Ultrasound Daily Digest Wed, 14 Apr 1993 Volume 3 : Issue 14 Today's Topics: archive.epas FTP site archive.epas.utoronto.ca GUS and Tony La Russa II invalid sboslib error message More on midi stereo patchwork 8) Stereo Effects for Midi Users Ultima 7 Ultrasound/CD-ROM combo Ultrasound Daily Digest V3 #13 Upload to epas Yet another Crash & Burn... 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. *** HEY!!! *** Before you ask a question, *** READ THE FAQ ***. It's available on the request server and the ftp sites, or check the newsgroup archives. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1993 15:36:24 -0400 (EDT) From: Morgan Stair Subject: Re: archive.epas Message-ID: On Mon, 12 Apr 1993, Dave Perry VE3IFB wrote: > The "archive" name works for me - maybe something is amiss with your mailer > or domain name server. I think the problem is that the name server for epas is screwed up or so slow that it doesn't respond in time. The address (128.100.160.36) always seems to work, however. -Morgan ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1993 09:35:24 -0500 (EDT) From: adam@epas.utoronto.ca (Adam Iles) Subject: Re: FTP site archive.epas.utoronto.ca Message-ID: <9304131335.AA17201@epas.utoronto.ca> There have been a few comments about the anonymous ftp server, and why it's referred to as archive.epas instead of klingon.epas. The authoritative answer is that there is no guaranty that the anonymous ftp service will always be provided on klingon, I reserve the right to move it on very short notice if the need arises. By using a cname (alias) of archive.epas if the service is moved the domain name can move with it. I do not expect the archive to move, but I'd rather have a mechanism prepared than have to worry about it later. Personally I do not care (and cannot tell) if your ftp command uses archive or klingon, but I hope that you will remember to try archive if klingon starts to reject anonymous ftp connections. BTW. If there is a failure in resolving either the archive.epas or klingon.epas domain names you can use the IP address, but if the archives are moved it will stop working. Name to try first: archive.epas.utoronto.ca Name to try second: klingon.epas.utoronto.ca If desperate: 128.100.160.36 If all else fails: Try again in 15 minutes or so. (The system does come down occasionally.) -- Adam Iles -- EPAS Computing. adam@epas.utoronto.ca ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Apr 93 17:21:30 EDT From: Peter G.N. Scheyen Subject: GUS and Tony La Russa II Message-ID: <9304132121.AA09599@mccarthy.csd.uwo.ca> Has anyone managed to get Tony La Russa Baseball II to work with the GUS? It surprised the hell out of me to see that it detected that I had a GUS. Then to my extreme disappointment it basically told me that I had to have SBOS installed. However, it doesn't even recognize the soundcard unless I choose the SB option (rather than GUS) and even then it crashes before I "Play ball". Sigh, Pete scheyen@csd.uwo.ca ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1993 20:24:37 MST From: "Dave Bakken" Subject: invalid sboslib error message Message-ID: <199304140324.AA22690@centennial.cs.arizona.edu> I'm posting the following to the Ultrasound list since it might help clarify my problem. I'm xing out the name of the guy who sent me the email since I haven't asked his permission to post it. One thing I forgot to mention in last night's digest is that not only do I get the SBOS error messages, but a program I try to run that used to work fine now hangs (In fact, I don't have any programs I've tried that now work for me under SBOS). Following is my reply to the guy. Hi XXXX, Thank you very much for taking the time to reply to my message. I appreciate this. However, I don't think that your strong RTFM tone was warranted... From XXXX@yyyTue Apr 13 03:53:20 1993 From: "..." Subject: gus troubles To: bakken@cs.arizona.edu Dave: Many of the problems you are reporting are covered (in detail) in the text files that accompanied the new disk set. Did you read these? If so you better read them again! Yes, I read the readme file (courtesy of the Gravis Viewer); I even printed it out on my workstation (had to get rid of the s and the ^Cs and ^Bs, though). Were there any other files that I should have found with the distribution? I also snarfed all the info files on the ftp archive site, including gusfaq.txt. For instance, the reason your sbos is not working is that you probably did not copy the required files to both the \ultrasnd and the \ultrasnd\sbos directory. Did you make sure to take off the old sbos files? As I mentioned in my posting, I deleted the entire old ultrasnd directory. I most likely did not copy up what was needed into the both of these directories, since I have no idea what files have to be so copied (and I find it amazing that such a spiffy install program didn't do that for me). Do you have a list of the files that need to be in both directories? Also, playmidi has nothing to do with SBOS! And it says "SBOS installed" not "Ultrasound Installed". Are you aware that the SBOS program is only necessary for emulating SoundBlaster? You don't need it to run playmidi and things. Yes, I realize that SBOS is just for this emulation. I felt it might shed some light to GUS gurus that Playmidi still worked. And sorry I forgot the exact message it told me. It hasn't told me this for a few days since it gives the error message instead. Also, the documentation is very clear that SBOS 2.04 works fine with Windows. What were you talking about when you asked if the install could "scan the autoexec file"? That is totally unnecessary. I had heard that this was no longer a problem, but the FAQ that I snarfed (dated 4/9/93) still warned about firing up SBOS before Windows. Ergo, my caution. Also your problem with the Ultrasound Init is not really a problem. That is (approximately) what it is supposed to say. It is a problem because a program (Playroom for my daughter) that used to run with the help of SBOS now has no sound, and in fact hangs after you click the mouse a few times. I suspect that this is related to the face that I get that error message and no audio ``SBOS installed'' message. On the plus side, however, a program (Alphabet Blocks) that used to hang under Windows after 10-50 mouse clicks now seems to work just fine with the new disks. My advice to you is: 1) Read the documentation Done, as noted. 2) Remove all your ultrasound files and directories, and copies of files you might have put elsewhere. 3) Re-install from scratch with the new version 2 disks. I'm not sure that this would any good, since I would be repeating the steps I took to install it in the first place. Maybe I have an old file from the previous release in one of my non-ultrasd directories, but I have no idea of what they might be named and thus no way to delete them. Any suggestions? Thank you again for your feedback, Neil. Dave You should be happy then. ------------------------------ Date: 13 Apr 1993 12:58:30 PST From: chrisw Subject: More on midi stereo Message-ID: <9304131958.AA06351@leland.Stanford.EDU> ------------ To answer my own question: why does the GUS click when you pan noises using the controller 10 midi messages? Seems the answer is that GUS 'mixer' supports only 15 different pan positions and the 'clickiness' arises from the fact that you can hear the level change in the two channels when you pan something across. Looks like a sort of linear scheme may have been used for the levels here as well. There's a lot of 'movement' in the end couple of positions but not much in the middle. Well, looking on the bright side, at least it shows that stereo isn't being acheived using two mono voices and altering their volume levels. Another bit of trivia. Mod wheel messages increase both the depth of vibrato AND the rate. Never come across this before. Also, the 'automatic' vibrato is kind of reset whenever you twiddle the mod wheel. There's probably a single vibrato level held in memory somewhere by the driver. Chris. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Apr 1993 01:13:41 -0400 (EDT) From: dionf@ERE.UMontreal.CA (Francois Dion) Subject: patchwork 8) Message-ID: <9304140513.AA27234@brise.ERE.UMontreal.CA> Hey, i wanted feedback, i got feedback! Are you just all beeing polite, or do you really think what you all say? Dont answer that... 8) So, a lot of people are interested in the patch editor (people who have heard accrdeon are willing to sell their aunt, grandmother, sister for a program that will permit them to do that) but there are some other concerns: SYSEX! yes. Gravis/Forte needs to have some sysex so we can use more than the 128 GM melodics and the included percs. In dos, a .cfg file is easy to do, but in windows, there is not anything trivial. Who should i contact regarding this? I also found that the window driver doesn't seem to support multi-layers but maybe i did something wrong. Another thing i found out is that all the patches are 1 octave off (accrdeon was adjusted 1 octave down because of that) compared to conventional numbering. Gee. Who is in charge of patches and the related stuff at Gravis? Or is it Forte? Anyway, what was the point of my post? Well, i have some 16 bit .wav and raw data, some .h and some .c and some doc i made. What we now need is a mail reflector asap because i'm going hexadecimal crazy! We need tools to create patches. This is one of the most important point going for the Gravis, and with some new patches circulating, i think we will get more support. Also, all of you who sent me questions/requests/comments today, will be answered when i have a little more time. Ciao, -- Francois Dion ' _ _ _ CISM (_) (_) _) FM Montreal , Canada Email: CISM@ERE.UMontreal.CA (_) / . _) 10000 Watts Telephone no: (514) 343-7511 _______________________________________________________________________________ Audio-C-DJ-Fractals-Future-Label-Multimedia-Music-Radio-Rave-Video-VR-Volvo-... ------------------------------ Date: 13 Apr 1993 02:54:43 PST From: chrisw Subject: Stereo Effects for Midi Users Message-ID: <9304130954.AA23441@leland.Stanford.EDU> ------------ Greetings fellow musical gussers: I'm not sure if someone else has reported this already, but I've just been checking out the Gus's midi controller message receives and this is what came out: Pitch bend is O.K. (no idea how you set pitch bend depth though) Controller 1 - mod wheel (vibrato depth) Controller 7 - volume Controller 10 - pan Controller 64 - sustain pedal I didn't exhaustively check, but my guess is that these are the only ones. (I mean, what else does the GUS do but play back something with a pitch and amplitude?). The pleasant surprise was that pan position (controller 10) works. Well, kind of works, anyway. If you move the pan position while the GUS is sustaining a note on the channel for some reason you get plenty of clicking as the noise moves L to R. If you move pan when a noise is decaying it stays where it is, but when you play a new note it will start in the new position. So, for all those who are using sequencers with keyboards with user assignable continuous controllers (yes, I mean both of you): sequence something up with a short noise (short durations), define your continuous controller to transmit on channel 10, do a take on the sequenced track while frantically moving your continuous controller all over the place. Result: STEREO EFFECTS! Unfortunately, can't do any slow panning effects because of the clicking. Don't suppose Gravis is going to fix this for us? Anyone know WHY it's clicking? Suppose it's just that the volume of the waveform is being changed in a discontinuous way. But why? The volume controller (7) doesn't click. Apologies if this is already in the FAQ. If not, it probably should be. By the way, I don't suppose the GUS drivers have any midi sysex features? One last thing. I'm afraid that the GUS response to volume of midi messages has nothing to do with the way all synth keyboards are set up to transmit. Anyone know if it's possible to change the velocity curve of the GUS to more closely match a normal keyboard? Note that I DON'T mean rescaling an existing midi file. I actually want to be able to hear what I'm playing while I'm playing it. I don't know how much more of this pounding to get a loud note my keyboard or fingers can take. (By the way, this is very silly and very annoying. Why did Gravis do this?) Cheers, Chris. ------------ End of Forwarded Message ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1993 04:03:37 -0400 (EDT) From: Greg K Chung Subject: Ultima 7 Message-ID: I can't get Ultima 7 to work with SBOS.. the old SBOS flag sheet says that 1.23 will work with no flags. Versions 1.23, 1.40, 2.02, 2.04 crash during the intro after about two spoken words. This is odd considering *every* version works with Wing Commander 2 (also Origin). I am using a clean boot to try this... anyone have any suggestions? Greg Chung : "At least I ain't from West Virginia." stiletto@cmu.edu : ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Apr 93 15:39:53 CDT From: hastings@ms3.dseg.ti.com Subject: Ultrasound/CD-ROM combo Message-ID: <9304132039.AA05791@ms3.dseg.ti.com> At Best Buy yesterday, I saw an Ultrasound/CD-ROM bundle for $399. This was a package from Gravis. As a side comment, I think the box was smaller than the GUS alone - seems that Gravis heard all the complaining about the wasted space in the GUS box. Does anyone have any specs on the CD-ROM drive? Is this a good deal? There was a SoundBlaster (?) 16 ASP/CD-ROM bundle next to it for $550, and I've read comments about the CD-ROM being a slow 390ms drive. So the GUS bundle, if the CD-ROM drive is decent, looks like a very affordable way to get into multi-media. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Apr 93 2:17:37 CDT From: cowles@hydra.convex.com (John Cowles) Subject: Re: Ultrasound Daily Digest V3 #13 Message-ID: <9304130717.AA18893@hydra.convex.com> Francois Dion is making patches! Hooray!!! They've GOT to be better than what is currently available. The potential is here - but the patches sound worse than stuff I've got on Edison cylinders. Why? GUS has the potential to sound as good as Turtle Beach - why doesn't it? Why don't a FEW patches (at least) sound as good as my cheap Yamaha TG100? It's great that we can make all sorts of neat synthesizer sounds, but when? how? Why don't we have any patches that sound like REAL INSTRUMENTS? Roland, Yamaha, Proteus, Korg, Kawaii, Casio, Ensoniq, Peavey, etc. all have (at least a few) patches that sound like the real thing. I know that this is much cheaper - but it can either do the job or it can sound like a gold-plated Adlib. Anyway - I whole-heartedly support Francois' efforts (and the accordeon patch DOES sound pretty good...). John Cowles cowles@hydra.convex.com Convex Computer Corp. 214 497 4375 3000 Waterview Pkwy Richardson, Tx. 75080 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Apr 93 13:24:41 CDT From: cowles@hydra.convex.com (John Cowles) Subject: Upload to epas Message-ID: <9304131824.AA15548@hydra.convex.com> I have uploaded brokfolk.zip to archive.epas.utoronto.ca:/pub/pc/ultrasound/submit This is a midi file which uses instrumentation that sounds pretty good on a GUS. Any questions, complaints, feedback, etc. to me. Want more? John Cowles cowles@hydra.convex.com Convex Computer Corp. 214 497 4375 3000 Waterview Pkwy Richardson, Tx. 75080 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1993 02:13:12 -0500 (CDT) From: Cyclone Subject: Yet another Crash & Burn... Message-ID: <199304130713.AA16017@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu> After following much message traffic on the GUS and SBOS, I have yet to see a specific problem mentioned. I am an avid Flight Simulator pilot. I have Microsft Flight Simulator version 4.0 and the Aircraft and Scenery Designer. Along with this, I have Mallard Software's Sound, Graphics, and Aircraft Upgrade. I will abbreviate this SGA. SGA works will Adlib, SB, SBPro, plus an older Covox card, and certain PC speaker effects. It was extremely well behaved with my old SB card. SBOS does not seem to do the trick for the SGA. I get a high pitched screeching sound on top of the digitized sounds I should be hearing, and the sound is intermittent. Also, the overhead of SBOS causes considerable slowdown of display update in FlightSim. This is annoying at best. I am using the new version of the ultrasound software (2.01) and SBOS 2.04. I have tried this with several different settings and nothing really seemed to help the SGA. Any suggestions? FlightSim w/SGA is grounded until I get this resolved. Also: FlightSim is kernalized (I believe). To change the graphics or sound, it seems only necessary to change the driver file used by flight sim, e.g. insert a new driver, and tell it to use it. Anyone have any thoughts on Native GUS support for FlightSim? anyone have any idea where to begin? /////// /// /// // // ////// /// ////// /// // ///// /// // // // /// // // // /// //// //////// ////// ////// /// ////// // // ////// // //// Cyclone amk45687@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu ------------------------------ End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V3 #14 ************************************* Digest Address: ultrasound@dsd.es.com To post to tomorrow's digest Request Server Address: ultrasound-request@dsd.es.com To subscribe, unsubscribe, and request files Owner Address: ultrasound-owner@dsd.es.com To contact a human if the server has troubles FTP Sites: archive.epas.utoronto.ca pub/pc/ultrasound wuarchive.wustl.edu systems/msdos/ultrasound