Ultrasound Daily Digest     Tue, 24 Nov 92       Volume 1 : Issue  29 

Today's Topics:
					   A few first impressions 
					   Anoter Starcon II Update
		  Anyone heard Ultrasound & Star Control 2? (2 msgs)
						   Developers kit ?
	   Gravis Ultrasound To Bundle Better Software -- Rejoice!
								 GTS
						gus / windows problems
				  GUS Environment Variables (2 msgs)
						   GUS Programming
					GUS with Sierra (KQ4/5, etc)?
					Is the DAK sound offering GUS?
						 Patches and more...
					Please advise on GUS purchase
							   Software
					  Software with GUS package
						sound card comparison
						  StarCon2 & 1MB GUS
						Starcon II bug update
				The GUS will be supported... because:
						 Two GUS's in One PC?
			   Ultrasound Daily Digest V1 #28 (3 msgs)
				  ULTRASOUND OWNERS, PLEASE HELP!!!!
					   what do I need for midi
					  where to acquire a GUS???
				   Where to buy memory for the GUS?
	 Windows MM extension for backswitched or downloadable synths
							   Win Mod

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

Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 10:47:03 -0500
From: "What the World needs now..." <dantonio@magick.tay2.dec.com>
Message-Id: <9211231547.AA03472@magick.tay2.dec.com>
Subject: A few first impressions 
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Richard Wyckoff <RWYCKOFF@cardinal.sc107.wesleyan.edu>, writes:

>     But about the card itself - it comes in an enormous box that is almost
> completely empty - just the card, 6 disks, and two tiny little manuals.  I was
> expecting at least an audio cable (though I'm told the only sound card
> manufacturer that actually goes the extra distance and includes the audio
> cables is Creative Labs).  When I first installed it I tried to get it to co-
> exist with my SoundBlaster, but ended up just yanking the SB.  After that,
> installation was a snap (surprisingly). I picked all the defaults, and all the
> software ran the way it was supposed to.  I installed the Windows drivers with
> no problems (except for forgetting to copy in Gravis' midimap.cfg).  SBOS
> works well for me (although for some reason it manages to make the music in
> any game sound comical).  I have a 486/33 with the AMI BIOS, and a slew of
> other cards.

Hmmm, I had no problem getting the GUS to co-exist with my SB (1.5). I
simply set the GUS to use hex 240, DMA 7, GF1 IRQ 12, MIDI IRQ 5. The SB is
at all it's defaults. It's a good thing, too, because I've never gotten
much of anything out of SBOS. Gravis sez that SBOS mmay no be compatible
with DR DOS 6.0 and probably doesn't like QEMM much, either.

>     Another concern is the fact that the software it ships with is almost
> totally useless.  There is no DOS mixer, (even though the board is supposed to
> have a built-in mixer - maybe it's just me, but I would expect some software
> to control that...) and the Windows 'mixer' is hardly worth the disk space.
> USS8 is brain-dead (but then I have yet to see an IBM digitized audio program
> that even begins to approach SoundTools II for the Mac), and even USS10
> doesn't look like much of an improvement.  Actually, USS8 really seems to be
> demo crippleware.  We don't support this in shareware, why should we put up
> with it in a commercial product?  The rest of the utilities do what they are
> supposed to do, but are very basic.

I noticed this as well. There doesn't seem to be a way to set volume,
mixing or really much of anything from DOS and the Windows mixer is
basically a volume control for WAV and MOD files; MIDI seems unaffected. A
talk with Gravis Tech Support reveals that there is NO analogue volume
control on the board, it's all done digitally.

>     To sum up, I like the card, but it's seriously lacking in many areas.  I
> know the shipping delays were because they were waiting for the software, but
> was this software really worth the wait?

I'd say it's not. I can only hope that they will release better stuff via
their BBS soon...

DDA

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

Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 6:50:24 MST
From: kdorff@NMSU.Edu
Message-Id: <9211231351.AA03699@NMSU.Edu>
Subject: Anoter Starcon II Update
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Well, I spent another hour last night testing testing testing my Ultrasound
and StarCon II.

It DOES appears to have problems at 1 meg on the GUS.

Also, it has conflicts with Stacker -- Plays the wrong instrument lots
of time.  Realy odd.

Lemme know if anyone else has similar problems.

Kevin

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

Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 09:20:11 GMT
From: ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca (Phat H Tran)
Message-Id: <By41xn.Lou@watserv2.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: Anyone heard Ultrasound & Star Control 2?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

In article <siRiuB5w164w@bowker.com> moddan@bowker.com (Daniel Nicholson  ) writes:
>
>Well, I'm a bit biased (having wrote most of the music in the game) but the 
>Ultrasound sounds fantastic with SC2. The SB-Pro isn't supported in stereo 
>(unfortunately), although the normal SB output from the game is quite 
>excellent. Still, it would be kind of ridiculous to compare yesterday's 
>technology with today's. The UltraSound is the best sounding card by far fpr 
>(for) the game.  BTW - I personally would suggest anyone listening to Star 
>Con with a GUS to plug into a mixer and pan both left and right channels 
>into mono; we really didn't have enough time to do much with stereo 
>placement (although I did do a >small< amount of "stereoizing"). 
>    - moddan (Daniel Nicholson, PCkS Associates)

Dan,

I wonder if you can shed some light on a certain matter for me.  A
developer has told me that

1) you can't load patches into the GUS's RAM and have it play at the
   same time (which invalidates the idea of dynamically loading patches
   into the card's memory as they are needed in a song if they can't
   all fit at once)

and

2) driving the GUS requires a whole lot of system resources (e.g. he
   claims that playing a MIDI file can consume 580k of base memory).

Basically, he says that though the GUS sounds great, it isn't the easiest
thing to program for.  What have your experiences with composing (and
programming?) for the GUS like?

BTW, in SC2, the music is played with the use of the GUS's wavetable
hardware, isn't it?  That is, the Ultrasound isn't just being driven
as a dumb DAC?

Thanks,
Phat.

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

Date: Sun, 22 Nov 92 17:32:10 EST
From: moddan@bowker.com (Daniel Nicholson  )
Message-Id: <BgwNuB6w164w@bowker.com>
Subject: Anyone heard Ultrasound & Star Control 2?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

> Dan,
> 
> I wonder if you can shed some light on a certain matter for me.  A
> developer has told me that
> 
> 1) you can't load patches into the GUS's RAM and have it play at the
>    same time (which invalidates the idea of dynamically loading patches
>    into the card's memory as they are needed in a song if they can't
>    all fit at once)
> 
> and
> 
> 2) driving the GUS requires a whole lot of system resources (e.g. he
>    claims that playing a MIDI file can consume 580k of base memory).
> 
> Basically, he says that though the GUS sounds great, it isn't the easiest
> thing to program for.  What have your experiences with composing (and
> programming?) for the GUS like?
> 
> BTW, in SC2, the music is played with the use of the GUS's wavetable
> hardware, isn't it?  That is, the Ultrasound isn't just being driven
> as a dumb DAC?
> 
> Thanks,
> Phat.

No offense, but this developer either doesn't know what he's talking about 
or isn't too talented. Programming for the GUS is the absolute hands down 
easiest sound programming I have done, and I'm not even the programmer here. 
Furthermore, due to the design of the card very little overhead is 
necessary. That must be an awfully coded MIDI player to need 580k of 
memory!! What he says about not being able to transfer samples while 
playing is absolutely true. This is why we used a modified MOD format and 
kept the size of each piece to under 100k. By doing this it was possible to 
load all samples needed for a piece at one time. 

And I want to make it perfectly clear to EVERYONE:
  The GUS is >>>NOT<<< being used as a normal DAC in Star Control II!
Fred Ford wrote a very sophisticated music and sound system for the game, 
and it takes full advantage of the GUS's multi-channel wavetable synthesis, 
it just does not do so in the normal and very inefficient way. 
	- Dan Nicholson (PCkS Associates)

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

Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 11:39:13 GMT
From: pcunnell@micrognosis.co.uk
Message-Id: <9211231139.aa14721@ladon.micrognosis.co.uk>
Subject: Developers kit ?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Hi all,

I finally seem to have made it onto the GUS mailing list ! Many thanks
to whoever got things going (whether 'twas human or unix intelligence
that cracked it).

Anyway, my question for today is:

- is there any technical information/developer kit available ?

The documentation that comes with the card gives no hint (not
even the pinouts for the joystick/midi port). I'm interested in
things like how to interface to the Windows driver, how the patch
files are constructed (so I can make my own), and how to control
the cards functions (e.g. audio mixer, midi i/f).

I have plenty of experience in writing low-level software, and
have the Microsoft C7 compiler and Windows SDK ready to roll.
All I need now are some specs ! Please note that I'm not really
interested in paying $$$ for this information - anything I do
will be for my own amusement or freeware (if it's any good :-),
and I *do* have a day job.

Cheers,

Paul Cunnell (pcunnell@micrognosis.co.uk) 
Micrognosis, 63 Queen Victoria Street, London, EC4N 4UD, UK +44 71 815 5294 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"It is truly amazing what you can do without hardware docs or source code.
Absolutely astounding. I can't believe I've wasted so much of my life doing
this." Theo de Raadt (deraadt@newt.cuc.ab.ca) 

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

Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 15:48:58 GMT
From: gkirikos@epas.utoronto.ca (George Kirikos)
Message-Id: <1992Nov22.154858.3983@epas.toronto.edu>
Subject: Gravis Ultrasound To Bundle Better Software -- Rejoice!
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Hello,

I read the following article in NewsBytes:

(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 article

The obvious questions are:

a) When will the above start to be bundled with the card?
b) Will it be bundled with the "standard" package (i.e. no change in
price), or will there be an extra cost to get the better software?
c) How can CURRENT owners of the Ultrasound get the above software?


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

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

Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 10:18:20 EST
From: timkwan@Athena.MIT.EDU
Message-Id: <9211231518.AA24833@vongole>
Subject: GTS
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

ARGH!!   the pub directory in saffron.inset.com is not accessible.
Houman Ghahremanlou in an earlier posting mentioned about GTS being
on that machine.  Where else can I find GTS?

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

Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 19:44:32 GMT
From: ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca (Phat H Tran)
Message-Id: <By6pI9.3E2@watserv2.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: gus / windows problems
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

In article <1992Nov23.124157.926@comp.lancs.ac.uk> davei@comp.lancs.ac.uk (Mr D Ingles) writes:
>
>I am having a little problem with my gravis with windows. Unless I start
>windows from my c:\ultrasnd directory, Windows throws up error messages
>like :
>
>   error 3 openning acpiano1.pat
>
>It will throw up an error message for each of the patches it can't find.
>
>Has anyone had a similar problem ? Has anyone found a fix ?
>
>If I start windows from my c:\ultrasnd directory, it works fine. The patches
>are held in the directory c:\ultrasnd\midi
>
>Davei (davei@lancaster.ac.uk)

You probably don't have your ULTRADIR environment variable set correctly
in your autoexec.bat  Try putting
	set ULTRADIR=c:\ultrasnd
at the end of your autoexec.  Also, it wouldn't hurt if you added 
c:\ultrasnd to your path statement.

Phat.

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

Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 01:27:40 GMT
From: ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca (Phat H Tran)
Message-Id: <Bxzqq5.Ho3@watserv2.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: GUS Environment Variables
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

In article <1992Nov19.161111.9865@newshost.lanl.gov> hutch@bellman.lanl.gov writes:
>
>I'd really appreciate it if you GUS owners would just take a peek
>inside your autoexec.bat file and explain to me how the ultrasound's
>environment variables are set up there.  Like many others, setup.exe
>won't run on my machine so I have to do this manualy.  Unfortunately,
>the manual doesn't tell me what the settings should be.
>
>Here's what I've got so far (from memory, I think this is it):
>
>SET ULTRASND=220,7,7,11,7
>SET ULTRADIR=C:\ULTRASND\MIDI
>SET BLASTER=C:\ULTRASND\SBOS
>ULTRINIT
>

Here is mine:

SET ULTRASND=230,3,3,11,12
D:\AUDIO\ULTRASND\ULTRINIT
SET ULTRADIR=D:\AUDIO\ULTRASND
SET BLASTER=A230 I12 D1 T1

The ULTRASND variable tells ULTRAINIT to look for my card at address 230h,
and then configure it for DMA channel 3, GF1 IRQ 11, and MIDI IRQ 12.
That is, the address has to reflect the jumper setting, and the rest can
be anything you like.

>The ULTRADIR and BLASTER lines were just wild ass guesses.  Could someone
>PLEASE tell me how these are _supposed_ to be defined?
>
>Also, when I run Windows, I get "Error 3 on loading altosax.pat" type
>errors.  I moved the CFG files to the Windows directory and selected
>the Ultrasound driver in Windows but what did I miss?  I suspect this
>is something to do with the ULTRADIR environment variable, above?
>

As you suspected, your problem is that ULTRADIR isn't pointing where it 
should.  It should hold your Ultrasound's base directory, and not the 
MIDI subdir.  That is, change it to c:\ultrasnd.

As for BLASTER, I  don't really know what its settings are.  Axxx seems to
be the address port of the GUS, Ixx seems to be the MIDI IRQ, and I have
no idea what Dx and Tx are for.

>Thanks folks.  I'm anxious to complete my GUS installation.  While the
>installation process has been (is) somewhat of a pain, the results are
>great so far!  :)
>

Phat.

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

Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 17:27:10 EST
From: Matthew E. Bernold <MEB117@psuvm.psu.edu>
Message-Id: <92325.172710MEB117@psuvm.psu.edu>
Subject: GUS Environment Variables
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

In article <bjornhk.63.722249105@dhhalden.no>, bjornhk@dhhalden.no (BJORN
HAAVARD KLEVEN) says:
>
*fine explanation of the ULTRASND variable deleted.
>
>The BLASTER variable is read by some software to find out the Sound Blaster's
>settings (with the GUS, this will be SBOS). It's format is:
>
>BLASTER A<address> I<IRQ-number> T<DMA-channel, I think>
>
Almost.  The variable format is:
set BLASTER=A<address> I<IRQ-number> D<DMA-channel> T<Type of card>

The T parameter is used to distinguish between the SB, SBPro, SBPro v.2,
and maybe even the SB16.  The original SB is T1, and the SBPro is (I think)
T2, with the SBPro v.2 being T4.  For the GUS with the current SBOS, you
want T1.  When (if) SBOS is made compatible with the SBPro, that might change.

>Hope this will be of some help.
>
>    -=* Bjorn :: bjornhk@sofus.dhhalden.no
>  ACCESS DATA :: TEL: (+47)-9-17 50 48/61-97 791
>                 BBS: 61-97 304/97 945

	   Matthew E. Bernold             MEB117@PSUVM.PSU.EDU
		 <<APOCALYPSE>>                  meb@haydn.psu.edu

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

Date: 23 Nov 92 11:50:16 GMT
From: pcunnell@micrognosis.co.uk (Paul Cunnell)
Message-Id: <By63Js.BF4@micrognosis.co.uk>
Subject: GUS Programming
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

In article <pclank01.722389633@starbase.spd.louisville.edu>, pclank01@starbase.spd.louisville.edu (Pat C. Lankswert) writes:
|> Does anybody know anything about the programming interface for the
|> GRAVIS ULTRASOUND.  I am running OS/2 and would like to know so
|> I can write a device driver in case Gravis decides to drag their heals.
|> 
|> Pat
|> -- 
|> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
|> Pat Lankswert, Graduate Student, Speed Engineering, U of Louisville
|> pclank01@knight.spd.louisville.edu     |  New and improved signature
|> pclank01@starbase.spd.louisville.edu   |  No artificial colors
|>                                        |      or preservatives

Count me in as interested in this sort of information. However,
if nothing is forthcoming, I'm not above a little playing with
a 'scope, logic analyser and disassembler. But I hope it won't 
come to that. (See .sig ;-)

-- 
Paul Cunnell (pcunnell@micrognosis.co.uk) 
Micrognosis, 63 Queen Victoria Street, London, EC4N 4UD, UK +44 71 815 5294 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"It is truly amazing what you can do without hardware docs or source code.
Absolutely astounding. I can't believe I've wasted so much of my life doing
this." Theo de Raadt (deraadt@newt.cuc.ab.ca) 

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

Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 06:31:25 PST
From: "Burns Fisher, VMS DECwindows  23-Nov-1992 0930" <fisher@decwin.enet.dec.com>
Message-Id: <9211231431.AA07581@enet-gw.pa.dec.com>
Subject: GUS with Sierra (KQ4/5, etc)?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

I have heard about lots of games being successfully (or unsuccessfully) run
with the GUS and SBOS, but no mention of Sierra stuff.  Does anyone have any
experience with King's Quest IV or V?  Does Sierra have any native GUS drivers
available yet?

Thanks,

Burns

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

Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 06:47:44 PST
From: "Burns Fisher, VMS DECwindows  23-Nov-1992 0946" <fisher@decwin.enet.dec.com>
Message-Id: <9211231447.AA09536@enet-gw.pa.dec.com>
Subject: Is the DAK sound offering GUS?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

I know that the Damark multimedia offering uses GUS as its sound card.  Does 
anyone know if the sound card featured in the latest DAK catalog is also a GUS?
It claims that instead of FM, it uses "Vector" synthesis.

Thanks for any info.

Burns

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

Date: 23 Nov 92 13:49:53 WET-2
From: IRMIN@rkw-lan.cs.up.ac.za
Message-Id: <MAILQUEUE-101.921123134953.352@rkw-lan.cs.up.ac.za>
Subject: Patches and more...
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Hi all,

 I've had my GUS for 4 days now. It is a great card, I had
the same problems as other 486 owners, setup crashed etc,etc. But
after I upgraded to 1Meg ram these all disappeared.

 Anyway I was wondering if anybody out there knows the format of the
GUS patches (has this been asked before?). The patches you get with
the card are OK, but rather boring. I would like to make some
patches with some special effects in, such as speech.

 I tried my hand at writting a MID file on Sunday. I did it with
Voyetra which I got with my SBlaster and never used. It is not the
easiest way to write music. I uploaded my attempt (BONJOVI.ARJ) to
EPAS.UTORONTO.CA. It is a conversion of the BONJOVI modfile (Living
on a prayer). It's not very good, the timing is a bit out, it needs
an ending and maybe a few more tracks to fill it out. But anyway once
I figure out Voyetra I will write and upload stuff that sounds better.
Also more patches are needed. I couldn't find a patch that sounded
even close to the Bass used in the Modfile.

 The GUS is an awesome piece of hardware. I only hope that it takes
off and doesn't fade away like so many other good ideas.

   "IT'S UP TO US TO SEE THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN !!!"

Ciao
Irmin

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

Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 00:47:40 GMT
From: ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca (Phat H Tran)
Message-Id: <BxzovH.Gwp@watserv2.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: Please advise on GUS purchase
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

In article <1992Nov18.045406.13514@ncsu.edu> tmcreek@eos.ncsu.edu (Tobin M. Creek) writes:
>
>I have an SB 2.0 right now which I find more than adequate for games.  I do
>a tiny amount of sampling (just enough to play a .voc in the background
>in OS/2) :).  I have StarControl II, which supports the Gravis UltraSound.
>
>Now I follow this group regularly, and I have a few questions.  Wanting to
>be the first on my block to have one, I have decided to buy an UltraSound.
>StrControl II gives me the closest thing that I need to a reason.
>I don't want to sell the SB, as perfect SB emulation is a must.
>
>Questions:
>1)  I know about the arguments between the PAS 16 crowd and the UltraSounders.
>Let's throw the SB16 in here as well.  I know the PAS and SB use FM, where the
>US uses wavetable synthesis.  Why should I buy one card over the other as
>far as technology is concerned?
>

FM synthesis as employed by the SB/SBPro/PAS-16/SB16 is hopelessly limited
to generating synthetic sounding instruments and sound effects.  Wavetable
synthesis can reproduce sounds with astonishing realism, since it 
uses samples of the original sounds.  On my Ultrasound, pianos sound like
pianos, guitars sound like guitars, and drums sound a hell of a lot like
drums.  

The drawbacks of FM synthesis is clearly evidenced by the fact that the
most popular form of music, even on FM-based cards, has been MODs.  MODs
are similar to wavetable synthesis, but they are only 8-bit and 4 channels
compared to the Ultrasound's 16-bit, 32 channel hardware.  MODs sound much
better than FM, and the Ultrasound sounds much better than MODs.

Furthermore, MOD playback through the DACs of FM cards is very cpu intensive
as the software has to resample instrument sounds to alter their pitch
and mix four channels into one.  One the GUS, all this tedium of wavetable
synthesis is handled by hardware.

>2)  How many companies will be supporting the UltraSound?  I know about EA,
>but have they delivered?  Will they?  Who else?
>
>Who will game makers support now that all of these 16-bit boards are
>out there: the US, the SB16, or the PAS?  Examples welcome.
>
>2)  I know some have gotten the US and a SoundBlaster to co-exist.  I don't
>want softare emulation that sounds funny, nor do I want to load any drivers
>unless I absolutely have to, so I am going to keep the SB 2.0.  Can someone
>advise me on the problems they encountered in doing so?
>

While I've been able to get my SB and GUS to coexist, others haven't been
as successful.  The trick is to make sure that nothing on one card
overlaps with the other.  I use different base addresses, different DMA
channels, and different IRQ's for both cards.

One problem I'm experiencing is that certain programs that ask for an 
Adlib card do not recognize the SB as Adlib-compatible.  You may think
that very few programs require the Adlib specifically, but many games
only use the SoundBlaster as an Adlib card.  Falcon 3.0, for example,
plays FM music only through the SoundBlaster's Adlib registers.
I've had some success in getting these types of programs to work
properly by running SBOS and uninstalling it immediately.

>3)  About how many companies have pledged to write for the UltraSound?
>I know about EA, etc.  Do you think they will really deliver?   Have they?
>
>4)  How does the thing SOUND???  Does StarCon II make you want to give up
>chocolate?  Any other games to comment on?
>

The GUS sounds great!  Orders of magnitudes better than what I've heard
from FM-based boards and MOD files.  The difference is very noticeable.

>5)  Ok, so it looks good for the US at this point.  Where can I buy one and
>wait no longer than 2 weeks?  Best price through mail-order wanted here.
>
>Please E-mail replies, as I have a program due this week.
>
>Send replies to:               | My opinions do not represent
>     tmcreek@eos.ncsu.edu      | anyone who does not feel the
>     creek-tm@aza.csc.ncsu.edu | same way as I do.

Phat.

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

Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 09:52:55 EST
From: timkwan@Athena.MIT.EDU
Message-Id: <9211231452.AA24060@vongole>
Subject: Software
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Rechoing the message by George Kirikos, will CURRENT owners of the GUS get
the bundled software (Power Chords and Midisoft Recording Session) free
from GUS or at least at a much reduced price?  What about later releases
of (better) manuals, SDK (software and manuals), etc?  Chris Yuzik, please
comment!

Also, on page 86 of the Ultrasound manual that comes with the card, it
says (under the Patch subtopic): "A full MPC General MIDI Set will be 
available shortly to all Ultrasound users."  When?  Will CURRENT owners
of the card get it free?

-Tim

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

Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 09:57:57 -0500
From: timkwan@Athena.MIT.EDU
Message-Id: <9211231457.AA24220@vongole>
Subject: Software with GUS package
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

(Sorry, I posted a similar message earlier but the message bounced
because the header was messed up.)

Rechoing the message by George Kirikos, will CURRENT owners of the GUS get
the bundled software (Power Chords and Midisoft Recording Session) free
from GUS or at least at a much reduced price?  What about later releases
of (better) manuals, SDK (software and manuals), etc?  Chris Yuzik, please
comment!

Also, on page 86 of the Ultrasound manual that comes with the card, it
says (under the Patch subtopic): "A full MPC General MIDI Set will be 
available shortly to all Ultrasound users."  When?  Will CURRENT owners
of the card get it free?

-Tim

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

Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 10:50:27 +1100 (EST)
From: Fluro <mparker@st.nepean.uws.edu.au>
Message-Id: <199211232350.AA11604@arthur.st.nepean.uws.edu.au>
Subject: sound card comparison
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Even tho this is a GUS mail list I thought it would interest
people to see how the gus compares with other sound cards,
especailly those people who havent got a GUS yet and are 
deciding in what to bye.

I would like some help from you all in compiling a comparison
list against some of the high end sound cards on the market at
this time........
Being interested in a card for midi equipment and not just
games Im finding it hard in deciding which card to bye at this
time.  This is why I have decided to start up this comparison 
chart.... 

KEY
---

x      Not known weather the feature has been added.
*      Optional
o      feature included
-      feature not included

-----------------------------------------------------------------
	   SB16  GUS     Audio Master Turtle Beach ultrasound
-----------------------------------------------------------------
16 bit      o  8bit/*       12 bit               o
sampling

stereo      o     o           o                  o
recording

multi-      o     o           o                  o
source rec

Wavetable   -     o           o                  o
synthesis

16 bit      o     o           o                  o
output

No of       2     32          24                 32
sample        
Voices

On board    -     x           o/6800CPU          o/56001DSP
DSP or
CPU

Memory      -   o/1M*       o/1.5M*            o/4M ROM
on board

16 bit      o     o           o                Hurrican
DMA                                           faster then DMA

Multi       -     -           -                  -
outputs

S/N         x     x           x                >90db  
ratio

volume      x     o           o                  o   
control
on voices

pan on      x     x           x                  o
voices

ASR         -     x           x                  o
control

LFO on      -     x           x                  x
voices

filters     -     x           x                  x
on voices

sample      -     o           o                  o
looping

digital     -     -           -                  -
effects 
processor

MMPC midi   o     o           o                  o
port

SB comp.    o     o           o                  -
midi port

mpu 401     -     -           -                  -
comp.

Well there it is, please let me know if anything is wrong
or if you know the answers to anything that has a x against
it.  Also anything that you would like to add to this list,
or any other card worth mentioning.

Also im wishing to find out if it possible to play any
of these cards as a synth module, ie using external midi
equipment to play the cards without any software intervention.
At the moment the multisound is the only one i know that can do
this.
It would be interesting to find out if more memory could 
be added, 1 Meg is not much, especially for a stereo 44.1khz
multisample.
Can the loop do this like go in reverse, or alternate forward
and reverse, etc.

Regards
	Matthew Parker (mparker@lancelot.st.nepean.uws.edu.au)

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

Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 13:25:20 PST
From: mtichy@sfu.ca
Message-Id: <9211232125.AA13210@fraser.sfu.ca>
Subject: StarCon2 & 1MB GUS
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

> Has anyone else out there gotten SCII to run with 1 meg on the
> ultrasound?
 
Yes, I have.  Everything sounds perfect.  That is until my 
video card started giving me problems.  Sometimes it plays 
static instead of speech.  I don't think this has anything to 
do with the UltraSound because before my video card got 
screwed, everything was fine.

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

Date: 23 Nov 92 11:06:35 EDT
From: Richard Wyckoff <RWYCKOFF@cardinal.sc107.wesleyan.edu>
Message-Id: <MAILQUEUE-101.921123110635.511@cardinal.sc107.wesleyan.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 [other details deleted]

	I was having this problem for a while, even with my 256k GUS.  If you
check the readme file, you'll notice that it says the game has problems with
expanded memory managers.  I found that about 90% of the 'wrong instrument'
problems went away when I ran the game without an expanded memory manager
installed.  However, even with this setup, after a few hours of play it
screwed up again.  At least I got to hear the right instruments for a while.






**              Richard Wyckoff - Catullus - .Sig radio edit               **
** RWYCKOFF@CARDINAL.SC107.WESLEYAN.EDU  --  RWYCKOFF@EAGLE.WESLEYAN.EDU   **

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

Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 17:40:59 GMT
From: tazzzzz@quip.eecs.umich.edu (Kevin Dangoor)
Message-Id: <1992Nov23.174059.6075@zip.eecs.umich.edu>
Subject: The GUS will be supported... because:
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

In article <1992Nov23.150302.15143@cbnewsm.cb.att.com> heiland@cbnewsm.cb.att.com (david.j.heiland) writes:
>From article <1992Nov20.232403.19963@zip.eecs.umich.edu>, by tazzzzz@quip.eecs.umich.edu (Kevin Dangoor):
>> I just thought I'd voice my opinion as to why game developers will support
>> the Gravis UltraSound. 
>>                          Since these companies
>> have device independent systems already, adding support for the GUS is
>> just a matter of adding a driver (and then they pick up the GUS market,
>> however big that may be... I wonder how many copies of Star Control II have
>> sold just because it's the first game with GUS support)
>
>If all that is needed is a driver, is it possible for the companies to
>release drivers for games already out there?  If its basically the same
>driver they won't need to do much extra work if they plan to support GUS
>for future games.  This might reduce some of the complaints about certain
>games not working perfectly with the GUS's SB emulation.

Actually, a quick glance at the King's Quest VI directory on my hard drive
shows that Sierra, at least, uses a system with relatively small drivers.
It's quite possible that many companies COULD add GUS support with ease
to existing products. Will they? I'm not sure. When I actually have my GUS in
hand, I may give Sierra a call and ask them about that.


-- 
Kevin (Tazzzzz) Dangoor          \ Locomotive (adj): powered by insanity.
University of Michigan           / 
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA         \ This ultraDeluxe powerpack sig has 50% less
internet: tazzzzz@eecs.umich.edu / saturated sponge than the competing brands!

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

Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 9:53:51 MST
From: Stuart Yoshida <yoshida@elektra.fc.hp.com>
Message-Id: <9211231653.AA28902@elektra.fc.hp.com>
Subject: Two GUS's in One PC?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

  Hokey question of the week:  Can two GUS's coexist in the same PC?  I
  know that many of you are wondering, "Why in the world would he want
  (or need) two GUS's in the same machine?"  Here's why:

  I would like to compose MIDI music with the GUS and then play back the
  MIDI file and digitally record the result onto hard disk.  This will
  allow me to have a digital home studio where I can add as many vocal
  and guitar tracks to the song as I desire.  I envision the setup as:

  GUS #1: MIDI synthesizer and sequencer which plays the base tracks.

  GUS #2: Digital recorder which takes input either directly from GUS #1
	  in the form of digital input (unprocessed digital signals), or
	  as analog signals from the stereo output of GUS #1 to the
	  stereo input of GUS #2.

  I know that I can obtain similar results by using a 4- or 8-track
  recorder and just one GUS, but the cost of buying a high-quality 4- or
  8-track recorder far surpasses the cost of purchasing an additional
  GUS and a high-quality 12-input mixer (a Mackey 1202, for example).
  And I could probably get by without even buying a mixer (although it
  would probably come in handy).

  So my question to Gravis is this:  can you play back a MIDI sequence
  and simultaneously record the result to hard disk?  I don't think this
  can be done with only one GUS.  Alan Alvarez of GravisTech tried this,
  and it failed.

  Any information or suggestions would be appreciated.

--

  Stuart Yoshida

Internet: yoshida@elektra.fc.hp.com
   Voice: (303) 229-2324

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

Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 22:04:14 +0800 (WST)
From: rlee@tartarus.uwa.edu.au (Ralph Lee)
Message-Id: <199211231404.AA12956@tartarus.uwa.edu.au>
Subject: Ultrasound Daily Digest V1 #28
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Got a few questions:
1) Is the GUS covox speech thing compatible??
2) Is there as ASSCI/VOICE software available??

These were some questions asked of me but since I still don't have a
GUS, I'm not sure whether those who own one might be able to help.

Thanks
Ralph
rlee@tartarus.uwa.edu.au

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

Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 10:17:47 PST
From: biggles@berlioz.nsc.com (Winston Worrell)
Message-Id: <9211231817.AA20784@berlioz.nsc.com>
Subject: Ultrasound Daily Digest V1 #28
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Well kids, bad news. Maximum Overkill won't work with the GUS.
You can still play the game, but you won't get any sound because
the program won't allow any TSR's in memory (I keep getting an NMI 
error) whenever I have the sbos loaded. I tried loading them high, 
then the machine/game locks up.

Of course you need 4Meg of ram to run the game and its a "frightfully
good" game/piece of software. I think this one should win awards if
anything does this year.

Unfortunately, I will be returning it due to the lack of sound
(no sound effects through the pc speaker, just 'lame' music)

It would be nice if a game like this had direct support for the GUS,
because then maybe they cound cut down on the memory requirements.
(ie Download 1 meg of sound to the gus and maybe it only needs 3 Meg to
run)

PS I upgraded my GUS to 1 Meg. It cost me $3 a chip, about $19 inc tax.
I did it through Pixel Computer on Tully Road in San Jose (70ns), Fry's
and CompUSA wanted ~$5 a chip.

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

Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 17:01:31 EST
From: moddan@bowker.com (Daniel Nicholson  )
Message-Id: <9oPPuB3w164w@bowker.com>
Subject: Ultrasound Daily Digest V1 #28
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Attention Star Control II owners having problems...
  Send mail to moddan@bowker.com stating:
	* the nature of the problem (IN DETAIL!)
	* GUS configuration
	* system configuration
 I will then address these problems to the authors

Anyway...
  SC II sounds MUCH cleaner on a Gravis than on the SB because:
	1) It's doing all the mixing, instead of the CPU
	2) Each track of the MOD (4) and each sound fx channel (4) is
	   going to a seperate channel on the GUS, instead of being mixed 
	   together and pushed out a single DAC channel as it is on the
	   Soundblaster
	3) The UltraSound is a much, much "cleaner" card than the SB (has a 
	   very low Signal to Noise ratio)
Secondly...
  Here at PCkS we are currently working on a very sophisticated GUS editor 
and file format which will basically be a 32 channel MOD type of thing. It 
(the editor) will have the ability to load, play, edit, and save normal 4 
channel MODs, and *possibly* the 8 channel 669 format as well. It will also 
probably feature an integrated waveform editor and a control panel for using 
the GUS as a virtual midi module, much as you might use a Roland S-550 or a
(an) Akai S-1000, as well as midi file loading and midi sequencing abilitty.
  Note that this system is currently largely a concept on paper; the actual 
code for most of it has not been written yet, and it will not be available 
for even beta testing for 6 months. There will of course be an announcement 
made when it is finished. 

Thirdly...
   We're also working on some simpler goodies for GUS owners, most likely 
these will be shareware. Foremost of these is UltraMOD, a Gravis specific 
MOD player, which should be done in 3 months or so.
	  - moddan

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

Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 22:55:05 GMT
From: ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca (Phat H Tran)
Message-Id: <By1EBu.6sI@watserv2.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: ULTRASOUND OWNERS, PLEASE HELP!!!!
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

In article <1992Nov19.223551.20218@tc.cornell.edu> orb@alchemy.tn.cornell.edu (Randolph Turner) writes:
>In article <Bxxwu2.Ly1@watserv2.uwaterloo.ca> ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca (Phat H Tran) writes:
>>
>>Yes, erratic SB emulation is "normal behaviour" for the GUS, but don't
>>forget that superb wavetable synthesis is as well.  If you have an SB,
>>you can very likely make it coexist with the Ultrasound and bypass
>>SBOS altogether.  
>>
>>I suspect that if Gravis had decided to not even attempt to make the 
>>Ultrasound SB-compatible, they would be receiving much fewer complaints.
>>Nobody ever gripes about the MT-32's complete lack of SB emulation.  
>>But when Gravis releases a $150 soundcard that sounds almost as good as
>>$500 Rolands, with the potential to sound increasingly better (through
>>updating of soft patches and drivers), plus the added bonus of
>>being somewhat SB compatible, the resounding whine has been "the SB
>>emulation SUCKS!"  Please, let's keep things in perspective.
>>
>>Phat.
>
>  Ok, here's a perspective for you; Not all and in fact I suspect very few
>people purchasing sound cards are professional (or even amateur) musicians. 
>Most people are looking for a good card that will offer quality sound for
>playing mods and such, as well as *COMPATIBILITY* with industry standards 
>and their current software.  
>
>  Since we are speculating, I suspect that if Gravis had made no attempt at
>making the GUS compatible with the current industry standard, Gravis would not
>have sold half the cards they have at this point.  Anyone remember the
>original Pro-Audio Spectrum?  I owned one and although the hardware was much
>nicer (no-noise, higher sample rates, and if I remember correctly, stereo),
>life with this card was hell.  Going to the software store and looking at all
>the great new games that supported the SB and even the SB Pro, and there I was
>with my advanced hardware playing in Adlib mode.  The MT-32 can get away with
>this type of behaviour (no attempt at SB emulation) due to the fact that it's
>price places it well out of reach of the average hobbiest.  Thus, this card's
>target audience tends to be the amateur to professional musician, not the
>"Wing Commander" crowd.
>

What we have with the GUS, I guess, is a card that's too good for its 
targetted market.  Priced lower than PAS-16s and SBPros, but sounds as
good as an MT-32, and still people don't know what to make of it.  I
can empathize with the neophyte who buys a GUS only to be disappointed
that Wolfenstein doesn't sound right on it, but I think veteran game
players should see how well-poised the Ultrasound is to revolutionize
the quality of game audio.  It's a leap of faith to embrace a board
that's not completely compatible with the current standard, I know, 
but it's a leap that I and many others are willing to take because
the potential benefits are so great.  Continually griping about the
board's imperfect SB emulation without regard to its strengths is being
a little tunnel-visioned.

>  I now own a SoundBlaster Pro and have been nothing but happy with it. 
>Support abounds in the shareware and commercial avenues, the price isn't
>unreasonable, and it does the job for everything I need sound for on my 486/33
>clone.  My advice for you potential sound card purchasers is to hold back a
>bit and see for sure that the GUS is welcomed with open arms by developers or
>until the SBOS software reaches an acceptable perfomance level for mainstream
>use (ie. supports most software that supports the SB, and without tradeoffs).
>

Despite horrific war stories concerning getting SBOS to work, I find that
the emulation is quite good.  I believe that the number of games that
do work well with the TSR far outnumbers the ones that do not.  However,
if a favourite game of yours is among the ones that SBOS cannot handle,
you will undoubtedly think much worse of the emulation.

>Randy
>
>BTW, I still think my Amiga plays mods better ;-)

Yes, but you only have an SBPro. :P  The Ultrasound can easily put the 
Amiga to shame. 

Phat. 

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

Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 10:05:15 -0500 (EST)
From: Morgan Stair <Morgan_Stair@dl5000.bc.edu>
Message-Id: <Pine.3.03.9211231014.A29899-a100000@dlws9.bc.edu>
Subject: what do I need for midi
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Hi all,

First, I don't have my GUS yet, but I guess I'm getting used to it. 
Should I cancel my order and wait for a GUS with the "bundled software",
or is there some way of getting the bundles from Gravis? 

Second, and my real reason for posting is...  I may be getting a Korg
keyboard as a gift, and I'm wondering if I'll be able to hook it up to my
GUS, push a key, and have the GUS play a sample through the stereo hooked
up to the sound card.  I realize this is probably a REALLY simple
(stupid?) question, but I know nothing about keyboards / midis / etc. 

I do know that this keyboard has been hooked up to a MAC and worked fine,
but I think the MAC was just a database for the keyboard and the keyboard
still had to have it's own amplifier.  Will software like MODEDIT /
Cakewalk be enough to do the trick?

Save bandwidth on silly questions.  Please respond directly to me at
<morgan@dl5000.bc.edu>. 

Thanks,
Morgan

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

Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 18:55:28 -0600
From: captain@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Bran Muffin)
Message-Id: <9211240055.AA08904@pooh.cc.utexas.edu>
Subject: where to acquire a GUS???
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

I have heard that DiskCount Software has GUSs available, but I have
been unsuccessful in my attempts to obtain a phone number for them.
Could someone compile a list of companies who sell the GUS, with 
phone numbers, so those of us who are still trying to get a hold
of one of these cards can do so?  

-=> Brian

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

Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 18:01:55 GMT
From: lestrade@Ra.MsState.Edu (John Patrick Lestrade)
Message-Id: <lestrade.722541715@Ra.MsState.Edu>
Subject: Where to buy memory for the GUS?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

OK, I feel guilty that I am a complete novice at soundcards and yet
I have one while ``experts'' are still waiting.  But I am having a good
time anyway!  USS8 is a little clumsy, but it is fun to play with.
Can anyone give me some advice on where to buy the extra memory
for this beautiful red card?  (suggested price and type of chip too)
thanks
patrick

--
John Patrick Lestrade        
cnesta::lestrade                       Let's try again in '96!
lestrade@ra.msstate.edu

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

Date: Sun, 22 Nov 92 08:53:21 EST
From: ivan@molson.ho.att.com (Ivan Strom)
Message-Id: <9211221353.AA09189@molson.ho.att.com.ocr>
Subject: Windows MM extension for backswitched or downloadable synths
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

(This was previously posted to comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard - a reader there
suggested I post it to this list as well)

Has anyone thought of enhancing the Windows midi mapper
to support bank switching synths and downloadable synths?  As an example,
general midi patch 0 might map to synth bank 0, patch 0,
but general midi patch 1 might map to synth bank 3, patch 16.
Midi mapper permits patch to patch associations, but has no feature to
support a bank switch.  Also, there is no feature in midi mapper to
autodownload patches, as might be required for a card like the Ultrasound.

What I would propose is an extension which could send out a text string
(or contents of a file) prior to sending a patch change command.  For example,
the midi mapper patch map could associate a patch with a destination patch,
velocity modifier, and control string.  The control string, which would
point to a control string translation table, could have entries in it like
BANK1 (which might translate into a SysEx sequence in the translation table)
or PATCH patchname (where PATCH would be defined in the xlation table &
understand how to download the patch to the Ultrasound).  Note that this last
feature would enable GUS users to set up translation tables in midi mapper
to allow the GUS to emulate other synth mappings (like the MT32) easily,
since a map could be written to transform MT32 (or other) patch numbers
to the appropriate *.pat files.

Anyone working on this (or interested in doing it)?

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

Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 13:04:15 GMT
From: M.D.Hennessy@cen.exeter.ac.uk
Message-Id: <7342.9211211304@olib>
Subject: Win Mod
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

I am trying to play a MOD file on my GUS, as following

I am using Windows3.1 with the GUS drivers installed (sound recorder works)
I am trying WinMod Pro, with an amiga MOD file.

The mod file is read in successfully, and plays but I get no sound.
Does anyone have any  ideas what I am doing wrong?

(I know WinMod is not designed specifically for the GUS but I am sure I read
in this newsgroup that someone used it successfully.)

I have tried fiddling with the menu options to no avail.


If there is a MOD player which definitely is compatible with the GUS (or
even better, specifically designed for it) could someone please tell me
where I can get it?

Cheers.

			Mark.H.

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

End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V1 #29
******************************

