Experimental BBS Explossion 3/Experimental BBS Explossion III.iso/gus/digestv2.zip/V2N79.TXT

Text File | 1993-03-24 | 38KB | 919 lines

Ultrasound Daily Digest     Wed, 24 Mar 93       Volume 2 : Issue  79

Today's Topics:
         answers_to_various_questions_posted_in_latest_digest
                     CD ROM audio to GUS (2 msgs)
       Clicks and pops, X-Wing, and hey..how about that OS/2??
                        Comanche patch problem
                  Finally got V2.04 working on Xwing
                gen midi emulators, sbos, and software
                          GM driver - GMOS?
                      GOT X-WING WORKING AT LAST
                             GUS and Jill
                 GUS is great: but I can't record ...
                           gus memory speed
                       gusmod 2.11 suggestion
                   GUS Programming info, trivia etc
             Info on IRQ and DMA routines for GUS please?
                         keyboard interrupts
                      Midi/Joy-box from Gravis?
                          More on gus memory
                              NetNews???
                       Problems with 669 Player
                             Question...
           Roland SCC-1 vs GUS with GM patches, my opinion
                         SBOS 2.04 and X-Wing
                         SBPro / GUS comments
                   Starcontrol II noise/goofy music
                    Those whacky Windows problems!
                     Ultrasound Daily Digest V...
                      X-wing and the GUS again!
                      Xwing sound semi-solution.
                       Zone66 and Stacker note

    Information about the UltraSound Daily Digest (such as
mail addresses, request servers, ftp sites, etc., etc.) can be found
at the end of the Digest.

    *** HEY!!! ***

    Before you ask a question, *** READ THE FAQ ***.  It's
available on the request server and the ftp sites, or check the
newsgroup archives.

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

Date: Tue, 23 Mar 93 21:49:23 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Laurent Somers)
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: answers_to_various_questions_posted_in_latest_digest
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>



Ok, here are a few answers to some questions in the latest digest:

- You CAN delete all those hidden files and directories the new GUS
 installation software makes.  Furthermore, I think PlayMIDI creates hidden (?)
 files when executing, most probably when using the menu interface.  These
 can, of course, be deleted when you aren't in PlayMIDI (if PlayMIDI, Heaven
 forbid, crashes & leaves the file open...).

- Patch loudness CAN be controlled, in Windows at least, through the MIDI
 mapper, which, as I recall, can adjust the volume up to 200%.

- GusMOD 2.11:  It already uses the UltraSound environment variable for the
  sound card setup!  The ONLY thing GusMOD still requires in its GUSMOD
 environment variable (which is *REQUIRED*) is the path to the executable
 and various .INF files.  GusMOD 2.12 _could_ get the path information from
 DOS 3.1 and above (argv[0]).  If you are running into problems with GMod 2.11
 which weren't present in 2.04, I'd suggest making batch files which set
 the environment variable correctly for each version.  I have had more problems
 with the GTSR which came with GMod 2.11 than 2.04, so I made a batch file
 to run the old GTSR...

- Those strange coincidences... - I _also_ got a DOS read error on the new
 install disks, but on disk 3...

and last, but not least, on the MIDI Emulator ramblings, notably a serial
port and other strange phenomena...

- Ever think about the LAPC-1?  It's a card!  It's a normal, IRQ and I/O port
 card, and as such, an application which uses it (Or ANY MIDI adapter, for
 that matter), calls an interrupt or I/O port.  There are already FM MIDI
 emulators, and there is absolutely NO reason why a MIDI emulator can't be
 made for the 32-voice WTS GUS.  Whether the GUS intercepts the output destined
 for the MIDI interface or behaves like a MIDI-device on a card, is not an
 issue.

- IF you'd like to route the MIDI output of the GUS, you might as well route
 it to another computer, which has a GUS on it and is running Windows with
 patches loaded and some WinJammer or other composer running and accepting
 INPUT from the MIDI port...  (Better yet, have a cheap SB on the computer you
 are using, and route the MIDI output from that card into the MIDI INPUT on
 the GUS computer running Windows...).  [Really weird.  Haven't tried this.
 Any volunteers...?]

- I already mentioned the technical details for a MIDI emulator way back in
  GUS digests V2#62 & V2#63.

- You may have noticed that the GUS MIDI Mapper has several options, notably
 256K, 512K and 1024K setups as well as the normal Patch Caching method.
 THIS is a method a MIDI emulator could use, notably preloading the patches
 required for the specific application, ideally 1 MB of various patches.
 How about default .cfg's similar to the ones PlayMIDI uses, for specific apps,
 e.g. one for King's Quest VI, another for Wing Commander II, another still
 for X-Wing, and so on?  Easier than dynamic patch loading /cache while running


 the program requiring the MIDI.

Laurent F. Somers
[e-mail]
(yup, Iceland)

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ** ** There aren't many countries whose names are used by UK firms... ** **  |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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

Date: Tue, 23 Mar 93 21:05 GMT
From: Paul Kokis <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: CD ROM audio to GUS
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

Hi GUSsers! I've recently fitted a Toshiba CDROM drive to my system, and
would like to connect its audio o/p to the GUS CD input pins. Problem is,
I don't know which pins are left/right/ground on the GUS. Does anyone know?

Regards,
        Paul (Scratch)

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

Date: Tue, 23 Mar 93 21:05 GMT
From: Paul Kokis <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: CD ROM audio to GUS
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

Hi GUSsers! I've recently fitted a Toshiba CDROM drive to my system, and
would like to connect its audio o/p to the GUS CD input pins. Problem is,
I don't know which pins are left/right/ground on the GUS. Does anyone know?

Regards,
        Paul (Scratch)

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

Date: 23 Mar 1993 23:59:17 -0500 (EST)
From: DEATH BEFORE DISCO <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Clicks and pops, X-Wing, and hey..how about that OS/2??
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

1) To eliminate clicks and pops with USS8*-> don't use EMM386.

2) The X-Wing slowdown is a pain...but after lengthy discussion with
the tireless wizards at Forte, I consider the problem to be caused by Lucasarts
and not Forte. Maybe something should be done here; a patch would be nice but


a patch for GUS support would be better. In fact, I'd be willing to be that
most GUS owners would pay say, $10 or so to get the patch. NOTE: Don't
think I'm trying to start a rumor. Thank you.

3) Anybody got an OS/2 driver yet ?? ;-)

4) Zone 66 is quite the arcade-type game.

5) Have I bored you yet??

Jeff

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

Date: Tue, 23 Mar 93 22:54:21 GMT
From: Mike Parkins <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Comanche patch problem
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

I found a file in the archive called cmo1bb which I presumed to
be the patch which makes Comanche work with the GUS. When I ran it
it aborted, claiming files were missing even though the game runs
ok as far as I can tell. Is there another patch program that I need?
Mike.

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

Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1993 11:21:58 -0500
From: Michael Dauria <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Finally got V2.04 working on Xwing
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

I've gotten Xwing to work with SBOS 2.04 so I'd like to share what I have
found on my system hopping It will help others too. When I installed the
new set of disks the setgus program modified my config.sys file and
added a new command call ultrinit.sys (along with a few parameters), but
It failed to remove the command ultrinit.exe from my autoexec.bat file,
which I am assuming to be the same. What I did was to go into my
autoexec.bat file and remove two lines, one beginning with Set ultrasnd
and the parameters and the second line I deleted was the one containing
ultrinit.exe. Xwing now seems to work (I have only so far played it a
few times with this new setup), I have yet to try it with other games
though.

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

Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1993 10:21:40 +0700 (MST)
From: Adam Cowen <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: gen midi emulators, sbos, and software
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>



Hi gus owners,

I must agree with Dan Nicholson about the point of not having sound emulators
for games and other software. I want native support for my gus for new games,
and not have to use any sbos 2.xx. Now I am not flaming the request, as for
older stuff sure thats cool, but if the game companies can save a buck by
making us lose sound quality then they will probably do it. Big companies like
Sierra come to mind, esp with their recent posts. For example I have seen
X-Wing from Lucas and I like it a lot, but I will not buy it because it
doesn't support the gus. All of you seem to be having so many
digitized sound problems so I probably wont miss it much anyways.
However I will buy Zone66 because it is a good game AND it has gus
support. In short if you keep buying the games that don't have gus support
then the companies wil neglect to support it, and the gus will die. If you
like a game that does not support the gus then (snail)mail that company and
ask them why or if they will be providing an upgrade patch or whatever.
Don't let the game companies who (hopefully) can afford it cheat you. Just
look at Renaissence again, a couple of guys figured it out, so why couldn't
Sierra? I seriously can't believe that they don't have programmers with
the skill to implement gus sound drivers! That's a load of crap! Way
to go Renaissence! You guys are cool! I am looking formard to CyberStrike!

Just my $.02!

As a side note to the response I made about gusmod reading the ultrasnd
environment variable. My point was about the setup program. Why should I
have to reiterate all of the same stuff like base port, dma channels,
etc.. when it is already in the ultrasnd variable? I was not talking about
the gusmod variable, thats cool with me.

Thanks for the bandwidth!

Adam Cowen
[e-mail]

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

Date: Tue, 23 Mar 93 15:51:47 EST
From: Matthew Spewak <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: GM driver - GMOS?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

>Date: Mon, 22 Mar 93 09:05:26 EST
>From: "Burns Fisher, VMS Engineering  22-Mar-1993 0906"
><[e-mail]>
>Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
>Subject: General MIDI driver
>To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>
>
>There has been a lot of talk about a "General MIDI driver".  Some people
>have been saying stuff like "When Gravis produces it...".  Others have been


>suggesting writing one.
>
>First, I have not heard anything that implies that Gravis (or Forte) is
>actually writing such a thing.  I may be wrong, but I think it is a big
>assumption.

Yes we are talking of writing one.  Gravis has no plans to make a GM driver or
TSR for GUS.

>
>Second, I suggest that if some of us plan to write one, or if we want Gravis/
>Forte to do it, that we had better specify what we are thinking about a bit
>more carefully.
>
>I think that what I hear being asked for is not a GM Driver so much as it is an
>MPU-401/GM Synth emulator.  Am I right? ...

Yes.. The easiest thing for us to do for Gravis or us to write, would be to
wright a TSR that would be able to convince games and utilities that there is an
MPU-401 or MT-32 on your machine.  The problem would be to load the patches, as
someone mentioned before.  Gravis should work on an GMOS (General Midi OS) that
would load its own patches (to fit in 1 meg) just like SBOS does.  This should
not be difficult.  if they can do it with SBOS, we should be able to do it with
our own GMOS.

Problems that Gravis may have is copyrights over MPU or Roland, etc.  So this
would need to be just a GM driver that would be compatible with the Roland or
MPU.

matthew spewak
>
>Burns

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

Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1993 17:19:27 AEST
From: Keith Smith <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: GOT X-WING WORKING AT LAST
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

Thanks for all the suggestions, in the end I got it working with
QEMM 6.03 in STEALTH mode (that wasn't causing the problem), SBOS 1.43 or
SBOS 2.04 (works with either, but better with 2.04), and SMARTDRV. The
Soundblaster emulation now works, whereas before it would freeze.
The alteration I made was moving the GUS IRQ from 5 to 15, leaving MIDI
IRQ on 7, DMA on 7.

If you're having any probs with xwing, you should try the same.

Keith

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



Date: Tue, 23 Mar 93 17:00 EST
From: "Matthew E. Bernold" <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: GUS and Jill
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

I had the same problem with Jill, but with SBOS 2.04.  I partially solved
this problem by loading SBOS into LOW memory.  I've found that most of the
times I have a delay with SBOS, or a problem running a game, loading SBOS
into low memory will fix it.  With Jill, the delay is still there, but it's
MUCH less noticable, and this is on a 386-25.

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

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

Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1993 09:20:13 EST
From: [e-mail]
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: GUS is great: but I can't record ...
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

I can consider myself as a satisfied GUS owner for how much it concerns
installation, SBOS, and generally speaking, anything related to sound
synthesis and reproduction.
Well, a bit different is the situation about recording. Since I've tried
my card for the first time, I've never been able to make an acceptable
recording. What I mean to get something at least *smooth* and *continuous*
in sound. As I'm not completely new to computer world, before writing this
message I've been trying *everything* could be done. Changing DMA's, working
on RAM disks, changing recording buffer size in AUDIO, using PLAYFILE with
any possible combination of switches, NOTHING. This happens for both mic AND
line inputs. What I get is popping sound, trucated pieces of voice, statics,
with ANY recording software (pocket rec, multimedia recorder, shareware utils,
playfile, playdigi, uss8 (awful object, BTW)) ...
My actual config is:
GUS with 1Mb (no problems with any DRAM check util)
486DX25 with 8M RAM
120 HD with XtraDRV compression (but I worked on uncompressed RAM disk as well)

Have I to suspect I own a defective card?

Hints/help are greatly appreciated !!!


Stefano Oss
Chemistry Department
Princeton University

[e-mail]



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

Date: Tue, 23 Mar 93 09:30:08 EST
From: "Burns Fisher, VMS Engineering  23-Mar-1993 0931" <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: gus memory speed
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

 >From: [e-mail]
 >Subject: gus memory speed
>
>i'm certainly no expert at this, but as far as i can tell, all that memory is
>used for it to load a patch into, once in there that information does not
>need to be calculated, moved or changed in any way until it's time to load
>another patch, therefore the chip speed should not be a problem at all,
>whether you'll get parity errors i do not know since i have not tested this
>out myself, i have all 70 ns chips....    i suspect that it will not, it is
<likely that gus does not do parity checking on these things anyways....
>
>remember that however fast your memory speed is, the most you will ever have
>to worry about is how fast can you load that patch into your gus's memory...
>my response to that is that your hard disk access time will be the limiting
>feature, not the 100 ns chips

Sorry, but I don't agree with that.  The GUS certainly has to READ the chips
back as it is doing the sample playback.  At 44.1Khz, that is about 1 sample
every 22.7 microseconds.   Not a prodigious rate (and not even close to 100ns)
even if it has to read twice as fast for 16-bit samples (or 4 times as fast if
it does not read two 4-bit chips in parallel!), but the real question is how the
electronics is sequenced.  In other words, if the GUS is putting out an address
only 80ns before it latches the data coming from the chips, and the chips are
rated at only 100ns, then boom...you get bad data and possible clicking etc,
even if it only does this once every few hundred microseconds.

Burns (not an expert either, but having played with this stuff some...)

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

Date: Tue, 23 Mar 93 12:16:46 -0500
From: "It's your hand, Buckaroo" <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: gusmod 2.11 suggestion
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

>> From: Adam Cowen <[e-mail]>
>> Subject: GusMod 2.11 Problems
>> BTW: for gusmod, why don't you guys just read the ultrasnd environment
>> variable? I think that would provide for a much more easy installation of
>> the software.

> i've had a look at that program, it needs an environment variable to tell i
> Wherex the executables and where the sound data files are kept...   i for one
> do not like to see many hundred files all in the same subdirectory, so if i


> were to use gusmod i'd rather install it into a separate subdirectory, making
> the ultrasound environment setting inaccurate

I think there's a slight misunderstanding here. GUSMOD needs an environment
variable to tell it where it's executeables are. Adam and I are talking
about the SETUP program that tells GUSMOD what hex addr, IRQ, DMA, etc the
GUS lives on. Since all this info (with the exception of Terminate/Loop) is
already in the ULTRASND environment variable, why is a setup program
needed?

DDA

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

Date: 24 Mar 93 11:33:18 +0930
From: [e-mail]
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: GUS Programming info, trivia etc
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

Greetings g'users

Does anyone have any programming information they'd like to share with with
the rest of us? Although Josh Jensen's "ultradox" are indeed helpfull there are
still huge chunks of information missing.

The sort of things I'm interested in (and I believe lots of you reading this
 also) are:

 * The structure and use of patches.
 * The format of MOD files
 * GUS DMA (probably the most important)
 * any other programming and technical info, trivial or otherwise.

And before you start mentioning the developers kit, I could'nt afford it even
if I knew how to obtain it, further more it is not in source form so you dont
learn anything about the card after spending your hard earned cash. I like
optimizing my code for specific purposes so object modules are definitely out.

Perhaps the best option would be to purchase an asm decompiler and hack some of
the stuff on epas but I'd rather do it the easy way - time is precious.

So, is anyone knowledgable on the subject feeling charitable ?

BTW:- On a related topic, is there a REALLY GOOD mod composer available that
supports the GUS, or even MIDI sequencers with support for music composition
without MIDI keyboards ?

If I receive any information, I'll definitely post a summary so no "me too"
replies please.

Themie Gouthas
[e-mail]



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

Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1993 09:53:39 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Michael Chen)
Message-Id: <9303231237.AA00484@sol4>
Subject: Info on IRQ and DMA routines for GUS please?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

I have a bunch of C routines which implement the info in Ultradox 2... enough
to write a memory tester, and to load to GUS RAM and play 16-bit samples.
What I need now is info on IRQ and DMA usage.  Also, any info on the MPU401
DUMB mode emulation would be great!

Phat? Josh? John Smith? Gravis?
(Is there any possibility of releasing specs without development tools for
free?  I'll code stuff myself, but I can't afford the SDK.)
--
 Michael Chen            | From the depths of our most lucid horrors |
                | spring our fond hopes and pure desires... |
 [e-mail]        | except what comes from HELL! :-) 7/23/92  |

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

Date: Tue, 23 Mar 93 15:04:00 PST
From: [e-mail]
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: keyboard interrupts
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

sbos monitors the keyboard for volume control through the [] keys, or
whatever you have in your sbos config file

>From: [e-mail] (Thomas Wong)
>Subject: keyboard problem with new GUS disks

>problem and found that the IRQ 1 which is the IRQ for the keyboard has
>been taken over by SBOSDRV. This is something internal becuase I had
>irq and doesn't passes it along. Anybody else notice this? And why are
>they grabbing irq1 anyways?!? John (Smith)?

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

Date: Wed, 24 Mar 93 1:16:38 MET
From: (FunkyTrip) [e-mail]
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Midi/Joy-box from Gravis?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

I still haven't got my midi-box working, also due a lack of time. Does
anyone have info on when the Gravis-box will really be available? A few
months ago it was anounced for april. Will it also include midi-through (



I'm considering stopping work on my own stuff if this gravis thing
gets to us all soon And for a reasonable price!

 'Peace Y'all. I'm at:   [e-mail]    YO  Peace Increase
 'Freedom is free of the need to be free' - George Clinton YO     from me
 'With love there is no death' - Prince                    YO    FunkyTrip
YOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYO

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

Date: Tue, 23 Mar 93 09:31:57 EST
From: "Burns Fisher, VMS Engineering  23-Mar-1993 0933" <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: More on gus memory
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

...but I agree that faster memory won't help GUS's performance any.  I may have
misread what the response above was commenting on.

Burns

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

Date: 23 Mar 1993 12:38:46 -0500 (EST)
From: CheebA <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: NetNews???
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

A while ago I heard someone mentioning the possibility of having
A GUS conference on the NetNews (whatever its called).
Has anyone heard anything more abnout this. Not to say I don't like
having this Daily digest thing. But The SIZE of the emails are getting
rather HUGE and if I let them stack up a few days, my QUOTA starts
becomming overdrawn...

-- thanx dave.
One more thing. I havent downloaded the new disk set and I plan
on waiting till everything seems ok with them (after hearing of all
the problems others are having).. but I would like the new patches and
the new SBOS 2.04? anyone know what disk those are on (so I dont have to
download them alll??????)

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

Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1993 16:53:23 -0500
From: Roger Frederi Clark <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Problems with 669 Player
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

    I recently downloaded a copy of p669gu0.arj from epas and went to
try it out, it didn't work.  It appeared to do something, then said


"Clearing memory..." and proceeded to sit there and stare at me.  I've waited
for up to 20 minutes for it to do anything.  Anyone else had this problem
with the program.  Thanks.

Roger Clark
[e-mail]

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

Date: Tue, 23 Mar 93 17:02:32 -0800
From: 881-09993 <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Question...
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

As a potential owner of a GUS card, I was wondering if
anyone could tell me if it is possible to specify sampled sounds
in the card's RAM as a midi patch.  I.E. can you use a midi sequencer
to compose music using sampled sounds?  This is a feature I have been
looking for in a sound card, and from what I hear, the GUS might fit
the bill.

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

Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1993 20:19:38 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Stuart Yoshida)
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Roland SCC-1 vs GUS with GM patches, my opinion
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard, [e-mail] (Semke) writes:
> [Lots of good comparisions of the SCC-1 and GUS deleted]
>
> The biggest difference I find between the GUS and the SCC-1 in terms of
> sound quality, is as it has been said before, the trebles.  I don't know
> how to describe it, but strings, string ensembles, and general brass
> instruments sound a lot better and much more realistic.  The instruments
> also sound better together on the SCC-1 than on the GUS, where it sometimes
> sounds like the different instruments are being played in different rooms
> or something.

  I have noticed the same thing by comparing the GUS sound with
  and without my effects processor.  The reverb really accentuates the highs.
  I've also added some treble EQ into the mix with my Mackie mixer
  (which using "shelving"; i.e., every frequency above 12K is boosted),
  and with those things I get a great sound.  Unfortunately, I don't
  have an SCC-1 to compare it to, but I can see where you're
  coming from.

  Bottom line:  if you want to do serious recording with your GUS, I think
  a good mixer and effects processor are musts.  However, dollar for
  dollar the GUS is still a great buy.



--

  Stuart Yoshida

Internet: [e-mail]
   Voice: [phone]

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

Date: Tue, 23 Mar 93 10:30:56 +0100
From: [e-mail] (Jerry van Waardenberg)
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: SBOS 2.04 and X-Wing
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

Axel Fisher writes:
> However XWing is still unplayable due to the slowdown when you shoot
> your lasers or fly very nearby a ship. I would like to see that slowdown
> (also noticeable with Tristan) bug fixed. Maybe Gravis gets it sometimes
> to a playable level.

The readme file of X-Wing says that it is a SB related problem. It has to
do with some chip on certain SB's, that cause the slowdown. SO it is not
really a GUS problem (although there may be a way to fix it). Just don't
use digitized laser sounds.

Has anyone tried SBOS 2.04 (or 2.02) with Formula One Grand Prix (or World
Circuit)? The engine sounds are *very* noisy on my system. I've tried other
IRQ/DMA combinations, but that did not help.

Greetz,

Jerry

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

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

Date: 23 Mar 1993 03:20:48 -0800
From: [e-mail] (Adam Nicolas Cheal)
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: SBPro / GUS comments
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

Well, to follow up an earlier article I read that proclaimed a user would
"certainly have no problems with an SBPro", I offer my HO.

I was the happy owner of an SBPro (older) and I had it chuggin' away on my


ol' 386DX-25 with NO problems. Wicked stereo on Wolf-3D and UW, although
the FM sound got a biy hokey. Then I decide to make the big "computer upgrade"
to a 486DX-50. All hell breaks loose, sound card wise. On almost every game I
had I experienced crackles, pops, lost DSFX etc. The problems peaked on X-Wing
which just froze after a couple of laser blasts. "No prob", I anxiously mutter
under my breath, "I'll do some config changes. That's the ticket!". Wrong.
I tried EVERY configuration known to man, from adjusting wait states and ATCLK
bus speed, to DMA channel switching. NOTHING worked. Frustrated, I made "the"
call to Creative Labs. I sat on the phone LD for about 30mins with a technician
and completely stumped him and his cohorts (hard to do?) who said "they'd get
back to me as soon as they had an answer". One month later, I haven't heard
back from them. So, completely furious with anything with the Creative Labs
mark on it, and eager to play X-Wing, I storm out to my local software store
and pick up a GUS (after reading many rave reviews of it) and install it.
Bingo. NO problems. The ONLY game I have mild problems with now is X-Wing that
is very slightly jerky when I fire lasers or a TIE goes by. The MIDI demo
is INSANELY cool, and completely stunned me, and I was left reeling after
loading up Star Control II. There is simply NO contest sound quality wise
between the SB/Pro/16 and the GUS. Remember that feeling you had when you first
heard a sound card's sound over the ol' PC honker? Ditto for the GUS. It is
truly incredible, and as for it's minor SB incompatibility; the compatibility
is SOFTWARE oriented = it will eventally be "perfect", its just a matter of
time. To sum up my advice is this:

If you own a 486DX-50 or a 486DX2-66, buy a GUS. No question about it.
If you own a slower (faster?) computer, buy a GUS. It WILL eventually offer
   perfect "downward" compatibility with SB/Pro, and the sound quality is...
   well...unbelieveable.

Just my $0.00. (Spent all my money on tech "support" calls to Creative Labs.)

-= Adam Cheal =-    [e-mail]

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

Date: 24 Mar 1993 00:17:04 -0500 (EST)
From: DEATH BEFORE DISCO <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Starcontrol II noise/goofy music
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

Help!

Help!

Where is the patch for Starcon II? The mods are awful with the 1MB DRAM
on my GUS. I tried KLINGON but I couldn't fine the files.

Thanks,
Jeff

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



Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1993 16:03:54 -0600
From: [e-mail] (Ken Goach IBM)
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Those whacky Windows problems!
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

Well, after trying everything I can think of, I still couldn't get
the new Windows drivers to work. Skipped notes, missing notes, irregular
tempos, Windows crashes, etc.

So I went back to the original software (2.1) that came with my card.
I re-installed it, and it seems to work like it always did. I even
seem to have IRQ conflicts and it works! For example, I used IRQ's
11 and 7 (defaults) for the MIDI driver, even though Windows says
in MSD that these are in use, and it works! Weird.

It did take several (like 5 or 6) tries to get the old Windows driver
to work properly. I had to eventually delete every Ultrasound file
from the WINDOWS and WINDOWS\SYSTEM directories (including MIDIMAP.CFG)
and re-copy them over by hand. I removed the driver prior to this.
Then I re-added the driver. Eventually it worked.

So I may try the same thing with the new software. I'm thinking I
don't really have IRQ problems like I thought.

Who knows?

Ken

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

Date: Mon, 22 Mar 93 22:00:50 EST
From: [e-mail]
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Ultrasound Daily Digest V...
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

I'd like to cancel my direct subscription to the Ultrasound Daily Digest and
get it indirectly from PCC ModDan.  Does this note serve to cancel my direct
subscription or need I do more?

Brent

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

Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1993 14:50:50 -0500 (EST)
From: Kevin Wengcheong Cheng <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: X-wing and the GUS again!
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

OK guys, let's try this again.
I've been toying around with sbos and my setup the whole morning and


this is what I have found out...
SBOS 1.20 works perfectly ( discounting the slowdown ) with Xwing. No
switches required.
SBOS 2.04 doesn't work. -o1 gives some initial garbage and then a low
continuous buzz with nothing else.

However, 2.04 seems to work if I put a NOXMS option on my QEMM386.SYS
line in my config.sys. Music is fine but I haven't been able to test the
digital sound since I can't figure out a way to get enough memory left
after my TSRs and SBOS to get digital sound. And I'm using stacker...
still undecided if that's a problem but I can't test otherwise coz my
harddisk's too small to install Xwing on the uncompressed portion.

Anyway, if you have problems with Xwing and SBOS, please send me a copy
of your config.sys, autoexec.bat and perhaps your hardware setup. I'll
see if I can figure anything out.

/<evin

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

Date: 23-MAR-1993 13:31:40.30
From: Richard Wyckoff <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Xwing sound semi-solution.
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>

    After requesting help several times here there and the other place
(and getting no answers) I finally noticed a message somewhere in which the
poster mentioned turning off the music during combat.  This seems to be the
answer to the problems of the 'jumping' that occurs when you fire or a Tie
passes.  When the background music is off, all digitized sounds occur perfectly
during combat without affecting performance at all.
    Also, I've heard several people state that Xwing, like much other
software, wants the Soundblaster on a certain interrupt: 7, I think.  7 is
the default setting for SBs above 1.5, and you are tempting fate if you have
the GF1 interrupt on your GUS set to anything else - it's lucky that we can
reconfigure this interrupt, because I'm noticing this disturbing trend of
companies writing games that make almost no attempt to detect soundboards
at non-standard settings or let the user tell the game what settings to use.
I wonder what SB owners, who still have to pop the case to change interrupts,
are doing?
--
     This is the way the message ends, not with a bang but with a .sig...
               **Richard Wyckoff**[e-mail]**

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

Date: Tue, 23 Mar 93 20:31:54 EST
From: "The Wombat" <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Zone66 and Stacker note
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <[e-mail]>



    Well, just to add my snot to the rag, I have a 386-40 MT-321
PC-chips AMI bios etc... etc... No GUS, (Yet) but Zone66 does work
with Stacker V1.10 V1.11
I heard stories about old versions of Stacker thrashing HD's but I've
been using it for 6 months or so, and 1.5 years on a 386SX-16 no probs.
Anyone know if the new versions are all that much better, Smartdrv
won't recognize my stacker, but Hyperdisk does, so I use that instead.

--
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-This message was brought to you by Matthew Frazer-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"With the pinched eyes of a gourmet sampling perfection, he chewed. He chewed
 a bit more. Then he swallowed the dogfood.
He sat for a while. Well, he thought, now I know why dogs lick their testicles.
 It's to get rid of the taste of the food.  -Dave Lister, Last Human Alive
                   Finger [e-mail] for more
--------------------------------=Be Seeing You=--------------------------------

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

End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V2 #79
******************************

Digest Address:                                        [e-mail]
                                                To post to tomorrow's digest

Request Server Address:                        [e-mail]
                                To subscribe, unsubscribe, and request files

Owner Address:                                   [e-mail]
                               To contact a human if the server has troubles

FTP Sites:                archive.epas.utoronto.ca         pub/pc/ultrasound
                          wuarchive.wustl.edu       systems/msdos/ultrasound