From: twong@civil.ubc.ca (Thomas Wong)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
Subject: Info on Ultrasound from Gravis....
Date: 14 Oct 1992 23:31:33 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Civil Engineering, U.B.C., Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: sam.civil.ubc.ca


Hello everyone. I just talked with Gravis again after getting a
bunch of suggestions from others via email. And here are some of
the info I got back from Alan, the tech rep.

1) One complaint was that although the box was big, there wasn't much
inside. It was a bit of a let down.

The reply, yes there is a lot of room left in the box. This is an
indication of more things to come. More and thicker manuals,
daughterboards, options you can get. Right now, there is great
pressure in getting the card out. They know it's not perfect.
The next version will have manuals with more technical details,
more instructions, better demos to really show off the Ultrasound
with multiple instruments and midi tracks. They are already working
on an updated version of the Bach midi file for example, with
multiple instruments and voices. An additional chapter on the
Windows driver is also being written. We probably won't see these
for quite awhile (till the next version comes out) because right
now, they have to get more cards shipped and the daughterboards
finished. Which is the second complain from people.

2) There was one complaint about Windows not being able to find the
*.pat files.

The reply, if you follow through with the installation, you'll be
fine because the installation program will configure files for
you. Then run Windows, load the driver, Windows will read the
appropriate configuration file for info, and all's well. But if you 
start moving files around after the installation, then the 
configuration file would be wrong and files can't be found.
So just move the files back to where you have the installation
program put everything. Or reinstall.

3) Another comment was that although the mididemo does sound better
than what the FM stereo cards like the SoundBlaster/Adlib/Pro
Audio Spectrum....etc. can do, and do sound impressive, it doesn't
show off what the Ultrasound can REALLY do. ie. really compare it
against that of the Rolands or Turtle Beach. The demos only use
one midi track for example.

The reply, again, the pressure now is to get the cards out and get
the daughterboard done. Things will improve with newer versions.
For example, as mentioned above, the Bach file is being redone
to show off what the Ultrasound can do, with multiple instruments
and so forth. In fact, they will probably eventually use an
Ultrasound with their answering machine (and/or background
music as you are put on hold) to demo some of these "music" files.
[I'll see if I can get some of these new demos if/when they are
done. - Thomas]

4) Sounds don't sound right in some of the games.

Reply, run the README.BAT file to see what options are needed with
some of these games. As another message have already indicated, the
-o option for the SBOS program uses different patches to make the
Ultrasound emulate sounds especially written for Soundblaster.
There are different versions of Soundblaster out there as well and
that's what the -x parameters are for. -x1 to -x3 emulates the
different versions of Soundblaster so depends on how the game is
written. For games that doesn't sound right and is not in the
README file, play around with these -o and -x options to make things
work. But of course, now that the game makers have the Ultrasound
card themselves and is developping code that make use of the ability
of the Ultrasound, not only will the files work, but they will also
sound much better.

5) I also asked him my suggestion that since the SBOS (SoundBlaster
/adlib emulation TSR) is written for the Ultrasound and you need
to have the card to use it, there shouldn't be a problem with piracy.
And I should be able to get the latest versions from them and 
distribute via ftp sites or email?!? That should also go for some
of the other files as well?!?

Reply, they plan to put newer versions or fixes on CompuServe. And
if I'm willing to distrubute it for them on Internet, they'd be more
than happy. So I think this is the way to go.

That's all folks! More Q&A as they come in....

Oh by the way. I found out that you can email Gravis directly via
their CompuServe account by sending an email to....

75300.733@compuserve.com

So if you have question you want to talk to Gravis directly about.
Now you can.

Thomas.

Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard