Ultrasound Daily Digest     Mon, 23 Nov 92       Volume 1 : Issue  28 

Today's Topics:
				   486 compatibility - anyone else?
Gravis To Bundle Better Software w/ GUS --> What about current owners?
						GUS IS a MOD player!!
						  Starcon2 - moddan
						Starcon II bug update
							Star Control 2
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 21 Nov 92 22:45 -0800
From: Thomas Wong <twong@civil.ubc.ca>
Message-Id: <2472*twong@civil.ubc.ca>
Subject: 486 compatibility - anyone else?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

I am using my GUS on my 33 mhz 486 with no problems.
So it works on 486s.

Thomas.

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

Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 10:09:07 -0500
From: gkirikos@epas.utoronto.ca (George Kirikos)
Message-Id: <9211221509.AA02056@epas.utoronto.ca>
Subject: Gravis To Bundle Better Software w/ GUS --> What about current owners?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Hello,

I read the following piece on NewsBytes (dated Nov.20/92):

(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00001)

Advanced Gravis To Bundle Music Software 11/19/92
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA, 1992 NOV 19 (NB) --
Advanced Gravis Computer Technology has signed license
agreements to bundle music software from Midisoft Corp., and
Howling Dog Systems with its recently launched UltraSound sound
board for PCs. The worldwide non-exclusive licensing agreements
extend to the end of 1993, with options to renew till 1995.

Gravis will license Power Chords for Windows from Howling Dog
and Midisoft Recording Session from Midisoft. The suggested
retail prices of the packages are $84.95 and $99.95, respectively.

Each has been optimized for UltraSound, Gravis said, and includes
a collection of musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) music.
According to the vendors, the bundle makes it easy for UltraSound
users to play, edit, and compose MIDI music using standard music
notation or a guitar interface and drum kit.

Launched in October, the UltraSound card uses all-digital wave
table synthesis rather than the FM synthesis technique other PC
sound boards use. Brad Craig, market development manager at
Advanced Gravis, said this approach gives better sound because
"we can sample real sound." Also, Craig said, the UltraSound card
can generate 32 distinct voices at the same time, versus about
22 from most competing boards.

The UltraSound card is a 16-bit, 44.1-kilohertz stereo sound
card with a Standard MIDI interface, 256 kilobytes of memory,
and a speed-compensating game port.

According to Advanced Gravis, the card is compatible with other
popular sound boards, such as the Sound Blaster and Ad Lib units,
and with multimedia software for Microsoft Windows.

The suggested retail price is $199.95 and the card is due to be
available throughout North America in January.

(Grant Buckler/19921117/Press Contact: Grant Russell,
Advanced Gravis Computer Technology, 604-431-5020)

----end of Newsbytes piece

My question is, how will CURRENT owners of the GUS be able to get the
above software (I assume it will be free to future customers)? Does
anyone from Gravis care to comment?? 

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

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

Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 0:17:37 EST
From: adrianr@ecr.mu.oz.au (Adriano_Ennio RAIOLA)
Message-Id: <9211221317.13165@ecr.mu.oz.au>
Subject: GUS IS a MOD player!!
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

> First, just playing around with Starcon2.  If you install SBOS, the
> sound still sounds exactly the same.  Don't know if it's still
> autodetecting the Gravis, or if it's just playing a MOD (which would
> be dissapointing)...  Anyone with a real SB/SBPro to confirm this?

Obviously a bit of knowledge about how the GUS exactly works wouldnt go
astray.. of COURSE its 'just' playing a MOD! that is the essence of how
a GUS works.. you take a sample of intrument/effect A.. another of 
instrument effect B, etc.. and play them back at various pitches (frequency)
comining the waveform of each separate sample together on the spot to get
1 big waveform representing the cominbed samples to feed to the DAC. On
a SBlaster you have 1 channel into the DAC, so you have to combine the 
separate samples (usually 4 like a MOD has) by CPU calculations, slowing
the thing down, on an Amiga you happen to have 4 channels (as it were) to 
the DAC (hence the reason MOD's use 4 voices), which will do all the calculation
of combining the 4 samples, independent of the CPU, saving BIG processor time!
On a dear old GUS, you happen to have 32 of these channels to the DAC! All
capable of doing the maths to combine 32 CD quality samples at once! Independent
of the (PC's very precious) CPU!! What a dream..

I presume what you meant by 'just playng a MOD' was that in SBlaster mode
it would not be loading the samples into GUS memory, just treating it like
a Sblaster job, and letting the CPU do the dirty work.. see my question below

My questions:

1) Exactly how much main CPU overhead IS there on playing back, say, a 32
voice/sample music piece, like a midi file or 32 voice MOD whatever, obviously
some overhead must be there to send the info to each channel, but is it any
greater than say, playing a song back on a true midi device, through midi ports? 
2) How many voices does Star Control 2 use during the game on a GUS? The 
Sblaster version would be doing 4 at most id say, how about GUS?

3) When will we see 32 channel MOD's become a standard! Maybe a new standard
could be setup, call them .GMF's .. for Gravis Music Files or something..

4) Finally, playing Star Control 2 in GUS true mode, or Sblaster emulation mode, has anyone noticed any speed difference in the game? Or less voices? You'd
think that if it was doing Sblaster emulation, it would then force the
cpu to do the MOD calculations, as it does for a real Sblaster.. instead of
loading the samples to the GUS memory.. is this how the SBlaster emulation
works? i.e. the gus actually loads the samples to be played into its memory?
or a direct line to the dac?

btw, i dont own a GUS yet, cant afford it

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

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

Date: Sun, 22 Nov 92 1:49:14 PST
From: mtichy@sfu.ca
Message-Id: <9211220949.AA28099@fraser.sfu.ca>
Subject: Starcon2 - moddan
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

> About Star Control II:
> 
>    The GUS support in SC II is loading all samples from a MOD type
> song 
> 
>    onto the UltraSound's onboard RAM. It is >>NOT<< just using the
> DAC! 
 
Starcon II sounds much sharper than on a SB PRO.  Is this due to the channel aration
channel separation on the GUS or do you use 16-bit or higher rated samples
on the GUS music?

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

Date: Sun, 22 Nov 92 16:00:25 MST
From: kdorff@NMSU.Edu
Message-Id: <9211222301.AA16712@NMSU.Edu>
Subject: Starcon II bug update
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Well, I have been playing around with my setup to
see if I can fix the sound with starcon ii and the gus.

It appears to give me the stat at menu selection (and at the base on the moon)
if I have 1 meg installed.  I went down to 768 and fixed those problems,
but it is still playing the wrong instruments in a lot of places after
the moon (MAN!!! this is getting FRUSTRATING! I am SOOO close to just
returning the game).  I am going to take my gravis down to 256k and test it out
thoroughly. then try all combinations of memory chips to make sure I don't
have any bad chips.  What a PAIN!!!!

Has anyone else out there gotten SCII to run with 1 meg on the ultrasound?

ALSO someone PLEASE send me a crack that works for this game.   Even MORE
frustrating than listening to the WRONG INSTRUMENTS during game play is
lookup for those planets on that STUPID map.  THE WORST copyprotechtion.
If they JUST would have made it the size of a shheet of paper I wouldn't
mine so much.

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

Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 00:16:56 -0500 (EST)
From: reznick@acf3.NYU.EDU (Daniel Reznick)
Message-Id: <9211230516.AA10240@acf3.NYU.EDU>
Subject: Star Control 2
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Star Control 2 sounds great, but it is MUCH TOO LOUD!!!!

Is there any way to set the volume? Maybe by running a TSR prior to
running Star Control?

It seems mighty ironic that volume can be set with SBOS but there is
no control over games which use the Ultrasound in its native mode.

--

On a seperate note, I only get the top 6 or seven percussion intruments
when running charles petzold's drum sequencer.  Is there any way to
fix this?


Daniel Reznick
renzick@acf3.nyu.edu

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

Date: Sun, 22 Nov 92 16:23:06 CST
From: cowles@hydra.convex.com (John Cowles)
Message-Id: <9211222223.AA09918@hydra.convex.com>
Subject: Your request in Ultrsound Digest
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

> Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 23:55:17 -0400 (AST)
> From: Shadow Of Fear <8900795@info.umoncton.ca>
> To: Gravis Mailing List <ultrasound-request@dsd.es.com>
> Subject: 
> 
> Hi,
> 
>   Can anyone tell me where (on which FTP site) I can find some MIDI
> files?  I've been looking on many FTP sites but I can't find them. 
> They're hard to track down.....
> 
>                                          ____
>               _  _  _                  / \   \ 
>             /' )' )' )                |   |   |           
>               /  /  /                 | (_|__/         \   
>              /     /  __. .__    ___  |   |  __.  . .   \  .   ___ 
>             /     (__(_/|__) )__/(__   \_/__(_/|__)\_)__/\__)__) <_ 
> 
>                     Markus on QuartzPARADISE and AfterFive
>                             (506)855-4974 - Canada
> +---------------------------------------------+-----------------------------+
> |            markus@info.umoncton.ca          | "My son, ask for thyself    |

To: markus@info.umoncton.ca
Subject: Midi files

You can find many midi files at archive.cs.ruu.nl in /pub/MIDI

Most of the gs midifiles ought to work great with the GUS.

	 John Cowles        cowles@hydra.convex.com
						Convex Computer Corp.  214 497 4375
						3000 Waterview Pkwy
						Richardson, Tx. 75080

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End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V1 #28
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