Ultrasound Daily Digest Sat Aug 14 00:07 Volume 5: Issue 13 Today's Topics: *** New Chris Mids *** .../sound/midi/util/miditest.zip - does this work ? Bunch of posts (1) Bunch of posts (2) Bunch of posts (3) Bunch of posts (4) Dune2 and AIL and OS/2 GUS & Creative MIDI BLASTER Anyone?? Gus gets plugged in CGR MEGAEM + XWING = GUS4EVER! (and) Roland no support? monitoring the midi strm - error in prev postting OS/2 Driver Patches workaround REQUEST: Custom Patch Set access under Windows Roberto Sierra's MIDI collection Static from hell... ULTRASOUND DAILY DIGEST V (2 msgs) Ultrasound Daily Digest V5 #12 Update on GUS Patch Modifications Which Keyboard wolf3d / adaptec / sb /gus 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: Fri, 13 Aug 93 18:43:34 PDT From: Christopher Jon Wilkins Subject: *** New Chris Mids *** Message-ID: <199308140143.SAA04054@power.Stanford.EDU> Well, despite my earlier comments, there's a new bunch of chris mids. For those new to the GUS world the Chris.mid file series is a set of files written by me dedicated to making your GUS sound like it cost more than you paid for it. The new files use some custom drum patches sampled from a Roland DR550mkII drum machine. They also make use of Francois Dion's TR808 patches. The whole lot is put together in Chris6-8.zip in the epas submit directory. This includes the midi files, .cfg files for using with playmidi, a .ini file for using with windows and the custom patches. I've included Francois's patches under slightly different names - the original 808* names cause problems with playmidi so I've decided to start all custom patches with the letter C in the filename. eg c808hh.pat, c550kc_1.pat, etc. This at least makes it easy to tell apart the GUS originals and other patches. I think I've got my modem problems sorted out (binary files were causing problems with escape sequences in file transfer) but I'm not entirely sure so could someone write to me to say whether the file on Epas is O.K. Enjoy! Chris. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 Aug 93 08:47:06 -0700 From: peter@netcom.com (Peter Davies) Subject: .../sound/midi/util/miditest.zip - does this work ? Message-ID: <9308131547.AA27826@netcom4.netcom.com> I have recently had the need to verify the correctness of a midi keyboard controller. The handiest way to bypass by aged ears and other components in my GUS setup is to use the Windows utility found in ..../sound/midi/util/midvue.arj. It did the job nicely, my thanks to the author. However my question is regarding another utility in the same directory namely, miditest.zip. The txt file included is beguiling and portends to be *exactly* what I needed, in other words a tool that would not only allow me to see the midi stream as text but would pass on the data so that perhaps I could hear the appropriate sound as well. When I try to launch this executable under windows very little happens, the egg-timer is instantaneously visible and then the application disappears, normal service is resumed (so to speak). Is there something environmental that I have forgotten to establish? The author provides usmail and compuserve addresses (but no source :-) but I am overcome with lazyness and wondered if the list at large has had similar trouble. thankyou peter ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 14 Aug 1993 01:58:58 +0200 From: chief@lysator.liu.se Subject: Bunch of posts (1) Message-ID: <199308132358.BAA06107@ruben.lysator.liu.se> In article darrenj@morgan.ucs.mun.ca (Darren Jacobs) writes: > I have problems with my gus locking up my computer. After using >the Diagnostic utility with SETGUS I get an this error message about 30% >of the time: > >Would purchasing a new motherboard be a solution? (I put the >GUS card in another computer and it seemed to work fine. BTW the >computer locks up almost all the time when SBOS is run, even ULTRAMIDI >-C (the Miles Drivers) will lock up my computer. This may be a long shot, but in case someone remember my problems about four months ago with SETGUS, ULTRAMID -C and ULTRINIT locking up my computer (everything else worked fine) - I solved the problem with some help from John Smith. He instructed me to check the version of the card actually, and it was only then I happened to see two legs on one of the DRAM chips outside its socket. After fixing that, everything worked fine. So, the strangest problems can be caused by weirdly inserted DRAM chips (note that everything else worked fine, and never hinted that it could be a matter of wrongly inserted DRAM chips). I'd take a look at the DRAM banks for starters at least, if I were you. > Date: Sat, 10 Jul 93 13:52:57 +0100 > From: T.Walker@swansea.ac.uk > Subject: 2.06 Disks - Windows Installation Problem > Message-ID: <5677.9307101252@pygmy.swan.ac.uk> > [...crunch...] > > - the variables [WinDrvPath1], [WinDrvPath2], [SysPath] and [ConPath] > were all being set to c:\ (I used SetTopLineTo [WinDrvPath1] etc. to > work this out). So I altered the lines where the installer searches > for system.ini etc. to give the explicit paths, e.g. I had a similar problem with ULTRAMID not finding \ULTRASND\MIDI - when checking what it found instead of the correct directory, it only displayed C:\ and nothing else, even though the variables had been correctly set before. It took me some time to figure out that I had some TSR's loaded that stopped the ultramid install program to set it's environment variables (it managed to set them, but was overwritten immediately by the TSR - surely a bug in the TSR). I'd recommend not running *anything* else (ie. TSR's, Norton Whatever, Memory managers (unless the install program really needs one) etc) when installing stuff. Clean-boot-install have helped with most problems I've had with installing software at least. /Erik ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 14 Aug 1993 01:59:14 +0200 From: chief@lysator.liu.se Subject: Bunch of posts (2) Message-ID: <199308132359.BAA06111@ruben.lysator.liu.se> > Date: Thu, 15 Jul 1993 21:02:09 +1000 (EST) > From: Andrew See > Subject: Gus With Syndicate > Message-ID: <199307151102.AA10074@arthur.st.nepean.uws.edu.au> > > I've tried all the options for GUS with Syndicate, including the patch, > running main.exe, and editing the batch file. No joy. I am getting music > but no digital. Worse It only r4uns with sbos -o3, and you guys have > been doing it with no sbos options. When I run the game with sbos and > no options, it hangs, and RESETS MY CMOS! Heh, yeah, that happened to me once too. I just re-booted (after writing the correct CMOS settings back again), and everything worked thereafter. I do get everything (music/fx) with SBOS2.10 - I only edited the .bat file as suggested in a previous digest, removing ' /iio$220 ' from it. Note that it does demand a lot of memory - I had to boot with HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE to get enough - (my QEMM autoexec.bat and config.sys's gave me a QEMM exceptional error 13 if I remember correctly). Oh well, my variables are set like this: SET ULTRADIR=E:\ULTRASND SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T1 SET GUSMOD=E:\ULTRASND\MOD SET ULTRASND=220,7,7,11,7 > Date: Fri, 30 Jul 93 11:26:51 -0400 > From: "Momentary language, sexual situations" > Subject: Re: ERROR IN P669V105. NEED HELP! > Message-ID: <9307301526.AA23689@magick.tay2.dec.com> > > For what it's worth, I've had alot of trouble with this program. While I > like the graphics and such, it tends to lock up. Interestingly enough, > hitting Shift Lock a few times tends to unlock it! Although it's also hung > my system at times...:-( I also had this problem, but only with one special 669 song (of those I have) ! Others works fine. Dunno why this happens, perhaps some 669 songs carry 'shady' stuff that causes this behaviour from P669, like unusual program-changes? I haven't got a clue, maybe the author can investigate? I can find the 669 file that locked up my computer if that'll help. /Erik ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 14 Aug 1993 01:59:26 +0200 From: chief@lysator.liu.se Subject: Bunch of posts (3) Message-ID: <199308132359.BAA06115@ruben.lysator.liu.se> > Date: Sat, 07 Aug 93 19:22:06 GMT > From: thomasvk@blackhl.hacktic.nl (Thomas van Kuipers) > Subject: adress gravis/registerian gus/OTHER SOUNDCARDS/NEW GUS/ > Message-ID: > > - To Mike Parkins about pinball dreams. I played it on 486dx-33 with > 16mb with sbos 2.10 and it plays VERY good. I don't know where you are > talking about. If you do have problems, email me direct with config and > autoexec and hardware with interupt settings perhaps there lies a prolem > (even if sbos works with most games). Really strange. I've also tried every SBOS version from v1.20 to v2.10, and the one working the best (ie. NOT slowing down the game) was v1.20 (as usual) - but the sound quality is just TOO bad, so I use the PC Speaker (as did Mike Parkins). The sound is screeky, scratchy, delayed, and generally awful. When playing the .MOD files through GusMod, they sound fine though, so I guess it's the programmers whos made lousy sound drivers for the game. Post your configurations in case you really do have very good sound & play, though I really doubt that that is the case. > Date: Sun, 8 Aug 93 18:24:50 EDT > From: Matthew Spewak > Subject: unix .au converter? > Message-ID: <9308082224.AA00348@lambada.oit.unc.edu> > > Can someone tell me where (ftp sites?) I can find a program that will > convert .AU sound files to either .WAV or .SND? I have head of one, but > forgot the name. GoldWave handles .AU sound files, and I guess you can load 'em and then save as .WAV or whatever with that one. Think its available from epas. /Erik ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 14 Aug 1993 02:00:21 +0200 From: chief@lysator.liu.se Subject: Bunch of posts (4) Message-ID: <199308140000.CAA06119@ruben.lysator.liu.se> > Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 11:17:08 +0000 > From: Clarke Brunt > Subject: Re: MIDI Mapper and Patch loading > Message-ID: <00970CF8.5A5748E1.19199@lsl.co.uk> > [...crunch...] > > For someone with knowledge of driver writing, I imagine that it > would be possible to write their own MIDI Mapper. It would presumably > appear as a positive numbered device (rather than replacing the -1). > I don't suppose there is difficulty in one driver calling another (?), > because one wouldn't particularly want to re-write the code which > actually commands the GUS. The Windows DDK manual says that multiple clients to device drivers is not a problem, even for simultaneous PCM waveform playback, or completely different playback formats to different playback hardware, for example an external MIDI device and an internal synthesizer (ie. the GUS card). (only confirming what you said about devices numbered from 0 (zero) and upward (not -1)). > Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 23:08:48 -0400 (EDT) > From: dionf@ERE.UMontreal.CA (Francois Dion) > Subject: various answers to various people > Message-ID: <9308110308.AA01456@brise.ERE.UMontreal.CA> > [...crunch...] > > arj is on wuarchive and most other dos ftp sites. It is the same thing > as zip but compress a little more. well, until pkzip 2.04g which seems > to be about the equivalent, [...crunch...] I know that this doesn't belong here, but when we are on the subject on what to use, what gives you the best compression etc. Arj v2.41 (and newer) beats pkzip v2.04g quite well. [...crunch...] > Well, it is a case by case thing... unless you go with the raw waveform > in a sysex dump... In the case of the EPS, all the tools to extract the > waveforms from the disk images are on ftp.reed.edu along with the images. Hmm, I've been planning on asking you this for a long time, but haven't been around long enough to actually write anything, but here goes. I've got an EPS 16+ along with loads of samples, and I'd like to convert some of them to .pat format. Now, I've been tangling around, trying to dump the samples in a way to make it easy to convert into .pat format, but the results have been mediocre (sp?) so far. Can you direct me to an easy way, what format, and/or programs I can use to achieve some good patches off of them EPS samples? I'd be really grateful. /Erik ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1993 13:50:58 -0500 (CDT) From: CRAIGK@RIGEL.TAMU.EDU Subject: Dune2 and AIL and OS/2 Message-ID: <930813135058.21a02299@RIGEL.TAMU.EDU> I have been running Dune2 in a full screen DOS session under OS/2 using the Miles drivers. I have only encountered one problem, and that is with the music. It takes forever to load and either doesn't play or plays at most for 10 or 15 seconds, usually cutting out at the next sound. It takes forever to load in DOS, but plays ok. Maybe it is just personal bias, but I think the game runs as well or better under OS/2 with the exception of the music. Has anyone tried this or encountered this problem before? Sorry if this has already been addressed and I missed it. Craig ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 14 Aug 1993 12:59:43 +0800 (SST) From: IPACS COMPUTER Subject: GUS & Creative MIDI BLASTER Anyone?? Message-ID: Has anyone got this hook-up? Does it work? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 Aug 93 10:56:13 EDT From: Matthew Spewak Subject: Gus gets plugged in CGR Message-ID: <9308131456.AA26876@lambada.oit.unc.edu> Everyone check out the latest issues of Computer Gaming World and Computer Game Rewier (& Cdrom entertainment). They both have TONS of info on the summer CES, and talk about several new elements of 3d sounds making its way into computer gaming. More importantly, CGR talks about the Ultrasound Max w/3d in replying to a letter in the Q&A section. They say how great it is, with its only downside being that it does not have fm chips so it is not realy sb compatible. They make it sound, though, as if the GUS cannot work at all with games that only support FM, which is not true. Anyways, at least they recognize that it is one of the best boards. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 14 Aug 93 11:47:41 EST From: adrianr@mullian.ee.mu.OZ.AU (adriano ennio raiola) Subject: MEGAEM + XWING = GUS4EVER! (and) Roland no support? Message-ID: <9308140147.4687@mullian.ee.mu.OZ.AU> >I agree with Adrian, Megem (13b) offers far more superior sound than SBOS. I agree with me too :) >I've tried X-wing with Megem in SC mode and it is great. Now we are playing >with power :-) Isn't it!! Make no mistake folks, listen to X-Wing with Megaem and finally you'll see what the GUS is capable of, not that DOG called SBOS. It kicks. >The only thing I miss is the digitised speech, but Jayeson told me he's working >on it. I dont suppose you have an old SB? Coz I use Megaem along with my old SB for digitised sound, and it KICKS ASS! And NO SLOWDOWN every time I shoot a laser! ------[also]------------------------ >How many games out there actually do support Roland though? For example, >ftp.ulowell.edu is the main msdos game site and I can't find a single >game in there that supports a Roland.... well, I didn't look through >every game but I can't find any in there so far. The bulk of the games >are still SB/Adlib so... SBOS will be around for awhile longer yet. What games are you lookig for on ulowell? Public Domain games? I would have thought a lot of them support the Roland, of course no demos would, but the GUS is now the king card of demos anyway :) In the commercial game scene, justabout EVERY new game that comes out supports the Roland. I have not a game on my harddisk (and there would be a single digit number of games in my whole collection as well that didnt support Roland) What we want now is for every new game to support General Midi, and a lot do, because I think megaem sounds better doing GM than MT32. SBOS is TOAST ----------------------------- Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 05:43 PDT From: Jason Lin Subject: Ultima 7 Mids Message-ID: <9308121242.AA19991@orca.es.com> A while back someone uploaded a copy of Ultima 7 MIDI songs to epas. I have lost my copy and I can't find it anymore on all three FTP archive sites. Could someone reupload them again to epas or email an uuencoded copy to me? Thanks in advance... ----------------------------- Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 16:32:39 -0400 (EDT) From: Phat H Tran Subject: Re: Ultrasound Daily Digest V5 #11 Message-ID: <9308122032.AA29008@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca> > Date: Wed, 11 Aug 93 16:22:28 EDT > From: pccmoddan@aol.com > Subject: Diamond's Sonic series > Message-ID: <9308111622.tn63672@aol.com> > > Folks, don't believe it for a moment. The Diamond Sonic Series sound cards > are just like all the other *Aria* boards, and don't have *any* RAM, only > have 1mb of ROM, etc. > Yup... From what I've heard of the Diamond Sonic Sound, it's just another cheesy .5 or 1 Meg ROM only Aria synth. Only compatible with itself and sorta with the SB (like the GUS). Hardly the ultimate soundcard. > Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1993 15:58:18 -0400 > From: jericho!gord (Gord Wait S-MOS Systems Vancouver Design Center) > Subject: Patch Editing Questions > Message-ID: <9308111958.AA07833@smos.bc.ca> > > A question: I was messing with the patch editor (I went Ahhhhh into a > mike under uss8) and having fun, but I'm not sure I understand whats > happening with the loop start/end points in patch.exe (gravis one). I > set the start and endpoints to an obvious start and end of a complete > ahhhh waveform, got a noise somewhat like I expected. I then moved the > endpoint to the end of the Next waveform, expecting to get the same > noise but one octave lower. Instead I got the same noise!! Is this a > bug, or is patch.exe being tricky and maintaining the same final output > pitch no matter what I set the start/end loop points to? Another The loop points do not affect the perceived pitch of the sound, generally, since the periods of the waveforms aren't changed in any way. The more waveforms included in the loop region, the longer the loop. Phat. ----------------------------- Date: (null) From: (null) I am very happy with the GUS because : - it installs and runs flawlessly, except for this sbos problem, and produces excellent sounds (windows, dos) - the support and additional software on epas and other ftp- sites and through the lists is great. Many thanks to all those people who must be putting a lot of effort in maintaining these services ! - within six weeks I've received a box with the update disks and documentation. - etc... See you all.... Rene den Hertog, Erasmus University Rotterdam Internet : denhertog@coh.fgg.eur.nl Erasmus Reken Centrum Name : Rene den Hertog PO Box 1738 Tel. : (31)-10 4087416 3000 DR Rotterdam Fax. : (31)-10 4362719 The Netherlands ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 Aug 93 20:08:33 -0700 From: peter@netcom.com (Peter Davies) Subject: monitoring the midi strm - error in prev postting Message-ID: <9308140308.AA06859@netcom4.netcom.com> My apologies, in my previous mail I incorrectly referred to miditest instead of midim201.zip (midimon.exe). ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 Aug 93 8:06:38 CDT From: wiegand@void.rtsg.mot.com (Robert Wiegand) Subject: Re: OS/2 Driver Message-ID: <9308131306@midnight1> > From: eths1306@ele.etsmtl.ca > > Hi, > I just want to say that I am waiting for the release of a complete > driver for the ultrasound that would run under OS/2. > > OS/2 is a real improvement over the pitty Windows, wich is only > DOS under a colorfull disguise. I don't get it, if there is no sound card > supported for the OS/2 THIS IS THE TIME TO BE THE FIRST! You will be the > first to support OS/2 and music software that will come out for OS/2 will > all support GUS and it may become a standard... There is already OS/2 support for two other sound cards. Both the Soundblaster and the PAS cards are supported. GUS wouldn't be the first, but it might be the last. Bob Wiegand ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 Aug 93 12:57:47 +0100 From: zccaj19@ucl.ac.uk (Mr Stefan Magdalinski) Subject: Patches workaround Message-ID: <9308131157.AA51947@link-1.ts.bcc.ac.uk> Hey, here's an idea, The biggest hassle with experimenting with new patches is having to reboot windows to access the new patches after editing ultrasnd.ini. But I wonder if this will work? 1. copy any old patch, say, acpiano.pat to something like a1.pat, a2.pat,a3.pat,a4.pat,a5.pat, etc (as many as you want). 2. Now edit ultrasnd.ini so that these replace some patches you don't want. 3. Now, reboot windows. 4. Now create some patches. If you make sure that you always save them with the same names (a1,a2,etc), and put them in the patch directory, you shouldn't have to reboot windows. I'm assuming that all the windows startup checks for is the existance of the correct filename, not the right file size or anything. If this works, you should be able to edit patches again and again without rebooting. If francois and all you other guys have thought of this already, ignore me. Here's another idea, Gravis, why don't you put names in the patch files for the general midi set. That way, when you choose 'Names from patch files' in Patch Manager, you could experiment with new patches without all the GM patches coming up '?'. Shouldn't be too hard. everlasting peas, Stefan P.S. nice patches, francois. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 Aug 93 11:41:03 MDT From: Stuart Yoshida Subject: REQUEST: Custom Patch Set access under Windows Message-ID: <9308131741.AA09236@elektra.fc.hp.com> Now that we're starting to see a plethora of custom patches being created (the majority of which seem to be coming from Francois Dion :-), I'd like to make a request of the GUS Windows Programming Gurus: THE NEED -------- It is apparent that GUS Music Composers (GMC) need a program which allows us to dynamically configure our systems to have custom patch sets available under Windows depending upon which musical style or instruments we feel a need to use. These patch sets might be composed of selected General Midi (GM) patches *AND* custom created patches (such as the 808 drum set). For example: GM Patches: The General MIDI patch set. The default configuration. Techno Patches: A patch set consisting of the GM melodic patches and a custom drum set (the 808/727 drums?) Classical Patches: A patch set which contains mondo sampled orchestral melodic instruments patches (woodwinds, strings, etc), including a well-sampled Steinway Grand piano :-). This would be a completely custom set of patches. The drum set would likewise consist of orchestral percussion as opposed to the standard GM drum set. ...And so on... People who are familiar with sample-based synthesizers know this paradigm, since most synth companies offer custom patches to their customers based on various musical styles. THE CHALLENGE ------------- The challenge (as I see it) is to create an applet for the GUS under Windows which can configure the GUS drivers to access these custom patch sets without having to rework or copy over the ULTRASND.INI file and restarting Windows. Any takers? I'd be willing to shell out $20 for a well-programmed (and well-documented) shareware applet which performs the functions I've described. John Degood? Francois? Anyone? :-) -- Stuart Yoshida Internet: yoshida@elektra.fc.hp.com Voice: (303) 229-2324 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 Aug 93 10:59:23 PDT From: mikebat@qdeck.com (Mike Batchelor) Subject: Roberto Sierra's MIDI collection Message-ID: <9308131759.AA00991@cebu.qdeck.com> I have uploaded to epas the following: rsierra.zip - The entire MIDI collection of Roberto Sierra, as posted to alt.binaries.sounds.music rsierra.txt - description and manifest of same These MIDI files have NOT been GUS-ized, and will require VMAPPING and a config file for each one. -- -- Mike Batchelor, Technical Support Specialist, Sales -- Quarterdeck Office Systems, Santa Monica, California -- mikebat@qdeck.com mike@batpad.org -- Windows : DESQview/X :: Solitaire : Network BlaqJaq ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 14 Aug 1993 02:06:18 -0400 (EDT) From: impster@umcc.umich.edu (Charles Budensiek) Subject: Static from hell... Message-ID: I have recently hooked up my CD-ROM audio to the internal connectors on my GUS. Now, whenever I try to sample from the CD player I get tons of statis. Most of it shows up as the recorded silence being just above the zero line on the graphic display. I have tried moving the card, moving the cables, changing addresses, several different recording programs and every try shows up with the above zero silence ----------------------------- >Subject: Doom will get GUS support >|> Will you be supporting the Gravis Ultrasound in it's native mode? >If support for the GUS is not included in the initial release, it will >be included in an update. --- >-Shawn Green (shawn@idsoftware.com) Id Software ----------------------------- Actually we were talking to Jay Wilbur, chief (something) officer at Id, who said that GUS support is already added but the 3D sound is taking up too much space. So the 3D sound may be a future update. John --- ~ QMPro 1.50 05-8925 ~ He does the work of 3 Men...Moe, Larry & Curly ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 Aug 93 15:16:05 From: john.smith@gravis.com Subject: ULTRASOUND DAILY DIGEST V Message-ID: <9308131516.A0752wk@gravis.com> ----------------------------- >Subject: Doom will get GUS support >|> Will you be supporting the Gravis Ultrasound in it's native mode? >If support for the GUS is not included in the initial release, it will >be included in an update. --- >-Shawn Green (shawn@idsoftware.com) Id Software ----------------------------- Actually we were talking to Jay Wilbur, chief (something) officer at Id, who said that GUS support is already added but the 3D sound is taking up too much space. So the 3D sound may be a future update. John --- ~ QMPro 1.50 05-8925 ~ He does the work of 3 Men...Moe, Larry & Curly ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1993 15:49:44 -0400 (EDT) From: Phat H Tran Subject: Re: Ultrasound Daily Digest V5 #12 Message-ID: <9308131949.AA29161@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca> > Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 00:28:48 GMT > From: thomasvk@blackhl.hacktic.nl (Thomas van Kuipers) > Subject: many things > Message-ID: > > To Phat, > > You/I wrote: > > **** Didn't know that Aria only support 12-bit recording. Only > know that it offers the same features like gus (i didn't think > it was comp.). > > **** Futher i have phone to the local store, where i saw one. > This is what i came up with (different from earlier: > Card: Sonic Sound. Yes, I've heard of this card. My impression of it was that it's just another one of those Aria synths. > Price: $250 > Upgrade: $120 (to 8Mb rom) > Features: 0.5 Mb Rom (samples) expandable to 8 Mb ROM Aria cards with .05 MB ROM do not sound all that great. Better than SB, but behind GUS. > 32 SRAM /cache ram. The SRAM can only be used to hold program code for the DSP, not custom samples. > SB comp. / Adlib comp. Emulation, but in hardware. Still, not much better than SBOS. > (NO sb pro/ sb 16 or wave comp.) > Aria chipset > DSP (digital Sound Processor) The DSP handles the burden of WTS. It's not as though the card has a synth chip PLUS a separate DSP. > Voice recognition with upgrade. > 32 voice (wave table synthesizes) 44.1 Khz. The Aria has 32 operates. Some instruments require 2 or more operators, especially with the 0.5 MB ROM, so usually, you cannot get 32 voice polyphony. > SCSI-2 on board supporting: Tape streamers > Cd-rom > Future HDD. > And more .... > > It looks like a sort of GUS (with daugter board) with hardware > comp. sb for games > with prof. programs and DSP!! and a bit rom/ram/cache and > scsi-2 for a somewhat 'reasonable' price. (BUT an sb pro or > Pro audio spectrum BESIDES Gus is also an alternative, except > if you WANT a DSP). Without RAM for samples, and just 0.5 MB standard ROM, I don't think that the Sonic Sound compares all that favourably to the GUS. > Date: 12 Aug 93 9:44 -0700 > From: Thomas Wong > Subject: The DEATH of SBOS > Message-ID: <4123*twong@civil.ubc.ca> > > How many games out there actually do support Roland though? For example, > ftp.ulowell.edu is the main msdos game site and I can't find a single > game in there that supports a Roland.... well, I didn't look through > every game but I can't find any in there so far. The bulk of the games > are still SB/Adlib so... SBOS will be around for awhile longer yet. > Actually, all major game companies support the Rolands. All of my commercial games have MT-32 support, except StarCon 2, since it uses MOD music. Phat. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 Aug 93 13:55:57 -0700 From: dna@netcom.com (David Altekruse) Subject: Update on GUS Patch Modifications Message-ID: <9308132055.AA28521@netcom4.netcom.com> A few days ago I submitted a note titled "Improve Your Gus Patches" describing how one could modify the current GUS patches, why I felt some of them could use improving, and some of my experiments along those lines mostly involving modifications of the GUS patch envelopes. I thought it would be useful to summarize some of the comments I've received on that note. On usenet Phat H Tran stated that he liked what he dubbed the "fake reverb" on the existing GUS patches. He suggested "make the decay drop quickly to a low residual volume and then let the residual decay slowly. This would make notes more distinct without losing all of the fake reverb effect." I tried Phat's idea but the the "residual decay" sounds to me not like reverb but like a defect, audio leakage, as if the hardware wasn't able to shut the sound down quite all the way. I couldn't make it sound natural. Most the email I got stated that they thought that the reduced envelope times to get rid of the "fake reverb" was an improvement to most of the MIDI files they played: "Hey, those modified patches are great! I just tried them out, and you are right the difference it makes with the gmfigaro.mid is huge! Keep 'em coming. I hope more people take your example and modify the patches." One person noted that a side benefit to getting rid of the extra decay times was that it freed up GUS voices allowing a MIDI song to be played with fewer voices and therefore at a higher sampling rate. Put another way, you can have more voices available if some of them aren't hanging around in long decays. In the GUS digest, Christoper Wilkins made an important observation concerning patch modification: "note that if anyone writes something specifically for the GUS (eg. me) I use the standard patches as is. If you've modified yours then my files will sound different on your machine." Wilkin's comment caused me to wonder how GUS's envelope decay times compared to other General MIDI synthesizers. If GUS's patch times were pretty much like other GM synths, then I'd have to say that modifying the times very much may not be such a good idea after all. I managed to talk a friend into bringing over his Roland SC-155 Sound Canvas. We switched back and forth between the two synths on each GM voice. It quickly became clear that the Roland Sound Canvas didn't have the long release decay times found on some of the GUS patches. In fact, I was rather surprised to find that most of the decay envelopes of the Roland voices were very close to the times I came up with by ear on my modified patches. The Roland SC-155 has a built-in reverb processor but turning it off (as we did for most of our tests) didn't change the music or make it choppy, it just made it more dry. Nor did enabling the reverb turn music into mush the way the GUS long decay times does. In an article General MIDI in the August 1991 "Electronic Musician" magazine (page 24) mention is made that "Discussions are under way on standardizing sound parameters such as playable range and envelope times. This will ensure that an arrangement that relies on phrasing and balance can play back on a variety of modules." I have been unable to find any further reference to such standardization. (If anyone knows more about this, I'd very much like to hear about it.) However, since MIDI is an outgrowth of Roland's "Digital Control Bus" and Roland was one of early proponents and suppliers of GM hardware, the Sound Canvas implementation is probably as close as anything to a 'standard' for General MIDI. The conclusion I come to is that some of GUS's patches aren't GM compatible with regard to their envelope times. If you compose music using Gravis's patches, you aren't producing GM MIDI. If you play back GM MIDI files using GUS's factory patches, you aren't hearing them the way their creator intended. I hope that Gravis will make their patches General MIDI compatible in the future. Until then, GUS user's can modify their patches but MIDI composers like Christoper Wilkins are forced to decide whether they are going to compose for GUS factory patch listeners or write to the larger General MIDI audience. - David Altekruse, dna@netcom.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 Aug 93 14:58:25 -0500 From: ks25!dougw@uucp-gw-2.pa.dec.com Subject: Which Keyboard Message-ID: <9308131957.AA09273@hummer.ks25.chi.il.us> I missed out on the "choosing keyboards" thread. What was the consensus? I have this great sound card, GUS (ever heard of it?) and I just received software in the update package. I would like to buy a keyboard to compose music and play through the GUS. My wife is a very experienced Pianist, so I guess I should want this velocity control (whatever that is). Also, big thanks to Matthew Arbeid: Advanced Gravis Tech Support Group For sending me the update package. Doug ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 14 Aug 93 0:24:19 CDT From: Michael J Stumpf Subject: wolf3d / adaptec / sb /gus Message-ID: <9308140524.AA16167@tamsun.tamu.edu> Any ideas would be appreciated. I get near perfect coexistance with : Adaptec, dma 5 , irq 11 SB: dma 1, irq 5 GUS: dma 3, irq 15 + 7 Problem is, even when I yank the gus I can't get wolf3d to work with the SB. Any clue? I am using an ancient adaptec 1542a. Has anyone had/solved this problem or might have an idea? thanks. ------------------------------ End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V5 #13 *************************************