HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
Subject: GUS Compat. with Treehouse & Kidworks
From: jbtubman@skyler.arc.ab.ca (Jim Tubman)
Date: 14 Dec 92 23:09:09 GMT
Distribution: comp
Organization: Alberta Research Council

Can anyone tell me of their experience with the Gravis Ultrasound card
and the SBOS Soundblaster emulator with the following packages:

	+ KidWorks (not KidWorks 2) (Davidson)
	+ Tree House (Broderbund)
	+ Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego Deluxe (Broderbund)

If SBOS works reasonably well with these, I'll probably get the GUS.

Thanks for any help you net folks can give me.

--Jim Tubman
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
James B. Tubman				 Alberta Research Council
Research Officer	                 Advanced Computing & Engineering Dept.
jbtubman@skyler.arc.ab.ca		 3rd Floor
tubman@titan.arc.ab.ca			 6815 - 8 Street NE
Phone: (403) 297-7590			 Calgary, Alberta
Fax:   (403) 275-3003			 Canada T2E 7H7
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     "The squid is no longer responding to the mind control!  Aaiiiieeeee!"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: sl8nl@cc.usu.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
Subject: Re: GUS-SDK anywhere?
Date: 18 Dec 92 19:16:38 MDT
Organization: Utah State University

> Is there a GUS Software Development Kit available from anonymous FTP (something
> like the PAS-SDK for the Pro Audio Spectrum)?

The GUS SDK is a beta and not available at this time...except to a select few. 
I do have one and am not impressed with it yet.  It contains nothing on how to
program the card low-level, all C calls.

However, Tran from Renaissance and myself have compiled a list of information
to output through the card, playback voices, etc.  We will release this Sunday. 
On Sunday I will also release a 32-channel Amiga Protracker player.

Joshua Jensen

Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
From: markus@clement.info.umoncton.ca (MARC PAULIN)
Subject: Re: Sbos!=SBPRO
Organization: Universite de Moncton
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 17:57:29 GMT

In article <1992Dec15.212342.1919@cs.hope.edu> turkstra@smaug.cs.hope.edu (Screwtape) writes:
>From: turkstra@smaug.cs.hope.edu (Screwtape)
>Subject: Re: Sbos!=SBPRO
>Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 21:23:42 GMT

>>>Definitely the GUS has 32 independently pannable voices but just
>>>because they are independently pannable doesn't make them stereo, at
>>>least IMO.
>>>
>> 
>> If the GUS has 32 independently pannable voices , which now seems to be 
>> the case, then we can place 32 voices anywhere between right and left.  
>> I think that qualifies for 32 voice stereo.
>> 
>> Phat.

>I hate to disagree but we must define stereo here.  Stereophonic sound
>is the "use of two or more channels to carry and reproduce the sounds
>from the directions in which they were recorded."  (Websters)  *SO* 1
>stereo channel is actually 2 channels reproduced simultaneously.  
>*THEREFORE*  The GUS is only capable of 11 stereo voices.  As fas as 
>what SBOS does, I won't touch that, I haven't listened hard enough.  But 
>if gravis says that it supports SBpro stereo, I'd believe it.  I'm 
>not flaming (at all!!)  but this is a dictionary (and functional)
>definiton of stereo. 


	Why 11 stereo voices??  GUS has 32 mono.  *THEREFORE* it should be 
16 stereo voices.  And that's exactly what I've been saying in dozens of 
messages.
                                         ____
              _  _  _                  / \   \ 
            /' )' )' )                |   |   |           
              /  /  /                 | (_|__/         \   
             /     /  __. .__    ___  |   |  __.  . .   \  .   ___ 
            /     (__(_/|__) )__/(__   \_/__(_/|__)\_)__/\__)__) <_ 
                    Markus on QuartzPARADISE and AfterFive
                            (506)855-4974 - Canada
+---------------------------------------------+-----------------------------+
|            markus@info.umoncton.ca          | "My son, ask for thyself    |
|     For Talk:  8900795@info.umoncton.ca     |  another kingdom.  For that |
|---------------------------------------------+  which I leave is too small |
| When all else fails,  read the instructions |  for thee" - King Philippe  |
+---------------------------------------------+-----------------------------+
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
From: markus@clement.info.umoncton.ca (MARC PAULIN)
Subject: Re: Sbos!=SBPRO
Organization: Universite de Moncton
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 21:19:30 GMT

In article <BzD92M.4Lx@watserv2.uwaterloo.ca> ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca (Phat H Tran) writes:
>From: ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca (Phat H Tran)
>Subject: Re: Sbos!=SBPRO
>Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 19:06:21 GMT

>Since our ears are a head's width apart, a sound coming from the side will
>reach one ear before the other.  That's an important cue that helps us
>determine from where a sound originated.  If we set one voice to the right
>and another to the left, and if we can drive each voice independently,
>then, instead of just adjusting the volume for the channels, we can also
>add in a delay for one of the channels.  I don't know if the timing
>resolution of the GUS is fine enough to allow for delays that are no longer
>than the time it takes sound to traverse about a foot.


	With the GUS' 32 mono voices that can be put left or right only (no 
panning), it can be done here.  We load the voice and assign it to two 
voices.  We start voice 1 to the left, wait a while and start voice 2 to the 
right.  
                                         ____
              _  _  _                  / \   \ 
            /' )' )' )                |   |   |           
              /  /  /                 | (_|__/         \   
             /     /  __. .__    ___  |   |  __.  . .   \  .   ___ 
            /     (__(_/|__) )__/(__   \_/__(_/|__)\_)__/\__)__) <_ 
                    Markus on QuartzPARADISE and AfterFive
                            (506)855-4974 - Canada
+---------------------------------------------+-----------------------------+
|            markus@info.umoncton.ca          | "My son, ask for thyself    |
| For Talk:  markus@clement.info.umoncton.ca  |  another kingdom.  For that |
|---------------------------------------------+  which I leave is too small |
| When all else fails,  read the instructions |  for thee" - King Philippe  |
+---------------------------------------------+-----------------------------+
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
From: bjornhk@dhhalden.no (BJORN HAAVARD KLEVEN)
Subject: Re: Sbos!=SBPRO
Organization: Ostfold College
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 18:27:24 GMT

>Since this is a wavetable card, how hard would it be to make samples of 
>all the allophones (phenomes, whatever) which make up language and put them
>together to do synthetic speech?
>
>I've run software on the Commodore 64 and Mac which speak text as it appears 
>on the screen (C64 using a Currah Voice Messenger), but the speech was
>extremely robotic.
>
>I want more flexibility than simple playback of digitized speech, but I 
>want to approach the quality of it.

The problem which speech-synthesising, see, is the text-to-sound conversion. 
Sampling the phonemes simply isn't enough. Just think about the words

thanks. thanks? thanks! thanks... thanks!?! 

By using the 4 phonemes this word needs (I won't attempt to transcribe them 
here..:-), all the five words would sound exactly the same, although they 
have different stress. But that's only a small problem - the punctuation 
tells us what we need to know. The tough(er) part comes when it comes to 
different pronounciation of the same letter, or of the same sets of letter, 
even.  Consider: 'laugh' and 'ghost' the 'gh' part is spelled the same way, 
but it doesn't sound at all the same when it's spoken. Now, these problems 
were just a couple that came to mind (the SB talker included with the SB has 
actually solved both), there are a lot more, and not an expert. It is 
possible, but it'll take a lot of work. 

     -=* Bjorn :: bjornhk@sofus.dhhalden.no
   ACCESS DATA :: TEL: (+47)-9-17 50 48/61-97 311 FAX: 61-97 312
                  BBS: 61-97 304/97 94 945
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
From: rdippold@cancun.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold)
Subject: Re: GUS Compat. with Treehouse & Kidworks
Organization: Qualcomm, Inc., San Diego, CA
Distribution: comp
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 01:01:05 GMT

jbtubman@skyler.arc.ab.ca (Jim Tubman) writes:
>Can anyone tell me of their experience with the Gravis Ultrasound card
>and the SBOS Soundblaster emulator with the following packages:
>	+ KidWorks (not KidWorks 2) (Davidson)
>	+ Tree House (Broderbund)
Dunno.

>	+ Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego Deluxe (Broderbund)
Definitely.
-- 
Power means not having to respond.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games
From: lefevre@brasseur.acd.ucar.edu (Franck Lefevre)
Subject: WANTED: SoundBlaster
Organization: Ntl Center for Atmospheric Research - Atmospheric Chemistry Div
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 21:16:52 GMT

 The subject line says it all: I'm looking for a SoundBlaster card
 (preferably the original version, not the Pro).

                        Any offers ?

                                     Franck

Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
From: larry@mits.mdata.fi (Lasse Hero)
Subject: Re: Starcon2 and GUS
Organization: Microdata Oy
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 23:07:36 GMT

gt3017a@prism.gatech.EDU (Guy Elden Jr.) writes:

>   Has anyone else had this problem: When playing Star Control 2, with the GUS
>in native mode, the sound sometimes gets 'screwed up': i.e., the wrong samples
>are played at different times, like when entering combat. The combat seems to
>be the most consistent, but it also sounds weird when I'm docked at the
>starbase, looking at the menu for shipyard, starbase commander, etc...

Those sections work right for me, but I've got problems when orbiting
a planet, for example.. Sound screws up quite badly, but it starts
to work when I return to navigation.

>   Is there a fix, or something I'm not doing right? I'm not using SBOS, and
>only have HIMEM.SYS loaded, with DOS high. Oh, and a mouse driver.

I didn't use any memory manager, and DOS was loaded low.

--
--------------------------------------------------------------
! Lasse Hero, Kannelj{rventie 6 B, 02130 Espoo, Finland      !
! (90) 455 1074 ! larry@mits.mdata.fi / larry@purkki.apu.fi  !
--------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
From: leffler@vela.acs.oakland.edu (Bob Leffler)
Subject: SB upgrade?
Organization: Oakland University, Rochester MI.
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 02:19:32 GMT


I know the the difference btween the SB Pro and the SB Pro Basic is the
midi port and the sequencer software.  Can the SB Pro be upgraded at a
later date to add these?

I'd like to get a soundcard soon, but finances prevent me from getting
the "perfect" card at the moment.  (Yes, I'm aware of the PAS-16 & the
GUS)

It appears like the SB Pro Basic is the best value/dollar if you can add
midi capabilit later.

thanks,

bob
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
From: mtichy@fraser.sfu.ca (Martin Tichy)
Subject: Re: GUS Stuff
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 22:18:09 GMT

> like an antena.  The Gravis Ultrasound is sheilded so there
> shouldn't  be any hiss coming from the board.

No it isn't!  If it was shielded then they wouldn't tell you
in the manual to keep it away from your video card.  Mine
is one slot away from my internal modem and when I dial I can
hear the dialing amplified through the UltraSound.  It's
connected to an external amp too.

My UltraSound was probably the first commercially sold one so
unless things have changed I don't think think the UltraSound
is shielded.  BTW, my board is a flat red one.  I hear their
are people with shiny red ones.  Could this shiny coating be
shielding?


Xref: sparky comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard:5620 rec.music.synth:19570 rec.music.marketplace:2767 rec.music.makers.synth:848
From: rga@rti.rti.org
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard,rec.music.synth,rec.music.marketplace,rec.music.makers.synth
Subject: Re: Turtle Beach Multisound
Date: 20 Dec 92 16:28:43 GMT
Organization: Research Triangle Institute, RTP, NC

Does anyone out there know if software development tools are available
for the Turtle Beach cards, either the 56K or the Multisound. I'm
interested in getting some experience programming the Motorola 56001
DSP chip (and getting a sampler/digital recorder in the bargain :).
Also, does any software exist for the PC world which uses sampler
cards as synths (ala Turbosynth) ? Can these cards be run
simultaneously with commercial sequencers, perhaps under Windows ?

Thanks in advance,
Randy Alley
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
From: ilaine@panix.com (Liz Stokes)
Subject: SB16 pricing
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 16:51:56 GMT
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix & Internet, NYC

	FYI, I've been poring throught Computer Shopper and there are at
least 2 mail order companies offering the SB16 for $189. YMMV.
								-Liz


-- 
Liz Stokes         | 	Ilaine's E-Z Garb Workshop
Ilaine de Cameron  | 	For this simple t-tunic you will need to spin about
                   | 	6000 yards of wool yarn.  Yes, spinning wheels are
ilaine@panix.com   |    faster. Sorry, no they aren't period for 1066.
From: bz528@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Joseph W. Maruschek)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
Subject: Re: Sbos!=SBPRO
Date: 16 Dec 1992 03:28:16 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: bz528@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Joseph W. Maruschek)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc10.ins.cwru.edu


In a previous article, markus@clement.info.umoncton.ca (MARC PAULIN) says:

>
>	Wrong.  The 32 voices are not pannable.  They can be put right _or_ 
>left but they stay mono.  The 16 stereo voices however _are_ pannable into 
>15 different positions.

Now hold your horses!  Do any of us have a SDK yet for the GUS?  Do we
really know anything technical about the GUS for sure?  I don't think any
of us can say much about what is happening inside the GUS (except maybe
Chris Yuzik, and he's not talking).  Of course, we'd all like to know what
magic goes on inside of the GF1.

I'd like to think that there are 32 mono voices that can be panned from
left to right.  Remember that these are *mono* patches we are talking
about.  What if there are such things as *stereo* patches?  Like a nice big
fat orchestra hit that was sampled in stereo!  Now, does panning make sense
when you have a stereo source?  You can adjust the balance of course, but
being a stereo sample, the soundstage is fixed.  I think that the "16
stereo voices" we see advertised on the box refers to the playback of
stereo patches.  

Now can we mix and match mono voices and stereo voices?  Or are we stuck
with just two different playback modes?  So much is still a mystery...

Don't take this as a flame.  I love my GUS as much as you do!
From: daa7365@tamuts.tamu.edu (Diego A. Aranda)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
Subject: Re: Gravis UltraSound: Two Questions
Date: 19 Dec 1992 22:25:59 GMT
Organization: Texas A&M University, College Station
NNTP-Posting-Host: tamuts.tamu.edu

In article <gting.724799477@sfu.ca> gting@fraser.sfu.ca (Gabriel Sii Kuok Ting) writes:

>You might want to just keep the SB just for compatibility's sake with
>some of the SB games that doesn't sound too good with the current version
>of sbos. It is possible for both cards to coexist, you know.

Really?  I had no idea - the manual states somewhat explicitly that owners
of SoundBlasters and Adlibs must remove the cards prior to installing the
GUS.  I'll give it a try though - it certainly will be nice if it works.

BTW, thanks again for the Gravis phone number and the internet address.

Diego
From: rmadhava@rnd.GBA.NYU.EDU (Madhavan Raghav)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
Subject: SB PRO problem
Date: 17 Dec 92 01:15:07 GMT
Followup-To: rmadhavan@stern.nyu.edu
Distribution: WORLD
Organization: Stern School of Business, New York University

Hi Folks.

I got a lot of advice from the net users, and decided to go out on my
own....for a trial. I bought a SB PRO (returnable for a full refund in
30 days), and now I am trying to get the several problems that I have
with it resolved. But first some comments.

C1. There was no problem in installing the card. 
    Took me about 20 minutes for doing the actual plugging in of the
    card from the time I took out my toolbox to the time I put it away.

C2. There was no problem in installing the software.
    Took me about 10 minutes to get it done. The menu system is not the
    most user-friendly, but I survived.

C3. The music was not bad at all. 
    I know this will shock all the GUS lovers, but to my ear, this music
    is as best as I have heard. Since I do not have any fancy music
    deck (cassete/cd/amp/tuner) this may only be a novice opinion.

C4. The voice synth. (text to voice) is poorer than I expected.
    I was surprised by the ability of this software, but it is not as
    great as it is cut out to be. (BTW can I get a female voice too?)

C5. The documentation is lousy.
    I tried to pay as little attention as possible to it, as it is a
    "paid-for" promotional literature.

C6. The bundled sound files are few and of poorer quality than I 
    expected.


Now for my problems.

P1. I can not get the MIDI to work.
    I have a CASIO MT240 which has a MIDI interface, but the MIDI software
    that comes with SBPRO (VOYETRA ?) does not pipe into or record from
    the keyboard.

P2. Windows 3.1 does strange things when I ask it to play certain MIDI 
    files (.mid) which came with SBPRO. I use the Mplayer software which
    came with windows. The .mid file that came with Windows works ok.

P3. I got only a SB Version 1.5  driver that can be selected under 
    Windows 3.1. Is there a later driver?

P4. The MIDI Sequencer software that came with SB Pro is tantamount to
    excrement. Pardon me folks, but this is the worst interface that I
    have seen since WordStar 1.0. Is there anything else that I can get
    at?

P5. The JUKEBOX software that came with SBPRO does not want
    to run. Complains of SB driver not found. What am I doing wrong.

P6. I want tons of midi files that I can sequence to play. All I have
    are 8 .mid files. Can someone point me to where I can find more?

Folks, I will stop here. Now, if this is the set of problems for a
board that is meant to be an industry standard (although a fast dying
and soon to be extinct breed), I would hate to think the kinds of
problems GUS might have? Comments, Suggestions and, of course,
Solutions welcome. If for any reason someone wishes to flame me,
please forward it to my personal and immediate attention at: alt.test

Thanks
Madhavan
From: joseph@aludra.usc.edu (Jeff Lawson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
Subject: Getting SBOS to play custom sounds upon startup
Date: 18 Dec 1992 21:58:44 -0800
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: aludra.usc.edu

Someone asked earlier if anyone had accomplished the task of getting
SBOS to play a different sound file.  Well, I have and as far as I can
tell, the sound file has to be in the C:\ULTRASND\SBOS directory,
along with your SBOS.CFG file, or whatever you've set your directory
up as.  I suspect that it ignores the filename you specify if it
contains a path in it.

I noticed that the SBOSDRV.EXE and LOADSBOS.EXE files are duplicated
by install in both in the SBOS and ULTRASND directory (I don't
remember doing that if I did).  I decided to clean up a bit and
deleted the two files from the \ULTRASND dir and left the ones in the
SBOS directory and then modified the SBOS.BAT to load them from that
directory.  That way, the only SBOS file you need in the ULTRASND
directory is the SBOS.BAT

Also, if you want to clean up your ULTRASND directory even more, you
can archive the setup program with all of its sound files.  After all,
how many times are you going to run it once you've installed the
board?

By the way, what are the specific jobs of SBOSDRV and LOADSBOS?  The
manual essentially states that they do the same thing, but uses
different wording when describing them.



				Jeff Lawson
				joseph@aludra.usc.edu
From: joseph@aludra.usc.edu (Jeff Lawson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
Subject: Will these RAM chips work on my GUS?
Date: 15 Dec 1992 21:42:38 -0800
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: aludra.usc.edu

I'd like to upgrade my GUS to 1 meg of RAM just for the heck of it,
and was wondering if the chips from my ol' XT will work.  I don't want
to blow up my Ultrasound right after I got it, I'd like to wait a year
or two :)   Here's a picture of a typical RAM chip on it:

        _/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_
       |  ---+--- JAPAN 8616ACK     |
       |     |                      |
        )    |                      |
       |     |    TMN41256P-15      |
       |_  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _|
         \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/

A few of the other ones have "JAPAN 8617HBK" and "JAPAN 8618HBK".
While you're at it, could you tell me how to read them in the
future...  I know that the '256' in the bottom section means 256k
chips, but that's it.

Also, I there some way to test it once I have the RAM installed?  You
know, like a utility, or a test program, or a really huge MIDI file
that won't work if the chips aren't installed?  Thanks.


--
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeff Lawson                    "Why do people always look at me that
joseph@aludra.usc.edu		way?  I always hated that..."
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
From: andy@hpsmo100.rose.hp.com (Andy Young)
Subject: Re: Egg-Head?
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 22:57:03 GMT
Organization: Nosferatu U.
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1.8 PL6]

jbuddenberg@vax.cns.muskingum.edu wrote:
>What and where is Egg-Head?
>

Egghead is a (I used to think) cross-country software store. Their prices
can be a little high, but they have a 30 day no-questions-asked return 
policy. I buy all of my software there for just that reason. A year
ago, I bought LOOM, solved it a few hours later (Boy, I was pissed),
and returned it that same afternoon. The manager wasn't impressed with my 
reason for returning it, but he took the game back anyways. That is
great customer service!

--
Andy.

andy@hpsmo100.rose.hp.com	Hewlett Packard	- Support Materials Operation
TSN: AndyY, Box 24491           8050 Foothills Blvd, Roseville, CA 95678
From: captain@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Bran Muffin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
Subject: Re: SND player needed for SB
Date: 13 Dec 92 23:05:55 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX

In article <GJAMES.207@HUSKY1.STMARYS.CA> GJAMES@HUSKY1.STMARYS.CA (GJames) writes:
>I have a sound blaster pro and I want to play some SND files I downloaded.
>Is there a shareware program that will do this ( either dos or Win 3.1).

Well, someone once said, "Repetition is the essence of the usenet," so...
SOX is an audio file format translater program.  It can translate from &
to a myriad audio formats.  It can be obtained on ftp.uu.net (ftp site) in
the directory /systems/ibmpc/msdos/simtel20/sound.  There may also be a 
program called SND2VOC, that will do only the job at hand.  Good luck!  

 

-- 
|The opinions expressed above are merely the result of chaotic synapse firings|
|Electrics and electronics work on smoke. If you let the smoke       -   O    |
|out, they stop working.   --   Fight AIDS.  Play safe.                |      |
|captain@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu  (Brian Murfin)  DoD# 0690  nt650gt     \_^___/   |

Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard