Experimental BBS Explossion 3/Experimental BBS Explossion III.iso/gus/digestv5.zip/V5N4.TXT

Text File | 1993-08-05 | 47KB | 1,124 lines

Ultrasound Daily Digest     Thu Aug  5 00:07     Volume 5: Issue   4

Today's Topics:
                Annoying exponential velocity responce
              AVI / MPEG problems with GUS audio output
                            DUNE2AIL & GUS
                Grand Piano Realism - is it attainable
                      GUS/Windows Startup Delay
                         GUS in August Damark
  Is there anything wrong with the PUPDATE.EXE file in GUSAIL10.ZIP
                      Is this the right address?
                             MEGA-EM FTP?
               ReRe:Hey you programmer types.. do this.
                            Returned mail
                          Spectrum analyser
                   Ultrasound and Windows startup ?
                Ultrasound Daily Digest V5 #3 (3 msgs)
                            windows delay
                    win nt drviers os2 2.1 drivers

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: Wed, 04 Aug 93 18:00:41 EDT
From: Raphael Pungin <[e-mail]>
Subject: Annoying exponential velocity responce
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

I've had the GUS for couple of weeks. I do like its sound quality more
than my SB PRO. However I am disappointed in one feature of the GUS -
exponential velocity responce. Although it might be good if you use GUS
together with a MIDI keyboard while playing it. However standard MIDI files
do not sound correctly. Some instruments are very quiet and some are really
loud. Most general MIDI files are written for a linear velocity synths. All
of them sound much better on my MIDI keyboard than on the GUS as far as
volumes of instruments. I hope Gravis releases a new driver that would
convert the velocities of MIDI files to match exponential responce of the GUS.
I hate to have to use something like VMAP to convert my MIDI files which sound
great on synths other than the GUS.

    __________________________________________________________________
   / ___      ___    )( Computer Science, Univ. of Rhode Island, USA /
  / /__/     /__/    () [e-mail],  [e-mail],  /
 / /\APHAEL / UNGIN  )( [e-mail] _______________/
 \________________________________________________________________/

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

Date: Wed, 4 Aug 1993 20:43:18 +0300 (EET DST)
From: [e-mail] (Pasi Haatanen)
Subject: AVI / MPEG problems with GUS audio output
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

I was wondering, if anyone has solution to the problem, occuring with MPEG
animations and sound. The animation goes on smoothly, but the sound just
cuts all the time.

The strange thing is, that with v1.xx software, MPG animations with audio
worked just fine, while all AVI animations had that "audio-cut'n'pop"
problem. Now, after switching to v2.xx software and drivers, all AVI
animations work just fine with clear and smooth audio/video output, but
now all MPG animations with sound have that very annoying "soundcut"
effect.

I'm currently using 386DX/40 + 387/40, 16Mb memory, GUS, SpeedStar 24X,
UltraStor 12F with 800mb hard disks, scsi qic-20 streamer and mitsumi cdrom.

I think the problem is in the windows drivers, as this same thing happens on
my friend's 486DX/50 with GUS, 340mb atid and Stealth 24

Hmm .. do you have any ideas or fixes for this ??? hmm ? Just wondering, if
no else has discovered this "bug" ??

--
Pasi Haatanen       [e-mail]           BBS / FAX (G.3)    C.all.US for
Emannankuja 4D15    Fidonet ..  2:220/610    [phone]    *UltraSound*
SF-01670  VANTAA    SbcNet .. 14:1500/610    V.32Bis/V.42bis    utils /files
FINLAND, EUROPE!    RfNet ...... 73:103/2    operating 24H/d    DOS/WIN/OS-2

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

Date: Wed, 4 Aug 1993 19:18:49 -0700
From: Eric N. Liao <[e-mail]>
Subject: DUNE2AIL & GUS
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

Never mind, I figured it out.  Apparently, the SFX are handled by something
other than the AIL drivers.  I found out a way to eliminate the "muting" in
DUNE2's music (using ULTRAMID & GUSAIL)

The PUTGF1.EXE alters the cfg file so that it looks like this...
B6 A8 A9 A3 A1 A6 A4 A5 00 BB
Roland SCC1 for music and SFX, SBPRO for DIGITAL

However, you can change it into this...
B6 A8 AC A3 A1 A6 A4 A5 00 BE
(This normally would be SCC1-music, PCspkr-SFX, SBPro-Digital,
 however instead it's GF1-music, PCspkr-SFX, GF1-digital!)
Now, the digital sfx and music come out of the gravis...while some sounds come
out of the PC speaker!  Perhaps someone else already figured this out, but I
thought I might repost since someone might have the same question.

Anyway, by altering the 3rd byte, you COULD disable the PCspkr by changing
AC to A0.  (A0 selects NONE for sound-effects)

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

Date: Wed, 4 Aug 93 16:39:08 -0700
From: [e-mail] (Peter Davies)
Subject: Grand Piano Realism - is it attainable
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

Hi, I have a specific request regarding the Gravis UltraSound card.

Here goes....  the GUS Acoustic Grand Piano patch file provides us with a great
sound but it is not as good as that wonderful $2500 Yamaha Electric Piano at
the Music Store down the road. Why is this?  Could the GUS Acoustic Grand Piano
sound a lot better? I would like to understand what limits the quality of a
particular sound. Is it that the original sample was poor? Is it that there are
too few samples within the patch file and that each sample is required to cover
a wider than optimum range of notes? Is it the patch size limit of 64kb
dictated by the driver?  Or is there something fundamental about the way the
GUS board actually does the D-to-A transformation that will always give us
"good" but not "great" sound?  I notice that I am much happier with the realism
if I play a gm midi solo piano file than if I "mess around" on my keyboard
controller with the Acoustic Grand Piano patch loaded and get to hear a single
note sustained a little longer than would be heard in a midi piano solo.  It is
the dissatisfaction with sustained notes that lead me to ask if the loop points
could be re-done. Now there, that was the clue to show I am now out of my
depth. I'd appreciate hearing any comments addressing this issue.

I got the GUS to have fun. I'm having fun.

regards
[e-mail]

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

Date: Wed, 4 Aug 93 05:42:55 PDT
From: [e-mail] (Robert Lee DeRaud)
Subject: GUS/Windows Startup Delay
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

The good news is that the delay is independent of startup sound(s).  The
bad news is that the driver is doing SOMETHING out in the patch directory
(...\ultrasnd\midi): it's fairly obvious on my machine since the GUS stuff
is the ONLY Windows-related files on the second (D:) drive and the sound
of the drive is quite different from C:.  There is about 4-5 seconds of
D:-drive disk access during startup.  As to WHAT it's doing, I'm clueless:
I don't think it's actually loading patches, since I still have to do that
manually regardless of MIDIMapper settings, but it might be checking the
files from the ultrasnd.ini list.  This would explain why you have to
restart Windows to get a change in ultrasnd.ini to take effect.

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

Date: Wed, 04 Aug 1993 10:38:56 -0800
From: ASHLEY <[e-mail]>
Subject: GUS in August Damark
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

FYI
I just noticed the GUS in this months DAMARK catalogue.
I'd been looking to see if it would show up since there were some noises a
while back about a GUS/cd-rom package supposed to be available from them.
They are selling the GUS/chuck Yeager/joystick combo, unspecified RAM amount,
for $199. Not quite good enough to make it appealing over the standard package.

Ashley parish    [e-mail]
   .___ !
     o/ ! "You're not just another electronic mechanism, Data" :Geordie LaForge
     |  ! "Thankyou,
     >\ !  and you're not just another biological organism, Geordie" : Data

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

Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1993 08:18:17 +0800 (SST)
From: none <[e-mail]>
Subject: Is there anything wrong with the PUPDATE.EXE file in GUSAIL10.ZIP
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

hi

    When I tried to update my .pat files using the pupdate.exe file,
error messages were displayed stating files not found. After running
the file, all my .pat files became .pa1 files and there isn't any .pat
files (updated by pupdate.exe) in my directory. Hope you could enlighten
me on this subject. Thanks

Directory of pupdate.exe file is d:\gus\ail\pupdate.exe
Directory of .pat files is c:\ultrasnd\midi\*.pat

Chris

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

Date: Wed, 4 Aug 93 17:22:14 GMT
From: "Bjarni R. Einarsson" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Is this the right address?
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

Hi yall..

I bought myself a GUS card recently.. and I want to register it.  I
have heard mention of an address change that caused a lot of mix-ups..

Is this the correct address?  If not, then what is?  Thanx..

    Advanced Gravis Computer Technology Ltd.
    1790 Midway Lane
    Bellingham, WA 98226
    U.S.A.

Replies by E-mail are preferred.. thanx in advance.
  ______________________________________________   ___________________
 /                                              \ /                   \
( "Shee, you guys are so unhip its a wonder your O Bjarni R. Einarsson )
(  bums don't fall off!" -- Zaphod Beeblebrox    O  - - [e-mail] - -  )
 \______________________________________________/ \___________________/

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

Date: Wed, 4 Aug 93 15:47:18 CDT
From: Robert Schmanski <[e-mail]>
Subject: MEGA-EM FTP?
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

Hi,
    I've heard about the "mega-em" emulator.  It's a Roland MT-32
emulator for the GUS, right?  I have a couple of questions: First, how does
it work, second, how well does it work (ie how comaptible is it), third, who
makes it and how is it distributed (commercial, shareware, freeware), and
finally, if it is shareware or freeware, where can I get it (ftp possibly?)
I have looked at the lists on wuarchive and have not seen it.  Thanks.
--
Bob Schmanski
Email Adress: [e-mail]
      or: [e-mail]

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

Date: Wed, 4 Aug 93 20:58:23 MST
From: [e-mail] (Andrew John Sherwood)
Subject: ReRe:Hey you programmer types.. do this.
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

>From: Gavin <[e-mail]>
>
>>[e-mail] (Charles Budensiek) writes.....
>
>>Wouldn't it be neat if someone would program a spectrum analyzer thing so
>>we can see a nifty graphical display whilst playing a CD via the CD audio
>>input on the GUS. Windoze code would be best. :)
>
>I just love dreamers, but even on a fast 486DX you couldn't do it real
time, it
>takes a coupla seconds just to do an FFT on a .WAV file. However, dream
>on,that's where the good ideas come from.

Actually, you CAN do it.. Its quite simple, I did it myself, albeit for
the SoundBlaster.. I made a little modification as well..  Instead of
plotting in boring bars, I plot frequency on the x-axis and volume on the
y-axis... its TOTALLY tripping.. especially when you get good bass.. The
problems you mention about FFT on a WAV aren't problems, otherwise the 2
or 3 MOD players that do REAL spectrum analyzer wouldn't be working very
well.. ;) What it is VERY difficult to so is take the sound the GUS
OUTPUTS and spec.analyze it..  analyzing the INCOMING signal via
digi-in/CD-in/mic-in is easy.  As for source.. sorry campers, I lost it
when my HD crashed a while back.. I still have the original EXE for the SB
if anyone is interested.

eNigma

"Number 28..... The naughty bits of an ant."

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

Date: 4 Aug 93 02:32:41 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Returned mail
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

Your mail could not be delivered because of the following reason:


   ----- Transcript of session follows -----
host "hostel.lincroftnj.NCR.COM" is unknown

   ----- Unsent message follows -----

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

Date: Wed, 4 Aug 93 11:37:20 +0200
From: [e-mail] (Rogan Alan Hastings Dawes)
Subject: Spectrum analyser
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

I don't know if this is correct, but Mark Cox, the guy who wrote ModPlay,
and various other sound programs claims to have a genuine analyser
in one of his programs that I have.

Naturally, the time taken would depend on the resolution of the sound,
he was just playing MODs

I can look up the exact text, but I think that was what he claimed.

--
Rogan Dawes    -    University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

[e-mail]

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

Date: Wed, 04 Aug 1993 14:23:51 +0000
From: Clarke Brunt <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Ultrasound and Windows startup ?
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

Two recent posts...

>> I'm sure that everyone of you has noticed that if you use
>> Ultrasound in Windows, it will slow the startup of Windows
>> significantly...

> I see no slowdown when Windoze starts up. My guess is that
> you are using a Midi Mapper setup to "preload" patches for
> non-patch-caching apps; if this is the case, change it to
> the normal "Ultrasound" settings and see if this helps.

This cannot be the reason. The MIDI Mapper setups *cannot* preload
patches by themselves - they merely provide the correct mappings
so that if you load the patches by some other means (e.g. using
Patchman and the supplied .MID file for each setup), then every
GM patch select will at least come up with a instrument vaguely
similar to what was actually requested.

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

Date: Wed Aug  4 00:07:06 1993
From: Ultrasound Server <[e-mail]>
Subject: Ultrasound Daily Digest V5 #3
Message-ID: <9308040624.AA22143@itchy>

Ultrasound Daily Digest     Wed Aug  4 00:07     Volume 5: Issue   3

Today's Topics:

                          DUNE2AIL and Dune2
                          Good Recording !!
                         GUS Price Upgrade?!?
                   Keep it higher than up Gravis..
                   mail failed, returning to sender
                    Megaem - is it worth $50 cdn?
                     Mitsumi & CD audio thru GUS
                            Returned mail
                           SBOS Interrupts
                         Space Hulk with GUS?
                          subscribe (2 msgs)
                              subscribve
                UltraSound & Windows Startup woes.....
                  Ultrasound and Windows startup ?
                Ultrasound Daily Digest V5 #2 (2 msgs)
                             unsubscribe

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, 3 Aug 1993 15:05:07 -0400 (EDT)
From: Greg Chung <[e-mail]>
Subject:
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

To the person who asked about Windoze... it writes some data to the GUS
memory, all though I don't think that accounts for all of the delay.  Most
likely if you have Windows set up to play a startup sound, that's the
cause of any delay.  (Also, I know that the GUS driver reads in the
patch.cfg file.  It might even verify the existence of those files, I'm
not sure.)

An unrelated topic... I was using the SDK to program the GUS and ran into
a problem with the IRQ functions used by UltraOpen().  I haven't been able
to figure out why, but if the MIDI IRQ is set to 7 (the default) I would
get a stack overflow when I tried to use fopen().  I changed the MIDI IRQ
to 12 and the problem cleared up...  ??????

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

Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1993 19:06:03 -0700
From: Eric N. Liao <[e-mail]>
Subject: DUNE2AIL and Dune2
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

I tried the Dune2AIL (newer version that uses SCC-1 & SBPRO), and it works
sort of.  Whenever there are some sound-effects, the music (except for the
drums) cuts out.  Is there any way around this?

I noticed that if there is voice in the background, at the same time there is
supposed to be digital sfx (shooting), the music cuts out.  With SBOS, I
noticed that the game would use FM for sfx, if the digital voice was not
free (like "reporting....acknowledged...moving out!")

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

Date: Wed, 04 Aug 93 02:03:29 -0400
From: "Robinhood -- Marshall Lai" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Good Recording !!
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

    I have got the GUS for a few months now but haven't had any luck in
doing any serious recordings.  Tonight, I used only 8-bit 22K recording of
an entire Night of the Summer Side (A Japanese Animation Theme Song) off
a Sony Discman with line level connecting both sides.  The results is
surprisingly good!  Only minimal amount of noise is recorded!  I can't
believe what I am hearing at first, I even check to see the discman is off.
But I would say that it is by far the best sound card in the low end in
the recording arena!!  It is even better than the one my friend sampled with
a PAS 16!!!! (16-bit recording that is)  Maybe that is because I am recording
the entire song into memory first (Yes, I have 20MB of Ram and I am using
Goldwave from Windows.  One of the best uses of the Windows.)  Great Work
Gravis!
    BTW, I have a 486-DX33 EISA with OPTi chipset without any trouble
using 16-bit DMA.
                                Robinhood

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

Date: Tue, 03 Aug 93 22:25:51 EDT
From: [e-mail] (Janne Makela)
Subject: GUS Price Upgrade?!?
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>


I planned to purchase the Ultrasound card... The price seemed
very reasonable to me, so I ordered it. On a phone I was told,
that all cards (I'm talking about packet which is advertised
here as a 'Gravis Ultrasound Action Pack') were sold out.
I made my order anyway and sat down to wait my packet to
arrive. I waited and waited... and finally took a call to my
dealer.
 And what did I heard?!? There were cards now, but the price
was increased about $50! There were also a lot of 'reasons', all
very dimmy.
 The story went something like this: "It's a whole new card, new
ROMs and some other improvements. Packet also includes new (and
better) software. Gravis has raised prices, so we're forced to do
the same."
 So, WHAT IS GOING ON?!? Are these 'reasons' real or is my dealer
just dreaming? If 'the whole new card' has born, what makes it
worth of extra $50?
 Should I buy old or new version, or nothing at all? I need more
information to make my decision.

Please reply/mail to me as fast as possible! I will read them
all (I read better than write this language :-)).


-- Janne Makela ([e-mail])

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

Date: Tue, 3 Aug 93 19:22:21 EST
From: [e-mail] (adriano ennio raiola)
Subject: Keep it higher than up Gravis..
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

Hi GUSheads, havent posted in a while, thought I'd say something..

There was some talk recently on c.s.i.p.soundcard about the GUS vs. Roland
SCC-1 in terms of sound, and while all the people that had heard both pretty
much said the SCC-1 was still miles ahead (well it IS a synth), Id just like
to say the Gravis is still light years ahead of all other cards, just in
case you'd forgotten :)

And if you want proof, get GM_MIDI.ZIP of epas, all round probably the
best collection of mids since scdemos.zip, some of those classical pieces
are still mind boggling for $200. Go suck Roland, it cant be THAT much better
than this.. :>

Also, the xwingmids on epas sound MEGA cool too, and speaking of things MEGA,
hurry Jayeson and get the thing working properly! When we can hear the actual
game music in Xwing sound the same as the midi files, we're talking REAL
turkey..

cyas, Adrian
[e-mail]

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

Date: Tue, 3 Aug 93 18:11 EDT
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject: mail failed, returning to sender
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

|------------------------- Failed addresses follow: ---------------------|
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 -----------------------------

Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1993 10:39:21 -0230 (NDT)
From: Ed Reddy <[e-mail]>
Subject: Megaem - is it worth $50 cdn?
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

I had a chance this weekend to give Megaem a good look over.

Considering all the software offers (which is very little) besides
excellent Roland Emulation, is very little for the money.

A $50 cdn registration fee for the ShareWare product is required. The
unregistered version only plays for 10 minutes. To get sound back requires
re-loading of the Megaem software, which only gives another 10 minutes.

IMHO, this software, considering it is still bugridden, and is not
compatible with a variety of games, is definatly not worth $50. It is not
worth $30. I would pay $15-20. Anyone else feel it is overpriced?

    _____        - If every man stopped thinking about war and hatred,
   / ### \           and started to think about Space, just imagine how
 ()\_____/()          close a reality Star Trek would be right now..
[e-mail] & [e-mail]

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

Date: Tue, 03 Aug 93 13:57:46 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Mike Batchelor)
Subject: Mitsumi & CD audio thru GUS
Message-ID: <znr744386266k@batpad>

I fixed the problem, thanks to those who responded with
suggestions.

The problem was pilot error.  I had plugged the Mitsumi card
into the GUS, instead of plugging the CDROM drive itself into
the GUS.  Now it all works fine.
--
Mike Batchelor        | Windows : DESQview/X :: Solitaire : Network BlaqJaq
[e-mail]       |
Mar Vista, California |               This space for rent

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

Date: 3 Aug 93 03:08:22 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Returned mail
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

Your mail could not be delivered because of the following reason:


   ----- Transcript of session follows -----
host "hostel.lincroftnj.NCR.COM" is unknown

   ----- Unsent message follows -----

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

Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1993 20:20:32 -0700
From: sol man <[e-mail]>
Subject: SBOS Interrupts
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

How is SBOS called?  Are there hardware interrupts generated by the GUS?

sol

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

Date: Wed, 4 Aug 1993 11:25:10 +1000
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Space Hulk with GUS?
Message-ID: <102511040893*/G=Peter/S=Enzerink/O=FINANCE/PRMD=AUSGOVFINANCE/ADMD=TELEMEMO/C=AU/@MHS>

A local games shop is having a bit of a special on this and from Games Byte
12 it looks pretty good. Any GUS users out there have this, and if so, how
does it sound with the GUS? I've also heard there is a demo of this on the
net. Any ideas where?

INTERNET: [e-mail]
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SMAIL   : PO Box 165, Queen Victoria Terrace, Parkes 2600, Australia

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

Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1993 22:16:50 +1000 (EST)
From: Andrew See <[e-mail]>
Subject: subscribe
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>



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

Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1993 22:22:24 +1000 (EST)
From: Andrew See <[e-mail]>
Subject: subscribe
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>



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

Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1993 22:16:23 +1000 (EST)
From: Andrew See <[e-mail]>
Subject: subscribve
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>



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

Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1993 19:34:22 -1000 (GMT-10:00)
From: Paul Murgatroyd <[e-mail]>
Subject: UltraSound & Windows Startup woes.....
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

> From: [e-mail] (Mr K.S. Yap)
> Subject: Ultrasound and Windows startup ?
> Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
>
> Greetings everyone,
>    I'm sure that everyone of you has noticed that if you use Ultrasound
> in Windows, it will slow the startup of Windows significantly, it seems
> to be loading some "pat" file during every startup, I am just wondering
> if anyone knows a way to disable/speedup this process, I am sure a lot
> of us would like to know.

I have never noticed any sort of slow down at all while using the
UltraSound with Windows 3.1. I gues sit all depends on what you actually
mean by "slow-down". Do you have a Start-up sound set in the Control
Panel?? If you do, that would explain the delay. Windows will cache the
entire sound sample into RAM, and play it via a DMA transfer (so you can
still work while a sound is playing). To prove my point, my windows
startup is a 10 second 44.1Khz Stereo 8-bit sample of LSI by the Shamen.
The file is approx 650K long. Windows first loads the sound file into RAM,
and then plays it. If you look at the System Info via Program Manager,
take not of the memory available (do this while the sound is playing).
Now, a few seconds after the sound has finished playing, dot he the same
thing. The memory available figure should have increased by the amount of
memory your sound file consumes.

The only way to stop this from happening is to disable the startup sound
from the control panel.
Also, I would check that you have not also added extra things like fonts
sicne you installed your Ultrasound. The more fonts you have installed,
the longer you will have to wait for windows to load.

Hope this helps all those foljs who may have similar problems. The
information above is as I know it from personal experience. I do not claim
it is right, but that it is the case on my machine (486DX-50Mhz, 16Mb RAM).

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

Date: Tue, 03 Aug 93 13:57:39 -0400
From: "Momentary language, sexual situations" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Ultrasound and Windows startup ?
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

>    I'm sure that everyone of you has noticed that if you use Ultrasound
> in Windows, it will slow the startup of Windows significantly, it seems
> to be loading some "pat" file during every startup, I am just wondering
> if anyone knows a way to disable/speedup this process, I am sure a lot
> of us would like to know.
> Please share with us if you know how. Thanks in advance.

I see no slowdown when Windoze starts up. My guess is that you are using a
Midi Mapper setup to "preload" patches for non-patch-caching apps; if this
is the case, change it to the normal "Ultrasound" settings and see if this
helps.

Note that I DON'T use SBOS so that might also be a factor (after all SBOS
"shuts off" when you start Windoze. This might take some time)...

DDA

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

Date: Tue Aug  3 00:45:47 1993
From: Ultrasound Server <[e-mail]>
Subject: Ultrasound Daily Digest V5 #2
Message-ID: <9308030702.AA27716@itchy>

Ultrasound Daily Digest     Tue Aug  3 00:45     Volume 5: Issue   2

Today's Topics:
                 .wav (etc..) to Mac .snd converter?
                 Hey you programmer types.. do this.
                            I like my GUS!
                             latest SBOS?
                              no digest?
                   Ultrasound and Windows startup ?
                      using Goldwave and wav2pat

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: Mon, 2 Aug 93 9:04:42 CDT
From: Jon Holt <[e-mail]>
Subject: .wav (etc..) to Mac .snd converter?
Message-ID: <9308021424.AA22814@camax01>

Does anybody know of a sound file format converter that will convert .wav (or
other common ibm sound sample files) to any of the Mac .snd formats?  (Shareware
or Freeware, if possible)

-Jon


% Jon Holt.................................Internet: [e-mail]
% CAMAX Systems, Inc.......................Phone: [phone]
%
%                 "Now, which one was Rosencrantz?" - A friend

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

Date: Mon, 2 Aug 1993 23:20:16 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail] (Charles Budensiek)
Subject: Hey you programmer types.. do this.
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

Just another in the series of  'wouldn't it be neat if...' series.

Wouldn't it be neat if someone would program a spectrum analyzer thing so
we can see a nifty graphical display whilst playing a CD via the CD audio
input on the GUS. Windoze code would be best. :)


--
[e-mail]                     [e-mail]
                          [e-mail]
    "I'm pretty cool, Beavis. But I can't change the future." - Butthead
  Remember Grasshopper, the path of sanity is most often ignored by the sane.

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

Date: Mon, 2 Aug 1993 10:15:19 -0500 (CDT)
From: Mike Hollyman <[e-mail]>
Subject: I like my GUS!
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

Hi all, this is my first post here.

I just wanted to say that I enjoy my GUS a lot!

I am a recent switcher to pc's from Amiga and I have had no real problems even
though I am pc ignorant.  I had SCSI problems at first but everything has been
solved from the FAQ file.  Also, the GUS is a great sounding card, we have a
SBpro at work and it's a joke trying to play files on that compared to the
GUS.  It even sounds better than the Amiga did!!  I just want some more games
with native GUS support!!!!

Mike Hollyman

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

Date: 2 Aug 93 20:17:40 EST
From: "Joseph R. Granto"  <[e-mail]>
Subject: latest SBOS?
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

What is the latest version of SBOS, and what file(s) is it located
on?  I tried the .soundcard list, but have (as yet) not gotten a
reply...



 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
Joe Granto                                      [e-mail]

"When the going gets tough, the tough get a GLOCK!"
    --Guns & Ammo
"Don't clock'em, GLOCK'em!"
    --Miami Dade police officer
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Mon, 2 Aug 93 09:14:06 -0500
From: Michael J Stumpf <[e-mail]>
Subject: no digest?
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

I have not been receiving the u.d.digest and was curious if this is a local
system problem.. will someone drop me a note if they are receiving it so I
can work this out?

thanks.

:wq

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

Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1993 13:30:22 +1000 (EST)
From: [e-mail] (Mr K.S. Yap)
Subject: Ultrasound and Windows startup ?
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

Greetings everyone,
   I'm sure that everyone of you has noticed that if you use Ultrasound
in Windows, it will slow the startup of Windows significantly, it seems
to be loading some "pat" file during every startup, I am just wondering
if anyone knows a way to disable/speedup this process, I am sure a lot
of us would like to know.
Please share with us if you know how. Thanks in advance.

Shan.
[e-mail]

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

Date: Mon, 02 Aug 93 13:51:25 +0100
From: [e-mail] (Mr Stefan Magdalinski)
Subject: using Goldwave and wav2pat
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

I've seen several notes about using goldwave as an wave editor and
then using wav2pat to convert them to patches. It does not
work. I remember francois dion saying that this is because
goldwave does not deal with some of the wave header data
properly, so I emailed the author of goldwave with the problem
Here's his reply;
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
This should solve the problem.  Could you please forward this to the
gravis mailing digest? (And maybe to some commercial companies as
well! :-) )

GoldWave creates standard RIFF WAVE ".wav" files.  In fact, GoldWave
implements more features in the RIFF WAVE specification than some
other programs do.  The problem is that these other shareware
and commercial programs DO NOT correctly implement the RIFF
spec.

Solution:
To remove the extra RIFF data from GoldWave files, you
can do the following:
1) Save the ".wav" file in GoldWave as usual.
2) Open the file with Sound Recorder (this program is included
with Windows in the Accessories group).
3) Save the file with Sound Recorder.
GoldWave includes and attempts to preserve text information
found in some wave files.  This information can contain
important copyright notices.

In the next version of GoldWave, preservation of text info will
be a configurable option.

For anyone who is interested, here is a clip taken from
the RIFF WAVE spec:

    "Programs must expect (and ignore) any unknown chunks
     encountered, as with all RIFF forms. However, <fmt-ck> must
     always occur before <wave-data>, and both of these chunks are
     mandatory in a WAVE file."

NOTE: It does not say that the "fmt" chunk must be first, only that
it must come before the data chunk!  Many programs wrongly assume
that the "fmt" ckunk is always the very first chunk.


Chris
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
If someone could forward this to the wav2pat author, that would be
useful, and I hope this
helps

peas,
stefan
[e-mail]

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

End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V5 #2
************************************

To post to tomorrow's digest:                        <[e-mail]>
To (un)subscribe or get help:                <[e-mail]>
To contact a human (last resort):              <[e-mail]>

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                          wuarchive.wustl.edu       systems/msdos/ultrasound
                          archive.orst.edu               pub/packages/gravis
FTP mail server:          [e-mail]

Hints:
      - Get the FAQ from the FTP sites or the request server.
      - Mail to <[e-mail]> for info about other GUS
        related mailing lists (UNIX, OS/2, GUS-MIDI, etc.)

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

Date: Wed, 4 Aug 1993 10:24:25 +0930 (CST)
From: Gavin <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Ultrasound Daily Digest V5 #2
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

>[e-mail] (Charles Budensiek) writes.....

>Wouldn't it be neat if someone would program a spectrum analyzer thing so
>we can see a nifty graphical display whilst playing a CD via the CD audio
>input on the GUS. Windoze code would be best. :)

I just love dreamers, but even on a fast 486DX you couldn't do it real time, it
takes a coupla seconds just to do an FFT on a .WAV file. However, dream
on,that's where the good ideas come from.

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

Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1993 12:42:52 +0300 (EET DST)
From: [e-mail] (Tex A Harme)
Subject: unsubscribe
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

Subject says it all.
Please unsubscribe me from the mailing list.

thanks.

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

End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V5 #3
************************************

To post to tomorrow's digest:                        <[e-mail]>
To (un)subscribe or get help:                <[e-mail]>
To contact a human (last resort):              <[e-mail]>

FTP sites:                archive.epas.utoronto.ca         pub/pc/ultrasound
                          wuarchive.wustl.edu       systems/msdos/ultrasound
                          archive.orst.edu               pub/packages/gravis
FTP mail server:          [e-mail]

Hints:
      - Get the FAQ from the FTP sites or the request server.
      - Mail to <[e-mail]> for info about other GUS
        related mailing lists (UNIX, OS/2, GUS-MIDI, etc.)

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

Date: Wed, 4 Aug 1993 07:49:46 -0600
From: [e-mail] (Craig Anderson)
Subject: Re: Ultrasound Daily Digest V5 #3
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

I've just looked at a GUS, and enjoyed it a lot.  However, I have lots of
questions which the salesperson was unable/unwilling to answer:

        I'm looking for serious sound editing/sampling capabilities and
midi sequencing.  I know the GUS doesn't support MIDI scripting, but it
does play midi sequences, right?

        What is the deal with the sound source?  I know the FAQ says
something about the wavetables, but (as mentioned in the faq) it's still a
bit confusing.  The guy at the store was telling me that the 128
"polyphony" sounds (and the 30-odd percussion sounds) that the GUS has on
board come from a Roland digitally sampled chip which Roland uses on one of
their keyboards.  Am I to  understand that the GUS has these samples AND is
capable of *.wav conversion as well?

        Is it possible to dump new digitized samples onto my harddrive and
use them in a sequencing program with GUS (say, from an E-Mu card, DAT, or
e-prom)?  What type of MUSIC software can I get with the GUS?  i.e. What,
if anything, comes bundled besides professor panzar, or whatever?

        Has Gravis released the 16-bit stereo 44kHz upgrade yet?  Anyone
try it?  Lastly, If you've had experience with Turtle Beach's snazzy
expensive crem-de-la-motherboard, how do you think it compares with Gus?

             ########################
             ##     Craig
             ##      A Man of Mission
             ##        Anderson
             ########################

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

Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1993 10:36:37 +0930 (CST)
From: Gavin <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Ultrasound Daily Digest V5 #3
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

>Subject: Megaem - is it worth $50 cdn?

>IMHO, this software, considering it is still bugridden, and is not
>compatible with a variety of games, is definatly not worth $50. It is not
>worth $30. I would pay $15-20. Anyone else feel it is overpriced?

I read a mesage from the author saying you should hold off registering it until
the bugs are worked out, probably when version 1.0 is released. Also he is
reviewing his pricing. Version 9b removes the time limitation for now.
Having said all that, it's a great bit of software and he deserves to be
encouraged.

>From: Greg Chung <[e-mail]>

>cause of any delay.  (Also, I know that the GUS driver reads in the
>patch.cfg file.  It might even verify the existence of those files,

Yes it does seem to do that , but why? And how can we stop it? This may be one
for the Gravis techs to answer. Windows startup is so slow now that I'm
considering having 2 sets of .ini files ie. with/without GUS.

On a 'I love my GUS' note, I played 'eve of the war' from best_of.zip on my MT32
and guess what, it runs out of partials thus missing notes, but the GUS doesn't
, making the GUS superior for playing complex music. IMHO the sound quality is
on a par even when the MT32 isn't being overloaded.

Gavin.

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

Date: Wed, 04 Aug 1993 12:04:12 -0600 (CST)
From: [e-mail]
Subject: windows delay
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

The Ultrasound driver verifies the existence of every patch file.  Try
deleting one -- you'll get an error message.

Bryan

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

Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1993 19:10:36 -0500 (CDT)
From: Pawlo P Prawdiuk-1 <[e-mail]>
Subject: win nt drviers os2 2.1 drivers
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

Now I have ordered win NT when It will come I don't know.

I don't know who will and will not have drivers, I however belive that if
WIN NT drivers don't ship everyone is going to be very angry. Os/2 Also
deserves thier drivers, yet I would hope that gravis actually has
different divisions for doing the hard coding for the different platforms.

As a programer myself I don't see why they have not released any drivers
for OS/2 and this is disapointing because I would also like to run and
OS/2 Machine in my office.  And of course a GUS is my sound card of choice.

Gravis. What is the hold up? You probably should get some outside help in
programing some drivers, (not to say you are bad programers) But time is a
wasting and you definetly don't gain customers by letting things go for so
long.


- [e-mail] -
- Thanks. Paul Prawdiuk       -

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

End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V5 #4
************************************

To post to tomorrow's digest:                        <[e-mail]>
To (un)subscribe or get help:                <[e-mail]>
To contact a human (last resort):              <[e-mail]>

FTP sites:                archive.epas.utoronto.ca         pub/pc/ultrasound
                          wuarchive.wustl.edu       systems/msdos/ultrasound
                          archive.orst.edu               pub/packages/gravis
FTP mail server:          [e-mail]

Hints:
      - Get the FAQ from the FTP sites or the request server.
      - Mail to <[e-mail]> for info about other GUS
        related mailing lists (UNIX, OS/2, GUS-MIDI, etc.)