Ultrasound Daily Digest     Tue May 11 00:07     Volume 3: Issue  41  

Today's Topics:
							  Alone/Dark
					 Customer is always right...
								 Help
					   keyboard help requested
						   King's Quest VI
					  Midi Sequencer for the GUS
				 Prince of Persia 2 w/ GUS NOT fixed
					 PS16 format and other stuff
				   Request trouble?  Not a problem.
							SBOS problems
						   Sim Life anyone?
		Thinking of changing the vol/iss counter for digest...
							   ULTRAMOD
					Ultrasound Daily Digest V3 #40
								VMAP?
					  Voice Recognition Software

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, 10 May 1993 11:55:24 -0500 (CDT)
From: Phil Johnson <pjohnso2@ub.d.umn.edu>
Subject: Alone/Dark
Message-ID: <Pine.3.05.9305101124.A8015-9100000@ub.d.umn.edu>

  I saw some people having probs with Alone/Dark with GUS and SBOS 2.04 ..
  It works fine on my system (I'm lucky, I guess) with my SBOS stuff set
as IRQ 7 DMA 1 A220... maybe try those settings?  Also, I don't use any of
the switches and I'm not loading anything high.

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

Date: Mon, 10 May 1993 9:12:42 PST
From: "RICK DORRIS" <rcdorris@ucdavis.edu>
Subject: Customer is always right...
Message-ID: <9305100912.4bee7efb.HST@AEMAIL.UCDAVIS.EDU>

>Yknow, there is a good reason that Mr. Smith cannot answer questions as
>quickly as you'd like him to: he has a life too......

Boy, would I be out of business if I had the same attitude. I rely on
my good name for keeping me in business and that means responding to
my customers' needs/wants/concerns.... no matter how busy I am with
other things. Gravis better "wake up and smell the coffee". Having a
better product does not insure success; you have to know a little
about marketing and keeping your customer base happy.  While I am
pleased with my GUS, I would not recommend it to anyone; certainly not
what Gravis wants to hear, but unless they start supporting us users
better and being honest about software release dates, I'm not going to
push their product.

Rick Dorris
rcdorris@ucdavis.edu

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

Date: 10 May 1993 14:24:16 +0200
From: MATERIA1@IPDUNIVX.UNIPD.IT
Subject: Help
Message-ID: <01GY0HSBPBB2000B8B@IPDUNIVX.UNIPD.IT>

Dear Sir, I don't know if this is the correct space for sending this message, 
but I got from an American friend the FTP sites for GUS, and I just started
reading some of the stuff posted there.
I live in Italy and am an happy owner of a GUS. Anyway I do have some (!)
complaints.  The first one is that I sent my registration card to Logitech
in Switzerland and, after almost three months, I am still waiting for the
diskettes (general patches, new GUS installation disks ver 2.0x and, I was
told by a guy that I contacted at Gravis, PowerChords+Recording Session
(Midisoft)). Another complaint (a much heavier one) is that no support at
all is given by anybody for your product here in Italy (Europe?!). 
My dealer told me to contact Logitech Italian headquarters in Milan, they
told me to contact Logitech headquarters in Switzerland and , finally,
they told me that they were sorry, but they don't give any Tech support
for Gravis products (and of course told me to contact my local dealer....).
This is really ridicolous. Moreover, in a brochure describing your products
(written in Italian but printed in Switzerland) it is written (quote):
"Advanced Gravis is Company affiliated to Logitech" !
So, what is going on? Will I receive my disks or do I need to send my data
directly to Adv.Gravis in Canada to become an official registered user with
them? Please send me some hints. 
Moreover I need to contact someone that can help me with the problem of getting
a MIDI connector cable (NOT box) that works with the GUS. The main reason why
I bought the GUS is to use it for real-time imput from my MIDI Roland piano
(I am a registered owner of the program called Encore by Passport Designs)
and then print the score. But without a connector I am lost. Nobody (Italy +
Switzerland) seem to really know anything, and I can't afford to call the
tech support of Gravis by phone from Italy. My local dealer told me to buy
a Sound Blaster connector cable and that should work. Now, of course after
buying it, I read that it DOESN'T work!
I read about the changes one could do to both the cable and the souncard,
but I am not familiar with soldering and electrical stuff (I am just an ex-
professional musician and a materials scientist).
Why in the manual for the GUS it is said (pg 20 and pg 83) that (quote)"
you can also attach a standard MIDI device through a low cost cable adapter"
and "a MIDI cable adapter ... is available from Advanced Gravis" (I checked
with them and it is NOT available (at least not yet)).
Also, I got a brochure from Midisoft where they say that their MIDI Kit is 
compatible with the GUS. Do you happen to know if this is true or it is just 
almost true (or not yet true). To contact them directly by phone will be quite
expensive (about 4$ per minute!). So, I'd like to know if I may buy it (even if
it is definitely not a LOW cost cable adapter - 119.95$) or where in the world
can I get something that works with the GUS.

Many thanks for your patience, but it is three months that I'm waiting to find
someone to talk to in order to solve (or at least share) my difficulties. Please
send me an answer (any kind of answer.....).

Best regards    Paolo Colombo (happy/frustrated owner of a GUS)

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

Date: 10 May 93 15:32:20 EST
From: "Joseph R. Granto"  <GLOCK@chip.cba.ufl.edu>
Subject: keyboard help requested
Message-ID: <MAILQUEUE-101.930510153220.256@chip.cba.ufl.edu>

Okay, this question has been posed numerous times, but not to my
total satisfaction so far.  So here it goes...

I just ordered my GUS card.  It should arrive in a few days.  My wife
wants to hook up a keyboard (midi) to it and learn how to play a
keyboard.  I want a "dumb" keyboard, since the GUS has a built in
synth.  I want a velocity sensitive keyboard.  Weighted keys would be
nice.  Full size is okay.  Other nifty sound effects stuff is fine,
too.  Who makes them?  What are the _specific_ models, and their
prices?  What are the features?  And, very important here, where can
I get it?  Please include a mail order # if you've got it.  PLEASE
PLEASE PLEASE be specific; the longer the list the better.

Question #2:  Has GUS released its midi adapter yet?  I have seen
various schematics for homemade ones, but I would like to buy one
made by a professional.  I am not againts paying someone to make one
for me...

Question #3:  My wife does not know how to play a keyboard.  She
would like a cool program that will allow her not only to use the
keyboard, but will also provide a fairly thorough tutorial.  I have
heard that CakeWalk for Windows is good, but do not know if it is a
good TEACHING tool.  What are the recommendations of this group?

Thanks ahead of time...


 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
Joe Granto                                      GLOCK@chip.cba.ufl.edu

"When the going gets tough, the tough get a GLOCK!"
	--Guns & Ammo
"Don't clock'em, GLOCK'em!"
	--Miami Dade police officer
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Mon, 10 May 1993 13:32:16 -0700
From: mbarboni@cs70aa.ucsd.edu (Michael P. Barboni)
Subject: King's Quest VI
Message-ID: <199305102032.AA01205@cs70e>

I know King's Quest VI is not a recent release but I figured since I had
problems with it, others might, too.

The solution to the game locking up, (in the intro., during the game, etc.),
is extremely simple.  You just need a switch on the SBOS... "SBOS -x2".

Technical support at Sierra On-Line informs me that the "-x2" switch is the
best bet when running ANY SIERRA ON-LINE game.  Just thought I'd leave a note.

-Michael Barboni
barboni@ucsd.edu

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

Date: Lun, 10 Mai 93 17:12:44 FRA
From: 9269Z%FRESTP11.BITNET@FRMOP11.CNUSC.FR
Subject: Midi Sequencer for the GUS
Message-ID: <9305101514.AA06337@orca.es.com>

Date: 10 Mai 1993, 17:09:01 FRA
From: Benjamin Ryzman           44.41.11.02          9269Z    at FRESTP11
To:   ultrasound@dsd.es.com

I am looking for (Windows) Midi sequencer that are able to use Patch Caching.
Are there any other than Win Jammer and Session (I hope Cubase or Cakewalk Pro
will be GUS Aware in the next version).

Also, would it be possible to use the GUS like an Akai Sampler, that is, the
sequencer could modify the patch allocation on the fly (eg: put it on number 6
instead of 10).

Amicalement,
+---------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
|   Benjamin RYZMAN   |  "...And now, something completly different |"  |
| ESTP, Paris, France |             -Monty Python                       |
|       Email:        |   "640 kb should be sufficient for anyone..."   |
|9269Z@FRESTP11.BITNET|        -Bill "goofy" Gates, circa 1981 AD       |
+---------------------+-------------------------------------------------+

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

Date: Mon, 10 May 1993 01:29:26 -0700 (MST)
From: Charred Corpse <mfinkel@gas.uug.arizona.edu>
Subject: Prince of Persia 2 w/ GUS NOT fixed
Message-ID: <Pine.3.05.9305100126.A20587-b100000@argon>

I am NOT satisfied with Prince of Persia's alleged fix of going back to
SBOS 1.20 and getting some 'weird' sounds.  SBOS should be able to play
speech like is required by Prince of Persia.  It merely requires a dumb
DAC to the best of my knowledge to do this.  It seems to crash if I allow
the speech to occur, or it will crash (bypassing the speech) as soon as a
digital sound (such as an enemy dying/screaming) happens.  Is there any
mix of switches to fix this?  

Also, the music is out of tune to itself.  It is not so bad if instruments
are all out of tune a uniform amount so that they are in tune relative to
each other, but this is not the case.  The instruments grate against each
other, especially in the higher registers.  I belive that the instrument
library in SBOS should be redone yet again.

Please post all suggestions.

Mike




******************************************************************************
*  --> Mfinkel@gas.uug.arizona.edu * A good day is a flamethrower, a pile of *
*   Tucson, Arizona U.S.A.     *  corpses, and a full tank of gasoline!  *
******************************************************************************

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

Date: Mon, 10 May 1993 18:44:05 -0700
From: Eric N. Liao <liaoe@aero.org>
Subject: PS16 format and other stuff
Message-ID: <199305110144.AA16154@aerospace.aero.org>

Has Renaissance set a release date for the new protracker-16 format?  Joshua?
Anyone?

Also, I downloaded DMP240.ZIP (from wuarchive), and I'm happy that it works
with SBOS.  With DMP240, I can listen to the music files in UNREAL and
FC_PANIC (DMP includes a ripper utility, and DMP can play many S3
M files)

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

Date: Mon, 10 May 93 15:20:30 CDT
From: ddebry@itchy (Dave DeBry)
Subject: Request trouble?  Not a problem.
Message-ID: <9305102120.AA03596@itchy>

	A few people have mailed me with troubles trying to get the
request server to send them files (like the FAQ, undigest.c, etc.).

	I've fixed the problems, and it works now.  Go ahead and
request that FAQ as many times as you need.

	(For those of you who are masochistic enough to follow the
evolution of the mail server system here, I rewrote it from the
c-shell scripts into C.  It's much nicer to maintain now.  It's been
running here for a couple of weeks, in fact.)

-- 
Dave  ddebry@ debry@   \ 
DeBry dsd.    peruvian. | "He was wearing a button that said 'Ask me
	  es.     cs.utah.  |  about my vow of silence'."
	  com     edu      /

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

Date: Mon, 10 May 93 4:14:07 EDT
From: Phat H Tran <ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: SBOS problems
Message-ID: <9305100814.AA07261@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca>

All those who are having problems with SBOS 2.0x should revert back to
SBOS 1.20.  SBOSes 1.23 to 2.04 cannot handle DAC emulation properly
on some computers.  Symptoms of this bug include "SBOS installed"
playing backwards during the game, digitized speech and sounds looping
or cutting out early, and screeching noise after a segment of digitized
speech or sound plays.  If you experience these problems using SBOS 1.23
or later, I highly recommend using SBOS 1.20 instead.  It may just do
the trick.  And please post your successes or failures when going back
to version 1.20.  If enough people find that 1.20 works better than
the newer SBOSes, Forte will have to address the problem.  They do read
the newsgroup and this mailing list.

I haven't tried SBOS 2.06B yet.

Phat.

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

Date: Mon, 10 May 1993 10:19:24 -0400 (EDT)
From: The Dark Doc <Morgan_Stair@dl5000.bc.edu>
Subject: Sim Life anyone?
Message-ID: <Pine.3.03.9305101024.A26104-8100000@dlws9.bc.edu>

It appears to be a no go :-(

My computer cold boots if I try to run it with SBOS 2.04, has anyone tried
this or have experience with any other Maxis Games (Sim City, Earth, Ant)? 

-Morgan

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

Date: Mon, 10 May 93 19:53:05 CDT
From: ddebry@itchy (Dave DeBry)
Subject: Thinking of changing the vol/iss counter for digest...
Message-ID: <9305110153.AA05574@itchy>

	Heya, folks.

	I'm thinking about changing the volume/issue counter for the
digests, so that the volume gets incremented every month instad of
every quarter.  This makes individual archive files smaller and easier
to download and search through.

	Any comments?

	(BTW:  Yes, I know that the digest isn't being uploaded to the
FTP sites every night anymore.  I haven't had a chance to code that
into the new mailserver program (see my other post in this issue).)

-- 
Dave  ddebry@ debry@   \ "Some people say capital punishment is cruel
DeBry dsd.    peruvian. | and unusual.  The way to make it less unusual
	  es.     cs.utah.  | is to do it more often.  The way to make it
	  com     edu      /  more cruel is to use a turkey baster."

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

Date: Mon, 10 May 93 09:40:08 EDT
From: gregof@JSP.UMontreal.CA (Grego Filippo)
Subject: ULTRAMOD
Message-ID: <9305101340.AA11910@spt1.jsp.umontreal.ca>

Hi GUSers,
I just bought a Gravis Ultrasound and needless to say that I'm 
very happy with my choice !!!
Anyway, there one question I can't figure out ....how do you
control the voulume with ULTRAMOD ???? ( my speakers don't have
volume knobs on them )...

gregof@jsp.umontreal.ca

-Red Two-

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

Date: Mon, 10 May 1993 15:08:48 -0300 (ADT)
From: Shadow Of Fear <markus@Info.UMoncton.ca>
Subject: Re: Ultrasound Daily Digest V3 #40
Message-ID: <Pine.3.02.9305101546.A28616-b100000@clement>

On Mon, 10 May 1993, Ultrasound Server wrote:

> Haven't tried Covox's voice recognition software -- but I did try a
> couple of the shareware voice recognition programs that are out there
> for Windows ... and they worked fine. That's the whole point of
> having a Windows driver.

	VoiceBlaster works just fine with me.  No switches at all.  Just
load SBOS normally. 
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Name: Marc Y. Paulin                Address: markus@info.umoncton.ca       |
| Age: 21                            Talk Deamon: @clement.info.umoncton.ca |
|             Occupation: Student in computer programming                   |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| "Kirsty  and  Tiffany  re-enter  the  labyrinth,  where  Tiffany finds the|
|  puzzle box in  its  diamond  form.   Tiffany  stand before  Leviathan and|
|  begins to work  the box.   Channard arrives  menaces the  girl, but Julia|
|  appears behind Tiffany, and snatches her away.  Channard is distracted by|
|  a prolongned kiss from  Julia, which gives Tiffany time to resume closing|
|  the Lamen  Configuration.   Channard realizes too late what is happening,|
|  and slices Tiffany's  hand open  with a  tentacle  blade in an attempt to|
|  stop her." - HellBound: Hellraiser II - Clive Barker                     |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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

Date: Mon, 10 May 1993 10:42:50 -0400 (EDT)
From: The Dark Doc <Morgan_Stair@dl5000.bc.edu>
Subject: VMAP?
Message-ID: <Pine.3.03.9305101050.A26149-8100000@dlws9.bc.edu>

What does vmap mean anyway... is it that the GUS-windows-midi drivers and
GUS-DOS-playmidi use logarithmic volume scale, and thus midi files need to
have all their "volume" information changed for GUS?

-Morgan

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

Date: Mon, 10 May 93 7:55:09 CDT
From: tom@densun.oppd.gov (Tom Heng)
Subject: Voice Recognition Software
Message-ID: <m0nsXNu-4dkDz9C@tom>

I'm fairly new on the list and was wondering if anyone could give me some
advice on the best free/shareware voice recognition software for the GUS.
I'd like to have it available on both DOS and Windows 3.1. If this data is
on a FAQ please let me know the name and address. I only have limited
Access to FTP sites but I can probably work something out. I have been
patiently waiting for my new software, and hope to have it soon.
-----------------------
Thomas Heng
Nuclear Design Engineer
Email at tom@oppd.gov
-----------------------

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

End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V3 #41
*************************************
