Ultrasound Daily Digest     Thu,  7 Jan 93       Volume 2 : Issue   6 

Today's Topics:
						   A few questions
		  Anyone got the right settings for PowerPlay 1.2???
		   Curiosity about what low-level things GUS can do
							 gravis-talks
						 Gus joystick pinout?
				GUS support for Standard Mode Windows 
						 IP address for EPAS?
				location of 669 files on ftp sites....
							  midi-demo
						 MIDI port resolution
							Midi utilities
						One long MUDDA PUCKA!
						OPTI, GUS, and WOLF3d
						   PATINFO utility
		   Q on reasonable voice-grade microphone for GUS ?
						 Some Questions.... 
							  three-midi
					   WinMod Pro and Dune II.

	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.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 6 Jan 93 10:02:23 GMT
From: "James Andrews, User Support" <james@sol1.east-london.ac.uk>
Message-Id: <7079.9301061002@uk.ac.uel.sol1>
Subject: A few questions
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Right then! Time for some queries after those stunning hints the other day.

Firstly, I have been semi-promised a GUS developers kit once the
UK legal crap is sorted out but to be honest what I'd really like to know
so as I can do some demented stuff is what is the format of the .pat files?
I'd like to play my own samples as midi and if its simply a case of the
correct parameters to be fed to sox ( which I dont believe it is ) then I think
we should be told.

Nextly, USS8- is anyone happy with it? Are there are handy hints to make it
totally wild?  Im running a largish smartdrv disk cache ( 1 meg ) to a fastish
(19ms) hard disk but it still hiccups if I change volume levels when mixing.

Lastly, programming sound and midi under windows.  Some of you must have read
something worth reading on the subject. Some of you have probably written
something worth reading on the subject.  Lets have some references please.

Thanks in advance for any replies.  Those of you on janet (the uk academic
x25-ish network) might  be interested in me bulletin board at uk.ac.uel.sol1
login as unaxcess then new.  Ive made a folder called "bleep" which deals with
sounds and things like that.

Tommorrow...even more fabulous hints hint hints can you wait? yes you can.

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

Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 20:55:52 +0800 (WST)
From: rlee@tartarus.uwa.edu.au (Ralph Lee)
Message-Id: <199301061255.AA26079@tartarus.uwa.edu.au>
Subject: Anyone got the right settings for PowerPlay 1.2???
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Yep, anyone got the right sbos settings for PP12 that was on Wuarchive??
Thanks
Ralph
rlee@tartarus.uwa.edu.au

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

Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 03:20:46 GMT
From: ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca (Phat H Tran)
Message-Id: <C0ExAM.4vK@watserv2.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: Curiosity about what low-level things GUS can do
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

In article <1993Jan5.160120.21526@nntpd.lkg.dec.com> fisher@decwin.enet.dec.com () writes:
>
>Some questions about how GUS works.  If anyone can legally answer, I'd 
>appreciate it.
>

I'll try to answer your questions to the best of my knowledge and let
others correct me and/or fill in the blanks where they can.  I don't
have the SDK, and hence, am not bound by any non-disclosure agreements,
so yes, what I'm doing is legal. :)

>Does the GUS board have a programmable processor?  I imagine it as a CPU that
>reads an "instruction stream" from GUS memory, where the instructions are stuff
>like "Play the following data at frequency x.", and "loop back to address y".
>But we know there are other things it can do like arithmetically mixing data
>streams.  So what can it do?
>

The GUS's processor is not programmable.  It has a fixed set of commands
that must be issued by the CPU.  That is, you cannot upload a program to
it and have it execute the sequence of instructions on its own.  However,
the card's hardwired commands and functions are quite powerful, it would
seem.

>Related question:  How much of what happens when you play a midi file is done
>by the driver, and how much by the GUS?  For example, does the driver actually
>do the timing and interpreting of the MIDI file, choose the right patch, and
>just tell the GUS to play it?
>

The Gravis is like the SB, SBPro, SB-16, PAS-16, etc. in this regard in
that it cannot process MIDI messages.  The driver has to interpret the MIDI
commands and then tell the GUS what to do.

>Someone said that the gus piano patch actually consisted of several samples
>at different frequencies.  Does the GUS understand this itself and convert
>note commands into playing the correct samples, or is this all a driver
>function?
>

I am not sure if multi-sampled patches are supported in hardware or
implemented in software.  

>Do samples have to be loaded into GUS memory to play, or can they be played
>directly somehow?
>

A large sample is usually played by buffering a part of it on the card's
RAM, have the card play that bit back while you upload the next part of
the sample.  I don't know if there is a direct, stick-feeding method to
play samples on the GUS.

Phat.

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

Date: Wed, 6 Jan 93 11:31:59 CST
From: mholmes@lonestar.utsa.edu (Mark L. Holmes)
Message-Id: <9301061731.AA10004@lonestar.utsa.edu>
Subject: gravis-talks
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>



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

Date: Wed, 6 Jan 93 22:06:04 EST
From: elewis@eve.wright.edu (Edward Lewis IV)
Message-Id: <9301070306.AA19621@eve.wright.edu.>
Subject: Gus joystick pinout?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

I was wondering if anybody could help my friend out.  He wants to hook up
a Y-adapter to his computer to allow 2 joysticks.  His mult-i/o card's 
joystick port will not support a Y-cable for some unknown reason and a call
to the Computer manufacturer was no help (then even said you can't disable it)
So I decided to hook it up to his Ultrasound card and try it.  Even though
both game ports are at address 201h that doesn't seem to interfere with anything.(possibly due to not using both at the same time?).

Because the Ultrasound's game port also doubles as a MIDI connector a standard
Y-joystick cable will not work.. Therefore, I see two choices... Find a cable
that will work or make one myself.  Therefore if anyone knows where I could 
find a cable that will do this (I understand Gravis hasn
't made one yet) or could give me a PINOUT of the GUS's joystick port I would
be very grateful (So would my friend).

My multi-io card will allow me to use the Y-cable so I do not have this problem


Any information would be greatly appreciated..

Thanks in advance


Edward Lewis IV
Wright State University
Dayton, Ohio

Mead Data Central
Miamisburg, Ohio
Co-op

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

Date: Wed, 06 Jan 93 13:13:18 -0500
From: "It's your hand, Buckaroo" <dantonio@magick.tay2.dec.com>
Message-Id: <9301061813.AA11604@magick.tay2.dec.com>
Subject: GUS support for Standard Mode Windows 
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Steven Junacko <CSC9242546G@lust1.latrobe.edu.au> writes,

> I've got a 286 and my GUS does absolutely nothing with Windows.  If 
> anybody has drivers or somehow has SBOS working with Standard Mode Windows it
> would be greatly appreciated if you could tell me how.

And those of us who want to use the GUS in a WINOS2 session under OS/2
would like to know the same thing...

DDA

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

Date: Wed, 6 Jan 93 9:39:43 PST
From: harun@suhana.analog.ingr.com (Bustamam Harun)
Message-Id: <9301060939.AA15186@suhana.UUCP>
Subject: IP address for EPAS?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Can somebody post the IP address for archive.epas.utoronto.ca.
We don't have it on the nameserver.

Thanks.

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

Date: 6 Jan 93  9:53 -0800
From: Thomas Wong <twong@civil.ubc.ca>
Message-Id: <2739*twong@civil.ubc.ca>
Subject: location of 669 files on ftp sites....
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

The 669 files have a directory of their own, to group all of their
song files, composers, players all in one place.

On archive.epas.utoronto.ca, the directory is pub/pc/ultrasound/soundutil/669.

On wuarchive.wustl.edu, it's msdos/systems/ultrasound/soundutil/669.

After files in the submit directory gets validated, they are transferred
to the appropriate directories in our arcives. Therefore note that the
files in the submit are not validated, not scanned for viruses, not
checked to make sure it's not a host....etc. So grab them at your own
risk. (Haven't seen a bad file yet though)

Thomas.

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

Date: Wed, 6 Jan 93 11:32:26 CST
From: mholmes@lonestar.utsa.edu (Mark L. Holmes)
Message-Id: <9301061732.AA10011@lonestar.utsa.edu>
Subject: midi-demo
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>



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

Date: Thu, 7 Jan 93 13:23:00 EST
From: Remek Lipinski <remek@mullian.ee.Mu.OZ.AU>
Message-Id: <199301070223.AA12676@mamura.ee.mu.OZ.AU>
Subject: MIDI port resolution
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Hi everyone,
	I would like to hear from some people who have used the MIDI In port
on the gravis card. Particularly what sort of timing resolution  it can
achieve and if they have experienced any 'hickups' etc when seqencing
with an external keyboard. I currently have an MPU401 MIDI interface card
and I am considering replacing it with the gravis card as the midi interface
to my synth, but I am not sure if I will get the same performance. Any
comments will be grately appreciated, thanks.
						Remek.

*=============================================================================*
** Remek Lipinski                                                            **
**                                       e-mail:  remek@mullian.ee.mu.OZ.AU  **
**                                          tel:  BH  +61 3 344-6714         **
**                                                AH  +61 3 879-2610         **
**                                          fax:      +61 3 344-6678         **
*=============================================================================*

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

Date: Wed, 6 Jan 93 10:48:06 EST
From: dionf@ERE.UMontreal.CA (Francois Dion)
Message-Id: <9301061548.AA15963@brise.ERE.UMontreal.CA>
Subject: Midi utilities
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

On klingon (archive.epas) you will find several midi utilities including some
for monitoring the midi in, another to play midi files (MM jukebox), one to
check the midi driver etc... All of them work as is with the GUS and most
have source included.
 
There is also a jukebox for .wav (same jbox principle as for the .mid) and also
a pocket recorder (with .wav playback and effects). The source of these programs
are in the .txt files in the same subdirectory.
 
All of the above are for windows 3.1 (sorry dos users...)
 
Ciao,
-- 
Francois Dion
	'  _   _   _ 
 CISM (_) (_)  _) FM       Montreal , Canada       Email: CISM@ERE.UMontreal.CA
	  (_)  / . _)             10000 Watts          Telephone no: (514) 343-7511
_______________________________________________________________________________
Audio-C-DJ-Fractals-Future-Label-Multimedia-Music-Radio-Rave-Video-VR-Volvo-...

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

Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 02:36:42 GMT
From: mtichy@fraser.sfu.ca (Martin Tichy)
Message-Id: <1993Jan6.023642.13637@sfu.ca>
Subject: One long MUDDA PUCKA!
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

> Is there any information available on the specs of the daughter
> board and when it will be available? Thanks
> 
>    George
 
Should be out sometime this month or Feburary.  If not I 
should think it'd still be out before the end of the 1st 
Quarter of '93.  This is just my opinion.
 
Uhm, all I've heard from around here and there is it'll let 
you record at 16-bits, 44.1Khz in Stereo, and have some fancy 
schmancy control over inputs.  Someone mentioned 48Khz DAT 
quality recording but again, I'd only believe it when I see it.
 
> The mod is 725,464 bytes long.  Any ideas?  Should I get an Amiga?
> Dave Angus
 
I have two not "Should I get an Amiga" suggestions.
 
1) Use a windows mod file player like Winmod or Winmod Pro
2) Leave me E-mail stating where you ftp'ed the mod (including 
sub directories) and I'll uuencode some of my teeniest 
weeniest mod file players for you, ones which are smaller than 
pp.
 
> The chip, Precision Monolithics Inc., PM-7528 has 20 pins, 8 for
> data, one for DAC select, V   for 5-15 V, V   A, V   B, V  A V  B,
> data and and analog 
>              DD              REF    REF    FB   FB
> GNDs, WR and CS, and OUT for both DACs.
> 
> CMOS and TTL compatible, it says.
>                      _____                __           __
> Dac select is marked DAC A / DAC B, WR is WR and CS is CS.
> 
> So, can a Stereo-In-1 (to be used with MODPLAY or other) be built
> around  this, I have my own thoughts, but I think they would just
> confuse you :-)
 
You already have!
 
> (1) I can't get the GUS working with 16-bit DMA channels (5, 6, 7).
> I've tried it out with QEMM and EMM386, with different DMA buffer
> sizes and even with a 'clean' system (i.e. no drivers). I can use
> DMA 7 for the DAC but not for RAM, i.e. SET ULTRASND=220,1,7,11,5
> works o.k., but SET ULTRASND=220,7,7,11,5 does not work o.k. The
> MIDI songs sound terribly! Any clues on how to solve this problem?
 
Make sure none of your other cards are using those DMA 
channels and try again.  If not then maybe your motherboard 
just can't hack it.
 
> (2) I have installed the new Windows drivers. I can record and
> playback .WAV samples, but I can't get the MIDI working. I've tried
> Media Player, Patch Manager and WinJammer. Patch Manager gives an
> empty list of patches, the other are playing, but I don't hear a
> sound! It worked o.k. with the v1.10 drivers. I've installed it as
> described in the readme-file and after that I've copied the
> midimap.cfg and ultrawin.cfg to the \windows\system directory.
 
Install 1.21 drivers.  You can get them from 
klingon.epas.utoronto.ca (128.100.160.36) in the 
\pub\pc\ultrasound\gravis-disks directory and give er a go 
again.
 
> (3) Does anybody know the difference between the rev. 2.2 and rev.
> 2.4 board? And the difference between the v1.10 disks and v.1.21
> disks?
 
Ya, 1.21 is good 1.1 is bad.  1.21 has more patches and bugs 
fixed etc.
 
> (1) I really like the 669 player! Sounds very good (and loud...
> ouch!)
 
Use the plus and minus keys on the keypad section of your 
keyboard.  Usually they are grey.  They'll control the volume.
 
> (2) SBOS 1.23 seems no real improvement over v1.22. The digitised
> sounds are too
 
I agree.  Just use 1.22 unless something better comes up.
 
> (3) I tried out three MOD players: MOD.EXE, GUSMOD.EXE (or was it
> MODGUS?) and MODULATR.  The first is not working. I think it is not
> meant as a MOD player. The
 
PUSH.MOD is hardcoded into MOD.EXE. Three things you can do:
1) re-compile the source code with the filename of the mod you 
want
2) use a disk editor to rename PUSH.MOD in the executable file
3) the simplest, rename the mod you want to play to PUSH.MOD 
and copy it to the directory in which MOD.EXE resides.  I just 
made a little batch file to do this for me.
 
> GUS only? *snicker* Hey, they sound just fine on the SoundBlaster
> and the Composer works great on the SB too! Since Renaissance made
> the package completely free you can compose and save now! Cool,
> huh?
 
Ya, I know you can play them with the composer but ah, I 
uploaded the 669 files with GUS users in mind, not SB users.  
Oh, Ya, I'm sure 669's sound fine on your SB (ha ha ha - 8 
channels mixed into 1 stinky mono channel). Just kidding, I 
hope you enjoy them.
 
*************************************************************
"Poor is the man who's music depends upon the synthesis of an 
 FM chip."
 
  - Da Lazer!
*************************************************************
 
 

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

Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 23:01:09 -0500
From: "Frank Pikelner" <frank@cs.yorku.ca>
Message-Id: <9301070401.AA01670@cs.yorku.ca>
Subject: OPTI, GUS, and WOLF3d
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Hello all,

I have a 386/40 and although most programs seem to work they do not all work
the same as specified on the game sheet floating about the net. For most games
using the SBOS 1.22 version, as per the sheet no options are required. I seem
to need to put in -o2 or -03 options for some. ie. UNREALDEMO, WOLF3D,
AZTEC DEMO. I run DR DOS 6 and QEMM, I have disabled both and have tried MSDOS
with no luck. WOLF3D plays with only the -o3 option and obviously no yelling
from the germans, the sounds also are not all correct (maybe I do not have the
correct patches? - waiting fo mine).

On a seperate note, I thought I got the SOS 1.23 version, but when I load it
I still get the 1.22 version number - any ideas why?

Thanks,

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
   ---  ---     Frank Pikelner                                        /~\
   \    \  \    Technical Assistant, Department of Computer Science  <v.v>
	\-   \--    York University (Toronto, Canada)                    '\^/;
	 \    \ Internet: frank@cs.yorku.ca                          _{!}_
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 13:04:46 -0500
From: aa344@yfn.ysu.edu (Joseph Maruschek)
Message-Id: <199301061804.AA29557@yfn.ysu.edu>
Subject: PATINFO utility
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

I've written a small utility that lets you peek at some of the
fields in the GUS's patch files.  Since I don't have the SDK,
there is a lot of other information in the header that I don't
understand.  I wrote this in QuickBASIC, and I've uploaded it to
epas in the submit directory.  Source code is included.  To use,
just type "PATINFO filename" at the DOS command line.  "filename"
is any GUS patch file.  Here's some examples of the output:

File: SLAPBAS1.PAT 
This file contains  2  sample(s).
 
Sample # 1 
Sample length: 14658        Loop start:  14150          Loop end: 14648 
Sample rate: 18382 Hz
Lowest note: A0             Highest note: B2            Base note: D2
Detune: 0     Unknown: 2    Balance: 7 
 
Sample # 2 
Sample length: 26492        Loop start:  25788          Loop end: 26286 
Sample rate: 18382 Hz
Lowest note: C3             Highest note: C8            Base note: D3
Detune: 0     Unknown: 2    Balance: 7 
 
 
File: TOMS.PAT 
This file contains  1  sample(s).
 
Sample # 1 
Sample length: 13132        Loop start:  12830          Loop end: 13110 
Sample rate: 10964 Hz
Lowest note: A0             Highest note: C8            Base note: G2
Detune:-94    Unknown: 2    Balance: 7 
 
 
File: CYMCRSH1.PAT 
This file contains  1  sample(s).
 
Sample # 1 
Sample length: 63018        Loop start:  54752          Loop end: 62986 
Sample rate: 26041 Hz
Lowest note: C#3            Highest note: C#3           Base note: C#3
Detune: 0     Unknown: 2    Balance: 7 
 
 
File: ACPIANO1.PAT 
This file contains  7  sample(s).
 
Sample # 1 
Sample length: 7340         Loop start:  6534           Loop end: 7326 
Sample rate: 39062 Hz
Lowest note: A0             Highest note: G2            Base note: D3
Detune:-3     Unknown: 2    Balance: 7 
 
Sample # 2 
Sample length: 10376        Loop start:  3746           Loop end: 10362 
Sample rate: 39062 Hz
Lowest note: G2             Highest note: F3            Base note: C4
Detune: 43    Unknown: 3    Balance: 7 
 
Sample # 3 
Sample length: 6018         Loop start:  2132           Loop end: 6004 
Sample rate: 39062 Hz
Lowest note: F3             Highest note: C4            Base note: C4
Detune: 0     Unknown: 2    Balance: 7 
 
Sample # 4 
Sample length: 14228        Loop start:  12626          Loop end: 14216 
Sample rate: 39062 Hz
Lowest note: C4             Highest note: A#4           Base note: D5
Detune: 0     Unknown: 3    Balance: 7 
 
Sample # 5 
Sample length: 14242        Loop start:  13110          Loop end: 14228 
Sample rate: 39062 Hz
Lowest note: A#4            Highest note: G#5           Base note: F5
Detune: 0     Unknown: 2    Balance: 7 
 
Sample # 6 
Sample length: 8140         Loop start:  6590           Loop end: 8128 
Sample rate: 39062 Hz
Lowest note: G#5            Highest note: G#6           Base note: E6
Detune: 0     Unknown: 2    Balance: 7 
 
Sample # 7 
Sample length: 4004         Loop start:  3558           Loop end: 3956 
Sample rate: 39062 Hz
Lowest note: G#6            Highest note: C8            Base note: A6
Detune: 0     Unknown: 2    Balance: 7 

Have fun exploring!

--
aa344 is Joseph Maruschek                   3      3      3      3      3 
IBM PC SIGop, Youngstown Free-Net             D     D     D     D     D
motto: Strive for the simplest and the best.    |    |    |    |    |
												  :   :   :   :   :

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

Date: Wed, 6 Jan 93 21:28:50 -0800
From: Bob Beck <rbk@sequent.com>
Message-Id: <9301070528.AA04613@eng2.sequent.com>
Subject: Q on reasonable voice-grade microphone for GUS ?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

The GUS documentation I have doesn't tell me parameters on microphones to
use for recording voice.  Can anyone suggest what has been working for them?
Thanks.

					- Bob (rbk@sequent.com)

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

Date: Wed, 06 Jan 93 13:20:57 -0500
From: "It's your hand, Buckaroo" <dantonio@magick.tay2.dec.com>
Message-Id: <9301061820.AA11623@magick.tay2.dec.com>
Subject: Some Questions.... 
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

>   I just wanted to find out from someone if they have received any thing
> back from GRAVIS when they sent in the registration card?  Do they send you 
> those 192 extra patches? or anything else.

Not yet. I've heard rumours to the effect that the General MIDI patches are
"almost done" and would ship along with the "real" Windows drivers...

> And the other question I had was:
> How do I find out that instruments are missing from a MID file?  for example:
>  
>   Warning: couldn't find program 95 to put on channel 7
> 
> I mean things wouldn't sound right if I just assigned any instrument to that 
> program.  So how do I know what instruments It is looking for?  

You could find out from the General MIDI set what instrument is supposed to
be on program #95. If it's a non-General MIDI file, you could look into
it's .cfg file, if it has one. Otherwise, I think you're out of luck...

DDA

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

Date: Wed, 6 Jan 93 11:33:16 CST
From: mholmes@lonestar.utsa.edu (Mark L. Holmes)
Message-Id: <9301061733.AA10018@lonestar.utsa.edu>
Subject: three-midi
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>



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

Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 20:50:14 +0800 (WST)
From: rlee@tartarus.uwa.edu.au (Ralph Lee)
Message-Id: <199301061250.AA25806@tartarus.uwa.edu.au>
Subject: WinMod Pro and Dune II.
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Does anyone have a good setup for WinMod Pro??
There is a considerable difference in quality between 22050 and 11025
but I get alot of misplaced sounds and routine errors when using 22050.
I tried altering the buffer size but I couldn't perfect an optimum size.
Which size should I use and what other settings should I or shouldn't I
use...

Also, what are the sbos settings for Dune II for speech and which
version as well??

Thanks again to the netters...

RAlph
rlee@tartarus.uwa.edu.au

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

End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V2 #6
******************************
