GUS Daily Digest            Wed, 1 Dec 93   007          Volume 9: Issue   1  

Today's Topics:
						  16 bit add on card
				   A better Windows Sound Recorder
					  Decent GUS .voc player???
				  Front Page Sports Football/ Megaem
						Gus Praise-PC Magazine
						  Megaem vs Ultramid
					   MIDI and CDRom Questions
				 More on Encore 3.0 and Playing Midi
					 Playmidi not working right.
			RFD: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard reorganization
							 Sam 'n' Max
						 SR2 problem solved??
					  Still pausing with X-Wing
				  TFX and Megaem = No digital sound.
				   UltraMID games list is NOT dead.
						  Voice Recognition
						X-Wing fix-Last Time!!

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: Tue, 30 Nov 1993 04:21:20 -0500
From: "Markus C Ngus (Mark Ng)" <mcng@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: 16 bit add on card

Just wondering....  it's almost DEC,...  when is the 16 bit recording/playback card availble???  hmmmmmmmm...........



???

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

Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1993 10:34:40 GMT
From: Clarke Brunt <CLARKE@lsl.co.uk>
Subject: Re: A better Windows Sound Recorder

> ... a sound recorder for Windows that records more than 60s ...

I've heard about Goldwave (gldwav?? on the archive?), but not used
it myself.

> ... converting MIDI to WAV

I can't imagine anyone writing a utility to do this. The MID file
does not contain the waveforms for the instruments, so any such
utility would have to read the patch files, work out what the GUS
would do if it was playing them, and output the result to the WAV.
Quite practical I suppose, but just can't see it being done.

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

Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1993 13:17:49 SAT
From: "Michael Patricios" <PATRICIO@odie.ee.wits.ac.za>
Subject: Decent GUS .voc player???

I am in _dire_ need of a .voc player for the GUS that can handle 
packed voc files (GVOC15 doesn't) and can play in STEREO.

Yes, yes, I know Gravis provided convert and winconvert and there are 
a bazillion other ways of converting .voc -> .wav or .snd, but I 
would really like a .voc player as I have some .vocs which are >30MB 
each and would thus need about 70Mb of free hard drive space per 
sample!!! .voc + .wav.

Also, I need a player which does not pop and crackle. I get all sorts 
of pops with playfile when I play .snd files.

Thanks for any help.
Mike.
 -------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Patricios
patricio@odie.ee.wits.ac.za    <- rather use this
patricio@TuRiNG.ee.wits.ac.za  <- only use this if you have to
 -------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1993 11:49:27 -0500 (EST)
From: Pete Kilcullen <pmk@access.digex.net>
Subject: Front Page Sports Football/ Megaem

> From: Fitzgerald Jr Steele <fjsteele@icaen.uiowa.edu>
> Subject: FPS: Football Pro
> 
> In case no one realized it ;-), Megaem is GREAT!  As far as I can tell, it
> works flawlessly with Front Pages Sports: Football Pro!  Megaem didn't
> work too well for me with the original FPS: Football.  For some reason,
> when I used Megaem and FPSF, the color and animation would screw up on
> some of the more detailed sequences (ie field goal attempts and the coin
> toss).  I also found that my computer would freeze whenever I tried to
> kick a field goal or extra point, but it would be fine when the computer
> kicked.  Anyway, none of that happens with FPSF Pro.  The kicking
> sequences are clear as a bell, the computer doesn't freeze, and you don't
> get the annoying echo that you do with SBOS (both sbos 1.20 and 2.08
> echoed).  Dynamix improved the digital sound during the game.  I really
> enjoyed the sustained crowd roar during the game, and the occasional air
> horn.  If you haven't yet, get Megaem and get Front Pages Sports: Football
> Pro!  It's worth it!

Yeah! I had same problems with Megaem and FPSF. Is there any solution? 
What is the "pro"? Is it an upgrade available on the net or Compuserve?

Pete

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

Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1993 17:22:21 +0800 (PST)
From: Francis Li <fli@nermal.santarosa.edu>
Subject: Gus Praise-PC Magazine

I'm pretty sure many people saw John C. Dvorak's praise of the GUS. He
recommends the GUS! "...And the board, which is MIDI-compatible as well,
sounds great. Unlike the RAP-10, the UltraSound has a Sound Blaster
emulation mode so good that it sounds better than the Sound Blaster
itself...I recommend the UltraSound for starters...the board is
outstanding. It comes with plenty of interesting bundled software and
works beautifully with Microsoft Windows" - John C. Dvorak, PC Magazine
December 21, 1993...

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

Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1993 22:40:16 +0200
From: CRTGRA01@Uctvax.UCT.AC.ZA
Subject: Re: Megaem vs Ultramid

>Date: Sun, 28 Nov 1993 20:03:54 -0700 (MST)
>From: Derek the Dweebosaurus <dng@med.ucalgary.ca>
>Subject: Megaem vs. Ultramid

>Has anyone out there tried to run applications with MegaEm and Ultramid
>separately to see which one has better sound? I used the Sierra Ultrasound
>drivers /Ultramid for KQ6 and the sound is cool, but has anyone compared
>that with the emulation provided by MegaEm? It could be logical to assume

I posted a question about this about a week ago but got no replies. I
was trying out the new Megaem and Sierra drivers with the demo version
of Freddy Pharkas. Here is where it gets interesting... With Megaem and
SD DAC enabled I got lovely birds tweeting in the background etc. With
the Sierra GUS drivers, all was quiet. Really strange! Any comments?

Grant
********************************************************************
*  Grant Carter                           |  Simon says: DIR *.bak *
*  University of Cape Town                |  Simon says: DEL *.bak *
*  South Africa                           |  DEL *.*               *
*  Internet: crtgra01@uctvax.uct.ac.za    |                        *
********************************************************************

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

Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1993 22:32:07 -0800 (PST)
From: John Armstrong <jarmst@kaiwan.com>
Subject: MIDI and CDRom Questions

	I have two questions.  The first : Does the GUS support special
effects in MIDI like pitch bend, etc.??  Second : Is there a way to hook
up a Creative Labs CDRom, be it connector or jurry-rigging, to the GUS??

	Thanks in advanced...

  John

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

Date: Tue, 30 Nov 93 14:58:06 EST
From: jwarren@mcs.capital.edu (Jeremy Warren)
Subject: More on Encore 3.0 and Playing Midi

	Well, I got the Encore 3.0 tp play MIDI, sort of.  By sheer accident, while I was using Recording Session to play a MIDI file I had made with Encore
of the same name, I found that suddenly, Encore would now play.  Essentially,
what has to be done, is to open up Session, then open a file with the same name
you are editing in Encore, assign instruments, and then switch back to Encore
and the MIDI features for playback will now work.  Does anyone have _any_ idea
why this is happening, or how to fix it so that I don't have to go through all
of this?  I guess that Encore is not loading pathces correctly, but I am unsure
as to how to fix this.

Thanks in advance,
Jeremy Warren

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

Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1993 10:43:18 -0600 (CST)
From: "WILL HATCHER, AKA SILIKON" <WCH1965@tntech.edu>
Subject: Playmidi not working right.

Say, I have encountered an interesting problem.  All of a sudden PLAYMIDI won't
work (the one that comes with the card) in the interactive mode.  It is really
strange.  It worked fine when I first installed the card and software, but now
it doesn't.  It also works if I put the midi file I want to play as a command
line option, as in PLAYMIDI 5thymp.  I have made a couple of changes since I
first installed the card (I added 256 KB, I reinstalled my
soundblaster-compatible card, I started using Quarterdecks memory manager). The
wierd thing is that even if I take the SB out and boot from a clean floppy, it
still won't work.  It works fine in Windoze, too BTW.

BTW, I'm a newbie so I hope I didn't mess up anything post-wise.

Will Hatcher

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

Date: 30 Nov 1993 12:55:30 -0500
From: mfarah@ing.puc.cl (Miguel Farah F.)
Subject: RFD: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard reorganization

This is the second Request For Discusion regarding the reorganization
of the comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard newsgroup.

It is a well known fact that the current soundcard newsgroup has a very
high traffic level, and is becoming chaotic. This is why I suggest the
following reorganization of comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard:

#1: creation of the newsgroup "comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.advocacy"
#2: creation of the newsgroup "comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.announce"
#3: creation of the newsgroup "comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.help"
#4: creation of the newsgroup "comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.misc" 
#5: creation of the newsgroup "comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.programmer"

If comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.misc is created, comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
will be removed in three months from its creation.

There has been a lot of dispute as to whether the soundcard group should
be split according to company or topic. While the current traffic levels
may indicate the need for a group based on an individual product (and we
ALL know which one...), it is essential that the naming convention be
chosen in a way that is relatively unaffectable by market trends. For
example, a company might be bought out, and new standards might arise,
but the topics concerning soundcards in general will not change.


Note: in the following descriptions, "*" is understood to mean
	  "comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard".

	  NEWSGROUP      DESCRIPTION
	  ~~~~~~~~~      ~~~~~~~~~~~

   1) *.advocacy     discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the
					 different PC soundcard models

	  The very high level of discussion about which card is the best
	  makes strongly advisable to create this newsgroup; it will be for
	  comparisons between different soundcard models and not for flames.

   2) *.announce     important announcements about PC soundcards
	  (moderated)

	  This newsgroup -which will be moderated- will be for important
	  announcements concerning PC soundcards (new drivers for some card,
	  new model released, etc.). The generic FAQL and the brand-specific
	  ones should be published here periodically. Followups should be
	  directed to *.misc.

	  ****** THERE ISN'T A MODERATOR YET - CANDIDATES WANTED ******

   3) *.help         help requests related to PC soundcards

	  This newsgroup will be for help requests and their answers
	  concerning problems installing/using PC soundcards (how to physically
	  put them on the computer, solving DMA/IRQ conflicts, asking for newer
	  drivers, how to set-up them, how to make them work under some
	  application, etc.).
	  Discussions about problems programming a soundcard should be kept
	  in the .programmer group and not cross-posted here.

   4) *.misc         miscellaneous topics about PC soundcards

	  This newsgroup will supersede comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.
	  It will cover every PC soundcard topic that is not covered by the
	  other newsgroups.
	  Once this newsgroup is created, comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard shall be
	  rmgrouped after three (3) months.

   5) *.programmer  programming PC souncards

	  This newsgroup will cover topics related to how to program the
	  different PC soundcards.
	  (The name in the first RFD was .programming, but it was suggested
	  to have it changed).


 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Newsgroup creation votes should be separated and voted in parallel:

BALLOT ENTRY #1: addition of the subgroup ".advocacy"   to the soundcard
				 hierarchy.
BALLOT ENTRY #2: addition of the subgroup ".announce"   to the soundcard
				 hierarchy.
BALLOT ENTRY #3: addition of the subgroup ".help"       to the soundcard
				 hierarchy.
BALLOT ENTRY #4: addition of the subgroup ".misc"       to the soundcard 
				 hierarchy.
BALLOT ENTRY #5: addition of the subgroup ".programmer" to the soundcard
				 hierarchy.

Notes:
 - remember that you can vote YES to some groups and NO to other ones
   *independently* from each other. For example, if you were interested
   only in a split by company, you could vote YES to the ".advocacy",
   ".announce" and ".misc" groups and vote NO to the ".help" and
   ".programmer" groups.
	  
It is not time to vote yet.  Full voting instructions will come in a
future Call for Votes (CFV) article.
-- 
MIGUEL FARAH F.           // "Trust me - I know what I'm doing."
mfarah@malloco.ing.puc.cl //  - Sledge Hammer
#include <disclaimer.h>   //

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

Date: 30 Nov 93 17:14:01 PST
From: pil!puppet@PacBell.COM (puppet)
Subject: Sam 'n' Max

>>>> Sam 'n' Max Hit the Road   LucasArt   MegaEM 2.00B023

What?  Somebody actually got Sam 'n' Max to work with the GUS?  How did they
do 0it?  I posted a question about it a few days ago and got no response. 
Please help me!  It won't work with SBOS or Megaem!  ( at least the sound
effects)

--Sam

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Public Image Limited VBBS (510) 831-3634 [ASV] Guest Account open
Home of VUUCP/2 USENet Interface! [VSP]  VBBS 6.10   [Primary Dist. Site]

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

Date: Sun, 28 Nov 1993 03:26:00 GMT
From: thomas@hammer.hacktic.nl (Thomas van Kuipers)
Subject: SR2 problem solved??

I did solve my problem about Second Reality ....
I can't start Second Reality, but i do know now that it was my NETWORK 
card????
When i put it out, sr2 works oke. When it's in IT doesn't, no matter which
irq and/or adress. Does anyone know this?
Same with Linux .....
Further i don't have any problems as far as i know....

-------

To the guy who phoned my (from germany) ......
Thanks .... but it wasn't my keyboard, but my network cards...
Bye. Feel free to mail me something (i write back).

-------

<-------------------------------------------------------------------->
 Thomas van Kuipers    Email: thomas@hammer.hacktic.nl
 De Wadden 49          Examenyear of HighSchool (6 VWO)
 3524 AG Utrecht       Important: Computers, Math, Women and Music!
 Telephone: +31 30 884235         Netherlands (in Europe)
<-------------------------------------------------------------------->

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

Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1993 07:44:47 -0800 (PST)
From: mikebat@netcom.com (Mike Batchelor)
Subject: Re: Still pausing with X-Wing

Not the GUS Server once wrote...
$
$  ------------------------------
$  
$  Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1993 12:24:15 SAT
$  From: "Michael Patricios" <PATRICIO@odie.ee.wits.ac.za>
$  Subject: Re: Megaem and X-wing fix
$  
$  Stuart Yoshida <yoshida@elektra.fc.hp.com> said:
$  > 
$  >   I just wanted to add my voice to the chorus of people who finally got
$  >   X-Wing and Mega-Em to work completely together.
$  > 
$  >   PROBLEM:  The MIDI music in X-Wing would cut out soon after a mission
$  >         is started.
$  > 
$  >   SOLUTION: Turn off the Stealth Mode option in QEMM (the ST:M switch)
$  > 
$  Nope, I am running QEMM 7.0 with stealth _OFF_ but the music still 
$  cuts out for me ;-(
$  
$  Ah well..... Any other thoughts??
$  Mike

Yes.  Put your SB/MIDI IRQ on 5, not 7.  You can do this with Setgus, and
then load MegaEm with the /SBI5 switch.  The pauses have nothing to do
with the memory manager, the pauses are because MegaEm is having a problem
with IRQ7 right now.  The "X-Wing-doesn't-like-memory-managers" symptom is
that the music drops out during the missions.  The solution to this is not
necessarily to disable Stealth.  The solution is to disable programs who
use EMS inside hardware interrupts, or that use EMS period.  Stealth uses
EMS inside HW ints, but so does Stacker, so do network softwares, and so
on.  I get no dropouts with Stealth on, but do get them if I add Stacker
using EMS to the mix.  Slower machines will be less tolerant of other EMS
users while X-Wing is playing.

$  I got the demo for this game from epas, and now would really like to get
$  a copy (I can't wait to own a full-blown commercial game with
$  GUS-support).  Anyone know where I can get it?  I checked two computer
$  stores this weekend with no luck (Babbage's and Electronics Boutique).
$  Maybe at CompUSA?
$  
$  -Thayer

I got mine at EggHead.  They had several copies (Santa Monica area).




-- 
Mike Batchelor      |
mikebat@netcom.com  |                  This space for rent
mikebat@qdeck.com   |

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

Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1993 10:01:06 -0500 (EST)
From: Brian Go <bgo@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: TFX and Megaem = No digital sound.

Anyone have the game TFX???  If I run it with the SB option, the game
reboots itself.  It also does the same thing with SBOS.  The music sounds
great, and the digital is awesome (ON MY BUDDIES SB-16)  Now, how can I
get this sucker to work with both!

ALSO, any word on OS/2 drivers????  I want my GUS to work under OS/2!

Brian Go                        | One thing to remember
bgo@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca        | Is that I have feelings too
2nd year Chem Geek!             | I surely would have closed my eyes
Displaced Montrealer            | If I had known the real you. <INFOSOC>

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

Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1993 01:46:01 +1100
From: "Mr. Thaddaeus" <int757n@aurora.cc.monash.edu.au>
Subject: UltraMID games list is NOT dead.

	Contrary to what you may have read in yesterday's digest, the list
for games using the Miles [AIL] drivers is still going......
	BTW, I propose that the new MegaEM/UltraMID/SBOS list is not posted
to the digest WHEN it grows huge .....

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

Date: Tue, 30 Nov 93 11:32:16 GMT
From: Mick Hull <M.Hull3@lut.ac.uk>
Subject: Voice Recognition

Hello there,
			Im trying to use the GUS for voice recognition using 'C' but I
don't seem to be having much luck finding any routines or other doofers to do
the job. Can anyone help me out as my knowledge of 'C' is really limited and
I don't know how to program the card!!!

 Please help me.....

								 Mick  ;-)

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

Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1993 17:28:43 +0800 (PST)
From: Francis Li <fli@nermal.santarosa.edu>
Subject: X-Wing fix-Last Time!!

PROBLEM: The music cuts out when a mission starts.

SOLUTION: DON'T USE QEMM AT ALL. QEMM, with stealth or not(depending on
your system) takes over a certain part of upper memory that I believe
X-Wing scans for use when playing music. Don't ask me, it just does. So,
use EMM386. If you are using the DOS 6 version of EMM386 and the game
jerks when targeting (pressing 'r' or 't') then use the EMM386 that came
with DOS 5 or Windows 3.1....

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

Date: Tue, 30 Nov 93 10:37 GMT
From: jaco@cee.hw.ac.uk (John Clark)

Hi, just a few questions that have bothered me for the last few weeks....

I've an Ultrasound +1Mb, running on a 486dx2/66 w. 4Mb.

Here's the questions:

1)  Cubase for windows.  I would like to do some *serious* composition work
						 using Cubase and my Ultrasound, but I find that it
						 is incompatible with the Patch cacheing, and I have
						 to either a) load the desired patches into patchman
						 beforehand, or b) start the midi file using midisoft
						 session, and save it with the midi settings.  
						 Ideally, I'm looking for a dedicated Cubase/Ultrasound
						 driver that would do away with the need for all of the
						 fiddling that I'm having to do.

2)  Patches.         I'm trying to replace some of the lower quality sounds
						 by sampling sounds using the Windows WAV sampler, and
						 loading them as raw data into patch.exe (as supplied
						 with the GUSSDK).  This all works fine, but I cannot
						 seem to get the new patch to play back at the right
						 pitch/speed under windows.  Basically, I find some of
						 the drum sounds and percussion effects a little
						 too mechanical and artificial for my needs.  What
						 I'd like is an automated conversion *that works*,
						 unlike several of the shareware things I've tried.
					   
3)  Pitch bending.   Sorry if this seems obvious, but for certain sounds
						 it's vital that I find an easy way to store pitch-
						 bend information in midi scripts.  How can I do this
			 (seeing that I don't (at present) own a midi keyboard
						 and do all my composition in step-entry.

4)  Links 386 Pro.   I have this, but every time I try to play it, the 
			 computer hangs on me.  I've tried the suggested
						 settings that are supplied with the GUS, but to no
						 avail.  Does anyone know settings that *will* work.?
			 Would MegaEM work (I've yet to source a copy)?

Anyone got any ideas, if so then email to me, please!

I'm also interested in getting some *real* drumsound patches, if anyone has
any good ones to spare.

Cheers,  J. 

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

End of GUS Daily Digest V9 #1
******************************
