GUS Daily Digest Fri, 11 Feb 94 0:07 Volume 11: Issue 9 Today's Topics: Dolby Surround External DACs? GUS0038.ZIP: lost or corrupted some patches?!?!?? GUS and Disney games GUS Daily Digest V11 #6 GUS Daily Digest V11 #7 GUS Daily Digest V11 #8 GUS DRAM Discontinued? GUS MAX? Help request Lotsa stuff Master of Orion midi-cable Patches 0-127 or 1-128 Seventh Guest patch... Syndicate The Dust caveman demo.. Ultima 8 WAV volume within Windows with AfterDark What can cause this? 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: Thu, 10 Feb 1994 16:59:47 -0500 From: Dale Luther Bewley Subject: Dolby Surround I have my GUS output routed through my Sony Dolby ProLogic receiver. Does the GUS output in Dolby format or just use stereo? I ask because the 3d demo doesn't seem too 3d to me. Should I use Dolby or no sound field ? should I disable my rear speakers? I only bought my GUS because it was $82 w/1Meg and I guess it's better than my SBPro, except for this emulation thing w/ some games and it's getting a little annoying. I wish I didn't sell my SB. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 1994 12:24:46 +0000 (GMT) From: Toby Subject: External DACs? I have a two part CD system in my Hi-Fi (CD transport and High quality external DAC) and I was wondering if is is possible to eliminate noise and improove sound the sound quality of my GUS by taking an output from the GUS before it's own DACs and feeding it into my external CD DACs. If this were possible the channel separation and S/N ratio of the card truely would be "CD Quality" Any thoughts? *** _______ _____ _____ . . *** *** | | | | | | | *** *** | | | | << \ / *** *** | |_____| |_____| | *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pessimism? It'll never work. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 94 8:17:02 CST From: Jon Fletcher Subject: GUS0038.ZIP: lost or corrupted some patches?!?!?? Hello fellow Gussers, Please help. I recently upgraded my gus with the upgrade in gus0038.ZIP. Everything went smoothly during the install, but now I have notice that some of my favorite midi files will not play in either windows or in dos. The only clue I get is when I attempt to load these certain songs into PLAYMIDI. PLAYMIDI gives me one of the following messages (depending on the mid file I select): -- Error patch info call for honky: DOS error or Error patch info call for piano.pat: DOS error -- I went and looked in my directory that holds my .pat files and I couldn't find either of the above mentioned patch files. So, what has changed with the upgrade, in this regard? The upgrade wouldn't have removed these patches, would it? You may respond via e-mail or the Digest. Thanks in advance -Jon -- -------------------------------------- Jon Fletcher | UCI/Unified Communications, Inc. | Software Engineer | email fletcj@tenfwd.uci.com | -------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 94 11:45:25 MST From: tschmidt@pefs1.micron.com (Tom Schmidt) Subject: Re: GUS and Disney games In the Feb 10 digest, Sharan Kalwani has problems with Disney games: > I am trying to use my GUS with a Disney game > (Mickey's Birthday Party). When I use the latest > version of SBOS, the music sounds garbled and the > voices are hard to understand. Using Mega-em helps > a little (both music and voices are somewhat clearer), > but as soon as I hit a key the game bombs. > Any pointers ? I bought Mickey's Colors and Shapes for my pre-schooler. It supports SoundBlaster and compatibles. I tried using SBOS with a multitued of different switches and it always sounded scratchy and un-intelligible. So then I tried Mega-Em. What an improvement! I even had music (it appears that the music is SB digital). So to speed things up, I used Mega-Em with the -ROFF option so Roland emulation was not needed and there was not reason to wait for EMUSET to load patches. I have since bought Mickey's 123's and ABC's for my son's birthday, but have not installed them yet since it's not his birthday yet. I am assuming that they will work the same as Colors and Shapes, and probably the same as your Birthday Party program. Attention Gravis: Why does Mega-Em's SB emulation work so much better than SBOS? _____ ___ Tom L. Schmidt | | / \ Manager - Component Characterization | | \___ Micron Semiconductor, Inc. | | \ 2805 E. Columbia Rd. Mail Stop 376 | |____\___/ Boise, ID 83709-9698 tschmidt@pefs1.micron.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 09 Feb 1994 18:59:00 +0100 From: edwinvo@dragons.nest.nl (Edwin van Ouwerkerk) Subject: GUS Daily Digest V11 #6 > Has anyone tried the newest (or any for that matter) Windows drivers > with Windows for Workgroups 3.11 Add-on for Windows (try saying that 5 Yes, I'm using it this very moment, and they work fine. (Something which can not be said of the add-on procedure 8-/) I am using the latest drivers, 4.01/3.32/1.01 for GRVSULTR.386/ULTRASND.DRV/ULTMPORT.DRV respectively CU, Edwin (edwinvo@dragons.nest.nl) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 1994 20:54:16 -0800 (PST) From: mikebat@netcom.com (Mike Batchelor) Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V11 #7 Not the GUS Server once wrote... $ $ ------------------------------ $ $ Date: Mon, 7 Feb 1994 23:37:45 -0800 (PST) $ From: jtang@argon.chem.ucla.edu (James Tang) $ Subject: Question about DOS4GW $ $ Since this had been brought up here before, I thought i might be $ related to GUS. What is DOS4GW anyway? It's in my Syndicate $ directory, but what do I use it for? $ $ thanks for your help. $ $ james You don't need to do anything with it, it will be loaded automatically by the game program. DOS4GW is the 32-bit DPMI extender used by protected mode programs built with the Rational Systems toolkits. DPMI is a method of managing extended memory in protected mode, while still allowing a program to come back to real mode so that DOS can be used (for reading files, etc.). If no memory manager is present, DOS4GW will load and put the machine into protected mode, taking control of it away from DOS. If a memory manager is present, DOS4GW will use VCPI calls to allocate memory and enter protected mode from virtual 8086 mode. VCPI is an earlier method of allowing a protected mode program to run and still access real mode DOS. Some games continue to use it exclusively, like Links386. Many other "useful" programs use it, too, like AutoCAD and Paradox. Even Winodws 3.1 standard mode is a VCPI client. DOS4GW is popular because it can be distributed royalty-free, unlike the Phar Lap extenders. Performance-wise, it is somewhat of a dog, compared to others (but still beats Windows enhanced mode by a long shot :). It has some compatility problems in recent versions with some hardware. Supposedly these two standards allow one to build a protected mode program that can utilize any VCPI or DPMI "host" (such as QEMM, 386MAX, or Windows enhaced mode), but in practice, this does not happen. Standards are wonderful - there are so many to choose from! :) $ ------------------------------ $ $ Date: Tue, 8 Feb 94 09:37:16 -0500 $ From: decvax!cg-atla.agfa.com!pasky@uucp-gw-2.pa.dec.com (Robert Pasky) $ $ Subject: Problems with new Gravis software $ $ > First of all, the Windows MOD player seems to be CPU sensitive. It $ > plays on my 386-40 but it sounds like a 45 being played at 33.3 and $ > is, as such, pretty worthless to me. WinMOD may not sound that $ > great, but it doesn't drag like that. $ $ Is it just slow (intermittent?) or off key? I've had that problem $ (going off key) with every version of MODUS I tried. Actually, I $ noticed the intermittent problem, too. Anytime Windows is busy for $ more than a second or two, the music pauses. I have to off-key problem as well, and it is pretty annoying. Even more annoying is that when I try to play a 6 or 8 channel MOD, it causes a General Protection Fault (non-fatal) and terminates. Has anyone successfuly played a MOD with more than 4 channels with this pile? It has 8 channel indicators... one would think it is supposed to do this. $ [...] MODUS got $ sent to the trashcan -- again. $ Yup. Gravis should not include it on the distribution diskettes. It gives a very bad impression, and most people will not realize that it is not a Gravis product. $ BTW, I'm running a 486DX/33, so I *hope* it's not a CPU speed problem. $ Same here. -- Mike Batchelor | UseLinuxUseLinuxUseLinuxUseLinuxUseLinuxUseLinuxUseLinux mikebat@netcom.com | xuniLesUxuniLesUxuniLesUxuniLesUxuniLesUxuniLesUxuniLesU ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 94 13:59:58 +0000 From: eeyjsfa@unicorn.ccc.nottingham.ac.uk Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V11 #8 Whenever I try to run Syndicate with those new 32bit gravis drivers I allways get a divide by 0 error. Does anybody know how to stop this happening? ------------------------------ Date: 10 Feb 94 10:54:38 PST From: ksoule@tatertot.com (KSoule) Subject: GUS DRAM Discontinued? >Date: Wed, 9 Feb 1994 15:28:56 -0216 (GMT-2:16) >From: "J.Waghorn" >Subject: DRAM's impossible to get in UK >Can anyone in the UK get 44256 or equivalent DRAM chips without going >to the L40 mark for 6 ???? >It appears that several manufacturers have stopped producing them & >left all us UK GUSsers in the lecherous money grabbing hands of RS (who >charge 7.5 pounds each excluding VAT) UK GUS users aren't the only ones about to have chip problems. We picked up a GUS for eval about a month ago; we are affiliated with a motherboard manufacturer, and used our usual contacts to request "engineering samples" to populate the board with the full 1MB of memory. So far, we haven't been able to get any memory, although one source finally looks promising. We have heard the same thing from ALL of our sales reps; to wit, this memory is being discontinued and they will only supply their existing accounts; they will not supply (or even send samples to) new accounts. This memory is still available in the retail channel here in the U.S. but, if our sources are correct, Gravis is about to have a problem. When you hear the same story from a number of unaffiliated sales reps, for different manufacturers, you begin to take note... While the FAQ states that Gravis will sell memory, our call to Gravis yielded the response that we should source it locally. It may be necessary (prudent?) for Gravis to go into the memory supply business. Kent TaterTot News & Mail * San Francisco,CA * VirtualNET @1415008 * ManicNet @2 415.255.8340 * @tatertot.com * WWIVNet @4552 * Link @14552 * GAYnet @4500 * ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 94 14:13:10 AST From: BRYENTON T Subject: GUS MAX? Is the Max out yet? If not when, and what's the holdup it was supposed to come out last November.... Damon. m0t3@unb.ca ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 94 9:27:52 CST From: Daniel A Nielsen Subject: Help request Anyone use the Space Adventure CD ROM with the GUS? I get music, but no speech from the video sections. thanks dan ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 94 02:07:46 -0800 From: mbarboni@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Real Athletes Throw! ) Subject: Lotsa stuff First, to the gentlemen who inquired about Windows for Workgroups 3.1.1, yes, it appears to work fine (as was stated yesterday), although I have run across a few problems after installing gus0038.zip. So many in fact, that I had to re-do my GUS installation from scratch, leaving out the GUS0038.zip on the reinstallation. I fixed the ultrasnd.ini and everything, but I found everything to be quite unstable. But again, without gus0038 installed, it runs perfectly. Second, after installing the gus0038.zip, many of my other programs stopped working. These included gustrit, and my favorite, second reality. The sound w/ gustrit just became unbearable, and second reality froze about 5 seconds into the demo...anyone have any comments? Third, I'm always looking for files, (demos, games, etc.) that demonstrate the GUS's full capabilities. Unfortunately, I have yet to find one. Does anyone know of a game or demo that uses the GUS to it's MAX (or close to it)??? Thanks in advance, Mike ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 1994 21:40:47 -0800 From: Harlan Hilman Subject: Master of Orion I got MOO_GUS.ZIP, and installed it according to the instructions, bot it (the install program) gives me addresses 300, 330, 332, 334, 336, etc. When my GUS is on 220. And whenever I try to run Orion, it bombs out with reconfigure hardware options. The readme.1st file also tells me to load ultramid, it doesn't mention megaem or emuset. What should I do? And also, I don't understand what the Speech card DRQ needs to be set to. And also, what should I set the GUS to(adresses, IRQs, etc.)? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 94 15:12:19 +0100 From: johan linder Subject: midi-cable Is it possible yo use a PAS midi-cable on a GUS card? Or is there any better alternative??? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 1994 11:16:36 GMT From: Clarke Brunt Subject: Patches 0-127 or 1-128 Re yesterday's query about whether patch numbers go from 0-127 or 1-128, there is unfortunately no definite convention. Just go with whatever convention is adopted in the file you are editing. MIDI Mapper and some sequencers allow you to choose which numbers you want to see, but these are only cosmetic changes to the numbers displayed, not changes internal to the program. What is definite is that in MIDI data, the patch number is stored as 7 bits of binary, which most people would say represents the numbers 0-127. It's just that some software, having a strange dislike of 0, adds 1 to all of them before displaying them to the user. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 94 15:51:13 EST From: madbax@aol.com Subject: Seventh Guest patch... Nope, There IS NO patch to run T7G in native mode, BUT BUT there is the UltraMID AIL (Audio Interface Library) driver that runs the sound in native support. ANY game that uses an unhacked version (unlike Origin or Sierra) of the Miles Drivers (AIL) gives native sound support (MIDI music, digital sound f/x) with the GUS using UltraMID. Grab a copy of it off the Internet or a BBS, or get the 3.xx UltraSound software update, it has it as well. Then read the docs. Later. --Joe ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 94 10:26:03 EST From: treason@gnu.ai.mit.edu (Act of Treason) Subject: Syndicate I don't know if this has been posted before, but: When I run syndicate and use the 32 bit AIL drivers all is fine until it plays the 'success' scene after you win a scenario. When the 'car' flies past on the screen a TERRIBLE patch plays out of the gus, overiding all other sounds that play (fireworks ans such). Has anyone found which patch this is and placed in an appropriate one? Thanks in advance. Treason ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Feb 1994 15:45:05 -0500 (EST) From: Stoney Subject: The Dust caveman demo.. So far as I know, the 3d Dust demo you saw in the store won't be generally distributed because (a) it's 20MB (gotta admit that's somewhat unwieldy to have around :) and (b) it's not public domain since someone (I'd assume Advanced Gravis) paid Dust to make the demo for them. In that case, it's Gravis' decision if it gets distributed, but I doubt it due to reason a. K.Gifford ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 1994 10:37:32 -0600 (CST) From: Fitzgerald Jr Steele Subject: Ultima 8 I don't think that Origin is pursuing GUS support too avidly. I wrote a real letter to Origin (licked the stamp and envelope and everything...remember those?). I got a reply a couple weeks later. It's hand typed and personally signed (even the envelope was written, not typed). Here's what they have to say in regards to Ultima 8. [...] In answer to your questions. Ultima VIII should be out some time in late Summer of this year. We're taking some extra time on it to insure you get the best product possible. I'm sure you'll agree that it's the best Ultima yet. Second, we may support the Gravis Ultrasound card in the future but it's hard to say. The card has some definite incompatibilities but if it becomes more of a standard we will look into it. As for now we highly recommend Sound Blaster or Sound Blaster Pro. [...] Lisa Acton Product Support Something tells me no GUS support from Origin this year... --------------------==========*********==========---------------------- Jerry Steele "Give me a lever, and a place to stand fjsteele@icaen.uiowa.edu and I will move the world" fsteele@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu -- Archemedes --------------==============*************==============---------------- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 94 12:05:11 MST From: tschmidt@pefs1.micron.com (Tom Schmidt) Subject: WAV volume within Windows with AfterDark I have noticed that when AfterDark kicks in a screensaver under Windows that it changes the WAV volume thereafter. I have the Mixer volume set at about 7/8 full scale. I have AfterDarks volume set one notch below full volume. My intent was to have the AfterDark screensaver volume to be about 1/2 of the normal WAV volume. But instead, the volume of the screensaver is very low. Plus now, any other WAV's played by windows is at this same very low volume. I have to open mixer and set the volume back up. But if I leave the AD volume at full scale, it does not effect the volume set by the GUS mixer. Shouldn't these two be independent? Why is the AfterDark volume control not appear to be linear when using the multimedia output? If I set AD to use the PC speaker instead, the AD volume control has no effect on the GUS mixer and appears to have linear response. I haven't seen anyone else post any comments about this. FYI, it has done this regardless of driver versions (2.05, 2.06a, 3.1). Thanks...Tom _____ ___ Tom L. Schmidt | | / \ Manager - Component Characterization | | \___ Micron Semiconductor, Inc. | | \ 2805 E. Columbia Rd. Mail Stop 376 | |____\___/ Boise, ID 83709-9698 tschmidt@pefs1.micron.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Feb 1994 15:37:03 MET-1 From: "Juhasz Norbert" Subject: What can cause this? Hi GUSers! My problem is a bit complicated. Help me please to find a solution, because I'm not able to do so. 1.Many times it happens that GUS freezes or reboots my computer within various situations.(eg. when I play Doom or play a sound file under windows, or use Ail driver with certain games etc.) When it happens, the GUS starts to play it's patches from the memory one by one a kinda circulating until the boot reaches the ultrinit. 2.Sometimes when I try to play a midi file under windows it drops me out to dos, however at other times when I play the very same file there's no trouble at all. Other problems such as Page Faults in progman.exe etc. also occur. (I have not changed the old windows drivers yet and this problem might be caused by a bug in them) The point is, that since such things do not happen regularly, I can't really solve the problems with ULTRASND variable changes. The truth is, that I haven't tried many combinations. I have some theories but I need someone to help. My configuration is: 486 DLC-40 4Mb RAM, ISA (OPTi chipset !) GUS with 1Mb RAM TRIDENT 8900 video card 1Mb ??? i/o card with game port (ultrajoy disabled) AT-bus HD Western Digital 420 Mb both floppies Please answer if you have experienced similar things and/or can give me a helping hand. Greetings. Happy GUSing! Norbert Juhasz PMMF, Department Of Informatics ------------------------------ End of GUS Daily Digest V11 #9 ******************************