Ultrasound Daily Digest     Thu, 18 Mar 93       Volume 2 : Issue  73 

Today's Topics:
			GUS apps (say, GUSMOD) in a Win3.1 DOS WINDOW 
						   GUS new Software
		   Help: Find out which format a MIDI file belongs.
			 How to tell a MIDI file/out of tune patch(?)
				  New release: Windows still crashes
						   Next problem ...
				 Patch names encoded in patch files?
					Ultrasound Daily Digest V2 #72
						  Weird Directory...
						Win3.1 loading .pat's
								X-Wing
						 XWing with SBOS 2.02

	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: Wed, 17 Mar 93 10:56:13 -0500
From: "It's your hand, Buckaroo" <dantonio@magick.tay2.dec.com>
Message-Id: <9303171556.AA03117@magick.tay2.dec.com>
Subject: GUS apps (say, GUSMOD) in a Win3.1 DOS WINDOW 
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

> I guess the subject line says it all...is it possible to play stuff through
> GUS when using win3.1?  I haven't got the new patches and windows driver
> off epas yet, maybe I'll have more luck with that, or maybe it can't
> be done at all anyways?

I tried running the diftro from epas ina full screen DOS box under Windows
and I got sound...Windows eventually got upset, though, and I ended up
losing sounds within Windows after that. But it appears that it can be
done...

DDA

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

Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1993 14:19:27 -0800
From: Eric N. Liao <liaoe@aero.org>
Message-Id: <199303172219.AA26694@aerospace.aero.org>
Subject: GUS new Software
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Most of the MIDI patches seem better, but I like the old organ.pat (tocatta.mid)
or maybe the old midimap.cfg file was pointing to the wrong patch.

Anyway, the Windows installation is still NOT perfect.  It still does NOT copy
the MIDIMAP.CFG file into the windows\system directory.  I had to do thism
manually, and it fixed a few peculiar sounding midi files (I was using the
old midimap.cfg with the new MIDI patches.)

PLAYFILE.EXE
I like the new user interface.  However, is there a way to change the output
volume WHILE a sample is being played? It would be kind of neat.  Also, a way
to change the playback frequency even while the sample is being played would
be kind of neat (not useful, but I figure it would't be hard to do from a 
programming standpoint.)

PLAYMIDI.EXE
I like the -debug option because it reports the amount of DRAM a MIDI file
needs.  How about doing this by default (no options) ?

MIDI patches
Are there 4 missing?  I have only 188 .pat files.  Also, I still don't like the
piano patches.  They're better, but they don't live up to the "hype." Of course
I have a piano where I live, so I might be biased.

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

Date: Wed, 17 Mar 93 08:28:08 EST
From: "Burns Fisher, VMS Engineering  17-Mar-1993 0829" <fisher@decwin.enet.dec.com>
Message-Id: <9303171328.AA17720@us2rmc.bb.dec.com>
Subject: Help: Find out which format a MIDI file belongs.
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Maybe I am reading too much into what you said, but I think I need to clear up
a bit of confusion.

The .MID (sometimes called .SMF) file format itself has nothing to do with the
type of synthesizer it will be used with.  There are no bits in the header that
say anything of this type.

MIDI files have commands called "Patch Change" which specify what instrument is
to be played on a particular MIDI channel.  The problem is that the instrument
specification is a number between 0 and 127, and the mapping of 
number-to-instrument differs among manufacturers.

MT32, as you probably know, is a particular synthesizer that has a particular 
set of mappings (and lots of other characteristics like using only 8 (I think)
MIDI channels, etc etc.  General MIDI (is that what you meant by GS-MIDI?) is a
specification of channel mapping to instrument along with minimum number of 
notes and instruments that can be played simultaneously and probably other 
stuff.  I believe the Roland SCC-1 was designed to follow this spec, along with
the Gravis Ultrasound.  The MT-32 is not TOO far off from it in terms of 
mappings, but it can't manage the required number of simultaneous notes.

Anyway, the only way (that I know of) to tell what a MIDI file is designed for 
is to hope that the author wrote some comments in it.  Microsoft seems to have
evolved some sort of convention that allows the Windows Media Player to tell if
it has a general midi file, but I don't know what this convention is.  I believe 
it is some channel control or patch change or some such at the beginning, but 
they don't tell you in the user docs. 

I hope this helps.  Forgive me if I just misunderstood your question and you 
really already know all this stuff..

Burns

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

Date: Wed, 17 Mar 93 10:53:02 PST
From: aktang@sdcc13.UCSD.EDU (I should be studying)
Message-Id: <9303171853.AA06031@sdcc13.UCSD.EDU>
Subject: How to tell a MIDI file/out of tune patch(?)
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

As an answer to the person who was asking how to tell a GM MIDI file
from an MT-32 mMIDI file form a <name your favorite MIDI instrument>
MIDI file.  You can't.  The best way is, if it sounds wrong, it's
not right.

In yesterday's digest, I reported a patch that seems horribly out of
tune.  I finally tracked it down.  It's #83 (Calliope (sp?)) of the
NEW patch set.  Aurgh.  If you want to hear a demo of how bad it is,
try playing "L1002_05.MID" in the song2.lzh archive.  It's pretty
bad.  (I'm pretty sure it's the new patch there.  The file date is
1993)  Is that how that instrument is supposed to sound like (never
heard of it before), or did the sampling place make a bad mistake?

Anthony Tang
aktang@sdcc13.ucsd.edu

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

Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1993 11:17:33 EST
From: Marc Rouleau <mer6g@fuggles.acc.Virginia.EDU>
Message-Id: <9303171617.AA28346@orca.es.com>
Subject: New release: Windows still crashes
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

I moved c:\ultrasnd out of the way and reinstalled the Gus software from
the gus0017-gus0021 files.  The installation went very well, and the new
Windows setup was hassle-free.

I have had good luck all along running SBOS with a number of different
games: Galactix, Kiloblaster, Civilization, Atrain, Playroom, Jill of the
Jungle, Chuck Yeager's Air Combat, Darklands, etc.  I've used 1.20, 1.23b,
1.37b, 1.42b, and now 2.02.  There have been minor glitches, but basically
it works fine.

Under Windows it has been a different story.  While the Gus sounds fine,
Windows frequently crashes with a stack error when the sound drivers are
loaded.  For example, I can start Windows, leave for twenty minutes, and
come back to find AfterDark (configured for Flying Toasters or some other
sound-producing saver) halted with an application error.  Or I can start
Windows and immediately go into the shareware game Jewel Master (which
uses the sound driver).  After I play it for about fifteen minutes, the
game will crash.  Or I can play some WAV files with the little playback
accessory that comes with Windows.  After a while, Windows crashes.

If I remove the sound driver and rely only on the PC speaker, I never have
a problem.

I was hoping the new diskettes would fix the problem, but it's just as bad
as it was before.

I'm running Windows 3.1 on a 486/33 with an Opti chipset (yes, I'm forced
to use 8-bit DMA -- 16-bit has never worked at all), 4M ram, 386MAX, and an
8M permanent swapfile accessed in 32-bit mode.

I suppose I need to try some changes like switching from 386MAX to emm386,
turning off 32-bit mode, switching to a temporary swap file or no swap file
at all, etc.

Would people for whom the Gus drivers have been well-used and reliable
under Windows please describe their setups?  I've seen only a few problem
reports, so I presume that it's working for most of us.

	-- Marc Rouleau

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

Date: Thu, 18 Mar 93 0:10:41 MET
From: fischer@tmpmbx.netmbx.de (Axel Fischer)
Message-Id: <m0nZ7G0-0000YVC@tmpmbx.netmbx.de>
Subject: Next problem ...
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Hi again,

after I tried XWing I tried Tristan.

Tristan also has NO sound at all. 
With 1.4B3 and the same switches everything works perfect, but with 2.02
regardless how I set -x and -o nothing can be heard. But both games didn't
complain either. It looks to them as if the SoundBlaster is present.

Clouds Of Xeen also had a problem at first but after inserting -x1 it works
ok too. UW2, World Curcuit and Chuck Yeager are working ok.

What is my (or is it a general) problem of SBOS 2.02 with these games?

-Axel

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

Date: Wed, 17 Mar 93 08:36:06 EST
From: "Burns Fisher, VMS Engineering  17-Mar-1993 0837" <fisher@decwin.enet.dec.com>
Message-Id: <9303171336.AA17786@us2rmc.bb.dec.com>
Subject: Patch names encoded in patch files?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

With the old patches, the patch manager used to get some slightly-corrupted
names when you switched it from "Use General Midi names" to "Use names in patch
files".  With the new patches, however, there is nothing in the name field.  Do
others experience this also, or am I missing something?

BTW, I think these patches are really nice.  Being a clarinet player, I listened
carefully to the clarinet patch.  Nice.  Not perfect, but nice.  I think it 
could have used a few more samples.  The tone quality does not change enough
between the highest and lowest notes.  But I like the tremelo.  It seems to 
start after a fraction of a second so short notes don't get it, but longer ones
do.  I wonder if they do that by having a moderately long attack section and
then the sustain is all tremelo, or if there is some other mechanism.

Burns

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

Date: 17-MAR-1993 23:26:14.42
From: Richard Wyckoff <RWYCKOFF@EAGLE.WESLEYAN.EDU>
Message-Id: <01GVXLVIQ9YC8WW9CQ@EAGLE.WESLEYAN.EDU>
Subject: Ultrasound Daily Digest V2 #72
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

> From: ddebry@itchy (Dave DeBry)
[stuff about p.o.d games companies deleted]

>   One of the problems is that publicly known email addresses to
> companies generally are to the tech support groups.  These groups have
> little or no influence on corporate decisions concerning the GUS, but
> their annoyance at our email flood does get spread around the
> respective companies.

>   Please stop emailing the companies.  A well written business
> letter *on paper* to the companies is worth a lot more.

	OK - I'm going to have to get pedantic for a second here - ceasing
to e-mail these companies is an OVERREACTION - and is also symptomatic of
the refusal to take e-mail seriously.  Why are these companies pissed off?
The e-mail addresses I have sent messages to have been *customer service*,
be it on Compuserve or Genie - NOT tech, but the approved e-mail addresses.
These are people who are being paid to DEAL WITH CUSTOMERS - and they are
pissed off?  I speak only for myself when I say that in the e-mail I have 
sent I was as polite and reasonable as I would be on paper - but I 
really can't believe that more than an isolated handful of other GUS users are
being antagonistic and rude - we are making a request, which deserves more
of an answer than the unsubstantiated marketing doubletalk we get in return
(remember the Lucasarts Compuserve rep who was telling us all that Lucasarts
thought the GUS was a joke - until his boss found out?  Search your back
issues of the digest if you don't.).  Now, we are told that we are 'pissing
people off'.  I can't help but feel that this is an effort to forget about
the GUS.
	I'm not saying we shouldn't write snail mail too, and that there
might not be a better chance of it reaching people who really care, but I
will not cease to use e-mail simply because some poor marketing schlep is
fed up with us.  I work as a consultant at school - I do not turn away users
who can't get their resumes to print simply because I've showed a million
other people how to do it - or even the same person multiple times - this
is called CUSTOMER SERVICE.  If the customer is not being overly antagonistic-
hell, even if they are - it is your job to answer their questions to the
best of your ability.
	Jay Wilbur from Id software knows customer relations.  It seems that
the computer entertainment giants could take a lesson or two from him.
--
	 This is the way the message ends, not with a bang but with a .sig...
			   **Richard Wyckoff**RWYCKOFF@EAGLE.WESLEYAN.EDU**

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

Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1993 11:08:17 -0400 (AST)
From: Shadow Of Fear <markus@Info.UMoncton.ca>
Message-Id: <Pine.3.02.9303171117.A13558-b100000@clement>
Subject: Weird Directory...
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
	  Directly from his dark office on the top of a dark Tower.....
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Hi,

	I recently installed the new Gravis disks.  The installation was
pretty more user friendly than the previous one, but a strange directory
got created on my C: drive.  Inside that directory was a file containing a
kind-of list of the gravis files.  I don't know in what format the file
was created or if it was an important file.  I deleted it and the
directory too.
	My question is (John Smith?  Are you reading?), what is that file?
Is it an important one that I shouldn't delete? The doc doesn't say
anything about it.  What else (elsewhere?) has been created that I should
know about?  
										 ____
			  _  _  _                  / \   \ 
			/' )' )' )                |   |   |           
			  /  /  /                 | (_|__/         \   
			 /     /  __. .__    ___  |   |  __.  . .   \  .   ___ 
			/     (__(_/|__) )__/(__   \_/__(_/|__)\_)__/\__)__) <_ 

					Markus on QuartzPARADISE and AfterFive
							(506)855-4974 - Canada
+---------------------------------------------+-----------------------------+
|            markus@info.umoncton.ca          | "My son, ask for thyself    |
| For Talk:  markus@clement.info.umoncton.ca  |  another kingdom.  For that |
|---------------------------------------------+  which I leave is too small |
| When all else fails,  read the instructions |  for thee" - King Philippe  |
+---------------------------------------------+-----------------------------+

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

Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1993 12:10:07 -0600 (CST)
From: markl@hunan.rastek.com (Mark Larsen)
Message-Id: <9303171810.AA02374@hunan.rastek.com>
Subject: Win3.1 loading .pat's
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Hi,
   When I play .mid files with media player they sound fine but when I
play them with winjammer, power chords, or cakewalk (all for windows)
the only sound patches that seem to be loaded in the GUS are for the last
file played with the media player.  I have tryed using the Midi mapper and
the ultrasound sequencer for each of these tools.  What am I missing and
exactly what causes the .pat files to be loaded?

   Thanks alot,
   From recently snow bound Huntsville,
   Mark Larsen

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

Date: 17 Mar 1993 12:14:19 -0500 (EST)
From: STU_JABIRCHE@VAX1.ACS.JMU.EDU
Message-Id: <01GVWXD4T0EQ985J55@VAX1.ACS.JMU.EDU>
Subject: X-Wing
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Phew! I thought it was just me. I sat down last night and tried every
option I could think of, booted in several different configurations, tried
several different autoexec and config.sys setups, and got not a peep from x-wing.
Before I downloaded the new disks, I was happily playing x-wing with full sound
and only a little slowdown when the tie-fighters screamed by. Now I get no
slowdown at all because the thing sounds like a crypt! I guess I'll have to
download sbos 1.4whateverthehellitwas again. :(

Also had to change my configuration to run the install. Something i had in
memory was not liking gravis, so i just did it in flat mode.
-=Marc=-

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

Date: Wed, 17 Mar 93 20:46:07 MET
From: fischer@tmpmbx.netmbx.de (Axel Fischer)
Message-Id: <m0nZ440-0002GnC@tmpmbx.netmbx.de>
Subject: XWing with SBOS 2.02
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Hi,

after installing the gus{17-21} patch I could not get XWing to work with
SBOS 2.02. Actually I don't hear any sound at all. XWing also takes longer
to start up. Than it runs fine despite I have absolutly no sound.

I tried it with 1.4B3 and everything is ok, all sounds could be heard.

Any tips?

-Axel

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

End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V2 #73
******************************
