Ultrasound Daily Digest     Thu Jul 15 00:07     Volume 4: Issue  43  

Today's Topics:
                      GUS Mail Server -- Thanks!
                             Megaem .06b
                      MEGEM06B.ZIP and QEMM 7.01
                           MEGEM and QEMM? 
                        MEGEM System Re-boot.
                               PACKAGE
                         Pinball for Windows
                              ROL files
                           Sierra's pinball
                 Trouble with Sherlock Holmes Det CD
                 Ultramid programming info up on Epas
               Ultrasound Daily Digest V4 #42 (2 msgs)
                                Update
                         Virtual Leftovers...
                           Where is EPAS? 

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.

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

Date: Wed, 14 Jul 93 14:33:33 CDT
From: ibmpa!hartmann.austin.ibm.com!lance@ibminet.awdpa.ibm.com (Lance Hartmann)
Subject: GUS Mail Server -- Thanks!
Message-ID: <9307141933.AA16413@hartmann.austin.ibm.com>

I'd like to extend my sincere gratitude to all those responsible for
setting up, operating, and maintaining the new mail server (in Germany).
Lacking ftp access, I formerly had to rely on a VERY (did I say VERY?)
unstable ftpmail server which, when working (rarely), took 3 to 4 DAYS
on most occasions to service a request.  In contrast, the performance
of "nike" has been outstanding.  Many thanks!

--
Lance Hartmann (lance%hartmann.austin.ibm.com@ibmpa.awdpa.ibm.com)
               Yes, that IS a '%' (percent sign) in my network address.
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
All statements, comments, opinions, etc. herein reflect those of the author
and shall NOT be misconstrued as those of IBM or anyone else for that matter.

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

Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1993 11:28:30 -0500 (CDT)
From: Ren Hoek <ren@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu>
Subject: Megaem .06b
Message-ID: <199307141628.AA26022@daisy.cc.utexas.edu>

I did a little testing last night with .06 of the MegaEm.  Well, here's
my results on my brand new 486/66DX2

QEMM 7.01: It loaded fine, and worked at the beginning of X-Wing until I
started a mission.  It then gave me a QEMM error message.

QEMM 7.01: Monopoly (tm) loads, and shows titlescreen and immediately
gives me a QEMM error message, but plays an awesome MIDI song anyway. (really
good song!)

386MAX 7.0: EMUSET try's to load, but it only does 2 *'s then it reboots.
In other words, no go.

P.S. Does anyone have Adaptec 1542B drivers for DOS?  386MAX is complaining
about them.. and I never received any with my Adaptec card.  I have a feeling
it's doing bad things to my hard drive.  So I'm just staying in OS/2 for right
now.  Are there any Adaptec 1542B updated drivers for OS/2, also?
-- 
ren@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu

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

Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1993 08:02:01 -0700
From: Eric N. Liao <liaoe@aero.org>
Subject: MEGEM06B.ZIP and QEMM 7.01
Message-ID: <199307141502.AA19740@aerospace.aero.org>

I've read the posts from other people, and it seems everyone else is having
scores of problems with MEGEM.  The first version (MEGEM04B) didn't work with
DMA7, so I used DMA1 and it worked fine for the most part.  If I accientally
ran a gus-native program, the patches would be wiped out.  At this point,
running EMUSET locked-up the machine.

This got fixed with MEGEM05B.  So I could use DMA7 and even if I accidentally
ran GUSMOD or something like that, I didn't need to reboot.
I'm not sure what MEGEM06B fixed on my system.

Now for the games!

Wing Commander II (& Special Ops2)--neither of these ran very long!  It seems
WC2 doesn't like QEMM in any form (or version)  After finishing a mission,
the game freezes or QEMM gives me an error.  In my opinnion, the music is
MUCH better with MEGEM than with SBOS.

X-Wing --  I tried the General MIDI and Roland drivers.  For some reason,
the Roland (MT-32) sounded just as poor as SBOS.  The General MIDI mode didn't
sound much better.  Ughh, still those high-whiny voices.

Savage Empire--music is somewhat better than SBOS.  Some instruments notes are
missing.  The game freezes-up only after I die (is it supposed to do that?)

Flashback--ARggghhh!  Music is no better than SBOS.  Sticking with SBOS

KRONDOR.ZIP and QG4DEMO.ZIP (both on wuarchive) -- looks like Sierra will have
an excuse not to write native-GUS drivers.  MEGEM works with the General MIDI
and Roland MT-32/LAPC drivers.  The General MIDI driver sounded marginally
better than the MT-32 driver (with sounds much better than SBOS.)  Music is
pretty good with both.

Overall complaints:
MEGEM suffers from that "monolithic instrument" problem that early SBOSs also
suffered from.  Most of the notes come out as either a string-instrument or
somekind of brass instrument.  Instrument variety is very low (KRONDOR.ZIP
seemed to come out using only 2 instruments during most parts, the STRING
& CHOIR intruments)  Still, the music sounds better than SBOS [in most cases.]

Percussion instruments sound awful.  Sorry, but in many cases, percussion is
worse than SBOS.  Finally, the "10-minute" thingee.  Sometimes it runs for
up to 25 minutes, other times it cuts out after 4 or 5.  Varies from game to
game.

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

Date: Wed, 14 Jul 93 11:20:07 -0400
From: "Momentary language, sexual situations" <dantonio@magick.tay2.dec.com>
Subject: Re: MEGEM and QEMM? 
Message-ID: <9307141520.AA17933@magick.tay2.dec.com>

Jon Spewak <Jon.Spewak@lambada.oit.unc.edu> writes:

> I haven't tried the utility out yet, but might it have any problems if I
> am using a memory manager such as QEMM?

Worked fine for me with Wing Commander II under QEMM 6.03. Although the
joystick seemed to get VERY sensitive...

BTW, mail to you bounces, Jon...

DDA

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

Date: Wed, 14 Jul 93 19:06:34 EDT
From: jagati1@SERVER.uwindsor.ca (Jason Jagatic)
Subject: Re: MEGEM System Re-boot.
Message-ID: <9307142306.AA07247@SERVER.uwindsor.ca>

I noticed that I am not the only one that had MEGEM cause there system to reboot.   Can someone please help me with this?  I would really like to get it working....

Thanks.

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

Date: Tue, 13 Jul 93 18:14:35 
From: john.smith@gravis.com
Subject: PACKAGE
Message-ID: <9307131814.A1944wk@gravis.com>

It's Tue 07/13/93, just got home from work and my upgrade package is here. 
Thought I would share this with you ;-)

John

PS: I bought my GUS before I started working for Gravis. Actually I was kind of
surprised to see the package mailed to me.  Kind of neat seeing something go
from start to finish (there is a bad joke in this last line, can you find it?) ;-)

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

Date: Wed, 14 Jul 93 11:21:35 PDT
From: Lee Bollard <bollard@spk.hp.com>
Subject: Pinball for Windows
Message-ID: <9307141821.AA13926@hpspkma.spk.hp.com>

I just bought Pinball for Windows by Sierra/Dynamix.  I hear digital
sounds, but no music.

If I play canyon.mid using media player, and then play Pinball, I hear
some music, but it's not correct.  I also experience lockups while
playing Pinball.

I've had my GUS many months and it works great with most everything,
including Windows.  I thought I'd be safe in buying a Windows-based
game, as far as sound was concerned!

Is there a workaround for this problem?  Is it happening because Sierra
isn't supporting pre-loading of patches?

Regards,

Lee Bollard
bollard@spk.hp.com

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

Date: Thu, 15 Jul 1993 12:46:55 +1000 (EST)
From: Michael Daniel <mdani@wilbur.mbark.swin.oz.au>
Subject: ROL files
Message-ID: <Pine.3.07.9307151255.A26791-8100000@wilbur.mbark.swin.oz.au>

this has probably been asked a million times before, but is there any way
to play .ROL files with the gus?  Is there anything I can FTP to play
these files? Are they worth playing, since they came from an Adlib (vomit)
card?
				   MPD  8-)

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

Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1993 22:24:37 -0400
From: KWAN  RICHARD SIK YIU <kwanr@ecf.toronto.edu>
Subject: Sierra's pinball
Message-ID: <93Jul14.222444edt.6447@skule.ecf.toronto.edu>

I've noticed that someone is playing Sierra's pinball, I would like to know if
anyone experienced any problems with this game(besides no music). Something
like stacks overflow, unexpected lockup of the machine during the game .....
I've tried to increase the stacks to its maximum, still nothing improves!

By the way, if anyone expereniced lockup when quitting windows after closing
modus without stopping the mod first.

I can't explain both of them, I even tried to reinstall the windows once, 
still the same things happens again! Please help meto solve these problems!
Thank in advance!!

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

Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1993 10:29:02 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mark Harrison <harrison@lclark.edu>
Subject: Re: Trouble with Sherlock Holmes Det CD
Message-ID: <Pine.3.05.9307141059.A10083-a100000@sun>

> From: hurley@spdc.ti.com (Brian Hurley)
> Subject: Trouble with Sherlock Holmes Det CD
>      
> Can someone point me in the right direction in getting Sherlock Holmes
> Consulting Det to work with the GUS.   It keeps locking up at the ICOM screen.
> Acording to the readme on the cd it's a problem with conflicts with the sound
> card and something else...
> 
> I'm using a mitsumi cd-rom with the latest drivers, QEMM (I have tried himem
> also).   Ultrasound=220, 1, 1, 11, 7

Don't use the DMA option the Mitsumi driver (MTMCDE) offers.

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

Date: Wed, 14 Jul 93 22:54:01 EDT
From: Phat H Tran <ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: Ultramid programming info up on Epas
Message-ID: <9307150254.AA08506@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca>

The programming info for Ultramid is now up on Epas.  Here is an excerpt
from ultramid.doc:

             UltraMID is a TSR program that has approximately 20
        functions to support general midi music synthesis, smart
        patch loading, and DMA-driven digital audio playback.
        UltraMID is an alternative to the low-level SDK.  It
        provides very high level access to the UltraSound card so
        that a programmer can write software to synthesize General
        Midi music with minimal effort.  In fact, the UltraMID TSR
        is easier to use than other popular midi processors.
        UltraMID also makes it very easy for programmers to produce
        digital audio sound effects with a minimal amount of
        additional code and memory.

Phat.

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

Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1993 08:33:41 +0000
From: craigman@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Craig Anderson)
Subject: Re: Ultrasound Daily Digest V4 #42
Message-ID: <9307141324.AA00547@casbah.acns.nwu.edu>

>To run the program, you will need a 386SX or higher, Windows 3.1,
>and a Sound Card or MIDI Card that has the appropriate drivers
>loaded in Windows 3.1.  You will also need to have the MIDI Mapper
>(General MIDI) and the MCI Sequencer enabled.  Or, you can save
>the MIDI files and play them on your own sequencing software.
>The Help file contains full instructions on using the system 
>as well as some troubleshooting tips on setting up.

        Can anyone recommend sound cards and MIDI sequencers for use with
such a 386?  I'm looking for an optimum and most flexible system, of
course.

             ######################## 
             ##     Craig           
             ##	  A Man of Mission  
             ##  	  Anderson        
             ########################

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

Date: Thu, 15 Jul 93 00:32:35 EDT
From: n4zfd!frodo@rylos.n2idf.ampr.org (Jim Blakely)
Subject: Re: Ultrasound Daily Digest V4 #42
Message-ID: <742698891@rylos>

Well, today was music day for me.

Got a Media Vision Midimate MIDI connector for my GUS (since the
Gravis MIDI box still isn't in distribution). Works.

Got the "full" package that MidiSoft makes. It's called "Studio".
It's a full-featured sequencer for Windows that supports patch
caching & prints out.

Basically, the Recording Session that comes with the new GUS disks is
a watered down version of Studio. The printouts are very nice ... and
despite the fact there was no offer in the box with the new disks,
there is an upgrade available to GUS owners to Studio for $99.95
direct from MidiSoft. A much more attractive deal than Cakewalk ...
and Studio was one of the finalists in the 1992 PC Magazine Technical
Excellence Awards in the "After Hours" category.

Midisoft's number is (206) 881-7176.

I've spent most of tonight playing music on my keyboard & then
printing out the score...

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

Date: Wed, 14 Jul 93 17:57:24 EDT
From: eths1306@ele.etsmtl.ca
Subject: Update
Message-ID: <9307142157.AA09148@ele.etsmtl.ca>

Hi,
	I want to say that I receive my upgrade kit. I want to say that it
is a realy nice package, far more than I expected. The manual is beautiful,
the application looks clean, now I have to test it.

	I'm happy Gravis keep it's promess.

				Thank you...

(is there any big update coming for spring?)
/s

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

Date: Wed, 14 Jul 93 11:32:18 -0400
From: "Momentary language, sexual situations" <dantonio@magick.tay2.dec.com>
Subject: Virtual Leftovers...
Message-ID: <9307141532.AA17970@magick.tay2.dec.com>

Has anyone tried this demo/intro? If so, does anyone get any sound out of
it???

I was seriously worried when I saw they used GUSMOD since GUSMOD just
doesn't work on my system. And sure enough, despite them prompting for IRQ
(which one? MIDI, GF1?) and Port (what about DMA?), I get virtual silence
for the entire demo. Kinda doesn't impress me very much...

Can anyone shed light on this?? My GUS is at 240,7,7,15,5...And while I'm
at it, WHY don't programs use the ULTRASND environment variable??

DDA

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

Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1993 13:51:00 +0000 
From: "Timmy (Y.T.) Chan" <timchan@bnr.ca>
Subject: Where is EPAS? 
Message-ID: <"19417 Wed Jul 14 13:52:25 1993"@bnr.ca> 

Where is EPAS??  I tried FTPing to archive.epas.utoronto.ca (as listed
in the signature of the mail-list).  However, I get an 'unknown host'
response.  Can someone give me the EPAS address (and perhaps update
the signature file if the one listed is wrong).

Thanks,
Tim.

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End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V4 #43
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