Ultrasound Daily Digest     Wed, 31 Mar 93       Volume 2 : Issue  86 

Today's Topics:
				   48 kHz Playback & more memory ?
			[GUS] Sierra supports the Ultrasound! (2 msgs)
						 Future GUS releases
								 GMOS
					  GRAVIS & FORTE NEWS   1/4
					   GUS & X-Wing working!!!
			   GUS: need sequencer with musical scores
							GUS and dos 6
							  GUS ans SB
						   GUS MIDI adapter
					  GUSMOD v2.11 with EMM386?
							 GUS reviewed
		   Mouse cursor goes away with gus driver installed
					   Pitch to midi converter.
							 Programming?
						  Proposal for GMOS
				Real-time frequency-to-midi conversion
						   SBOS conflicts.
				   Still want an NT Driver for GUS
						 Ultima 7 part II fix
					  ULTRASOUND 03/30/93   1/2
					  ULTRASOUND 03/30/93   2/2

	Information about the UltraSound Daily Digest (such as
mail addresses, request servers, ftp sites, etc., etc.) can be found
at the end of the Digest.

	*** HEY!!! *** 

	Before you ask a question, *** READ THE FAQ ***.  It's
available on the request server and the ftp sites, or check the
newsgroup archives.

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

Date: 30 Mar 93 09:23:13 GMT+0100
From: "Alexander Majarek, Sascha, SAM"  <Alexander.Majarek@uibk.ac.at>
Message-Id: <MAILQUEUE-101.930330092313.320@subz-nov>
Subject: 48 kHz Playback & more memory ?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Hi netters, sounders, etc.

I have two questions, which I thought you could maybe answer.

When I read the announcements on EPAS there was a statement, that the
16 bit recording option will be able to recored 16 bit stereo
at 48 kHz. Now my question: As far as I know the GUS does only supply
16 bit stereo 44,1 kHz playback, so what should we do with those 48
kHz samples?????

Another question is: Are there any future plans for extended versions
of the card (for example: supporting 4 or 16 MB on board memory, or
any other improvement), or is there the possibility of any hardware
faults, which might result in corrected hardware versions? Or is the
GUS which is available now the one and only version of sound hardware
produced by Gravis in the near (or even not near) future?

Thanks in advance,
SAM

*********************************************************************
*Alexander.Majarek@uibk.ac.at * There are 3 ways (fast, sweet, sure)*
*Perthalerg. 1c/11            * for a man to ruin himself:          *
*A-6020 Innsbruck             * 1. Gamblin'   (fast),               *
*AUSTRIA (EUROPE)             * 2. Women      (sweet) &             *
*Tel.: 0043-512-84-26-15      * 3. Computers  (sure)                *
*********************************************************************

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

Date: 29 Mar 1993 22:26:51 -0800
From: jamesrod@mizar.usc.edu (Jeff Lawson)
Message-Id: <1p8p7bINNlv@mizar.usc.edu>
Subject: [GUS] Sierra supports the Ultrasound!
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

That's right!  Well, sort of.  It seems that Sierra is starting to
release of their new games with a Windows EXE that allows you to play
their games in Windows using the Windows drivers.  That means that if
you have an Ultrasound driver for Windows (an you should) then Sierra
is essentially supports the Ultrasound.  The first game they've
release with the Windows version is Ecoquest II (although I've heard
that a beta version of Space Quest V had a really buggy one-I don't
know if it was in the final version).

Anyways, I had a little trouble getting it to work at first, but what
I had to do was select extended MIDI device (or whatever they call it)
in the install program (you must run SETUP.EXE from Windows for the
Windows install).  Then, before I run the game, I select Control
Panel, chose Midi Map, and then select "Ultrasound-?k" (with ? being
the amount of DRAM you have installed).  Then, I ran the patch loader
and loaded the patches for "LOAD?.MID" (with ? being the amount of
DRAM you have again).

I don't know of any of this is unnecessary, but it worked for me.  And
don't think that you need a meg of DRAM to get good results, because
you don't -- I still only have 256k and it sounds great (a lot better
than SBOS!).


Jeff Lawson
jamesrod@mizar.usc.edu

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

Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1993 08:47:43 GMT
From: himb@iniki.soest.hawaii.edu (Liz Camarra)
Message-Id: <C4p1rK.H53@news.Hawaii.Edu>
Subject: [GUS] Sierra supports the Ultrasound!
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

In article <1p8p7bINNlv@mizar.usc.edu> jamesrod@mizar.usc.edu (Jeff Lawson) writes:
>Anyways, I had a little trouble getting it to work at first, but what
>I had to do was select extended MIDI device (or whatever they call it)
>in the install program (you must run SETUP.EXE from Windows for the
>Windows install).  Then, before I run the game, I select Control
>Panel, chose Midi Map, and then select "Ultrasound-?k" (with ? being
>the amount of DRAM you have installed).  Then, I ran the patch loader
>and loaded the patches for "LOAD?.MID" (with ? being the amount of
>DRAM you have again).

  This trick seems to work on all Sierra MPC titles, even on my
ancient Mixed-up Mother Goose CD.  Are all the new games come
with windows EXE now?

+----------------------------------------------------------------+
Stephen Lau, Elec. Engineering, Univ. of Hawaii
*Using a friend's account while waiting for my new grad. account*
+              Death to FM synthesis! Go Gus!                    +

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

Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 13:04:34 EST
From: pccmoddan@aol.com
Message-Id: <9303301304.tn14117@aol.com>
Subject: Future GUS releases
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Ultra Chuck Yeager's Combat is >NOT< vapour-ware. A copy of it was inside the
box of the last GUS I received via Gravis' offices in Washington. I think it
can be had by contacting Gravis for $14, and it is WELL worth it! The sound
is superb (16 bit, stereo, original patches) and the gameplay is great too.
   As for other titles supporting GUS, they are coming. There will be Miles
MIDIPak/DIGIPak drivers for the GUS within a short time, and these will make
it simple for developers to add GUS support (unfortunately it's not as good
as writing your own GUS support but it will sound as good as the MIDI demo I
would think) and the drivers will also be usable with games already out there
that use Miles drivers. 
   Aside from the Miles drivers, I know of 5 titles that will definitely have
GUS native mode support that are in development. There are most certainly
many more in development, but these are the ones I know about since I'm
involved with them. 
   Another thing that looks good for the GUS - everyone I have talked to says
that everyone they've talked to seems really interested in MODs and MOD-like
formats due to the sucess of Star Control II. What does this mean for you?
Well, if a company decides to use MOD-type music in a game, I would say the
chances of GUS support in that game are at least 99%. The GUS is the best
device currently available for playing MODs, and the developers tend to demo
their stuff with the best equipment, such as Sierra using Sound Canvases for
midi. Can't play a MOD very well on a Waveblaster! :)
  - Dan

________________________________________________________
Dan Nicholson    -    PCkS Associates - (908)964-8066 - ModDan
							  553 Thoreau Terr. 
							  Union, NJ 07083
________________________________________________________
			   
								Ross Perot is Ghandi.
________________________________________________________

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

Date: 30 Mar 1993 23:01:03 +0800
From: TC <SH7126146@NTUVAX.NTU.AC.SG>
Message-Id: <01GWFPUZGNH2AH2YJX@NTUVAX.NTU.AC.SG>
Subject: GMOS
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

>> GM instructions in games, and make a "patch" for such games to remap the
>> whole game to 1meg worth of patches.
>
>I wonder why no one caught the reference to option (3) which I mentioned
>should allow GMOS to determine the patch changes during a particular
>run. For example, you run 'GMOS -cxwing.cfg' and GMOS will collect any
>>MIDI patch change information throughout this particular session and
>>save it to a .cfg file. It can then load this file later to load the
>>required patches. Of course, this is not fail safe. A program might need
									  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>more than 1MB worth of patches throughout the whole run. Thus, dynamic
>>loading will STILL have to be supported.
			  ^^^^^
> This is a decent approach to it, but I see at least one problem:
> What happens if the end scene of the game (when you "win") uses an
> instrument not used in the rest of the game?  Then, when you make your *.cfg
> file, it will not have that patch in it, so GMOS will not load that patch.
 
Like I said, the .cfg file is *NOT* fail safe. GMOS will still have to
support dynamic patch loading. GMOS will write the .cfg file in
descending order of most frequently accessed patch. This will guarantee
a better fit at the start. But still dynamic patch loading WILL have to
be supported. In this case, if GMOS finds that the patch required is not
in one of the buffers in memory, it will load it off the disk, so there
will be a slight slowdown there.
 
Note that the .cfg file is not a catch-all. It is simply there to help
GMOS select the most appropriate patches to load without having to wait
all the time for the dynamic patch loading.
 
> tonight...) then all we have to do to implement GMOS is to add digital
> SB support without losing GM ability.  This should not be impossible,
> but it may be difficult.
 
Yes, but only if we can get information on the way GUS latches the
AdLib/SB ports from Gravis/Forte.
 
.tc

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

Date: 29 Mar 93 22:40:13 GMT
From: jjm70@ccc.amdahl.com (Jerry Miller)
Message-Id: <dcRz02zH3c0w01@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com>
Subject: GRAVIS & FORTE NEWS   1/4
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

In article <733239460.AA01773@ship.net> john.smith@gravis.com (John Smith) writes:
>Gravis and Forte Notes
>----------------------
>===================================================
>                     SBOS 
>===================================================
[stuff deleted]
>
>Hardware
>========
>
>I know that a lot of people have said that its OK to put both a 
>GUS and SB in the same machine. I also know that some people 
>have had some success doing just that.  However, it is really 
>not a good idea. There are some very solid hardware reasons NOT 
>to do this. Even though you can move the I/O address and IRQ that 
>SBOS uses so that it will not conflict with the SB, you cannot 
>move the DMA channel. SBOS and the SB both use DMA channel 1. Some
>serious bus contention happens when both cards are installed. If 
>you doubt that this is happening, try the diagnostics in the new 
>setup program. (You will get this in the official release soon). 
>The DMA channel test will fail intermittantly with an SB installed. 
>Anyway, when you are trying to get a game running, why not eliminate 

I suspect you may have missed the point here.  The purpose of running a SB
in the same machine as the GUS is that you don't want to use SBOS at all!
SBOS won't use DMA channel 1 if it isn't installed and the diagnostics run
just fine unless you select the SBOS compatibility test (which is irrelevent
if you aren't going to use SBOS).

Please understand I am NOT being critical of SBOS - I can appreciate the
amount of work that has gone into it and I think it does a reasonable job
given the constraints (i.e. it is an emulator).  Many games run just fine
with SBOS but you just can't cover all bases, particularly when performance
is an issue.  What I do NOT understand is why Gravis seems to want to insist
on being the ONLY sound card in my computer.  If enough GUSes are sold that
they become heavily supported then I may eventually (and with great pleasure)
discard my co-resident SBPro but in the meanwhile it stays.

FWIW I have modified my GUS so there is absolutely no conflict with the SB/Adlib
at all.  It is a very simple change that I will be glad to share with you
if you want - you may want to offer it as an inexpensive (free even) option to
purchasers who already have other sound cards. E-mail if interested...

Jerry Miller

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

Date: 30 Mar 93 16:13:36 GMT
From: djlewis@ualr.edu
Message-Id: <1993Mar30.161336.1@ualr.edu>
Subject: GUS & X-Wing working!!!
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

In article <1993Mar26.172426.7699@nmt.edu>, ehobbs@nmt.edu (Eric Hobbs) writes:
> In article <1993Mar24.014108.26012@bcars6a8.bnr.ca> norm@bnr.ca (Norm MacNeil) writes:
>>Yes, thanks to Ken (Kenneth R Aron), I finally got the GUS to work with the
>>SoundBlaster emulation in X-Wing.  Eliminating the "/EMS" parameter on the
>>STACKER line in my CONFIG.SYS did the trick.  THANKS KEN!!!!!
>>
>>So just for others who might have missed it or who have slightly different
>>configurations, I've got...
>>
>>  486DX-33, 5MB RAM, GUS w/256K, Stacker 2.0, X-Wing installed on the Stacked
>>drive (!).
>>
>>CONFIG.SYS:
>>
>>  DEVICE=C:\HIMEM.SYS
>>  DEVICE=C:\EMM386.EXE FRAME=E000 RAM 1536
>>  DOS=HIGH,UMB
>>
>>[other stuff deleted]
>>
>>  DEVICEHIGH=C:\STACKER\STACKER.COM C:\STACVOL.DSK
>>  DEVICEHIGH=C:\STACKER\SSWAP.COM C:\STACVOL.DSK /SYNC
>>
>>AUTOEXEC.BAT:
>>
>>  SET ULTRASND=220,1,1,11,5
>>  C:\ULTRASND\ULTRINIT
>>  SET ULTRADIR=C:\ULTRASND
>>  SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T1
>>
>>
>>
>>Now the only problem is that whenever there is a digitized sound effect (like
>>that lasers or a TIE screaming by), the graphics (screen) get REAAAL jerky.  So
>>obviously, SBOS as the TSR isn't keeping up to the rest of the program.
>>
>>Does adding EMS, GUS DRAM, ... help with this problem?
>>
>>Thanks,
>>  Norm.
>>
>>+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
>> Norm MacNeil                     Phone: (613) 763-3372
>> Data Systems                     Fax:   (613) 765-2854
>> Bell-Northern Research Ltd.      EMail: norm@bnr.ca (INTERNET)
>> #include <disclaimer.std>       "Roller bladers do it in-line!"
> 
> 
> If you turn off the FM music, the jerking problem practically goes
> away.  Apparently, from what I've heard, the jerking isn't a GUS-only
> problem.  I hear that on some SB's and SBPros it jerks, too.
> 
> --Hobbs
The "jerking" problem doesn't show on my settup
DTK KEEN3304 386/33 /387
62meg RLL 1:1 drive
Media Vision Proaudio Spectrum 16

smartdrv.exe 1024k
emm386.exe 4096k

Don Lewis
<djlewis@ualr.edu>

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

Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1993 20:52:33 GMT
From: bjornhk@dhhalden.no (BJORN HAAVARD KLEVEN)
Message-Id: <bjornhk.175.733524753@dhhalden.no>
Subject: GUS: need sequencer with musical scores
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

In article <1993Mar22.221439.1@cc.newcastle.edu.au> phth1@cc.newcastle.edu.au writes:
>From: phth1@cc.newcastle.edu.au
>Subject: GUS: need sequencer with musical scores
>Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1993 12:14:39 GMT
>My problems with winjammer have abruptly ended now that I have obtained
>version 2.24.
>
>The next question is, what software packages are available which actually
>provide a music score as well as acting as a sequencer? A friend of mine
>has a package called "Finale" which he uses together with his SCC-1, but
>it is fussy and doesn't seem to be compatible with the GUS midi interface.
>Is there any way to get the GUS midi interface to be SB401 (or whatever it
>is) compatible? Or are there other packages around which can produce
>musical scores?

It seems to be clear now that Advanced Gravis will include MidiSoft 
Recording Session and Power Chords with the new installation disks that will 
be shipped out to all registered customers within shortly. Recording Session 
is a nice sequencer program running under Windows. Ballade, however, will 
probably be a problem to use with the UltraSound, as it relies on 
direct communication with the hardware (the MPU-401 interface). This will (
generally) not be the problem with any Windows-based sequencer, however, as 
they will utilize the Multimedia Extension to communicate with the hardware 
via the soundcard's driver software.

-=* Bjorn

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

Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 07:00:51 PST
From: RICH CATENA DTN 321-5170 <catena@arrcee.enet.dec.com>
Message-Id: <9303301459.AA04945@enet-gw.pa.dec.com>
Subject: GUS and dos 6
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Since it will be on sale late tonight or tomorrow, has anyone tried
SBOS 2.04 with dos 6 beta?

I really don't want to get into a long debugging session only to find I have
to go back to dos 5.

thanks,

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

Date: Wed, 31 Mar 93 01:20:37 -0500
From: Narimane NABAHI <nanouu@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca>
Message-Id: <9303310620.AA01284@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca>
Subject: GUS ans SB
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Hello everybody,





	I had some troubles to put my old Sound Blaster (v1.0)

with the UltraSound in the same computer. After about three

hours, I found that if I want my SB to always works proprely, I

have to put it in BASE 220, IRQ 7... and to put the GUS in an

other configuration with an other DMA chanel (like 3 for

example). But here, I had some problems with some games (old

games like Bubble Bobble, or new games like Wolfenstein 3D in

SB, or ZONE 66 in GUS mode...): my first aim was to have the GUS

work properly, so, I decided to leave the old configuration and

to put the SB in BASE PORT 240. Then, here is how my cards are:



	SB: 240, int 5, dma 1

	GUS: 220, int 7, dma 3, midi 11



AND IT WORKS FINE!! I read in the GUS user manual that "we can't

have both an Ultra Sound and Sound Blaster or Adlib" but it's

not realy true... But... there's a BUT: the SB will work fine

only if the game or the software reads the environnement

varialable or if we can define where is the SB (i.e. Base port 

and Int): in one week I only have 2 problems.... Bubble Bobble &

Wolfenstein. But I simply execute SBOS then it works. Last of

all, if a game like Tetris Classic doesn't work, I force it to

play in ADLIB and that's it!



What I want to say in this is two things: is there somebody who

has a better succes to put these two cards at the same time? (i.e. 

to have ALWAYS the SB which works correctly) If yes, please, leave

me a message... Second, with this, I have a ratio of 95% of games 

which works correctly with no slowdown... so, bye an old SB if

you want more compatibility (a had mine at 50$!).





					Xavier Rustom.

					nanouu@binkley.CS.McGill.CA 

					A mAd UsEr!.!..

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

Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1993 16:16:24 -0800
From: Eric N. Liao <liaoe@aero.org>
Message-Id: <199303310016.AA14279@aerospace.aero.org>
Subject: GUS MIDI adapter
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Okay, I got all the parts I need to build my GUS midi adapter.  God knows what
I will do with it when I'm finished (I don't have a MIDI keyboard to test it
with!)

Howevr, I'm not an electrician!  I mean, I know what diodes, resistors, are
for?  But what does "ground" mean?  More specifically, does the 
"ground" on the optoisolator connect to the same ground as on the MIDI THRU
and MIDI OUT?  Also, about the "inverters."  I couldn't find the exact
LS7404 part, and I'm using a 7404 "hex inverter" from radio shack.  It has
the same # of pins (but a slightly different pinout.  Fortunately, there is
a diagram on the back, so I know which pins to use.)

However, my optoisolator is a ECG 3093 (Philips's equivalent of 6N138.)  The
pinout is somewhat different.  

1--NC, 2--A,  3--K,  4--NC,  5--GND,  6--VO,  7--VB, 8--VCC
Okay, I know what GND and NC mean.  Butt there seems to be no "C" for me to
hook up to.  Do I need to buy the exact 6n138 part?

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

Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1993 00:08:51 GMT
From: robinson@sml.cs.psu.edu (Andrew Robinson)
Message-Id: <ROBINSON.93Mar30190851@sml.cs.psu.edu>
Subject: GUSMOD v2.11 with EMM386?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

I posted a little while ago about having a problem with volume while playing
mods with GUSMOD v2.11 -- the volume of some notes comes out loud and other 
notes are very quiet, even with no volume change commands.  I have found that
GUSMOD v2.11 does work correctly on my system if I don't use an expanded 
memory manager such as EMM386.  GUSMOD v2.04 works correctly regardless of 
whether or not EMM386 is loaded.  Can anybody explain why v2.11 doesn't work 
with EMM386 loaded, and v2.04 does work?  I tried changing the DMA buffer size,
but that made no difference.  By the way, I'm using a 386SX/33MHz.
--
	 -- Andy
robinson@cs.psu.edu

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

Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 17:35:35 CST
From: hastings@ms3.dseg.ti.com
Message-Id: <9303302335.AA05880@ms3.dseg.ti.com>
Subject: GUS reviewed
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

In the May 1993 issue of Windows Sources, 20 sound cards are reviewed.
The focus of the article was slanted towards voice annotation, but
all aspects of sound cards were covered. The Ultrasound didn't fare too
well.

Installation: fair
Sound fidelity: good
Midi fidelity: between fair and good
Voice annotation: between fair and good

A quote: The UltraSound may be suitable as a low-cost entry to MPC
boards or for a playback-only station used by a secretary. But for 
high-end MPC use, look to other cards that offer a fuller set of
features.

Cards that tested better than the GUS overall:

Spectrum 16
SoundBlaster 16 ASP
BSR MediaMaster
Pro Audio Spectrum 16
Windows Sound System (Microsoft)
and, of course, Multisound by Turtle Beach

This is the first review I've seen that included the GUS.
Anybody seen any others?

clint
email: hastings@dseg.ti.com

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

Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 07:04:24 PST
From: RICH CATENA DTN 321-5170 <catena@arrcee.enet.dec.com>
Message-Id: <9303301501.AA05235@enet-gw.pa.dec.com>
Subject: Mouse cursor goes away with gus driver installed
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

I have a problem which just showed up. With the ultrasound driver installed
my mouse cursor disappears during windows startup about at the point the prog.
 mgr window is created. If I deinstall the gus driver all is well ( except i 
can't use the wonderfull gus!).

Help!

One other piece of info. Sherlock Holmes (cd) will hang if I move the mouse
during one of the video sequences.

thanks!,
 

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

Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 11:17:27 CST
From: eason@ncrnd3.StPaul.NCR.COM (Dale Eason)
Message-Id: <9303301717.AA22199@ncrnd3.StPaul.NCR.COM>
Subject: Pitch to midi converter.
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Bruce, Dodson wrote about designing a pitch to midi converter for his guitar
using the GUS.  That sounds very interesting.   What algorithm
is used to determine the pitch?  Will a FFT do it and is the
PC processor fast enough to determine the pitch in real time?   One place to
start to answer these questions is the comp.dsp  (digital signal processor)
news group.  I have seen discussions of pitch determination there from time
to time but did not pay attention.  Anyone else have any info?


Dale Eason

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

Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 22:37:49 -0500
From: Macon N. Pegram <csc8mnp@cabell.vcu.edu>
Message-Id: <9303310337.AA00222@cabell.vcu.edu>
Subject: Programming?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

The manual mentions absolutely nothing about this... but
how do you how about writing programs to use the GUS?
Specifically, I'd like to write a pitch-shifter for GUS samples....

the grinch

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

Date: 31 Mar 1993 10:29:57 +0800
From: TC <SH7126146@NTUVAX.NTU.AC.SG>
Message-Id: <01GWGDXLCTDUAH2Z2V@NTUVAX.NTU.AC.SG>
Subject: Proposal for GMOS
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Hi everyone,
 
I would like to know how many of you are interested in working on GMOS.
Also, it seems that the UltraDox might not contain enough information.
 
Here are some of the proposed GMOS "features":
 
1. A 1MB GUS would be required, 64K reserved for SB DAC emulation (if we
   can get the information from Gravis/Forte) and the rest for patches.
2. A hardware/software combo. Software being a TSR, and the hardware
   portion is a simple loop back from the MIDI out to the MIDI in (or to
   the serial port).
   Can some hardware guru check out this portion? I am not too sure
   about whether a circuit is needed or we can simply loop with a wire
   (doubtful).
3. Ability to load patches dynamically into several fixed sized buffers
   in memory. A patch can span multiple buffers. This will make dynamic
   memory management of the GUS memory easier. Buffer size can only be
   changed at startup.
   In the UltraDox, Josh mentioned that he couldn't get the GUS to load
   patches while playing back, but someone (Francois Dion?) did mention
   that it was possible. Anyone have info on this?
4. Ability to intelligently determine the patches that have been used in
   a particular session and save it as a .GMC file that can be used to
   tell GMOS which patches to load at startup. This file will be plain
   text and will be user-editable so hackers can customize it :)
5. Anyone knows where to get the complete set of MIDI commands?
6. If anyone has the sysex commands for the MT-32 and SCC-1 please post.
 
 
All discussions are welcomed.
 
.tc

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

Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 17:27:45 CST
From: hastings@ms3.dseg.ti.com
Message-Id: <9303302327.AA05863@ms3.dseg.ti.com>
Subject: Real-time frequency-to-midi conversion
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

 
> Date: 29 Mar 1993 15:14:41 -0400
> From: DODSON@ac.dal.ca
> Message-Id: <01GWDUECSZWI002P2O@AC.DAL.CA>
> Subject: Guitar midi
> To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>
> 
> I play guitar, and I have an ultrasound.  Right now, the only way I can plug
> in to the ultrasound is to pay Big Buxx to retrofit my electric guitar with
> a Roland midi pickup.  Anyway, I am pretty sure that, with an ultrasound and
> windows, this shouldn't be necessary.  Here is my idea:
> 
> What we need is a program which, like a sampler, reads the line in jack
> (or mike in).  Only, instead of storing the stuff in memory, it would do
> a frequency analysis on this signal, take the dominant frequencies and map
> them onto midi notes, i.e. by a best fit, or "snap".  Then this signal could
> be sent out the midi out, and from there sent right back to the midi in, by a 
> little adaptor.  At a later stage, note bending could be added(pitch wheel)
> and also velocity (attack), but I wouldn't want to touch these until I had 
> the basic note-mapper working.
> 
> Anyway, I don't know if this is possible on the GUS; it is certainly more 
> plausible than on some other midi card with no line in.  It might be necessary
> to have a second computer do the processing, but I doubt it; that is what
> windows is for. 
> 
> Problem is, I have never programmed in windows (only Turbo Pascal for DOS)
> so I am wondering if anyone out there wants to help?  I realise this system
> has a limited audience (those who have GUS, or other card, _and_ windows, 
> _and_ a guitar), but actually, if we got the basic thing working, it would
> probably work with other toys, besides guitar.  e.g. non-midi keyboard, and
> just about any instrument that you can hook a mike up to (including voice,if
> you can sing).  
> 
> So you can see why I am excited about this.  If it is possible, it would allow
> anyone, not just keyboardists, to do MIDI!  If there are any GMOS veterans, 
> or others who want to help, please do!  (otherwise, I will be buying some
> windows programming language soon, and will have to learn it before I can
> code my algorithms)  Also if you have any advice, don't hold back!
> 
> OK I've taken up two screens worth of your DIGESTion, so I may as well take 
> off now :)   Tell me what you think
> Bruce.       dodson@ac.dal.ca

Last year DOD/Digitech (I think) came to the University of Utah and gave
a presentation to the ee students. One of their toys they showed and
talked about was a guitar-to-midi box. Seems like it was about a grand.
They talked some about their design effort, the theory, and their ongoing
attempt to improve it. It required a lot of dedicated signal processing.

I would therefore conclude that the Gus would not be able to do it. Go
find this commercial box - it's exactly what you're looking for. Even
worked with voice input, as I recall.

clint

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

Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1993 15:34:58 -0600
From: regius@cs.utexas.edu (Regius S. Gunawan)
Message-Id: <9303302135.AA29222@lovelady.cs.utexas.edu>
Subject: SBOS conflicts.
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Sorry to bother everyone again, but I thought this info might be
useful (and I NEED to gripe to someone :)
I was having problems with my new 486DX2-66 and SBOS (almost any
version).  Traced the problem to my hard disk controller.
Seems that the BIOS on the Promise DC-4030VL VL-Bus IDE caching
controller is incompatible with SBOS.  For all I know, everything
else works just fine.  This basically means I cannot get the best
performance if I want to use SBOS.  I hope there's some way around
it but haven't checked.
I hope you guys at Gravis is listening to this and (hopefully)
come up with a solution/respose/flame/anything ^_^
Thank you for your time
^_^ regius ^_^

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

Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 17:41:52 -0800
From: Bob Beck <rbk@sequent.com>
Message-Id: <9303310141.AA24202@eng2.sequent.com>
Subject: Still want an NT Driver for GUS
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

I'm really pleased by the good work the folks at Gravis (et.al.) are doing
(ie, I like the 2.0.2 disks and SBOS 2.0.4 - keep it up folks!).  However,
for my GUS to be useful longer term to me I'll need an NT driver for it.  Is
this in anyone's plans?

By all means get the DOS/Windows SW in good shape first, but I really think
NT is *way* more interesting and important than OS/2, and is going to be on
*ALOT* of desktops real soon (I heard something about 70000 March Beta copies
were sent)...  For now, when I'm running it on my machine I have no sound
(sigh) from my nice GUS (but things seem to run fine, so the GUS isn't making
NT angry - I guess that's a feature ;-)

					- Bob Beck (rbk@sequent.com)

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

Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 14:55:14 EST
From: tmcreek@eos.ncsu.edu
Message-Id: <9303301955.AA21063@c00313-11pa.eos.ncsu.edu>
Subject: Ultima 7 part II fix
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Someone posted saying that they kept getting dumped out of Serpent's Isle
to a 40 column screen.  Well, I had that problems too (with parts 1 and 2)
until...

I checked the static directory to see what sound drivers it was using.  If
you set it for SoundBlaster (as we who run SBOS must), you will notice
some .adv files.  ".adv's?", I asked.  "Those look familiar!"  I looked in
both my installed copy of Monopoly Deluxe and BattleChess 4000, and lo!
I found .adv's!!!  So I copied sbdig.adv and sbfm.adv from BC4000, ran
SBOS and sure enough it worked!

The point: you need new .adv's.  If anyone out there needs these two files
I would be more than happy to upload them to epas, or uuencode and mail
them.  They are not very big.

P.S.  If you want to see the endgame sequence, go into the static directory
and create a file called endgame.flg.  In it, put the string "Congratulations!"
and run u7p2.  It's really good!

--
tmcreek@eos.ncsu.edu       \   These views respresent no one.   /   Now you 
creek-tm@aza.csc.ncsu.edu   \   Even I won't claim them.       /   are here
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
#include "std_funny_stuff.h"  /* This is where I include some witty tripe */

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

Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1993 11:44:00 -0800
From: john.smith@gravis.com (John Smith)
Message-Id: <733534174.AA01830@ship.net>
Subject: ULTRASOUND 03/30/93   1/2
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

UltraSound 03/30/93
-------------------

1) A few days ago I posted a long tech note from Gravis and Forte.
   The last line of that message said, "5) Being overly critical
   of a $150 sound card....".  This was suppose to make you laugh!
   I've heard from a few people who didn't find this very funny.
   Yes, we do make attempts at a little humor now and then. ;-)

2) There has been a discussion over the last few weeks about recording
   silence with the GUS card.  People have been complaining of
   popping or static periodically.  Here are the results of some
   testing I've done.

   To test the recording of silence I shorted out line in and mic in
   using two phono plugs. NOTE: You can short our your GUS inputs but
   NOT the outputs, line out, or amp. line out.  I used PLAYFILE and
   USS8 to handle the recording and both returned the same results.

   The 'static' you are hearing is due to a 1 bit variance in the
   recording.  Silence should be recorded as DC offset 0 (7Fh) on
   the UltraSound.  A +-1 bit variance is actually very good for
   an AD converter.  Even a +-2 bit variance is ok.

   When recording silence your ear is very sensitive to any shift
   in the noise pattern.  Which is why this your ear can pick up
   this bit difference when silence is recorded.

   In the test files I did, over 95% of it had a DC offset of 0.
   There were only small sections of the file that had small periods
   of this 'static' (+-1bit).  Remember, this is only noticeable when
   recording silence.  If you are recording noise you wouldn't be
   able to hear this small of a difference.

   A couple things to keep in mind though:

	   EMM386 or any memory manager will affect your recording
		   performance.

	   A disk cache will help your performance.

	   Make sure your hard disk is not overly fragmented.

	   Mic in will cause more noise than Line in due to the fact that
		   it is amplified.

	   Even with a 16bit recording card you will still get this variance.
		   However, it should be less noticeable due to the larger
		   sampling window.

   For those of you who want to test this, try creating a file full
   of 7Fh.  Make sure you use a hex editor and not a text editor.
   You may then use PLAYFILE to play it back.  Now go in there and
   change a few bits to either 7Eh or 80h and hear the difference
   it can make.

3) Boy did I screw up.  It seems in our "Authorized Gravis Nodes"
   list I put my home phone number in there as the Gravis BBS phone
   number.  Guess that explains why I was getting calls at 3am <grin>.
   Here is a new list:

						 Authorized Gravis Nodes BBS List
									 as of
								 March 30, 1993

Name                    Location           Node No.   BBS Phone No.   Speed
============================================================================
Advanced Gravis         Burnaby, Canada   *1:153/978  (604) 431-5927  V32bis
										  *13:900/3
										  *88:8100/106
										  %gravis.com
Deep Cove BBS           White Rock, Canada 1:153/915  (604) 536-5859  DS
MIDI 1040               Vancouver, Canada  1:153/7040 (604) 732-4446  V32bis
Infinite Dreams         Vancouver, Canada  1:153/7042 (604) 733-6432  DS
T-8000 Info. System     Calgary, Canada    1:134/160  (403) 246-4487  V32bis
Max Megabit's Data Port Halifax, Canada   *1:251/1    (902) 454-8351  DS
													  (902) 453-5731  HST
													  (902) 454-9635  2400
The 1st Dutch MIDI BBS  Holland, Europe    2:281/610  +31-15138754    DS
Open Access BBS         Norway, Europe     2:502/284  +47-61-97945    V32bis
Geniaal BBS 2           Netherland, Europe 14:1000/3  +31-2290-43038  V32bis
													  +31-2290-45816  V32bis
StarPort                Finland, Europe    2:220/630  +358-0-804-4626 DS
Data Bank BBS           Pennsylvania, USA  1:273/316  (215) 429-9455  V32bis
The Sound Barrier       Staten Island, USA 13:420/0   (718) 979-6629  DS
													  (718) 979-9406  DS
I can 'C' Clearly Now   Iowa, USA         *1:290/102  (515) 472-3651  V32bis
Music Connection        Texas, USA         1:124/3109 (214) 596-2827  DS
										   1:124/3110 (214) 964-3743  V32bis
Joyful Noise            Oregon, USA       *1:105/55   (503) 335-9600  V32bis
MultiMedia              Singapore, Asia    6:600/408  +65-2831964     V32bis
============================================================================

NOTE(S): - All systems are No Parity, 8 Data Bits, 1 Stop bit (N81)

(Continued to next message)
 ~ QMPro 1.01 05-8925 ~ Gravis UltraSound - Who could ask for anything more?

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

Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1993 11:44:00 -0800
From: john.smith@gravis.com (John Smith)
Message-Id: <733534174.AA01831@ship.net>
Subject: ULTRASOUND 03/30/93   2/2
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

(Continued from previous message)

		 - All systems are online 24 hours/day
		 - Speeds: V32bis - 14,400 bits per second (CCITT standard)
				   HST    - 14,400/16,800 bits per second (US Robotics Prop.)
				   DS     - 14,400/16,800 bits per second (HST/V32bis)
		 - * - Files are File Requestable
		 - % - EMail Only.  No FTP or Telnet.

Other Sources for UltraSound Files:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
	CompuServe:         GO PCVENB  area #14

	FTP Sites:          archive.epas.utoronto.ca         pub/pc/ultrasound
						wuarchive.wustl.edu       systems/msdos/ultrasound

	Internet: Digest Address:                        ultrasound@dsd.es.com
											  To post to tomorrow's digest

	Request Server Address:                  ultrasound-request@dsd.es.com
							  To subscribe, unsubscribe, and request files

	Owner Address:                             ultrasound-owner@dsd.es.com
							 To contact a human if the server has troubles

============================================================================


TTUL

John
 ~ QMPro 1.01 05-8925 ~ Gravis UltraSound - Who could ask for anything more?

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

End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V2 #86
******************************
