Ultrasound Daily Digest     Sun May 23 00:08     Volume 3: Issue  53  

Today's Topics:
						14 CD quality voices?
						  3D in midi files?
		 Alternate FTP site (temporary) for the new GUS disks
				  Can't read disk 6 in new disk set.
					 Chris2 & 5 error on Tremstr
						CUBASE for Windows 1.0
						GUS 2.06, and the SDK
					 GUS 3D -- It works! (2 msgs)
						  GUS DRAM Expansion
						   New 2.06L disks
							 sdk-request
					   Sorry for the trouble...
					Ultrasound Daily Digest V3 #51
	   Ultrasound FTP Sites - New files validated - May 9th, 93
						  Way to go Gravis!

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: 22 May 1993   18:58:52 PST
From: chrisw <chrisw@leland.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: 14 CD quality voices?
Message-ID: <9305230208.AA26611@leland.Stanford.EDU>

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

To those who haven't downloaded the SDK yet, the main interesting general 
info in the docs is:

- A GUS has (only) 14 CD quality (16 bit 44.1 khz) voices. Once you go above 
this the sampling rate drops off in proportion to the no of active voices. 
(Which, means you're down to 19.3 khz with 32 voices). Apparently it takes 
1.6 usec for the GUS to do whatever it has to do to a voice each cycle. If it 
has to do more voices, it just updates each of them less often.

- if your sample has less data points than the sample playback rate requires, 
linear interpolation is used to fill in the gaps. If it's got more data, 
only every nth byte is used (data is skipped).

- 16 bit samples are limited to 256k (2.9 secs @ 44.1 khz) at a hardware level 
(sample playback can't cross 256k boundaries). 

- The GUS will automatically `ramp' sample volume during playback between a 
start and end point at a desired rate (generating an interupt when it gets 
there), so the CPU only has to do the turning points of a volume envelope, 
not the whole thing. So for a 6-stage volume envelope, the CPU only
has to deal with the voice about 7 times in playing back a sample.

Couldn't find anything on LFO's either for pitch modulation or amplitude
modulation. I guess this means that the CPU has to do this? (Although 
amplitude modulation could use the ramping feature). 

By the way, if I was on a slow modem link, I wouldn't bother downloading 
the new setup disks. Not much is different. Just download the sdk (called
GUSDK201.zip I think). It's got the interesting info, the 3D demo, and 
the new patch editor. There's a couple of great sounding new mods (spa.mod
and bey.mod - amazing for 4 channel sound), but I'd wait until the mail 
comes I think. 

Two requests: would anyone who's got FP3D.exe run off some 3D demos for the
rest of us and put them on epas? The one that comes with the SDK is a bit
limited. Also, would anyone who knows how to use the patch editor in
the SDK share their words of wisdom on the digest? It looks pretty
useful, but the user interface is very mysterious.

Chris.

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

Date: 22 May 1993   22:41:13 PST
From: chrisw <chrisw@leland.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: 3D in midi files?
Message-ID: <9305230550.AA04025@leland.Stanford.EDU>

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

Now that 3D has hit the market, the obvious question is: how can I use 
it in future Chrismids? 

What I was wondering is this. The fp3D.exe program (which I don't have yet
because I don't have a modem) is meant to take in a mono file and spit
out 4 or 6 versions of the sample processed for 3D effects. These are labelled
intuitively appealing things like front, back, left and right. 

Now, if I load these in as four seperate patches on four midi 
channels and position these in middle, middle, left and right in stereo 
mixing, can I just send controller 7 (volume) messages to the four 
channels in a fairly obvious way to move a noise around in 3D? Is there
any complicated principle here or does it just go like this?

			use a         !     use a 
		   mixture        !    mixture 
		   of F&L       front   of F&R
		   (no R&B)       !    (no L&B)
						  !
			----left-----+----- right----
						  !
		   use a          !      use a
		  mixture        back   mixture
		  of L&B          !    of R&B
		  (no F&R)        !     (noF&L)


Anyone know the answer to this? Anyone able to have a quick look at
the Gravis SDK libraries and figure it out? The sooner I know, the 
sooner I can write bizarre 3D mids for you!

Thanks,

Chris.

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

Date: Sat, 22 May 1993 03:34:36 GMT
From: walder@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu (John Walder)
Subject: Alternate FTP site (temporary) for the new GUS disks
Message-ID: <C7EsLp.Lvz@news.cso.uiuc.edu>

ReprintFrom: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard

I expect there will be a run on the archive.epas.utoronto.ca site, so I
have temporarily setup another anonymous ftp site containing only the
new GUS disks.

- John

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

						Temporary GUS Archive 
					   =======================

gslisa.lis.uiuc.edu (128.174.4.1) is a (currently) idle AT&T 3B2/400.

Expect a 25 Kb/sec maximum transfer rate. 
My average transfer rate from archive.epas.utoronto.ca was 11 Kb/sec.

This archive contains files that were originally uploaded to
archive.epas.utoronto.ca in pub/pc/ultrasound/submit.

  *** IT WILL DISAPPEAR AT THE END OF May 1993 ***

[ From gus25-30.txt ]
The version which will be distributed on the computer networks is V2.06L,
(the L stands for lite), which does NOT include Power Chords or MidiSoft.

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

Directory contents:

-rw-r--r--   1 ftp      other       9203 May 21 22:14 gus25-30.txt

-rw-r--r--   1 ftp      other    1367138 May 21 22:14 gus0025.zip
-rw-r--r--   1 ftp      other    1458766 May 21 22:14 gus0026.zip
-rw-r--r--   1 ftp      other    1458766 May 21 22:14 gus0027.zip
-rw-r--r--   1 ftp      other    1458766 May 21 22:14 gus0028.zip
-rw-r--r--   1 ftp      other    1458766 May 21 22:14 gus0029.zip
-rw-r--r--   1 ftp      other    1238312 May 21 22:14 gus0030.zip
-rw-r--r--   1 ftp      other     298921 May 21 22:14 gus0031.zip

-rw-r--r--   1 ftp      other     945269 May 21 22:14 gusdk201.zip

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

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

Date: Sat, 22 May 93 13:10:21 MDT
From: Apollo Shau-Yang Wong <apollo@ee.ualberta.ca>
Subject: Can't read disk 6 in new disk set.
Message-ID: <9305221910.AA07557@orca.es.com>

Hi there,

I just spent almost 3 hours downloading the new disk sets from epas.
All files (gus0025-30) unzipped properly. However, at the end of the
installation, when prompted for disk 6, the program can't recognize that
disk 6 is inserted. It keeps on prompting me to insert disk 6. Upon
close examination of disk 6 I can't find anything abnormal. Anyone got
a similar problem?
--
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Apollo WONG S.Y.                 | Fourth Year Electrical Engineering,  |
| Internet : Apollo@EE.Ualberta.CA | University of Alberta, Canada.       |
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Sat, 22 May 1993 22:22:05 -0700
From: Tony <tonus@tsoft.net>
Subject: Chris2 & 5 error on Tremstr
Message-ID: <93May22.222220pdt.18666@gilligan.tsoft.net>

	I played Chris2.mid and Chris5.mid and playmidi returned the "Error
on patch info call tremstr"...  I looked at the v2.05 default.cfg and it
has tremstr commented out and marcato in its place (45 on cfg file)..
I replaced marcato on the new default.cfg and it works fine..

	Other than that, everything has work great..

Tony

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

Date: Sat, 22 May 93 23:20:48 +0200
From: d91-sme@nada.kth.se
Subject: CUBASE for Windows 1.0
Message-ID: <9305222120.AA22382@dront.nada.kth.se>

adrianr@ecr.mu.oz.au writes:
----------------------------
> Has anybody tried out the (excellent) sequencer Cubase for Windows V1.0?
> I tried a friends copy to get it working with my GUS, and althought it
> does have a driver for Windows Multimedia extensions (presumably this
> means midi mapper, does it?) and does give mme and option for output
> to Ultrasound Midi synth, I just get no output from it at all.

Well, I have tried to do just that but haven't got any further than you.
Silence was all I got. I haven't tried to load any patches manually with
Patchmanager, though...

I have had the program crash a few times, and while it's a "1.0-version"
I don't think I will use it even if it can work with GUS...

/Smedis (Niklas Smedberg, d91-sme@nada.kth.se)

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

Date: Sun, 23 May 93 05:51:36 +0200
From: d91-sme@nada.kth.se
Subject: GUS 2.06, and the SDK
Message-ID: <9305230351.AA26967@dront.nada.kth.se>

I just got the new disks and the SDK from epas, and I had some trouble on
the installation. I discovered this:

1. Don't label your disks. The install program won't recognize them if
they have names.

2. When the Windows installation part started I got an error message
saying "Can't find BWCCSVE.DLL" or something. This message has to do with
the file BWCC.DLL that applications that use Borland Custom Controls. I
think that if you setup Windows for another language than English (I
have Swedish) Windows (or Borland code?) will append a "country code" 
for the file it is looking for ("SVE" could be the beginning of the
word "SVERIGE", which is the Swedish word for Sweden). Or something...
But the installation went on, and seemed to be ok anyhow. :-)

3. The SDK installation program asks for a file called README.BAT, which
wasn't in the ZIP-file.

/Smedis (Niklas Smedberg, d91-sme@nada.kth.se)

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

Date: Sat, 22 May 1993 18:28:50 GMT
From: gkirikos@epas.utoronto.ca (George Kirikos)
Subject: GUS 3D -- It works!
Message-ID: <1993May22.182850.6717@epas.toronto.edu>

ReprintFrom: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard

I downloaded the GUS SDK to try out the demonstration of the 3d
technology, and (after shifting my speakers around) I got it to work.
It's a pretty lame demo (just a blast sound -- it also seems to
"click" -- perhaps a bad sample??), but it does show that one can get
the 3d effect out of two speakers. It works much better with
headphones, though.

Now, all we need is someone to write some neat games/demos using the
technology.

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| George Kirikos                   Internet: gkirikos@epas.utoronto.ca      |
| Toronto, Canada                 Telephone: (416) 537-1756                 |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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

Date: 23 May 1993 00:36:38 GMT
From: cpatri@cs.tamu.edu (Curtis W Patrick)
Subject: Re: GUS 3D -- It works!
Message-ID: <1tmgum$47e@tamsun.tamu.edu>

ReprintFrom: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard

>I downloaded the GUS SDK to try out the demonstration of the 3d
>technology, and (after shifting my speakers around) I got it to work.
>It's a pretty lame demo (just a blast sound -- it also seems to
>"click" -- perhaps a bad sample??), but it does show that one can get
>the 3d effect out of two speakers. It works much better with
>headphones, though.

A friend told me about this stuff a month or so ago about how somebody had
written code for getting 3d sound.  Of course, I though he was full of sh&t
at first but began to think, "hell, we have two ears, why not a headphone."
Well, I did some research, alittle digging, and came across so cool stuff.

The follows numbers are not accurate, but close.

3d Sound is a capability that can be used by any stereo sound card, you do
not need four channels to accomplish it.

This is how we hear in spatial coordinates:
  Image your head is the center of a spherical coordinate system.
  @ is for the degrees of deviation from the center,
  % is for the degrees of latitude. 
  d is distance.

Any sound source can be described as (@,%,d).

Figuring d is kinda rough, without experience you really can't tell if
something is 5 ft.  You basically can just tell if a sound is close (loud)
or far away (quiet).  Simple division of your final sound or even subtraction
of some value of you sound can simulate this.

@ is figured by the difference in time that each ear first hears the sound.
Obviously, if your right ear hears it first, it is to your right.  The amount 
of time determines the degree of angle.  ( I don't have the simple formula 
here. )

% is determined by echo and sound shadows.  Your pinnia (outter ear) creates
echos of all the sounds you hear.  Stuff infront of you creates a echo that
reaches your ear about the same time that the original sound does (something in
the order of microseconds).  A sound generated from behind has a delay of about
300 milliseconds.  

It takes a ton of processing, but all you have to do is mix a single sound: one
for the left ear and one for the right.  After calculating the delays, it is
pretty straight forward stuff.

Now, if you ever get to hear this stuff, close your eyes and you will notice
that the sounds sound like they are inside your head.  Curious.  The reason
for this is because your head and ears create sound shadows.  Sounds from the
side and behind have some frequencies shadowed out.  It all depends on the
distance between YOUR ears, the SIZE of your ears, etc.  This stuff is a bitch
to do, would require capacitors and iductors to create it and then you would
have to have a card specifically designed for your head.

Also, this stuff really shouldn't work with regular speakers, you need head 
phones.  With regular speakers, your head may decide that the echos are 
actually different sound sources and you may hear multiple sources.

Hope this helps uncover some of this mystery.

Later

Cpatri@cs.tamu.edu
Kurt

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

Date: Sat, 22 May 93 13:48 GMT
From: EXT0012@VAX2.QUEENS-BELFAST.AC.UK
Subject: GUS DRAM Expansion
Message-ID: <9305221246.AA04450@orca.es.com>

Hi all...
 
	Harking back to the DRAM upgrade subject, I got round the problem of added expence and hassle by butchering my Trident TVGA8900 video card.
 
	Having only got a straight VGA monitor I can't use the higher-res modes anyway, so I transplanted the top 512k of DRAM chips from the Trident to the GUS. All that's needed on the Trident is moving the DIL link chip and shifting a couple of links.
 
	It works surprisingly well - both GUSTEST and GUSDRAM are content with it, and therefore so am I!
 
TTFN
 
Jonny Clark (ext0012@v2.qub.ac.uk)

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

Date: Sat, 22 May 1993 15:43:37 -0300 (ADT)
From: Shadow Of Fear <markus@Info.UMoncton.ca>
Subject: New 2.06L disks
Message-ID: <Pine.3.02.9305221537.C9790-9100000@clement>

* A copy of this message has been sent to John Smith and Gravis Digest *

Hi,

	I downloaded the new set of disks from epas (2.06L) and unzipped
them on 6 high densities.  When I began the installation, I had no
problems with disk 1, but the installation program just couldn't recognise
disk two.  I re-started the installation 4 times, same problem. 
Re-unzipped the files, same problem.  How come?!?

Marc

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

Date: Sat, 22 May 93 16:41:27 EDT
From: timkwan@Athena.MIT.EDU
Subject: sdk-request
Message-ID: <9305222041.AA16243@carbonara>

In emacs, I typed   M-x mail   This is what I filled in for the header:

To: gus-sdk-request%itchy@dsd.es.com
Subject: subscribe

with NO message body.  I sent it off and I got returned mail with a subject
of "Returned mail: unknown mailer error 139".   WHY??

-Tim

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

Date: Sat, 22 May 93 19:08:29 CDT
From: ddebry@itchy (Dave DeBry)
Subject: Sorry for the trouble...
Message-ID: <9305230108.AA19377@itchy>

	For those of you that tried to subscribe to the new digest
(gus-sdk) and had troubles, my apologies.  The problem should now be
fixed.

-- 
Dave  ddebry@ debry@   \
DeBry dsd.    peruvian. | "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick
	  es.     cs.utah.  |  ass, and I'm all out of bubblegum."
	  com     edu      /

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

Date: 23 May 93 14:10:28 U
From: "zz Paul Murgatroyd" <zz_paul_murgatroyd@macmail.bond.edu.au>
Subject: Re: Ultrasound Daily Digest V3 #51
Message-ID: <9305230357.AA03739@kirk.Bond.edu.au>

>From: "Timothy C. Gion" <gion@ravel.udel.edu>
>Subject: SB and GUS coexistence (something weird!)
>Message-ID: <Pine.3.03.9305202113.A29763-a100000@ravel.udel.edu>

>autoexec.bat.  However, Strike Commander still won't recognize my SB.  In
>fact, I tried to just use SBOS and something really weird happened.  I set
>up SC to use the GUS settings, and it started playing the music out of the

Timothy, I also had this problem, and I do not know why it won't recognize the
SB. I found a work around which should also work for you. This only needs to be
done immediately after a cold boot (ie:the first time you turn the power on).
After the computer has booted, change to the ULTRASND directory, and run
SETGUS. When SETGUS shows you the current settings, choose "Accept". SETGUS
will now test the settings in the usual way. They should both pass. Accept the
settings, but when SETGUS asks if you want to modify CONFIG.SYS and
AUTOEXEC.BAT with these settings, choose NO, then exit the program as usual.
Now you will be able to run Strike Commander with no problems.
   The thing that puzzles me this work around is that it doesn't change any of
the setup files at all, so the problem lies somewhere other than CONFIG.SYS and
AUTOEXEC.BAT.

If the above doesn't work, here are my settings:

SB=240H, IRQ=5
GUS=220H, IRQ=11, MIDI/SB IRQ=7, DMA=7

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

Date: Sat, 22 May 1993 16:23:31 +0800
From: rlee@tartarus.uwa.edu.au (Ralph Lee)
Subject: Re: Ultrasound FTP Sites - New files validated - May 9th, 93
Message-ID: <199305220823.AA10231@tartarus.uwa.edu.au>

ReprintFrom: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard

Hi,
I was just wondering if you know where's the cheapest place I can buy
the Ultrasound.  I was told that Telemart sold it before for $124 but
they don't seem to advertise anymore.  I you could, could you also tell
me their fax number and how much you bought it for.  I'm trying to buy
one over to Australia.

Thanks for you help
Ralph

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

Date: Sat, 22 May 1993 20:59:41 -0700 (PDT)
From: cs62a67@fire.UCSD.EDU (Anthony Tang)
Subject: Way to go Gravis!
Message-ID: <9305230359.AA01054@fire.UCSD.EDU>

Here's a word of praise for Gravis for getting the SDK out, and making
it PD.  Way to go!  Now we should be getting a lot of neat-o things
coming out.  I'm working on some stuff myself, but finals are coming up,
so I won't have too much time.  The library routines will definitely
simplify everything.

As for the 3D sound routines, they work fairly well, although they're
not the great 3D phenomenon that I've heard so much about.  It takes
a little concentration skill to imagine the sound is really coming from
behind you when it's coming from in front, but it works!  Probably some
visual cues will help a bit.  Also, my speaker placement may not be
ideal.  Headphones didn't prove much better, though.  Of course, with
that one sound, it gets to be boring after a while, although if you use
the UltraChgFreq3d function, you get a neat helicopter sound.  :-)

-- 
<AANT>                  This is an AANT:
Anthony Tang                       ,
aktang@sdcc13.ucsd.edu                /\/\/\
						  \/\/\/
"Aurgh!"                      " " "

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

End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V3 #53
*************************************
