Ultrasound Daily Digest Thu Jul 1 00:07 Volume 4: Issue 30 Today's Topics: "super ultrasound" 800 number to check my registration, GUS and OS/2 AIL and Underworld II GUS and OS/2 GUS and SoundBlaster in same system...net wisdom?? GUS talker anouncement Help with Origin FX screen saver for windows linux and gus PAS-16 vs. GUS PATCHES! Patches missing. ULTRASOUND DAILY DIGEST V Ultrasound Daily Digest V4 #28 (2 msgs) Ultrasound Daily Digest V4 #29 (2 msgs) Wayne G. Hockey 3 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, 30 Jun 93 9:28:07 CDT From: Michael J Stumpf Subject: "super ultrasound" Message-ID: <9306301428.AA00915@tamsun.tamu.edu> I'm sure you have been flooded already by messages like this, but here goes. I have no problem that a better version of the ultrasound is coming out, but what I'm wondering is will this new version be 100% compatible of the previous version? I'd really hate to see a new standard develop and then fragment because a clearly better card has come out. Any pre-pre-pre-estimates on cost of this new card? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jun 93 20:39:20 -0700 From: Bob Beck Subject: Re: 800 number to check my registration, GUS and OS/2 Message-ID: <9307010339.AA06255@eng2.sequent.com> I recently called and discovered my registration was missing too... An excerpt from the previous posting to the digest: Based on some comments in 6/21's digest, I called Gravis ((800)663-8558, and just hang on the line) and verified they never received my registration card either. Turns out there is a possibility lots of registration cards were lost due to their address change last November; if you bought a card with old addresses on the registration card (I guess I did), then the mail system may not have forwarded you card to the new address. After some venting (I'm really pissed about this), I got the info: Send a letter asserting your registration was lost, and include your receipt for your GUS and/or a xerox of the UPC codes from the box to: 1790 Midway Lane Bellingham, Washington 98226 Hope this helps. I'm going to call tomorrow to verify they got my letter. BTW: I looked at the xerox copies I kept of the original registration card I sent in and I *did* send it to the above address. Thus, they can't blame the post office for not forwarding it ;-) - Bob (rbk@sequent.com) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1993 11:13:00 -0400 From: KWAN RICHARD SIK YIU Subject: AIL and Underworld II Message-ID: <93Jun30.111309edt.6969@skule.ecf.toronto.edu> Have anyone experienced any jerky motions when the AIL driver was used with UW II? I've tried all 0.96, 0.97 and 1.0 version of AIL drivers, and they all gave me the same results! Unexplainable turning left happens every time there is sound effects. Everytime I walk, I open doors, I fight, I turn left auto- matically. If I turn off the sound effect and use only the music. None of the above happens, and the game goes smoothly. If anyone knows how to correct this problem, please post the solutions as soon as possible!! Thanks in advance! ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jun 93 8:46:29 CDT From: wiegand@void.rtsg.mot.com (Robert Wiegand) Subject: Re: GUS and OS/2 Message-ID: <9306301346@midnight1> > Date: Tue, 29 Jun 93 06:46:16 EDT > From: nemo@vnet.IBM.COM > Subject: 800 number to check my registration, GUS and OS/2 > Message-ID: <9306291052.AA03757@orca.es.com> > [stuff deleted] > > Also, has anyone gotten the GUS to work with OS/2 2.1 MMPM/2? I installed the > MMPM/2 once, using the SoundBlaster (not Pro) setting, and it did not > work. I'm planning to set aside an afternoon to get it to work, but is this > possible? Has anyone done it yet? I don't believe there is any way to get a GUS to work under MMPM/2. We have to hope that someday Gravis gets the message and produces some OS/2 drivers. It's too bad really since MMPM/2 has some pretty cool stuff. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Robert Wiegand - Motorola Inc. wiegand@rtsg.mot.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jun 93 07:07:47 GMT From: kjohnson@polyslo.csc.calpoly.edu (Kurt Edward Johnson) Subject: Re: GUS and SoundBlaster in same system...net wisdom?? Message-ID: <1993Jun30.070747.26543@rat.csc.calpoly.edu> ReprintFrom: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard I tried sending this via e-mail, but it bounced. Anyways, here's a slightly modified post of a previous post. :) ----------------------------------- Gravis Ultrasound & Sound Blaster ----------------------------------- My system: ------------------------------------------------------------------ 386-SX 16mhz (Goldstar motherboard, C&T chipset, no 387) 4 megs RAM Trident 8900 SVGA card + SVGA monitor DOS 5.0 using EMM386.SYS d=128 - works fine with either XMS or EMS DOS 6.0 (now) EMM386.SYS d=128 Windows 3.1 Sound Blaster v2.0 at A220 I7 D1 T3 Gravis Ultrasound v2.2 at 240,5,5,11,5 using 2.06L disks on Epas ------------------------------------------------------------------ *The SB is connected to the GUS's line in. I use ultrinit to enable or disable the line in and line out which effectively patches my SB through to the sterio or turns it off so I don't have to listen to it whine =) when I'm not using it. *I do not load SBOS in my autoexec.bat. This avoids the problems with shelling to DOS in Windows and doesn't waste memory that other programs can use. I have 4 batch files in my root directory that do all the dirty work for me. Here's what they are and do. gus.bat rem initializes the GUS, sets BLASTER for SBOS, turns off GUS line in SET ULTRASND=240,5,5,11,5 C:\ULTRASND\ULTRINIT SET ULTRADIR=C:\ULTRASND SET BLASTER=A240 I5 D1 T1 SET SOUND=C:\SB SET GUSMOD=d:\music\gusmod sb.bat rem initializes SB, sets BLASTER for SB, turns on GUS line in/out SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T3 SET SOUND=C:\SB call sbos call sbos -f c:\ultrasnd\ultrinit -l -o open.bat rem turns on GUS line in/out c:\ultrasnd\ultrinit -l -o close.bat rem turns off GUS line in/out c:\ultrasnd\ultrinit *My autoexecs (I have more then a dozen) all call gus.bat on startup. *When I want to use SBOS for games I either load it manually or have a batch file that loads SBOS, runs the program, unloads SBOS. I don't like having SBOS hanging around when not using it. *When I want to use my SB for programs (except Windows) I run sb.bat or have a batch file that calls sb.bat, runs the program, and calls gus.bat. *I have had no problems getting either to work. I have removed my SB before and there was no difference in what the GUS did. My SB does not lock up my computer as long as ultrinit is run after loading and removing SBOS. Before I heard about running ultrinit after loading and unloading SBOS I had to reboot my computer to get the SB to work. Now everything is all hunky dory. *Windows. I did a little tinkering over the weekend and found out that I can have both the SB and GUS using Windows at the same time. The SB drivers I am using are from sbw31.zip which I found via ftp last year. Right now I have both GUS drivers and the SB Midi driver loaded. I kept the GUS's midimap.cfg and added a config for the SB. I also loaded the SB Midi and WAV driver and found that if the GUS is playing a WAV file and another program plays a WAV file the SB will play the second one. *To use the SB under Windows you will need to enable the GUS line in with either the mixer or the driver setups. To shut the SB off, simply disable the line in. *What does this mean? It means that I can play midi with both cards at the same time. Midi programs like Cakewalk and Winjammer can use either card by changing the port to SB or GUS. Make sure you've included both cards in the midi setup of course. NOTE - If you have both SB and GUS in your system, it's not a good idea to use SBOS for games. Something to do with sharing the DMA channel 1 between both cards. EIther don't use SBOS or only use your SB for SB programs. Loading and unloading SBOS to get the Adlib part of the SB working is fine. Well this is all I can think for now. I didn't realize this would turn out this long. This should help for any SB compatible card. If anyone has any questions please feel free to mail me. I hope this helps. It works just great for me. Kurt kejohnso@flute.calpoly.edu kjohnson@polyslo.calpoly.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1993 19:10:16 GMT From: dale.eason@stpaul.ncr.com (Dale Eason) Subject: Re: GUS talker anouncement Message-ID: ReprintFrom: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard Gusspeak.zip has now been uploaded to archive.epas.ca /pub/pc/ultrasound/ submit. I am warning people to not get to excited about it. The voice is very hard to understand. I hope someone can improve upon it. The source is included. Have fun, Dale dale.eason@.stpaul.ncr.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jun 93 10:51 CST From: "PAUL LISS; 5-2659 WARF, 3-1204 MSC" Subject: Help with Origin FX screen saver for windows Message-ID: <23063010514920@biost.biostat.wisc.edu> I'm new to the GUS world. I bought my GUS last Saturday, and have been on the mailing list since last Tuesday or so. Origin FX is Origin's Windows screen saver. It purports to support sound blaster, SB Pro, Adlib, and Roland MT-32. There are a number of driver files, some with the tempting name, AILADLIB.DLL AILMT32.DLL To which, I tried to substitute the Miles drivers. No luck. Further, SBOS (which I know works) won't even produce as much as a tinkle when I'm running Origin FX under Windows (set up with SB or SB Pro emulation). Another question I have regards X-Wing. I've gotten it to run with SBOS -o13 -x123 or whatever was posted before, and I'm emulating an SB Pro. Is that as good as it gets? I've got an Amiga, so I'm used to Amiga sounds for games, and IMO X-wing sounds like crap. Is it just my setup, or do SB and SBPro boards sound like those little keyboards that were popular about 5 years ago? Paul LISS@BIOST.BIOSTAT.WISC.EDU ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jun 93 10:19:49 BST From: "James Andrews, User Support" Subject: linux and gus Message-ID: <15682.9306300919@uk.ac.uel.sol1> > Why don't you forget about Linux? C-sound has already been ported >to OS/2, and Anthony Green is working on c-music next. (and I think you ^^^^^ I only have 400megs of disk and a 486sx 4mb so thats out...:) >probably want both; c-sound is a software synthesizer, c-music more of a >composition program I think, though I haven't used the latter). > As for the rest of the items, I'd rather see good quality PC programs >written for a PC OS, rather than a version of UNIX that just happens to be >running on a PC. Ports of the classic programs you mention elsewhere in >your memo just don't seem to be working out; take the PC version of the >well-regarded ST sequencer (Cubase? something like that). It was almost >universally panned in c.s.i.p.s. The point is that its easier to write programs under linux than windows or dos ( dunno about os/2) Ask your self why was the first version of cubase for windows a disaster area...because writing windows programs is very nasty. > Furthermore, I wouldn't even embark on such a project until Gravis >finally releases the long-promised 16-bit daughterboard, and by then, who >knows what OS will be most popular, and what drivers Gravis will have written? By august you mean- dos will still have 80% of the ibmpc market I guess and gravis might have improved their windows midi device drivers so that they are nearly as good as the linux ones. No, really the rumour mill indicates that they might have bank switching by then. > This is a good idea, and the reason that I bought the GUS in the >first place, but I'd rather see a robust, well-written *single* sound package >than a collection of shareware hacks and ports for an OS even less friendly >than DOS. Well I think the point is *you* can buy commerical software- superjam supports patch caching and all the new versions of well-know sequencers do as well. But to get on the free software bandwaggon you have to go where the programmers are and thats linux. I dont especially like linux but Im switching over. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1993 20:07:27 GMT From: dna@netcom.com (David Altekruse) Subject: Re: PAS-16 vs. GUS Message-ID: ReprintFrom: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard Mr. Sydney Cousins writes: > I'd really like to get a GUS. But I also want to buy the Toshiba XM2401-B >CD-ROM. The PAS-16 has a built in SCSI interface and I was thinking maybe >I'll save a few dollars and just gt it instead. What is the difference in >sound quaility and performance between to two. Or should I just spend a few >extra bucks and buy a seperate SCSI-2 control card? I have the Toshiba 3401b and have had both the PAS-16 and GUS in my system. A. You should go with the MediaVision PAS-16 because: 1. It includes a SCSI interface so you not only don't have to spend more money but you won't use any additional slots. 2. You get a 16-bit A/D with the PAS-16, something that isn't yet available for GUS (due in a couple months and will list for $149). 3. The PAS-16 installation is much easier than it is for GUS. (Or at least, GUS took me a whole lot longer.) 4. With the PAS-16 (and all other sound cards except GUS) you don't have to deal with the problems of loading/unloading the Sound- Blaster Emulator (SBOS), or with pre-loading MIDI patches. 5. The PAS-16 has a better mixer. You can't adjust the levels from the line and mic inputs with GUS, for example. 6. The PAS-16 is more SoundBlaster compatible. Actually, I don't know of any SoundBlaster programs that don't work with the PAS-16, though there may be some. And they sound essentially the same as on a SoundBlaster board. On ther other hand, there are some Sound- Blaster programs that don't work or have serious problems with GUS. Most programs work ok on GUS but they don't sound the same as on a SoundBlaster. For example, the jet engine on the F15 III game sounds to me more like a kitchen blender in need of repair. B. You should go with the Gravis UltraSound because: 1. The GUS MIDI synthesizer is much better sounding, much more musical, and much more realistic compared to the FM synthesis used on the PAS-16. I've had SoundBlaster owners over to hear GUS and it is difficult to describe their wide-eyed astonishment when they first hear it. 2. Since the MIDI waveform patches are loaded into GUS's own RAM, programs and users can create their own custom patches. So while all other sound card users are stuck with the sounds that came with their board, GUS users can change and upgrade their sounds. 3. MS Windows uses .wav and MIDI for sound I/O so Windows programs work well with GUS and those that use MIDI automatically take advantage of the GUS/Ensoniq synthesizer. (Most programs don't know about patch caching, however, so that can be a problem.) 4. Some DOS games are also capable of using GUS's MIDI synthesizer including many new ones. I've played "The Seventh Guest" on both the PAS-16 as well as the GUS (using the Miles Drivers) and the music is vastly superior on GUS. 5. Going with a dedicated SCSI interface is a better long-term solution than using a sound card's SCSI interface. I got the Adaptec AHA-1510 (essentially the 1522 without boot rom) and their EZ-SCSI driver software for $99. This board will support up to the full SCSI 5 MB/sec transfer rate. Sound card SCSI interfaces including the one on the PAS-16 are low-speed capable of <700 KB/sec transfer rates. These interfaces are not satisfactory if you decide to add higher speed devices at a later time, such as a SCSI HD. Plus there is much better driver support for dedicated SCSI interfaces. If you think you will be using a multi-threaded OS like OS/2 or NT or unix in the near future, you may want to go with a DMA/Bus-Mastering interface such as the Adaptec AHA-1542. 6. There is good internet/ftp support for GUS. As a crude simplification I would say that between the PAS-16 and GUS, if you are into MIDI music or programs that heavily use MIDI, GUS is the clear choice. If you are heavily into SoundBlaster type games, the PAS-16 is the better choice. If you are in the middle, which ever way you go will be a compromise. Or, you can join the PAS-16/SoundBlaster AND GUS (both boards in your system) thread. P.S. -- As will probably come as no surprise, I ended up keeping GUS. - David Altekruse, dna@netcom.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1993 02:06:22 -0400 (EDT) From: dionf@ERE.UMontreal.CA (Francois Dion) Subject: PATCHES! Message-ID: <9307010606.AA18024@brise.ERE.UMontreal.CA> Ok, you wanna make patches? PATCH.EXE is a mystery for you? go get PATCHKIT.ARJ on epas. It contains a small tutorial, a text on the patch format, 2 commented .h files, some .aif sound files and a patch file. Patchgod should be on ftp sometime in july or august. You like new patches, but dont want to do any? then go get PATCHES1.ARJ on epas. It contains techno samples. A midi file goes with that in IWANNAC.ARJ. All of this is based on the Andre Martens MOD file IWANNACUDANCE.MOD, a very good hardcore techno mod file. Andre will send me the samples in 16 bit later in the month. Presently they are 32KHz or 44.1KHz, "faked" 16 bit instead of 16KHz, 8 bit in the mod file. Ask Gravis for a bigger limit than 64Kb for the wavesamples and for layering. When it becomes a reality, you will see (hear!) some incredible patches, i can tell you. Ciao, -- Francois Dion ' _ _ _ CISM (_) (_) _) FM Montreal , Canada Email: CISM@ERE.UMontreal.CA (_) / . _) 10000 Watts Telephone no: (514) 343-7511 _______________________________________________________________________________ Audio-C-DJ-Fractals-Future-Label-Multimedia-Music-Radio-Rave-Video-VR-Volvo-... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1993 21:38:42 -0400 (EDT) From: elminstr@hudlink.hoboken.nj.us (J.J. Pierson) Subject: Patches missing. Message-ID: <8qJZ6B1w165w@hudlink.hoboken.nj.us> I got the update disks the other day. I noticed something interesting. I was playing a MIDI file and it said something about a error with a patch name. It turns out that there is no TREMSTR.PAT and if a MIDI file needs this file, it'll give an error with PLAYMIDI. Does anybody know of any other patches that are missing? --- J.J. Pierson Internet EMail: elminstr@hudlink.hoboken.nj.us Prodigy Email: TVFF82B ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jun 93 12:24:37 From: john.smith@gravis.com Subject: ULTRASOUND DAILY DIGEST V Message-ID: <9306301224.A9982wk@gravis.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------- >From: nemo@vnet.IBM.COM >Subject: 800 number to check my registration, GUS and OS/2 >Could somebody re-post or email me the 800 number so I can check my >registration? I have the number 1-800-663-8558 but when I dial it, I >get a recording saying that it cannot be reached. ----------------------------- The 1-800 number is strictly for sales. You can NOT get tech support or find out if you are in the dbase by calling that number. The sales people will NOT transfer calls from that number. If you want a number to dial you'll have to call our tech support line at 604-431-1807. ----------------------------- >From: Adam Boyt >Subject: new super dooper whizz bang card >Just thought everyone might like to know, John Smith just told me that >a new super ultrasound card is coming out. It will be released around >christmas time - from what he said I think it is going to have features >like up to 8 Meg of ram, buit in midi, 16 bit sampling, scsi etc (you >get the idea). I'm not sure whether they are going to fix(remove) the >256k limit to the size of a patch - imagine a 1 meg patch!! I said that? I don't think so. 8Mb or RAM? Nope. Christmas? Nope. ----------------------------- John --- ~ QMPro 1.50 05-8925 ~ He does the work of 3 Men...Moe, Larry & Curly ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jun 93 00:26:29 -0700 From: freejack@shell.portal.com (Michael J Sutter) Subject: Re: Ultrasound Daily Digest V4 #28 Message-ID: <9306300726.AA03195@jobe.shell.portal.com> ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jun 93 11:18:32 -0400 From: "Momentary language, sexual situations" Subject: Re: Ultrasound Daily Digest V4 #28 Message-ID: <9306301518.AA16999@magick.tay2.dec.com> > I am annoyed at the size of this driver as well, and I have no > trouble loading it high. It's worse than Netware, but not > nearly as bad as PCNFS! :) Of course, I also have Stacker, and > a FOSSIL, and this and that, and I want to get a CDROM, and.... I'm also really annoyed at the size of this puppy. I don't use SBOS (mostly because it doesn't appear to like either DR-DOS or the GUS on anything but Addr 220H) so I use a real SB instead. But I REALLY want to use the Miles drivers and losing 56K to a TSR prevents me from running just about any game out there... ...under DOS. Under OS/2 it's not really a problem...But yea, it should use EMS/XMS. I'd love to know what it's doing that requires 56K and why other cards don't need to do it... DDA ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jun 93 09:21:00 EST From: "Scott Bringen" Subject: Re: Ultrasound Daily Digest V4 #29 Message-ID: <9305307414.AA741457260@mail.stx.com> Sorry to enter this into the digest, I tried to send it to ultrasound-request, but I can't get my email system to address it |^(. Just for the record, I posted a GUS for sale and it has been sold. Now one of you is the proud owner of two (yes, two!) GUSes. It seems a little pointless for me to continue monitoring the digest so, Please unsubscibe me, ZMSKB@GIBBS.GSFC.NASA.GOV. Good luck and have fun with your GUSes, Scott Bringen ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1993 20:57:33 -0400 (EDT) From: "Timothy C. Gion" Subject: Re: Ultrasound Daily Digest V4 #29 Message-ID: >I'm running Ultima Underworld I with the Miles driver. It sounds great, >but when I start moving, the sound starts skipping. I tried copying all >the *.pat files to a ram drive, but that didn't help either. I'm using >a 486dx-33, so I don't think my processor is too slow. Would it help if >I installed more memory in my GUS? I only have 512K installed right >now. >Thanks in advance. Sorry, I wrote that in a hurry and left out some important information. I replaced the Roland's AIL driver, and I'm using version 1.0 of the AIL driver. However, I just finished experimenting some more and found that if I turned sound off in UW, and the sound works fine now. I think there are some incompatibilities though because the game locks up after talking to certain characters. When I switch back to my Sound Blaster, the game doesn't lock up though. You may also be interested in knowing that I can also get the speech in the introduction by telling UW that I have a SB and replacing the sbdig.adv file with the gf1digi.adv file. Sorry about the bad formatting. Pine didn't like my ASCII upload. :( Tim Gion AKA / \ University of Delaware - Computer Science -Merdion- \ / ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1993 19:47:58 -0300 From: DODSON@ac.dal.ca Subject: Re: Wayne G. Hockey 3 Message-ID: <01H001LA3IIE001XEM@AC.DAL.CA> I do not have this game, but was thinking about getting it. About removing the certain offensive sounds like the whistle (as per last digest) and the croud: Why not re-insert a new whistle.voc, which we could record ourselves. Then, hopefully, the sound will not die. As for the crowd sound: is there another .voc of a crowd in the game, which does not have this problem? you could copy crowd1.voc onto badcrowd.voc and it would probably work. Another idea, if you want the exact sounds it was packaged with, is to convert the vocs to some other format (snd or wav) and then back to voc. Perhaps there is something corrupt in the vocs, which might be eliminated in this way... *Disclaimer These ideas are no one's but mine. In writing them I am not condoning the illegal alteration of licensed software. I am simply stating a possible theoretical, practically undetectable solution to a simple problem. Shame on you if you try it! (but tell me if it works (: ) Bruce Dodson dodson@ac.dal.ca ------------------------------ End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V4 #30 ************************************* 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.)