SuperHack/SuperHack CD.bin/CODING/SOUND/GUS-201.ZIP/GUS-217.TXT

Text File | 1993-01-28 | 39.5 KB | 956 lines

Ultrasound Daily Digest     Wed, 20 Jan 93       Volume 2 : Issue  17

Today's Topics:
                      **DEMO with GUS support??
    Cakewalk and GUS (A Gravis rep, please read the last section!)
                       Gravis Ultrasound + OS/2
                    GUS and RAMDRIVE compatibility
                    GUS and SB in the same machine
                     GUS and SB Pro?  Together?!?
             GUS mentioned in Byte Jan. '93/SBOS question
                           GUSMOD is great
                         GUSMOD v1.1 & .MODs
        Has anyone got the MIDI working? I need assistance...
 HELP: does OPTi not work with GUS???  (was Re: Gravis UltraSound 3D!
            How to get the digitized speech work in KQ VI
                             Microphone.
                            Note to Gravis
                                 OPTI
                       OPTi and GUS (and M-321)
                       Patch loader in Windows
                  Problems with new Windows drivers
                Questions and List of Gravis Contacts
                       Renessance Demo DARETRO
                    Tested working MIDI interface
                      Ultrasound + Links 386 Pro
                    Ultrasound Daily Digest V2 #10
                 Ultrasound FTP Sites News (+ OS/2)
                          Undeliverable Mail

    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: Tue, 19 Jan 93 22:23:15 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Dan Wright)
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: **DEMO with GUS support??
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

Yes folks it has finally happened.  From none one--Renaissance has emerged
as the first demo group (or so it seems) to SUPPORT the GUS.

The demo is called DARETRO and can be found on your favorite demo site:
ftp.uwp.edu  (in the demos incoming for now...)

I do not have a GUS but it seems everyone on this SECTION is wild about it
so I though I'd post about the demo and PLUG the demo site--again!


--
-----------------------------------------------
|    _                                        |
|   | \ |\/| |  |       /|\  sioux.ee.ufl.edu |
|   |_/ |  | |/\|       \|/                   |
-----------------------------------------------

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

Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 14:54:29 PST
From: "Burns Fisher, VMS DECwindows  19-Jan-1993 1752" <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Cakewalk and GUS (A Gravis rep, please read the last section!)
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

Someone recently called for names of people who would not buy Cakewalk unless
they put in patch-caching support, implying that he was dealt with rather rudely by
a salesperson there.

I tried a different tack.  I already have Cakewalk/Windows, so I called Tech Support.
They were very considerate and helpful, and said that they had heard from GUS users
before, but it was their belief that there was a problem with the GUS drivers.  I
gave them very specific information about what call needs to be called, mentioned
that it was NOT a GUS specific call, but rather a Windows call, and that other
programs like Media Player and Winjammer made it.

The tech support person talked to a programmer about it and called me back promptly
saying that the programmer thought that GUS must not be using the "normal"
multi-media drivers, and maybe there was a sysex call to load the patches.  However,
the programmer told the tech-support guy he wanted to hear what I replied.  I thanked
techsupport very much for the info, but repeated that the call that need to be made
was NOT GUS specific, and should be made by all MIDI programs.  It was just that GUS
was the first card to need it.   I also requested that having Cakewalk make this call
be placed on the list of features requested for the next release.  Tech thanked me
and remarked that they had had previous calls from GUS owners, but they did not
really understand what was being requested till I gave them the specifics.

I suggest that other GUS and Cakewalk owners might try calling with the same request
with specific information. But *PLEASE* be polite to them.  You don't need to flame,
especially at the tech-support guy.  My impression from this call and others is that
they want to do the right thing.  They just need to understand what the right thing
is.

You might also try writing letters.

But don't bother calling Tech Support unless you are a registered owner.  The first
thing they ask for is your serial number.  They are a small outfit and this is how
they try to keep down piracy.

I believe the calls that need to be made are:

UINT midiOutCachePatches(hMidiOut, wBank, lpPatchArray, wFlags)

and

UINT midiOutCacheDrumPatches(hMidiOut, wPatch,lpKeyArray, wFlags)

===========================================================

Gravis folks, are you listening?  It would be awfully helpful if you would write
a tech note or something and send it out to publishers like Twelve-Tone Systems
telling them what they need to do, and why this is not your bug!

In addition, it would be EVEN BETTER if you would modify your drivers to either
interpret a SYSEX command to load patches, or (BEST OF ALL) make the drivers load
a patch when it sees a patch-change request!  So what if it pauses?  It's better than
silence.

=============================================================

Burns

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

Date: 19 Jan 1993 07:28:12 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Thomas Wong)
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Gravis Ultrasound + OS/2
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Al Dhir) writes:
>Hello all.  Following are the answers to all your questions about OS/2 with
>the Gravis Ultrasound.
>
>Stuff that works:  Playmidi, PL669, GUSMOD all work just fine in a run of
>the mill DOS box, as long as you use an 8-bit DMA channel.  I use DMA 1 for
>the GUS anytime I am in OS/2 (it is set through the autoexec file).  So in
>my OS/2 autoexec file, I use ULTRASND=240,1,1,11,5 and in my DOS autoexec
>file I use 240,7,7,11,5.  This works fine.  You must make sure that you add
>all four lines that the Ultrasound setup program sticks into your autoexec
>to the OS/2 autoexec.
>
>Stuff that sort of works:  SBOS works occassionally in a DOS box.  For example,
>Wolfenstein 3D works no problem in a DOS box, and never traps out on me (as
>long as I use DMA 1 - just like as above).  Other games cause the machine to
>Trap out or to hang, still others simply crash the DOS session and OS/2
>continues nicely.  So the answer to all the questions about SBOS working
>under OS/2 is "it depends on the game".
>
>Stuff that doesn't work:  USS8, playfile, Windows drivers with WinOS/2.  In
>case you are wondering, the beta of OS/2 2.1 which includes enhanced mode
>support for Win3.1 STILL does NOT work with the Ultrasound drivers.


Hey. It works! I do have it working under OS/2. Thanks!

So to correct what I've said all along, that I can't get my Ultrasound
to work under OS/2, the answer is.... choose a DMA channel that is only
8 bits, like DMA Channel 1! Just edit the value in your autoexec.bat
yourself. The 2nd and 3rd number is the DMA channel (yes both).

So now, I have playmidi, the midi jukeboxes, 669 player, gusmod....etc
all working under OS/2. In fact, as I'm typing away right now, I have a
list of 669 files playing away in another DOS window (batch file). I was
doing a list if midi files before and that works fine too. And since the
DOS playmidi sounds better than midi players under Windows, I think I'll
stick with OS/2 now that it works! :) Pretty neat how I can have
background music from my computer and yet have full 610 Kb of
conventional memory left in DOS. Hurray for OS/2 and multiple DOS
sessions! :) Only problem is with music, I can hear the slowdowns at
times. :(

Now if we can get some real OS/2 drivers from Gravis, we can do this
right. :) But alas, yes, it's possible to have it working, Ultrasound +
OS/2 that is. :) Remember, 8 bit DMS channel like channel 1! :)
Thanks to Al Dhir!

Thomas.

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

Date: 18 Jan 93 09:32:42 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Dick Dixon)
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: GUS and RAMDRIVE compatibility
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Phat H Tran) writes:
> In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Dick Dixon) writes:
> >
> >Is it usual to have to copy all the .PAT files to \WINDOWS directory?
>
> Nope.  I left mine in \ultrasnd\midi, and you should have too.  What
> version of disks did you install from?

...This was just me being stupid.  I'd got a bad string in the ULTRADIR variable,
so the player was looking in WINDOWS dir only - it's fine now.

>
> >And, does
> >anyone else get 'tuba.pat is corrupt' when starting?
>
> Again, no.

...I went back to my install disks and got another copy, which is OK.  The install
procedure had left me with a zero-length tuba.pat for some reason.  Again, fine now.

>
> Phat.

...Thanks for responding (can you reproduce tha problem with RAMDRIVE, by the way?)

regards,

    Dick Dixon

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

Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1993 17:52:03 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Tobin M. Creek)
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: GUS and SB in the same machine
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Scott Weintraub) writes:

>When my Gateway does come and if the SB-16 does what everybody here says it
>do which means hissing playback I'd like to send it back to Creative Labs
>and possibly pick up a Soundblaster and a GUS.  The Soundblaster would
>insure me nice sound for all my games and the GUS could be used when
>it could be and when supported.  I could also use it for sampling and of
>course Qsound, when the drivers are released.  Has anybody tried this
>combination in one machine and how successful has it been?

I'm doing it right now with a SBPro 2.0 and a GUS 2.2.  It works fine.
My setup is:  SBPro - IRQ 7, DMA 1, Port 220  (all factory defaults)
          GUS   - IRQ 11, DMA 7, Port 260

I also made a cable to pipe the GUS output to the SBPro line-in, then I control
the GUS volume with the SBPro mixer and drive a pair of speakers off the
SBPro amp.  It works rather well.

The only thing is:  once during each power-up, I have to load SBOS, unload
it, then do an ultrinit to get the Adlib part of the SBPro recognized.

BUT, and this is a big butt :) - if SBOS gets much better, the SBPro may
have to find somewhere else to live.

Send replies to:               | My opinions do not represent
     [e-mail]      | anyone who does not feel the
     [e-mail] | same way as I do.

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

Date: Wed, 20 Jan 93 03:32:11 EST
From: [e-mail]
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: GUS and SB Pro?  Together?!?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

So, has anybody else out there been crazy enough to try the "impossible?"
Namely, getting a GUS to peacefully cohabitate with a Sound Blaster Pro?
Here's MY setup:

GUS
---------------
Base: 240h
GF1 IRQ: 11
MIDI IRQ: 5
DMA: 6 (in and out)

SB Pro (v.1)
---------------
Base: 220h
IRQ: 7
DMA: 1

...Most applications do the right thing: Run the appropriate card, and leave
the other alone.  Some offer up some strange behaviour, though...

I've been able to play two MODs at once, one on each card.  Running Visual
Player, shelling to DOS, then running GUSMOD.  Pretty weird.

Some software is now apparently disgusted with my SB Pro, and refuses to
recognize it.  Wolfenstein 3-D, for instance, doesn't see SB OR AdLib as
valid choices.  However, if I run SBOS (1.22) first, Wolfie plays music
through BOTH cards at the same time!  Digital audio goes only to the GUS,
though, due to the unavoidable DMA 1 conflict under SBOS.  Front Page Sports:
Football (from Dynamix) recognizes the SB Pro, but not normal SB or AdLib
anymore.  However, if I force it to try SB or AdLib, they still work.

So, the final verdict?  While it IS possible to get these two cards to
cooperate, it's with a few compromises.  Even when configured to completely
separate settings, there are apparently some undocumented conflicts between
them (other than the "don't try it" in the GUS manual :) ).  Ironically,
though the only unavoidable address conflict is at 388h-389h (for the AdLib
FM music ports) AdLib mode seemed to be ONE thing the cards were willing to
do simultaneously.

If anyone has any idea how applications (Wolf 3-D in particular) go about
finding a Sound Blaster, let me know.  The only thing I can imagine is that
those 388h-389h addresses are involved somehow... but even then, the GUS
shouldn't even be using 'em without SBOS.  Oh well.  A tech at Gravis
suggested there may be some undocumented behaviour by ICs on either the SB or
the GUS, but who knows?  I sure don't. :)  Please help if you can.

--John Bennett

([e-mail])


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

Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 15:05:54 PST
From: [e-mail] (I should be studying)
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: GUS mentioned in Byte Jan. '93/SBOS question
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

Just in case anyone is interested, BYTE magazine, Jan. '93, has
about a paragraph on the Gravis UltraSound.  Nothing much, just a
description (32-voice wavetable, SB compat, etc).  If you're
interested, it's on page 76.  (Right under the snippet on DAK's
mediamaster, or whatever that was...)  Maybe this is a sign that
reviews in magazines are coming?

Anyway, I've got a good question.  When will Gravis release a
version of SBOS which will enable the line in?!??  Right now,
whenever I have a game which uses both my Roland MT-32, and the SB
(emulated by the GUS with SBOS, of course), I have to route the
Roland through the MIC input, which really destroys the sound
quality.  (EXTREMELY BASSY).  Also, does this setup damage the mic
input in any way?  (overloading it, etc?).

It seems the CD input located internally on the card is independent
of any line-in/mic, and passes thru to the output directly, as I can
always play an audio CD in Windows whether or not the "line-in" or
"mic-in" enabled boxes are checked in the mixer.  Weird...

Anthony Tang
[e-mail]

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

Date: 18 Jan 93 10:14:11 MDT
From: [e-mail]
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: GUSMOD is great
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

>     When will 1.2 be out?  (Or is it out already?  I checked yesterday, and
> it wasn't.)

Hopefully in the the next couple of days.

Joshua Jensen
CyberStrike of Renaissance

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

Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 19:48:34 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Justin Pinder)
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: GUSMOD v1.1 & .MODs
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

For all you folks out there who adore GUSMOD, I suggest you get the reverb.*
modules from wuarchive.wustl.edu in /systems/amiga/audio/music/st-nt; they're
all in stereo, and they sound great! The two I especially like are moon-
-something and Focus. Check 'em out.





/             (__)( )      [e-mail]                              /
/             (-o)( )      The University of Vermont                        /
/       /------\/-()       EMBA Computer Facility                           /
/      /|     ||           Speaker for the Dead / IRC                       /
/     * ||----||           Drugs have taught an entire generation of kids   /
/       ^^    ^^           the metric system.                               /
--

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

Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 11:55:02 -0500
From: "It's your hand, Buckaroo" <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Has anyone got the MIDI working? I need assistance...
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

I believe that the Voyetra Sequencer Plus (if it's like the Jr. that came
with my SB 1.5) requires a VAPI driver to do it's MIDI stuff and that
driver is specific for the SB Pro (or the SB in my case) so it won't work.
Now, you might try PLAYMIDI -M to see if any data is coming out the port
(if the Korg isn't "General MIDI", it's gonna sound wierd).

You also might have to either cut capacitors on your board (what rev do you
have?) or modify the SBPro MIDI box (replace the opto-isolator)...

DDA

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

Date: 18 Jan 93 17:00:56 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: HELP: does OPTi not work with GUS???  (was Re: Gravis UltraSound 3D!
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(Matthew R B Conway) writes:
 |>
|>>I am a GUS owner-to-be, but saw the above post and said:
|>>
|>>"MY chipset says OPTi!!!!"
|>>                -====-
|>>
|>>I have a Standard Computer 386/40Mhz with two BIG  OPTi VLSI chips smack
|>>in the middle of my motherboard,  but want to get a GUS.
|>>
|>>1)Anybody know exactly what problems there are with the OPTi chipset????
|>
|>
|>The only REAL problem I know about is the flawed DMA capabilities in the
|>OPTi chipset.  They transmit data at 6Mhz instead of 10Mhz, and so you
|>have to use an 8bit DMA channel instead of a 16bit one.  I have a Gravis,
|>and a OPTi, and it only works for me when I use the 8bit DMA hannel (But
|>BOY!!
|>does it work....)

And it is not EVERY Opti chipset either.  It seems to be mostly 486 machines.
I have a 386/40 opti motherboard and the GUS works fine with DMA 7.

Burns

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

Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1993 10:38:27 -0500
From: Bun Tse <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: How to get the digitized speech work in KQ VI
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

Hi,
   I have problem with digitized speech in KQVI. In the opening I only heard "Alex" not
"Alexander" and the speech stops and no more. Here is my harware config.:
386dx-20 C&T chipset with 2 MB RAM
AMI Bios 1989

IN KQ6, I use SCC-1 in music and GUS in digitized speech. My GUS setup is
- Address 220
-DMA 1 (I try all channels but doesn't work)
-Gus IRQ 5
-MIDI IRQ 7
-USE SBOS v1.22(non beta) with options -o2 -x3

Thanks for your help!
-Bing

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

Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 12:23:58 EST
From: Screwtape <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Microphone.
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

Hey.  I've got a little Sun micrpohone that I'd like to use with the
GUS till I get a real one.  This is one of those mics similar to the
mac lc included mic, a matchbox size square mic with a connector meant
to be placed on the monitor.  It's powered by a 3V flat battery.
It also has a on off switch.  Problem is, I can't get sound out of
(in to?) it.  If I use uss8 or win mixer, I can get a click from the
turn off and on, but no noticable input.  It's plugged into the mic in.
Do I  need an attenuator or something?

Question 2 - I d/led a 500k 669 file (compresses 780K uncomp) last night
called GUYS.ZIP.  When I run p669gu0, it tells me "not enough memory" and
pukes.  Any suggestions?  works fine with other (smaller) 669s.

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

Date: 19 Jan 93  9:41 -0800
From: Thomas Wong <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <2841*[e-mail]>
Subject: Note to Gravis
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

"Matthew E. Bernold" <[e-mail]> writes:
>
>Mr. Craig;
>
>As a user of the Gravis Ultrasound card for nearly two months now, I was
>both happy and upset to read the two press release announcements about the
>new Ultrasound software bundles from Midisoft and Howling Dog.  I have been
>using this card, as I said, for almost two months WITHOUT the benefit of
>any sort of finalized software.  I've dealt with feeling like a beta tester,
>and not having any programs that support my soundcard.  I've dealt with
>flaky emulators and bad windows drivers and shortsighted programmers who
>didn't bother to include patch caching in their programs.  I've basically
>suffered through things with a great card and NO software support.
>
>The whole point of this letter is to find out if Gravis plans on treating
>it's current customers (especially the ones on internet who have been
>fighting for this card for almost 6 months) to a taste of REAL software, or
>if we are going to be left out in the cold.  Will current owners of the GUS
>also get these software bundles, or will we have to buy them, thereby proving
>that we have just been beta-testing the card for all this time?  I sincerely
>hope that Gravis doesn't turn it's collective back on the customers who
>risked their money buying a board that wasn't even supported yet, that had
>no software to speak of, and doesn't even have a real SDK available.
>
>BTW.  I STILL think it's a great card, after all I've said in this note.  I
>just don't want to have to spend another 25+ or so dollars to get software I
>could have had by just waiting for this "final release" package instead of
>buying the "BETA version" back in November.
>
>Thank you,
>
>Matthew E. Bernold
>The Pennsylvania State University
>


Yes, I think we should all voice our concerns, not only to Brad, but to
Alan (who've been our tech voice in Gravis) and Chris (who've been our
customer support voice in Gravis). Here are their addresess..

Alan => [e-mail]
Chris => [e-mail]

The only thing we have to note here though is when they say such and
such software will be bundled with the Ultrasound, will this be a
separate package costing more $$$. ie. Basic Ultrasound ... yah dollars.
Bundled with package #1, yah $ more, package #2, yah $ more,
Ultrasound 3d, yah yah $ more.... etc. ie. how many packages will there
be and at what cost? And if this is the case, we should be able to get
these packages at a discounted price similar to those who'll buy the
whole package when it's released (for those of us who'd bought the
Ultrasound already that is).

Thomas.

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

Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 08:49:10 +0100
From: [e-mail]
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: OPTI
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

Hello !

I would appreciate if someone could give me detailed information about the
problems concerning the OPTI-chipset and DMA transfers. I am mostly interested
in problems with Gravis Ultrasound.
I ask for this information because the Gravis Ultrasound does not work
on my machine (the same problems that others that have the OPTI-chipset have
reported) and would like to be able to convince my computer salesman
that he should replace the motherboard in my computer.

Thanks in advance !

*********************************
*Joakim Sundqvist               *
*Department of Computer Science *
*University of Umea, Sweden     *
*email: [e-mail]         *
*********************************

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

Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 11:09:24 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Jerry van Waardenberg)
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: OPTi and GUS (and M-321)
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Matthew R B Conway) writes:
|> In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Alex Stewart) writes:
|> >Matthew R B Conway ([e-mail]) wrote:
|> >: There are usually a bunch of chips on PC motherboards that control various
|> >: functions.  This is called a Chipset, and different boards carry chips
|> >: made by different maufacturers.  One such manufaturer is OPTi
|> >
|> >More specifically, motherboards made with OPTi chips have been known to have
|> >problems with some sound cards (notably the GUS) due to some apparent
|> >differences (bugs) in the way one of these chips (the DMA controller) talks to
|> >the cards.  My impression has been that this is a spurious problem that is
|> >essentially different with each OPTi motherboard, and that if it works on one,
|> >it may fail completely on another.  Does anyone have any detailed information
|> >regarding which chipsets/motherboards/speeds/manufacturers/GUSes this appears
|> >to be afflicting?  I've been thinking about upgrading sound cards, and here I
|> >just got a nice OPTi motherboard for christmas...
|>
|>
|> I don't have any details on which boards work, but I can tell you why the OPTi
|> doesn't work.  As you said, the DMA on Opti's are screwed up.  They cannot
|> transmit data faster than 6 MB/sec (the standard is 10 MB/sec)  As a result,
|> you cannot use a 16bit DMA channel, but are forced into using an 8bit DMA
|> channel.  I think all this does is to slow down the transfer rates of data
|> across the DMA, but I am not sure.  Does anyone know how using a 8bit DMA
|> impairs the funtionality of the GUS?
|>
|> Matt Conway
|> [e-mail]

It seems that the same problems occur with the M-321 board with PC-chips chipset.
I've seen several postings about problems using the 16-bit DMA channels with this
m-board (including myself). Are there others with this problem? Is the problem in
the chipset, or are both boards using the same DMA-controller?

Jerry

*------------------------------------------------------------------------------*
 Jerry van Waardenberg                             _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/
 Tele Informatics and Open Systems                  _/     _/   _/  _/ _/
 Department of Computer Science                    _/     _/   _/  _/   _/
 University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands  _/     _/   _/  _/     _/
 E-mail: [e-mail]                  _/   _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/

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

Date: Wed, 20 Jan 93 11:15:29 -0700
From: LEE_YURI/[e-mail]
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Patch loader in Windows
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

>It just occurred to me that what the GUS driver should REALLY do is that when
>it comes across a patch change request, and the required patch is not loaded,
>it should LOAD it.  Ok, so maybe there is a pause while it is loading, or may
be
>the channel for which it is intended uses the old patch for a few hundred
>milliseconds...big deal.  That is much better than not working at all!
>
>If AG did that, it strikes me as being more in the spirit.  A command called
>patch cache really sounds like a HINT, not a requirement.  That is, if you ca
ll
>the cache command, then everything is smoother and faster.  If you don't call
>the cache command, it still works, just not quite as smoothly.
>
>What do you think?  Any Gravis folks reading this?

Way back right after Ultrasound started shipping to Canada, all of us did see
the
patch caching problem in Windows with GUS windows driver. While it's not reall
y
a fault on Gravis' side, it really turned me down since I was expecting all MM

applications to work with Ultrasound at least.

Anyway, then I heard Gravis was working on on-the-fly patch loader program. Th
is
was not really convincing to me since the seperate patch loader, as far as I k
now,
is not possible unless built into the driver itself. Now I'm wondering whether
Gravis is still working on this or was this just a rumor ? Or is the patch man
ager
all we get after all ?

Also, even with patch caching in WinJammer 2.23, loading all the patches every
 time
I play a song takes quite a bit of time. My suggestion is that Gravis should i
nclude
more efficient patch loading scheme in their drivers so that only the new patc
hes that
does not exists in Ultrasound's on board memory will get loaded, and this will
 speed
things up considerably.

I'm still more than happy with my GUS but there are a lot of things that can b
e
improved or implemented on the software side.

- Yuri Lee

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

Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 10:59:44 CST
From: [e-mail] (Ken Goach)
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Problems with new Windows drivers
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

Hi all,

I saw someone else posted that the newer (GUS0012.ZIP) Windows
drivers are causing problems. Here's mine.

I unzip the file to a diskette. Go in Windows, and remove all GUS
drivers. Exit Windows. copy the new files from disk to ultrasnd\windows
directory. Reopen Windows. Add GUS driver in Control Panle. Restart
Windows. Now WAV's work but *nothing* MIDI works - not patch manager,
Media Play, nothing.

What's the deal? What did I do wrong? Did I forget to sacrifice an
animal? I switched back to the old drivers, and MIDI worked again.
Not patch manager, of course, but Media Player and Winjammer
worked fine.

So what's the story?

email to [e-mail] or post here!

Ken

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

Date: Wed, 20 Jan 93 13:28:55 EST
From: [e-mail] ( Jonathan Greene )
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Questions and List of Gravis Contacts
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

Hi.  I've compiled a list of useful Gravis-related contacts and thought
others might find it helpful as well.  I also have some questions.

   I'd like to buy a GUS soon, but will wait until the software bundles (and
   probably 3d stuff) is included.  I've been following the information about
   the GUS since someone mentioned what its features might be on the net
   a few years ago.  Here are 2 questions:

1. I have a 82C481 and 82C482 UMC chipset in my 486 clone.  Does anybody
   think that I'll have any trouble with getting the GUS to work with my
   computer?  As far as I know (not much) UMC is not OPTi so it should not be
   a problem.

2. Have people been able to get Sierra games to work with their GUS?
   I am most interested in compatablity with their semi-new title
   Space Quest 5 (the game after the Time Rippers one).  With the
   new no-option SBOS comming out, I would hope so.  Also, I thought
   I read that Sierra will begin to support the GUS.  Is this right?

Please respond to me and/or the mailling list.
Thank you in advance.

Here are the contacts (feel free to add to the list, tell me more)

==============================BEGIN=CONTACT=LIST================================

Contacts for the Gravis Ultrasound:
===================================

Gravis in California is (1-800-254-4525)

Alan Alvarez, the GUS technical guy, [e-mail].
Gravis's Technical Support phone number is [phone]

For Chris, the GUS salesguy, [e-mail].

BBS phone number is [phone]
On CompuServe, type <GO PCVENB> at any main (!) prompt.

Subject: GUS Press Release: Midisoft Recording Session to be bundled
     For further information : Brad Craig, at 604-431-5020.

Subject: GUS Press Release: Power Chords to be bundled
     For further information:
           Advanced Gravis Brad Craig, at 604-431-5020
           Howling Dog, Eric Bell, at 604-436-0420


            GRAVIS ULTRASOUND FTP SITES (more than what's listed
                        ============================ at the end of mail list)
                          archive.epas.utoronto.ca
                /pub/pc/ultrasound
                /ultrasound/soundutil/windows

                          wuarchive.wustl.edu
                /systems/msdos/ultrasound

                          klingon.epas.utoronto.ca (128.100.160.36).
                  \pc\pub\ultrasound\submit
                  \pc\pub\ultrasound\soundutils

                   wuarchive.wustl.edu
                             /systems/msdos/ultrasound

(I don't have ftp access yet, so I can't varify these yet)


        Gravis Ultrasound Mailing list
        ==============================

[e-mail]         To post to tomorrow's digest
[e-mail]     To subscribe, unsubscribe, and request files
[e-mail]     To contact a human if the server has troubles

==================================END=CONTACT=LIST==============================
I hope it helps.

Thanks for your help,

Jon Greene
([e-mail])

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

Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1993 15:21:50 GMT
From: [e-mail] (GUYLAIN LAVOIE)
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Renessance Demo DARETRO
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

Hi all,
       I just heard the Renessance demo Daretro!!!! IT's IMPOSSIBLE,,
It's GOOD!!!! Good Work Renessance!

       Just a note to OS/2 users, DON'T USE DARETRO ON YOUR SYSTEM,
your system will not boot anymore!

Bye
Guylain Lavoie
[e-mail]

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

Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 11:02:54 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Tested working MIDI interface
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

Just another data point - the circuit below works for me. This has
been posted here and elsewhere before. Only minor mod is the pin
assignments for the midi-out inverters, which were originally
incorrectly drawn as 14-13, 12-10.

Have tested this with my D50, and both midi in and out are OK.

15 pin D connector
                                          220R
pin-1 +5v ----+--------------------------/\/\/\---------------\
              |                                                \ 4
              |                                          Gnd--2      MIDI OUT
              |      |\      |\            220R                / 5
pin-12 tr >---|------| o-----| o----------/\/\/\--------------/
              |    13|/ 12 11|/ 10
              |                            220R
              +---------------------------/\/\/\-------------\
              |                                               \ 4
pin-15 rx <---|--------------------+                    Gnd--2      MIDI THRU
              |      |\      |\    |        220R              / 5
              |   +--| o-----| o---+-------/\/\/\------------/
              |   | 1|/ 2   3|/ 4
              |   |
              |   +------+
              |   270R   |                       220R
              +--/\/\/\--+    +------+----------/\/\/\--------\
              |B         |C   |A     |                         \  4
            +-|----------|----|-+    |                                MIDI IN
            |  8        6     2 |  -----                       /  5
            |                   |   / \ IN914 or IN4148     +-/
            |      6N138        |   ---                     |
            |                   |    |                      |
            |           5     3 |    |                      |
            +------------|----|-+    |                      |
                         |    |K     |                      |
pin-5 Gnd  --------------+    +------+----------------------+


Inverters are 74LS04. (This is a 14-pin IC containing 6 inverters.
Connect pin 14 to +5V, pin 7 to GND)

Leave pin 2 of the MIDI IN unconnected (Don't connect to ground)

--
Paul Cunnell ([e-mail])
Micrognosis, 63 Queen Victoria Street, London, EC4N 4UD, UK [phone]

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

Date: 18 Jan 1993 20:55:41 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Thomas Wong)
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Ultrasound + Links 386 Pro
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

I was replying to a question on the above but my replied bounced
so... to whom it may concern (Brian)....

Hi there. What you want to do is ftp to ftp.ulowell.edu, cd into
msdos/Games/Patches, binary, get links107.zip. There has been 2 updates
and 1.07 is the latest. And even version 1.05 worked with the original
SBOS. But I take it you have the latest or near latest by now which also
works fine. Unfortunately though, Links isn't a game with great sound
effects (if any at all). So it won't sound any different than from your
PC speaker, or a $1000 Roland card. But the graphics are great! :)

Thomas.

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

Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 12:15:42 -0500
From: "It's your hand, Buckaroo" <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Ultrasound FTP Sites News (+ OS/2)
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

> The New WinJammer works wonderfully with the GUS now that it loads
> patches tself. No more needing Patch Manager! And of cousre you can now
> have a list of midi files playing in the background automatically under
> Windows. Pretty neat stuff. I haven't played with the mid*.arj and mmjbox
> much yet.  Can't remember if they load the patches themselves too....

MMJBOX do patch loading. It's what I use for "background" MIDI file
playing, since it's free from Creative Labs (heh heh) and it works, unlike
WinJammer 2.23. Very aptly named program, I must say. I installed the GUS
version last night, fired it up, configured it for my GUS and tried
min-g.mid. No sound. Then I realised I'd accidently set the MIDI port as
port 1 and the Ultrasound Synth as port 2 and all of min-g.mid uses port 1.
No problem, I quickly swapped 'em. Ah, ha! Music...Oh no, Windows pop-up
box complaining around WinJammer. So I say "Ignore" several times to no
effect and finally I "Close" it. Then a General Protection Fault from
MIDILIB.DLL and then it drops me back to DOS.

Rats, I say and reboot. And get the dreaded Off Board Parity Error! Reboot
again and get a System Parity error. Finally, I cycled the power and that
fixed it. So, like an idiot, I try the whole deal again and it does
EXACTLY the same thing (like I expected it to do something ELSE??).

So "works wonderfully" isn't the term I would use to describe WinJammer
2.23...And there is also the fact that it succeeds in being BOTH
crippleware AND nagware at the same time! I am impressed...

As for OS/2, playmidi has worked fine for me in a DOS box (I've installed
the Service Pack, but it worked before too) but I still get pauses during
intensive disk I/O, despite setting whatever the setting is to allow
interrupts during disk I/O. After SBOS trashed my video drivers, resulting
in 2 hours on the phone with IBM to get the system to reboot, it hasn't
been too stable. But then I haven't played with it too much, either...

DDA

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

End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V2 #17
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