SuperHack/SuperHack CD.bin/CODING/SOUND/GUS-141.ZIP/GUS-152.TXT

Text File | 1993-01-29 | 26.4 KB | 621 lines

Ultrasound Daily Digest     Mon, 21 Dec 92       Volume 1 : Issue  52

Today's Topics:
                            Anybody here?
                  Calling all GUS SDKers and users!
                                Digest
                     Digest Admin: ARRRGGGGHHHH!
                                drams
                               general
                           GUS and SB(Pro)
            GUS Availability in the Portland, Oregon Area?
                     GUS Compatibility List 1.02
                             GUS problems
                 gus starconII on an OPTi motherboard
                 OPTI owners, detail the specifics...
                        Ultraprobe 51 earth 1
                   USS8 pauses and hard drive speed

    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.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 20 Dec 1992 15:44:52 -0400 (AST)
From: Shadow Of Fear <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <Pine.3.02.9212201552.A11935-b100000@clement>
Subject: Anybody here?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
      Directly from his dark office on the top of a dark Tower.....
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

    Hello?  Is the digest still published?  Haven't heard from it
since last friday....
                                         ____
              _  _  _                  / \   \
            /' )' )' )                |   |   |
              /  /  /                 | (_|__/         \
             /     /  __. .__    ___  |   |  __.  . .   \  .   ___
            /     (__(_/|__) )__/(__   \_/__(_/|__)\_)__/\__)__) <_

                    Markus on QuartzPARADISE and AfterFive
                            [phone] - Canada
+---------------------------------------------+-----------------------------+
|            [e-mail]          | "My son, ask for thyself    |
| For Talk:  [e-mail]  |  another kingdom.  For that |
|---------------------------------------------+  which I leave is too small |
| When all else fails,  read the instructions |  for thee" - King Philippe  |
+---------------------------------------------+-----------------------------+

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 20 Dec 1992 09:32:58 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Phat H Tran)
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Calling all GUS SDKers and users!
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>Ouch, I just ran into a major brick wall in my GUS modplayer...
>
>All you with SDK's, listen up.  Maybe I'm missing a command...
>
>OK,  as you are all aware, module samples have a start, length, loops, and
>loope, illustrated like.
>
>Start                       Length
>+--------------------------------+
>      -----------------
>   LoopS            LoopE
>
>Alright, as far as I can tell, the GUS only supports this.
>
>Start-----------------------End
>           LoopS------------End
>
>Am I missing something??????????    This is going to really hurt in looping
>samples if it can't do it like Amiga modules!
>
>Joshua Jensen
>

The GUS seems to be oriented toward playing MIDI instruments.  You
have the attack transient, which is played once and is located before
loopS, and you have the sustain waveform that is looped for the sustain
and faded for the release.  Since few real instruments experience a
significant change in waveform as their sustain dies, this approach is
quit simple and yet realistic.  Instrument samples for MOD files also
have the attack and sustain phases.  However, I don't think MOD players
merely fade the sustain waveform for the release, and as a result,
there's a release phase in which the sample itself fades.

The MOD approach is more flexible in the sense that you can have weird
and wonderful waveform changes occuring at the end of a note.  But a
disadvantage is that you can only end notes right at the end of the
loop.  If you end the note when the middle of the looped section is
played, you will probably hear a "pop" since the release section of the
sample was only aligned for the end of the loop.  The GUS approach will
let you end a note at any time.  Also, the MOD sample format means that
a long release time means a huge sample size.

If you want to play MOD files faithfully on the GUS, then you can split
the MOD sample into two GUS patches:

Start--------------------------------------------------------Length
          LoopS---------------------------LoopE
Start---------------------------------------EndStart------------End
          LoopS---------------------------LoopE
Patch 1                                        Patch 2

Play the first patch at the note on signal, and then play the
second patch on note off.  I don't know how easily it would be to
implement so that the two patches meld nicely together.

A better way to play MODs on the GUS is to drop the release phase
from the MOD samples altogether, keep only up to LoopE, and then have
the GUS handle the release in its hardware.  This approach will save
a lot of memory, and should not affect the sound of the MOD any since
practically all release phases are copies of the sustain phase with
the volume diminishing over time.

Well, there ya have it!  I just wrote a whole article on two subjects
I know next to nothing about.  I have no idea how the GUS actually works
(No, I don't have the SDK.) and I know even less about the MOD format.
I am just going on what info Josh presented in his query and some
assumptions of mine, the biggest being that the release phase of the
MOD sample is a complete sample of a note fading.  For all I know,
it could actually be a fixed-amplitude waveform that the MODPlayer
fades during playback instead.  Please correct me if I'm wrong
anywhere, anybody.  I'm just tossing ideas around.

Phat.

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 20 Dec 92 09:53:17 EST
From: [e-mail]
Message-Id: <9212201453.AA05148@e40-008-4>
Subject: Digest
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

Is the GUS Digest server acting up again?  I have not been receiving the
digest for the last two days!!  What IS happening?  Can something be set up
to at least inform the subscribers of the digest that "Sorry, something
fucked up, so you won't be getting the digest today"?

Tim

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 18 Dec 92 15:01:29 MST
From: ddebry@itchy (Dave DeBry)
Message-Id: <9212182201.AA00339@itchy>
Subject: Digest Admin: ARRRGGGGHHHH!
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

    My apologies to everyone for the problems the digest and
server have been having all week.

    No, I'm not taking the digest down.  No, I'm not getting rid
of the request server.  We've just had all kinds of weird things
happen to machines around here lately.  Hopefully (knock on a 3d wood
texture) things are all straightened out and all will be well for the
future.

    Did anyone receive a digest #50?

    Anything mailed between 10am MST and 3pm MST on 12/18/92 to
the digest or the server were eaten by the EtherMonster.  Please
resend them.

--
Dave  ddebry@ debry@   \ "Treat every day like it was your last one on
DeBry dsd.    peruvian. | earth: with a lot of whimpering and crying."
      es.     cs.utah.  |
      com     edu      /                                - Tommy Sledge

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 20 Dec 92 22:43:00 -0800
From: fico!fico8![e-mail]
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: drams
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

Is there any advantage to populating the Ultrasound board to 1MB if ones not
planning to use a midi device?

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 18 Dec 92 16:27:38 -0800
From: fico!fico8![e-mail]
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: general
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

I recently purchased the "USS10TRAX" from Forte.  I been quite pleased with
the way the software handles.  One additional way to make your Ultrasound
more flexible is to get a mixing board.  A few years ago I purchased one
of Radio Shacks high-end mixing boards.  I have the output of the mixing
board going to the Ultrasound's audio input line, and all inputs for the
Ultrasound come through the mixing board.  Using this technique, you can
have microphones,tape,cds',turntables, and other devices going into the
board without the need for switching cables.  If you're planning to use
this technique, you should find a 1khz tone generater and all the VU meters
to the same deflection.  Using this technique helps avoid unnecessary distortion.

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 19 Dec 92 13:25:56 EST
From: Phat H Tran <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: GUS and SB(Pro)
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

> Date: 17 Dec 1992 21:57:46 GMT
> From: [e-mail] (R. Cliff Young)
> Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
> Subject: GUS, SBPro, and GS2000 antics
> Summary: Fun with Conflicting Hardware/Confused Software in the PC World
> To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>
>

[...]

> My options are to: (1) remove the SBPro and just use GUS w/ SBOS
> (which I assume will work fine, since I haven't seen any others having
> problems with GS2000), (2) remove the GUS (Noooooo!!!!!!), (3) buy a
> new system and dedicate it to the GUS ;) , (4) live with Adlib sound,
> or (5) live without GS2000.
>

Moving the GUS's MIDI irq out of the 2-7 range should let the SBPro play
digitized sounds.  I have a GUS and a SoundBlaster in my machine, and
in Falcon 3.0, I can get digitized sounds out of the SB and "FM" music out
of SBOS.  The SB's irq is on 5, and the GUS's are on 15 and 12.  I also
have to run SBOS and then uninstall it if I want to hear FM music from
the SB.  The digitized messages will still play just as well.

Phat.

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 18 Dec 92 16:21:11 -0800
From: Bob Beck <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: GUS Availability in the Portland, Oregon Area?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

Just wondering if anyone in the Portland area has a GUS and/or know where
to get it for a reasonable price?  All input appreciated.

Bob Beck            [e-mail]
Sequent Computer Systems    [phone]

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 19:24:41 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Ron Dippold)
Message-Id: <rdippold.724706681@qualcom>
Subject: GUS Compatibility List 1.02
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

GUS Tested Programs Compatability List V1.02 Dec 18, 1992

Send updates to [e-mail].

This is a list of compatibility settings for the Gravis Ultrasound card.
I have not personally verified all of these, most of them are submitted to
me by other GUS owners.  Your results may vary.  Nor is this a list of
all programs that will run with the GUS - this is just a list of those
that have been tested by those who sent me mail.  It is for the
purpose of helping GUS owners run a program without hunting for the
appropriate options.


The "Version" indicates the version of SBOS that the program was tested
with.  1.22 is the new beta from Gravis.


Native GUS Support
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Star Control II
Chuck Yeager Flight Combat Simulator

SBOS                          Version   Parameters
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4-D Boxing                      1.20    None  (Announcer's voice is too slow)
Aces of the Pacific             1.20    None
Alone in the Dark               1.20    None
Amazon                          1.20    None
Armour-Geddon                   1.22    None
ATP 2.0                         1.22    None
AV8B Harrier Attack             1.20    -o2
Blaster Master                  1.20    -x3
Catacombs 3D                    1.20    None
Civilization                            None
Comanche: Maximum Overkill      1.20    None (Get Update from Novalogic)
Comanche: Maximum Overkill      1.20    None (or music=adlib, sound=sb)
Commander Keen (part 4)         1.22    -x2
Conan                           1.20    None (Adlib mode)
Contraption Zack                1.22    None
Daughter of Serpents            1.22    None
Dinosaur Adventure              1.22    None
Dragon Flight                   1.22    None
Dragon's Lair III               1.22    None
Dune II                         1.22    None
Elite Plus                      1.20    None
Escape from Alcatraz            1.20    -o3
F-15 Strike Eagle II                    -o3
Falcon 3.0                      1.20    None
Fate of Atlantis                1.20    None
Formula One Grand Prix          1.20    None (-o2 if sound cuts out)
Front Page Sports Football      1.20    None
Future Wars                     1.20    None (Adlib mode)
Galactix 1.3                    1.20    -o3  (not fully compatible)
Galactix 1.3                    1.22    None
The Games: Summer Challenge     1.20    None
Goblins 2                       1.22    None
Grand Master Chess              1.22    None
Hardball III                    1.22    None
Heart of China                  1.20    None
Hole in One Minature Golf Dlx   1.22    None
Humans                          1.20    -o3
The Incredible Machine          1.20    None
Joe and Mac: Caveman Ninja      1.22    None
Kiloblaster                     1.22    None
King's Quest VI                 1.20    -o3  (no speech)
King's Quest VI                 1.22    -o2 -x3
Knights of the Sky              1.20    None
L.A. Law                        1.22    None
Leather Godesses of Phobos II   1.20    -o1
Legend of Kyrandia              1.20    None
Legend of Robin Hood            1.20    None
Leisure Suit Larry V            1.22    -o2 -x3
Lemmings                        1.20    Lemmings -x for PC type
Lemmings                        1.22    None
Links 386 1.05 or later         1.20    -o1 -x2  (turn off background sounds)
Llamatron 2112                  1.22    None (Turn off QEMM)
PGA Golf                        1.20    -o2
Prince of Persia                1.20    -o1
Putt-Putt Joins the Parade      1.22    None
Monkey Island II                1.20    None
Overkill                        1.20    None
Reader Rabbit I                 1.20    None
Reader Rabbit II                1.20    None
Reading Adventures in OZ        1.20    None
Red Baron                       1.20    None
Rex Nebular                     1.22    -x3
Rome AD 92                      1.22    None
Siege                           1.20    -x3
Sierra Xmas Card '92            1.22    None
Sim Ant                         1.20    None
The Simpsons                    1.22    None
Simusex                         1.20    None
So You Want To Be a Hero?       1.20    None (Adlib mode)
Spear of Destiny                1.20    -o2
Spear of Destiny                1.22    None
Star Trek 25th Anniversary      1.22    None (Adlib mode)
Street Fighter II               1.22    None
Strange Deadfellows             1.20    GF1 int = MIDI int
Stunts (slight slowdown)        1.20    None
Task Force: 1942                1.22    None
Thunder Hawk                    1.20    -x3  (still flakey)
Tristan Pinball                 1.20    None
Ultima Underworld               1.20    None
Unreal Demo                     1.20    IRQ must be 2
V for Victory: Utah Beach       1.22    None
V for Victory: Velikiye Luiki   1.22    None
Where in the World is Carmen... 1.20    -o1
Willy Beamish                   1.20    None
Wing Commander                  1.20    -o2 -x2  (slow)
Wing Commander                  1.22    -o2 -x2
Wolfenstein 3D                  1.22    None
WOW II 1.3 (MOD player)         1.20    None
Wrath of the Demon              1.20    None


SBOS earlier than 1.20
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dune                                    -o2
Earl Weaver Baseball II                 -o2
King's Quest V                          -o2
Wolfenstein 3D                          -o2


--
She hates testicles, thus limiting the men she can admire to Democratic
candidates for president.
  -- John Greenway, "The American Tradition", on feminist Elizabeth Gould Davis

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 22:13:17 EST
From: Matthew E. Bernold <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: GUS problems
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

In article <[e-mail]>,
[e-mail] (MARC PAULIN) says:
>
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]         o
>(francisc
>perez) writes:
>>From: [e-mail] (francisco perez)
>>Subject: Re: GUS problems
>>Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 17:14:06 GMT
>
>
>>I have 1 meg on my GUS and the only problem that appears is a static noise
>>after I move the cursor in the SAVE GAME or LOAD GAME section, and this
>>disappears after the game is saved or laoded.  Other than that, everything
>>sounds fine.  By the way, I'm also using an Opti chipset (don't know the
>>model #), and QEMM (I don't disable it for StarCon2).  My DMA is set to 7.
>
>        I have a 286 16MHz.  My GUS is on DMA 5.  I never heard any static
>noises or wrong patches problem with Star Control II.  The game works and
>keeps me busy for hours full with sounds and music.  But with my GUS on DMA1,
>I do have the 'wrong patches being played' problem.
>
Hmmm....that sounds a bit suspicious to me.  I think I'm starting to see a
pattern here.  When I first installed my GUS, I used the factory default DMA 1,
and I got the "Wrong Patches played"  problem.  Then, later on, I moved the GUS
to DMA 5 to use a 16bit DMA, and the patches played fine, but after a while of
playing the game, I got the "loud blast of static out of the left speaker"
problem.  Finally, I read the article that said that someone was playing SC II
with the GUS on DMA 7 and wasn't having any problems.  I went home and moved
the GUS to DMA 7, and played for 5 hours without a problem.  I did notice a
click from the speakers every time that it changed from one song to another,
but the right patches played, and there was NO static!

I'd like some feedback from everyone who is having problems with SC II.
What DMA are you set for?  What chipset do you have?  What processor?

Maybe if this trend continues, it'll make the author's jobs easier, and we'll
get a fix that much sooner.... :-)

       Matthew E. Bernold             [e-mail]
         <<APOCALYPSE>>                  [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 18 Dec 92 08:17:42 -0800
From: [e-mail]
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: gus starconII on an OPTi motherboard
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

 Well, I finally got around to replacing my 486 motherboard that has an OPTi
 chipset ( 486-WB motherboard with OPTi chips  82C392 82C493 F82C206 ) with
 a new EISA motherboard that has a SIS chipset.  My old motherboard worked
 fine with playmidi and the media player in windows but failed when I ran
 StarControl II.   In StarControl II, I would get a load scratchy-whinning
 noise when I changed to different items in a menu and eventually the game
 would slow to a crawl and lock up my computer.  Well, last night after swap-
 ping the motherboards, I noticed that I get the same whinning noise less
 frequently when I'm switching to different items in the menu but now I can
 play with absolutely no system slow downs or lock ups....  I should also
 state that my GUS has 1 Meg of memory on it and I've noticed postings from
 others that this could cause problems with StarControl II.  Hopefully, Accolade
 will post a patch to fix this.  I've also noticed that the game will sometimes
 play incorrect patches like battle sounds when I'm out crusing by myself.

 cliff

 [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: 8 Dec 92 23:42:48 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: OPTI owners, detail the specifics...
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

Hello, World

I have noticed a lot of people having trouble with DMA transfers
using motherboards with OPTI chipsets. OPTI is/was a rather respected
name in the community and it would be a shame to trash them if it was
only a particular part or set of parts that caused problems, rather
than their entire line of products.

Hopefully OPTI owners will come forward and help compile a list
of working chipsets and non-working chipsets. Possibly with the
hardware that caused problems, or supected hardware that worked fine.
Maybe OPTI can pick up the ball from there.

The common threads I've seen so far:

1. People with problems mostly state they are using 486 boards.
2. People with problems mostly state they have a write-back cache.
3. People stating non-write-back caches have had better compatibility.
4. The most problematic piece of hardware seems to be the Gravis Ultrasound.
   The majority of disgruntled GUS owners have OPTI chipsets.
5. The SB-Pro has also had problems with the OPTI chipset.
6. Adaptec SCSI controllers have problems with very fast disks, or
   Multiple devices on the controller (High DMA throughput)
7. The date of the chipset seems to bee irrelavent.
8. Some have claimed that if the cache is disabled, compatibility returns.

Any others?

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 18 Dec 92 10:08:38 EST
From: [e-mail] (Francois Dion)
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Ultraprobe 51 earth 1
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

Beyond the ultraworld of Ultrasound Digest Owner:
>
> Date: 18 Dec 1992 00:58:37 GMT
> From: [e-mail] (Alex D.)
> Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
> Subject: GUS and OPTi partially fixed
> Summary: GUS & OPTi & 486s
> To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>
>
> Okay, now I know that my GUS is not broken.  I recently installed in a 386/33
> OPTi write/back cache machine.  It almost has the exact chips that are on my
> 486/33 OPTi motherboard (bought them from the same place), namely the F82C206

Same DMA controller?

> I know that someone else previously post the same type of experience, I just
> want to confirm it.  The 486/33 OPTi motherboard doesn't work correctly
> with the GUS, whereas the 386/33 does.  Is the chip too fast or what?  Oh

Definitely not. It's flaky. You will find it on old 486 and some rare 386
with opti.

> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Tue, 15 Dec 92 09:39 EST
> From: "Matthew E. Bernold" <[e-mail]>
> Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
> Subject: SBOS.CFG
> To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>
>
> I was reading the GUS manual earlier on this week (Yup, actually reading the
> manual...what would my hacker's club think of me now...) and noticed that
> SBOS has a config file.  Supposedly, it allows you to set the keys used to
> control the volume, and even to CHANGE THE SOUND THAT SBOS PLAYS ON STARTUP!!

NO SHIT? 8) it's the first thing i did with my GUS: record a new file. I now
have: OOWEEE I AM READY! I MEAN I'M IN THE MOOD! (James Brown, sampled on
Church of Ecstasy, from the group Church of Ecstacy)

> I tried to do this, but it wouldn't work.  You are supposed to be able to put
> in a filename, and a frequency to play back at, on the third line of the .CFG
> file, and SBOS will use that file instead of it's built in voice.  I tried this
> by using one of the sounds that comes with the GUS, arrow.snd.  I put in the
> following lines, one at a time:
>
> arrow.snd 8000
> d:\ultrasnd\arrow.snd 8000
> D:\ULTRASND\ARROW.SND 8000

Two things: change the SBOS.CFG in \ULTRASND, not \ULTRASND\SBOS and try
arrow.snd,8000 (dont forget the comma).

> Has anyone been able to get this SBOS option working?

As JB would put it: YES BABY!

Ciao,
--
Francois Dion
    '  _   _   _
 CISM (_) (_)  _) FM       Montreal , Canada       Email: [e-mail]
      (_)  / . _)             10000 Watts          Telephone no: [phone]
_______________________________________________________________________________
Audio-C-DJ-Fractals-Future-Label-Multimedia-Music-Radio-Rave-Video-VR-Volvo-...

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 18 Dec 92 10:26:26 EST
From: [e-mail]
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: USS8 pauses and hard drive speed
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

hmmm... there seems to be a common denominator of asking
what my hard drive speed is.  Well it's 14 ms..  I think that
it is fast enough to play mix'ed files on the fly.  Anyways
I saved the mix, and it sounds GREAT!  No delays. thanks for
all the responses.

BTW:  I got permission to record clips from a local bands' tape
with my card and I'd post them if everyone wanted me to.  The
band is called Modern Ruins, and I think everyone would love it
..  Why can I only record 1 min of sound in USS8? oh well.. tell
me if you want me to FTP the sound clips to EPAS.  they are only
about a meg or so each....

cHaD

------------------------------

End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V1 #52
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