GUS Daily Digest            Tue, 26 Apr 94  9:37 PST     Volume 12: Issue  26 

Today's Topics:
						 Card tests/wolf.wavs
					   Change of E-mail address
						Cyrix 486DLC-40 & GUS
							DRAM failure?
					   GUS Daily Digest V12 #24
					   GUS Daily Digest V12 #25
							  GUS Games
							 GUS output?
						 GUS vs. Turtle Beach
				   Locking to sync recorded on tape
						   Monopoly Deluxe
			   Multiple sound cards config in Windows?
				 New GTSR front-end available via FTP
						  OS/2 2.1 question
					  SB Emulation for input?!?
						  Ultima VIII & GUS
						Voyetra under Windoze

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, 26 Apr 1994 12:47:39 +0930 (CST)
From: Gavin Scarman <SCARMAN@hfrd.dsto.gov.au>
Subject: Card tests/wolf.wavs

Phat H Tran <ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca> writes....
> Subject: Bad review of the GUS
>A GUS with the 16-bit DB would not score poorly on SNR, THD, etc.
>either.  They must have been recording with the GF1's 8-bit ADC.

There seems to be some real problems with the testing of 16bit soundcards, 
espcially the GUS. One magazine got a S/N of around 60dB which is hard to 
believe. Can anyone shed some light on these 'tests' that they're doing, ie. how 
are they doing them.

And Gravis, why are you putting up with this poor journalism? The least you 
should do is publish your own tests to refute the garbage these magazines are 
putting out. You know what they say about the sticking of mud....


Emory Menefee <em@crl.com> writes ....
>Subject: Re: Playfile frequencies
>wolf.wav...I had to crank down to 5k to get an approximately correct sound.

Because Wolf3D was written for the SB then sounds above 11kHz are not possible, 
and since it's only speech you don't need the higher sampling rates anyway. The 
sounds in Wolf are either 6.8kHz or 4kHz.

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

Date: Tue, 26 Apr 1994 06:41:15 -0700 (PDT)
From: Seth Delackner <dax@crl.com>
Subject: Change of E-mail address

Change my e-mail address to dax@netcom.com please
thanks!

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

Date: Tue, 26 Apr 1994 10:57:15 MET-1
From: Paal Andreassen <PAALAND3@kihdata.kih.no>
Subject: Re: Cyrix 486DLC-40 & GUS

> ok, folks I need mucho help.  I've just recently upgraded to a Cyrix
> dlc-40 with an opti 495 vl-bus.  I have a gus 2.4 purchased around
> this time >last year which has worked pretty well until now.  I've
> bought a new keyboard (the typing kind) and a CL/Panasonic 2x CDROM.
> About half the stuff I use w/my >GUS chokes.  I have the GUS set
> on 220,1,1,11,7. I can't find Optifix and dunno if it would solve
> my problems anyway. Raptor doesn't work.  Even with no sound I get a
> stack overflow. Pickle wars doesn't work.   If I select the GUS
> drivers, the game never never finishes loading.  No GUS and the
> game loads. Megapede burps & farts a few sounds and locks solid.
> Comanche still works ok.  Locks occassionally.

> Any ideas?
> I've tried just about every combination of GUS settings (upped dma,
> dropped GF1 int to 5, changed SB em. to 5), increased stacks, done
> stacks=0,0.....

Well I cannot say that I know what your problems is, but I want to
say this before a lot of people begin to step on Cyrix and blaiming
it all on the DLC mobo. I too own the Cyrix 486DLC-40 VLB mobo. But I
have had no problems what so ever with the GUS. Both 8 & 16 bit DMA
works just fine.

I know however about a friend of mine that had a problems not
unlike your. He also experienced it after buying the 486 DLC-40 MZH
mobo, and it the 40 MZH part that was the problem. Some cards,
especially older once will not work correctly at hi internal transfer
speeds. Some cards have an upper limit of 33 MHZ causing the databus
transfer to "fuck up". In his case it was his "old" boca svga screen
card that was the problem. It caused no sound on several games, so
lock up, and on some the screen flickered. The funny thing was that
all the games worked fine when he removed his soundcard (a SB PRO),
but it was not this that caused the problem.

Perhaps this helps: Try removing some of your add-on cards and see
what happens. And since you are using DMA 1 (8 bit) the opti fault
(if you have a faulty chip) should be no problem.

Le us know how it goes !

Paal Andreassen <paaland3@kihdata.kih.no>
Kongsberg College of Engineering
Department of Computer Science

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

Date: Tue, 26 Apr 94 08:50:04 -0500
From: Matt Carswell <mcarswll@oyster.smcm.edu>
Subject: DRAM failure?

Ok, i just bought 6 256*4 60ns DRAM chips from CompUSA ($44) and upgraded my 
256K GUS to 1 meg.  But under the advanced diagnostics section of setup ver 3.1
i get a DRAM failure when I run the DRAM check, even though it recognises and 
seems to check all 1025K.  This would be a problem but everything else runs fine.  FCs second reality and Tran's Hell demos work great. and those huge KLF mtm files play wonderfully under Inertia Player, which also recognises the upgrade.
what's going on? should I return the DRAM even though it works? should I care
about this error message?  any helpful replies will be greatly appreciated.

matt.
mcarswll@oyster.smcm.edu

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

Date: Mon, 25 Apr 1994 16:20:08 -0230
From: Daniel William Greenland <danielg@cs.mun.ca>
Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V12 #24

Just a quick question:
 
My UltraSound card is initialized in both my config.sys and autoexec.bat 
files.  Is this really necessary?  If not, which should I leave it in?
 
Danny Greenland

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

Date: Mon, 25 Apr 1994 17:56:31 -0400 (EDT)
From: Phat H Tran <ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V12 #25

> Date: Sun, 24 Apr 1994 12:38:19 -0400 (EDT)
> From: gt0074b@prism.gatech.edu
> Subject: Betrayal at Krondor sound
> 
>   I just got the CD-ROM version of Betrayal at Krondor, not,
> knowing that Dynamix was a part of Sierra.  Ack.  Does anyone
> know if the 16-bit Sierra GUS drivers will work on with this
> game?  If not, when are those 32-bit drivers coming out, and
> what site will they be on?

The floppy version of Krondor worked very well with Mega-Em.  Has
the CD-ROM version gone the way of protected mode?

> What do Sierra, Origin, and Microsoft have in common?

They get bashed a lot (fairly or unfairly is a personal opinion). :)

> Date: Sun, 24 Apr 1994 22:11:10 -0700
> From: dross@ultrix5.cs.csubak.edu (dean ross-smith)
> Subject: gus'n stuff
> 
> ok, folks I need mucho help.  I've just recently upgraded to a Cyrix dlc-40
> with an opti 495 vl-bus.  I have a gus 2.4 purchased around this time last year
> which has worked pretty well until now.  I've bought a new keyboard (the typing
[...]
> My BIOS has video bios and bios remapped, hidden refresh off, default wait
> states, and clkin/5. And I tried turning off the bios remapping.

Try to decrease your bus speed to clkin/6, and/or fiddling with the bus wait
states.  Hellish problems such as yours are usually the result of a bus 
I/O problem.

> Date: Sun, 24 Apr 1994 12:59:37 -0700 (PDT)
> From: "Peter C. Chien Jr." <pchienjr@ocf.Berkeley.EDU>
> Subject: GUS AIL drivers
> 
> If anyone has the GUS AIL drivers (not the 32-bit) later than v1.0 
> (gusail10.zip), PLEASE upload to the epas ftp.  The game Microcosm has 
> AIL drivers created in April '94 but recommends even more updated 
> versions to prevent hangups.  Thanks.

They are already archived on the mirrors.  They don't always have the
filename gusail*.*, so check the index files.

> Date: Mon, 25 Apr 94 14:49:02 EET DST
> From: s106275@ee.tut.fi (Saari Anssi)
> Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V12 #24
> 
> >I like Inertia Player 1.1 as well.
> 
> Well, it seems to have some slight out of tune problems especially
> with chiptunes.
> 
> >Another good player is Metal 025
> >(and before anyone says otherwise, this version is quite accurate,
> >and you can't beat the sound :)
> 
> Sure, now if they'd get the popping and occasional weird screech out of
> it, it'd be very nice. Plus a DOS shell of course...

Popping and occasional screeches?  Those don't happen on my end 
(but then again, I don't have that many MODs to test).  See if 
the -nodma switch gets rid of them.

> Date: Mon, 25 Apr 94 8:10:25 CDT
> From: Daniel A Nielsen <dnielsen@ria-emh2.army.mil>
> Subject: GUS Static
> 
> Well I was getting static when B's 5th played after I installed gus0041 so
> I did a complete reinstall of the GUS software and nothing changed.  It
> happens right on startup when the base section is tunning up.  What is this,
> What can I do?  Get a different PAT?  Its my kids' favorite GUS music.
> I have 1 Meg of RAM on my 3.4 GUS.

What are you using to play the MID?  PlayMIDI or something in Windows?
Try testing your GUS' RAM.

> Also SBOS will only load when I'm in the ultrasnd directory.  I thought I
> could do this anywhere before GUS0041.  Has something changed or did I 
> screw up?

You should delete ultrasnd.ini and all your SBOS files (loadsbos.*,
sbosdrv.*, and sboslib.sbs) and then re-install gus0041.zip.

Phat.

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

Date: Mon, 25 Apr 94 19:29:35 MDT
From: Jeff S Shelman <jshelman@onyx.idbsu.edu>
Subject: GUS Games

Hi Fellow GUSers,
  I'm looking to buy a new game for my computer, but am not sure
what to get.
  In the opinion of all those that read this digest, what is the
best game out with native or reliable GUS support. (By best game
I mean overall Sound, Graphics and Playability.)

Also can anyone recommend any good Demos?
Already have:  Unreal 1.1,
			   2ndReality, And
			   Elements

Email me or Post them here.

Thanks And Happy GUSing,
  Jeff  (jshelman@onyx.idbsu.edu)

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

Date: Tue, 26 Apr 1994 06:13:45 -0500 (CDT)
From: ST4FX@Jetson.UH.EDU
Subject: GUS output?

I was wondering why I can connect my speakers to the GUS amplified out, and
and instead of using either line in jacks, I can use the supposedly audio line
out jack to hook up my SB? Should I plug my SB into the Audio line in or can
I just leave it where it is and not fry my GUS 3.4?

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

Date: 26 Apr 94 07:51:00 MET
From: "VISX80::GRECNER" <GRECNER%VISX80.decnet@musx53.zfe.siemens.de>
Subject: Re: GUS vs. Turtle Beach

>>
> From: pcady@celestat.com
> Subject: GUS vs. Turtle Beach?
>
> Anyone have any (personal) experience comparing GUS vs. the Turtle 
> Beach
> Monterey card?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Paul Cady
> pcady@celestat.com

Turtle Beach cards are not for playing games but to compose music.
It sounds a bit better, costs a lot more. Is that what you wanted?
<<

Don't listen to this... The only thing which is true is that TB cards
are not ment for playing games. But it sounds much better, not a bit,
has an efect processor, filters, up to 8.25 MBytes of memory, 4MB ROM
and costs $350, which is not "a lot more" than the GUS MAX. Monterey
has 18 bit 64xoversampling delta/sigma converters of a superb quality.
And it has Motorola DSP 56001 on it. It's really not ment for playing games.
It's ment for serious music. GUS is not bad, basic GUS is the best for
the price (maybe in one line with TB Maui), but Monterey is for pros.
The only thing about Turtle Beach is that they are not very open. But 
I already saw the Maui programers guide on internet, so maybe they are
changing their minds these times. If you want to make music, buy the TB
Monterey. If you want to play games, by the GUS.

					Martin

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

Date: Tue, 26 Apr 1994 09:11:00 -0500 (CDT)
From: vic@cd.com (Vic Serbe x237)
Subject: Re: Locking to sync recorded on tape

Dennis Mills writes:
> 
> Date: Mon, 25 Apr 1994 16:35:32 +1000
> From: Dennis Mills <dcm@mlb.dmt.csiro.au>
> Subject: Locking to sync recorded on tape
> 
> Apologies if this is a FAQ, but I can't find anything about it in any of
> the FAQs I've seen: I am interested in the use of the midi sync signal
> recorded on (say) a 4 track to lock a sequencer. Is this possible with
> PowerChords or Recording Session as supplied with the GUS? (I don't have
> my GUS yet). Is it purely a function of the sequencer or does the GUS
> hardware into the picture (I assume at that a midi adapter is obviously
> required - does it need to be special in any way?). I would like to
> understand this as much as possible, but my bottom line question is:
> 
> If I record the midi sync signal from the GUS (assuming it generates one)
> can I later record midi sequences from something like Recording Session
> and have them correctly lock to the sync?

There are two ways to do it.  If you have a sequencer that understands
SMPTE (pronounced "simpty"), then you get a MIDI card that has a SMPTE
code generator/reader option.  Those MIDI cards run about $175.  If
not, your only option is to use FSK (Frequency Shift Keying, pronounced
"fisk") or "smart" FSK.  However, you'll have to get a box or a MIDI
card that converts MTC (MIDI Time Code) to FSK and back.

It's either SMPTE or FSK that actually goes onto the tape.  In both
cases, the FSK or SMPTE "port" is an RCA jack, and you plug it directly
into the channel of the tape deck you want to sync your sequence with.

The sequencer either reads the SMPTE code directly back from tape via
the MIDI card, or gets MTC back from the MIDI bus via interpretation of
the FSK signal coming in (either on the MIDI card or in an external
MIDI device).  SMPTE is by far better, but a little more expensive.

The main problem you have, is the GUS has no way to generate a signal that
can be put on tape (called "striping"), so you're gonna' have to either
get a nicer MIDI card, or an external conversion box of some type if you
want to do this.

I have a MusicQuest MIDI card in my system, which basically gives me
two MIDI ports.  One is local on the GUS, for its wavetable chip (I
don't use its external MIDI port), and the other goes through my
MusicQuest to my off-board gear.  It works great.

A friend of mine runs a small studio and has the nicer SMPTE MusicQuest
card.  He has no GUS, but a lot of really nice MIDI and recording gear.
We use CakeWalk Pro for Windows with it all, which knows both SMPTE and
MTC.

I hope this helps...

> Dennis
> --
> Dennis Mills, Senior Research Engineer,       Phone:  +61 3 662 7758
> CSIRO Division of Manufacturing Technology,   Fax:    +61 3 662 7851
> Cnr Albert and Raglan Streets, Preston
> Victoria, Australia, 3072.        Internet: dcm@mlb.dmt.csiro.au

-- 
Vic Serbe (vic@cd.com), Applications Engineer
Central Data Corp. - Makers of the scsiTerminal Server
800/482-0315 or (+1) 217/359-8010 (FAX-6904)

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

Date: Mon, 25 Apr 1994 16:24:13 -0230
From: Daniel William Greenland <danielg@cs.mun.ca>
Subject: Monopoly Deluxe

Being an avif Monopoly fan, I purchased the Deluxe edition from a nearby 
Computer Software store.  After installing it, I was disappointed that 
the GUS was not supported.  So, I picked up the trusty G-list to see what 
the best configuration for the game was.  In the G-list, it tells you to 
replace a line in the monopoly.bat file so that you can use the support 
of the UltraSound card.  The problem is that, I copied the 2 .adv files 
necessary into the directory and ran monopoly, but no sound!  I tried 
uninstalling SBOS from memory and just having Ultramid there...no go.  
Any suggestions as to what I am doing wrong?
 
Danny Greenland

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

Date: Tue, 26 Apr 1994 08:41:26 -0400
From: Martin H Rogers <mrogers@afit.af.mil>
Subject: Multiple sound cards config in Windows?

Where can I find more information on how to best set up Windows for
multiple sound cards. My original GUS installation set itself up as
midi, wav, aux, and midi1. (Actually it set itself up for wav2, aux2,
and midi2 as well, but that may have been from doing an extra install
sometime over the past year.) Now I've got a SB16, too, and I've changed
over to it as the main wav driver in order to get the videos to play at
a tolerable level. (With the GUS as wav, I was only picking up about every
third video frame. With the SB16 as wav, it's pretty much acceptable.)

The reason I'm asking is that I've lost the ability to access the GUS
mixer in Windows. Is there a way to best set up the wav, aux, and midi
drivers to use the GUS as midi, SB16 as wav, and whatever works best for
the other two?

Thanks,
-Martin

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

Date: Mon, 25 Apr 1994 20:26:16 -0500 (CDT)
From: Scott Singer <singer@cs.uwp.edu>
Subject: New GTSR front-end available via FTP

I've created a simple, new, front end for the GTSR modplayer.  It
is called GFront, and is available via anonymous FTP at:
  ftp.uwp.edu    in the pub/incoming/modplayers directory (GFRONT.ZIP).

This is version Beta 0.0.  Try it out, let me know if it is useful
for you.  There is a .TXT file available for FTP with more
info, called GFRONT.TXT.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scott Singer                                    Senior Programmer/Analyst
singer@cs.uwp.edu                 Northwestern Mutual Life, Milwaukee, WI
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Mon, 25 Apr 1994 22:51:27 -0300 (ADT)
From: Jurassic Mark <markus@info.umoncton.ca>
Subject: OS/2 2.1 question

GUS day people,

	I just installed OS/2 2.1 this weekend and grab the OS/2 GUS 
drivers.  Don't know which one it is, but the zip file starts with ULTRA.
	How can I enable the line-in?  The OS/2 Cd Player plays the CD, 
but nothing comes out?  If I run Inertia Player in a DOS box, then I hear 
the CD audio.  But as soon as I close it, no go.  GSET (from Francois 
Dion) and ULTRINIT l o doesn't leave it on although it works for DOS.
	Can anyone help?

		 Marc Y. Paulin - Jurassic Mark (Usenet) - J-Mark (IRC)
			  Graduating CS student in search of a job...
   - markus@clement.info.umoncton.ca (Talk 'n Mail) - (506)856-9518 -
 Inertia Player Beta Tester - Father of the G-List for Ultrasound Users

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

Date: Tue, 26 Apr 94 18:02:58 IDT
From: Doron Shikmoni <P85025@VM.BIU.AC.IL>
Subject: SB Emulation for input?!?

I'm not sure whether this is a stupid question or not, so here:
I assume the current hi-tech SB emulators (SBOS, MEGAEM) all do
it for output (that is, for software to play SB-like sound over
the GUS). What if I have some software that expects an SB-connected
microphone input? Any chance for the GUS-connected mike to cheat
it into thinking it sees an SB mike?

If I was not clear enough, let me put it this way: Is there a way
to make the SB "parrot.exe" repeat after a GUS-connected microphone?
(of course my original intention was not the parrot, but...).

Thanks in advance

Doron Shikmoni                                  <P85025@BARILVM.Bitnet>
Mgr., Communications and Networking             <p85025@vm.biu.ac.il>
Bar-Ilan University                             <doron@nova.cc.biu.ac.il>
Israel                                     Tel: +972-3-5318783
										   Fax: +972-3-5344446

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

Date: Mon, 25 Apr 94 18:09:34 -0400
From: davej@ferry.polymer.uakron.edu (Dave Jiang)
Subject: Ultima VIII & GUS

Is there a sound patch that plays Sound FX and Music for GUS for Ultima 8? 
The music is not bad, but it would be better with some SFX... thx

													David Jiang
  ------------------------------------------------------------------
  email : davej@eby.polymer.uakron.edu        phone:  (513) 435-6227
  usmail: 207 Carters Grove Rd.               FAX  :  (513) 435-6227  
		  Centerville, OH 45459
		  U.S.A.
  ------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Tue, 26 Apr 1994 11:35:15 GMT+1
From: "F. Viktor" <VIKTOR@evt.bme.hu>
Subject: Voyetra under Windoze

Does somebody tried to use Voyetra on GUS too?
(Voetra Audio Station)
Why can't I get any midi sound from Voyetra but other
midi app.s are still working well?
Any ideas?

Viktor

(Mailer: Standalone/VIKTOR)
				 /
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+ + \_-//' /  //<, + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+     \ ///  <//`                                                  +
+      /  >>  \\\`__/_           Viktor F.                         +
+     /,)-^>> _\` \\\            ---------                         +
+     (/   \\ //\\               viktor@evt.bme.hu                 +
+         // _//\\\\             Technical University of Budapest  +
+========((`=((====================================================+

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

Date: Mon, 25 Apr 1994 13:41:15 +0500
From: gt7985c@prism.gatech.edu (Gary Robert Veduccio)

All I want to know is if Sierra already made the 32-bit drivers 3 weeks ago,
what are they waiting for.  I have been waiting for the drivers for PQ4, 
Gabriel Knights, etc.  I just wish they would give us GUS users some thought.

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

End of GUS Daily Digest V12 #26
*******************************
