Ultrasound Daily Digest Fri May 14 00:07 Volume 3: Issue 44 Today's Topics: 16-bit daugtherboard CD-ROM pass-thru cable? cd playing through E-Mail server for epas GUS Review mail-FTP MIDI Q new SBOS and where is it available? Possible PLAYMIDI problem SBOS 2.06B Some more Mids ... Soyo/SiS motherboard and GUS Vmap 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: Thu, 13 May 1993 18:44:24 -0700 From: Eric N. Liao Subject: 16-bit daugtherboard Message-ID: <199305140144.AA01218@aerospace.aero.org> I also suspect that the Windows drivers will need reworking for the 16-bit daughterboard. After all, support for 16-bit recording and data compression (a-law, u-law) isn't currently present with the GUS Windows 3.1 drivers. As far as "the same as used on the Turtle Beach Multisound", does this mean the recording daugtherboard will have a DSP chip, and not fixed-function chips to perform compression/decompression? Perhaps something in the way of the SB-16's ASP chip? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 May 93 10:44:48 PDT From: cs64sbg@sdcc8.UCSD.EDU (Anthony Tang) Subject: CD-ROM pass-thru cable? Message-ID: <9305131744.AA10727@sdcc8.UCSD.EDU> To the people who are wondering about CD-ROM pass-thru cables for their CD-ROM drives to the GUS CD-in. This is what I did, and it works fine. (I have a Texel, if that matters, but it shouldn't) First, the one important thing you need to worry about with the cable is that the CD-ROM connection side is correct. The other side doesn't matter too much, because it should be easily modifiable. (Don't be scared. No soldering, here!) I got the PAS-16 connector, myself, but again, just make sure the CD-ROM end is correct for your model of CD-ROM. (I bought my CD-ROM from a local store in San Francisco, and they were ncie enough to give me the little cable for free on request. Try asking the place you bought it from for one. Hopefully they're nice) Anyway, with the CD-IN on the GUS, I believe the pins are: o o o o L G G R Left, Ground, Ground, Right. Now, examine your cable. Most likely, it will only have one wire each for Left, Ground, and Right. Now, look at the Soundcard connector side. It should look like an oversized jumper with 4 or 5 connections. You should also notice where each wire is going, and which wire is which. (They should be color coded, red=right, white=left, black=ground. I think... Please correct) You will find that these wires snap in and out quite easily. (Just be careful not to snap the plastic connector, too) All you need to do is snap the wires around to match the GUS connector. (This should make sense if you see the connector... It's actually quite simple. I only needed to move one of the wires, and it just takes a second.) The worst thing you could do is connect Left and Right backwards, or Left to ground, or something like that. Check the colors to be sure you're right before you power up. I don't know what harm connecting left or right to ground would do, but better safe than blown up, eh? hehe. Someone might consider making this a FAQ, if it isn't already. A lot of people have been asking... (which would, by definition make it a FAQ, right?) Anthony Tang aktang@sdcc13.ucsd.edu Or, for the lazy typist: aktang@ucsd.edu BTW: To Dave DeBry. You're gonna warn us when the digest goes down, right? (So 100s of news articles don't pop up asking what happened.. :-) ------------------------------ Date: 13 May 1993 05:42:44 -0500 (EST) From: STU_JABIRCHE@VAX1.ACS.JMU.EDU Subject: cd playing through Message-ID: <01GY46BRQN8Y8YJSUN@VAX1.ACS.JMU.EDU> In response to Vince (hopefully), I have a portable CD player plugged into the line in jack on my gus. My gus line out is plugged into my SBPro line in. My SBPro line out is plugged into my Stereo's auxilliary jack. Everyhing works well. One thing I'd like to ask you nifty coders out there is if it would be possible to make a small program that just turned on the line in from the dos prompt. I got rid of SBOS because I have a SBPro, but I had to reinstall the whole schmeal just to turn on my line in. Any takers? sbos -l seems sort of an overkill, doesn't it? -=Marc=- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 May 93 08:46:02 EDT From: sbm@pt.com (Steve McGowan) Subject: E-Mail server for epas Message-ID: <9305131246.AA18102@pt.com> Chris (chrisw@leland.stanford.edu) was talking about sending files that he uploaded to epas to people that don't have ftp access (like me). I came across a mail server that solved the problem for me. Sending the mail: >From: >To: mail-server@nike.rz.uni-konstanz.de >send help >index gus Returns directions on how to use the mail server "send help" and list of all the gus files on epas "index gus". To retreive the zone 66 demo I sent: >From: >To: mail-server@nike.rz.uni-konstanz.de >begin >mail >uuencode >send gus/game/0zone66.zip >send gus/game/0zone66g.zip >end For 0zone66.zip I received 23 split (64K), uuencoded e-mail messages that I stripped out the header, concatonated together, uudecoded, and finally unzipped. It worked and I don't need to bug anybody to send me stuff. The mail server also has linux and BSD386 sources and OS2 applications. Good Luck Steve. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 May 93 21:00:27 WET DST From: "R.A.Kelly" Subject: GUS Review Message-ID: <9305132014.AA21083@orca.es.com> Nice to see the Ultrasound thrashing the opposition in this month's PC Format soundcard review. I hope game publishers see it and take note! Well we can hope anyway :-) R.Kelly no interesting sig. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 May 1993 13:09 GMT+0100 From: RTHI%BTMA74@se.alcbel.be Subject: mail-FTP Message-ID: <01GY4M353POW8WWOCP@btmv56> 1. mail-FTP I have no possibility to FTP all those GUS goodies you guys write about from GUS FTP sites. I am living and working in Belgium (a small country in Europe) and I would like to know if there is a mail-FTP server I can contact to do the job for me. 2. GUS users in Europe I feel exactly like the Italian guy complaining that he could not get any GUS support in Europe. I send my registration card to Logitech in Switzerland but until now...no news. Can somebody tell me how to contact Gravis in Europe. Cheers, Roland. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 May 93 23:07:22 EDT From: Peter G.N. Scheyen Subject: MIDI Q Message-ID: <9305140307.AA02632@mccarthy.csd.uwo.ca> First off, I'm not really a midi expert (yet :-) so I hope I get my terminology right. What midi controllers are supported by the GUS? I know that chorus and reverb (is that the same as tremolo?) are not. I can seem to get pitch wheel, mod wheel, volume, velocity, and a few others to work, but I cannot seem to get the rest to work (for example, key/channel aftertouch). Thanks, Pete scheyen@csd.uwo.ca ------------------------------ Date: 13 May 1993 11:13:18 -0600 (MDT) From: "Keith J. Ball" Subject: new SBOS and where is it available? Message-ID: <01GY4HW3JL7M96WHI0@ZENO.MSCD.EDU> Is there a newer version of SBOS than 2.04? If so where is it available? I can't seem to find it even though I seen several references to 2.06. Thanks, Keith ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 May 1993 16:38:28 -0600 (MDT) From: MASON@CC.SNOW.EDU Subject: Possible PLAYMIDI problem Message-ID: <930513163828.20207425@CC.SNOW.EDU> I'm not sure if I have a problem with my GUS or with PLAYMIDI. Anyway, my problem is when I use PLAYMIDI to play a midi file I sometimes get a graphic representation that a note should be playing but I don't hear any sound. This is always the case when I play the midi file LATINDNC.MID which came with the Gravis distribution disks. Across the bottom when PLAYMIDI is running, you have the label "Midi Notes" with various numbers. When the song LATINDNC.MID starts to play I get a few lines that display above the number 10 however no sound is played. After about 2 to 3 seconds, other lines apear above the lower numbers and I do here those sounds. I have noticed this on various other midi files I have played. Has anyone else noticed this problem. I would appreciate if someone could try it on their GUS and let me know how it works for you. It would be nice to know it isn't a hardware problem with my card. Thanks in advance, Marlin Mason MASON@CC.SNOW.EDU ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 May 93 20:19 PDT From: Jason Lin Subject: SBOS 2.06B Message-ID: <9305140320.AA00892@orca.es.com> I just downloaded the latest version of SBOS, 2.06B. However, my computer wil hang whenever I attempt to load it high. I have tried both DOS's loadhigh and QEMM's loadhi, but none of them works. Other versions of SBOS can be loaded high without problems. Help will be appreciated.. ------------------------------ Date: 13 May 1993 19:02:46 PST From: chrisw Subject: Some more Mids ... Message-ID: <9305140208.AA20032@leland.Stanford.EDU> Just posted the following on epas. To the non ftp people: I may post this stuff out by Email tommorrow or I may wait a while until I've got a bit more to go with it. *** warfilm.txt *** Well, it's not much, I know, but thought I might as well post it. Anyway, it's kind of background music for any slow paced war movie eg. when the hero of the story finds that his best friend has been reduced to a red pulpy mess by the nasty enemy. (Now don't get any wrong ideas - they're JUST FRIENDS. This is the army, after all) And yes, it was written on the GUS. *** evcounts.mid *** The usual, run of the mill Everything Counts song by Depeche Mode. This is a modification of the file sequenced by Wes Santee (santeew@cs.uoregon.edu). It's not really finished but it's about as far as I can go without access to the original song. Someone else is welcome to continue the fine tradition of theft and creativity. It's got a few bits that aren't exactly in the original, but I don't think I went too far out of style. Chris. P.S. About the terribly complicated moulded midi box: perhaps they could just provde instructions on how to make a cardboard one out of all the spare packaging the GUS comes in. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 May 1993 09:25:29 -0500 From: regius@mickey.cc.utexas.edu (no clue) Subject: Soyo/SiS motherboard and GUS Message-ID: <9305131425.AA06787@qt.cs.utexas.edu> This is an answer to Mr. Marc Rouleau's post on list of working motherboards and the SiS chips (sort of) * Soyo SY-020P2 (486DX/SX 25/33/50 motherboard) [I use a DX2/66 on it] Chipset (only 1 chip visible :) 85C460 (manufacturer SiS) Configuration very similar to Mr. Rouleau's sample board except that this board has 2 sockets (each for the DX and the SX), but none of them a ZIF. I don't know if the P24T's will work. (if you really need more info, mail me :) * As far as I can tell the 16-bit DMA works fine with my GUS * I had/still have some problems, but am not sure about the cause. For all I know the problem(s) is caused by my HD controller (Promise DC-4030VL VLbus IDE caching controller) Problems: if I turn on the 32-bit data transfer on the controller I won't be able to use SBOS (it loads but produces no sound) gusmod buzzes (very annoying) ^_^ regius ^_^ -- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 May 93 13:48:02 EDT From: Phat H Tran Subject: Vmap Message-ID: <9305131748.AA29583@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca> > Date: Wed, 12 May 93 3:14:02 CDT > From: cowles@hydra.convex.com (John Cowles) > Subject: VMAP and GMOS Velocity mapping > Message-ID: <9305120814.AA04341@hydra.convex.com> > > Please don't forget the volume controller (7) and the expression > controller (11). VMAP currently ignores these (which is a problem). A GS Init > sets volume to 100, and expression to 127, so even though a midifile does > not need to have an explicit volume setting inside it, there is an implicit > one due to the default GS setting. VMAP assumes that the volume and > expression settings are always equal to 127! > Vmap adjusts the volume controller only when it comes across an explicit control change 7. The default volume of 127 is an assumption of the MIDI driver for the GUS. Vmap does indeed ignore the expression controller because, frankly, I didn't know it existed. :) > Finding the actual volume can be quite complex, even on a synth with > linear volume curves. For example, if I set the volume controller to > 100, the expression controller to 100 and then output a note with a > velocity of 100, I will actually have a note with an absolute velocity > of .7890625 * .7890625 * .7890625 of max - about 62! [ 128 * (101/128)**3 - 1 ] The task of finding the absolute volume from the volume controller, expression controller, and key velocity is handled by the MIDI driver. Vmap only concerns itself with the individual factors. > > In defense of Mr. Tran (the author of VMAP), this becomes much more complex > when the velocity curves are logarithmic! > Actually, it can be quite easy. Just multiply the linear controller and velocities, and then do a log transform on the product. It would be much harder to log transform the controller values and velocities and then try to compute the absolute volume. Thanks for your comments. Vmap was just a quick hack, so I'm sure it can be better. I'll see about working on it a bit more, but I do hope that Gravis/Forte will make the driver do the linearization for us all, obviating the need for Vmap. Phat. ------------------------------ Date: (null) From: (null) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 May 93 16:32:35 +0200 From: odd_oden@linnea.gih.no (oden odd@1ae) Message-ID: <9305131432.AA25346@linnea> I've tried a long time to make decent samples on my GUS, but no matter what I try, there's always NOISE! Here's what I've done: 1) I've moved the soundcard as far away from the other hardware in the computer as I can; it is now in the bottom of the case. 2) I've moved my VGA-card almost to the top. 3) I've moved the inner wires so that they are not in contact with the GUS. But all I get is... Noise. I've tried to sample without conecting anything to the GUS: No line in no line out, and no microphone. Now THIS at least should prevent any noise being produced at all. But all I get is... Noise. And, you know what I see when I search my samplefiles, recorded with silence? I see ONE bit being shifted at level zero, all the time: ------------------------------ End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V3 #44 ************************************* To post to tomorrow's digest: To (un)subscribe or get help: To contact a human (last resort): FTP sites: archive.epas.utoronto.ca pub/pc/ultrasound wuarchive.wustl.edu systems/msdos/ultrasound Hints: - Get the FAQ from the FTP sites or the request server. - Mail to for info about other GUS related mailing lists (UNIX, OS/2, GUS-MIDI, etc.)