Ultrasound Daily Digest     Wed Aug  4 00:07     Volume 5: Issue   3  

Today's Topics:
								   
						  DUNE2AIL and Dune2
						  Good Recording !!
						 GUS Price Upgrade?!?
				   Keep it higher than up Gravis..
					Megaem - is it worth $50 cdn?
					 Mitsumi & CD audio thru GUS
						   SBOS Interrupts
						 Space Hulk with GUS?
				UltraSound & Windows Startup woes.....
				  Ultrasound and Windows startup ? 
					Ultrasound Daily Digest V5 #2

Standard Info:
	- Meta-info about the GUS can be found at the end of the Digest.
	- Before you ask a question, please READ THE FAQ.

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Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1993 15:05:07 -0400 (EDT)
From: Greg Chung <exotic@cnj.digex.com>
Subject: 
Message-ID: <199308031905.AA25641@cnj.digex.com>

To the person who asked about Windoze... it writes some data to the GUS
memory, all though I don't think that accounts for all of the delay.  Most
likely if you have Windows set up to play a startup sound, that's the
cause of any delay.  (Also, I know that the GUS driver reads in the
patch.cfg file.  It might even verify the existence of those files, I'm
not sure.)

An unrelated topic... I was using the SDK to program the GUS and ran into
a problem with the IRQ functions used by UltraOpen().  I haven't been able
to figure out why, but if the MIDI IRQ is set to 7 (the default) I would
get a stack overflow when I tried to use fopen().  I changed the MIDI IRQ
to 12 and the problem cleared up...  ??????

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

Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1993 19:06:03 -0700
From: Eric N. Liao <liaoe@aero.org>
Subject: DUNE2AIL and Dune2
Message-ID: <199308040206.AA16362@aerospace.aero.org>

I tried the Dune2AIL (newer version that uses SCC-1 & SBPRO), and it works
sort of.  Whenever there are some sound-effects, the music (except for the
drums) cuts out.  Is there any way around this?

I noticed that if there is voice in the background, at the same time there is
supposed to be digital sfx (shooting), the music cuts out.  With SBOS, I
noticed that the game would use FM for sfx, if the digital voice was not
free (like "reporting....acknowledged...moving out!")

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

Date: Wed, 04 Aug 93 02:03:29 -0400
From: "Robinhood -- Marshall Lai" <mtl1@crux2.cit.cornell.edu>
Subject: Good Recording !!
Message-ID: <9308040603.AA19331@crux2.cit.cornell.edu>

	I have got the GUS for a few months now but haven't had any luck in
doing any serious recordings.  Tonight, I used only 8-bit 22K recording of
an entire Night of the Summer Side (A Japanese Animation Theme Song) off
a Sony Discman with line level connecting both sides.  The results is
surprisingly good!  Only minimal amount of noise is recorded!  I can't
believe what I am hearing at first, I even check to see the discman is off.
But I would say that it is by far the best sound card in the low end in
the recording arena!!  It is even better than the one my friend sampled with
a PAS 16!!!! (16-bit recording that is)  Maybe that is because I am recording
the entire song into memory first (Yes, I have 20MB of Ram and I am using
Goldwave from Windows.  One of the best uses of the Windows.)  Great Work
Gravis!
	BTW, I have a 486-DX33 EISA with OPTi chipset without any trouble
using 16-bit DMA.
								Robinhood

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

Date: Tue, 03 Aug 93 22:25:51 EDT
From: teppana@jybox.jyu.fi (Janne Makela)
Subject: GUS Price Upgrade?!?
Message-ID: <s61P8B1w165w@jybox.jyu.fi>

 
I planned to purchase the Ultrasound card... The price seemed
very reasonable to me, so I ordered it. On a phone I was told,
that all cards (I'm talking about packet which is advertised
here as a 'Gravis Ultrasound Action Pack') were sold out.
I made my order anyway and sat down to wait my packet to
arrive. I waited and waited... and finally took a call to my
dealer.
 And what did I heard?!? There were cards now, but the price
was increased about $50! There were also a lot of 'reasons', all
very dimmy.
 The story went something like this: "It's a whole new card, new
ROMs and some other improvements. Packet also includes new (and
better) software. Gravis has raised prices, so we're forced to do
the same."
 So, WHAT IS GOING ON?!? Are these 'reasons' real or is my dealer
just dreaming? If 'the whole new card' has born, what makes it
worth of extra $50?
 Should I buy old or new version, or nothing at all? I need more
information to make my decision.
 
Please reply/mail to me as fast as possible! I will read them
all (I read better than write this language :-)).
 

-- Janne Makela (teppana@jybox.jyu.fi)

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

Date: Tue, 3 Aug 93 19:22:21 EST
From: adrianr@mullian.ee.mu.OZ.AU (adriano ennio raiola)
Subject: Keep it higher than up Gravis..
Message-ID: <9308030922.2166@mullian.ee.mu.OZ.AU>

Hi GUSheads, havent posted in a while, thought I'd say something..

There was some talk recently on c.s.i.p.soundcard about the GUS vs. Roland
SCC-1 in terms of sound, and while all the people that had heard both pretty
much said the SCC-1 was still miles ahead (well it IS a synth), Id just like
to say the Gravis is still light years ahead of all other cards, just in
case you'd forgotten :) 

And if you want proof, get GM_MIDI.ZIP of epas, all round probably the
best collection of mids since scdemos.zip, some of those classical pieces
are still mind boggling for $200. Go suck Roland, it cant be THAT much better
than this.. :>

Also, the xwingmids on epas sound MEGA cool too, and speaking of things MEGA,
hurry Jayeson and get the thing working properly! When we can hear the actual
game music in Xwing sound the same as the midi files, we're talking REAL 
turkey..

cyas, Adrian
adrianr@mullian.ee.mu.oz.au

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

Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1993 10:39:21 -0230 (NDT)
From: Ed Reddy <ereddy@morgan.ucs.mun.ca>
Subject: Megaem - is it worth $50 cdn?
Message-ID: <Pine.3.05.9308031019.A7679-a100000@morgan.ucs.mun.ca>

I had a chance this weekend to give Megaem a good look over.
 
Considering all the software offers (which is very little) besides
excellent Roland Emulation, is very little for the money.
 
A $50 cdn registration fee for the ShareWare product is required. The
unregistered version only plays for 10 minutes. To get sound back requires
re-loading of the Megaem software, which only gives another 10 minutes.
 
IMHO, this software, considering it is still bugridden, and is not
compatible with a variety of games, is definatly not worth $50. It is not
worth $30. I would pay $15-20. Anyone else feel it is overpriced?

	_____       - If every man stopped thinking about war and hatred,
   / ### \        and started to think about Space, just imagine how 
 ()\_____/()          close a reality Star Trek would be right now..
ereddy@morgan.ucs.mun.ca & edward@dragger.ifmt.nf.ca

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

Date: Tue, 03 Aug 93 13:57:46 GMT
From: mike@batpad.org (Mike Batchelor)
Subject: Mitsumi & CD audio thru GUS
Message-ID: <znr744386266k@batpad>

I fixed the problem, thanks to those who responded with 
suggestions.

The problem was pilot error.  I had plugged the Mitsumi card 
into the GUS, instead of plugging the CDROM drive itself into 
the GUS.  Now it all works fine.
--
Mike Batchelor        | Windows : DESQview/X :: Solitaire : Network BlaqJaq
mike@batpad.org       |
Mar Vista, California |               This space for rent

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

Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1993 20:20:32 -0700
From: sol man <sol@scipp.ucsc.edu>
Subject: SBOS Interrupts
Message-ID: <199308040320.AA19343@scipp.ucsc.edu>

How is SBOS called?  Are there hardware interrupts generated by the GUS?

sol

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

Date: Wed, 4 Aug 1993 11:25:10 +1000
From: Peter.Enzerink@FINANCE.ausgovfinance.telememo.au
Subject: Space Hulk with GUS?
Message-ID: <102511040893*/G=Peter/S=Enzerink/O=FINANCE/PRMD=AUSGOVFINANCE/ADMD=TELEMEMO/C=AU/@MHS>

A local games shop is having a bit of a special on this and from Games Byte 
12 it looks pretty good. Any GUS users out there have this, and if so, how 
does it sound with the GUS? I've also heard there is a demo of this on the 
net. Any ideas where?

INTERNET: Peter.Enzerink@finance.ausgovfinance.telememo.au
or        Pedro@act.acs.org.au
X400    : /G=Peter/S=Enzerink/O=Finance/P=ausgovfinance/A=telememo/C=au
SMAIL   : PO Box 165, Queen Victoria Terrace, Parkes 2600, Australia

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

Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1993 19:34:22 -1000 (GMT-10:00)
From: Paul Murgatroyd <s1098@kowande.Bond.edu.au>
Subject: UltraSound & Windows Startup woes.....
Message-ID: <Pine.3.05.9308031920.A23624-b100000@sand.kowande.Bond.edu.au>

> From: int341m@lindblat.cc.monash.edu.au (Mr K.S. Yap)
> Subject: Ultrasound and Windows startup ?
> Message-ID: <9308030330.AA24330@lindblat.cc.monash.edu.au>
> 
> Greetings everyone,
>    I'm sure that everyone of you has noticed that if you use Ultrasound
> in Windows, it will slow the startup of Windows significantly, it seems
> to be loading some "pat" file during every startup, I am just wondering
> if anyone knows a way to disable/speedup this process, I am sure a lot
> of us would like to know.

I have never noticed any sort of slow down at all while using the
UltraSound with Windows 3.1. I gues sit all depends on what you actually
mean by "slow-down". Do you have a Start-up sound set in the Control
Panel?? If you do, that would explain the delay. Windows will cache the
entire sound sample into RAM, and play it via a DMA transfer (so you can
still work while a sound is playing). To prove my point, my windows
startup is a 10 second 44.1Khz Stereo 8-bit sample of LSI by the Shamen.
The file is approx 650K long. Windows first loads the sound file into RAM,
and then plays it. If you look at the System Info via Program Manager,
take not of the memory available (do this while the sound is playing).
Now, a few seconds after the sound has finished playing, dot he the same
thing. The memory available figure should have increased by the amount of
memory your sound file consumes.

The only way to stop this from happening is to disable the startup sound
from the control panel.
Also, I would check that you have not also added extra things like fonts
sicne you installed your Ultrasound. The more fonts you have installed,
the longer you will have to wait for windows to load.

Hope this helps all those foljs who may have similar problems. The
information above is as I know it from personal experience. I do not claim
it is right, but that it is the case on my machine (486DX-50Mhz, 16Mb RAM).

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

Date: Tue, 03 Aug 93 13:57:39 -0400
From: "Momentary language, sexual situations" <dantonio@magick.tay2.dec.com>
Subject: Re: Ultrasound and Windows startup ? 
Message-ID: <9308031757.AA02751@magick.tay2.dec.com>

>    I'm sure that everyone of you has noticed that if you use Ultrasound
> in Windows, it will slow the startup of Windows significantly, it seems
> to be loading some "pat" file during every startup, I am just wondering
> if anyone knows a way to disable/speedup this process, I am sure a lot
> of us would like to know.
> Please share with us if you know how. Thanks in advance. 

I see no slowdown when Windoze starts up. My guess is that you are using a
Midi Mapper setup to "preload" patches for non-patch-caching apps; if this
is the case, change it to the normal "Ultrasound" settings and see if this
helps.

Note that I DON'T use SBOS so that might also be a factor (after all SBOS
"shuts off" when you start Windoze. This might take some time)...

DDA

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

Date: Wed, 4 Aug 1993 10:24:25 +0930 (CST)
From: Gavin <SCARMAN@hfrd.dsto.gov.au>
Subject: Re: Ultrasound Daily Digest V5 #2
Message-ID: <930804102425.1111e@hfrd.dsto.gov.au>

>impster@umcc.umich.edu (Charles Budensiek) writes.....

>Wouldn't it be neat if someone would program a spectrum analyzer thing so
>we can see a nifty graphical display whilst playing a CD via the CD audio
>input on the GUS. Windoze code would be best. :)

I just love dreamers, but even on a fast 486DX you couldn't do it real time, it
takes a coupla seconds just to do an FFT on a .WAV file. However, dream 
on,that's where the good ideas come from.

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End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V5 #3
************************************
