Ultrasound Daily Digest     Wed May  5 00:07     Volume 3: Issue  35  

Today's Topics:
						"dumb" midi keyboards
							A crazy idea 
					   Gus Midi adaptor, when?
				  Help me get GUS to work in windows
						John.Smith@gravis.com 
						  Marketting the GUS
							   Mids...
							New Harp patch
						OPTi and UMC chipsets 
					POP 2, FLASHBACK - SBOS FLAGS
							   Posting
					   PowerChords / Bonus Disk
		   powerchords / midisoft studio first impressions
					Ultrasound Daily Digest V3 #34
				   Windows midi WORSE than playmidi

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, 4 May 93 14:03:30 BST
From: "James Andrews, User Support" <james@sol1.east-london.ac.uk>
Subject: "dumb" midi keyboards
Message-ID: <15748.9305041303@uk.ac.uel.sol1>

I have been looking at pricing for midi keyboards that just produce midi
signals- they can't make any noises on their own- but we have GUS soundcards
so that isnt really a problem is it?
Heres my "research" so far ( a couple of phone calls )

Name/Manuf  Octaves uk priceVelocity sensing? features
Roland PC200    ?5  199 yes       pitch blend wheel
Fatar studio49  4   119 yes       none
Fatar studio61  5   199 yes       none
Novation MM10   2(haha) 99  yes       pitch blend wheels


So far the Fatar gear looks like the one for me, because of the low uk price
please email me with comments on these keyboards, suggestions of other low
cost "master" keyboards etc etc and I'll post another summary update
james@sol1.uel.ac.uk

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

Date: 3 May 1993   23:48:21 PST
From: chrisw <chrisw@leland.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: A crazy idea 
Message-ID: <9305040651.AA05919@leland.Stanford.EDU>

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

Hi again.

My crazy idea is this. I was just reading an article on the Korg 
wavestation and it was talking about vector sequencing. This is a system on
some synths where you can grab a joystick and twiddle it and it adjusts the
volume or pitch levels of different parts of a sound and it remembers the 
movements and plays them back each time you play a note.

Now, I'm actually not going to suggest that this is developed on the GUS, 
because it would need a completely different driver. BUT, what I was wondering 
about is this: is it possible to create a windows driver for a normal games 
joystick that makes it send out user definable midi controller messages? 

Presumably the problem is not that different from any other driver. I know
nothing at all about this, but I take it that joysticks put out some sort of
interrupts whenever they're moved and so it would just need some sort of 
driver to take these messages and pass them on to the windows system as midi
messages which programs like Cakewalk for Windows could pick up and memorise.

Things that could be done with this:

i) one coordinate sends volume messages, the other sends pan messages for 
moving around noises in an interesting way in stereo.

ii) one cordinate sends volumes on one channel, the other sends volumes on
another channel for crossfading of noises.

iii) one cordinate sends pitch bend and one sends volume (so you can do good
fretless bass imitations).

iv) one cordinate sends pitch bend on one channel, the other on another channel
-> Very sick out of tune effects (but fun, though).

v) And, if you really want some fun: split the coordinates up into four 
quadrants with the middle a 'zero point' and each quadrant representing the volume
level of a noise. Then twiddle the joystick round in circles and get four 
noises swirling in and out. 

Any opinions on how difficult/easy this would be to implement? I'm not a
programmer so don't really have a clue. Just thought I'd air the idea ...

One last, thought, how about the same thing on a mouse?

Chris.

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

Date: Tue, 4 May 93 11:24:36 CDT
From: Scott L Petersen <scottshk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu>
Subject: Gus Midi adaptor, when?
Message-ID: <9305041624.AA10984@csd4.csd.uwm.edu>

Hey all

I read in the gus FAQ that the midi adaptor should be available in
April 1993.  Is it available?? ... I checked with Computability a
few days ago and they hadn't heard anything about it.

I also figured that it would be available less than the $49.95 srp.  
What do you think?

Please post or email with any replys.  Thanks in advance!
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
= Scott                                         =
=                          scottshk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu=
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Tue, 04 May 1993 15:34:41 -0700
From: Steve Smoot <smoot@roger-rabbit.cs.berkeley.edu>
Subject: Help me get GUS to work in windows
Message-ID: <9305042234.AA18687@roger-rabbit.cs.berkeley.edu>

Hi,
  There must be something really simple (and brain dead on my part) going on,
but I dont know what...
  I'm trying to use my GUS under windows.  It plays WAVs fine, ta-da on boot,
&c.  But when I try to play a midi, it complains that the MIDI isnt
set up properly, and refers me to the Control Panel->MIDI program.
This program only has adlib/general/etc settings, i.e. the default ones.
It refuses to accept any of them, saying they are not installed, and had
none for GUS.  What is wrong?

anyone?
-s

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

Date: Tue, 04 May 93 10:38:53 -0400
From: "It's your hand, Buckaroo" <dantonio@magick.tay2.dec.com>
Subject: Re: John.Smith@gravis.com 
Message-ID: <9305041438.AA21595@magick.tay2.dec.com>

> Does any body get a responce from John Smith when you send mail asking 
> about the GUS? I've sent like 5 messages over the last few months and 
> only got one reply when I first sent him something.

No, I've NEVER gottan a response from john.smith@gravis.com, nor have I
gottena response from postmaster@gravis.com or (I think)
postmaster@whimsey.com which does the mail forwarding for "gravis.com"...In
fact, others within DEC have gotten bounce messages from gravis.com...

Any info would be appreciated, like does john.smith ever answer ANY mail??

DDA

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

Date: Tue, 4 May 93 08:47:54 PDT
From: "Johnny Y. Ow" <owjohn@SEAS.UCLA.EDU>
Subject: Marketting the GUS
Message-ID: <930504.154754z.810969.owjohn@edison.seas.ucla.edu>

It appears that the first GUS ad has appeared!  The magazine carrying the ad is 
the June 1993 issue of "Compute".

That issue also has a survey of some sound cards and seems to give the GUS a
decent review.

 -Johnny Ow

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

Date: Tue, 4 May 93 23:00:07 PDT
From: brian@ccnext.ucsf.edu (Brian Huddleston)
Subject: Mids...
Message-ID: <9305050600.AA23286@ccnext.ucsf.edu>

Does anyone know of any other MIDI ftp sites out on INTERNET other than EPAS??
There HAS to be one somewhere?!?!?!?!?    HELP?????

						brian@ccnext.ucsf.edu
/s

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

Date: Tue, 4 May 93 12:05:36 CDT
From: eason@ncrnd3.StPaul.NCR.COM (Dale Eason)
Subject: New Harp patch
Message-ID: <9305041705.AA07976@ncrnd3.StPaul.NCR.COM>

I have uploaded a new harp patch to epas submit directory.  

harp.txtharp.zip is a GUS patch for an orchestral harp.  It has less sustain and
a different sound than the harp delivered with the GUS.  It sounds a little
bit like nylon strings.  It was generated using the Karplus-Strong plucked
string algorithm described in "Elements of Computer Music" by F. Richard Moore.


Dale

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

Date: Tue, 04 May 93 10:43:52 -0400
From: "It's your hand, Buckaroo" <dantonio@magick.tay2.dec.com>
Subject: Re: OPTi and UMC chipsets 
Message-ID: <9305041443.AA21623@magick.tay2.dec.com>

> setup program from GUS will default to an 8-bit DMA. Does this
> mean that the OPTi and UMC problems are now obsolete, and that
> a computer system with the OPTi or UM chipset is safe due to the
> corrected 8-bit DMA setting?

No. It means that SOME OPTi and UMC chipsets were defective in that 16-bit
DMA didn't work. Since most everything uses 8-bit, this didn't get noticed
(or cause a problem) until cards like the GUS started to appear. MOST OPTi
and (I would assume) UMC chipsets work fine with 16-bit DMA (my OPTi for
example works great).

Just like some motherboards are defective and the company fixes the
problem, some DMA controllers where defective and these were bought by OPTi
and UMC and shipped...

DDA

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

Date: Tue, 4 May 93 21:04:04 EST
From: Matthew Spewak <mspewak@walnut.prs.k12.nj.us>
Subject: POP 2, FLASHBACK - SBOS FLAGS
Message-ID: <930504.210404.10443@walnut.prs.k12.nj.us>

Has anyone seen POP 2 or Flashback yet?  THEY ARE INCREDIBLE!
If you are a fan of action/adventure games that are not simply mindless shoot'em 
ups, then these are for you!
My only problems have been the sound.  Has anyone figured out the SBOS flags for 
POP 2 or Flashback?  I have tried most for POP 2 and the game just locks up 
whenever a digital sound is played... As for Flashback, sbos will run the game 
fine, most digital sounds work, but I get no music, and I am not certain if I am 
hearing what I should here.

-MS

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

Date: Tue, 4 May 1993 02:34:27 -0400 (EDT)
From: Carl Christensen <christen@astro.ocis.temple.edu>
Subject: Posting
Message-ID: <Pine.3.02.9305040223.A14069-b100000@astro.ocis.temple.edu>

Hi,

  For those of you that want to enter MIDI files from your `qwerty'
keyboard I think you should try Cakewalk for Windows (or even
Cakewalk for DOS).  I imagine even the demo versions allow you to
enter notes from the keyboard just like the commercial versions.
I think the File Save is disabled and maybe there's a limit to the
amount of notes, but you should be able to put in something.  If
you want to spend a little money I'm sure you can buy Cakewalk/DOS
pretty cheap by now.  The only drawback is you have to load the
patches manually via Patch Manager or the equivalent, since
Cakewalk doesn't support directly using GUS patches (yet).
I imagine most demos and commercial MIDI sequencers allow `qwerty'
keyboard or mouse entry -- usually called note entry.  I'm just 
an old Cakewalk user so I'm biased.

  Oh yes, to answer a previous question about a different rhythm channel
besides 10 in Windows, I think you just have to have the other channels 
(in MIDI Mapper) point to the Ultrasound Drum Kit patch map.  I do this
for my old MIDI files that I play back on the GUS because my files are
channel 11 for drums.  By `tradition' my drums were always set to 11 --
nothing to do with Nigel Tufnel :-).  But I leave channel 10 for drums
also since that's the General MIDI standard, and I like to hear Chris'
latest efforts!

Carl Christensen                /~~\_/~\        ,,,  Dept. of Computer Science
christen@astro.ocis.temple.edu |  #=#==========#   | Temple University        
"Curiouser and curiouser!" - LC \__/~\_/        ```  Philadelphia, PA  USA   

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

Date: Tue, 4 May 1993 12:09:59 +0100 (BST)
From: Dave Ingles <davei@central1.lancaster.ac.uk>
Subject: PowerChords / Bonus Disk
Message-ID: <26830.9305041110@central1.lancaster.ac.uk>

I've just had a go with PowerChords which was distributed on the bonus disk.
I'm not all that impressed - after having spent ages putting together a 
version of Stivie Nicks's 'Cry Wolf', PowerChords gaves up after the 26th bar !
The error was something to do with me using too many modules.

Howling Dog obviously didn't expect anyone to try and do anything serious
with the version of PowerChords that was bundled with the Gravis Disks.

I am still looking for decent MIDI software that will allow me to enter
music from a rock score into the computer with the minimum of fuss. Has
anyone come across software that has actually been designed to allow
one to do this ? I've tried most of the software demos for MIDI
programs but none are really convenient if you are entering music by
hand (I can't play an instrument). The best I've come across so far is
Finale but I found it just too slow - it was a Windows 3.0 version and
it took ages to redraw the screen (even on a 486). It is also very
expensive, especially as I would only be using its basic features.


Davei

-- 
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>                         D.Ingles@uk.ac.lancaster                           <<
>>                         Telephone (0524) 59 3679                           <<
>>               Higher Education National Software Archive,                  <<
>>    Computer Centre, The University, Lancaster, LA1 4YW, United Kingdom     <<
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Tue, 4 May 93 10:27:15 BST
From: "James Andrews, User Support" <james@sol1.east-london.ac.uk>
Subject: powerchords / midisoft studio first impressions
Message-ID: <1036.9305040927@uk.ac.uel.sol1>

My Gus upgrade disks arrived on Friday so I spent the weekend mucking about
with the two sequencer programs on the bonus software disk, Powerchords and
Midisoft studio.

I got on better with Powerchords, perhaps partly as I do play the guitar a
little and partly because it seems to be more suited to toying around if
you dont have an external midi keyboard or any other midi control devices.

Powerchords basically is a four track setup- chords, melody, bass and drums.
I am aiming to do "mad rave stuff" and its very easy to make up a number of
drum and bass patterns suitable for dance musak.
The best aspect of Powerchords is its user interface.  I suspect that it was
originally developed on a machine which has a more mature GUI than MS Windows
as its basic method for moving about chord patterns etc within the program
is drag and drop- which works well.

As for its problems- sometimes the quick playback of a new pattern wont work
if you use an uncached patch- work around is to play it with the main song
window, then it caches.  The chord track doesnt seem to have easily program-
able voices- but a patch change control message on channel one can fix that.
Also it wont load up midi files straight off, you have to load a track at
a time into a pattern.

I used the midi controllers a little bit - just 7 and 10 for volume and 
panning and had a little success- a couple of times it did exactly what I
wanted it to do.  Im no midi guru but controller effects are possible in
powerchords.

One puzzling feature of powerchords is the string bending.  There is a window
called the "Instrument" which is a little guitar with a fretboard, an area
for strumming and a string bending area.  The string bending works in real time
but how does one get it to record?  Veryily, I mucked about with it for
a while but it wouldnt do hot diggerty dowg.

Midisoft studio I liked less.
I couldnt get it to enter notes as I wanted- I would select a crochet, whack
it on to the staff, do anotherone next to it and the orginal note would
alter to a half-crochet (or whatever they are called)
I think I shall be using midisoft though- it has a nice "mixing desk" and
it allows longer notes than powerchords.  One track I did in powerchords
and then saved as a midi, loaded into midisoft and added a track with
a sampled patch on it ( Scott Walker off Scott II/ The Amorous Humphrey Plug
singing "Ecstacy's in charge" )

All in all great fun and a lot easier to use than the pd .mod setup I have
been using.  I shall keep collecting mods though as they often have great
samples to rip off in them- my duplicate overdriven guitar patch is now a
waaah waaah guitar patch instead from .mod file.   Use sox to convert from
type sb to type wav.

ttfn
james@sol1.uel.ac.uk

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

Date: Tue, 4 May 93 13:37:22 PDT
From: hippo@sfsuvax1.sfsu.edu (Vincent Poy)
Subject: Re: Ultrasound Daily Digest V3 #34
Message-ID: <9305042037.AA18195@sfsuvax1.sfsu.edu>

> ------------------------------
> 
> Date: Mon, 03 May 1993 14:38:42 -0400 (EDT)
> From: elminstr@hudlink.hoboken.nj.us (J.J. Pierson)
> Subject: John.Smith@gravis.com
> Message-ID: <8mLZ3B1w165w@hudlink.hoboken.nj.us>
> 
> Does any body get a responce from John Smith when you send mail asking 
> about the GUS? I've sent like 5 messages over the last few months and 
> only got one reply when I first sent him something.
> 
> ---
> J.J. Pierson               Internet EMail: elminstr@hudlink.hoboken.nj.us
>                             Prodigy Email: TVFF82B
> 
I did get a response from him on the same day but the mail arrived like
5 days after the date it was sent.... He sent it on the 28th of April
and it didn't arrive til yesterday afternoon but the one I sent to
tech@gravis.com isn't back yet..... 

-- 

Cheers,

Vince

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

Date: Tue, 4 May 93 20:48:29 EST
From: adrianr@ecr.mu.oz.au (Adriano_Ennio RAIOLA)
Subject: Windows midi WORSE than playmidi
Message-ID: <9305041048.8740@ecr.mu.oz.au>

Has ANYONE got any clue why the midi driver for the GUS in Windows
will NOT play the top octave of any instrument, while playmidi WILL 
play the top octave? that is from c7 to c8, it is pretty annoying having
the odd midi file that, although plays worse on playmidi than windows (windows
handles some control changes a lot better), it still comes out better on
playmidi because some notes up top are simply not getting played in
windows..

WHY has gravis done this? Can it be fixed, or will they fix their midi
windows driver to account for this error? Who cares if the instruments
dont sound hot in the top octave, they sound GOOD enough!

Give us back the top octave, Gravis!!! PLEASE!!!

-- 
| adrianr@ecr.mu.oz.au --------| Adrian -aka- Plugger | *  * *  *   *  |  _/_\
| adrianr@mullian.ee.mu.oz.au -| What time is love?   | *_*  * *_  *_  | / OZ |
| adrianr@mundil.cs.mu.oz.au --| I think its gonna be | * *  *   *   * | \__-_/
| -- I want more accounts! ----| long, long time.     | *  * *  *   *  |     v

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

End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V3 #35
*************************************
