Ultrasound Daily Digest     Tue, 12 Oct 93  0:48 MDT     Volume 7: Issue  11  

Today's Topics:
							16-bit samples
						  7th guest and GUS
				   Correction only SSG mail bounced
	  DIGEST ADMIN: TRUNCATED DIGESTS (yesterday, in particular)
						 GUS Assault - Again.
				GUS Assault - Disappointing Responses.
					  Gus Assault; Access reply
							 GUS Support
					 GUS Support cont.. (2 msgs)
					   Help with Sierra Drivers
							JPIERSON - ID
					  Missing notes under windo
					  My Letter for the Blizzard
						   Nice Job Gravis
				   Obscene language not acceptable!
					 ositive Post: Better Patches
						People complaining...
					   Second Reality (3 msgs)
						  Second Reality!!!
			   Some good responses from game companies
					 The future of sound (2 msgs)
				   Weird GUS problem/games question
						 WinJammer Questions
				   WSD2SND - where can I find it ?

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: (null)
From: MPA108@PSUVM.PSU.EDU
Subject: 16-bit samples

		Has anyone put up 16 bit samples for the ultratracker on epas? Does any
one have any samples of that nature that they would be willing to send me or po
st on the FTP. I'm at mpa108@psuvm.psu.edu. Thanx for any and all responses.
Mark

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

Date: Mon, 11 Oct 93 20:38:36 +1000
From: Peter William Sureda <peter@ariel.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU>
Subject: 7th guest and GUS
Message-ID: <9310111038.AA00946@ariel.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU>

I'm trying to get 7th guest to work with my Gus , I have t7gfix3 and have installed it , but there is no option for Gravis..
What do I have to do ?

peter@ariel.its.unimelb.edu.au

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

Date: (null)
From: PWRJAM01@Uctvax.UCT.AC.ZA
Subject: Correction only SSG mail bounced

I had previosly said most my mail bounced to the 
games companies - I was wrong only SSG bounced
anyone know the correct address, I had
72040.340@compuserve.com ?

James
Internet: pwrjam01@uctvax.uct.ac.za

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

Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1993 13:25:39 -0600 (CDT)
From: ddebry@grue.dsd.ES.COM (Dave DeBry)
Subject: DIGEST ADMIN: TRUNCATED DIGESTS (yesterday, in particular)
Message-ID: <9310111925.AA00347@grue.dsd.ES.COM>

	Heya, folks.

	As most of you know, the digest yesterday got truncated.  I
said it once, I'll say it again: NEVER, EVER, ON ANY PIECE OF MAIL ON
THE INTERNET, SHOULD YOU PUT A PERIOD AT THE BEGINNING OF THE LINE.

	Ok, I've said my peace.  Now I'll go fix the code to handle it
the next time some @#%&* goes and enters a message exactly like I just
told them not to.

	(We here at the Digest DO NOT believe in "Garbage In, Garbage
Out", thank you very much.  :)

	Also, here is the rest of yesterday's digest.

[ GUS Daily digest Archive Maintainer: I have pasted this in yesterday's 
  digest and left this small bit as a reminder.]

> Date: Sun, 10 Oct 93 15:27:01 EDT
> From: Michael Sabia <sabia@eden.rutgers.edu>
> Subject: my mistake
> Message-ID: <CMM-RU.1.3.750281221.sabia@eden.rutgers.edu>
> 
> yesterday, i sent in a message about the origin address OSI@aol.com
> not working;  my mistake, it does seem to work.  must have been one
> of the other addresses that bounced me.
> 
> mike
> .

[ Ed.: Look!  There it is!  The offending period! ]

-- 
Dave  ddebry@ debry@   \ 
DeBry dsd.    peruvian. | "A jar of eyes can be a tasty treat."
	  es.     cs.utah.  |
	  com     edu      /  

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

Date: (null)
From: int341m@lindblat.cc.monash.edu.au (Shan Yap)
Subject: GUS Assault - Again.

Greetings,
   Due to my untimely lecture (yes, I do have a life beside organising
Assaults :-) ), my previous message was unable to make it to the
yesterday's Digest, just ignore it now.
   Anyway, the Assault will be over by the time you see this message and I
sure hope that a lot more of you have choosed to participate, at this time
of writing there are only 25 participants.
   I would also like to acknowledge here that the list of addresses of
software publishers which I posted on Sunday, is in fact done by Sir
Launcelot du Lac (swkgohw@leonis.nus.sg), all credits should go to him.
Guess I should have acknowledged that in the first place .... \:-)
   I will post the result of our assault on tomorrow's digest. Stay tune.

To Jim Knepley:
   I know that this Assault may not accomplish anything, but still someone
has got to do the "dirty" work, right? And who knows, our act may just
make it to a higher management level!   

Shan.
int341m@lindblat.cc.monash.edu.au

Unite and Prosper.

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

Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1993 17:28:22 +1000 (EST)
From: int341m@aurora.cc.monash.edu.au (Mr K.S. Yap)
Subject: GUS Assault - Disappointing Responses.
Message-ID: <9310110728.AA11554@aurora.cc.monash.edu.au>

Greetings,
   As of the time when I write this, I had only received e-mails from 20
people telling me that they are in the Assault. 20 people ! Come on! I am 
sure we can do better than THAT! Don't your guys want GUS to be a sucess?
All I ask is just a few lines of text! If this is the best we can do, then
maybe Origin is right in not supporting the GUS - which indeed has a small
user base. 
   I could almost hear the represntative from Origin laughing away,
saying, "Look Dave<-fictitious character, those pathetic GUSers try to
"flood" our mailbox, but the best they can do is to come up with twenty
people, ha ha, support GUS? It's my A** that you want me to support!"<-
fictitious dialogue, no offence intended. :-)
   Anyway, we'll still carry out our Assault as planned - Tomorrow when
the Digest arrives. I hope that more people will decide to participate in
this event by then. Hope to hear from you soon !

Shan.
int341m@lindblat.cc.monash.edu.au

Unite and Prosper.

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

Date: (null)
From: f.graham@genie.geis.com
Subject: Gus Assault; Access reply

		Mark Werner, Access Software tech support (linkspro1@aol.com)
quickly replied to my GUS assault mail as follows "We will probably be
supporting the GUS on all future releases." Yay! (Hmm, anyone know what
"future releases" they've got in the works?...)
 
		BTW y'all, do keep those assault emails short, civil and sweet,
these guys may actually be getting a lot of our emails soon if we all,
lurkers included, follow up on this mailing.
 
			 (Down with overly long quotes and signatures!)
 
 

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

Date: Mon, 11 Oct 93 07:42:00 BST
From: b.williams44@genie.geis.com
Subject: GUS Support
Message-ID: <9310110659.AA26554@relay2.geis.com>

1>    It's Me again and sending a letter captured from Origin topic on
 Genie.
 
As follows.....
 
<Category 16,  Topic 7
 Message 151       Sun Oct 03, 1993
 CHANTECLER [Bruce.F]         at 22:34 EDT
 
 Rebecca,
 
 
 I don't own an Ultrasound but I'll throw in my request for native mode
  support for it and any other forthcoming lower cost wave table boards.  We
  need better sound.  Music in computer games is better than ever but
  listening to it with an FM board is like listening to an orchestra through a
  tin can phone.  We're on the brink of a revolution in game sound and it's
  stalling because of poor support!  Game developers won't support the GUS
  because few people own one.  And people won't buy a GUS because there is
  poor game support.  It's a vicious circle.
 
You're too young to remember this but color TV stayed in this kind of limbo
  for ten long years.  The networks wouldn't provide support (i.e. color
  programs) because the number of color TVs in use was small.  In turn,
  consumers wouldn't buy color TVs because there were no color programs to
  watch.  The logjam was finally broken when the networks started supporting
  color and that induced people to buy color TVs.  The rest is history.
 
This isn't a perfect analogy but I hope you see my point.  It's going to take
  developer support to get out of the FM logjam we're in.  Few people will buy a
  wave table card for games unless the hot new titles support it. And without
  wave table boards the great sounds and music your company worked so hard to
  create are largely wasted.
 
 Please consider this and tell me what you think.  Thanks!>
 ******************************************************************
 This is all they had to say.
 ******************************************************************
 Category 16,  Topic 7
 Message 152       Tue Oct 05, 1993
 ORIGIN                       at 19:16 EDT
 
 Bruce F.
  Thanks for your input.
 
 Rebecca The Strange
  Origin Product Support
 
Cont. in next letter.
 
 

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

Date: Mon, 11 Oct 93 07:50:00 BST
From: b.williams44@genie.geis.com
Subject: GUS Support cont..
Message-ID: <9310110659.AA26559@relay2.geis.com>

1>Cont..
Everytime I mention Ultrasound support, I get the Cold shoulder act too.
 Mostly they refer me to answers given months ago, makes me wonder
 if the staff at Origin can think for themselves, if it's not a technical question.
 I guess they need their EA lawyers for that!
Gravis if you're reading this, send Origin a package showing the drivers(Mega-em
 and Ultramid) so that at least (If it doesn't get lost) they can't claim that you don't
 have Drivers for Roland and Miles sound source.Give them SDK pakage as well,
then maybe they can test for themselves, if they will take the time.
 
P.S. I am one of those users , who hasn't had any terrible troubles using the
Ultrasound for DOS or Windows.SBOS aside, The GUS is a Great card.
Gunnar if you don'twant a GUS , don't keep complaining about it, SELL IT!
 This Digest is for airing our views and asking questions ,Yes, but don't keep
 on harping about how SB is greatest thing since White bread. Some of us
LOVE our GUS's and wouldn't trade them for a SB16 for anything! I have given
 freely of my time to fellow GUS users in helping them to get their cards working
 right. And usually it wasn't some great hardware problem,but a missing file here
or there. Which doesn't make the GUS a bad choice as a sound card, just a
solvable problem.

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

Date: Mon, 11 Oct 93 07:53:00 BST
From: b.williams44@genie.geis.com
Subject: GUS Support cont..
Message-ID: <9310110659.AA26562@relay2.geis.com>

1>Cont...
In my opinion, the trouble is software companies like Origin, who don't seem to
care about their customers beyond selling software and supporting FM Synthisis,
 which in my Humble opinion again will very soon go the way of the Dinosaur, not
the GUS. Wavetable is the future mark my words well, and the GUS supports more
channels to be played at once, than any card on the market that I've seen advertised.
 Not to mention not using any CPU time to do it.
Granted I think that Gravis should be seriously thinking about making a new card,
using proven GUS ideas and adding more memory on the card, as well as the next
GF chip to come out.Some time within the next 2 yrs. A card offering more memory,
16bit recording and playback,SCSI CD interface built in and more is the future for the
 GUS card.
For now tho we as Loyal GUS owners need to do as we are trying to do, by pressuring
Software companies like Origin to really take this advancement in sound card technology
seriously. Lets make this year the YEAR OF THE GUS.
Soon tho as Companys like ID , start releasing games using Native Ultrasound Drivers,
 we will see a greater ground swell of support.To hear a GUS playing Native Sound next
 to a SB16's FM synthisis, which would you choose as the better sounding card???
Hopefully Software companies will make the Right Logical decisions SOON!.
MAY THE GUS BE WITH YOU!!!
												  ***StarHawk***
											" Wielder of the GUS "
											" Slayer of the SB "
 

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

Date: Mon, 11 Oct 93 13:23:52 CDT
From: Fitzgerald Jr Steele <fjsteele@icaen.uiowa.edu>
Subject: Help with Sierra Drivers
Message-ID: <199310111823.NAA24564.4828F@icaen.uiowa.edu>

I downloaded the new Sierra Drivers and tried to install them into King's
Quest 6.  I tried to install ultramid, it told me that all my midi patches
were old and needed to be updated.  It also told me that it might not work
if I have changed any of the original midi patches, which I haven't.  So
anyway, when I try to load ultramid (using the command line lh ultramid -c
-m100) the computer stalls, and I have to reboot.  Was there an update to
the midi patches that Gravis didn't send me?  Where can I get the new
patches?  Also, how much memory does ultramid take -- I know I only have
like 40k UMB free, maybe that had something to do with it...)

Thanks for your help,

Jerry Steele
fjsteele@icaen.uiowa.edu

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

Date: Mon, 11 Oct 93 10:40:12 
From: john.smith@gravis.com
Subject: JPIERSON - ID
Message-ID: <9310111040.A1156wk@gravis.com>

Read what JPierson of ID had to say and I'd just like to clear up a few things.

1) Why UltraMID? To make it easier for programmers to program for the card.
   With UltraMID you can load and play a MIDI file in as little as 5 
   functions! This includes the patch loading and handling the MIDI data.
   This can save the programmer A LOT of time trying to figure out how to
   do this themselves. Yes ULTRAMID is not the smallest thing in the world
   but it is meant to be an alternative not a perfect solution.

2) The idea of asking Origin for sources was simple. We wanted to help
   them write the drivers. I didn't expect this to work myself but we have
   to make every attempt. Also it wasn't the source code to the game but
   just the sound engine.

3) As for emailing us over the Internet and not getting a response, I'd
   like to know who you were trying to email? I'm sure everyone here on 
   the list can vouch that I do keep on top of this. Heck its a long
   weekend here in Canada and how did I spend part of my Sat and Mon? Reading
   the digest and responding to questions? (I know, sounds like fun <grin>)
   But if you had problems reaching us I'd really like to try and fix
   it. I know I'm getting my mail ok, who were you trying to address the
   msg too?

4) Release of Low Level Code - The SDK we released last May is actually
   really good. For 130 pages it better be. If you have any suggestions
   on the areas you thought it was weak in (from a programmers point of
   view) I'd be more than happy to fix it up. We are working on the next
   version of the SDK and any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
5) How big was your sound engine, 270K did you say? Wow, that is huge.
   Is there a reason why it is that big? Does that include the size of the
   3D sound samples? As a typical engine (according to other developers
   I talked to is about 10K for digital audio and 20-30K for MIDI). I've
   even seen some brave souls manage to make a digital audio player
   (MOD/Protracker type) fit into as little as 3K of memory. 
 
I'm looking forward to hearing back from you, either through the digest or
directly to my email address, john.smith@gravis.com. C'ya and take care.

John

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

Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1993 07:26:20 -0300 (ADT)
From: Gravis Ultrasound Lover <markus@Info.UMoncton.ca>
Subject: Re: Missing notes under windo
Message-ID: <Pine.3.02.9310110718.A2685-a100000@clement>

On Sun, 10 Oct 1993, it was written:

> 
> If you're using slower machines you'd notice missing notes frequently.
> On the faster machines, notes may be dropped if you're running multiple
> applications.  On my machine(486DX-25), missing notes may occur even if
> I run only the MIDI player in the foreground.  It is not due to the
> setting of the number of active voices.  It's weird to hear drum, bass,
> or even a couple string notes being skipped..  BTW, 28 is the active
> voices I set under Windows.
> 

	My computer is a 486-66 and I'm still missing some notes on random
occasions.  Even if I only have MIDISoft running.  Since I'm using the
PCTools for Windows desktop, I tried shutting every desktops off and the
problem still occurs.  Hmmmm.....

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

Date: Mon, 11 Oct 93 12:32:43 PDT
From: mikebat@qdeck.com (Mike Batchelor)
Subject: My Letter for the Blizzard
Message-ID: <9310111932.AA07786@cebu.qdeck.com>

Remember - Tuesday October 12 is the day to deluge all the game publishers
with requests for Ultrasound support!  Here is a copy of the letter I sent
(will send):

#Subject: Support for Advanced Gravis Ultrasound
#To: 76004.2132@compuserve.com (Access Software),
	Sierras@aol.com (Sierra, Dynamix, et. al.),
	76004.2143@compuserv.com (Sierra, Dynamix, et. al.),
	SierDan@aol.com (Sierra, Dynamix, et. al.),
	Linkspro_1@aol.com (Accolade), apogee@delphi.com (Apogee Software),
	joe.siegler@crs.com (Apogee Software),
	76004.237@compuserve.com (Electronic Arts),
	LucasArts@aol.com (Lucas Arts), 75300.454@compuserve.com (Lucas Arts),
	ea@cix.compulink.co.uk (Electronic Arts),
	EpicGames@aol.com (Epic MegaGames),
	GlenEpic@delphi.com (Epic MegaGames),
	romero@idsoftware.com (Id), jay@idsoftware.com (Id),
	help@idsoftware.com (Id), 76702.1342@compuserve.com (Interplay),
	interpla@orion.oac.uci.edu (Interplay),
	zoinks@netcom.com (Maxis), Maxis@aol.com (Maxis),
	71435.276@compuserve.com (Maxis), 71333.1470@compuserve.com (Maxis),
	MicroProse@aol.com (MicroProse),
	76004.2223@compuserve.com (MicroProse),
	OSI@aol.com (Origin Systems), Origin_CS@aol.com (Origin Systems),
	76004.2612@compuserve.com (Origin Systems),
	origin@world.std.com (Origin Systems),
	76004.2144@compuserve.com (Spectrum Holobyte),
	S_Holobyte@aol.com (Spectrum Holobyte),
	76711.250@compuserve.com (Strategic Simulations),
	StratSim@aol.com (Strategic Simulations), WizardScot@aol.com (Wizard),
	Fitzgerald@delphi.com (Wizard), 71764.3137@compuserve.com (Wizard),
	threesixty@aol.com (Three-Sixty),
	76711.240@compuserve.com (Three-Sixty),
	76711.33@compuserve.com (Sir-Tech), 72040.340@compuserve.com (SSG)


Attention All Game Publishers!

Support for the Advanced Gravis Ultrasound card in your products is needed!
I am the happy owner of an Ultrasound card, and I am very encouraged by the
recent developments in the area of sound support for this excellent card.

To Sierra:  Thanks VERY much for your recent driver update that allows
previously-released General MIDI games to use the Ultrasound.  Keep them
coming, I am a happy Sierra customer.  Please encourage and assist your
subsidiaries to also adopt Ultrasound support in their products.

To Id Software:  I am anxiously awaiting the releases of DOOM!, which has
already been promised Ultrasound support.  It ought to be fantastic fun!

To Maxis:  Thank you very much for your recent driver updates for Sim City
Classic and Sim Farm.  They never sounded better!  Keep the updates coming,
and please incorporate Ultrasound support in future releases.

To Accolade:  Star Control 2 is still a classic space strategy game, made
all the more enjoyable by native Ultrasound support, the first major release
to have it.  I look forward to other Ultrasound efforts from your company.

To all other publishers:  

If you don't support Ultrasound now, please start work on it right away!  I
hope that this letter writing campaign from the readers of the Ultrasound
Internet mailing list helps the representatives who read e-mail to convince
management and the game developers that the market for Ultrasound is not
insignificant.  The card is worthy of support for the same reason Roland MIDI
cards are worthy of support:  both Roland and Ultrasound produce great hifi
music.  Great sound is an important part of a great game package.  Don't
remain stuck in the FM past.  Take a step into the Wavetable future, and
start supporting Ultrasound!

Thanks for your attention to this letter.  I hope it makes an impression on
those persons who make the decisions in these matters.

Regards,

Mike Batchelor
Ultrasound owner, Game purchaser

-- 
-- Mike Batchelor, Technical Support Specialist, Sales
-- Quarterdeck Office Systems, Santa Monica, California
-- mikebat@qdeck.com <work> mike@batpad.org <play>
-- Windows : DESQview/X :: Solitaire : Network BlaqJaq

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

Date: Mon, 11 Oct 93 14:10:31 EST
From: jmorris@ace.com (Cuthalion)
Subject: Nice Job Gravis
Message-ID: <9310111410.0.UUL1.3#25274@ace.com>

  I just thought i'd say that I've had my GUS since last november.. and
the only problem i had with was with windows, and it's really not
gravis's fault.  I have a really screwey setup with like 4 windows
configurations, so it didn't know which copy of the driver to overwrite.
 (EVERYTHING has this problem! :)  But anyways, i'm really happy with my
GUS...  NICE piece of hardware!  and man, those sierra drivers are NICE!
SBOS is sufficient..

			   Just my stomp of approval! :)
							   -jmorris@ace.com

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

Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1993 15:05:32 +0501 (EDT)
From: Gunnar Swanson <gunnar@gibbs.oit.unc.edu>
Subject: Obscene language not acceptable!
Message-ID: <Pine.3.05.9310111532.A1600-a100000@gibbs.oit.unc.edu>

To all of my fellow GUSers,

	Recently I have expressed some opinions that some of you have very
strongly disagreed with.  That is fine, however, I do not appreciate
obscene, rude, insulting, or hate type mail.  Writing someone an obscene
note is unacceptable behavior.  I would never speak to any of you in that
way, much less write you an obscene note.  No more obscene flames, thank
you.  

	Please if you disagree, do it with some dignity and restraint. 



			Respectfully


			Gunnar Swanson


gunnar@gibbs.oit.unc.edu



end. 

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

Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1993 08:52:12 +0200
From: PWRJAM01@Uctvax.UCT.AC.ZA
Subject: ositive Post: Better Patches
Message-ID: <01H3ZAOJ4ZEQ8WWAG7@Uctvax.UCT.AC.ZA>

The 2.06 patch set is not bad, but some of the patches could
be improved or made to sound like GM ( some of them are completely
different ! ).  Its great to be able to make patches and 
some people have been making some really good ones - you know
who there are, the problem is that these normally take up
more or less memory and certain programs calcalute which
patches to use so as to fit them in memory.
I can see(hear) that gravis is quite busy right now with
the whole support business, so instead of recreating patches
why don't they just make a new standard patch set with the
ones made by others ( not the patches that are 5 times the size )
just the ones that sound much better eg Gunshot - Accordeon etc
Someone posted a list of good and bad patches about 2-3 digests
ago - I agree with his findings.  I am sure that gravis can com
to an aggrement with Francious (sorry don't no the spelling) Dion
about using his patches.
On FTP.REED.EDU  /EPS/SAMPLES - there are lots of good sounding
intruments that can be made into patches 

So what do you think ?

******************************************
*                                        *
*   James Power                          *
*   University of Cape Town              *
*   South Africa                         *
*   Internet: pwrjam01@uctvax.uct.ac.za  *
*                                        *
******************************************

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

Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1993 10:53:28 -0600 (MDT)
From: "Keith J. Ball" <BALLK@ZENO.MSCD.EDU>
Subject: People complaining...
Message-ID: <01H3ZEXUAJS28WVYQK@ZENO.MSCD.EDU>

Hey guys those of you that keep complaining about the GUS don't really know
what your talking about. As well as I can tell the guys at Gravis at least
care. Unlike some other companies that I have dealt with. I gave up on the
GUS with my kid and got him an SB Pro...only because the software took so
long to get issued that had the fixes in it. That was a mistake...as near
as I can tell there is just as many problems with all the rest of the sound
cards out there. At least there is a lot better support out there from the
GUS people. 

So can we put and end to the "Bitching" and get back to the real things
that matter... like writing good software etc. that supports the GUS. 

BTW the kid has asked for the GUS back out of my machine.

Keith

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

Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1993 05:07:34 -0500 (EST)
From: STU_JABIRCHE@VAX1.ACS.JMU.EDU
Subject: Second Reality
Message-ID: <01H3Z31GBD5E90Q6RZ@VAX1.ACS.JMU.EDU>

...is definitely VERY COOL. I had to run it in flat mode with just my GUS
environment variables, but it was worth the hassle (plus I have Mboot). I
recommend watching this. The flight sequence is the best IMHO. Music is great
and sounds great on the GUS. This card is making its place known in the world
and if there are those who want to start up a divergent list to whine about
support, have at it, but I'd rather not read it on this list.

Watch the kudos
at the end and tell me John Smith isn't doing his gods-be best.
(Thanks from me, too, btw, Mr. Smith :))
Of course, you can ignore this if you want.
stu_jabirche@vax.acs.jmu.edu
John Birchett
Marc - Igormud

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

Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1993 19:46:57 -1000 (GMT-10:00)
From: Paul Murgatroyd <s1114@kowande.Bond.edu.au>
Subject: Second Reality
Message-ID: <Pine.3.05.9310111957.A11647-b100000@sand.kowande.Bond.edu.au>

Well,
	I must say that I am impressed with Second Reality. It actually makes
me quite envious of Future Crew, since I am 20, and only just starting to
learn assembly langauage (MIPS R2000). I noticed that the eldest member of
FC is 21, so I have a lot of catching up to do :-)

I haven't tried it with the GUS yet, since I just put in a PAS16, and
didn't want to attempt to get the GUS and PAS16 living side by side just
yet (Has anyone managed to do it...ie: should I even bother trying??)

Anyway, I'll check out the demo with the GUS in a couple of days. My
flatmate is buying a 486DX-50 tomorrow, and he has no sound board, so I'll
try it there.

Also, has anyone given the Dolby Surround Sound a try??? Another of my
friends has has a Dolby Pro Logic Amplifier, and I can hardly wait to try
it out :-)

NB: Don't think for a second that because I have bought a PAS16 that I am
abandonning the GUS. Quite the opposite. I'll be keeping close watch on
the GUS GUS scene, and I look forward to instaling my GUS once again.


 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Arguments for margins are always in inches,
 regrdless of your cuntry setting."

 - MS Excel 4.0 Function Reference Manual, p.312
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1993 11:51:12 -0700 (PDT)
From: David Hoang <dhoang@eis.calstate.edu>
Subject: Second Reality
Message-ID: <Pine.3.07.9310111112.A11648-a100000@eis.calstate.edu>

Okay, I just heard the 2nd reality and it was hella fresh! Anyone with a
Gravis with 512k or above should get this. I didn't know how long it was
when I ran it, but the 15+ mins. was worth it! In the beginning when a
ship was flying above the screen and other ships followed, I actually
heard 3d sound! Or was it just stereo sound? Anyways, the sound was hella
good! Sterreo sound all the way! Even on my cheap $30 speakers it sounded
great! I wonder how it would sound on a crappy SB? See you all!

|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
\*             David Hoang : dhoang@cal.state.edu            */
 \*    !I LOVE!     Student at San Jose State University        */
  \*   !MY GUS!         386sx-25,4megRAM,SpeedStarPro1Meg      */
   \*                   80MegHD,GUS1Meg           */
	|=================================================================|

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

Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1993 07:33:09 -0300 (ADT)
From: Gravis Ultrasound Lover <markus@Info.UMoncton.ca>
Subject: Second Reality!!!
Message-ID: <Pine.3.02.9310110709.A2696-a100000@clement>

	Get second reality now!!!!

	The GUS support is like anything heard yet.  My roomate has a
386-40 with a SoundBlaster (beep?) and I tried Second Reality on his
computer too.  Bahhh!  You can't compare.
	Future Crew did an excellent job.  I love the intro with the
stereo effects.  It rocked the apartment all morning. :)

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

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

Date: (null)
From: PWRJAM01@Uctvax.UCT.AC.ZA
Subject: Some good responses from game companies

I did my homework - I sent letters to all companies that
were at the end of mondays digest - most of them 
bounced unfortunately - but I am happy to say that
the replies that I have were very positive ! yes
about 3/7 of them will/ or are currently adding 
support in NATIVE mode !!! - well done GRAVIS 
others are going to use AIL - I would post the reply's
but I am sure someone else will and we don't need 
to read them over and over !

James
internet: pwrjam01@uctvax.uct.ac.za

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

Date: Sun, 10 Oct 93 13:16:00 PDT
From: n4zfd!@emsr0.emsr.att.com:frodo
Subject: The future of sound
Message-ID: <2CB8DB96@kodan.n2idf.ampr.org>

I've been watching for awhile now as people keep making noises about games. 
Folks, although many of you may have bought your GUS to play games with, DOS 
based games are not where the future of sound cards lie.

First off, DOS itself has a limited lifetime. This time next year, there 
will be basically four personal computer operating systems, two intended for 
desktop use, and two intended for server use.

The server operating systems are Windows NT and UNIX. Sound support on 
machines using these operating systems is not critical, as it would mostly 
be used by programmers waiting for compiles to complete.

The desktop operating systems will be OS/2, and Windows 4.0, (currently 
known as "Chicago"). These operating systems provide a wide range of 
services to programs, including the standard multimedia API. In common, both 
OS/2 and Chicago support the Windows Multimedia API, and this is the common 
platform where future sound cards will be used.

Sound cards have many uses, besides games. For those of you who aren't old 
enough to remember, at one point in time GRAPHICS was a luxury that people 
got on their home computers so that they could play games. Eventually, 
someone figured out a business use for GRAPHICS, and the technology took off 
 - now, virtually every computer that's sold has graphic capabilities far 
exceeding those of the earlier home computers, and for a hundredth of the 
cost.

This is the same way the sound card market is developing. Sound now has a 
business use - for presentations, as embedded sound annotations to documents 
that are sent via email in workgroups, etc. All of this development is being 
done under Windows, where the GUS performs as well or better, than other 
cards. (The only lacking point here is the GUS's interpretation of MIDI 
velocity).

At the same time, the market for multimedia reference software (ie., 
Encarta, Cinemania, Mammals, etc.) is rapidly developing. Being multimedia, 
the Windows Multimedia API is a given, also.

Folks, the only place Soundblaster compatibility matters is in DOS-based 
games. Even Sierra releases its games with a Windows version that uses the 
Multimedia API - they just need to support patch-caching. As has been 
pointed out, noone cares that the Roland cards don't have Soundblaster 
compatibility (because they were designed for musicians), that the Microsoft 
Sound System doesn't have it (because it was designed for business), and, 
eventually, noone will care whether or not the GUS does, either.

Forget sending hundreds of letters to game manufacturers to add native 
support to games. What needs doing is for drivers to be written to support 
the multimedia operating systems, and for the game manufacturers to "get 
with it", and start writing multimedia, before *they* are left in the dust.

p.s. For what its worth, Gravis needs to come out with/contract for:

a) Windows drivers that properly interpret the velocity in a MIDI sequence.

b) Port the Windows drivers to OS/2 MM2, again, with proper velocity 
interpretation.

c) Port the Windows drivers to Windows NT, again, with proper velocity 
interpretation.

The Windows NT drivers will be portable to Chicago either as-is, or with 
minimal changes. The API and driver structure for both are the same.

Jim Blakely, VP
Blakely-Signature Associates

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

Date: (null)
From: rylos.jazz.att.com:frodo@emsr0.emsr.att.com
Subject: The future of sound

I've been watching for awhile now as people keep making noises about games. 
Folks, although many of you may have bought your GUS to play games with, DOS 
based games are not where the future of sound cards lie.

First off, DOS itself has a limited lifetime. This time next year, there 
will be basically four personal computer operating systems, two intended for 
desktop use, and two intended for server use.

The server operating systems are Windows NT and UNIX. Sound support on 
machines using these operating systems is not critical, as it would mostly 
be used by programmers waiting for compiles to complete.

The desktop operating systems will be OS/2, and Windows 4.0, (currently 
known as "Chicago"). These operating systems provide a wide range of 
services to programs, including the standard multimedia API. In common, both 
OS/2 and Chicago support the Windows Multimedia API, and this is the common 
platform where future sound cards will be used.

Sound cards have many uses, besides games. For those of you who aren't old 
enough to remember, at one point in time GRAPHICS was a luxury that people 
got on their home computers so that they could play games. Eventually, 
someone figured out a business use for GRAPHICS, and the technology took off 
 - now, virtually every computer that's sold has graphic capabilities far 
exceeding those of the earlier home computers, and for a hundredth of the 
cost.

This is the same way the sound card market is developing. Sound now has a 
business use - for presentations, as embedded sound annotations to documents 
that are sent via email in workgroups, etc. All of this development is being 
done under Windows, where the GUS performs as well or better, than other 
cards. (The only lacking point here is the GUS's interpretation of MIDI 
velocity).

At the same time, the market for multimedia reference software (ie., 
Encarta, Cinemania, Mammals, etc.) is rapidly developing. Being multimedia, 
the Windows Multimedia API is a given, also.

Folks, the only place Soundblaster compatibility matters is in DOS-based 
games. Even Sierra releases its games with a Windows version that uses the 
Multimedia API - they just need to support patch-caching. As has been 
pointed out, noone cares that the Roland cards don't have Soundblaster 
compatibility (because they were designed for musicians), that the Microsoft 
Sound System doesn't have it (because it was designed for business), and, 
eventually, noone will care whether or not the GUS does, either.

Forget sending hundreds of letters to game manufacturers to add native 
support to games. What needs doing is for drivers to be written to support 
the multimedia operating systems, and for the game manufacturers to "get 
with it", and start writing multimedia, before *they* are left in the dust.

p.s. For what its worth, Gravis needs to come out with/contract for:

a) Windows drivers that properly interpret the velocity in a MIDI sequence.

b) Port the Windows drivers to OS/2 MM/2, again, with proper velocity 
interpretation.

c) Port the Windows drivers to Windows NT, again, with proper velocity 
interpretation.

The Windows NT drivers will be portable to Chicago either as-is, or with 
minimal changes. The API and driver structure for both are the same.

Jim Blakely, VP
Blakely-Signature Associates

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

Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1993 10:05:11 -0500
From: ken@austin.ibm.com (Ken Goach IBM)
Subject: Weird GUS problem/games question
Message-ID: <9310111505.AA19457@quarlvis.austin.ibm.com>

HI all,

Well, it's time for my quarterly plea for help.

I am still having problems with MIDI in Windows. If I play
a MID that uses any of the flute sounds (flute, piccolo,
pan flute, ocarina, etc) Windows crashes. Sometimes it
returns an EMM386 error (exception error #06), other
times it just hangs. It goes to a black screen immediately
after the flute sound begins playing and holds the last
notes played. I don't have this problem with playmidi.
Everything else works great (except I may have gotten
the same crash with the clarinet patch once).

Any clues?

On the subject of games, I was wondering:

1) Is there a list of all the games that currently support
   the GUS, including the Sierra games that now work with
   the added driver?

2) Can someone recommend a football or golf game that works
   well with SBOS?

3) Has Gravis ever thought about starting a games division,
   or hiring a second party (like they did with Forte) to
   code games with *real* GUS support?

Thanks,

Ken
ken@austin.ibm.com

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

Date: (null)
From: "(O) (O) c ?" <uwtl@sunyit.edu>
Subject: WinJammer Questions

	Any of you guys use WinJammer??  For some reason I always get a 
'Can't Load Track 1'. 
		Actually, it seems Winjammer can't load the first
track it tries to load period .  If i'm using patch 4,19,20, it will then say
'can't load track 4'.  It will load the rest fine, and I can go to the 
Ultrasound Patch Manager and manually load the patch that wouldn't load. 
It's just a pain because everytime I stop/play, replay the song it wipes that
patch out of memory, and I have to manually load the patch all over again.

		Also, for some reason I can't get WJ to interface with the Patch
change on the Miracle keybourd. I'm using the Ultrasound Midi Box/Driver.
It only plays on Channel 10.   

		Any help muchly appreciated. Thanks.



		  
	

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

Date: (null)
From: PWRJAM01@Uctvax.UCT.AC.ZA
Subject: WSD2SND - where can I find it ?

I need a bit a help - I got an EPS disk off ftp.reed.edu
and EPS_Utils - now how do you extract the files.  Must
you write the files to a disk ?  HOW ? If I choose
eXtract then it asks me for the volume - fine then it
wants the directory BLOCK number and it defaults to 3.
Dunno what this means.  Then it asks for the patch names
Isn't there a way to select all the patches/instruments ?
Then where do I get WSD2SND - I have got INSTEDIT but I 
can not seem to find WSD2SND ?

Thanks for the help
****************************************
*    ________       _____              * 
*   !___  ___!     /   O !             *
*      / /        /   __/              *
*  ___/ / ames   /  /  ower            *
* !____/        /__/                   *
* University of Cape Town              *
* South Africa                         *
* Internet: pwrjam01@uctvax.uct.ac.za  *
****************************************

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

Date: (null)
From: (null)

Forwarded message:
> From johnr@idcube.idsoftware.com Tue Oct 12 00:48:17 1993
> From: John Romero <johnr@idcube.idsoftware.com>
> Date: Mon, 11 Oct 93 11:45:20 -0500
> 
> There's a very small chance that GUS support may be dropped, but  
> we're not worried about it yet.  Sadly, though, our GUS support will  
> not take total advantage of the card.  We won't be having any 44khz  
> samples, just 11khz.  DOOM is a shareware game, and it needs to be a  
> shareware size.  44khz samples will blow-up a project's size  
> considerably.  The GUS does have a mixer chip so you can have  
> simultaneous sound effects -- but we're doing that in software, so  
> the SB and compatibles will have composited sound effects as well.
> ---
> John Romero (romero@idsoftware.com) id Software
> Send questions about id software to help@idsoftware.com
> (NeXTmail OK).

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

End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V7 #11
*************************************
