Ultrasound Daily Digest Wed, 31 Mar 93 Volume 2 : Issue 86 Today's Topics: 48 kHz Playback & more memory ? [GUS] Sierra supports the Ultrasound! (2 msgs) Future GUS releases GMOS GRAVIS & FORTE NEWS 1/4 GUS & X-Wing working!!! GUS: need sequencer with musical scores GUS and dos 6 GUS ans SB GUS MIDI adapter GUSMOD v2.11 with EMM386? GUS reviewed help Mouse cursor goes away with gus driver installed Pitch to midi converter. Programming? Proposal for GMOS Real-time frequency-to-midi conversion SBOS conflicts. Still want an NT Driver for GUS Ultima 7 part II fix ULTRASOUND 03/30/93 1/2 ULTRASOUND 03/30/93 2/2 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: 30 Mar 93 09:23:13 GMT+0100 From: "Alexander Majarek, Sascha, SAM" Message-Id: Subject: 48 kHz Playback & more memory ? To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Hi netters, sounders, etc. I have two questions, which I thought you could maybe answer. When I read the announcements on EPAS there was a statement, that the 16 bit recording option will be able to recored 16 bit stereo at 48 kHz. Now my question: As far as I know the GUS does only supply 16 bit stereo 44,1 kHz playback, so what should we do with those 48 kHz samples????? Another question is: Are there any future plans for extended versions of the card (for example: supporting 4 or 16 MB on board memory, or any other improvement), or is there the possibility of any hardware faults, which might result in corrected hardware versions? Or is the GUS which is available now the one and only version of sound hardware produced by Gravis in the near (or even not near) future? Thanks in advance, SAM ********************************************************************* *Alexander.Majarek@uibk.ac.at * There are 3 ways (fast, sweet, sure)* *Perthalerg. 1c/11 * for a man to ruin himself: * *A-6020 Innsbruck * 1. Gamblin' (fast), * *AUSTRIA (EUROPE) * 2. Women (sweet) & * *Tel.: 0043-512-84-26-15 * 3. Computers (sure) * ********************************************************************* ------------------------------ Date: 29 Mar 1993 22:26:51 -0800 From: jamesrod@mizar.usc.edu (Jeff Lawson) Message-Id: <1p8p7bINNlv@mizar.usc.edu> Subject: [GUS] Sierra supports the Ultrasound! To: Ultrasound Daily Digest That's right! Well, sort of. It seems that Sierra is starting to release of their new games with a Windows EXE that allows you to play their games in Windows using the Windows drivers. That means that if you have an Ultrasound driver for Windows (an you should) then Sierra is essentially supports the Ultrasound. The first game they've release with the Windows version is Ecoquest II (although I've heard that a beta version of Space Quest V had a really buggy one-I don't know if it was in the final version). Anyways, I had a little trouble getting it to work at first, but what I had to do was select extended MIDI device (or whatever they call it) in the install program (you must run SETUP.EXE from Windows for the Windows install). Then, before I run the game, I select Control Panel, chose Midi Map, and then select "Ultrasound-?k" (with ? being the amount of DRAM you have installed). Then, I ran the patch loader and loaded the patches for "LOAD?.MID" (with ? being the amount of DRAM you have again). I don't know of any of this is unnecessary, but it worked for me. And don't think that you need a meg of DRAM to get good results, because you don't -- I still only have 256k and it sounds great (a lot better than SBOS!). Jeff Lawson jamesrod@mizar.usc.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1993 08:47:43 GMT From: himb@iniki.soest.hawaii.edu (Liz Camarra) Message-Id: Subject: [GUS] Sierra supports the Ultrasound! To: Ultrasound Daily Digest In article <1p8p7bINNlv@mizar.usc.edu> jamesrod@mizar.usc.edu (Jeff Lawson) writes: >Anyways, I had a little trouble getting it to work at first, but what >I had to do was select extended MIDI device (or whatever they call it) >in the install program (you must run SETUP.EXE from Windows for the >Windows install). Then, before I run the game, I select Control >Panel, chose Midi Map, and then select "Ultrasound-?k" (with ? being >the amount of DRAM you have installed). Then, I ran the patch loader >and loaded the patches for "LOAD?.MID" (with ? being the amount of >DRAM you have again). This trick seems to work on all Sierra MPC titles, even on my ancient Mixed-up Mother Goose CD. Are all the new games come with windows EXE now? +----------------------------------------------------------------+ Stephen Lau, Elec. Engineering, Univ. of Hawaii *Using a friend's account while waiting for my new grad. account* + Death to FM synthesis! Go Gus! + ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 13:04:34 EST From: pccmoddan@aol.com Message-Id: <9303301304.tn14117@aol.com> Subject: Future GUS releases To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Ultra Chuck Yeager's Combat is >NOT< vapour-ware. A copy of it was inside the box of the last GUS I received via Gravis' offices in Washington. I think it can be had by contacting Gravis for $14, and it is WELL worth it! The sound is superb (16 bit, stereo, original patches) and the gameplay is great too. As for other titles supporting GUS, they are coming. There will be Miles MIDIPak/DIGIPak drivers for the GUS within a short time, and these will make it simple for developers to add GUS support (unfortunately it's not as good as writing your own GUS support but it will sound as good as the MIDI demo I would think) and the drivers will also be usable with games already out there that use Miles drivers. Aside from the Miles drivers, I know of 5 titles that will definitely have GUS native mode support that are in development. There are most certainly many more in development, but these are the ones I know about since I'm involved with them. Another thing that looks good for the GUS - everyone I have talked to says that everyone they've talked to seems really interested in MODs and MOD-like formats due to the sucess of Star Control II. What does this mean for you? Well, if a company decides to use MOD-type music in a game, I would say the chances of GUS support in that game are at least 99%. The GUS is the best device currently available for playing MODs, and the developers tend to demo their stuff with the best equipment, such as Sierra using Sound Canvases for midi. Can't play a MOD very well on a Waveblaster! :) - Dan ________________________________________________________ Dan Nicholson - PCkS Associates - (908)964-8066 - ModDan 553 Thoreau Terr. Union, NJ 07083 ________________________________________________________ Ross Perot is Ghandi. ________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: 30 Mar 1993 23:01:03 +0800 From: TC Message-Id: <01GWFPUZGNH2AH2YJX@NTUVAX.NTU.AC.SG> Subject: GMOS To: Ultrasound Daily Digest >> GM instructions in games, and make a "patch" for such games to remap the >> whole game to 1meg worth of patches. > >I wonder why no one caught the reference to option (3) which I mentioned >should allow GMOS to determine the patch changes during a particular >run. For example, you run 'GMOS -cxwing.cfg' and GMOS will collect any >>MIDI patch change information throughout this particular session and >>save it to a .cfg file. It can then load this file later to load the >>required patches. Of course, this is not fail safe. A program might need ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >>more than 1MB worth of patches throughout the whole run. Thus, dynamic >>loading will STILL have to be supported. ^^^^^ > This is a decent approach to it, but I see at least one problem: > What happens if the end scene of the game (when you "win") uses an > instrument not used in the rest of the game? Then, when you make your *.cfg > file, it will not have that patch in it, so GMOS will not load that patch. Like I said, the .cfg file is *NOT* fail safe. GMOS will still have to support dynamic patch loading. GMOS will write the .cfg file in descending order of most frequently accessed patch. This will guarantee a better fit at the start. But still dynamic patch loading WILL have to be supported. In this case, if GMOS finds that the patch required is not in one of the buffers in memory, it will load it off the disk, so there will be a slight slowdown there. Note that the .cfg file is not a catch-all. It is simply there to help GMOS select the most appropriate patches to load without having to wait all the time for the dynamic patch loading. > tonight...) then all we have to do to implement GMOS is to add digital > SB support without losing GM ability. This should not be impossible, > but it may be difficult. Yes, but only if we can get information on the way GUS latches the AdLib/SB ports from Gravis/Forte. .tc ------------------------------ Date: 29 Mar 93 22:40:13 GMT From: jjm70@ccc.amdahl.com (Jerry Miller) Message-Id: Subject: GRAVIS & FORTE NEWS 1/4 To: Ultrasound Daily Digest In article <733239460.AA01773@ship.net> john.smith@gravis.com (John Smith) writes: >Gravis and Forte Notes >---------------------- >=================================================== > SBOS >=================================================== [stuff deleted] > >Hardware >======== > >I know that a lot of people have said that its OK to put both a >GUS and SB in the same machine. I also know that some people >have had some success doing just that. However, it is really >not a good idea. There are some very solid hardware reasons NOT >to do this. Even though you can move the I/O address and IRQ that >SBOS uses so that it will not conflict with the SB, you cannot >move the DMA channel. SBOS and the SB both use DMA channel 1. Some >serious bus contention happens when both cards are installed. If >you doubt that this is happening, try the diagnostics in the new >setup program. (You will get this in the official release soon). >The DMA channel test will fail intermittantly with an SB installed. >Anyway, when you are trying to get a game running, why not eliminate I suspect you may have missed the point here. The purpose of running a SB in the same machine as the GUS is that you don't want to use SBOS at all! SBOS won't use DMA channel 1 if it isn't installed and the diagnostics run just fine unless you select the SBOS compatibility test (which is irrelevent if you aren't going to use SBOS). Please understand I am NOT being critical of SBOS - I can appreciate the amount of work that has gone into it and I think it does a reasonable job given the constraints (i.e. it is an emulator). Many games run just fine with SBOS but you just can't cover all bases, particularly when performance is an issue. What I do NOT understand is why Gravis seems to want to insist on being the ONLY sound card in my computer. If enough GUSes are sold that they become heavily supported then I may eventually (and with great pleasure) discard my co-resident SBPro but in the meanwhile it stays. FWIW I have modified my GUS so there is absolutely no conflict with the SB/Adlib at all. It is a very simple change that I will be glad to share with you if you want - you may want to offer it as an inexpensive (free even) option to purchasers who already have other sound cards. E-mail if interested... Jerry Miller ------------------------------ Date: 30 Mar 93 16:13:36 GMT From: djlewis@ualr.edu Message-Id: <1993Mar30.161336.1@ualr.edu> Subject: GUS & X-Wing working!!! To: Ultrasound Daily Digest In article <1993Mar26.172426.7699@nmt.edu>, ehobbs@nmt.edu (Eric Hobbs) writes: > In article <1993Mar24.014108.26012@bcars6a8.bnr.ca> norm@bnr.ca (Norm MacNeil) writes: >>Yes, thanks to Ken (Kenneth R Aron), I finally got the GUS to work with the >>SoundBlaster emulation in X-Wing. Eliminating the "/EMS" parameter on the >>STACKER line in my CONFIG.SYS did the trick. THANKS KEN!!!!! >> >>So just for others who might have missed it or who have slightly different >>configurations, I've got... >> >> 486DX-33, 5MB RAM, GUS w/256K, Stacker 2.0, X-Wing installed on the Stacked >>drive (!). >> >>CONFIG.SYS: >> >> DEVICE=C:\HIMEM.SYS >> DEVICE=C:\EMM386.EXE FRAME=E000 RAM 1536 >> DOS=HIGH,UMB >> >>[other stuff deleted] >> >> DEVICEHIGH=C:\STACKER\STACKER.COM C:\STACVOL.DSK >> DEVICEHIGH=C:\STACKER\SSWAP.COM C:\STACVOL.DSK /SYNC >> >>AUTOEXEC.BAT: >> >> SET ULTRASND=220,1,1,11,5 >> C:\ULTRASND\ULTRINIT >> SET ULTRADIR=C:\ULTRASND >> SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T1 >> >> >> >>Now the only problem is that whenever there is a digitized sound effect (like >>that lasers or a TIE screaming by), the graphics (screen) get REAAAL jerky. So >>obviously, SBOS as the TSR isn't keeping up to the rest of the program. >> >>Does adding EMS, GUS DRAM, ... help with this problem? >> >>Thanks, >> Norm. >> >>+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ >> Norm MacNeil Phone: (613) 763-3372 >> Data Systems Fax: (613) 765-2854 >> Bell-Northern Research Ltd. EMail: norm@bnr.ca (INTERNET) >> #include "Roller bladers do it in-line!" > > > If you turn off the FM music, the jerking problem practically goes > away. Apparently, from what I've heard, the jerking isn't a GUS-only > problem. I hear that on some SB's and SBPros it jerks, too. > > --Hobbs The "jerking" problem doesn't show on my settup DTK KEEN3304 386/33 /387 62meg RLL 1:1 drive Media Vision Proaudio Spectrum 16 smartdrv.exe 1024k emm386.exe 4096k Don Lewis ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1993 20:52:33 GMT From: bjornhk@dhhalden.no (BJORN HAAVARD KLEVEN) Message-Id: Subject: GUS: need sequencer with musical scores To: Ultrasound Daily Digest In article <1993Mar22.221439.1@cc.newcastle.edu.au> phth1@cc.newcastle.edu.au writes: >From: phth1@cc.newcastle.edu.au >Subject: GUS: need sequencer with musical scores >Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1993 12:14:39 GMT >My problems with winjammer have abruptly ended now that I have obtained >version 2.24. > >The next question is, what software packages are available which actually >provide a music score as well as acting as a sequencer? A friend of mine >has a package called "Finale" which he uses together with his SCC-1, but >it is fussy and doesn't seem to be compatible with the GUS midi interface. >Is there any way to get the GUS midi interface to be SB401 (or whatever it >is) compatible? Or are there other packages around which can produce >musical scores? It seems to be clear now that Advanced Gravis will include MidiSoft Recording Session and Power Chords with the new installation disks that will be shipped out to all registered customers within shortly. Recording Session is a nice sequencer program running under Windows. Ballade, however, will probably be a problem to use with the UltraSound, as it relies on direct communication with the hardware (the MPU-401 interface). This will ( generally) not be the problem with any Windows-based sequencer, however, as they will utilize the Multimedia Extension to communicate with the hardware via the soundcard's driver software. -=* Bjorn ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 07:00:51 PST From: RICH CATENA DTN 321-5170 Message-Id: <9303301459.AA04945@enet-gw.pa.dec.com> Subject: GUS and dos 6 To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Since it will be on sale late tonight or tomorrow, has anyone tried SBOS 2.04 with dos 6 beta? I really don't want to get into a long debugging session only to find I have to go back to dos 5. thanks, ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Mar 93 01:20:37 -0500 From: Narimane NABAHI Message-Id: <9303310620.AA01284@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca> Subject: GUS ans SB To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Hello everybody, I had some troubles to put my old Sound Blaster (v1.0) with the UltraSound in the same computer. After about three hours, I found that if I want my SB to always works proprely, I have to put it in BASE 220, IRQ 7... and to put the GUS in an other configuration with an other DMA chanel (like 3 for example). But here, I had some problems with some games (old games like Bubble Bobble, or new games like Wolfenstein 3D in SB, or ZONE 66 in GUS mode...): my first aim was to have the GUS work properly, so, I decided to leave the old configuration and to put the SB in BASE PORT 240. Then, here is how my cards are: SB: 240, int 5, dma 1 GUS: 220, int 7, dma 3, midi 11 AND IT WORKS FINE!! I read in the GUS user manual that "we can't have both an Ultra Sound and Sound Blaster or Adlib" but it's not realy true... But... there's a BUT: the SB will work fine only if the game or the software reads the environnement varialable or if we can define where is the SB (i.e. Base port and Int): in one week I only have 2 problems.... Bubble Bobble & Wolfenstein. But I simply execute SBOS then it works. Last of all, if a game like Tetris Classic doesn't work, I force it to play in ADLIB and that's it! What I want to say in this is two things: is there somebody who has a better succes to put these two cards at the same time? (i.e. to have ALWAYS the SB which works correctly) If yes, please, leave me a message... Second, with this, I have a ratio of 95% of games which works correctly with no slowdown... so, bye an old SB if you want more compatibility (a had mine at 50$!). Xavier Rustom. nanouu@binkley.CS.McGill.CA A mAd UsEr!.!.. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1993 16:16:24 -0800 From: Eric N. Liao Message-Id: <199303310016.AA14279@aerospace.aero.org> Subject: GUS MIDI adapter To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Okay, I got all the parts I need to build my GUS midi adapter. God knows what I will do with it when I'm finished (I don't have a MIDI keyboard to test it with!) Howevr, I'm not an electrician! I mean, I know what diodes, resistors, are for? But what does "ground" mean? More specifically, does the "ground" on the optoisolator connect to the same ground as on the MIDI THRU and MIDI OUT? Also, about the "inverters." I couldn't find the exact LS7404 part, and I'm using a 7404 "hex inverter" from radio shack. It has the same # of pins (but a slightly different pinout. Fortunately, there is a diagram on the back, so I know which pins to use.) However, my optoisolator is a ECG 3093 (Philips's equivalent of 6N138.) The pinout is somewhat different. 1--NC, 2--A, 3--K, 4--NC, 5--GND, 6--VO, 7--VB, 8--VCC Okay, I know what GND and NC mean. Butt there seems to be no "C" for me to hook up to. Do I need to buy the exact 6n138 part? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1993 00:08:51 GMT From: robinson@sml.cs.psu.edu (Andrew Robinson) Message-Id: Subject: GUSMOD v2.11 with EMM386? To: Ultrasound Daily Digest I posted a little while ago about having a problem with volume while playing mods with GUSMOD v2.11 -- the volume of some notes comes out loud and other notes are very quiet, even with no volume change commands. I have found that GUSMOD v2.11 does work correctly on my system if I don't use an expanded memory manager such as EMM386. GUSMOD v2.04 works correctly regardless of whether or not EMM386 is loaded. Can anybody explain why v2.11 doesn't work with EMM386 loaded, and v2.04 does work? I tried changing the DMA buffer size, but that made no difference. By the way, I'm using a 386SX/33MHz. -- -- Andy robinson@cs.psu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 17:35:35 CST From: hastings@ms3.dseg.ti.com Message-Id: <9303302335.AA05880@ms3.dseg.ti.com> Subject: GUS reviewed To: Ultrasound Daily Digest In the May 1993 issue of Windows Sources, 20 sound cards are reviewed. The focus of the article was slanted towards voice annotation, but all aspects of sound cards were covered. The Ultrasound didn't fare too well. Installation: fair Sound fidelity: good Midi fidelity: between fair and good Voice annotation: between fair and good A quote: The UltraSound may be suitable as a low-cost entry to MPC boards or for a playback-only station used by a secretary. But for high-end MPC use, look to other cards that offer a fuller set of features. Cards that tested better than the GUS overall: Spectrum 16 SoundBlaster 16 ASP BSR MediaMaster Pro Audio Spectrum 16 Windows Sound System (Microsoft) and, of course, Multisound by Turtle Beach This is the first review I've seen that included the GUS. Anybody seen any others? clint email: hastings@dseg.ti.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1993 14:31:43 +0800 (WST) From: hstsai@solar.csie.ntu.edu.tw (Hong-Shing Tsai) Message-Id: <9303310631.AA07084@syslab.csie.ntu.edu.tw> Subject: help To: Ultrasound Daily Digest ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 07:04:24 PST From: RICH CATENA DTN 321-5170 Message-Id: <9303301501.AA05235@enet-gw.pa.dec.com> Subject: Mouse cursor goes away with gus driver installed To: Ultrasound Daily Digest I have a problem which just showed up. With the ultrasound driver installed my mouse cursor disappears during windows startup about at the point the prog. mgr window is created. If I deinstall the gus driver all is well ( except i can't use the wonderfull gus!). Help! One other piece of info. Sherlock Holmes (cd) will hang if I move the mouse during one of the video sequences. thanks!, ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 11:17:27 CST From: eason@ncrnd3.StPaul.NCR.COM (Dale Eason) Message-Id: <9303301717.AA22199@ncrnd3.StPaul.NCR.COM> Subject: Pitch to midi converter. To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Bruce, Dodson wrote about designing a pitch to midi converter for his guitar using the GUS. That sounds very interesting. What algorithm is used to determine the pitch? Will a FFT do it and is the PC processor fast enough to determine the pitch in real time? One place to start to answer these questions is the comp.dsp (digital signal processor) news group. I have seen discussions of pitch determination there from time to time but did not pay attention. Anyone else have any info? Dale Eason ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 22:37:49 -0500 From: Macon N. Pegram Message-Id: <9303310337.AA00222@cabell.vcu.edu> Subject: Programming? To: Ultrasound Daily Digest The manual mentions absolutely nothing about this... but how do you how about writing programs to use the GUS? Specifically, I'd like to write a pitch-shifter for GUS samples.... the grinch ------------------------------ Date: 31 Mar 1993 10:29:57 +0800 From: TC Message-Id: <01GWGDXLCTDUAH2Z2V@NTUVAX.NTU.AC.SG> Subject: Proposal for GMOS To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Hi everyone, I would like to know how many of you are interested in working on GMOS. Also, it seems that the UltraDox might not contain enough information. Here are some of the proposed GMOS "features": 1. A 1MB GUS would be required, 64K reserved for SB DAC emulation (if we can get the information from Gravis/Forte) and the rest for patches. 2. A hardware/software combo. Software being a TSR, and the hardware portion is a simple loop back from the MIDI out to the MIDI in (or to the serial port). Can some hardware guru check out this portion? I am not too sure about whether a circuit is needed or we can simply loop with a wire (doubtful). 3. Ability to load patches dynamically into several fixed sized buffers in memory. A patch can span multiple buffers. This will make dynamic memory management of the GUS memory easier. Buffer size can only be changed at startup. In the UltraDox, Josh mentioned that he couldn't get the GUS to load patches while playing back, but someone (Francois Dion?) did mention that it was possible. Anyone have info on this? 4. Ability to intelligently determine the patches that have been used in a particular session and save it as a .GMC file that can be used to tell GMOS which patches to load at startup. This file will be plain text and will be user-editable so hackers can customize it :) 5. Anyone knows where to get the complete set of MIDI commands? 6. If anyone has the sysex commands for the MT-32 and SCC-1 please post. All discussions are welcomed. .tc ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 17:27:45 CST From: hastings@ms3.dseg.ti.com Message-Id: <9303302327.AA05863@ms3.dseg.ti.com> Subject: Real-time frequency-to-midi conversion To: Ultrasound Daily Digest > Date: 29 Mar 1993 15:14:41 -0400 > From: DODSON@ac.dal.ca > Message-Id: <01GWDUECSZWI002P2O@AC.DAL.CA> > Subject: Guitar midi > To: Ultrasound Daily Digest > > I play guitar, and I have an ultrasound. Right now, the only way I can plug > in to the ultrasound is to pay Big Buxx to retrofit my electric guitar with > a Roland midi pickup. Anyway, I am pretty sure that, with an ultrasound and > windows, this shouldn't be necessary. Here is my idea: > > What we need is a program which, like a sampler, reads the line in jack > (or mike in). Only, instead of storing the stuff in memory, it would do > a frequency analysis on this signal, take the dominant frequencies and map > them onto midi notes, i.e. by a best fit, or "snap". Then this signal could > be sent out the midi out, and from there sent right back to the midi in, by a > little adaptor. At a later stage, note bending could be added(pitch wheel) > and also velocity (attack), but I wouldn't want to touch these until I had > the basic note-mapper working. > > Anyway, I don't know if this is possible on the GUS; it is certainly more > plausible than on some other midi card with no line in. It might be necessary > to have a second computer do the processing, but I doubt it; that is what > windows is for. > > Problem is, I have never programmed in windows (only Turbo Pascal for DOS) > so I am wondering if anyone out there wants to help? I realise this system > has a limited audience (those who have GUS, or other card, _and_ windows, > _and_ a guitar), but actually, if we got the basic thing working, it would > probably work with other toys, besides guitar. e.g. non-midi keyboard, and > just about any instrument that you can hook a mike up to (including voice,if > you can sing). > > So you can see why I am excited about this. If it is possible, it would allow > anyone, not just keyboardists, to do MIDI! If there are any GMOS veterans, > or others who want to help, please do! (otherwise, I will be buying some > windows programming language soon, and will have to learn it before I can > code my algorithms) Also if you have any advice, don't hold back! > > OK I've taken up two screens worth of your DIGESTion, so I may as well take > off now :) Tell me what you think > Bruce. dodson@ac.dal.ca Last year DOD/Digitech (I think) came to the University of Utah and gave a presentation to the ee students. One of their toys they showed and talked about was a guitar-to-midi box. Seems like it was about a grand. They talked some about their design effort, the theory, and their ongoing attempt to improve it. It required a lot of dedicated signal processing. I would therefore conclude that the Gus would not be able to do it. Go find this commercial box - it's exactly what you're looking for. Even worked with voice input, as I recall. clint ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1993 15:34:58 -0600 From: regius@cs.utexas.edu (Regius S. Gunawan) Message-Id: <9303302135.AA29222@lovelady.cs.utexas.edu> Subject: SBOS conflicts. To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Sorry to bother everyone again, but I thought this info might be useful (and I NEED to gripe to someone :) I was having problems with my new 486DX2-66 and SBOS (almost any version). Traced the problem to my hard disk controller. Seems that the BIOS on the Promise DC-4030VL VL-Bus IDE caching controller is incompatible with SBOS. For all I know, everything else works just fine. This basically means I cannot get the best performance if I want to use SBOS. I hope there's some way around it but haven't checked. I hope you guys at Gravis is listening to this and (hopefully) come up with a solution/respose/flame/anything ^_^ Thank you for your time ^_^ regius ^_^ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 17:41:52 -0800 From: Bob Beck Message-Id: <9303310141.AA24202@eng2.sequent.com> Subject: Still want an NT Driver for GUS To: Ultrasound Daily Digest I'm really pleased by the good work the folks at Gravis (et.al.) are doing (ie, I like the 2.0.2 disks and SBOS 2.0.4 - keep it up folks!). However, for my GUS to be useful longer term to me I'll need an NT driver for it. Is this in anyone's plans? By all means get the DOS/Windows SW in good shape first, but I really think NT is *way* more interesting and important than OS/2, and is going to be on *ALOT* of desktops real soon (I heard something about 70000 March Beta copies were sent)... For now, when I'm running it on my machine I have no sound (sigh) from my nice GUS (but things seem to run fine, so the GUS isn't making NT angry - I guess that's a feature ;-) - Bob Beck (rbk@sequent.com) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 14:55:14 EST From: tmcreek@eos.ncsu.edu Message-Id: <9303301955.AA21063@c00313-11pa.eos.ncsu.edu> Subject: Ultima 7 part II fix To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Someone posted saying that they kept getting dumped out of Serpent's Isle to a 40 column screen. Well, I had that problems too (with parts 1 and 2) until... I checked the static directory to see what sound drivers it was using. If you set it for SoundBlaster (as we who run SBOS must), you will notice some .adv files. ".adv's?", I asked. "Those look familiar!" I looked in both my installed copy of Monopoly Deluxe and BattleChess 4000, and lo! I found .adv's!!! So I copied sbdig.adv and sbfm.adv from BC4000, ran SBOS and sure enough it worked! The point: you need new .adv's. If anyone out there needs these two files I would be more than happy to upload them to epas, or uuencode and mail them. They are not very big. P.S. If you want to see the endgame sequence, go into the static directory and create a file called endgame.flg. In it, put the string "Congratulations!" and run u7p2. It's really good! -- tmcreek@eos.ncsu.edu \ These views respresent no one. / Now you creek-tm@aza.csc.ncsu.edu \ Even I won't claim them. / are here ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- #include "std_funny_stuff.h" /* This is where I include some witty tripe */ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1993 11:44:00 -0800 From: john.smith@gravis.com (John Smith) Message-Id: <733534174.AA01830@ship.net> Subject: ULTRASOUND 03/30/93 1/2 To: Ultrasound Daily Digest UltraSound 03/30/93 ------------------- 1) A few days ago I posted a long tech note from Gravis and Forte. The last line of that message said, "5) Being overly critical of a $150 sound card....". This was suppose to make you laugh! I've heard from a few people who didn't find this very funny. Yes, we do make attempts at a little humor now and then. ;-) 2) There has been a discussion over the last few weeks about recording silence with the GUS card. People have been complaining of popping or static periodically. Here are the results of some testing I've done. To test the recording of silence I shorted out line in and mic in using two phono plugs. NOTE: You can short our your GUS inputs but NOT the outputs, line out, or amp. line out. I used PLAYFILE and USS8 to handle the recording and both returned the same results. The 'static' you are hearing is due to a 1 bit variance in the recording. Silence should be recorded as DC offset 0 (7Fh) on the UltraSound. A +-1 bit variance is actually very good for an AD converter. Even a +-2 bit variance is ok. When recording silence your ear is very sensitive to any shift in the noise pattern. Which is why this your ear can pick up this bit difference when silence is recorded. In the test files I did, over 95% of it had a DC offset of 0. There were only small sections of the file that had small periods of this 'static' (+-1bit). Remember, this is only noticeable when recording silence. If you are recording noise you wouldn't be able to hear this small of a difference. A couple things to keep in mind though: EMM386 or any memory manager will affect your recording performance. A disk cache will help your performance. Make sure your hard disk is not overly fragmented. Mic in will cause more noise than Line in due to the fact that it is amplified. Even with a 16bit recording card you will still get this variance. However, it should be less noticeable due to the larger sampling window. For those of you who want to test this, try creating a file full of 7Fh. Make sure you use a hex editor and not a text editor. You may then use PLAYFILE to play it back. Now go in there and change a few bits to either 7Eh or 80h and hear the difference it can make. 3) Boy did I screw up. It seems in our "Authorized Gravis Nodes" list I put my home phone number in there as the Gravis BBS phone number. Guess that explains why I was getting calls at 3am . Here is a new list: Authorized Gravis Nodes BBS List as of March 30, 1993 Name Location Node No. BBS Phone No. Speed ============================================================================ Advanced Gravis Burnaby, Canada *1:153/978 (604) 431-5927 V32bis *13:900/3 *88:8100/106 %gravis.com Deep Cove BBS White Rock, Canada 1:153/915 (604) 536-5859 DS MIDI 1040 Vancouver, Canada 1:153/7040 (604) 732-4446 V32bis Infinite Dreams Vancouver, Canada 1:153/7042 (604) 733-6432 DS T-8000 Info. System Calgary, Canada 1:134/160 (403) 246-4487 V32bis Max Megabit's Data Port Halifax, Canada *1:251/1 (902) 454-8351 DS (902) 453-5731 HST (902) 454-9635 2400 The 1st Dutch MIDI BBS Holland, Europe 2:281/610 +31-15138754 DS Open Access BBS Norway, Europe 2:502/284 +47-61-97945 V32bis Geniaal BBS 2 Netherland, Europe 14:1000/3 +31-2290-43038 V32bis +31-2290-45816 V32bis StarPort Finland, Europe 2:220/630 +358-0-804-4626 DS Data Bank BBS Pennsylvania, USA 1:273/316 (215) 429-9455 V32bis The Sound Barrier Staten Island, USA 13:420/0 (718) 979-6629 DS (718) 979-9406 DS I can 'C' Clearly Now Iowa, USA *1:290/102 (515) 472-3651 V32bis Music Connection Texas, USA 1:124/3109 (214) 596-2827 DS 1:124/3110 (214) 964-3743 V32bis Joyful Noise Oregon, USA *1:105/55 (503) 335-9600 V32bis MultiMedia Singapore, Asia 6:600/408 +65-2831964 V32bis ============================================================================ NOTE(S): - All systems are No Parity, 8 Data Bits, 1 Stop bit (N81) (Continued to next message) ~ QMPro 1.01 05-8925 ~ Gravis UltraSound - Who could ask for anything more? ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1993 11:44:00 -0800 From: john.smith@gravis.com (John Smith) Message-Id: <733534174.AA01831@ship.net> Subject: ULTRASOUND 03/30/93 2/2 To: Ultrasound Daily Digest (Continued from previous message) - All systems are online 24 hours/day - Speeds: V32bis - 14,400 bits per second (CCITT standard) HST - 14,400/16,800 bits per second (US Robotics Prop.) DS - 14,400/16,800 bits per second (HST/V32bis) - * - Files are File Requestable - % - EMail Only. No FTP or Telnet. Other Sources for UltraSound Files: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CompuServe: GO PCVENB area #14 FTP Sites: archive.epas.utoronto.ca pub/pc/ultrasound wuarchive.wustl.edu systems/msdos/ultrasound Internet: Digest Address: ultrasound@dsd.es.com To post to tomorrow's digest Request Server Address: ultrasound-request@dsd.es.com To subscribe, unsubscribe, and request files Owner Address: ultrasound-owner@dsd.es.com To contact a human if the server has troubles ============================================================================ TTUL John ~ QMPro 1.01 05-8925 ~ Gravis UltraSound - Who could ask for anything more? ------------------------------ End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V2 #86 ****************************** Digest Address: ultrasound@dsd.es.com To post to tomorrow's digest Request Server Address: ultrasound-request@dsd.es.com To subscribe, unsubscribe, and request files Owner Address: ultrasound-owner@dsd.es.com To contact a human if the server has troubles FTP Sites: archive.epas.utoronto.ca pub/pc/ultrasound wuarchive.wustl.edu systems/msdos/ultrasound