Apparently-To: john.smith@gravis.com


Ultrasound Daily Digest     Thu, 7 Oct 93   048 MDT      Volume 7: Issue   6  

Today's Topics:
                    About new drivers for the Gus.
            AIL drivers, DoubleSpace, Main Volume, Sierra 
                              Cakepro2.0
                 Computer Gaming World inconsistency 
                           Dune2 and X-Wing
                         EA NHL Hockey Again
                             Engine sound
                     GUS and Quest for Glory III
                            KLF mailer???
                           KQ6 GUS drivers
                         Melodic patces IMHO
                           MicroSoft Arcade
           Origin's reply concerning Privateer + general bs
                            Patch Manager
                        poor gus midi software
                          Prince of Persia 2
                             Some replies
              Still hanging in there, but for how long?
                              Syndicate
                The 7th Guest and Sierra Ultramid 1.03
                           Zone 66 Problems

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, 6 Oct 1993 18:37:08 GMT
From: perri_j@boson.epita.fr (jean-stephane perri)
Subject: About new drivers for the Gus.
Message-ID: <199310061837.AA23237@school>

     Hi there,

I am looking for drivers newer than the 2.06a.
Something using less memory space (i.e ultramid) and less processor occupancy    
(i.e SBOS)
Thanks for any news.

salut les copains

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

Date: Wed, 6 Oct 1993 18:15:47 -0400 (EDT)
From: Phat H Tran <ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: AIL drivers, DoubleSpace, Main Volume, Sierra 
Message-ID: <Pine.3.05.9310061846.G14677-c100000@sciborg>

> Date: Mon, 04 Oct 1993 09:23:06 EDT
> From: anclarke@civil.watstar.uwaterloo.ca
> Subject: Ail/miles drivers, DOS 6/Doublespace
> Message-ID: <9310041325.AA16917@sail.uwaterloo.ca>
> 
> Could someone explain what ail and miles drivers are, and what games they're
> available for, how do they sound, where are they available, etc?  I've been
> reading this for a while now and everyone seems to know about them except me.
>

The GUS AIL drivers let you, in theory, patch any game that uses the 
AIL music system to support the GUS in its native mode (or a reasonable
facsimile thereof).  However, even though many games use the AIL system,
some use modified drivers, so the standard ones for the GUS won't work
with these games.  Also, because the GUS' AIL drivers rely on Ultramid,
which takes up 53k of conventional or high memory (if it fits), some
games might not have enough free memory to run.  There are plans to
reduce the conventional memory requirements of Ultramid, and hopefully
they are followed through, soon.
 
> Also, i read somewhere a mention about SBOS problems with doublespace.  Could
> this be why i can't get sound blaster emulation for Xwing (only adlib & gmidi -
> sounds like a concert when i fire a laser) and can't get megaem to work with f1
> grand prix, etc etc?
>

SBOS has no problems with DoubleSpace.  Xwing will work with SBOS if you
put your GUS on port 220 (well, it did for me).  Problems that Mega-Em
has with any particular game should be explained in the documentation
for the emulator.

> Date: Sun, 3 Oct 93 07:13:03 PDT
> From: Rick Skalsky <skalsky@aaai.org>
> Subject: Installing GUS
> Message-ID: <9310031413.AA01379@aaai.org>
> 
> at the computer store and had the same problem on the 2nd disk.  Now can
> anybody tell me if you just can't install the software on a stacked driv
> drive or do I have some other problem.  BTW, I'm using Netroom 3.01 or 3.1

I installed the disks on my DoubleSpaced driver without difficulty.  Just
make sure that you have plenty of free disk space.

> Another question-why does the sound sometimes stop in the Windows Midi player
> even though there are still more notes being notated on the screen?  In
> other words, the songs play awhile, then the sound stops before the song
> is actually done.  

I'm not sure what you mean.  Can you be more explicit?

> Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1993 20:44:23 -0400
> From: Evan Champion <evanc@carbon.isis.org>
> Subject: Line in level
> Message-ID: <2cb0b558.carbon@carbon.isis.org>
> 
> Has anyone written a utility that can set the volume of the line out on the
> Ultrasound?  Specifically, I need to lower the total volume (of all channels
> plus the line in/CD audio) because my stereo can't deal with the regular
> default level.  Thanks!

There is no main volume to adjust on the GUS, so such a utility cannot
be written.  It's up to the software driving the GUS to control the
volume of the card (by controlling the volume of each voice).  Some
programs accept a "main volume" parameter, which they use to attenuate
all the voices accordingly, but some do not.

> Date: Mon, 4 Oct 93 13:41:01 CDT
> From: Fitzgerald Jr Steele <fjsteele@icaen.uiowa.edu>
> Subject: Sierra drivers
> Message-ID: <199310041841.NAA04637.4BCE0@icaen.uiowa.edu>
> 
> I can't seem to find the new Sierra drivers anywhere.  I've check all the
> FTP sites listed in the FAQ, but to no avail.  Someone told me I could
> reach Sierra through the address sierras@aol.com, but my mail was bounced
> back to me.  Is there anywhere I can get those new drivers!?
>

Download GUSDRV.EXE from the submit directory of Epas.
 
Phat.

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

Date: Tue, 5 Oct 1993 17:39:11 +0930 (CST)
From: Gavin <SCARMAN@hfrd.dsto.gov.au>
Subject: Cakepro2.0
Message-ID: <931005173911.ca58@hfrd.dsto.gov.au>

Excuse me if this has been asked/answered but my mail system chewed up a few 
digests. With Cakepro2 it seems to want to load the whole drumset, thus runing 
out of ram, is this right and is there a solution?

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

Date: Tue, 05 Oct 93 11:01:04 -0400
From: "Momentary language, sexual situations" <dantonio@magick.tay2.dec.com>
Subject: Re: Computer Gaming World inconsistency 
Message-ID: <9310051501.AA10120@magick.tay2.dec.com>

>  For authors Weksler &
> McGee to state "Getting sound from the few games that will work with the GUS
> emulating a Sound Blaster requires a LOT of tinkering." must mean they
> didn't check very thoroughly with knowledgeable users of the GUS.

Not true. The trouble here is that, if SBOS doesn't like your machine,
you're hosed. It's very tempermental and if it works fine with your setup,
great. Don't assume it will work fine with someone else's. I could never
use SBOS to play a MOD file, but Gravis Tech Support ASSURED me that it
worked fine. With this kind of "support", I have to agree with CGW...

I solved the problem by putting my old SB back in the machine.

I was in Electronic Boutique yesterday and saw the Return to Zork box.
Seems it had no mention of supporting the Gravis UltraSound. Same with Dark
Sun. So, so they really support it??

DDA

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

Date: Tue, 05 Oct 93 14:47:02 PST
From: "alan chiu" <alan_chiu@SpectrumSignal.BC.CA>
Subject: Dune2 and X-Wing
Message-ID: <9309057498.AA749857622@Mail.SpectrumSignal.BC.CA>

     I know I'm a little out of date on this one but could anyone tell me 
     how to make Dune 2 and X-Wing work with mu GUS?  Oh, BTW, I have a sb 
     Pro, if that helps in bringing out the digitized sound in those games. 
     
     Thanks in advance!

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

Date: Tue, 5 Oct 93 8:26:02 EDT
From: Alan Weisberg <weisberg@pr.cyanamid.com>
Subject: EA NHL Hockey Again
Message-ID: <9310051221.AA20461@orca.es.com>

I realize that this may be redundant, but I inadvertantly deleted the
issues which spoke of EA NHL Hockey.

Has anyone been able to get the GUS to work reliably with this
package.  If so, please post or E-Mail me the settings and SBOS versions
you have found to work.  I'm beginning to get a bit frustrated with my GUS.

Thanks
Alan
weisberg@pr.cyanamid.com

--

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

Date: Thu, 07 Oct 1993 10:29:44 +1000
From: David Vu <ccdvu@cc.uq.oz.au>
Subject: Re: Engine sound
Message-ID: <9310070025.AA18601@orca.es.com>

(Phat Tran) wrote:

> A good throttle-linked engine sound can probably be created from just
> pitch shifting one sample.  No need to have "infinite patches", IMO.
>
> Or maybe all we need is a sample of one stroke, and instead of pitch
> shifting it, we just trigger it more or less frequently depending on
> the RPMs.  

I don't see how this can cover the low rumbling of the engine at low
revs, punchy and energetic at medium revs, outright screaming
at high revs.  Granted, in F1 cars, you can forget about low revs as nobody 
drives at low revs.

> Underneath the stroke we can also have the whine of the
> gears, which we pitch shift.  At high RPMs, we can switch to the
> single pitch-shifted sample for the engine.
 
This is exactly what FM cards do to simulate engine sounds.  My point is
that the engine sound is like the piano sound in that the sound has different
characteristics at different pitches.  It is not something that can be
modelled easiy.

(Robert Lee DeRaud) wrote:

> It shouldn't be THAT bad: almost all of the engine noise except intake 
> 'honk' and/or turbo whine is directly RPM-related, so one or two decent 
> patches should cover the whole rev range. You DO need different patches 
> for the V8 Fords, the V10 Renaults, and the V12 etc as they have wildly 
> different harmonics and such at a given RPM. ObGUS, doing this with MIDI 
> is IMHO a bad idea since the accelerator pedal would be hooked directly
> to the pitch-bend controller :-)

That's right.  Even if you have a good MIDI patch, MIDI can only play
discrete notes such as C3, D3, E3 etc whereas RPM sound is continuous.
So using MIDI to play an engine sound would sound horrible.  Imagine your
engine running near the top end at 13500 RPM, you are flooring
the accelerator, the rev is building slowly, and you hear the actual 
transition of the engine note :-)

I think we'll need a lots of samples, and we'll need to overlap samples, like
Phat suggested, at different points in the pitch range.

BTW, which game(s) do you think have the best simulated car sound?
I like Stunts (speaker) best.

.David.

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

Date: Tue, 5 Oct 1993 12:26:47 +0100
From: Nils Olav Brandstorp Bekken <NILSOBB@dhhalden.no>
Subject: GUS and Quest for Glory III
Message-ID: <2B98220689@sofus.dhhalden.no>

The new drivers from Sierra for the GUS gives great sound, but I've 
had this bad experience that the game locks up sometimes when i tries 
to save the game. I tried both with and without the emm386 thing, 
but it doesn't seem to make any difference. If anyone had the same 
experience and found a solution I would appreciate an answer.
Thanks.

Nils Olav B. Bekken

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

Date: Tue, 5 Oct 93 11:12 EDT
From: MPA108@PSUVM.PSU.EDU
Subject: Re: KLF mailer???
Message-ID: <9310051507.AA22490@orca.es.com>

     About two days ago, I recieved two bits of mail from the mailer. The first
 one was a message informing me that I was indeed on the mailer and thanking me
 and all that general stuff. The second bit had about 900 lines to it, but when
 I tried to read it, I got only gibberish. I think it might have been a file of
 some sort ( perhaps a mod?), but I don't have a clue as to how I'm supposed to
 convert it or use it. Anybody have any suggestions?

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

Date: Tue, 5 Oct 1993 21:05:00 -0400
From: zoran.cacevski@canrem.com (Zoran Cacevski)
Subject: KQ6 GUS drivers
Message-ID: <60.614.5812.0C1855E8@canrem.com>

I recently obtained the patches for KQ6, and the sound is great, but
so of the sounds of the game are not played, when ever I switch to my
PAS16, it GUS program is missing a few sounds, or the program isn't
patched properly, for anyone out there who owns a PAS16, and a GUS test
this out since, it quite annoying that the drivers released don't work
properly, and the SBOS of KQ6 is really bad, but that is why I have a
PAS 16 for compatibly, so if some of you have two sound cards test this
out and write back.

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

Date: Tue,  5 Oct 93 10:25:50 +0400 (MSD)
From: Sergej Rusakov <Olefin@Chph.uucp.free>
Subject: Melodic patces IMHO
Message-ID: <AAkDHiiCy6@Chph.uucp.free>

    ...full moon  it's  time  to  upload  my  IMHO upon GUS's
 regular patches whether you need it or not <excuse me>...
    Who am  i?  A  maniac  music listener for recent 15 years
 wiz multitude hundreds of albums having passed thru my brain
 a  keyboardist for the last 10 years (hammond/moog/FM/WS), a
 GUS the very beginner now...

  i n s t r u m e n t    p a t c h e s  -  v 1 

    6: a real success in patch creating
    5: OK, workable
    4: not quite good, but acceptable
    3: a weak one, I bear it while I have nothing better
    2: a bad one, a rotten tooth in GUS GM jaws...
    1: this patch cannot be used at all!

      Pianos      Chr Perc    Organ       Guitar
       0  2        8  3       16  5 (3)   24  4
       1  3        9  3       17  4       25  5
       2  2       10  3 (2)   18  3       26  3
       3  6       11  4       19  4       27  5
       4  2       12  4       20  5       28  3
       5  5       13  4       21  1       29  5
       6  1 (2)   14  3       22  4       30  5
       7  4       15  5       23  4       31  5

      Bass        Str&Orc     Ensemble    Brass
      32  2 (3)   40  6       48  6       56  4 (3)
      33  3 (4)   41  6       49  6       57  4 (3)
      34  4       42  5       50  4       58  5
      35  4       43  4       51  5       59  2
      36  5       44  5       52  5       60  4
      37  5       45  5       53  1       61  5 (4)
      38  2 (3)   46  3       54  6       62  2
      39  1       47  4       55  4       63  4

      Reed        Pipe        Synth Lead  Synth Pad
      64  5       72  3       80  6       88  5
      65  4       73  2 (1)   81  3       89  4
      66  3       74  4       82  4       90  3
      67  5       75  5       83  2       91  6
      68  4       76  6       84  4       92  4
      69  5       77  4       85  4       93  4
      70  5       78  2 (1)   86  2       94  5
      71  3       79  3       87  2       95  4

      Synth SFX   Ethnic      Percussive  SFX
      96   5      104  4*     112  4      120  5
      97   5      105  5      113  5      121  5
      98   4      106  5      114  4      122  4 (3)
      99   4      107  5      115  3      123  4 (3)
      100  5      108  4      116  3      124  4 (3)
      101  6      109  3      117  4      125  4 (3)
      102  5      110  4      118  5      126  4
      103  3      111  5      119  4      127  1

  Where "5(3)" (or like) means "a good patch but bad GM
 patch - the claimed instrument does not sound this way";
  * : i played sitar for a while under real Hindu teaching so
 believe me:  there's no such sustain on high octaves! cut it
 closer to banjo, this will do; performing sitar make a short
 pitchbending at the beginning of the note.

    I've got now the gunshot and a synth bass but still don't
 know what to doo with "doo.pat" and that wicked harpsichord...
 one of the most used instruments and it sounds pretty dreadful.
 The drum patches are to wait for another good moonphase...

    Lexy F

    P.S. Is there any1 to ripoff the old good PinkFloyd's
 "Echoes" beginning? The best raindrop sound I've ever heard...


--
 ------------------------------------
E-mail : Olefin@chph.uucp.free.msk.su
 ------------------------------------ 

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

Date: Wed, 06 Oct 93 12:34:56 -0500
From: ks25!dougw@uucp-gw-2.pa.dec.com
Subject: MicroSoft Arcade
Message-ID: <9310061733.AA05985@hummer.mm.rrdtc.donnelley.com>

Has anyone succesfully used the Microsoft Arcade games with SOUND
and not having their PC lock up?

Doug

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

Date: Tue, 5 Oct 93 12:28:48 MET
From: Broderdue <iqivar@hp1.cbs.dk>
Subject: Origin's reply concerning Privateer + general bs
Message-ID: <199310051127.MAA12158@danpost.uni-c.dk>

>>sage 17/22 from osi@aol.com                           Oct 01 '93 at 6:53 pm

Return-Path: <osi@aol.com>
X-Mailer: America Online Mailer
Sender: <osi@aol.com>
Errors-To: <osi@aol.com>
Reply-To: <osi@aol.com>
To: iqivar@hp1.cbs.dk
Date: Fri, 01 Oct 93 18:53:27 EDT
Subject: Re: Privateer and GUS

Thank you for your comments about the GUS and ORIGIN sound. While we are
working hard to create the games that you want, with the sound support that
you also want, sometimes we do not and cannot support every platform
available. We are striving to fulfill your needs, and are constantly
researching the market to do this better. 

Although this is the same letter sent to every GUS owner that sent me mail
from InterNet, there were quite few by the way, I want you tou know that all
of your letters to me were very much appreciated. They were posted where
executives and ORIGIN employees alike could read and discuss them. Please
feel free to send any furtther ideas or suggestions that you may have and
 At co>ss this offer along to anyone else. 

Incidentally, please read the October issue of Computer Gaming World. Not
only is our upcoming game, Shadocaster, on the cover, but there is an
excellent report on the top 20 sound cards as well.

Most sincerely,
Wayne Baker
ORIGIN Systems Marketing
OSI@AOL.COM

>nnectinesse press <return> to return to Main :  more (you've seen 71%) on #0 (hp1)

	losing output file.


Hm, didn't look too nice, but why the fuck didn't more of you readers
write Origin ?? The address was given to you all. It pisses me off the
way Mr Baker denotes the review in CGW as excellent; sure SBOS sucks
compared to other hardware-emulating cards, but there's so much more to
the GUS. Well, it's nice of Origin to reply..... :)

Another thing, I was wondering if anyone know anything about Starcontrol 3.
I've asked around on the net, (seeing the ending of no 2, it surely builds
up for a follow-up), the only info I've gotten is that it's not started yet.

Lastly, GUS gets praised by Oct Pc-Format. British division of Gravis surely
are doing things right, going to the programmers with the cards. Showing off
the 3d-sound. Uhm, there was a list of games supporting it, but I don't have
it here, I recall Jurrasic Park (3d-smooth scrolling) for sure as one of those
supporting 3d-sound.

Rock on Gravis! :)

Ivar Frolich,
"Broderdue"

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

Date: Wed, 06 Oct 93 18:56:05 EDT
From: Thayer York <YT50%LAFAYACS.bitnet@lafibm.lafayette.edu>
Subject: Patch Manager
Message-ID: <06OCT93.20449629.0027.MUSIC@LAFAYACS>

I have about 200 patch files in my directory, yet the Windows Patch
Manager only lists up to 127.  How can I get to the other files?  Does
the Patch Manager get its list from the MIDI mapper or does it know what
directory to look in on its own?

TYTYALC

"But that would be interfering with the course of history.
 Horrible things could happen. ... Time could bifurcate, like a pair
 of trousers.  You could end up in the wrong leg, living a life that
 was actually happening in the _other_ leg, talking to people who
 weren't in your leg, walking into walls that weren't there anymore.
 Life could be horrible in the wrong trouser of Time."
        _Guards!  Guards!_ by Terry Pratchett

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

Date: Tue, 5 Oct 93 9:42:15 BST
From: james@maths.exeter.ac.uk
Subject: poor gus midi software
Message-ID: <12072.9310050842@maths.exeter.ac.uk>

>From: ccastge@prism.gatech.edu
>Subject: Re: CGW gives GUS bad wrap.
>
>
>My major gripe with the GUS has been the apalling lack of support to do 
>anything with it that I couldn't do with a simple SB Pro. Where's the 
>patch creator/editor? I mean one that has a DECENT interface. Where's the
>midi software? Aside from Cakewalk 2.0, which just came out only a couple of
>months ago, what else is there?

The only explainations I can come up with are a) MS windows is crap and
difficult to program under and b) given that this is a high volume(heh) low
margin kind-of-a-product perhaps there it isnt worth spending the time on
writing nice software for musicians when Gravis arent renowned for their
expertise in this area- games is more their thing.

>So far, all I've been able to do is sample something off
>a CD, and play it back. Sure, I can assign it to a patch, AFTER wasting
>several minutes loading, editing, and saving the ultrasnd.ini file, and then
>RESTARTING windows. Sheesh! This is NO way to be going about making music. If
>its gonna take this long, I may as well invest in something I know has
>support, will work OUT OF THE BOX, and will work with the software I need.

dont forget the 64k limit on patch sizes too....
>
>Nice try Gravis. Better luck next time.
I hope next time is when the next lot of windoze drivers is released.  Maybe
I'll have got round to installing linux by then.
-- 
James Andrews, Computer Development Officer, Exeter University Maths Dept

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

Date: Tue, 5 Oct 93 11:43:13 -0400
From: co805@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Mark E. Gall)
Subject: Prince of Persia 2
Message-ID: <9310051543.AA17657@piglet.INS.CWRU.Edu>

Has anyone gotten Prince of Persia  2 to work with the gus?
With version 2.08 I can get music and sound effects for a while 
and than the game hangs. Any suggestions
Thanks

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

Date: Tue, 05 Oct 93 21:52:55 EDT
From: mouche7327@aol.com
Subject: Some replies
Message-ID: <9310052152.tn70813@aol.com>

Someone suggested in the last digest that we start complaining to the
magazines about their faulty GUS reviews.  The folks over at Prodigy came up
with the same idea, and decided that we should talk to some game
manufacturers (we won't name any names, Origin) at the same time.  Who's up
for it?  I'll do it, as soon as I get some addresses and phone numbers. 
Oh...  And there was someone who was talking about converting MT-32 .MIDs to
GM.  After converting with the MT-to-GM utility, they have to be "V-mapped". 
Rolands and GM modules handle volume control differently, so the volume has
to be remapped.  There is a utility to do this called VMAP.EXE.

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

Date: Tue, 5 Oct 1993 22:16:42 -1000 (GMT-10:00)
From: Paul Murgatroyd <s1114@kowande.Bond.edu.au>
Subject: Still hanging in there, but for how long?
Message-ID: <Pine.3.05.9310052242.A1982-c100000@sand.kowande.Bond.edu.au>

Well, I have had my GUS for almost 1 year now. I still remember that when
I bought it, the readme file on the install disks was dated only 7 days
previous to the purchase date. That was all the way back with v1.21 of the
install disks.

I thought that 1 year would be more than enough time for the GUS to get
some decent support, but it still seems as though the only people
supporting it are those who like programming for themselves.

I am seriously considering buying a SB16 + WaveBlaster from a friend. Why?
Simple...the SB16 is compatible with just about everything, sounds pretty
much the same as the GUS, records in 16-bit as standard, and includes a
CD-ROM interface.

As nice as my GUS is, I am getting fed up with having problems with just
about every piece of software I try and run (that requires sounds). I am
not surprised that the GUS gets such scathing reviews. In fact, if someone
were to come up to me today and ask what soundboard they should buy, I'd
point them in the direction of a PAS16 or an SB16, simply to save myself
from being blamed for suggesting a card that doesn't work with anything.

The support I have seen for the GUS so far has not impressed me at all.
All these work arounds are simply not good enough. Ultramid consumes more
memory than I have to offer. The only way I could make room for it was to
remove my disk cache. Hardly what I call an ideal solution.

The GUS may be technically superior to its competitors, but as was shown
with the Beta-VHS video war, best does not always win. If I do purchase
the SB16, I will keep the GUS in storage, for while it lacks support now,
it may be a different story in the future. Unfortunately I need support
NOW, not at some mystical time in the next century.

I have honestly given the GUS a fair go, and I congratulate Gravis for a
top rate product, but unless it gets support, and gets its very soon,
there will be no GUS in a few years time.

Well, that's what I think right now. Any comments? (No flames please)

Paul Murgatroyd
Student of Computing Science
Bond University
Gold Coast, Australia

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Arguments for margins are always in inches,
 regrdless of your cuntry setting."

 - MS Excel 4.0 Function Reference Manual, p.312
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Wed, 6 Oct 1993 21:35:26 -0700 (PDT)
From: Ouch!  Quit pokin' me! <yaga@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Syndicate
Message-ID: <Pine.3.05z.9310062126.A19104-a100000@carson.u.washington.edu>

I'm sorry if this was posted before, but I didn't have the game then, and
so ignored any information about it.  

OK, what happens is that when I try to run the game with sbos (I tried all
the options, too), it crashes.  That's it.  It will display the little
screen for the G4WDOS or something (I forget the filename), then the
screen will go black, never to reappear.  When I disable sbos, though, it
works just fine.

I've got a 486, using doublespace (loaded hi), 4MB RAM, if that helps any.
Any help anyone can offer is greatly appreciated, 'cuz for me, at least,
playing a game mute is like eating cereal without the milk.  Or some such
simile.  Thanks very much in advance!
chris
P.S. you can reply by e-mail to:  yaga@u.washington.edu
P.P.S.  Thanks again!

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

Date: Tue, 5 Oct 93 7:23:18 PDT
From: mikebat@netcom.com (Mike Batchelor)
Subject: The 7th Guest and Sierra Ultramid 1.03
Message-ID: <9310051423.AA20816@netcom2.netcom.com>

Don't bother trying to get the Sierra drivers working with Betrayal at
Krondor (a Sierra game from Dynamix).  It uses the Sierra install program,
but only to detect the sound card and create a resource.cfg.  BAK reads
the resource.cfg to determine what card(s) you have, but that's all - I
deleted all the *.drv files and it still plays GM music through Mega-Em.

I did discover to my delight that Ultramid 1.03 no longer hangs the
computer with The 7th Guest when QEMM is the memory manager.  1.02 and
earlier would crash the machine on the first digital effect ("Back for
more...?") if QEMM was the memory manager.  I could not figure out why,
because troubleshooting parameters on QEMM left me with insufficient
memory to run the game after loading CD ROM drivers and Ultramid.  Now it
works with all the bells and whistles turned on.

Not the Ultrasound Server once wrote...
$  
$  ------------------------------
$  
$  Date: Sun, 3 Oct 93 07:13:03 PDT
$  From: Rick Skalsky <skalsky@aaai.org>
$  Subject: Installing GUS
$  Message-ID: <9310031413.AA01379@aaai.org>
$  
$  I just got GUS and installed it and am pretty impressed overall.  However, 
$  one problem I had installing the 6 disks was CRC errors when I tried to
$  install it on my G drive which is Stacked but had over 22 meg free.  It
$  would error out on the 2nd disk with a CRC error.  Got a new set of disks
$  at the computer store and had the same problem on the 2nd disk.  Now can
$  anybody tell me if you just can't install the software on a stacked driv
$  drive or do I have some other problem.  BTW, I'm using Netroom 3.01 or 3.1
$  which I compared to Qemm 7+ and found Netroom to be better.  I think it
$  is underrated as a memory manager even though PC Week and PC Magazine
$  recently picked it over QEMM and 386Max.  Any info appreciated.  I'd like
$  to get the GUS software on a stacked drive since it takes up so much room.

You're dreaming.  The 7Mb worth of GUS MIDI patches do not compress well
at all.  I tried it and got NO disk space savings, only a slowdown loading
the patches.  The most-compressed patch only got 1.2:1 compression
according to SDIR.  The rest of the software takes less than a Meg, and
you are asking for configuration headaches if you separate the software
from the patches.  I'd recommend keeping everything on an uncompressed
drive.

$  Another question-why does the sound sometimes stop in the Windows Midi player
$  even though there are still more notes being notated on the screen?  In
$  other words, the songs play awhile, then the sound stops before the song
$  is actually done.  

I do not have this problem with either EMM386 or QEMM386.  The Windows
driver works great, and is very stable.

$  ------------------------------
$  
$  Date: Mon, 4 Oct 93 6:08:24 EDT
$  From: "The Wombat" <mfrazer@skidmore.EDU>
$  Subject: Re-entering the GUS world
$  Message-ID: <9310041008.AA14140@scott.skidmore.edu>
$  
$  Hello All!
$  After a 4 or 5 month Hiatus I am attempting to return to the world of
$  the GUS.
$  I had been on this list almost from it's inception as a mail bouncer,
$  up to the point at which Gravis had begun to mail out the ful set of
$  General MIDI patches.
$  Now I am in the position to perhaps aquire a GUS with the original, or I
$  believe version 1.21 install disks.
$  I have popped off to epas to look around but the increase in volume
$  there is a little overwhelming, could anyone sumarize in general what
$  programs I should be aware of and want to get so that I could be on a
$  current GUS level if I do get this card and put it in my system

Don't forget to check out Farandole (far08b.arj) on epas, and pick up the
other two FAR modules.  Farandole is a 16 channel trakker for the GUS
only.  It also plays 669 and 4-6-8 track MODs (and soon STMs).

Check out the MT32 midi files that have been uploaded.  They are all very
good, but you need either the MT32->GM convertor, or the mt32pat.cfg and
the vmap utility to get the volume velocity correct.  I like the sound of
the mt32pat.cfg better than converting them to GM.

$  ------------------------------
$  
$  Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1993 14:05:48 -0600 (CDT)
$  From: ddebry@grue.dsd.ES.COM (Dave DeBry)
$  Subject: Replies, replies all around, and not a drop to drink.
$  Message-ID: <9310042005.AA12687@grue.dsd.ES.COM>
$  
$  	Replies!  Whee!
$  
$  > From: mikebat@netcom.com (Mike Batchelor)
$  > Subject: It still isn't working (SC2)
$  >
$  > I did both of those things, and it made no difference.  It's on DMA 7 now,
$  > checked out free of conflicts with setgus, and sounds as bad as it always
$  > did.  I played a 669 file all the way through before starting melee. 
$  > Anything else?  Offerings?  Bowing in obeisance?
$  
$  	Have you read the FAQ?  There are several different ways to
$  fix this listed in there.

None of which worked, though I did check the FAQ after posting my original
question.  Gravis tells me that removing all but 256K is the only sure way
to cure the problem.

$  > Date: Fri, 1 Oct 93 18:35:04 PDT
$  > From: mikebat@netcom.com (Mike Batchelor)
$  > Subject: It still isn't working (SC2)
$  > Message-ID: <9310020135.AA22778@netcom3.netcom.com>
$  > 
$  > I did both of those things, and it made no difference.  It's on DMA 7 now,
$  > checked out free of conflicts with setgus, and sounds as bad as it always
$  > did.  I played a 669 file all the way through before starting melee. 
$  > Anything else?  Offerings?  Bowing in obeisance?
$  >
$  
$  Did you play the 669 file using Tran's p669gu0 player?  That's the one
$  that clears memory for me.  The other 669 players do not.

Yes I did.  Both versions.

$  I saw an MT32 to GM convertor on Epas, which I assume you can use to
$  convert MT32 MIDI files to ones that the GUS can play with the proper
$  instruments.  MT32PAT.CFG might not be necessary any longer.

I don't think it sounds as good as using mt32pat.cfg, though.

$  
$  Phat. 


-- 
Mike Batchelor      |
mikebat@netcom.com  |                  This space for rent
mikebat@qdeck.com   |

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

Date: Tue, 5 Oct 93 9:07 GMT
From: "Jonathan D. Hall" <JDHALL@GENVAX.GLAMORGAN.AC.UK>
Subject: Zone 66 Problems
Message-ID: <9310050805.AA15587@orca.es.com>

It's interesting to hear the problems some people are having getting Zone 66 to
work as I had exactly the same trouble. The intro works fine, but as soon as you
start the game proper you get dumped to DOS with some diagnostics displayed on
screen.

I came to the conclusion that the copies of Zone 66 on ftp.uwp.edu, ftp.uml.edu
and a few other places were corrupt as a copy I got from a shareware CD-ROM
worked perfectly.

Jon
(jdhall@glam.ac.uk)
=======================================================
| Dagonet's Domain | GUS drivers and utilities        |
| (0639)641252     | MIDI and MOD music               |
| 24hrs a day      | TV show guides                   |
| V.32bis V.42bis  | Game Solutions, Hints and Cheats |
=======================================================

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

Date: Tue, 5 Oct 93 13:59:38 +0100
From: Steve <gei055@rowan.coventry.ac.uk>
Message-ID: <25954.9310051259@rowan.coventry.ac.uk>

Windows and GUS

I remember this question being asked before but I didn't catch the answer
and I have the same problem.

Whenever I try to record sounds using the windows sound recorded my screen
turns black and the computer hangs.  Any ideas how to correct this?

To add my views to the earlier comments having a software driver to emmulate
the soundblaster is a pain, especially one so large.  Gravis should work on
reducing this for the next upgrade.

Steve

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

Date: Wed, 05 Oct 1993 21:16:09 EDT
From: nfdsouza@electrical.watstar.uwaterloo.ca
Message-ID: <9310060116.AA19742@sail.uwaterloo.ca>

Please give me info on how to receive the UltraSound daily digest.

My E-mail address is nfdsouza@electrical.watstar.uwaterloo.ca .


        Thanks,

        Noel

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

End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V7 #6
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