Experimental BBS Explossion 3

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Apparently-To: john.smith@gravis.com GUS Musician's Digest Tue, 15 Mar 94 14:35 PST Volume 5: Issue 35 Today's Topics: 1 Megabyte 808 kick 1 GUS volume multiple gus Patched that NEED replacement Percussion Patches / Banks, etc, (long reply) studio Standard Info: - Meta-info about the GUS can be found at the end of the Digest. - Before you ask a question, please READ THE FAQ. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 15 Mar 1994 00:58:29 -0500 (EST) From: dionf@ere.umontreal.ca (Francois Dion) Subject: 1 Megabyte > From: Christy G McCartney <cmccart@eis.calstate.edu> > Subject: GUS's 1Meg... > > I was just thinking... I have a GUS with one meg. of memory. I > have a 486DX/50 with 8Megs memory. Does anyone know if it would be > possible to use, not only the GUS's memory for MIDI patches, but the > computer's memory as well?? Not exactly. However, with cakewalk pro 2.0 for windows you can use the GUS as both a midi device and a .wav playback device, so you can put as many .wav in your .wrk file as you have space in main ram to put it. That means about 4MB on your system. With a 16 MB machine, that's 12 MB. With ADPCM you'll be able to have 5 minutes of 44KHz 16 bit stereo 4:1 compressed vocals or whatever you want to put in the .wav. By using ram like that, 1MB is usually enough to store all the .pat you need for a song. Ciao, -- Francois Dion ' IdMEDIA \ Managing: \ Publishing: \ Specialising: CP 312 \ Equation de Base \ Cybernaute \ Multimedia & Telecom St-Lambert, QC \ Francois Dion \ IDM Software \ design, publishing & Canada, J4P 3P8 \ Fuzzy Logic \ Raving Up North \ testing(hard/software) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Mar 1994 01:27:32 -0500 (EST) From: dionf@ere.umontreal.ca (Francois Dion) Subject: Re: 808 kick 1 > From: dth2@Lehigh.EDU (Dave Horoschak) > Subject: Re: GUS Musician's Digest V5 #32 > > If this is what you are looking to do I would definately go w/ the > Aphex. The BBE wouldn't do much for playback on boomboxes and stuff > like that. Speaking of 808 drums, I can't get kick1 to sound like > anything other than a click. All the other patches sound fine. Any > ideas? 808 kick 1 is suited for < 120 BPM songs. This is because of the way the enveloppes are handled. Try reducing the volume of the kick (dont use 127)... I've added a kick 4 because of that "feature/bug" in the complete set. Also, the kicks in this version lack the attack (the kind of click at the beginning of an 808 drum), because there must be 50 zero samples (approximately) at the beginning of the sample because the GF1 cant ramp fast enough (while it could on my EPS16+). > That's true. Would you be able to run it via the GUS MIDI port > concurrently while using the GUS MIDI synth? That's the way to do it, > and everything would be in sync. I have 2 midi out on the sequencing machine so no problemo. Ciao, -- Francois Dion ' IdMEDIA \ Managing: \ Publishing: \ Specialising: CP 312 \ Equation de Base \ Cybernaute \ Multimedia & Telecom St-Lambert, QC \ Francois Dion \ IDM Software \ design, publishing & Canada, J4P 3P8 \ Fuzzy Logic \ Raving Up North \ testing(hard/software) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Mar 1994 13:29:50 -0500 (EST) From: Phat H Tran <ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca> Subject: GUS volume > Date: Mon, 14 Mar 1994 09:38:05 -0500 > From: "Anton Komar" <anton@gold.sni.ca> > Subject: Keyboard to GUS > > Hi, > > I have recently acquired a GUS card and decided to add a keyboard to it. > Based on the good recommendations of this group I decided to get a > used Roland D-10 rather than a new PC-200 for almost the same price. > (I'm very happy I did !!) > > Anyways, After connecting it to my MIDI adaptor, and playing it > using the GUS as my sound source the volume is very low in comparison to the > rest of music. What do I "Tweek" to get louder playback. Enable linear volume in your GUS Windows driver (through Control Panel). If this option is not available, then download gus0041.zip, delete ultrasnd.ini, and install. Phat. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Mar 1994 01:18:17 -0500 (EST) From: dionf@ere.umontreal.ca (Francois Dion) Subject: multiple gus > From: Yossi Oren <LIOREN1@WEIZMANN.weizmann.ac.il> > Subject: Looking for patches > > * A better distortion guitar. my fender is much better, but about 470KB. > Note that these are going to fit into my default setup, so I don't want 300K > big mamas. Unfortunately, 250KB to 500KB big mamas as you say, are the norm to achieve high quality sound and realism. > From: aruggeri@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Anthony Ruggeri) > Subject: Multiple GUS setup/FX processing > > Has anyone tried setting up more than one GUS in the same computer? I'm I tried a long time ago, and more recently, and it's a no go... I've looked at how to do it, and i always got errors (even hacking the drivers). I have sent email to gravis but nothing regarding that. Those who would like the possibility to have 2 GUS in a machine (giving up to 64 voices and 2 stereo outs!), send email to gravis. Maybe they'll do the modifications to the driver to do it... > used sampler with effects processing? (For the price of 2 GUS + Midiverb... > ha ha ha...) Ha ha is right... I really wish Gravis would permit multiple GUS. > I use mine mainly as a drum > machine/special effects module, rarely as a major instrument. Is it a > technical sin not to have stereo reverb in a final mix? No! And you can process your drum samples to have reverb, since you usually dont loop percussions. I do techno, and that's what i do. I put some reverb on drums that i want to reverb. I chorus the leads and accents and run panned mono the bassline (or basses). And i sometimes distort drums too. > From: efinkler@sun1.IUSB.Indiana.Edu (Big Daddy Ed) > Subject: Problem with Winjammer 2.3 > >I'm haing a bit of a problem with Winjammer 2.3. I'm trying to record lengthy >sequences done on my Boss DR-660 drum machine thru the GUS into Winjammer. >But I alomst always get a "time overflow" error, and the track gets >truncated. It seems to be related to the record stop message that the DR-660 >sends, as even when I record nothing, pressing stop brings up the time >overflow screen. Any suggestions? First, i'd suggest using powerchords to do drums (included with the GUS, with midisoft recording session). Secondly, could you elaborate what operations you do, and how you have the boss and GUS connected? Do you have both cables connected? I dont use winjammer personnally but i dont see why there would be a problem. I do transfer sequence and patches from my synths with no problem whatsoever. I've never seen a message "time overflow" during the shorttime i used wincake. Ciao, -- Francois Dion ' IdMEDIA \ Managing: \ Publishing: \ Specialising: CP 312 \ Equation de Base \ Cybernaute \ Multimedia & Telecom St-Lambert, QC \ Francois Dion \ IDM Software \ design, publishing & Canada, J4P 3P8 \ Fuzzy Logic \ Raving Up North \ testing(hard/software) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Mar 1994 12:55 -0500 From: WADLEIGH@PROCESS.COM Subject: Patched that NEED replacement Everybody knows about getting rid of that stupid Ring Whistle thing and replacing it with Pistol2. The nominations for the worst patches seem to be rather scattered, though. I want o focus some more: ALL the saxes don't need replacement. The baritone is quite good and the soprano is not bad at all. The alto is marginal, but it has a soft sound rather like an older Conn, so it's mostly a matter of taste. If you like the edgy jazz sound of most of the Selmers, you won't care for it, but it does at least sound like an alto sax. The tenor, though, is something else. It sounds like the worst of the brass buckets Bundy produced for students to learn the frustration of trying to play decent music with. It's edgy without the thick underlying sound that saves a Selmer with a metal mouthpiece. At the upper end of the range it sounds very artificial. Worst of all, there's NO alternate. I often use the alto in a lower range just to avoid that awful sound. The worst patch is the Voice Oohs. DOO is AWFUL! We have alternate Aahs in GUSVOX, but no Oohs. What I really want is a matched pair of Oohs and Aahs that sound the same except for the vowels. This is a necessity for synthesizing any kind of choral backing that might sound anywhere near realistic. Percussion: There are a few patches in the upper key numbers that are missing entirely. In addition, BOTH kick drums are so badly overdamped that you can barely hear them. There's lots of analog replacements available, and even an almost decent set in the PROPATS series, but that's a bit to sharp-sounding to fit decently with the rest of the skins in the standard set. Those are my nominees: the TenorSax and VoiceOohs need replacement and don't have one yet. We need at least one kick drum that's not overdamped (like the standard patches), not overloaded in the high frequencies (like the one in PROPATS), and not just plain weird (like all those analog drums). In addition, the missing odd percussion patches at the top of the range (like the Caxixi) should be filled in. Anyone else? Hal ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Mar 94 1:30:42 EST From: Meshreki@eecis.udel.edu Subject: Re: Percussion Patches / Banks, etc, (long reply) Chris brings up a very important subject. If the strength of the GUS is in its ability to use any sound or patch, then the software should facilitate its use. I'd like to echo the sentiment that currently it is somewhat frustrating to make use of different patches for music composition, and after the time and effort is spent, so is the impulse to write music. It is also bothersome since identical DOS/Windows playback is incompatible when the slightest deviation from General MIDI exists. This is not transparent to the casual user. Fear not, constructive criticism follows. *** SOMESONG.CFG or DEFAULT.CFG (PlayMIDI) *** This makes the most sense -- patches follow the song. When I write a tune, I use a certain set of patches, either unique or from the General MIDI set or both. What could be better than this? Well, when I compose a MIDI tune called SOMESONG.MID, I want a utility that writes out a quick SOMESONG.CFG. It should contain just the patches that are used by the song, ala General MIDI. Doesn't matter even if I do use unique patches since I can now easily see and change the pointers in SOMESONG.CFG to the custom patches. This could also lead to a DOS Patch Manager that would let me audition different patches in a MIDI tune at will, during playback. Throw PLAYMIDI's engine into the DOS Patch Manager. Allow point and click use of custom patches. It would make a great companion to MIDIFIER. *** ULTRASND.INI (Windows) *** I'd also like to quote someone from way back, who said something I thought made perfect sense, that "as soon as we have added a patch to a patch bank, ULTRASND.INI would already be obsolete," or something to that effect :-) New patches still wouldn't have a home in ULTRASND.INI, and old patches cause confusion when trying to trade MIDI files. That's my interpretation, anyway. -=-= There are two things I want the Windows drivers to do =-=- (1) Use a MIDI file's .CFG directly. Reserve bank 1024 for dynamic loading of any patches listed in SOMESONG.CFG -- no MIDI song would render ULTRASND.INI obsolete since bank 1024 would change for each tune, as necessary. The same one .CFG file for Windows and DOS' PLAYMIDI -- making identical playback in either OS painless and simple. Transparent to the user. Implement by looking for patches in the same directory as the MIDI song and the .CFG file, and/or look in ULTRADIR\MIDI. This algorithm I think is already implemented in DOS by PLAYMIDI when looking for .CFG files. No conflicts with other banks -- bank 1024 is always reserved for dynamic loading of the appropriate patches. No confusion with trading MIDI files. Bank 0 is always reserved for General MIDI in the same way DEFAULT.CFG is. No delays during playback since patches are loaded prior to playback, as is done in the current patch-caching playback implementation of most apps. Duplicate DOS Patch Manager functions mentioned previously and integrate into Windows Patch Manager. (2) Respond to MIDI SYSEX program changes. This is for Bank Switching. Wouldn't it be neat to have the GUS not only GM compatible, but GS compatible as well (as Francois has pointed out)? By responding to MIDI SYSEX, the GUS is now a piece of MIDI gear like any other hardware on the market, opening itself to librarians, MIDI controllers, etc. So what if it uses RAM to store its patches -- equipped with a large hard drive the GUS is now an extremely versatile sample playback synth that can be used alongside any other pro gear. I can have 1023 banks set up anyway I like (see (1) above for bank 1024 :-). Keep the first XXX banks free for use with GS and other current/popular synths, drumkits, etc. Let the rest be done with at the users discretion. Let us modify patches on the fly with a librarian by allowing access to all the patch parameters via SYSEX, like most games programmed the MT32. *** ULTRAMID.INI (UltraMID), ULTRASND.INI (MegaEM), PATCHES.INI (AIL/32) *** As it stands right now, the GUS is poised as a General MIDI device by the larger names in game software. Here's the beef -- since the strength of the GUS is the ability to load custom patches, give ME control over what is loaded by games. Of the three files above, only ULTRAMID.INI makes the most sense to me. I can give it each individual patch file name (allowing custom patches), and I can tell UltraMID how I want to map and arrange my 1 MB of GUSRAM (or 768K or 512K or 256K). Make it easier for me to go in there and replace patches with different sized patches and let me know the ground rules (how are 256K boundaries handled, for instance). Better yet, put this in my DOS Patch Manager as an option. I get to fill up to 1 MB any way I want (-8K-32K for DAC overhead) and it tells me how much room is left and lets me point and click the mapping. Give me the ability to do this for each game similar in concept to the .CFG file for each MIDI tune. Instant gratification for music in my games, and more emphasis of the GUS as a custom patch tool. Why is MegaEM using ULTRASND.INI? No custom patch capability (without erasing the original General MIDI patches and using their names), and I have no control over the algorithm (what is it looking for?). Since MegaEM is a big deal for the GUS and games, give me some power over it. Since I usually make music in Windows, my ULTRASND.INI has been radically changed multiple times that I think defeats MegaEM's use of it in games. I put two 200K piano .PATs in there that I know is foiling MegaEM somehow when I play Prince of Persia 2. How exactly, I don't know. PATCHES.INI appears to be the halfway point between ULTRASND.INI and ULTRAMID.INI. Same thwarting :-) of custom patch use as MegaEM/ULTRASND.INI but has an algorithm I don't completely understand from my casual observation (some experimentation is in order to get the big picture there). I haven't looked/played with this much since I don't have any AIL/32 games. -=-=- Well, I think I've rambled long enough. Sam ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Mar 1994 00:42:07 -0500 (EST) From: dionf@ere.umontreal.ca (Francois Dion) Subject: studio >From: iddos@math.tau.ac.il >Subject: Re: FX and maximisers > > Reading the maximizers thread was a rare (for me) opportunity to get a > glimpse into the overall studio setup of someone with a similiar musical > orientation and computer setup - (in that case dionf@ere.umontreal.ca > (Francois Dion) who even uses the same obscure CD model as me). dionf, > Could you elaborate - up to a rundown of the gear in your studio? Oh boy... this is going to take forever... Ok, i'll kinda list my stuff in groups and then if somebody is really interested on how all of this is interconnected (i'm not even sure myself anymore!), then, i'll develop. Now the first item, i only use when doing a performance or a video. Controller Computer ------------------- Either used as midi controller + drum machine or video controller 486slc2-66 (at first it was an XT+GUS serving just as a drum machine) Roland PC-100 keyboard Logitech Cyberman Mattel Powerglove GUS rev.2.2. -1 MB ram -16 bit daughterboard -homebrew Midi kit Digital I/O VGA to NTSC converter various homebrew, shareware and commercial software (wave, cooled etc...) (It is presently disconnected from my midi setup because my GUS 2.2 seems to be dead). Sequencing Computer ------------------- My faithfull workhorse since 1989. 386dx-33 GUS rev.3.7. -1MB ram -mixer bypass modification -Gravis Midi kit MPU401 MIDI merger LMSI CDROM with serial digital connector various homebrew, shareware and commercial software (wincake pro 2.0, powerchords etc...) Synths ------ Only analog synths in there (except for the TR-707 in the MKS7). Roland HS-60 (Juno-106 with speakers, sustain, patch and expression pedals) Roland Jupiter 8 (full midi) Roland MKS7 Super Quartet (TR-707 drums + Juno (x2) + TB-303 style bass) Roland TR-808 (analog drum machine MIDIed with Kenton kit) Sequential Circuits Six-Trak (with 6 in + 6 out modification, latest MIDI) Sonorisse DR-8 analog drum machine (dead... anyone with a schematic?) homebrew analog drum synth I had an EPS-16+ at some point, but i dont really regret it (with the exception of the waveboy disks fx - hope the yamaha spx900 will make up for that). A cheap DX-7IIE!, now that may be an addition, but i want to make my Sonorisse work first, then get a Prophet... Oh yeah, and for that extra cheese sound, i have some casio keyboard (i forget which number...) with drum trigger jacks and pads... Recording/playback ------------------ I dont really use all that (the reel to reel doesn't record anymore and the Lenco is dead), but it's there if i need it. The V-1510 and DA-4 are what i use the most. Final mixdown will be on a Tascam DAT which i borrow regularly (for sampling in particular). I use only Sony Metal Master from the same batch (because of the bias which i've adjusted for these). Lenco C-2003 (dead... anyone with a schematic? each board work, but i gotta connect them back together) Sansui SC-2000 tape deck TEAC reel to reel TEAC V-1510 tape deck Toshiba DA-4 HiFi Monitoring ---------- I have 2 types of headphones, a cheap portable system, high quality studio monitors, DJ monitor, multimedia speakers and club speakers, so that way i can really test my recordings on different quality setups. (That was not my first goal...) AKG K145S headphones Beard M7 + Camber 3.5ti (x2) Bullo "multimedia" style spherical speakers Heathkit W7-M + Jensen 6 (for DJ mixing) Koss ProIIa headphones Nikko integrated portable system Crown + Cerwin Vega 15 Sony sports walkman Various ------- Adapters and cables (xlr, 1/4", rca, midi, din, power etc...) Aiwa XP-6 portable CD (toslink) Alesis Microverb II Boss DS-1 distortion Crown PZM microphones (x2) Digitech Chorus Grundig steno microphone homemade patch bay Macintosh microphone Mackie 1202 mixer Pioneer parametric equaliser (x2) Pyramid 8200e DJ mixer (equaliser+echo) Realistic Bass reconstructor Technics SL-1200 DJ turntables plus accoustic instruments (Newcombe Grand, Paul electric guitar etc...) I'm sure i've forgotten some stuff, but you still get the idea. I have lots of parts i'll have to upgrade to be completely happy with the system, but it is very usable presently. I will need also to add more effects and either a BBE or an Aphex (guess it's a no win... i'll have to try for myself since half the people told me BBE and the other Aphex). I'm open to trades also, if you have some fx units, max or analogs. > Another question that's not directly connected to GUS but that I'd > appreciate any feedback from this group: I guess many on this list > integrate home and studio sound - can anyone comment on possible use of > same amps for both home listening and for studio work? Sure, no problem. Just get good speakers, as this is the most important point. Then, try to get tube amps with beefy PS if you can afford them. > When I studied sound > that was a no-no, but in reality I did my most accurate mixes on my home > junk system... whaddayasay? any specific amp models you use? Well if it's gonna be played back on cheap systems, that's ok, but for those with accurate speakers they will probably notice something weird. Also, dont do final mixing late in the work day. Try to have another person with you to audition the mix for the first time (or mix, bring the result to a friend and ask what he thinks, then get back, redo the mix etc...). Note that women usually hear higher than men, so they can make more accurate mixes. Ciao, -- Francois Dion ' IdMEDIA \ Managing: \ Publishing: \ Specialising: CP 312 \ Equation de Base \ Cybernaute \ Multimedia & Telecom St-Lambert, QC \ Francois Dion \ IDM Software \ design, publishing & Canada, J4P 3P8 \ Fuzzy Logic \ Raving Up North \ testing(hard/software) ------------------------------ End of GUS Musician's Digest V5 #35 *********************************** To post to tomorrow's digest: <gus-music@mail.orst.edu> To (un)subscribe or get help: <gus-music-request@mail.orst.edu> To contact a human (last resort): <gus-music-owner@mail.orst.edu> FTP Sites Archive Directories --------- ------- ----------- Main N.American Site: archive.orst.edu pub/packages/gravis wuarchive.wustl.edu systems/ibmpc/ultrasound Main Asian Site: nctuccca.edu.tw PC/ultrasound European Callers ONLY: theoris.rz.uni-konstanz.de pub/sound/gus Submissions: archive.epas.utoronto.ca pub/pc/ultrasound/submit Newly Validated Files: archive.epas.utoronto.ca pub/pc/ultrasound Mirrors: garbo.uwasa.fi mirror/ultrasound MailServer For Archive Access: Email to <mail-server@nike.rz.uni-konstanz.de> Hints: - Get the FAQ from the FTP sites or the request server. - Mail to <gus-music-request@mail.orst.edu> for info about other GUS related mailing lists (general use, programmers, etc.).