Ultrasound Daily Digest Thu, 1 Apr 93 Volume 3 : Issue 1 Today's Topics: [GUS] A Couple Problems [GUS] Driver crashes Windows (was Re: GUS questions) GMOS GMOS,_GusMOD... GMOS_&_GusMOD great news GUS'ers. New Game support GUS Support Hardware question For Hardware and Music GURUS. LINE IN/OUT DIFFERENCES & BBS FILES MIDI box and recording "variance" Noise in recording (again) NT-drivers for the GUS [Ultrasound Daily Digest V2 #86] Patch Location in Stereo Space Pet Peeve (Was Re: Zone 66 - Parity Errors) Soundcard Review in Next PC Mag & GUS soundcard support on upcoming release of DOOM Surround Sound? ULTRASOUND 03/30/93 1/2 ULTRASOUND 03/30/93 2/2 Windows Sources review 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: 31 Mar 93 02:06:06 CST From: bdavis@pepper.cray.com (Brent Davis {x67000 CF/ENG}) Message-Id: <1993Mar31.020607.12629@walter.cray.com> Subject: [GUS] A Couple Problems Summary: 80ns DRAM's don't work & no sound in Dune To: Ultrasound Daily Digest I recently purchased my GUS, and I didn't have any problems until this week. I have been using the newest version of the software available from archive.epas.utoronto.ca (gus0016-21 and the revised sbos2.04 from gus0022). Now I've run into 2 unrelated problems: 1) I purchased and installed 6 256Kx4-80ns DRAM chips to fully populate my card. Following this, I went to windows and changed my ultrasound drivers to recognize the full 1Meg. Then I started up canyon.mid. Yikes!!!! There was some horrible static where the drums and a few of the instruments should have been. So I started up the ultrasnd/setup program and ran the DRAM test. It came back with a failure of (351K). At this point, I opened up the computer and swapped the chips from Bank2 with those from Bank4, both to check if it wasn't a bad chip and also to check if the chips hadn't been seated properly. Re-ran the DRAM test and it failed again with the same value. Tried another midi file, and it had the same static. Next, I tried swapping the chips from Bank1 (the originals) with those from Bank2. Ran the DRAM test and this time it failed sooner (123K). Tried a midi file and it was nearly all static. Finally, I homed all the chips back to their original locations, and then using the patch manager tried each instrument loaded into memory for canyon.mid. Anything under 256K was fine, but all those above this had a lot of static. The original chips on my card are 70ns, and it looks to me like there's a problem with using the 80ns variety. The owner's manual clearly states chips of 100ns or faster may be used. Has there been a change in the specs that I'm not aware of? Or is there something I need to setup - like a software parameter or a jumper on the card (couldn't find anything like that listed in the documentation)? 2) Before describing the next problem let me emphasize that it is isolated to this piece of software. My GUS is working fine with all other software I have using its original 256K: A friend loaned me his copy of Dune to try out on my GUS. (Merely a test - don't get all upset about illegal copies!) It worked fine on his machine w/ a soundblaster. Therefore, I know that the copy of the software is good since it was installed (and verified with another re-install) from the same disk. I installed it on my PC with SBOS loaded, and it detected the soundblaster emulator, but then when the game starts, I don't get any sound at all. If I switch to the map screen and select the options, it shows that music should be playing, but obviously it's not. I've tried about a dozen other games that have sound support, but this is the first one that hasn't worked. Is there something special I need to set up to get Dune to run with the GUS? I stopped running with QEMM (Dune intro hangs!), and am now running with a nearly naked config.sys & autoexec.bat (files=30, buffers=15, device=mouse.sys). Note: This isn't really that critical, but I've been getting some ribbing from this guy since I can't get Dune & GUS to work together. If it helps for either problem, here are my GUS settings: Addr 220 DMA 7 SB Irq 5 SB DMA 1 Gus Irq 11 E-mail me a reply if you can help me out. Thanks, Brent -- / bdavis@cray.com | T | Given that 6 x 9 = 42, \ ( Cray Research, Inc. | 3 | then the Universe must ) \ Chippewa Falls, WI | D | be a base 13 function. / ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1993 16:55:10 GMT From: mer6g@fuggles.acc.Virginia.EDU (Marc Rouleau) Message-Id: Subject: [GUS] Driver crashes Windows (was Re: GUS questions) To: Ultrasound Daily Digest robertt@n154.mentor.stortek.com (Robert Thompson (robertt)) writes: >I have found that any application that opens either the LineIn or Midi > ports crashes windows. > > DTK 385/25 > 16MB Ram > GUS card (duh!) > WD 8013e ethernet card > IDE Disk Are you specifically excluding the 8013e's shared ram area from being used by emm386 (or qemm or 386max)? Does everything work fine under DOS? Playmidi, SBOS, etc.? Are you using the latest software (2.02)? Have you checked to make sure that you don't have old Windows drivers files in \WINDOWS? (Follow directions from that 4-part Gravis posting that came along earlier this week.) If yes, it sounds like you may have a similar problem to mine. My Windows crashes don't occur right away, but they do occur regularly. I can run WinJammer and the Patch Manager, play MIDI and WAV files with Windows 3.1 applets, associate custom sounds with Windows events, and even play a WAV-based game like JewelMaster while *also* playing a MIDI file. The AfterDark sounds are great. Really, everything sounds good and works as I would expect ... for a while. The problem is that Windows *always* crashes eventually when I do sound-related things. I start up AfterDark's Creepy Night screensaver, listen for a while to the thunder, crickets, and wolf howls, and then it just stops. Sometimes Windows will pop up a box accusing AD.EXE of a protection violation; usually everything will die and require a hard reset. It might take 30 seconds or 20 minutes, but it always happens. I run the Patch Manager, load my 256K Gus with patches, and audition them as much as I like. I unload all the patches, and on the next load Windows crashes. Every time. I play JewelMaster. Often it and usually Windows will crash immediately after a game finishes; sometimes after 20-30 minutes of play it'll just die in the midst of play. I have tried all sorts of configurations of interrupts, I/O addresses, memory managers, etc. Windows dies with 386MAX, EMM386, or just HIMEM.SYS all by itself. I have tried booting cleanly with HIMEM.SYS only -- no DOS=HIGH or EMM386 or any other device drivers, no SBOS, no other TSRs, just the GUS variables and the ULTRINIT statement. No improvement. When I unload the GUS drivers, Windows works solidly. If I have the drivers loaded but don't use them much -- just for the occasional Windows event -- Windows works. For example, if I mute the sound in AfterDark, Creepy Night runs forever. Opti 486/33 (with bad DMA -- I can only use channels 1 or 3) 4M ram Diamond Speedstar 24X bios v2.03 multi-I/O card -- there's no jumper to disable the game port, and I *am* using the GUS port. I removed the connecter, and I have had no problems with the joystick, so I don't think this is an issue. GUS w/ 256K Any suggestions? Is my motherboard no good? Gravis, are you working on this? What can I do to document the problem for you? Is anyone else experiencing symptoms like these? Is anyone experiencing rock-solid Windows 3.1 stability even while using the GUS drivers heavily? -- Marc Rouleau ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Mar 93 16:46:34 EDT From: "The Punisher" Message-Id: <0096A56C80E2DA00.0001703E@acad.wit.edu> Subject: GMOS To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Just a quick question. What exactly is GMOS? Is is an operating program like SBOS? -Chris Colotti ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Mar 93 16:03:59 GMT From: laurent@ismennt.is (Laurent Somers) Message-Id: <9303311603.AA19220@akureyri.ismennt.is> Subject: GMOS,_GusMOD... To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Obviously, explaining all the problems and advantages of a GMOS driver back in digests V2#60-62 was of feeble use, since it seems few did actually read it and have therefore been posting again and again the same ideas, wasting bandwidth.... :-) | )-: First of all, there's NO NEED FOR *_ANY_* WIRES!!! There's *_NO*_ NEED for a MIDI-IN to MIDI-OUT or MIDI-I/O to Serial port. The final word on this I hope. If you get error messages with the playmidi, make sure you don't have old cfg. files in that directory. Sierra and other companies may find it hard to support the GUS. A compromise available with making a GMOS is that these companies could simply INCLUDE a .CFG file! Alternately, Gravis could build a simple database which would have references for most games, with pertinent information regarding the samples required. Let me make it quite clear that making a MIDI driver is nothing more than taking the SBOS engine and substituting the MIDI for the FM. The SB is as much a card as the GUS and other MIDI cards are, and there is thus no problem in making such a driver. What is deplorable is that the SBOS is such a good starting point for a MIDI driver; having to start from scratch again to implement mainly the digitized part of the SB is rather - let's just say inefficient (and leave it at that). Substituting the MIDI driver for the FM driver in SBOS would also, I believe make the driver simpler, since FM is more complicated (we have there a 4-operator chip). IS there ANY way Gravis/Forte would release to a third party some SBOS code to develop a MIDI driver, since they do not intend making one in the immediate future? (Perhaps Josh's GusMOD engine could be used?) I had already asked for some docs on the Roland interface (I/O port, Interrupts and so on) and got no reply... ***************************** Well, what do you know.... it just occurred to me that the problem with SC2 (*buzzing* with 1MB) MIGHT be related to the BUZZING (!) in GUSMod... AND: Yes! This worked at least now when I tried it... Seems that there is some pernicious problem involved when clearing the memory. One more reason to make a dedicated memory cleaner... Laurent F. Somers laurent@akureyri.ismennt.is P.S.: I'd appreciate if people would quote a bit less of text - we all get the digests, so there's not too much a need to quote an entire message - that is, if you save your old digests (as I do). ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Mar 93 21:04:54 GMT From: laurent@ismennt.is (Laurent Somers) Message-Id: <9303312104.AA26519@akureyri.ismennt.is> Subject: GMOS_&_GusMOD To: Ultrasound Daily Digest >Well, what do you know.... it just occurred to me that the problem with >SC2 (*buzzing* with 1MB) MIGHT be related to the BUZZING (!) in GUSMod... >AND: Yes! This worked at least now when I tried it... >Seems that there is some pernicious problem involved when clearing the memory. > One more reason to make a dedicated memory cleaner... In case you don't know the fix: Run G669 - any .669 module should do the trick. Sorry I didn't mention it in the first place... Laurent F. Somers laurent@akureyri.ismennt.is ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1993 12:46:50 +0700 (MST) From: Adam Cowen Message-Id: Subject: great news GUS'ers. New Game support To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Well I saw the promo for ID's newest game DOOM! But I didn't see any info as to what soundcards it will support. So I mailed the guy that appeared at the top of the message. I recieved the reply the same day (today) which really impressed me. Below I will include the message I sent and the reply I recieved. But don't go flooding this guy with email, as I am sure he would start to get pissed off. Here goes -------------------------MY message to ID-------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1993 20:36:39 GMT From: Marc.Y.Paulin Message-Id: <1993Mar31.203639.21433@jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca> Subject: GUS Support To: Ultrasound Daily Digest If Advanced Gravis (John Smith) is reading this, please respond. On your GUS support list, I saw two games that are actually out but DOESN'T support the GUS. The games are Lemmings 2 and another one that I forgot the name. I'd like to know why they don't support the Gravis Ultrasound and how many other game companies on your list won't support it. I can't trust your list anymore. The first two games to be released doesn't support it. Please, respond. Marc Y. Paulin Student in computer programming - 4th year University of Moncton markus@info.umoncton.ca ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Mar 93 18:27:47 EST From: Mike Ellis Message-Id: <9303312327.AA26443@sparko.gwu.edu> Subject: Hardware question For Hardware and Music GURUS. To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Hi, I was looking for a microphone do do some voice samples etc. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Apr 93 12:05:15 EST From: adrianr@ecr.mu.oz.au (Adriano_Ennio RAIOLA) Message-Id: <9304010206.7704@ecr.mu.oz.au> Subject: LINE IN/OUT DIFFERENCES & BBS FILES To: Ultrasound Daily Digest 2 Questions ======== 1 ======== I tried sampling with uss8 last night. Had my GUS connected via line OUT to my stereo (per normal), and a separate FM radio connected to the line IN of the gus. Fine. When clicking MON, It came thru crystal clear on my stereo, I was amazed! the GUS was putting through the FM radio to the main speakers with amazing clarity, I thought for 8 bit this was sensational. Tried sampling, mono, stereo, 11khz, 22khz all not bad, but I thought I wouldnt get the same quality unless i went for 44khz st, I did, then played back and although it was still very clear (ie not much distortion if any) the sound came back slightly muffled, more like 8 bit.. but NOT up to the clarity of the MONitored sound, which was identical to the quality of the stereos own internal radio receiver. QUESTION: DOES THIS MEAN that the GUS, when you MONitor on uss8, simply thru-put's the line in directly to the line out, without passing through any DAC's?? It would seem so judging by the clarity of the MONitored sound compared to the sampled sound at 8 bits 44Khz stereo. Can someone confirm or deny this either way? If so, it would also be interested to see if, with a 16 bit dboard, the sampled sound that comes back is identical to the MON sound. Another thing, ramdrive is the ONLY way to go when using uss8 ======== 2 ========= This is from digest volume #25: >Logging into Gravis' BBS last night (01/26 - Tues), I discovered a >number of new uploads. Many of the files on the BBS have been >available for awhile on various FTP sites here on the net, but having >them on the BBS sure helps those without FTP access (like me!). > >Here's a listing of new sound-related files (there were other utilities, too) >on the BBS: [stuff deleted] >ULTRRAM2.ZIP 28154 1/26/93 A quick program that will clear all of the > GUS's DRAM and reports the number of K bytes > installed. Good for checking of your memory > upgrade worked. Should also clear up SC2 > audio problems. dunno. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Why isnt this program on epas OR wuarchive?? This is the answer to my prayers, because although the SCII bug of distortion with 1 meg of GUS memory can be cured by p669gu0.exe, that program wont work when EMS is installed, and I need EMS to play star control 2 properly! Can someone in the U.S. PLEASE upload this program (and others on the Gravis BBS not on epas or wuarchive) to either epas or wuarchive so us non Americans can have access without having to spend $$$$ on overseas phonecalls? PLEASE!!! Or a suggestion for any other program that WORKS with ems and clears GUS memory, would be nice. Thankyou -- | adrianr@ecr.mu.oz.au --------| Adrian -aka- Plugger | * * * * * | _/_\ | adrianr@mullian.ee.mu.oz.au -| What time is love? | *_* * *_ *_ | / OZ | | adrianr@mundil.cs.mu.oz.au --| I think its gonna be | * * * * * | \__-_/ | -- I want more accounts! ----| long, long time. | * * * * * | v ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1993 17:06:15 -0800 From: Eric N. Liao Message-Id: <199304010106.AA11619@aerospace.aero.org> Subject: MIDI box and recording "variance" To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Okay, thanks for the help with the MIDI-box (specifically, info about my Philips optoisolater.) About the 1-bit variance with recording...then why didn't gravis/forte use a 9-bit or 10-bit A/D converter, and use ONLY the 8 MSBits? Wouldn't that fix the problem (grin) ? As for the 16-bit recording card? I understand that variance would be a much smaller problem (although still existent), but likewise, would the "variance" problem be eliminated by using an 18-bit A/D converter, and using only the top 16-bits? Also, what kind of A/D converter does the 16-bit recording board have? Does it have a D/A of its own? And, for the A-law and u-law sound compression, is this hooked up to the GF1 chip? I mean, can you play 32-simultaneous samples with A/U-law compression? Or can you only have 1 (or 2 for stereo) concurrently? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Mar 93 23:49:57 -0500 From: mtl1@crux2.cit.cornell.edu Message-Id: <9304010449.AA17029@crux3.cit.cornell.edu> Subject: Noise in recording (again) To: Ultrasound Daily Digest OK, I'll try to make this short. I just tried recording some silences files thru line in (I actually grounded the wires together. Yes cut off the jack physically.). Both in stereo and mono. As yesterday's digest suggest, they are mainly 1 bit variances. So I guess they are ok. But howcome they are at 85 or 84 instead of 7F? I know someone noticed this before and hence the sndfix program. (Much credit to the programmer. Good work noticing this.) Also, despite that the file only contains one bit variances, when the file is played back, there is substantial background noise! I don't understand. I know that a lot of the files from the commercial programs have a lot less noise when played back. Why this phenomenon? John Smith? Any answers? A confused but satisfied GUSer Marshall ------------------------------ Date: 31 Mar 93 12:57:00 GMT+0100 From: "Alexander Majarek, Sascha, SAM" Message-Id: Subject: NT-drivers for the GUS [Ultrasound Daily Digest V2 #86] To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Someone stated, that it would be more important to have NT-drivers for the GUS (based on 70000 beta-copies) than for OS/2. I don't think, that 70000 beta-copies are a good base for immediate support (especially when you regard the over 2 millions of installed OS/2 copies). Another point is, that NT-drivers might (if the GUS is successful on the market) be included in WIN-NT by M$ itself. But there is hardly any sound driver available for native OS/2 for any card. So these 2 million copies would be a good base for support, as for these users the GUS would then be the ONE and ONLY (and plus VERY GOOD) soundcard supported by their system. Just my $ 0.02. Flames directly to my address, constructive critizism to the list, please. Greetings, SAM ********************************************************************* *Alexander.Majarek@uibk.ac.at * There are 3 ways (fast, sweet, sure)* *Perthalerg. 1c/11 * for a man to ruin himself: * *A-6020 Innsbruck * 1. Gamblin' (fast), * *AUSTRIA (EUROPE) * 2. Women (sweet) & * *Tel.: 0043-512-84-26-15 * 3. Computers (sure) * ********************************************************************* ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Mar 93 03:30:04 MST From: rappelj@cuugnet.cuug.ab.ca (John Rappel 275-7230) Message-Id: <9303311030.AA09274@sun> Subject: Patch Location in Stereo Space To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Has anyone else noticed that when using Patch Manager, and occasionally when playing a Midi file that consists of one instrument (ie, piano>, the odd note will sound from one speaker side or the other, rather than both, as it usually does? I am not referring to any of the patches, such as String Ensemble, that shift location as pitch goes up or down, but rather patches that stay put all along their range... At first I thought this was a bug in Patch Manager, which is where I first t noticed it, but now I'm inclined to think it's a bug in the Windows driver, for I've had it happen in Media Player and Winjammer, as well. Of course, this could also be a feature that allows you to ping-pong sounds and get those crazy stereo fx, but I've heard nothing that supports this theory anywhere. To duplicate this effect, try hammering on one note with your mouse in Patch Manager, and with any luck you'll hear, sooner or later, the note coming from the left or right rather than the middle. Unless, of course, I'm just hallucinating from too many nights spent diddling around with my GUS. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Mar 93 16:24:52 -0500 From: "It's your hand, Buckaroo" Message-Id: <9303312124.AA03378@magick.tay2.dec.com> Subject: Pet Peeve (Was Re: Zone 66 - Parity Errors) To: Ultrasound Daily Digest > Has anyone else had trouble running Zone 66? Yea, I've had alot of trouble running Zone 66. It seems that it won't work with my memory manager. Nor, of course, will it work with OS/2. For some odd reason, people feel compelled to write code that tries to do things that the OS does (or should do). I sorta refuse to have "boot disks" for games (like Zone 66 and Ultima 7) that won't "play by the rules." Since I do other things with my machine than play games, I don't want to have to reboot everytime I want to change "tasks"... Am I the only one bothered by this? DDA ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1993 21:36:23 GMT From: actai@cs.wm.edu (alan c. tai) Message-Id: <1993Mar31.213623.28407@cs.wm.edu> Subject: Soundcard Review in Next PC Mag & GUS To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Just browsed through the latest issue of Computer Shopper, and one of the regular columns was about all of the current soundcards on the market. Unfortunately, the columnist mentioned every soundcard but the GUS! Also, apparently PC Magazine will be doing a review of all of the soundcards in their next issue. And it would be a very serious omission if PC Magazine doesn't even acknowledge its existence. I hope Gravis sent them one :-). Alan Tai actaix@mail.wm.edu or actai@cs.wm.edu p.s. has anyone ever seen an ad for the GUS? I believe I've seen ads for their joysticks. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1993 11:34:25 +0700 (MST) From: Adam Cowen Subject: soundcard support on upcoming release of DOOM To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Jay, I have read the promo that was sent out regarding ID's new release DOOM. I was wondering on behalf of all Gravis UltraSound (GUS) Owners if DOOM will be supporting it in native mode? Or if there would be an upgrade patch available to us GUS owners, etc. As you have probably heard the specs on the GUS I won't reiterate the reasons to support it. Although I will say that as a GUS owner I would much rather support games that support my card in native mode(as would many other GUS owners I am sure). I would also think that a revolutionary game like DOOM would use the awesome technology that the GUS has to offer. I appreciate any response on the subject of GUS support, and will relay this message and any reply I recieve to the UltraSound Daily Digest. Thank-you for your time, Adam Cowen cowen@ee.ualberta.ca ------------------I do not represent anyone but myself----------------------- -------------------------end of MY message----------------------------------- ----------------------------ID's response---------------------------------- FFrom jayw@idcube.idsoftware.com Wed Mar 31 12:46:45 1993 Date: Wed, 31 Mar 93 13:26:39 -0600 From: Jay Wilbur Reply to: jay@idcube.idsoftware.com To: Adam Cowen Subject: Re: soundcard support on upcoming release of DOOM > I have read the promo that was sent out regarding ID's new > release DOOM. I was wondering on behalf of all Gravis We hope to support it either on initial release or with a sound card driver update sometime after initial release. --- Jay Wilbur (jay@idsoftware.com) Id Software Send questions about Id software to help@idsoftware.com (NeXTmail OK). ftp.uwp.edu[131.210.1.4] Id "Official" anonymous FTP site /pub/msdos/games/id Id games /pub/msdos/games/id/home-brew Id games' great add-ons /pub/incoming/id Upload dir ---------------------------end of reply------------------------------ Talk about great hey. Chalk one more for the GUS! I think that if great companies like ID support the gus then in a short time all the major software companies (who cares 'bout Sierra though) will support it. seeya later, and happy GUS'ing! Adam Cowen cowen@ee.ualberta.ca ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Mar 93 14:03:46 EST From: Matthew Spewak Message-Id: <930331.140346.8048@walnut.prs.k12.nj.us> Subject: Surround Sound? To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Here's something else to think about... In addition to all the talk about 3d sound and QSound, I was wondering why there was no disscussion of Dolby Pro Logic Surround Sound. I know that Dolby Surround requires two digital sound wires in order to decode for the four speakers (five in Pro Logic). BUT, There is a way to produce True Surround sound through the use of one stereo output. If you feed the output of an ULTRASOUND into a Dolby decoder it will decode all sound onto the front speakers. Although, if you take the output of a portable cd player and plug it into a decoder (or reciever that has it), it will come out in full 5 speaker pro logic form. Does anyone know more about the subject? I think it would be very possible for Gravis to write music or maybe it requires additional hardware, that will produce the 4-5 channel sound. On another note, Nintendo has achieved this with their Super Nintendo 16 bit system. Some of the newer carts will feature Dolby Surround Sound! Matt ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 13:11:19 From: john.smith@gravis.com Message-Id: <9303301311.A8918wk@gravis.com> Subject: ULTRASOUND 03/30/93 1/2 To: Ultrasound Daily Digest UltraSound 03/30/93 ------------------- 1) A few days ago I posted a long tech note from Gravis and Forte. The last line of that message said, "5) Being overly critical of a $150 sound card....". This was suppose to make you laugh! I've heard from a few people who didn't find this very funny. Yes, we do make attempts at a little humor now and then. ;-) 2) There has been a discussion over the last few weeks about recording silence with the GUS card. People have been complaining of popping or static periodically. Here are the results of some testing I've done. To test the recording of silence I shorted out line in and mic in using two phono plugs. NOTE: You can short our your GUS inputs but NOT the outputs, line out, or amp. line out. I used PLAYFILE and USS8 to handle the recording and both returned the same results. The 'static' you are hearing is due to a 1 bit variance in the recording. Silence should be recorded as DC offset 0 (7Fh) on the UltraSound. A +-1 bit variance is actually very good for an AD converter. Even a +-2 bit variance is ok. When recording silence your ear is very sensitive to any shift in the noise pattern. Which is why this your ear can pick up this bit difference when silence is recorded. In the test files I did, over 95% of it had a DC offset of 0. There were only small sections of the file that had small periods of this 'static' (+-1bit). Remember, this is only noticeable when recording silence. If you are recording noise you wouldn't be able to hear this small of a difference. A couple things to keep in mind though: EMM386 or any memory manager will affect your recording performance. A disk cache will help your performance. Make sure your hard disk is not overly fragmented. Mic in will cause more noise than Line in due to the fact that it is amplified. Even with a 16bit recording card you will still get this variance. However, it should be less noticeable due to the larger sampling window. For those of you who want to test this, try creating a file full of 7Fh. Make sure you use a hex editor and not a text editor. You may then use PLAYFILE to play it back. Now go in there and change a few bits to either 7Eh or 80h and hear the difference it can make. 3) Boy did I screw up. It seems in our "Authorized Gravis Nodes" list I put my home phone number in there as the Gravis BBS phone number. Guess that explains why I was getting calls at 3am . Here is a new list: Authorized Gravis Nodes BBS List as of March 30, 1993 Name Location Node No. BBS Phone No. Speed ============================================================================ Advanced Gravis Burnaby, Canada *1:153/978 (604) 431-5927 V32bis *13:900/3 *88:8100/106 %gravis.com Deep Cove BBS White Rock, Canada 1:153/915 (604) 536-5859 DS MIDI 1040 Vancouver, Canada 1:153/7040 (604) 732-4446 V32bis Infinite Dreams Vancouver, Canada 1:153/7042 (604) 733-6432 DS T-8000 Info. System Calgary, Canada 1:134/160 (403) 246-4487 V32bis Max Megabit's Data Port Halifax, Canada *1:251/1 (902) 454-8351 DS (902) 453-5731 HST (902) 454-9635 2400 The 1st Dutch MIDI BBS Holland, Europe 2:281/610 +31-15138754 DS Open Access BBS Norway, Europe 2:502/284 +47-61-97945 V32bis Geniaal BBS 2 Netherland, Europe 14:1000/3 +31-2290-43038 V32bis +31-2290-45816 V32bis StarPort Finland, Europe 2:220/630 +358-0-804-4626 DS Data Bank BBS Pennsylvania, USA 1:273/316 (215) 429-9455 V32bis The Sound Barrier Staten Island, USA 13:420/0 (718) 979-6629 DS (718) 979-9406 DS I can 'C' Clearly Now Iowa, USA *1:290/102 (515) 472-3651 V32bis Music Connection Texas, USA 1:124/3109 (214) 596-2827 DS 1:124/3110 (214) 964-3743 V32bis Joyful Noise Oregon, USA *1:105/55 (503) 335-9600 V32bis MultiMedia Singapore, Asia 6:600/408 +65-2831964 V32bis ============================================================================ NOTE(S): - All systems are No Parity, 8 Data Bits, 1 Stop bit (N81) (Continued to next message) --- ~ QMPro 1.01 05-8925 ~ Gravis UltraSound - Who could ask for anything more? ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 13:11:22 From: john.smith@gravis.com Message-Id: <9303301311.A8919wk@gravis.com> Subject: ULTRASOUND 03/30/93 2/2 To: Ultrasound Daily Digest (Continued from previous message) - All systems are online 24 hours/day - Speeds: V32bis - 14,400 bits per second (CCITT standard) HST - 14,400/16,800 bits per second (US Robotics Prop.) DS - 14,400/16,800 bits per second (HST/V32bis) - * - Files are File Requestable - % - EMail Only. No FTP or Telnet. Other Sources for UltraSound Files: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CompuServe: GO PCVENB area #14 FTP Sites: archive.epas.utoronto.ca pub/pc/ultrasound wuarchive.wustl.edu systems/msdos/ultrasound Internet: Digest Address: ultrasound@dsd.es.com To post to tomorrow's digest Request Server Address: ultrasound-request@dsd.es.com To subscribe, unsubscribe, and request files Owner Address: ultrasound-owner@dsd.es.com To contact a human if the server has troubles ============================================================================ TTUL John --- ~ QMPro 1.01 05-8925 ~ Gravis UltraSound - Who could ask for anything more? ------------------------------ Date: 31 Mar 1993 09:46:16 -0500 (EST) From: DEATH BEFORE DISCO Message-Id: <01GWGC0S3CZC8ZFEDR@ritvax.isc.rit.edu> Subject: Windows Sources review To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Concerning the ridiculous notion that a PAS-16 and SB Pro are better than the GUS.... 1) Most Windows magazines like supporting readily available (and therefore supported) hardware and software. This is commonplace with Windows because most people want 'instant compatibility' which the GUS does not offer. 2) Most Windows magazines (Such as BYTE, et al) tend to worship whatever bit of gospel-code that Micro$oft writes. For instance, the jerk-off (NO, I WON'T APOLIGIZE FOR THAT) that wrote the 'Year's Best' review picked a @!#$%$# card game written by Lord Gates and his Merry Minions, over such wonderful games as Dune II. Since these losers know little about software (they must, since they use Windows) they probably know less about hardware. Just let them listen to some midi and then do a cost comparision. For overall audio performance, the GUS is better engineered (Rah rah Forte ;-)) and costs less than the crap that Creative labs egests. Hmmm....Why does the SB Pro hum when the mouse moves? Must be because it's a well designed card. ****************************************************************************** * * * If Windows is such a great, intuitive interface, why does Norton Desktop * ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** * * * Jeff Salzmann, 5th year Microelectronic Engineering * * Hater of Windows and all other heavily supported garbage * * User of OS/2 and somebody who would have bought a Mac Quadra 950 * * If he had money... * * * * JKS4675@RITVAX.ISC.RIT.EDU * * * ****************************************************************************** ------------------------------ Date: (null) From: (null) To: Ultrasound Daily Digest 1st I guess you would power the mike. But then you get a signal that is also powered. I do NOT think this is compatible with a line-in at this point. There should be a simple circtuit one could build to take the output from this powered MIKE and transform it ot either MiKE (input) or LINE-IN. PRIZE!!! He or she who comes up with the first circuit will get a FREE Apple powered MIKE in the mail from me.... ( hey its all I have...) Any takers? Thanks, MikeE ------------------------------ End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V3 #1 ******************************