS related. Please upload to Windows Programming sites. sky_mdrm.arj - Can't unzip. Please re-upload. PARTING COMMENTS: ================= Well there you have it. A lot of files this time around. Just in time for you to get a chance to play around with them during the New Year holidays. :) A lot of great files this time around. More GUS games like the 1994pool and card games. The pool (billiard) game is pretty cool! Thanks for all the patches to existing games and hacks for making Wing Commander III's demo to work with the GUS! Lots of new players like Grind with the dancing people and KaraDOS for Karadoke on the GUS. Cool updates like the version 3.57 of the Ultrasound install disks and Manley's latest OS/2 driver which works for the newly released Warp. And of course, tons of new cool sounds from S3M to MODs. Thanks for all the support for the Ultrasound everyone! Thanks to all the game and software manufacturers who are building their programs with native GUS support! The GUS is finally settling down as a standard that is being supported by many. Thanks again everyone! Happy GUSing! Have a wonderful New Year! Go GUS Go! :) Thomas. ------------------------------ Date: 29 Dec 94 13:57:00 -0600 From: Daryl_Welu-CDW006@email.mot.com Subject: UUDECODE Can someone email a copy of uudecode and instructions to me. I am having a heck of a time trying to find a copy of it for the PC. I have several GUS files that were sent to me that I cannot access. Please help, anyone ! Thank you, Daryl Welu ------------------------------ End of GUS Daily Digest V17 #29 *******************************