Ultrasound Daily Digest     Tue, 29 Dec 92       Volume 1 : Issue  61 

Today's Topics:
				 A few questions from a new owner...
					Cheap GUS price! Suggestions?
			Digest Admin: More Info on 16bit Daughtercard
					   DMA Channels -- 1 or 2?
					GUS: is it Avail. in AUSTRALIA
							  MIDI Files
							 NEW drivers
							OS/2 attempts
						 Player 669 for GUS.
		  SBOS 1.23 -- I like it, despite first impressions.
							  SBOS 1.23b
						   SBOS and Windows
					   Soon to be new user....
				  The Lost files of Sherlock Holmes

	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: 29 Dec 1992 02:43:26 -0500
From: "Bryon Daly, ECE Dept, UMass, Amherst" <DALY@ecs.umass.edu>
Message-Id: <01GSVDSS2UHUDSXT7R@UMAECS>
Subject: A few questions from a new owner...
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Well, I just got my GUS a few days back, finally, and I have a few questions
for you guys...(Hopefully this will get posted, since my last letter to the
digest never made it...)

First, right now I am forced to play my GUS on a dinky pair of Sony speakers
meant to be hooked into a walkman.  They are connected directly to the 
amplified out and I have no external way to control the volume.  This is
a problem...The GUS has a way of producing incredibly loud sound from those
tiny speakers, and I can't lower the volume!  I almost need earmuffs to play
Star Control II and even music from in Windows is way too loud.  If I use
SBOS, I can lower the volume for games that use SB emulation, but that doesn't
help me in Windows or in Starcon2.  The little sound app that is supposed to
allow volume control in windows that comes with the card doesn't change
the volume at all.  (I can turn off all sound output with it, though).
Am I missing something?  Can someone please tell me how I can generically
lower the output volume on the card...or at least in Starcon2 and Windows?

Second, can someone take the time to explain the basics of midi (.mid) files?
What exactly are they and how do they work?  Can someone also explain how
to get them to be played by my GUS...what steps to take, etc?  Right now,
playmidi will ONLY play the examples included with the card.  I can't get
any of the .mid files from epas to work.  All the ones I've tried, such as
magical.mid, demo0001.mid, and canyon.mid all give an error like "unable
to load achbells - 7" or something like that.  Under Windows, Media Player
will load in a midi file, but it always gives the warning that "it may not
play right under the current midi configuration", and it never sounds too 
good.  I have the Ultrasound driver installed, and moved that file they wanted
into the \windows\system dir.  In the midi setup, I have "ultrasound" selected
in both columns of that mysterious chart (What's that all about?).
The manual is virtually worthless about this stuff...can someone tell me what
I need to do?  Thanks!

Third, after playing Star Control II, I loaded up Windows, and the card 
flipped out!  It played the opening tune and then continued to play random
noise mixed in with snippets of Starcon2 (all at HIGH VOLUME) until I exited
Windows.  SBOS was NOT installed.  Does starcon2 screw the card up for 
other apps?

If it matters, I am using the card on a Gateway 486/25 (non-OPTI chipset),
with DMA 7, MIDI IRQ 5 (which my old SB used OK), US IRQ 11, Port 220 (also
used previously by my SB).  

Thanks for any help/answers you can provide.

-Bryon

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

Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1992 18:27:47 EST
From: Hard On The Beaver <jabussey@ualr.edu>
Message-Id: <00965C66.3C362780.11613@UALR.EDU>
Subject: Cheap GUS price! Suggestions?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Can someone please point me to the place to buy a GUS for the lowest
price in the US? The cheapest I've seen is $139 at BIZMART in Texas.


Thanks!

Jacque Bussey
U of Arkansas Little Rock

jabussey@ualr.edu

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

Date: Tue, 29 Dec 92 2:47:17 MST
From: ddebry@ren.dsd.ES.COM (Dave DeBry)
Message-Id: <9212290947.AA11898@ren>
Subject: Digest Admin: More Info on 16bit Daughtercard
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

	I just got this information about the 16 bit daughtercard for
the Gus, and Gravis in general.  It's the shareholder report for 3rd
quarter 1992.  I've removed a lot of specific money amounts, and tried
to just include useful information.

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

New Product Development

	[Gravis] continues to invest further in research and
development and tooling for new products.  Major efforts were made for
the completion and manufacturing of the UltraSound PC sound card which
commenced shipping October 2nd, 1992.  These engineering efforts will
continue as [Gravis] plans on maintaining its edge in the sound card
market.

	[Gravis] recently announced a low cost 16 bit recording
daughterboard for UltraSound.  In addition to 16-bit, 32 voice stereo
playback, UltraSound can now record in 16-bit CD quality stereo.  The
add on board features sampling rates to 48kHz, on board filtering,
compression, and extended input mixing capabilities.  The product
should be available early 1993.

Outlook for Fourth Quarter

	Strong continued growth over the prior [sp?] year is expected
as a result of new customers and new product offerings.  Initial sales
and customer response to Ultrasound are encouraging [ed: yay!].  Sales
of UltraSound have exceeded $1,000,000 [ed: Canadian dollars] for the
month of November.  These initial results may reflect that UltraSound
is a new product in its introductory period.  And, while future sales
may not be maintained at this rate, [Gravis] is hopeful that the
UltraSound product line will be a strong basis for growth.

					- Grant Russell, President

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

	In other words, the sales for November were great, but there
is concern that sales may slump off.  Which means we need to keep
hounding those software companies to make native Gus games.  So keep
emailing! 


-- 
Dave  ddebry@ debry@   \ "It's not like I'm using.  It's like my body
DeBry dsd.    peruvian. | has developed this massive drug deficiency."
	  es.     cs.utah.  |
	  com     edu      /                                        - Case

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

Date: Tue, 29 Dec 92 1:45:54 MST
From: ddebry@itchy (Dave DeBry)
Message-Id: <9212290845.AA19385@itchy>
Subject: DMA Channels -- 1 or 2?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

	I don't have the manual with me, but I distinctly remember it
saying that the Gus is capable of using DMA channels at once: one for
reading (from cpu memory to the Gus), and one for writing.

	In the ULTRASND variable:

	ULTRASND=220,*,*,11,5

	...the DMA channels are the asterisks, so it is possible to
set them to be two different channels, right?

	Then how come the Windows stuff only allows for one?

	What are the advantages of two?  Can the CPU and Gus both make
use of the channels, and write when they feel like it, concurrently
(as far as the bus will allow)?

	Pondering...

	...can be VERY bad this early in the morning.   =^)


-- 
Dave  ddebry@ debry@   \ "Damn right, I got in a fight.  Someone left
DeBry dsd.    peruvian. | the seat up.  I hate that."
	  es.     cs.utah.  |
	  com     edu      /                              - David Addison

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

Date: 28 Dec 1992 01:29:48 GMT
From: esther@tartarus.uwa.edu.au (Pe-Mei Esther LIM)
Message-Id: <1hllacINNkbu@uniwa.uwa.edu.au>
Subject: GUS: is it Avail. in AUSTRALIA
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

egg@dstos3.dsto.gov.au writes:

>Does anyone know where one can buy a GUS in australia ?
>I have read a bit on the GUS in this group but I cant get a good feel
>for what its really like. Some tech info would be appreciated if someone
>has it handy.

Contact RAETRONICS, in Perth, they sell them for $280...

phone (09) 310 7726 or (09) 275 3162...

esther@tartarus.uwa.edu.au

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

Date: 28 Dec 92 16:03:42 EST (Mon)
From: orbit@m-net.ann-arbor.mi.us (Adam Traidman)
Message-Id: <9212281603.AA24368@m-net.ann-arbor.mi.us>
Subject: MIDI Files
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

	I have been having some trouble playing certain MIDI files which
get a "Corrupt MIDI file" error message from PLAYMIDI, but work find in
Windows.  I just today upgraded to 1 MEG of RAM which didn't help the
 situation much.  (My compliments to the author of DRAM, it came in
 handy.)  If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.
	Also, has anyone found a solution yet to the "repeating" of certain
sounds by the UltraSound while in Windows?  It is usually accompanied
by a loud hiss..
	Any information would be appreciated.

Thanks, Adam Traidman  (orbit)

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

Date: Mon, 28 Dec 92 06:11:52 PST
From: brian@ccnext.ucsf.edu (Brian Huddleston)
Message-Id: <9212281411.AA15470@ ccnext.ucsf.edu >
Subject: NEW drivers
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

I just want to ask about something I heard once, is it true that ultrasound is 
creating a driver to make the UltraSound emulate the Roland MT-32 or something?
I'm not sure if this is just one of those wish list suggestions, or does it have
any base.

							Brian H.
							brian@ccnext.ucsf.edu

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

Date: 28 Dec 92 11:27:43
From: monkey!blackdiamond@apple.com (Philip Andrew Nemec)
Message-Id: <9212281127.AA2659.V1.4@monkey.UUCP>
Subject: OS/2 attempts
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

I tried (using the beta version) a bit of ultrasound stuff...  I quickly
tried the WIN 3.1 stuff, but to no avail.  Here is what I tried...  Using
the entire setup (reinstalling from floppy) for the GUS stuff.  The stuff
from GRAVIS worked fine - like I recall it talked like it was supposed to.
 
Then I go to set it up in Windows (3.1 again), and gives me errors on restart
that it can't initialize or some such.  I believe this was from not
getting the environment variables, so I went and stuck those in.  Then on 
restart I get a patch not found on ever single patch...  So I copy all the 
patches into the WINOS31 or whatever directory...  Then it just didn't like
it and I gave up (like I took it off my hard disk, at least for the time
being).
I'll probably reinstall it if there are some signs of light!

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

Date: 29 Dec 92 05:30:04 GMT
From: ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca (Phat H Tran)
Message-Id: <C009y4.C8r@watserv2.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: Player 669 for GUS.
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Martin was having trouble uploading to Epas, so he sent me Player 669
for the GUS and a 669 file, both of which I've uploaded to Epas.  The
player is called p669gu0.arj, and the 669 files is crystals.zip.

If Martin's reading this, can you please send me a few more 669 files?
I'll upload them to Epas as well.

Crystals.669 sounded really good for 8-bit audio.

Phat.

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

Date: 29 Dec 92 05:25:45 GMT
From: ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca (Phat H Tran)
Message-Id: <C009qy.C5J@watserv2.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: SBOS 1.23 -- I like it, despite first impressions.
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

I have come to the conclusion that SBOS 1.23 is a definite improvement
over 1.22, despite being less than impressed with it at the start.  I
think I posted two complaints about the new SBOS, which later turned
out to be somewhat false.

First, I think I said that the Inca demo ran worse with 1.23 than
with SBOS 1.22.  Slap me silly, but my problems with the demo was
due to me not disabling EMM386.  Running the Inca demo with EMM386
installed resulted in fouled speech with SBOS 1.22 as well as 1.23.

Second... Ummm... I can't remember what my second hasty complaint
was.

Well, anyway, I think the reason why I didn't like SBOS 1.23 at first
was that it didn't say "SBOS installed".  I'd never thought that I'd
miss that overly-nasal greeting, but I guess I did, because once I
got it saying "SBOS installed" again, everything seemed to work better.
To get your copy of SBOS 1.23 talking again, delete the third line in
SBOS.CFG or change the sample name to one that can actually be found
in your \ultrasnd\sbos directory.  The older SBOSes said "SBOS installed"
if they couldn't find the sample specified in the config file, but the 
new one just shuts up.

With 1.23, the digitized sounds are much softer and smoother than with
earlier versions.  As I'm using the more-or-less constantly-at-max-volume 
amplified out, my ears are much relieved at this.

The speech in Chuck Yeager's Air Combat (the old one) worked much more
consistently with 1.23 than they did with 1.22.  

WOWII works for me with 1.23.  In fact, I can increase the frequency to
22kHz now, whereas with 1.22, I had to settle for 16kHz.  I also
use /b:9000.

The animation in the intro of Falcon 3.0 is much more in sync with the
digitized sounds than they were with 1.22.  The FM music also seems
improved over 1.22.  There isn't that loud noise when I enter the
War Room, for example.

In all, everything I've tried with SBOS 1.23 worked better than it did
with SBOS 1.22.  To those of you who have gone back to 1.22, perhaps you
should give 1.23 a second look.

Phat.

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

Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1992 07:48:45 -0500 (EST)
From: Morgan Stair <morgan@dl5000.bc.edu>
Message-Id: <Pine.3.03.9212280743.A29149-c100000@dlws9>
Subject: SBOS 1.23b
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

On 27 Dec 1992, Thomas Wong wrote:

> For all those having problems with the new SBOS 1.23, please contact
> Gravis and let them know what your problems are. Remember to be detailed
> about what you are doing and what the problem is.
> 
> The email address for Alan, the tech guy, is 71333.350@compuserve.com.

	Ultima Underworld works Moderately well for me with SBOSv1.22b (1.23b
is unusable), but the following problems are: 

	1) VERY loud, high speed screaches and static which don't stop until I
choose to view the introduction.  As soon as it says "At last you are
asleep" something resets in the Ultrasound card and things work find
(except for #2 below).  It sounds as if the screaching might be a maximum
speed and volume playback loop of "At last you are asleep" but I can't
tell. 

	2) 2-4 ticks per second (very annoying) during any digitized output
all the time (in Underworld only). 

	I have tried both QEMM6.02 and DOS5\EMM386 with a variety of switches
(even things like "1024 AUTO M9 X=C000-CFFF RAMF" and the problem wasn't
solved. 

	This is pretty bad, but I can live with it since the game doesn't use
digitized sound very much, but when I tried SBOSv1.23 (hoping this was
fixed :-) I found that all the old problems remained (I think the "ticks"
were softer). 

	It started with screaches and static (somewhat drowned out by a louder
music score).  Worse then, the first time I ran the introduction all it
did was STOP digitized sound, and SUBSEQUENT times running the
introduction, I found the music score was so much louder, that I could
barely hear the digitized speach.  The ticking however seemed a little
softer. 

	Needless to say, I put 1.22 back in place, and archived 1.23 for my
own personal posterity... 

	One more thing, Alan.  Could you tell whoever writes the installation
instructions that new copies of any executables (like sbosdrv.exe
loadsbos.exe) HAVE TO GO IN THE ULTRASND DIRECTORY (vs ULTRASND\SBOS)!
Okay, it's a Beta release, and you can expect a level of competence on our
parts, so consider this feedback.  The installation / update instructions
have been wrong for 1.22 and 1.23. 

	By the way, I am running on a 486/33 ISA machine with 8M RAM, AMI
Bios, and the BIOTEQ Chipset.  By default I use QEMM as my memory manager,
and my GUS is successfully configured for DMA Channel 7, MIDI Irq 7, and
Ultrasound Irq 11.  I changed memory managers (and parameters) several
times, and I changed my GUS configuration (including using 8 bit DMA
channels) several times to try and fix the problem with no success.

-Morgan

*************************************************************************
* W. Morgan Stair                        Phone: (617) 552-8783          *
* Boston College                         FAX:   (617) 552-8778          *
* Institute for Space Research           Email: morgan@dl5000.bc.edu    *
* 4 Alfred Circle                                                       *
* Bedford MA  01730                                                     *
*************************************************************************

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

Date: Mon, 28 Dec 92 14:05:13 -0500
From: U-L59339-Bob Phillips <rep@lhp111.ae.ge.com>
Message-Id: <9212281904.AA04161@crdgw1.ge.com>
Subject: SBOS and Windows
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

I recently purchased an Ultrasound card and with some playing around
with settings and options have it running reasonably well.  The only
problem that I have found is that I can not launch DOS programs from
Windows 3.1 using the batch files created by UBAT.  In fact, I can not
even start the SBOS TSR from an MSDOS virtual machine.  It simply
hangs.  I have tried playing around with various interupt sequences to
see if that helped but without much success.  I am running on a GW2000
486/33.  Does anyone have any suggestions??  I saw a similar posting
on the soundcards news but no answers yet.  I have also submitted to
Gravis through compuserve so if I get a response through that channel
I will post it.

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

Date: Mon, 28 Dec 92 05:38:18 PST
From: brian@ccnext.ucsf.edu (Brian Huddleston)
Message-Id: <9212281338.AA15434@ ccnext.ucsf.edu >
Subject: Soon to be new user....
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Greetings all, I just wanted to ask a few questions before I jump over to one 
of our local stores and buy this outstanding card.  Has anyone had any experience with the Ultrasound with the game DUNE2????  I have a 386sx 16mhz and alot of
programs that use mods slow down my computer, such as Starcon ][, does the 
ultrasound help with this? (BTW: right now I have the old SoundBlaster).  I know the UltraS wasn't made as a gaming card directely, but right now that's mostly
what I'm going to be using it for.  I do work with MIDI, but only on a low level
, I'm still learning about music.  I've got a price quote from a local store for
about $130.  Is it worth it?  (I know the price is good, but I mean...my situation and all...)

						Brian H.
						brian@ccnext.ucsf.edu

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

Date: Mon, 28 Dec 92 14:53:22 PST
From: richard@resumix.portal.com (Richard Davis)
Message-Id: <9212282253.AA24288@mjollnir.resumix>
Subject: The Lost files of Sherlock Holmes
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Has anyone had any luck in getting the sound effects to work with the
game called "The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes"?  I'm using SBOS 1.22,
and I've tried all the -o and -x options with no success.  I finally
managed to get sound effects with Kings Quest VI using -x2, but that
doesn't work here.  My autoexec sets ULTRASND=220,7,7,11,5.

I really like the GUS, but the software compatibility problems have
had be tearing my hair out.  I guess that's half the fun (yeah, right!).
While I'm at it, has anyone out there managed to get "KidPix" to work
with the GUS?

Cheers,
Richard

=============================================================================
Richard Davis                                           Resumix, Incorporated
Senior Software Engineer                                2953 Bunker Hill Lane
(408) 764-9213                                          Santa Clara, CA 95054
=============================================================================

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

End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V1 #61
******************************
