Ultrasound Daily Digest Tue May 11 00:07 Volume 3: Issue 41 Today's Topics: Alone/Dark Customer is always right... Help keyboard help requested King's Quest VI Midi Sequencer for the GUS Prince of Persia 2 w/ GUS NOT fixed PS16 format and other stuff Request trouble? Not a problem. SBOS problems Sim Life anyone? Thinking of changing the vol/iss counter for digest... ULTRAMOD Ultrasound Daily Digest V3 #40 VMAP? Voice Recognition Software 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: Mon, 10 May 1993 11:55:24 -0500 (CDT) From: Phil Johnson Subject: Alone/Dark Message-ID: I saw some people having probs with Alone/Dark with GUS and SBOS 2.04 .. It works fine on my system (I'm lucky, I guess) with my SBOS stuff set as IRQ 7 DMA 1 A220... maybe try those settings? Also, I don't use any of the switches and I'm not loading anything high. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 May 1993 9:12:42 PST From: "RICK DORRIS" Subject: Customer is always right... Message-ID: <9305100912.4bee7efb.HST@AEMAIL.UCDAVIS.EDU> >Yknow, there is a good reason that Mr. Smith cannot answer questions as >quickly as you'd like him to: he has a life too...... Boy, would I be out of business if I had the same attitude. I rely on my good name for keeping me in business and that means responding to my customers' needs/wants/concerns.... no matter how busy I am with other things. Gravis better "wake up and smell the coffee". Having a better product does not insure success; you have to know a little about marketing and keeping your customer base happy. While I am pleased with my GUS, I would not recommend it to anyone; certainly not what Gravis wants to hear, but unless they start supporting us users better and being honest about software release dates, I'm not going to push their product. Rick Dorris rcdorris@ucdavis.edu ------------------------------ Date: 10 May 1993 14:24:16 +0200 From: MATERIA1@IPDUNIVX.UNIPD.IT Subject: Help Message-ID: <01GY0HSBPBB2000B8B@IPDUNIVX.UNIPD.IT> Dear Sir, I don't know if this is the correct space for sending this message, but I got from an American friend the FTP sites for GUS, and I just started reading some of the stuff posted there. I live in Italy and am an happy owner of a GUS. Anyway I do have some (!) complaints. The first one is that I sent my registration card to Logitech in Switzerland and, after almost three months, I am still waiting for the diskettes (general patches, new GUS installation disks ver 2.0x and, I was told by a guy that I contacted at Gravis, PowerChords+Recording Session (Midisoft)). Another complaint (a much heavier one) is that no support at all is given by anybody for your product here in Italy (Europe?!). My dealer told me to contact Logitech Italian headquarters in Milan, they told me to contact Logitech headquarters in Switzerland and , finally, they told me that they were sorry, but they don't give any Tech support for Gravis products (and of course told me to contact my local dealer....). This is really ridicolous. Moreover, in a brochure describing your products (written in Italian but printed in Switzerland) it is written (quote): "Advanced Gravis is Company affiliated to Logitech" ! So, what is going on? Will I receive my disks or do I need to send my data directly to Adv.Gravis in Canada to become an official registered user with them? Please send me some hints. Moreover I need to contact someone that can help me with the problem of getting a MIDI connector cable (NOT box) that works with the GUS. The main reason why I bought the GUS is to use it for real-time imput from my MIDI Roland piano (I am a registered owner of the program called Encore by Passport Designs) and then print the score. But without a connector I am lost. Nobody (Italy + Switzerland) seem to really know anything, and I can't afford to call the tech support of Gravis by phone from Italy. My local dealer told me to buy a Sound Blaster connector cable and that should work. Now, of course after buying it, I read that it DOESN'T work! I read about the changes one could do to both the cable and the souncard, but I am not familiar with soldering and electrical stuff (I am just an ex- professional musician and a materials scientist). Why in the manual for the GUS it is said (pg 20 and pg 83) that (quote)" you can also attach a standard MIDI device through a low cost cable adapter" and "a MIDI cable adapter ... is available from Advanced Gravis" (I checked with them and it is NOT available (at least not yet)). Also, I got a brochure from Midisoft where they say that their MIDI Kit is compatible with the GUS. Do you happen to know if this is true or it is just almost true (or not yet true). To contact them directly by phone will be quite expensive (about 4$ per minute!). So, I'd like to know if I may buy it (even if it is definitely not a LOW cost cable adapter - 119.95$) or where in the world can I get something that works with the GUS. Many thanks for your patience, but it is three months that I'm waiting to find someone to talk to in order to solve (or at least share) my difficulties. Please send me an answer (any kind of answer.....). Best regards Paolo Colombo (happy/frustrated owner of a GUS) ------------------------------ Date: 10 May 93 15:32:20 EST From: "Joseph R. Granto" Subject: keyboard help requested Message-ID: Okay, this question has been posed numerous times, but not to my total satisfaction so far. So here it goes... I just ordered my GUS card. It should arrive in a few days. My wife wants to hook up a keyboard (midi) to it and learn how to play a keyboard. I want a "dumb" keyboard, since the GUS has a built in synth. I want a velocity sensitive keyboard. Weighted keys would be nice. Full size is okay. Other nifty sound effects stuff is fine, too. Who makes them? What are the _specific_ models, and their prices? What are the features? And, very important here, where can I get it? Please include a mail order # if you've got it. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE be specific; the longer the list the better. Question #2: Has GUS released its midi adapter yet? I have seen various schematics for homemade ones, but I would like to buy one made by a professional. I am not againts paying someone to make one for me... Question #3: My wife does not know how to play a keyboard. She would like a cool program that will allow her not only to use the keyboard, but will also provide a fairly thorough tutorial. I have heard that CakeWalk for Windows is good, but do not know if it is a good TEACHING tool. What are the recommendations of this group? Thanks ahead of time... --------------------------------------------------------------------- Joe Granto GLOCK@chip.cba.ufl.edu "When the going gets tough, the tough get a GLOCK!" --Guns & Ammo "Don't clock'em, GLOCK'em!" --Miami Dade police officer --------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 May 1993 13:32:16 -0700 From: mbarboni@cs70aa.ucsd.edu (Michael P. Barboni) Subject: King's Quest VI Message-ID: <199305102032.AA01205@cs70e> I know King's Quest VI is not a recent release but I figured since I had problems with it, others might, too. The solution to the game locking up, (in the intro., during the game, etc.), is extremely simple. You just need a switch on the SBOS... "SBOS -x2". Technical support at Sierra On-Line informs me that the "-x2" switch is the best bet when running ANY SIERRA ON-LINE game. Just thought I'd leave a note. -Michael Barboni barboni@ucsd.edu ------------------------------ Date: Lun, 10 Mai 93 17:12:44 FRA From: 9269Z%FRESTP11.BITNET@FRMOP11.CNUSC.FR Subject: Midi Sequencer for the GUS Message-ID: <9305101514.AA06337@orca.es.com> Date: 10 Mai 1993, 17:09:01 FRA From: Benjamin Ryzman 44.41.11.02 9269Z at FRESTP11 To: ultrasound@dsd.es.com I am looking for (Windows) Midi sequencer that are able to use Patch Caching. Are there any other than Win Jammer and Session (I hope Cubase or Cakewalk Pro will be GUS Aware in the next version). Also, would it be possible to use the GUS like an Akai Sampler, that is, the sequencer could modify the patch allocation on the fly (eg: put it on number 6 instead of 10). Amicalement, +---------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ | Benjamin RYZMAN | "...And now, something completly different |" | | ESTP, Paris, France | -Monty Python | | Email: | "640 kb should be sufficient for anyone..." | |9269Z@FRESTP11.BITNET| -Bill "goofy" Gates, circa 1981 AD | +---------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 May 1993 01:29:26 -0700 (MST) From: Charred Corpse Subject: Prince of Persia 2 w/ GUS NOT fixed Message-ID: I am NOT satisfied with Prince of Persia's alleged fix of going back to SBOS 1.20 and getting some 'weird' sounds. SBOS should be able to play speech like is required by Prince of Persia. It merely requires a dumb DAC to the best of my knowledge to do this. It seems to crash if I allow the speech to occur, or it will crash (bypassing the speech) as soon as a digital sound (such as an enemy dying/screaming) happens. Is there any mix of switches to fix this? Also, the music is out of tune to itself. It is not so bad if instruments are all out of tune a uniform amount so that they are in tune relative to each other, but this is not the case. The instruments grate against each other, especially in the higher registers. I belive that the instrument library in SBOS should be redone yet again. Please post all suggestions. Mike ****************************************************************************** * --> Mfinkel@gas.uug.arizona.edu * A good day is a flamethrower, a pile of * * Tucson, Arizona U.S.A. * corpses, and a full tank of gasoline! * ****************************************************************************** ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 May 1993 18:44:05 -0700 From: Eric N. Liao Subject: PS16 format and other stuff Message-ID: <199305110144.AA16154@aerospace.aero.org> Has Renaissance set a release date for the new protracker-16 format? Joshua? Anyone? Also, I downloaded DMP240.ZIP (from wuarchive), and I'm happy that it works with SBOS. With DMP240, I can listen to the music files in UNREAL and FC_PANIC (DMP includes a ripper utility, and DMP can play many S3 M files) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 May 93 15:20:30 CDT From: ddebry@itchy (Dave DeBry) Subject: Request trouble? Not a problem. Message-ID: <9305102120.AA03596@itchy> A few people have mailed me with troubles trying to get the request server to send them files (like the FAQ, undigest.c, etc.). I've fixed the problems, and it works now. Go ahead and request that FAQ as many times as you need. (For those of you who are masochistic enough to follow the evolution of the mail server system here, I rewrote it from the c-shell scripts into C. It's much nicer to maintain now. It's been running here for a couple of weeks, in fact.) -- Dave ddebry@ debry@ \ DeBry dsd. peruvian. | "He was wearing a button that said 'Ask me es. cs.utah. | about my vow of silence'." com edu / ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 May 93 4:14:07 EDT From: Phat H Tran Subject: SBOS problems Message-ID: <9305100814.AA07261@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca> All those who are having problems with SBOS 2.0x should revert back to SBOS 1.20. SBOSes 1.23 to 2.04 cannot handle DAC emulation properly on some computers. Symptoms of this bug include "SBOS installed" playing backwards during the game, digitized speech and sounds looping or cutting out early, and screeching noise after a segment of digitized speech or sound plays. If you experience these problems using SBOS 1.23 or later, I highly recommend using SBOS 1.20 instead. It may just do the trick. And please post your successes or failures when going back to version 1.20. If enough people find that 1.20 works better than the newer SBOSes, Forte will have to address the problem. They do read the newsgroup and this mailing list. I haven't tried SBOS 2.06B yet. Phat. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 May 1993 10:19:24 -0400 (EDT) From: The Dark Doc Subject: Sim Life anyone? Message-ID: It appears to be a no go :-( My computer cold boots if I try to run it with SBOS 2.04, has anyone tried this or have experience with any other Maxis Games (Sim City, Earth, Ant)? -Morgan ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 May 93 19:53:05 CDT From: ddebry@itchy (Dave DeBry) Subject: Thinking of changing the vol/iss counter for digest... Message-ID: <9305110153.AA05574@itchy> Heya, folks. I'm thinking about changing the volume/issue counter for the digests, so that the volume gets incremented every month instad of every quarter. This makes individual archive files smaller and easier to download and search through. Any comments? (BTW: Yes, I know that the digest isn't being uploaded to the FTP sites every night anymore. I haven't had a chance to code that into the new mailserver program (see my other post in this issue).) -- Dave ddebry@ debry@ \ "Some people say capital punishment is cruel DeBry dsd. peruvian. | and unusual. The way to make it less unusual es. cs.utah. | is to do it more often. The way to make it com edu / more cruel is to use a turkey baster." ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 May 93 09:40:08 EDT From: gregof@JSP.UMontreal.CA (Grego Filippo) Subject: ULTRAMOD Message-ID: <9305101340.AA11910@spt1.jsp.umontreal.ca> Hi GUSers, I just bought a Gravis Ultrasound and needless to say that I'm very happy with my choice !!! Anyway, there one question I can't figure out ....how do you control the voulume with ULTRAMOD ???? ( my speakers don't have volume knobs on them )... gregof@jsp.umontreal.ca -Red Two- ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 May 1993 15:08:48 -0300 (ADT) From: Shadow Of Fear Subject: Re: Ultrasound Daily Digest V3 #40 Message-ID: On Mon, 10 May 1993, Ultrasound Server wrote: > Haven't tried Covox's voice recognition software -- but I did try a > couple of the shareware voice recognition programs that are out there > for Windows ... and they worked fine. That's the whole point of > having a Windows driver. VoiceBlaster works just fine with me. No switches at all. Just load SBOS normally. +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Name: Marc Y. Paulin Address: markus@info.umoncton.ca | | Age: 21 Talk Deamon: @clement.info.umoncton.ca | | Occupation: Student in computer programming | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "Kirsty and Tiffany re-enter the labyrinth, where Tiffany finds the| | puzzle box in its diamond form. Tiffany stand before Leviathan and| | begins to work the box. Channard arrives menaces the girl, but Julia| | appears behind Tiffany, and snatches her away. Channard is distracted by| | a prolongned kiss from Julia, which gives Tiffany time to resume closing| | the Lamen Configuration. Channard realizes too late what is happening,| | and slices Tiffany's hand open with a tentacle blade in an attempt to| | stop her." - HellBound: Hellraiser II - Clive Barker | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 May 1993 10:42:50 -0400 (EDT) From: The Dark Doc Subject: VMAP? Message-ID: What does vmap mean anyway... is it that the GUS-windows-midi drivers and GUS-DOS-playmidi use logarithmic volume scale, and thus midi files need to have all their "volume" information changed for GUS? -Morgan ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 May 93 7:55:09 CDT From: tom@densun.oppd.gov (Tom Heng) Subject: Voice Recognition Software Message-ID: I'm fairly new on the list and was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on the best free/shareware voice recognition software for the GUS. I'd like to have it available on both DOS and Windows 3.1. If this data is on a FAQ please let me know the name and address. I only have limited Access to FTP sites but I can probably work something out. I have been patiently waiting for my new software, and hope to have it soon. ----------------------- Thomas Heng Nuclear Design Engineer Email at tom@oppd.gov ----------------------- ------------------------------ End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V3 #41 *************************************