Ultrasound Daily Digest Tue, 9 Mar 93 Volume 2 : Issue 64 Today's Topics: **** Gusmod 2.10 released! 2 Joysticks? [GUS] SBOS -- Please read, Gravis. [GUS] vmap 1.0 -- volume change and key velocity remapper add-to-list A tip on X-Wing Building layered Patches for GUS Cakewalk + GUS = silence :( Check out a GUS at Best Buy... Check SBOS via Batch file Chipsets GUS: Names of future releases to support it? GUS cohabitating with the SB New wavetable text (2 msgs) SBOS 1.42B2 SBOS Game Support SQ5 Works just fine for me..... Here is HOW. Ultrasound Daily Digest V2 #63 (3 msgs) X-Wing woes continue... 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. *** HEY!!! *** Before you ask a question, *** READ THE FAQ ***. It's available on the request server and the ftp sites, or check the newsgroup archives. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 7 Mar 93 22:30:57 MDT From: sl859@cc.usu.edu Message-Id: <1993Mar7.223057.64893@cc.usu.edu> Subject: **** Gusmod 2.10 released! To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Against my better judgment, I have been convinced (by other people) to release Gusmod 2.10 in advance. The release was supposed to come out with Protracker Studio 16 (the compsoer), but it wasn't finished as of now. Here's the what's new list from Gusmod 2.10: - Looping really does work properly now. :) (or so we think!) - Loop pops are now really history! It was a bug on crossing DRAM page bounds. - Still some interesting sample pops, but... - Retrig really does work now. - Gusmod now properly frees itself from the GF1 IRQ. - 15 and 31 instrument .MODs are supported. - Older versions of Gusmod (including 1.1) were allocating 4,096 bytes for each pattern instead of the required 1,024 bytes. This has been remedied. - 16-channel support added! - 5-octaves supported! - Tuning for 5 octaves is approximate, but normally sounds pretty good. - Mods are now converted into a PS16 file format. This format is the packed 16-channel format for Protracker Studio 16 and Gusmod 2.10+. - Note frequency table deleted for a supposedly "working" algorithm. - Volumes that are 1 now work. - Volumes are now a bit more "linear." - GTSR now loops properly. In addition, patterns are compressed now under the new format. This means that most mods drop drastically in length. Anyway, everyone, have fun. I'm doing plays this week (Rodger's and Hammerstein's Carousel) and I'll check in to see how many bug reports I get, but I won't be able to do anything with this until at least Saturday. Have fun! (Oh, yeah, it's on archive.epas.utoronto.ca in /pub/pc/ultrasound/submit/gmod210.lzh) Josh ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 Mar 93 0:46:19 CST From: Bill Lockett Message-Id: <9303090646.AA23055@tamsun.tamu.edu> Subject: 2 Joysticks? To: Ultrasound Daily Digest I was just wondering if and how youu can connect to joysticks to the GUS? I have heard of a Y connector working, but don't know where to find one. Please let me know if this is possible, and how and/or where I can build/buy such a connector. Thanks, Bill ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Mar 1993 03:11:55 GMT From: ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca (Phat H Tran) Message-Id: Subject: [GUS] SBOS -- Please read, Gravis. To: Ultrasound Daily Digest As any regular reader of this group knows by now, I'm the poor slob who's still using SBOS 1.20 even though the emulator is currently up to version 1.4b2. That's because only SBOS 1.20 handles the digital speech and sounds properly on my computer. Versions 1.22, 1.23, 1.37, and 1.4b2 all have one or more of the following problems: 1. The digital sounds konk out early. They don't die altogether for the rest of the game, but the sample that is playing is cut prematurely, especially if it's long. An example would be speech that dies mid-sentence. 2. Certain portions of digital sounds do not play. For example, the frog sample that came with my SoundBlaster has three "ribbits", but playing it with Voxkit through SBOS 1.22 and up will randomly result in one, two, or three croaks. 3. Often, samples in games will not end when they're supposed to, but will instead loop or barf up the contents of audio RAM. This problem prevents me from using any of the later SBOSes with UW1 and UW2. None of these problems exist with SBOS 1.20. I've told GravisTech about my problems with the later SBOSes, hoping that they'd address them, but from the performance of the latest two SBOSes (1.37 and 1.4b2), it doesn't look like they have, and I fear that they'll continue releasing new versions of SBOS that will fail to work properly with my machine. Although SBOS 1.20 works very well for me, I'd like to take advantage of the improved FM emulation in the new emulators. Phat. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Mar 1993 03:58:52 GMT From: ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca (Phat H Tran) Message-Id: Subject: [GUS] vmap 1.0 -- volume change and key velocity remapper To: Ultrasound Daily Digest I've just uploaded a little utility I've written which will remap the volume changes and key velocities in Roland .mids so that they will play more correctly on the GUS. The file is called vmap.zip, and can be found on epas in the submit directory. Also, I'm wondering if those of you with both a Sound Canvas or MT-32 and a GUS can compare the remapped files on the GUS to the original files on the Rolands to see if the utility is remapping properly. Here's the text file that I've enclosed with the program: vmap 1.0 ======== INTRODUCTION Normally, MIDI files written for Roland soundcards will sound strangely mute on the Gravis Ultrasound (GUS). This is because the volume response of the GUS is exponential whereas that of the Rolands is linear. The loudness vs. setting plot for each type of card is shown below: | / | / * Perceived | / * Loudness | / * | / * | Roland / * | / * | / * | / * | / * | / * | / ** | / ** | / ** | / *** | / **** GUS | / **** | /******** +------------------------------------ 0 127 Volume Setting What vmap does is remap the volume changes and key velocities in the MIDI file so that the notes will play with the same relatively volume on the GUS as on the Rolands. The formula used is: V' = log(V + 1) * 127 / log(128) A remapped Roland file will sound "fuller" than on the GUS than the original. INSTRUCTIONS To use vmap, invoke it at the command line as follows: vmap in.mid out.mid Vmap will then remap in.mid and output the result as out.mid. (Of course, you can substitute your own filenames for in.mid and out.mid.) Don't try specifying the same file for in.mid and out.mid. Remapping a .mid written specifically for the GUS or one that has already been processed by vmap will put the volumes somewhat out of whack. BUGS Vmap has not been tested very thoroughly, so there may be bugs that will crop up as the program is exposed to .mids more exotic than the ones I have to test it with. Bug reports and/or comments can be sent to my Internet account (ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca). Particulary, if vmap reports "Unexpected EOF." when processing a .mid file that you know is intact, tell me! There may be several MIDI messages that I don't know about which can cause vmap to lose its framing. Phat Tran ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 08 Mar 93 21:58:22 CST From: ZHANG%UKANVM.bitnet@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu Message-Id: <9303090359.AA25676@orca.es.com> Subject: add-to-list To: Ultrasound Daily Digest add-to-list ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Mar 1993 17:35:58 -0600 From: ken@austin.ibm.com (Ken Goach IBM) Message-Id: <9303082335.AA16118@daedalus.austin.ibm.com> Subject: A tip on X-Wing To: Ultrasound Daily Digest This is gonna be like telling you the sky is blue, but some may benefit from it. I was having trouble getting all the sounds with the X-Wing demo. There are three programs that you run before running the demo - one's for SB, one for Adlib, and one other (PC speaker) that tell where sound goes/does setup. Make sure you run these. Things will work a whole lot better! Then again the game is out, so most of what I said is moot. Happy trails, Ken ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Mar 1993 23:33:42 GMT From: bjornhk@dhhalden.no (BJORN HAAVARD KLEVEN) Message-Id: Subject: Building layered Patches for GUS To: Ultrasound Daily Digest In article nofsinger_c@a1.mscf.upenn.edu (Chuck Nofsinger) writes: >From: nofsinger_c@a1.mscf.upenn.edu (Chuck Nofsinger) >Subject: Building layered Patches for GUS >Date: 4 Mar 93 15:08:33 GMT >I bought a GUS from the suggestions in this news group. Unfortunately it >doesn't even approach the sound quality of real sampling synths, eg the >ASR10, K2000 etc. Is it your own samples that sound bad? Remember that the GUS can currently only sample with 8 bit resolution! The 'real sampling synths' you refer to probably use 16 bits, and thus gives a much better result! > >As they say, caveat emptor, and at this price... In any case I'm wondering >if >I can salvage my investment by building real patches with velocity switched >waves etc. > >Is there any software that will help with this? Or is there some other card >that will let me do what I want? Patch editors from several parties will be available. They will allow you to use 16-bit samples from another source to create patches for the GUS synth. The 16-bit daughterboard is scheduled for mid Apri, and I've reason to believe hey'll make it on time this time! -=* Bjorn :: bjornhk@dhhalden.no ACCESS DATA :: TEL: (+47)-9-17 50 48/61-97 311 FAX: 61-97 312 BBS: 61-97 945 300-14400 bps, 24 hrs ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Mar 93 17:02:45 EST From: ccastge@prism.gatech.edu Message-Id: <199303082202.AA03660@prism> Subject: Cakewalk + GUS = silence :( To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Has anyone been able to get CakeWalk for Windows, v1.00, to work with the GUS? I have the most recent windoze drivers installed (I believe), and I've tried selecting Ultrasound Synth, Ultrasound Midi, and Microsoft MidiMappper, all to no avail... i.e., no sound ever comes out from Cakewalk. I've even tried loading patches manually with Patch Manager, and playing files w/media player first (which actually plays the files), but still Cakewalk remains silent. Anyone have any clues/ideas? I've used IRQ 5 and 7, and DMA 1 so far... Tho I doubt thats the prob... (oh, and GF1 IRQ 11). ccastge@prism.gatech.edu | Why are we here? --Neil Peart a.k.a., Guy Elden Jr. | Because we're here... ------------ Currently being 'frizzle-fried' | Why does it happen? in the CS realm... | Because it happens... Roll the Bones... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Mar 93 8:57:10 MST From: Stuart Yoshida Message-Id: <9303081557.AA08928@elektra.fc.hp.com> Subject: Check out a GUS at Best Buy... To: Ultrasound Daily Digest I went to Best Buy on last Friday (5 March) just to browse around, and I took the opportunity to listen to a GUS with some of the new unreleasd patches (Gravis sends a demo pack to Best Buy stores which contains a portion of the new GM set). My first reaction was that if this is what we can expect from the released patches, there'll be a lot of ecstatic people out there! The music was excellent; the drums were crisp, and the guitar samples were convincing (especially when the notes *weren't* being pitch-bent). All this through some cheesey self-powered speakers, and without any type of effects processing! I'm drooling just thinking about running the GUS with the new patches through my rig... Hey Gravis, where are those patches?! :-) :-) -- Stuart Yoshida Internet: yoshida@elektra.fc.hp.com Voice: (303) 229-2324 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 Mar 1993 01:43:23 -0500 (EST) From: Benoit Fiset Message-Id: <199303090643.AA14943@Altitude.CAM.ORG> Subject: Check SBOS via Batch file To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Hi GUS users, Has anybody have an idea to check if SBOS is loaded. I need this in a batch file (With Errorlevels) Thanks for your answers ! Ben Fiset (fiset@Altitude.CAM.ORG) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 08 Mar 93 13:05:05 -0500 From: "It's your hand, Buckaroo" Message-Id: <9303081805.AA14320@magick.tay2.dec.com> Subject: Chipsets To: Ultrasound Daily Digest > Apparently, the GUS is among 4 cards which use the Ensoniq chipset > (the Ensoniq DOC-II, if I remember). No, the GUS doesn't use the DOC-II, it uses a custom ASIC (the GF1). However, they did license some firmware from Ensoniq if I remember correctly... DDA ------------------------------ Date: 8 Mar 93 16:41:33 -0400 From: dodson@ac.dal.ca Message-Id: <1993Mar8.164133.11841@ac.dal.ca> Subject: GUS: Names of future releases to support it? To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Does anyone out there have that list of titles which will be supporting the GUS? I remember it from about a week ago, but didn't extract it. Anyway, now I have gotten myself into this string over in ...games ; someone asking which card they should buy. methinks I have gotten under the ire of every SBPro owner on the face of the earth. But I am having fun, and doing my good deed for the day, so it would be nice to have this list to refer to... Thanks! Bruce dodson@ac.dal.ca "IN GUS WE TRUST" ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Mar 1993 20:46:46 -0500 (EST) From: kekims@ultb.isc.rit.edu (Ken Kindler) Message-Id: <9303080146.AA15511@ultb.isc.rit.edu> Subject: GUS cohabitating with the SB To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Hi all. I think I've seen people mentioning that they have their SB or SBPro in their PC with a GUS (Everybody following all those acronyms?) Anyways, I know the manual says you can't have them both installed in the same machine and I wanted to hear about other peoples experiences before I tried this. If this is possible, or even if it isn't, maybe this should be added to the FAQ. I love the GUS, but I'd rather just use the old SB for games until the SBOS situation gets stabilized. Thanks all... -- Ken Kindler -- KEKIMS@ULTB.ISC.RIT.EDU ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Mar 93 1:48:37 EST From: dionf@ERE.UMontreal.CA (Francois Dion) Message-Id: <9303080648.AA24304@brise.ERE.UMontreal.CA> Subject: New wavetable text To: Ultrasound Daily Digest I got some suggestions and stuff for the wavetable.txt file, so i made some midifications, and added some vital information on the GUS. I also tried to delimitate what is done in hardware. Flames to /dev/nul, comments to me. Ciao, -- Francois Dion ' _ _ _ CISM (_) (_) _) FM Montreal , Canada Email: CISM@ERE.UMontreal.CA (_) / . _) 10000 Watts Telephone no: (514) 343-7511 _______________________________________________________________________________ Audio-C-DJ-Fractals-Future-Label-Multimedia-Music-Radio-Rave-Video-VR-Volvo-... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Mar 93 1:52:28 EST From: dionf@ERE.UMontreal.CA (Francois Dion) Message-Id: <9303080652.AA24346@brise.ERE.UMontreal.CA> Subject: New wavetable text To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Sorry, i forgot: it's on epas. If you want a copy because you dont have ftp, ask me. Now, what's the most important thing next? I have some running projects, but dont know what i should finish first. Patches? Ciao, -- Francois Dion ' _ _ _ CISM (_) (_) _) FM Montreal , Canada Email: CISM@ERE.UMontreal.CA (_) / . _) 10000 Watts Telephone no: (514) 343-7511 _______________________________________________________________________________ Audio-C-DJ-Fractals-Future-Label-Multimedia-Music-Radio-Rave-Video-VR-Volvo-... ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Mar 1993 10:19:08 -0800 From: Eric N. Liao Message-Id: <199303071819.AA22457@aerospace.aero.org> Subject: SBOS 1.42B2 To: Ultrasound Daily Digest I've tried the new SBOS with several games. I noticed that SBOS 1.42 does not always "activate" corretly. As a matter of fact, it is rather consistent in not loading correctly with X-Wing and Dune II. With Dune II, first, I load SBOS. THen, I run DUNE II, and I get NO digitized sound effects. After exiting, and running Dune II for the 2nd time, I get the digitized sound effects. With X-Wing, the problem is nearly identical. Right after loading SBOS, I run X-Wing. It seems to hang, but pushing esc several times and waiting a little bit will pop up the menu. After exiting to DOS, and re-running X-Wing, the music & sfx work fine. During the game, the tie-fighter noise really slows down the system. THis is on a 486sx-33, so I'd hate to see it on a 386sx. ------------------------------ Date: 8 Mar 93 12:07:46 From: Simon Whittaker Message-Id: <9303081247.aa06385@gate.demon.co.uk> Subject: SBOS Game Support To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Yo!! Did somebody mention that a game included its own SBOS patch(es) ? If so, what was this game ? I understand that the people at these Game Software companies have so many bits to add/fix that adding GUS support it just one item on a list of many things. I think that that Gravis could help things by having a fully operational card and S/W and tech support, making the whole GUS business a whole lot more respectable. Perhaps a good place to start for GUS games support, would be to release SBOS patches ? TTFN Simon ===================================================================== Simon Whittaker GST Software PLC Software Engineer Meadow Lane Research and Development St. Ives Huntingdon email : swhittak@gst-soft.demon.co.uk Cambridgshire voice : +44 (0)480 496789 ext 2204 PE17 4LG fax : +44 (0)480 496189 England ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Mar 93 15:37:17 EST From: Mike Ellis Message-Id: <9303072037.AA10093@sparko.gwu.edu> Subject: SQ5 Works just fine for me..... Here is HOW. To: Ultrasound Daily Digest I had the same problems with lockups where sound would just continue to play even though the game had actually DIED. try loading your SBOS with a -o2 -x3. (the -o2 should do it). I used 1.20 which worked fine. 1.42B gave inferior sound, so I switched back. have fun, MikeE ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Mar 1993 14:34:21 -0400 (EDT) From: Carl Litt Message-Id: Subject: Ultrasound Daily Digest V2 #63 To: Ultrasound Daily Digest > Gossip item 2: The reason that Sierra isn't supporting GUS is that it is > the owner of the "Aria" chipset, the newest thing on the market. It's much > more expensive, but it has a DSP built into it. I could be wrong (maybe they > aren't affiliated with Sierra Semiconductors). Sierra On-line has no connection with Sierra Semiconductors. Sierra Semiconductors is most well known for the 24-bit Hi-color DAC chip found in most new hi-end video cards. ------------------------------ Date: 8 Mar 93 10:07:52 U From: "Wallace Poulter" Message-Id: <9303081812.AA00985@kerner.com> Subject: Ultrasound Daily Digest V2 #63 To: Ultrasound Daily Digest In response to your letter received Sun, Mar 7, 1993 at 2:57 AM Good Morning all, Just wanted to let you know that while you can send LucasArts e-mail at the address listed in Sunday's Digest, we do get the Digest every day as we are interested in keeping up with what is going on in GUS land. Wol@LucasArts * * * * * ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Mar 1993 22:47:02 PST From: Bob Tinsman Message-Id: <9303072247.aa25345@scooa.sco.com> Subject: Ultrasound Daily Digest V2 #63 To: Ultrasound Daily Digest > Sorry to say I had the same problem. I had one of the first 486-33 > motherboards out, Intel chipset. System consistantly hung at random > places in mididemo. Hmmm, that sounds familiar. I paid $149 over a year ago for this 486/33 motherboard (no CPU--that was $440!) that was "last year's model" at the time. Intel chipset. The thing is, it's worked fine until I put the darn GUS in it. It will hang in mididemo like yours and it will also hang after just a couple playfiles. And when it hangs, even resetting it won't work--I have to turn it off. ... > > Things to ask... > > > Ask them to look in the manual for the motherboard and tell you if > they find anything (unless they already know) about UNIX compatible. > If it's there, that's a good indication of a solid motherboard. You > could pick up the most recent Unix Hardware Buyers Guide from > news.answers. That will give you some good advice and background (if > you can't get it email me and I'll send you my relatively recent copy). HAH!! I've run SCO Unix, including the beta Open Desktop 3.0, without a hitch, on this board. In fact, I've been working for SCO support for 2 1/2 years and doing Unix support for 5 years. I've very rarely seen cards that have caused a lockup so bad you can't reset the computer. I'm sorry, but the GUS card is very picky about what motherboard it's in. Normally, you are correct about the fact that if a motherboard can run Unix, it's pretty solid. I don't know what kind of demands GUS is making on my motherboard that it can't satisfy, but I wish there were some "known good" motherboards that were fairly cheap. Even better, I wish that Gravis had done a little bit more testing on the different kinds of motherboards out there and made fewer assumptions about their specs. So, does anyone have a favorite 486/33 motherboard that works well with the GUS that only costs around $150 w/o CPU? Actually, it would be pretty cool to have local bus, or is that too much to ask for that price? Bob ------------------------------ Date: 08 Mar 1993 08:27:54 -0500 (EST) From: DEATH BEFORE DISCO Message-Id: <01GVK4VRU3FM95O221@ritvax.isc.rit.edu> Subject: X-Wing woes continue... To: Ultrasound Daily Digest After reading the useful info about not having enough of the 640K limit imposed by Lord Gates and his merry minions, I got about 620K of lower DOS off a boot disk. Still no sound blaster, on any version of SBOS. I NEED digitized voices...If I go too long, parts of me shrivel up :-) Seriously, the only clue is that I'm occasionally unable to unload SBOS using the "-f" switch. HELP!!! Jeff ------------------------------ End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V2 #64 ******************************