Ultrasound Daily Digest     Tue, 28 Sep 93  0:47 MDT     Volume 6: Issue  27  

Today's Topics:
                     Cakewalk V2 and Gus Patches
                                cdrom
                             GUS support
                               help...
                      Just to let you know  1/7
                      Just to let you know  2/7
                      Just to let you know  3/7
                      Just to let you know  4/7
                         KLF in your mailbox!
                   Let's get ORIGIN to support GUS
              Need Suggestions on cd-rom drive purchase
                          Readership update
                                Sierra
                  Sierra Drivers -  no sound at all
                     Sierra Drivers and GUS DRAM
                          Sierra GUS drivers
                      Ultrasound daily digest v
                    Ultrasound Daily Digest V6 #26

Standard Info:
	- Meta-info about the GUS can be found at the end of the Digest.
	- Before you ask a question, please READ THE FAQ.

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

Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1993 10:50:42 +0100 (BST)
From: Lyn Holman <E.M.Holman@reading.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: Cakewalk V2 and Gus Patches
Message-ID: <Pine.3.07.9309271040.B12290-a100000@suma1>

 Reference the message from Anthony Tang I have the full blown version of
Cakewalk 2 and it does have some problems.  If I get the messazge 'not
enough memory etc' I just hit the update Patches and all seems ok
including the drums.  The Readme file says that they are aware that the
implementation of patch caching is not quite as it should be and that they
are in discussion with Gravis about it AND they will supply a free
maintenance upgrade when the problems is solved to anyone who requests it.

If you have patch changes within a track if you update before you play
then all the patches are loaded.  I hope this sheds some light.

Lyn Holman				phone: +44-(0)734-318438
Computer Services Centre		fax:   +44-(0)734-753094
University of Reading, Whiteknights
Reading RG6 2AF

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

Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1993 11:38:11 +0100 (BST)
From: "Reidar J. Husmo"  <radar@cs.keele.ac.uk>
Subject: cdrom
Message-ID: <4734.9309271038@grumpy.cs.keele.ac.uk>

>Hello folks!  I am looking to buy a cd-rom drive for my GUS.  I don't
>know much about cd-rom drive except that they are really cool.  Can
>anyone give me any suggestion about what specification I should look
>for (ie. access time, and etc)?  Any suggestion on which cd-rom drive
>to buy?  Also, what are people trying to achieve by connecting the
>cd-rom drive to their sound card?  I know that allows you to play your
>music CD through the GUS.  Is there any other motivation?  I
>appreciate any help you can give me.  Thanks.
>
>
If you've got Usenet access, check out the alt.cd-rom faq, last posted 25
Sept.

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

Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1993 15:50:09 +1000
From: David Vu <ccdvu@cc.uq.oz.au>
Subject: GUS support
Message-ID: <9309280549.AA11134@orca.es.com>

Paul Murgatroyd <s1114@kowande.Bond.edu.au> writes:

>Sometimes I wonder if Creative Labs has paid software companies to keep
stalling support of sound boards like the GUS, so that their own SB16 with
WaveBlaster can get support......<

I don't think they paid software companies to keep stalling support, but rather
to push them to develop drivers for their line of sound boards quicker.  That
is Mr CL would pay Mr Origin for the development of the WaveBlaster driver 
for use in Privateer and future games.  Great eh?  Software companies get
free sound board + free SDK and now some money incentives to push things
along :-)

.David.

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

Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1993 02:18:05 -0400 (EDT)
From: tommylee@io.org (Tommy Lee)
Subject: help...
Message-ID: <m0ohYNx-0004QRC@io.org>

   I just bought my Ultrasound on Friday (yes, after reading the digest for a
couple of weeks, I caved in to the hype!), after playing around with it for a
few days, I now have a few questions...

    First of all, can I register Mega-Em?  Or will I soon be able to get a
fully functional copy of it from Gravis in the NEAR future (I'm talking a week
or two, MAX).

    Second, I notice that when using Mega-em, some of the sounds seem to be
slightly screwed up.  What patches should I pick up, and what should I replace
to fix this?  Keep in mind, that I'm entirely new to this Gravis thing, so I
don't know how to changes patches yet either...

    Finally, when I ran the SETGUS program, the program informed me that when
testing DMA for SBOS and for the Ultrasound, that they were busy (huh?), and
that testing failed.  However, everything seems to run just fine!?!  Is this
just a bug in SETGUS, or am I in for a nasty surprise in the near future?

     Oh, and one more thing.  I noticed when trying X-Wing with Mega-Em that
sometimes (especially when a lot of instruments are being played), I can hear
a slight clicking or static-like noise.  What the heck is this, and can I get
rid of it?

      Any info on the above points would be very much appreciated.

Tommy.

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

Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 21:50:43 
From: john.smith@gravis.com
Subject: Just to let you know  1/7
Message-ID: <9309272150.A3687wk@gravis.com>

JUST TO LET YOU KNOW #7
=======================

Hello fellow Gravoids <g> Just to pre-warn you, this is a long
one. I haven't done an information bulletin about what is new and
hot in Gravis land for nearly two months, which explains the length.

Microsoft Arcade & GUS
======================

Here is a fix for Microsoft arcade. It is compliments of Mark Pfeiffer
on COMP.IBM.PC.SOUNDCARD.

In your WAVEMIX.INI you need to edit the REMIX= line to 2 instead of
the default of 1. It seems Microsoft arcade defaults to 1 for unknown
sound cards which causes the GUS some headaches. So your WAVEMIX.INI
should now read:

[UltraSound Waveform Output]
Remix=2
GoodWavePos=0
WaveBlocks=3
SamplesPerSec=11


Quotes from Developers
======================

I have heard from some people who were curious on how developers
perceive the UltraSound and how well we support them. Here is what
some of them have to say:

"The Gravis UltraSound goes a long way towards raising the standards
 of PC audio. I was impress with how well it recreated my General
 MIDI sequences. It is an easily integrated, affordable solution to
 those seeking higher sound quality than can be achieved with FM
 based sound cards"
                         Hamilton Altstatt, Music and Sound Director
                         Knowledge Adventure

"As a composer, I would much rather have my compositions (as in
 Darksun) heard on this card...it sounds like real music",
 "General MIDI/wavetable synthesis is the future of computer audio
 ...the Gravis UltraSound is there NOW"
                         Ralph Thomas, Music Producer
                         Strategic Simulations Inc.

"Electronic Arts looks forward to supporting the new Gravis sound
 card, which represents breakthrough technology"
                         Larry Probst, President
                         Electronic Arts

"The advaced features of the UltraSound have created an entire new
 genre of sound card."
                         Troy Worrell, Vice President
                         Interplay

"We found the developer support at Advanced Gravis to be exceptional,
 influencing us to support a card that we otherwise would have
 ignored. After installing the software drivers and hearing our
 applications play through the Gravis UltraSound, our engineers
 decided the sound was KILLER!"
                         Chris Weiss
                         MAXIS

"There's no question that wave table synthesis technology, like that
 used in the Gravis UltraSound, greatly enhances the experience of
 playing Sierra's adventure games compared to the more common sound
 boards using FM synthesis. This will help set the benchmark for
 higher quality sound for consumers at an affordable price."
                         Bill Crow, Director of Technology
                         Sierra On-Line


Sierra Announces Support and Releases Driver
============================================

I'm proud to announce that we now have the full backing of Sierra.
Sierra has released a driver that may be found on our BBS, the Gravis
nodes, Internet, Compuserve or the Sierra BBS called GUSDRV.EXE.
This driver will allow you to add full GUS support (General MIDI and
digital audio) to the latest 15 or so Sierra games. Now the
press release:

September 3, 1993

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

TORONTO:    AED
VANCOUVER:  AED
OTC BBS:    GRVSF

                Sierra On-Line Pumps Up The Volume
           for Advanced Gravis UltraSound Audio Boards

Vancouver, B.C. -- September 3, 1993 -- Sierra On-Line, a computer
gaming industry leader, announced today its support for the Gravis
UltraSound board.  Sierra On-Line has released drivers that will
allow Gravis UltraSound users to complement their gaming experience

(Continued to next message)
---
 ~ QMPro 1.50 05-8925 ~ He does the work of 3 Men...Moe, Larry & Curly

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

Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 21:50:47 
From: john.smith@gravis.com
Subject: Just to let you know  2/7
Message-ID: <9309272150.A3688wk@gravis.com>

(Continued from previous message)

with the realism and natural sounds of wave table synthesis and
quality audio effects.

Until recently, Sierra On-Line games have only supported General Midi
and FM sound cards.  These new drivers will provide support for 15 of
Sierra's latest retail and On-Line games, and will take full advantage
of the Gravis UltraSound wave table synthesis and General Midi
capabilities.

According to Grant Russell, president of Advanced Gravis, "Sierra
On-Line is a long-term player in the games and entertainment software
market.  They have earned an excellent reputation for innovation and
have actually lead the entertainment industry with their consumer
software titles.  Sierra has a history of identifying new technologies
that enhance the game playing experience.  We are please that they have
recognized the versatility that the open architecture that Gravis
UltraSound provides."

The Sierra (UltraSound) drivers are the result of a long working
relationship between Sierra On-Line and Advanced Gravis.  As a result,
all Sierra On-Line games can now be enjoyed to their fullest extent by
users of Gravis UltraSound, considered to be one of the most
technically advanced, yet economically priced consumer audio boards on
the market.

"There's no question that wave table synthesis technology, like that
used in the Gravis UltraSound, greatly enhances the experience of
playing Sierra's adventure games compared to the more common sound
boards using FM synthesis," said Bill Crow, Sierra's director of
technology.  "This will help set the benchmark for higher quality sound
for consumers at an affordable price."

The new drivers will be available from Sierra On-Line's bulletin board
(209)689-4463, the Advanced Gravis bulletin board at (604)431-5927, or
by calling Sierra's Customer Service at (209)683-8989.

Sierra On-Line, located in Oakhurst, CA, develops and publishes
interactive adventure games for IBM PC's and compatibles and Macintosh
computers.  Sierra is best knows for the King's Quest, Space Quest,
Police Quest and Laura Bow adventure game series.

In addition to UltraSound(tm) and UltraSound MAX with 3D, Gravis'
16-bit CD-quality stereo sound cards featuring wave table synthesis
and recording, Advanced Gravis Computer Technology Ltd. also designs,
manufactures and markets high quality microcomputer input devices,
including the Gravis Analog Pro Joystick and PC GamePad for the IBM
platform, and the MouseStick II and Mac GamePad for Macintosh.

For more information contact Brad Craig, market development manager
for Advanced Gravis at 604/431-5020 ext 1074.


UltraSound Shipping Titles
==========================

One of the most common questions I get asked is "Who supports the
UltraSound?" or "What titles do you currently work with?". You may
remember a list I posted last Feburary which was suppose to be a
list of all the GUS shipping and future titles. Well as you know
some of those fell through and everytime one did there was a storm
created. Since then I have decided to only tell you about titles
that are VERY close to shipping and as far as the publishers tell
us will definitely have GUS support. The problem in the past was
trying to predict what is suppose to happen 3-5 months down the
rode. Which is virtually impossible. Remember this is only a
small list of titles who are currently supporting the GUS.
Now this months list of new titles are:

Publisher                   Title                         ETA
--------------------------- ---------------               --------
Knowledge Adventure         Kid Zoo                       Shipping
Electronic Arts             Seal Team                     Oct
                            SSN-21 Sea Wolf               Nov
Activision                  Return to Zork                Oct
Strategic Simulations Inc.  Darksun                       Shipping
                            Archon Ultra                  Nov
Ocean                       Jurassic Park                 Oct
Hollyware Entertainment     Jonny Quest                   Oct
Activision                  Mech Warrior II               Nov
Bethesda                    Delta V                       Nov
Psygnosis                   Last Action Hero              Nov
                            Dracula                       Nov
                            Wizard and Microcosm          Nov
                            Hired Guns                    Nov
Broderbund                  Empire Deluxe                 Shipping
Aris Entertainment          Media Clips                   Shipping
                            MPC Wizard                    Shipping
                            Video Cube                    Oct

Also check out these hot patches by:

Publisher                   Title                         Patch Name
--------------------------- ----------------------------- -----------
Maxis                       SimFarm                       GUSFARM.ZIP
                            SimCity Classic               GUSCITY.ZIP
Sierra                      Latest titles                 GUSDRV.EXE
                            Including Kings Quest 5 & 6,
                            Space Quest 5, Quest for
                            Glory III, Slater and Charlie

(Continued to next message)
---
 ~ QMPro 1.50 05-8925 ~ He does the work of 3 Men...Moe, Larry & Curly

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

Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 21:50:47 
From: john.smith@gravis.com
Subject: Just to let you know  3/7
Message-ID: <9309272150.A3689wk@gravis.com>

(Continued from previous message)

                            Dagger of Amon RA and MORE!
Impressions                 Rules of Engagement II        ROE2UP.ZIP

There are also other large publishers who are working on patches for
the UltraSound. But I would prefer not to name names until the patches
are done. I should also have the 7th Guest patch by the end of the
week. Trilobyte is fedexing the driver to us as we speak/type ;-).


Dvorak Radio Show
=================

You may have heard us on the Dvorak Radio Show. The show airs
from 11am-1pm PST on Sundays and is syndicated to a ton of radio
stations across North America. The UltraSound is the official sound
card for this show, and as such all jingles, beeps, bloops and other
SFX are all done through the UltraSound. So you may want to drop
an ear on the show on Sundays ;-)


Gravis Race Car
===============

Advanced Gravis sponsored car #13 at the Vancouver Molson Indy this
past August. We placed 12th out of 21 cars, so we are quite pleased.
The photo CD of some of these images should be in this week. At which
time I'll post a series of GIF images to show you all what a painted
UltraSound car looks like. Look for the images in a file
called GUSCAR.ZIP.


Mege Emulator - Jayeson
=======================

You may have heard that Gravis is in the process of negotiating
with Jayeson Lee-Steere, author of Megem. This rumor is true. I can
not say anything else until such time that all the paper work is
signed and done, I'm sure you can understand. Jayeson has also asked
that everyone please hold of registering his product until such time
that the negotiating is over.


What is Shipping
================

Many of you are curious as to what new products are actually shipping.
As of today the Sony, Mitsumi, LMSI, Y-Cable, and the MIDI Connector
box are all shipping.

The 16 bit recording cards are getting closer to shipping. We'll have
some 1200 in stock by the middle of October. At which point the
software should be done (USS, Ultrinit, SETGUS16 and Windows drivers).
You all know how much I hate guessing at shipping dates but so far it
looks like the end of October is looking good. Once I know a definite
date I'll let you know.


Bad Disks
=========

About a month ago we had 2 bad disk duplicators that caused us a ton
of headaches. As of two weeks ago ALL disks are being double verified.
Meaning they are verified once after duplication, left to sit for 48
hours and then verified again.

For people who may have gotten a bad disk I have posted the V2.06a
software on the Gravis BBS. Each disk is a separate downloadable
file that has been PASSWORD PROTECTED. As you know we can not freely
distribute these files. So you will need to call Gravis tech support
at (604)431-1807 to get the password. Also, don't try posting these
files anywhere as they are useless without the passwords.


Internet GRAVIS.COM
===================

We are still having problems with our Internet aliases. Our BBS runs
TBBS with a module called PIMP for our Internet connection. Seems
PIMP doesn't like to handle aliases too well (ie: POSTMASTER,
SALES, TECH, NMI, etc...). I have been hounding on the makers of
PIMP for over a month now and they still have not been able to
fix this problem. Since there are no other internet mail processors
for TBBS I'm sort of stuck. Best I can do is keep bugging the PIMP
people until they fix it. So for the time being, if you could direct
any sales questions to chris.yuzik@gravis.com and any tech questions
to matthew.arbeid@gravis.com. And of course I'm john.smith@gravis.com.

NOTE: PIMP stands for Personal Internet Mail Processor.


UltraSound Software Developers Toolkit
======================================

The next version of the UltraSound SDK will include full support for
Borland PASCAL. This new support will include full programming
examples, and revised documentation.

This version should be available by mid October. I'll announce it
when it is available along with everything that has been updated or

(Continued to next message)
---
 ~ QMPro 1.50 05-8925 ~ He does the work of 3 Men...Moe, Larry & Curly

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

Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 21:50:50 
From: john.smith@gravis.com
Subject: Just to let you know  4/7
Message-ID: <9309272150.A3690wk@gravis.com>

(Continued from previous message)

changed.


UltraSound and the NMI
======================

Here is a letter from John Spak, the tech who is investigating this
NMI problem some manufacturers are having.

Dear Ultrasound Customer,

This letter is to inform you of a problem that you might encounter
with motherboards that are not 100% IBM compatible.  One defect found
in these motherboards is that the IO CH/CHK signal is not available
on the PC bus -  to date,  this signal is present in all Industry
Standard  Architecture personal computers made by IBM and others
( Hewlet Packard,  Northgate,  AST,  Gateway, Dell, etc. ).
Obviously motherboards without a working IO/CKCHK can not be
considered  IBM compatible or industry standard by any means.  This
fact is also supported by the IEEE Microprocessor Standards Committee
(Draft D2.02 July 13,  1990) and the Intel ISA Bus Specification
(January 30,  1990) both of which indicate how the IO CH/CHK signal
is to be handled.  Note that it is never disconnected!

In the event that you have a non-standard motherboard you will find
that SBOS (a driver that we supply to emulate the SoundBlaster)  will
not work;  also note that midi input from an instrument will not be
possible from within windows.  We recommend that you confront the
vendor who sold the motherboard to you (I am assuming that it was
implied that you were being sold a 100% IBM compatible motherboard)
requesting the compatible motherboard that you asked for. 

For your convenience supporting abstracts from both Intel and
IEEE  documentation have been included with this letter.

Sincerely,

John  Spak
Advanced Gravis Technical Support


 Intel Microprocessor's ISA Bus Specification (January 30,1990)P.37
 ==================================================================

 IOCHCK* [8] [8/16]
  I/O  Channel Check may be enabled by any resource to signal an error
  condition that cannot be corrected, such as a memory parity error...

 
 IEEE Microprocessor Standards Committee (Draft D2.02 July 13,1990)P.8
 =====================================================================

        SIGNAL                          FUNCTION
                IOCHCK*  ...                            NMI to System Processor

 Excerpt from a letter from Intel Corp. to Gravis (August 18,1993)
 =================================================================

 ...  Further to our conversation of last week,  I would like to state
 Intel's position on the use of NMI in PC motherboard designs.  There
 is no technical reason not to use the NMI input... All of Intel's PC
 chipsets, motherboard products, and design examples use NMI in this
 manner - to do otherwise risks compatibility with the defacto
 industry PC standard...

                                        Rich Heslip
                                        Field Applications Engineer
                                        Intel Corporation


Wavetable and FM Synthesis
==========================

This is a letter passed onto me by an end user, Bryan Del Rizzo. It
explains in good detail the differences between FM synthesis and
Wave table


                                                 SEPTEMBER 16, 1993

                 THE SHIFTING TREND OF MUSIC SYNTHESIS
                           By BRYAN DEL RIZZO


As history has verified, society has always looked for new ways to 
simplify our daily existence. The first mechanical calculator, a system 
of strings and moving beads called the abacus, was devised in Babylonia 
around 500 BC. The abacus provided the fastest method of calculating 
until 1642, when the French scientist Blaise Pascal invented a 
calculator made of wheels and cogs. From there, we progressed to the 
first fully electronic computer named the Colossus, which used vacuum 
tubes instead of mechanical relays. Its construction was so secretive 
that its existence was not revealed until decades after it was built.
In operation by 1941, the Colossus was the computer that British
cryptographers used to break secret German military codes. Following 
that, the first modern general purpose computer would be the ENIAC 
(Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator). Designed by two 
American engineers,  ENIAC went into service at the University of 
Pennsylvania in 1946. Its construction was an enormous feat of 

(Continued to next message)
---
 ~ QMPro 1.50 05-8925 ~ He does the work of 3 Men...Moe, Larry & Curly

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

Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 15:34:04 EDT
From: levisionet@aol.com
Subject: KLF in your mailbox!
Message-ID: <9309271534.tn130966@aol.com>

The KLF, a PC music group, announces the 
             KLF New Release Mailing List

How it works:

send requests to:
klflist@bowker.com

To join: subject: SUBSCRIBE
To cease: subject: UNSUBSCRIBE

What you'll get:
Each time a new KLF MOD, 669, FAR, or whatever, is released, a UUENCODED copy
will show up in your InterNet mailbox! 

Please note that releases can be quite large (200-300k average size) and
quite frequent (as many as 10-12 a week). If your mailer cannot handle large
uuencoded mail messages, please send a note to KLFLIST@BOWKER.COM with the
subject: Size=xx to notify us of your mailboxes' size limit.

If you experience any problems or need assistance, email MODDAN@BOWKER.COM

- Dan Nicholson

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

Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 0:41:53 PDT
From: jtang@argon.chem.ucla.edu (James Tang)
Subject: Let's get ORIGIN to support GUS
Message-ID: <9309270741.AA20068@argon.chem.ucla.edu>

I urge you folks out there to send an e-mail to the Origin people and
ask them to support GUS.  I am sure if enough people ask, they'll
consider and maybe even support it.  Here's Origin's e-mail address:

OSI@aol.com

or

Origin_CS@aol.com

or

76004.2612@compuserve.com

james

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

Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1993 11:10:42 +0100 (BST)
From: "Reidar J. Husmo"  <radar@cs.keele.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: Need Suggestions on cd-rom drive purchase
Message-ID: <4712.9309271010@grumpy.cs.keele.ac.uk>

>Date: Sat, 25 Sep 93 1:38:09 PDT
>From: jtang@argon.chem.ucla.edu (James Tang)
>Subject: Need Suggestions on cd-rom drive purchase
>Message-ID: <9309250838.AA18984@argon.chem.ucla.edu>
>
>Hello folks!  I am looking to buy a cd-rom drive for my GUS.  I don't
>know much about cd-rom drive except that they are really cool.  Can
>anyone give me any suggestion about what specification I should look
>for (ie. access time, and etc)?  Any suggestion on which cd-rom drive
>to buy?  Also, what are people trying to achieve by connecting the
>cd-rom drive to their sound card?  I know that allows you to play your
>music CD through the GUS.  Is there any other motivation?  I
>appreciate any help you can give me.  Thanks.
>
>james
>
No doubt there'll be enough answers to this to bore people to death already,
but I'll add my tuppence worth just the same.

Until quite recently, the Mitsumi was by far the best buy - about half the
price of comparable drives. It is still a good buy, but the competition is
catching up.

Don't buy anything but icecreams because they are 'cool'. There are several
valid reasons for buying cdrom drives, such as:
Software distribution (it is becoming more and more common - especially as
it is cheaper for the manufacturer to distribute the software on one cd as
opposed to 40+ stiffies (3.5") ).
Image editing - Photo-cds are one of the main reasons why I bought a cd. I
can quite painlessly, and relatively cheaply, transfer all my 'cool' images
(I'm Norwegian, so I'll stand by that description :-) to a digital format,
and edit them to my hearts content. To me, this is *so* much handier than
buying a colour scanner and providing diskspace for the scanned images.
Reference and multimedia - You can get some amazing reference works on
cdrom. You try to find a 21 volume encyclopedia for about $40. Or a
dictionary, Eng-Ger, Ger-Eng, Eng-Fre, Fre-Eng dictionaries AND AutoRoute
for a mere $16...
Music playback - It can be ever so handy to be able to listen to music while
you're working, without having to get up to 'skip' every time a naff track
is played. Note: If you buy a caddy-based cdrom drive, you may find this to
be more hassle than it's worth.
Games. Well, I can't believe I'd put this down as a valid reason, but I *do*
like The seventh guest. And, no, I haven't solved the microscope puzzle,
either.

So what should you buy? If you haven't got the money; don't.
If you've almost got the money, get a Mitsumi.
If you want something that'll last, get a double-speed drive with all kinds
of compatibilities, AND which needs a scsi-card - i.e. it doesn't come with
its own proprietary controller. Scsi controllers can be found from about
$35. No matter what upgrade path you take in the future, the cdrom-drive
should be able to cope - including EISA, MCI, Vesa-local bus, PCI(?), and
whatever the PowerPCs will use. Heck, you may even be able to connect it to
your Sun workstation, but don't quote me on that. :-)

Notice that you may get better performance by buying a sigle-speed drive,
and using the money you saved to buy a cache (the caches supplied from the
Gates of hell don't like cdroms).

The most frequent 'dislike' I've seen about the Mitsumi in reviews is that
the loading mechanism seems very fragile (it's operated manually).
Personally, I trust that mechanism a lot more than other mechanical ones.

Oh well, enough tripe for now.

Radar

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

Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1993 16:47:07 -0600 (CDT)
From: ddebry@grue.dsd.ES.COM (Dave DeBry)
Subject: Readership update
Message-ID: <9309272247.AA23994@grue.dsd.ES.COM>

	The direct readership of the GUS Digest has held pretty steady
around 1200 for the past few days.

	As usual, this is a low estimate on the true number of
readers.  Several of the addresses/readers are reflectors, copying the
digest out to multiple readers on AOL, Compu$erve, Bitnet, and other
Internet sites.  I've heard rumors of the digests reaching BBSs via
FidoNet and various other UUCP-type leaps.

	And, of course, the infamous Message Board at Gravis, where
the digest is printed out everyday and hung up to dry.  :)

-- 
Dave  ddebry@ debry@   \ "Give the director a serpent deflector,
DeBry dsd.    peruvian. | A mudrat detector, a ribbon reflector,
      es.     cs.utah.  | A cushion convector, a picture [sp] of nectar,
      com     edu      /  A viral dissector, a hormone collector."

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

Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 9:38:04 CDT
From: Fitzgerald Jr Steele <fjsteele@icaen.uiowa.edu>
Subject: Sierra
Message-ID: <199309271438.JAA24284.48837@icaen.uiowa.edu>

Since we've all been talking about Sierra lately, I was wondering...Is
there any way to contact Sierra Online through the Net?  I know their BBS
number, but I've only got a 2400 bps modem and that gets pretty expensive,
even if you call late at night.  Do they have an Internet address for
email.  Or even better, can you FTP from them?  Thanks

Jerry Steele
fjsteele@icaen.uiowa.edu

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

Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 09:29:13 -0400
From: gkmaier@crl.mobil.com (Greg K. Maier)
Subject: Sierra Drivers -  no sound at all
Message-ID: <9309271329.AA26542@crlux1.crl.mobil.com>

I am playing "Quest For Glory 1: So You Want to be a Hero" and can't get any
sound using Ultramid and the Sierra drivers.  I can choose "Gravis Ultrasound"
in the install program and select it for both audio and music effects, but
when then game plays, there is nothing but silence.  I have played with it
for a few hours and can't get any sound.

SBOS and MEGEM both work fine, but of course I want to hear the "Gravis
Ultrasound" option.  I tried a boot disk and also downloaded the Sierra drivers
from both Gravis and the epas archive, with the same results.

I bought this game on Friday just to hear the new drivers :-(  And it didn't
hurt that it was marked down to US $19.95 either ;-)

Is anyone else playing this or have you gotten silence using the Sierra
drivers?

Thanks,
Greg M
gkmaier@crl.mobil.com

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

Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1993 08:56:54 EDT
From: anclarke@civil.watstar.uwaterloo.ca
Subject: Sierra Drivers and GUS DRAM
Message-ID: <9309271259.AA00197@sail.uwaterloo.ca>

Well, I got the sierra driver and followed instructions carefully.  When I ran
the setup program, it gave me a notice that the 256k setup was ok, as were the
512k and 768k setups.  This wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that I
only have 256k onboard.  Whenever I try to run KQ6 I can't get the intro to
work.  It seems keeps reentering the game after about the first sentence. 
Perhaps this is because it thinks I have more memory?  Speaking of memory, I
was peering at my ultrasound card and noticing that there are 8 memory
expansion slots.  Having never installed RAM into something before, I can only
assume that 128k DRAM chips are used.  What speed are they?  I remember someone
mentioning that they were available directly from gravis; how do I contact
them?

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

Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1993 09:58:29 -0300 (ADT)
From: Gravis Ultrasound Lover <markus@Info.UMoncton.ca>
Subject: Re: Sierra GUS drivers
Message-ID: <Pine.3.02.9309270929.A5179-b100000@clement>

On Sun, 26 Sep 1993 troutski@aol.com wrote:

> Sure, they work and sound great, but the fact that you _still_ need that pig
> of a TSR, Ultramid, is sorely disappointing.

	My guess is that we need ULTRAMID for old games only.  Did Sierra
do that before?  Releasing a driver to make older games compatible with a
soundcard and then start supporting that soundcard?   I think they always
started by supporting the card, but did nothing for older games.  They saw
that the GUS had tons of fans around the world. :)
	I think (and I hope) future Sierra games won't need ULTRAMID.  If
they do, I will consider that half-GUS support.  But it's a start.  

> I can only hope Sierra's (and whoever else's) future support for the GUS does
> not require Ultramid.  IMNSHO, Ultramid is a workaround, and not a very
> elegant one at that.  Megaem is a technical wonder, and I admire Mr. Steere's
> programming skills.

	Exactly my toughts.  I sure hope that Mr. Steere will successfully
implement digital audio in Megaem.  But when I look at the huge SBOS
family (each one handling digital audio its own way), I wonder how it will
sound.

                            Marc Y. Paulin
     /-----------------------------------------------------------------\
     |  Fidonet: 1:255/200   Internet: markus@info.umoncton.ca         |
     |           <to come>       Talk: markus@clement.info.umoncton.ca |
     \--------------+------------------------------+-------------------/
                    | Gravis Ultrasound forever!!! |
                    +------------------------------+

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

Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 21:50:25 
From: john.smith@gravis.com
Subject: Ultrasound daily digest v
Message-ID: <9309272150.A3631wk@gravis.com>

 -----------------------------
>From: james@maths.exeter.ac.uk
>Subject: email to gravis+log jams
>In fact if it is true that gravis dont have a valid postmaster alias it
>probably breaks their conditions for being connected to internet email.
>But no one would be that stupid would they?
Gees you people are nice. I've said this before and I will say it again.
Our DOS mail processor is screwed and has been for oh, maybe a month or
so. The people who wrote the processor know about it but they haven't
been able to fix it. Since this is the only mail processor for TBBS I
don't have much of a choice but wait until they do. Or I could just get
rid of it, but I would rather not. So take a chill pill.

John

---
 ~ QMPro 1.50 05-8925 ~ By the way, what does BTW mean? ;-)

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

Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 19:05:53 EDT
From: n4zfd!frodo@rylos.n2idf.ampr.org (Jim Blakely)
Subject: Re: Ultrasound Daily Digest V6 #26
Message-ID: <i16Jac1w165w@n4zfd.UUCP>

Regarding Creative Labs & Game companies' support of the
SoundBlasters:

****************Climbing on Soap Box*********************

Come on folks, must we start with more "conspiracy theories"? The
game companies write drivers for Creative Labs products because
Creative Labs created the PC soundcard market.

Also, Creative Labs, like many large hardware manufacturers, has very
aggressive sales promotions aimed at the people who really control
the sound card market -- computer store owners and sales people.

Creative Labs takes an active part in the reseller training sessions
given by the major distributors -- and all of the major distributors
carry their products. They have contests and promotions that
encourage the salesperson to recommend the "easy sell" -- the
SoundBlaster.

Let's face it, no matter how great and wonderful the GUS is, it's
never going to be successful if your corner computer store A) doesn't
carry it in stock, and B) doesn't have one in a computer with a demo
running.

Creative Labs supports developers, too. They have programs where they
will lend a developer their sound cards so that the developer can add
support to their software.

In contrast, Advanced Gravis is carried by only one distributor.
Until this month, there were no decent NFR (Not For Resale) programs
-- nothing to encourage the reseller to have a card in the store.
There are no reseller salespeople programs, either. 

How long did it take to get a barely functional SDK out to
developers? Does Advanced Gravis have developer programs in place?

Let me tell you my experiences, as a reseller, with Advanced Gravis. 

Once upon a time, I called Gravis looking for an evaluation board,
having come across the ultrasound digest somewhere, and hearing that
there finally was an affordable wavetable synthesis board on the
market (and the fact that I detest Creative Labs).

I spoke to a reseller sales person, and placed an order for an NFR
Ultrasound, basically at about $25 less than dealer cost of a
resellable board. I requested "second day shipping".

Six weeks, and about fifteen calls to four different people later,
I finally received my demo Ultrasound. I think the last guy shipped
it because he was tired of being pestered by me.

So. Here we are. Now that there's Sierra support for the Ultrasound,
I can finally put a demo on a machine that will be impressive. (And
yes, I have it running with Ultramid loaded high, with Stacker & my
CD-ROM drivers all loaded & I can still run a game. (Used QEMM 7.01
with Stealth and DOS-Up to work this miracle).

If you notice, Gravis made it rather difficult for me to get a demo
unit. If it wasn't for the fact that my P.O. was already approved for
the GUS, I might have just let the whole matter drop.

Now it's ordering time for the Xmas season. What cards do you think
the purchasing agents are going to be ordering? The old reliable SB
cards that their salespeople can 'move' on name recognition alone, or
some other card that's so unpopular that Babbages took it *off* their
store-stock list?

If Advanced Gravis really wants to break into the soundcard market,
they need to get out to the resellers, demo the card, and give free
(or near free) demos to the sales people. Otherwise, there's no
reason for a reseller to sell the card, and plenty of Creative
reasons not to.


***********************Soap Box Mode: Off****************************

Thank you for your time. Remember, all of you Internetters ... this
is a real-world business. There are no conspiracies, and there's no
evil empire to be defeated by the use of the Force. 

Want to see the Ultrasound succeed? Spend your weekends getting
friends to go into computer stores to ask when they're going to have
an Ultrasound on display. Tell the sales people you don't care about
Soundblaster compatibility. Tell them you want a computer with an
Ultrasound on it in the store to demo games on -- and you'll only buy
a game if you've heard how well it supports the Ultrasound. And
remember, the salesperson may be giving up a chance at a trip to
Hawaii if he/she listens to you. Make it worth their while - they
usually work on commission. Buy all your software from that
salesperson.

--Jim Blakely, VP
Blakely-Signature Associates
Bonita Springs, FL

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

End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V6 #27
*************************************