Ultrasound Daily Digest     Wed Jul  7 00:46     Volume 4: Issue  36  

Today's Topics:
						 Canadian Post sucks!
		 Disks received in Switzerland :-) and Patch problem
							Dune II & AIL
						 Good work Gravis...
				 Gravis 1st Quarter Report Released 
					 GUS Update diskette mailout
					  I'm a happy little GUSer!
				  I Got Rhythm .MID uploaded to epas
							 MIDI patches
		  Some Questions for any interested parties (Wheee!)
			   Ultrasound Daily Digest V4 #35 (2 msgs)

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, 5 Jul 1993 22:41:24 +0501 (EDT)
From: Gunnar Swanson <gunnar@gibbs.oit.unc.edu>
Subject: Canadian Post sucks!
Message-ID: <Pine.3.05.9307052224.A17778-8100000@gibbs.oit.unc.edu>

I said it once before and I will say it again; the Canadian Postal service
is the worst in the industrialized world.  

Gunnar Swanson

gunnar@gibbs.oit.unc.edu

end.

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

Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1993 08:31:21 +0200
From: Afzal Ballim <afzal@divsun.unige.ch>
Subject: Disks received in Switzerland :-) and Patch problem
Message-ID: <2137*/S=afzal/OU=divsun/O=unige/PRMD=switch/ADMD=arcom/C=ch/@MHS>

Just to p-o those poor Canadians, last week I sent off my
registion card (just on the 30 day bubble) and this week
I received a nice package containing the said disks, manual
for PowerChords, and a nice little note apologising for the delay
in sending out the disks. I'll check this evening to see if the
disks came from Holland or directly from Switzerland.

More serious business. I've been using the epas 2.06 disks for
a while without any problems. However, last week I installed
the AIL drivers. I don't know what I may have changed, but since
then I'm getting an "Incorrect Patch" message whenever I start up
windows. 

Next, has anyone else had a problem that the "edit patch" button
in PowerChords seems tpo often be inactive when it should be active?

Also, in the windows midi configuration setting I can't seem to
change the drums section to be anything but 1024k drums (I have a
1meg card). 

Finally, in USS8 whenever I want to splice in a reel onto the master,
if I try "test" the program will invariably hang. 

Oh, yeah, and finally, finally, also in USS8 when I record the mouse
becomes very, very, unresponsive. Anyone else have this problem?

-Afzal

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

Date: Tue,  6 Jul 93 22:30:42 PDT
From: jason.lin@pro-palmtree.socal.com (Jason Lin)
Subject: Dune II & AIL
Message-ID: <g681252@pro-palmtree.socal.com>

I've found that using SCC-1 option can produce much better music than MT-32
option in Dune II.  Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to change the
configruation file to make Dune II run both MIDI and digitize sound
simutaneously.  The patch for Dune 2 will rewrite the CFG file but only
MT32 will be selected instead of SCC-1.  Is there anyone out there running
Dune 2 with both Midi music and digitize sound enabled?
BTW, there's a noticeable difference between pre-loaded patch music and
dynamic cached patch music.  Without enabling digitize sounds, I have to
turn off the sound option in order to make dynamic cache working properly.

-=Jason Lin=-

---
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
=  Jason Lin                    Internet: jason.lin@pro-palmtree.socal.com  =
-  <aKa>                                  izzyvu9@mvs.oac.ucla.edu          -
=  ~Captain Goodnight~            Bitnet: izzyvu9@uclamvs.bitnet            =
-  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+  -
=  "I told you to leave my sister alone!"                                   =
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

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

Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1993 22:16:38 -0400 (EDT)
From: Brian Go <bgo@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: Good work Gravis...
Message-ID: <Pine.3.05.9307062238.B28970-a100000@sciborg>

Hey, just a little thankyou note...

I am another person who had moved since sending in their Registration
card.  J. Smith had graciously updated my address, then informed he did,
and behold, 3 weeks later,  a package from Gravis.  Way to go....

Flame on.....
I want OS/2 2.1 drivers.  I have spent many unsuccessful hours trying to
make my GUS work in native OS/2.  How much longer does a guy have to wait?
Gravis has sent staff to IBM and has copies of 2.1 GA.....
I sit and wait, but my patience is draining....
Flame off....

Brian Go        bgo@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca        2nd Year Chem Stud....
America's great now,  
If you don't talk back,  
You hide your face.....                   <Midnight Oil, Sell my Soul>

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

Date: Sat, 3 Jul 1993 19:38:41 GMT
From: gkirikos@epas.utoronto.ca (George Kirikos)
Subject: Gravis 1st Quarter Report Released 
Message-ID: <1993Jul3.193841.7487@epas.toronto.edu>

ReprintFrom: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard

Advanced Gravis' 1st Quarter Report was released on Friday, and here
is what was printed in today's Globe and Mail (Saturday, July 3, 1993,
Report on Business, page B2). Here it is:

"Advanced Gravis Computer Technology Ltd., Vancouver
3 months to Apr. 30, 1993                  Year Ago

Revenue     $4,398,807      $2,648,139
Net profit       8,319         170,548
Net profit/share       nil                    0.02

The company makes entertainment devices for personal computers."

Well, it was as bad as I thought it might be. The stock hit a 52-week
high on Friday of $3.75, but closed down a nickel on the day to $3.55.
I don't know whether the earnings were released during the trading
day or after the close.

What is most alarming is not the reduction in profit, but the poor
growth in revenue. A year ago, the GUS wasn't on the market (if it had
been, things would likely be A LOT different today). Thus, assuming
that there was no growth in joystick sales (conservative), then at the
most there were only $1,750,668 worth of GUS sales in the three month
period (taking the difference in revenues this quarter vs the year
before). Assuming that Gravis gets $120 (Canadian $) per GUS sold to
wholesalers, then less than 15,000 Ultrasounds were sold in the
period. The figure is lower if one assumes the joystick business grew
in the year, or that Gravis gets more than $120 per GUS (Canadian $).

Now one understands why the s/w publishers aren't supporting the card
-- there really aren't many of us out there! Given the technical
merits of the product, and the good BBS and Internet support, one can
only blame poor marketing. The best thing that could happen would be
for another company to take-over Gravis (possible, given Logitech
holds 45%, and looks itching to sell, and Sagit Investment Management
holds 18%, thus it would be easy to amass 51% if they'd both sell
their stakes). A company like Turtle Beach Systems, or Mediavision
might make a good fit, since they don't have low-end wavetable cards,
and they are both great at marketing. 

Anyways, I won't be repurchasing shares in Gravis at these levels --
I'll either wait for a fundamental shift in direction, or a share
price that is "undervalued" (in my opinion, if the sales of the GUS
don't rise soon, we might see the stock back where it was 8 months
ago, i.e. < $2.00 Canadian).

[I still like the card, and will continue to use it until something
else eclipses its combination of high quality and low price, but I'll
stay away from the stock.]


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

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

Date: Mon, 5 Jul 1993 16:48:51 +22300346 (CDT)
From: woan@austin.ibm.com (Ronald S. Woan)
Subject: GUS Update diskette mailout
Message-ID: <9307052148.AA23478@exeter.austin.ibm.com>

Taking the put up or shut up advice being given in the past few
digests, I gave AG a call today (the 800 number given was marketing
only which refers you to their Canadian toll number for technical
support) and found out that I would be in the next shipment which is
to go out "soon."

I am in Texas and was one of the original GUS purchasers under the EA
deal who sent in registration promptly. The tech support person did
find me in the database of registered owners (and not in the database
of those that have had them mailed out to) and told me specifically
that not all registered owners had been shipped the disks yet.

So now you all know, that we're not all just awaiting the postman but
for AG to get them into the mail.

+------All Views Expressed Are My Own And Not Necessarily Shared By IBM-----+
+ Ronald S. Woan       (IBM VNET)WOAN AT AUSTIN, woan@exeter.austin.ibm.com +
+ outside of IBM                     woan@austin.ibm.com or woan@cactus.org +
+ others     woan@soda.berkeley.edu Prodigy: XTCR74A Compuserve: 73530,2537 +

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

Date: Wed, 7 Jul 1993 10:24:50 +1000
From: Peter.Enzerink@FINANCE.ausgovfinance.telememo.au
Subject: I'm a happy little GUSer!
Message-ID: <502410070793*/G=Peter/S=Enzerink/O=FINANCE/PRMD=AUSGOVFINANCE/ADMD=TELEMEMO/C=AU/@MHS>

I'm quite amazed by all the bitching going on in the digest about not 
getting the 2.06 disks. I would say in my extensive experience with vendors 
that the level of support Gravis are providing is equal to NONE.

I too have not received my upgrade disks. I downloaded 2.06L from epas and 
that works wonderfully. I must say it has been a long time since I have 
plugged a card into my machine, ran the install, and been up and running 
with almost no changes. I bought 768kb of memory for $23 (AUS!) from a 
store that had the chips collecting dust. They were 100ns, but that's all 
they need to be. It might be worthwhile approaching your local computer 
store; they would probably be happy to be rid of this old stock! The chips 
went straight in and tested perfectly. They also made a big difference and 
got rid of an annoying tone that GUSMOD was generating.

My card sounds wonderful, and I am not so conceited that I want everything 
at once. This card is brand new and opens up a new world. I haven't even 
begun to scratch the surface yet. Obviously all those people complaining 
must be real experts to require everything at once.

Sounds like a lot of those young pimply kids who want the biggest, bestest, 
fastest car just so they boast to their mates and ignore that fact they 
can't drive anywhere near as well as they think they can.

Gravis & Forte: keep up the industry leading customer service and don't let 
the bastards grind you down!

Peace.

INTERNET: Peter.Enzerink@Finance.ausgovfinance.telememo.au
X400    : /G=Peter/S=Enzerink/O=Finance/P=ausgovfinance/a=telememo/c=au
SMAIL   : PO Box 165, Queen Victoria Terrace, Parkes 2600

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

Date: Tue, 6 Jul 93 22:44:07 -0400
From: Carl Pettypiece <pettypi@gaul.csd.uwo.ca>
Subject: I Got Rhythm .MID uploaded to epas
Message-ID: <9307070244.AA08765@gaul.csd.uwo.ca>

I have just completed my first midi file for your perusal.  It is George
Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm" arranged by Mike Oldfield (and performed by me
via the GUS :-)

I'm new to this MIDI thing, so treat me kindly; but by all means tell
me what you think.

While I'm here, maybe I can ask Chris or some other MIDI wizard about
some problems that should be curable

1.  How can I make a pitch bend more than two semitones?

2.  I'm experiencing problems with MIDI input via a Korg M1 and the MIDI
	box described in the FAQ.  It works perfectly except that short delays
	are sometimes experienced from when I press a key to hearing the sound.
	The music is not necessarily fast (sometimes it's the first note in a
	sequence).  Is this a common problem?  Is it something I have to live
	with?  Is it Windows?  Is it my machine (386DX/25)?  Is it my opti-
	osilator (NTE3093 -- says it's compatible with the 6N138)?  Note that
	MIDI output to the Korg does not have this problem.
\
Anyway, check it out, and hey -- happy GUSsing!

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carl Pettypiece (pettypi@gaul.csd.uwo.ca)        Disclaimer:  Hell, I don't
Department of Computer Science                   even know if these are MY
University of Western Ontario                    opinions!
London, Ontario, Canada
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
						Clever quote goes here
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Tue, 06 Jul 93 15:24:22 EDT
From: Stephen Ferguson <FERGUSOS@QUCDN.QueensU.CA>
Subject: MIDI patches
Message-ID: <9307061925.AA04145@orca.es.com>

I've been trying to sample off my CD player to make some new patches,
but haven't had much luck.  I've been recording with USS8 to make
stereo SND files (at 22 and 44 kHz), converting them to WAV, then
using WAV2PAT to form patches.  I have no problem with mono
samples, but for some reason stereo files do not convert properly to
WAV (if I try to play them with the Sound Recorder, I am told that
they are "corrupted"... oh my, I know Ministry is not mainstream,
but now my computer is offering its opinion :)  What I'd really like
is an integrated program that forms the patches directly from the
line in (just like using your Ensoniq!) instead of bothering with
all the conversions.

Stephen

p.s. let me add my $0.02 on the whole disks/mail/John-Smith-is-the-
antiChrist issue.  Too all those who are repeatedly whining about
not getting disks yet... shut the #$%&@! up!  I'm getting tired of
wading through your drivel to get to some meaningful discussions on
the care and feeding of the Ultrasound.  I don't have my disks yet
either, but I do have access to FTP sites (as you do) so what's the
problem?  I was editing down some of the digests that I have saved to
my PC and found nearly half of the text was this sort of rubbish.
Don't waste our time.

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

Date: 06 Jul 1993 04:21:25 -0500 (EST)
From: STU_JABIRCHE@VAX1.ACS.JMU.EDU
Subject: Some Questions for any interested parties (Wheee!)
Message-ID: <01H07J24ZK9E91W5WI@VAX1.ACS.JMU.EDU>

First of all, I composed a .669 file called guitar.669 and never finished it
becuase none of the players could play it properly. p669gu (Renaissance) would
not play the entire chicken sample because it was too long. Although p669.exe
played everything well, it horribly screwed up the tempo when it got to the
pattern that used effects (a#, b#, c#). My song was in tempo 3 and it reverted
to tempo 4 (default) when it got to the effects, as well as completely ignoring
the effects. Anyone got any ideas about this?

(the file is on epas guitar.zip)

Secondly, I happened upon some samples on the site ucsd.edu in the directory
	/midi/patches/(lots of synths)
Is there any way to use these? It seems like a good opportunity for patch
makers to have some nice foundations, but, knowing almost nada about the whole
process (haven't had time to look into patchkit yet), I don't know how
plausable it is.

Thirdly, does anyone have a better way of making composd13 to work than
removing the GUS everytime I use it? I have had the cover off of my tower for
a week now because I am constantly removing and adding the GUS. I have to
remove it to compose and then add it to hear it with decent sound. (sigh)

Last, are sit and/or hqz files convertible? I have found them on many
purported midi sites but I have never heard of the format.

Curious and ignorant,
-=Marc=-

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

Date: Tue, 06 Jul 93 11:42:04 EDT
From: Steph <CT80%POLYTEC1.bitnet@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Ultrasound Daily Digest V4 #35
Message-ID: <06JUL93.12637308.0057.MUSIC@POLYTEC1>

> Date: Mon, 05 Jul 93 00:05:08
> From: john.smith@gravis.com
> Subject: DIGEST V4 #33
> Message-ID: <9307050005.A8095wk@gravis.com>
>
> A) TRUE: One thing we will not do again is, mail canadian packages
> through the states.  Instead they will all be trucked up here and mailed
> from Canada. It seems the canadian packages spent 2+weeks in the US mail
> system and then x days/weeks in customs.
>

BWHAHAHAHAHA.  I can just imagine everyone who's badmouthed the canadian
post system go "oops" now.  BTW : Odd way to ship to Canada.

>------------------------------
> Date: Mon, 5 Jul 1993 17:24:31 +1000 (EST)
> From: Andrew See <asee@st.nepean.uws.edu.au>
> Subject: Suspicious Industry
> Message-ID: <199307050724.AA23935@arthur.st.nepean.uws.edu.au>
>
> Hearing that Origin and EA will not be supporting the GUS, evenm
> though they appear to recognise that it is a superior product
> to most existing soundstandards, makes me wonder about
> possible "deals" being done in the industry.
> Creative labs have a lot to lose by Gravis becoming a standard,
> and Creative Labs *have* got a deal going with Microsoft.
> Are the games companies being paid NOT to support the GUS?
> Are CL the culprits?
> I wonder...
>

Bah, give it time.  The GUS is still pretty new, and most stores don't
even carry it.  If programmers were to start supporting every piece of
hardware that came out, they'd spend all their time writing device
drivers.  Even if a program is 100 times better, it still has to find
its place in the market.

Steph.

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

Date: Tue, 6 Jul 93 11:37:23 EDT
From: Matthew Spewak <Matthew.Spewak@lambada.oit.unc.edu>
Subject: Re: Ultrasound Daily Digest V4 #35
Message-ID: <9307061547.AA19233@lambada.oit.unc.edu>

About dune 2 not working...

I have finnaly gotten it to work.  And it works great!  My problem was
with QEMM, not with not having enough memory (I have 8 megs of ram). 
Anyways, the game kicks ass with native Gus support.

On a second note, I tried Contraption Zack out the other day and it works
perfectly too.  Nothing special, just copied over the drivers.  Many
thanks to gravis for releasing the Miles/AIL drivers, and I hope more game
companies use this in the future.

About PC EXPO '93...

I stopped by Advanced Gravis's booth and was very impressed.  They had a
great display of midi soft, and a whole bunch of games.  I got a peek at
some of the daughter cards for GUS, and the GUS MAX pacage wich comes with
GUS MAX, 2 games, and a Joypad.

In conclusion, I have had a GUS since the week it was released and
Advanced Gravis has kept all of their promices and more.  I am very
pleased and amazed at the excellent effort A.G. has put into pleasing
loyal customers. Keep up the good work.

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

End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V4 #36
*************************************
