Ultrasound Daily Digest     Sat,  6 Mar 93       Volume 2 : Issue  62 

Today's Topics:
						   [GUS] SBOS 1.4B2
							Beta Forms...
				   Building layered Patches for GUS
					 CDROM comments/SBOS question
						Comments on SBOS 1.4b2
				  Feedback Prob (Sampling on a GUS)
					 GUSMOD 2.04 and Windows 3.1
							 GUS samples
			 New soundcard... looks like Ultrasound clone
			   no subject (file transmission) (2 msgs)
				   Pin layour of 15-pin connector?
					Problem w/SBOS 1.4b2 & X Wing
						  Sampling on a GUS
						 SBOS 1.4b2 beta form
					SBOS 1.4b2 with xwing and uu2
							 Sierra's BS
					Ultrasound Daily Digest V2 #61
							 x-wing help
							 XWING SOUND

	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: Thu, 4 Mar 1993 17:17:59 GMT
From: ken@austin.ibm.com
Message-Id: <C3DK1z.33xL@austin.ibm.com>
Subject: [GUS] SBOS 1.4B2
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

In article <lpaqmgINNhmt@levelland.cs.utexas.edu>, regius@cs.utexas.edu (Regius S. Gunawan) writes:
> In article <C3C4qq.3D8@news.Hawaii.Edu> himb@iniki.soest.hawaii.edu (Liz Camarra) writes:
> >In article <C3C0Er.3nA@watserv2.uwaterloo.ca> ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca (Phat H Tran) writes:
> >
> >>to the sounds in SBOSLIB.SBS.  For example, during the intro to Ultima
> >>Underworld 2, there are LOUD screeches where there should be smooth
> >on my computer with both 1.37B and 1.4B2.  At least I know it's not
> >an isolated case.  Also crashed once inside UW2, not sure if it's
> >1.4B2's fault though (more investigation...)
> >  Other games though work great.  Some of the music in Monkey
> >Island II sounds awesome with 1.4B2.
> 
> I tried sbos 1.37b and 1.4b2 on several sierra games, namely
> KQ6, QG1, QG3, sorcerian.
> Most of them needs -x2 to work 'properly'.  Even then, I'd
> rather have an old SB to play with.  When the sound come
> right, it's great, but this is just exceptions :(
> Funny thing is the sounds 1.37b played right, 1.4b2 didn't
> and vice versa.  Now if someone can combine the best of
> both world ^_^
> Oh, BTW sorcerian is just an old game that uses nothing
> but AdLib style FM.  Works great with 1.37b, and a little
> scratchy with 1.4b2.  I wish I can select which patches
> from the libraries to use (I like some in 1.37b and some
> in 1.4b2)
> Oh, well.
> ^_^ no clue ^_^


Well, I've been trying 1.4B2 also. Here's my results:

JILL OF THE JUNGLE - The music sounds AWESOME! It's *so* much better than is
					 was. Digitized sounds are the same, as is perfromance.

SPEAR OF DESTINY - Music sounds different - not as tinny and high-endy. Some
				   places, the music is an octave lower, but it sounds better.
		   Digitzed sounds are the same. Gameplay seems faster.

X-WING DEMO - The clincher! I couldn't get any speech at first. Then I changed
			  my EMM386 settings. I had it loading with "NOEMS" and I just
		  installed it with no parameters. I then got digitized speech. I
		  haven't tried it by specifying "RAM" so who knows. The sounds
		  are a lot better. The music, again, isn't as tinny. The basic
		  "FM" sound effects, like the explosion of the rebel cruiser, are
		  much better.

I'll try DUNE as well, since I've still got it loaded.

The only problem I've had with it so far is that it sorta hangs when I load it.
It takes anywhere from 50 to 70 seconds to return my cursor, and it's SBOSDRV.EXE
that is hanging, because I TYPE'd out SBOS.BAT and entered the commands by hand.
Anyone else have this problem? It's not my drive - I ran Norton Disk Doctor and
everything's cool, unless things are somewhat fragmented (now what's a tool to
fix that?). Email me about these if you wish.

Anyway, this version seems to work much better. Of course, the real test is
Wing Commander, so I guess I'll have to reinstall it!

Ken
-- 
   THIS POSTING DOES NOT REPRESENT THE OPINIONS OF MY EMPLOYERS.
------------------------------------------------------------------
"I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave the store, mam" Ash, AoD
==================================================================

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

Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1993 23:52:26 -0700 (MST)
From: michael a finkel  <mfinkel@gas.uug.arizona.edu>
Message-Id: <Pine.3.05.9303052326.A6064-a100000@argon>
Subject: Beta Forms...
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

I have filled out several of the beta forms and was wondering where
exactly to send them via e-mail.  I originally sent them to
john.smith@gravis.com and root@gravis.com along with a letter requesting
response if they recieved them.  I have recieved no notification of
bounced mail nor any for of response from john.smith or root.  Where did
you all send your forms?

If you didn't send the forms back, PLEASE DO - it is vital information if
we are to get the bugs fixed to let Gravis know exactly what our
complaints and praises are.

******************************************************************************
*  --> Mfinkel@gas.uug.arizona.edu *      Someone keeps moving my chair      *
*   Tucson, Arizona U.S.A.     *          -They Might Be Giants          *
******************************************************************************

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

Date: 4 Mar 93 15:08:33 GMT
From: nofsinger_c@a1.mscf.upenn.edu (Chuck Nofsinger)
Message-Id: <nofsinger_c-040393100907@meded5.med.upenn.edu>
Subject: Building layered Patches for GUS
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

I bought a GUS from the suggestions in this news group.  Unfortunately it 
doesn't even approach the sound quality of real sampling synths, eg the 
ASR10, K2000 etc.  

As they say, caveat emptor, and at this price... In any case I'm wondering
if
I can salvage my investment by building real patches with velocity switched
waves etc.

Is there any software that will help with this? Or is there some other card
that will let me do what I want?

Thanks,
Chuck

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

Date: Fri, 5 Mar 93 14:01:55 PST
From: ee52fgh@sdcc15.UCSD.EDU (Anthony Tang)
Message-Id: <9303052202.AA26516@sdcc15.UCSD.EDU>
Subject: CDROM comments/SBOS question
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

About the CD-ROM not playing audio CD's through the GUS problem some
of you have been having.  Do you have the internal CD-audio out
connected to the GUS's CD-audio connector?  I've had no problems
with my setup since I got it.  The CD-Audio connector is always on,
and I always get sound throug the GUS whether or not I have line-in
enabled or not (inside Windows).  In Dos, it always plays.  At
worst, I need to use gset to enable the output "gset -o"

Anway, I've a quick question about the new SBOS 1.4x beta.  Whenever
I try to run with the "-o3" options, I get this message back:

"NMI on this processor is disabled"

or something to that effect.  Now, that doesn't sound too good.  Is
there something worng with my computer that I don't know about?
Granted, I've never had to use -o3 on anything yet.  (I think)
Actually, I think I've been having a _little_ more success with SBOS
than what I've been reading about.  I've had no problems with the
GUS, or the rest of my system.  I have : 486DX/50 (not DX2), Diamond
Speedstar 24x (I know people have been having problems with this,
but I doubt this is the reason), PC-MIDI card, and the general
plethora of I/O, IDE HD/FD controller, and a scanner card.  (I have
all 8 expansion slots filled, and no IRQs free.  Actually, I think
I'm doubling up on 7, but I'm not using OS/2, so that should be OK.
(No problems with LPT1 yet))

Thanks for any help.

Anthony Tang
aktang@sdcc13.ucsd.edu <-- Please send any replies here.

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

Date: Fri, 05 Mar 93 10:20 EST
From: Scott Bringen                        <ZMSKB@GIBBS.GSFC.NASA.GOV>
Message-Id: <9303051522.AA19544@orca.es.com>
Subject: Comments on SBOS 1.4b2
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

  Well, I ran home Wednesday night to install 1.4b2. I only run
SBOS on Chuck Yeager's Air Combat(pre-GUS version), I do
everything else in Windows(if I can).

First, the good news:
  The intro music, engine and machine gun sounds are much better!
Much more realistic. Even Chuck's voice is coming through
undistorted now :).

Now, the bad news:
  I lost a sound that was pretty cool in SBOS 1.22.  While making
menu selections, such as which battles to fly in, I would get a
nice resonant(sp) chime sound. The same sound was used when
switching guns while in flight. With 1.4b2, I hear a short
plucking sound. I tried -o1, -o2 and -o3 options with no
improvement.
  Regardless of that, I will continue to use 1.4b2 because of the
other greatly improved sounds.  Yes Sir I like it, I like it
alot!

Talk to you all later,
  Scott Bringen
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Remember .... the next time someone calls you 'boy' ,
standup and tell them 'That's Mr. Boy, to you!'  It works for me :).

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

Date: Fri, 5 Mar 93 10:09:10 PST
From: jericho!gord@uunet.UU.NET (Gord Wait S-MOS Systems Vancouver Design Center)
Message-Id: <9303051809.AA11395@ jericho>
Subject: Feedback Prob (Sampling on a GUS)
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

I too got a feedback problem the first time I connected my ultrasound
audio INPUTS to the output of my stereo.

You probably have the GUS output connected to your stereo input right?
Try turning off the Monitor Out on the GUS during the sampling. In my
case I had my stereo amplify the GUS audio out, then send it back to
the GUS audio in, which gets amplified a bit, sampled, and sent back to
GUS audio out

...screeeetch....

In your case, since your stereo is selecting some other source of
signal than the GUS,(ie the music source you are sampling), I am not
sure where your feedback path is coming from. Perhaps your line in
selector on your stereo is not perfect, and enough of the GUS audio out
is leaking into the stereo to complete a feedback path.

In my case, I mix the output of the gus with some other sources
connected to my ancient Teac 4 track mixer. I don't have a hard input
select switch.  This means that when I want to sample the output of my
mixer, to grab a sound from my synth for example, I have to make sure
that the GUS output is turned off to avoid feedback.

Gord Wait   SMOS Systems Vancouver Design Centre
uunet!jericho!gord
gord%jericho@uunet.uu.net
or even some days
gord@smos.com

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

Date: Fri, 5 Mar 93 13:24 EST
From: "Matthew E. Bernold" <MEB117@PSUVM.PSU.EDU>
Message-Id: <9303051824.AA22545@orca.es.com>
Subject: GUSMOD 2.04 and Windows 3.1
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Just to let people know this, I am typing this note in a DOS window terminal
program in Windows 3.1 while listening to a .MOD file being played by GUSMOD
in another DOS window.  The GUSMOD window is set to a priority of 4, and it
isn't missing a beat!!  Normal settings are 100 for foreground, and 50 for
background, and that makes most other DOS programs crawl.  Great job, JOSH!!!!

I hope that 2.10 works this well too!!!  :-)

BTW, I'm running this all on a 386-25, so all of you with 486s should have NO
problems doing this too....

	   Matthew E. Bernold             MEB117@PSUVM.PSU.EDU
		 <<APOCALYPSE>>                  meb@haydn.psu.edu

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

Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1993 11:09:34 -0500
From: mchen@sol4.cs.psu.edu (Michael Chen)
Message-Id: <9303051609.AA02596@sol4.cs.psu.edu>
Subject: GUS samples
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

> >I finish the program to convert EPS instruments to GUS sounds
> 
> If you write this, and convert any sounds, please ftp the samples
> (PAT files) to the Ultrasound server. This sounds fantastic!

Yeah.  Now that I have some free time, I can start working... anyone with info
on the .PAT format that Gravis uses (I have your header file, Francois) or
further details beyond Ultradox on programming the GUS (IRQs, MIDI, DMA, etc.)
please send it on down to me.

If/when it gets finished, count on a bunch of uploads.
-- 
 Michael Chen           | From the depths of our most lucid horrors |
				| spring our fond hopes and pure desires... |
 mchen@cs.psu.edu       | except what comes from HELL! :-) 7/23/92  |

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

Date: Ven, 05 Mar 93 11:48:45 FRA
From: 9269Z%FRESTP11.BITNET@pucc.Princeton.EDU
Message-Id: <9303051049.AA16144@orca.es.com>
Subject: New soundcard... looks like Ultrasound clone
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Date: 05 Mars 1993, 11:44:45 FRA
From: 9269Z    at FRESTP11
To:   ultrasound@dsd.es.com

There is a new sound card available here in France, which looks very much like
an Ultrasound clone: it's got 32 16bit wave-table voice, and seems to be a
CDROM interface card, too. It is made by Computer Peripheral, Inc. and named
Maestro 16 VR, if my memory doesn't fail me. I don't know the price, though.

Maybe Ultrasound's got the way of a Standard, Great |

Friendly yours,
+---------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
|   Benjamin RYZMAN   | "...And now something completly different |"    |
|      ESTP Paris     |             -Monty Pithon                       |
| EMAIL:              | "640 kb should be sufficient for anyone"        |
|9269Z@FRESTP11.BITNET|             -Bill Gates, 1981                   |
+---------------------+-------------------------------------------------+

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

Date: Fri, 5 Mar 93 12:52:26 GMT
From: laurent@ismennt.is (Laurent Somers)
Message-Id: <9303051252.AA26004@akureyri.ismennt.is>
Subject: no subject (file transmission)
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Robert Suh (robs@hardy.u.washington.edu) wrote:

: P.S. Would it be possible to write a General MIDI device driver for the GUS,
: so I could pipe out the music for some of my games through General MIDI
: instead of SB??  Hope Gravis would work on this, seems like a better 
: temporary solution until native GUS starts appearing.

Adam Mirowski (mir@chorus.chorus.fr) wrote:

:This doesn't make much sense.  General MIDI is a software
:protocol, not a hardware interface.
:
:What Gravis could have done is emulating the MPU-401
:card-to-host interface, so that GUS could appear as
:a MIDI device plugged into an MPU-401 card. The card
:would be configured using sysexes, which could have
:embedded samples.

:This solution would need that the card has a specific
:on-board processor that would understand MIDI messages,
:especially sysexes, and setup the sound generator(s)
:accordingly. I am not surprised that Gravis dropped
:that option and simply outputs MIDI to the external
:wire.

:The solution would be more viable for a card than
:for a box, since the limitation of the MIDI cable
:speed for sample transfers would disappear.

:The problem is that there is presently no MIDI
:norm concerning sound construction from samples.

This doesn't make much sense either.  Hence, CL & other vendors have used
some black magic to emulate the MT-32 on *FM* cards!

I've been waiting for some time now for news on such an emulator for the GUS
which could simulate a LAPC-1 (or MT-32).  This would be very useful, since
there is already such a broad base of software which uses it.  Just look at
the game sector:  Sierra, Lucasfilm, Origin... all the biggest names.
Also games from 'smaller' companies, e.g. Gods,

Now, it  is obvious that the GUS is a much better candidate for such an
emulator that FM cards.  The problem with making such a driver is mainly
*MEMORY*.  One meg is not enough for all the samples the LAPC-1/GM MIDI has.
So, the samples would have to be loaded selectively.  How?

I'm not that well versed in low-level assembly programming,
but one way of implementing the driver would be to *freeze* the computer
while loading the samples;  i.e. turning off all interrupts (yes, I know,
there are NMI's).  The problem with this method is that it might be
disconcerting, depending on the game, and could eventually turn into a
nightmare scenario *IF* the program would shift through the entire patch set!
SBOS could of course also 'pretend' to play an instrument while it is waiting
for the patch to finish loading.

Another method would be to load the instruments based on a game<->patch list.
Each game would have the list of instruments used, and the user would specify
the game.  The SBOS would load these and execute the program.

I know there are a lot of programs around which use the Roland synths.
It is no easy job to make a complete list of games and the instruments used.
There is a solution to this:  Execute SBOS in a 'collect' mode.  The SBOS
would run the program - without emulating anything - but creating a list
of patches requested.  This list would then be written to disk and used
for future use.  The limitations
of this are the same as for (though more serious than) the previous case:
What if the program uses MORE than 1 meg of samples?

In that case, things could get simpler by making concessions:
"Ok, I *can* live with 8 bit samples, with one patch for each instrument
sampled at a slightly lesser rate - just give me the Roland emulation!"
This would be just about the method the Aria chip board uses - squeezing 1 Meg
of 8 bit samples into ROM though.

By the way:  I'd like to know what the total size of the GM MIDI set is.
I suppose they've been optimized.

I also tried the SBOS 1.4Beta.  I miss the Wolf3D sax, even though it was
nonstandard.  I tried it with some games.  It still has some problems, esp.
with Dune II.  The AdLib stereo effect is weird and some patches sound
'choppy' (the short instruments).  Oh, well...

Laurent F. Somers

(laurent@akureyri.ismennt.is)

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

Date: Fri, 5 Mar 93 12:55:00 GMT
From: laurent@ismennt.is (Laurent Somers)
Message-Id: <9303051255.AA26109@akureyri.ismennt.is>
Subject: no subject (file transmission)
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Robert Suh (robs@hardy.u.washington.edu) wrote:

: P.S. Would it be possible to write a General MIDI device driver for the GUS,
: so I could pipe out the music for some of my games through General MIDI
: instead of SB??  Hope Gravis would work on this, seems like a better 
: temporary solution until native GUS starts appearing.

Adam Mirowski (mir@chorus.chorus.fr) wrote:

:This doesn't make much sense.  General MIDI is a software
:protocol, not a hardware interface.
:
:What Gravis could have done is emulating the MPU-401
:card-to-host interface, so that GUS could appear as
:a MIDI device plugged into an MPU-401 card. The card
:would be configured using sysexes, which could have
:embedded samples.

:This solution would need that the card has a specific
:on-board processor that would understand MIDI messages,
:especially sysexes, and setup the sound generator(s)
:accordingly. I am not surprised that Gravis dropped
:that option and simply outputs MIDI to the external
:wire.

:The solution would be more viable for a card than
:for a box, since the limitation of the MIDI cable
:speed for sample transfers would disappear.

:The problem is that there is presently no MIDI
:norm concerning sound construction from samples.

This doesn't make much sense either.  Hence, CL & other vendors have used
some black magic to emulate the MT-32 on *FM* cards!

I've been waiting for some time now for news on such an emulator for the GUS
which could simulate a LAPC-1 (or MT-32).  This would be very useful, since
there is already such a broad base of software which uses it.  Just look at
the game sector:  Sierra, Lucasfilm, Origin... all the biggest names.
Also games from 'smaller' companies, e.g. Gods,

Now, it  is obvious that the GUS is a much better candidate for such an
emulator that FM cards.  The problem with making such a driver is mainly
*MEMORY*.  One meg is not enough for all the samples the LAPC-1/GM MIDI has.
So, the samples would have to be loaded selectively.  How?

I'm not that well versed in low-level assembly programming,
but one way of implementing the driver would be to *freeze* the computer
while loading the samples;  i.e. turning off all interrupts (yes, I know,
there are NMI's).  The problem with this method is that it might be
disconcerting, depending on the game, and could eventually turn into a
nightmare scenario *IF* the program would shift through the entire patch set!
SBOS could of course also 'pretend' to play an instrument while it is waiting
for the patch to finish loading.

Another method would be to load the instruments based on a game<->patch list.
Each game would have the list of instruments used, and the user would specify
the game.  The SBOS would load these and execute the program.

I know there are a lot of programs around which use the Roland synths.
It is no easy job to make a complete list of games and the instruments used.
There is a solution to this:  Execute SBOS in a 'collect' mode.  The SBOS
would run the program - without emulating anything - but creating a list
of patches requested.  This list would then be written to disk and used
for future use.  The limitations
of this are the same as for (though more serious than) the previous case:
What if the program uses MORE than 1 meg of samples?

In that case, things could get simpler by making concessions:
"Ok, I *can* live with 8 bit samples, with one patch for each instrument
sampled at a slightly lesser rate - just give me the Roland emulation!"
This would be just about the method the Aria chip board uses - squeezing 1 Meg
of 8 bit samples into ROM though.

By the way:  I'd like to know what the total size of the GM MIDI set is.
I suppose they've been optimized.

I also tried the SBOS 1.4Beta.  I miss the Wolf3D sax, even though it was
nonstandard.  I tried it with some games.  It still has some problems, esp.
with Dune II.  The AdLib stereo effect is weird and some patches sound
'choppy' (the short instruments).  Oh, well...

Laurent F. Somers

(laurent@akureyri.ismennt.is)

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

Date: Fri, 5 Mar 93 17:07:27 MET
From: (FunkyTrip) zonnevel@dutiws.TWI.TUDelft.NL
Message-Id: <9303051607.AA12644@dutiws.twi.tudelft.nl>
Subject: Pin layour of 15-pin connector?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Does anyone have the pin layout of the d-connector on our beloved GUS.
Please mail me or the list if you have it. (List would be best, I think
more people will be interested)

Thanx

 'Peace Y'all. I'm at:   zonnevel@dutiws.twi.tudelft.nl    YO  Peace Increase
 'Freedom is free of the need to be free' - George Clinton YO     from me 
 'With love there is no death' - Prince                    YO    FunkyTrip 
YOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYO

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

Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1993 15:28:55 -0500
From: mchen@sol4.cs.psu.edu (Michael Chen)
Message-Id: <9303052028.AA03560@sol4.cs.psu.edu>
Subject: Problem w/SBOS 1.4b2 & X Wing
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

  I'm having a weird problem with SBOS 1.4 beta and X Wing.  I got it to
work fine at first, no options at all.  But then, and up until now, when I
use the Soundblaster setting of X Wing's sound and SBOS 1.4 beta, I get no
sound.  If I back down and use Adlib sound, it works fine, but I really miss
the digitized sounds.
  What gives?  I'm using a 386SX/25, and no DMA/IRQ settings I have tried will
resolve this really bizarro problem.
-- 
 Michael Chen           | From the depths of our most lucid horrors |
				| spring our fond hopes and pure desires... |
 mchen@cs.psu.edu       | except what comes from HELL! :-) 7/23/92  |

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

Date: 4 Mar 93 22:57:44 GMT
From: uznerk@mcl.ucsb.edu (Andrew Krenz)
Message-Id: <uznerk.731285864@mcl>
Subject: Sampling on a GUS
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

In <C3Bn89.AqC@ccu.umanitoba.ca> meier@ee.umanitoba.ca (Martin Meier) writes:

>In article <uznerk.731107146@mcl>, uznerk@mcl.ucsb.edu (Andrew Krenz) writes:
>> The other night I tried recording off a CD onto my GUS.  I set up a 5 meg
>> ram drive and proceeded to sample some music straight from the output of my
>> CD player.  When I played back the sample (which was done in stereo at 44.1khz)
>> I didn't hear any static or noise (well, a little more than the CD anyway) but
>> i could tell that some of the higher frequencies were being filtered out (I'm
>> guessing frequencies close to 20khz).  The cymbals and other sounds just didn't
>> sound as brilliant as the CD original, kinda like what a tape sounds when you
>> copy a CD.  I know that the GUS only samples in 8 bits as opposed to the CD's
>> 16, but that has nothing to do with the high end frequency response, does it?
>> I thought that only sampling rate does.  If the sampling rate is 44.1khz, then
>> the supposed freq. response of the GUS should be around 20khz, right?  The
>> number of bits in the recording only determined the dynamic range as far
>> as I knew.
>> 

>First off, what sort of speakers/amp are you using. I'd say you will get 
>poor frequency responce if your using a pair of KOSS battery amplified 
>speakers which sell for around $50. You have to make sure to use a good 
>pair of headphones or a decent home audio system. At 8-bits, I'm sure
>cymbals woun't sound as briliant as a CD. Remember, 8-bits ~ 48db while
>16-bits ~ 96db. I think LP's have a responce of around 60-68db 

>If you really want to see the responce of the card is, use a signal
>generator and vary the frequency from 20Hz-22kHz. Then examine the
>sampled signal for the cut-off point. Not everone heards tones up to
>20kHz. This is just an average maximum, just like 20/20 vision is an
>average maximum. Many people have worse vision, some have better than 
>20/20 vision.


I have the GUS rigged to a full blown home stereo system using 8" 2way 
ESS Laboratory speakers which have near flat response from 40-30khz.
I think my hearing ability is better than the average person's (wish
I could say the same for my eyeballs which currently have contact lenses
stuck in them).  I know for a fact that the response of the Ultrasound is
not as clear as a CD.  There is a noticable difference when you compare the
two, at least on my stereo system.

Are you sure the number of bits in the recording has anything to do with
frequency response?  Like I said before, I always thought that the number
of bits only concerns dynamic range.  8 bit recordings allow 256 different
levels of volume per sample, while 16 allows 65,536, but this is independent
of the smapling rate and has no effect on high end frequency response.  It
kind of parallels comparing 8-bit 256 color graphics to high color 16 bit 
displays.

Doesn't really matter too much to me though because I am confident that the
Ultrasound is the most powerful and flexible soundcard you can buy.  I'm
starting to collect a TON of .mods, and they all sound fantastic thanks to
Josh's player.  Heck, even people in the Amiga groups are expressing interest
in something like an "Ultrasound for the Amiga."


--
=======================================================================
| Andrew Krenz        | Visit          | '87 Chevrolet Caprice        |
| uznerk@mcl.ucsb.edu | Beautiful      | 9C1 Police Package 350       |
| UC Santa Barbara    | Isla Vista, CA | Bad Boys Bad Boys.....       |

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

Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1993 08:41:20 GMT
From: waardenb@cs.utwente.nl (Jerry van Waardenberg)
Message-Id: <1993Mar5.094120@cs.utwente.nl>
Subject: SBOS 1.4b2 beta form
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Can I send the SBOS 1.4b2 beta form by email to Gravis? What's the address?

Anyway, here's my opinion:

MAIL MESSAGE

TO:   Advanced Gravis Technical Support
ATTN: Technical Support
SUBJ: UltraSound Software Compatability Test


Tested by: J. van Waardenberg                           Date: March 3rd, 1993

+===========================================================================+

Test Platform:  AMD i386DX, 40 MHz, 128 kB cache, OPTi chipset, 8 MB RAM

Software: MS-DOS 5.0, QEMM 6.02, Norton Cache 6.01

ULTRASND=220,7,7,11,5

+===========================================================================+
		SBOS        SBOS        Digitized
Title:      version:    options:    sounds:     FM:
------      --------    --------    ---------   ---
Dune 2      1.22        -o2 -x3     Good        Moderate
		1.37B       -o2 -x3     Good        Good
		1.4B2       None        Good        Bad
XWing demo  1.22        -o2 -x3     Good        Moderate
		1.37B       None        Good        Good
		1.4B2       None        Good        Moderate/Bad
Pushover    1.37B       None        -       Good
		1.4B2       None        -       Bad

+===========================================================================+

Comments:

I've tried these games with SBOS versions 1.22, 1.37B and 1.4B2. I liked
1.37B the best: It has good sound quality, both in digitized speech and
FM music. SBOS 1.4B2 has sometimes really terrible, 'noisy' FM music, so
IMHO SBOS 1.42B2 is even worse than 1.22. SBOS 1.37b has one major dis-
advantage though: It crashes my computer sometimes and sometimes speech
gets lost.

My idea of a good SBOS: Combine the sound quality of SBOS 1.37B with the
robustness and reliability of SBOS 1.4B2. That will be nice! As for now,
I'll continue using version 1.37B

*------------------------------------------------------------------------------*
 Jerry van Waardenberg                             _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/
 Tele Informatics and Open Systems                  _/     _/   _/  _/ _/
 Department of Computer Science                    _/     _/   _/  _/   _/
 University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands  _/     _/   _/  _/     _/
 E-mail: waardenb@cs.utwente.nl                  _/   _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/

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

Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1993 12:09:10 -0500 (EST)
From: treason@gnu.ai.mit.edu
Message-Id: <9303051709.AA04411@spiff.gnu.ai.mit.edu>
Subject: SBOS 1.4b2 with xwing and uu2
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

I have the new sbos 1.4b2 and have been messing around with the software
I have installed on my system.  In some circumstances, with xwing, the
software finds the card, and uses it for a short time(sounds great) then 
the computer hangs.  Other times, the software deos not even find the GUS, and no sound is played.  This happens whether I load the sys driver or not.  As for
Ultima Underworld 2, The sound is definately there, buts its a mishmash of
awful clatter, and makes no sense to me.  It doesnt sound like music at all!!!

I like the 1.23 release much better, it works almost perfectly with uu2,
but still lacks xwing support fully.  I have talked with several people
about this problem, and some say the prog (1.4b2) works great!  Whats the deal
here, there is not problem with my chipset, and the older sbos' seem to work
reasonably.

treason@gnu

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

Date: Fri, 05 Mar 93 21:46:51 EST
From: pccmoddan@aol.com
Message-Id: <9303052146.tn19753@aol.com>
Subject: Sierra's BS
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Here's more of the same old crap from Sierra Online. Boycott em if you want
support. Personally I think they've been going downhill since they made the
original Kings Quest I. 

...quote begin....
Subj:   Gravis Ultrasound Support
Date:  93-03-04 21:05:02 EST
From:  Sierras
Posted on: America Online

The problem with supporting the Ultrasound isn't playing music, but
supporting the cards digitized sound features. You've missed the problem
completely! Our CD products require a DAC to playback the digitized voice and
sound samples and the Ultrsound card uses a different method (DSP) than the
Sound Blaster's
DAC. Through DOS we have to foot the bill for writing and testing these
drivers as well as including their drivers in to our games that are being
developed. If a sound card isn't established, then it doesn't make sense to
go out of the way to support it! Now the good news for you, the sound card
manufacturer writes the drivers for Windows, so you should be able to use
your card without problems. 

Thanx,

Bill :})

....end.....

and now....
My message:

Bill - 
	The GUS has 32 channels. Use 16 for music support, and you've got two
free ones through which you can dump samples direct, without using the
onboard RAM. This has the same function as a "dumb" DAC such as the one on
the Soundblaster. If you need further convincing that the GUS does indeed
have DACs on board, look in the Hardware section of the GUS SDK manual, under
"Audio I/O (DAC & ADC)". Due to nondisclosure agreements, I cannot reprint
the text, but it is VERY obvious. 
	I think you've missed the point - Sierra's excuses might stand up to the
consumers, but anyone who is involved in the industry can see through all the
BS. I don't give a hoot whether you guys support the GUS or not - my games do
and that's all that concerns me. What should concern you is that thousands of
 people out there with money in their pockets want games that support their
hardware. If Sierra won't, others will. 

- Dan Nicholson, 
PCkS Associates

....end....

________________________________________________________
Dan Nicholson    -    PCkS Associates - (908)964-8066 - ModDan
							  553 Thoreau Terr. 
							  Union, NJ 07083
________________________________________________________
			   
									   Play real games.
________________________________________________________

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

Date: Fri, 5 Mar 93 09:30:45 EST
From: stu_brown@Warren.MENTORG.COM
Message-Id: <9303051430.AA20443@stu>
Subject: Ultrasound Daily Digest V2 #61
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

I have been seeing this error, too. I had no idea it was coming from
the GUS, though. I just reset my system and it works fine. I only get
this error when booting. Is there a fix for this?




Date: 4 Mar 93 16:13:53 AST
From: Steve Prosser <SPROSSER@SHARK.STMARYS.CA>
Message-Id: <MAILQUEUE-101.930304161353.448@science.stmarys.ca>
Subject: Dead Ultrasound Card!
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Last night, my card gave up the ghost. I had been using it the night
before, and it was working fine. Last night I turned on my 386-40
clone and it said "off board parity error", and it wouldn't count
past the first 64k. I disabled parity and memory count above 1Meg, so
I could get the PC to boot. I ran Checkit and it would hang every
time I tried to run the memory test.

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

Date: Fri, 5 Mar 93 14:24:40 EST
From: snowdog@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca (Rodney CHANG)
Message-Id: <9303051924.AA27278@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca>
Subject: x-wing help
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Help!

Need configurations for x-wing so can play sound using GUS.  Much
thanks!

-- 
Rodney Chang          | "Dohhh!!" - Homer Simpson, Springfield Nuclear Sup.
snowdog@cs.mcgill.ca  | "Aye Caramba!" - Bart Simpson, Homer's son.
b7jd@musicb.mcgill.ca | ** Les Expos & Nordiques in '93, '94, '95, '96  ... ***

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

Date: Thu, 04 Mar 1993 10:22:00 -0800
From: john.smith@gravis.com (John Smith)
Message-Id: <731292813.AA01325@ship.net>
Subject: XWING SOUND
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

MAF>Well,  I get a slowdown only when I am trying to chase down an enemy,
have
   >him in my sites and fire.  He suddenly jumps out of my view with no prior
   >warning.  This is annoying, but the only slowdown I found.

MAF>If anyone has Lucas' net address, I will write to them regarding the
   >native GUS support (as everyone else with a GUS should as well).

I was playing XWing until 1:30am last night with SBOS 1.4B2 and it was
working fine.  Mind you it was on a 486-33 so I may not have noticed the
slow down.

Don't know if Lucas has an address. Hopefully someone else knows.

John
 ~ QMPro 1.01 05-8925 ~ Misspelled?  Impossible.  My modem is error
correcting.

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

Date: Fri, 5 Mar 93 16:17:17 EST
From: kaisth@coat.com (Ajay Kaisth)
Message-Id: <9303052117.AA02362@lb462.coat.com>
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

help

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

End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V2 #62
******************************
