HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: gting@fraser.sfu.ca (Gabriel Sii Kuok Ting)
Subject: Tidbits from Gravis's BBS
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 10:48:23 GMT

Just picked this up from the Gravis BBS. Thought that you guys might be
interested: (Gravis urges us to distribute this around, and I will be posting 
this to the mailing list shortly)

Begin included message:-----
   Date: 12-12-92 00:14
   From: Harry Skibbe
     To: All
Subject: GTN0001
*GUS:MEMORY:GENERAL
92-12-11
 
The memory on GUS is used as a sound data buffer.  The usage of this 
buffer is determined by the GUS application.
 
Example #1.  The application PLAYFILE.EXE (the version when this 
GTN was released) uses about 128k of GUS ram.  When a *.SND file is 
played, PLAYFILE.EXE sets up a buffer in main memory where the 
audio data copied from the HD is placed.  The data is then transfered 
by DMA to a 64k buffer, which well call buffer A, in GUSs memory.  
After GUS is told to play, PLAYFILE proceeds to fetch, from the HD, 
the next 64k chunk of data and places it in second 64k buffer (buffer 
B) after buffer A.  An interrupt (IRQ) is generated when GUS has 
played the first 64k chunk (buffer A) while continuing to play 
into buffer B.  This IRQ signals PLAYFILE to reload buffer A.  After 
GUS has played buffer B, it generates an IRQ and loops back to start 
playing at the beginning of buffer A which has been reloaded with 
new data while it was playing buffer B.  The loopback IRQ signals 
PLAYFILE that buffer B can now be reloaded and the cycle repeats.  
The FLIDEMO uses this technique.
An application is not limited to a 64k buffer.  In theory, an 
application could use the maximium current configuration of 1 meg 
and control two or more GUS boards!  The limitations are HD access 
speed and CPU speed.
 
Example #2,  The current version of SBOS uses 256k bytes of GUS 
ram.  SBOS fills this ram with small pieces of sound data and plays 
them as instructed by the SB/Adlib application.  The sound data is 
not replaced or swapped by SBOS, as in the above example.  Unlike 
the above example no further HD access is required once the ram is 
loaded.  SBOS currently needs no more than the stock 256k bytes of 
ram.
 
Example #3  PLAYMIDI.EXE will attempt use as much ram as it needs 
for wave-table data, called patches.  The amount of memory required 
is dependent on what the composition requires for its patches.  The 
current MIDIDEMO demonstrates the compositions possible with 
256k of available ram.  More complex compositions are possible with 
more available ram.  The more instruments in a composition, the 
more ram required to hold the patches.  Patches sizes are determined 
by the type and quality of the instrument patch.
 
*END
 
End included message----
X-Star-Trek-Quote: He's Dead Jim.
X-School: Penn State University
X-Nickname: <<APOCALYPSE>>, Lord of Destruction
Organization: Penn State Star Trek club
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 08:57:06 EST
From: Matthew E. Bernold <MEB117@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
Subject: Re: GUS problems
 <markus.328.724348143@clement.info.umoncton.ca>

In article <markus.328.724348143@clement.info.umoncton.ca>,
markus@clement.info.umoncton.ca (MARC PAULIN) says:
>        I tried to reproduce your problem on my GUS yesterday.  It turned
>out that the factory setting for the DMA channel was the cause of the
>problems with Star Control II (music sounds weird, wrong patches played,
>static, etc).  The factory setting is DMA 1.  I changed it to DMA 5 and
>everything works just fine.  Try it...
>                                         ____
Originally, I had GUS on DMA 1, and after between 5 and 20 minutes of playing
StarControl2 (Usually after being attacked while traveling in hyperspace) the
game would start playing the wrong patches for almost everything.  This
problem would get progressively worse as I kept on playing until I was getting
so much garbage out, that there wasn't any music left.  At that point, I'd
save&quit, run ultrinit.exe, and restart.  Then it would work for the next
5-20 minutes before it died again.

Yesterday, I decided to try one of the 16-bit DMA channels, so I switched GUS
to DMA 5 (Before I read Mark's article) to try some recording at 44kHz stereo.
Later on, I played StarCon2, and instead of the wrong patches playing, I got
bursts of static through the left speaker every so often.  This happened about
5-6 times, and then stopped.  I played non-stop for almost 5 more hours with
spotless sound.  That evening, I ran it again, and got the static bursts again
after about 15 minutes, and this time, they kept on going.

What I DO know about this, is that Dan Nicholson told me that a patch was
being worked on.  Hopefully this will come out soon, and will fix both of
these problems.

       Matthew E. Bernold             MEB117@PSUVM.PSU.EDU
         <<APOCALYPSE>>                  meb@haydn.psu.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
From: markus@clement.info.umoncton.ca (MARC PAULIN)
Subject: Re: GUS: New SBOS's version number...
Organization: Universite de Moncton
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 00:44:37 GMT

In article <1g9eblINNp83@iskut.ucs.ubc.ca> twong@civil.ubc.ca (Thomas Wong) writes:
>From: twong@civil.ubc.ca (Thomas Wong)
>Subject: GUS: New SBOS's version number...
>Date: 11 Dec 1992 07:01:09 GMT


>I can't find where it went but there was a message asking whether the
>new SBOS in epas.utoronto.ca was the latest version at all for he
>believe that the version should be 1.22 beta but when he downloaded the
>file, his SBOS says it is version 1.1....

>Well, I downloaded my beta version of SBOS straight from the Gravis BBS
>and when I run it, not only do I get the "sbos installed" voice, but the
>screen also says SBOS version 1.22. So can someone confirm whether the
>one in epas.utoronto.ca does say 1.22 when ran. I'm not at work so I
>can't test it out.

The SBOS found on epas is indeed the 1.22.  But you have to put the files in 
your ULTRASND directory.  NOT the ULTRASND/SBOS directory.  I did that 
mistake once.

                                         ____
              _  _  _                  / \   \ 
            /' )' )' )                |   |   |           
              /  /  /                 | (_|__/         \   
             /     /  __. .__    ___  |   |  __.  . .   \  .   ___ 
            /     (__(_/|__) )__/(__   \_/__(_/|__)\_)__/\__)__) <_ 
                    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  |
+---------------------------------------------+-----------------------------+
From: spader@daker.cs.mcgill.ca (Yoo-Shin LEE)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
Subject: Re: GUS - What is it?
Keywords: purchasing
Date: 15 Dec 92 20:10:52 GMT
Organization: SOCS, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

> 
> >5) How much is it and where can one buy it?
> 
> Can't be too sure about the states, but here in Canada, a lot of stores  
do
> carry it. (the biggest selling soundcard in Canada at the moment,  
according
> to a magazine.. can't rememeber the name). If you follow the net, you 
> might have come across a few places like Disk Count, Telemart, Babbages
> and Electronics Boutique, with prices ranging from $124 to $169...
> 

How can we contact these stores you mentioned above?

spader@cs.mcgill.ca
From: biggles@biggles.nsc.com (biggles)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
Subject: GUS at Fry's in Sunnyvale $169.99
Date: 11 Dec 92 19:41:26 GMT
Distribution: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
Organization: BigglesTech (a YoYoDyne Subsidiary GmBH)


Title says it all.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
From: markus@clement.info.umoncton.ca (MARC PAULIN)
Subject: Re: GUS problems
Organization: Universite de Moncton
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 21:45:34 GMT

In article <1992Dec17.171409.21554@rose.com> francisco.perez@rose.com (francisco perez) writes:
>From: francisco.perez@rose.com (francisco perez)
>Subject: Re: GUS problems
>Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 17:14:06 GMT


>I have 1 meg on my GUS and the only problem that appears is a static noise
>after I move the cursor in the SAVE GAME or LOAD GAME section, and this
>disappears after the game is saved or laoded.  Other than that, everything
>sounds fine.  By the way, I'm also using an Opti chipset (don't know the
>model #), and QEMM (I don't disable it for StarCon2).  My DMA is set to 7.

	I have a 286 16MHz.  My GUS is on DMA 5.  I never heard any static 
noises or wrong patches problem with Star Control II.  The game works and 
keeps me busy for hours full with sounds and music.  But with my GUS on DMA1,
I do have the 'wrong patches being played' problem.

>A strange thing happened when I was playing (Star Control II) a couple of
>days ago.  I had loaded SBOS previous to playing, and I forgot to unload it
>before playing Starcon2.  When the static appeared when I wanted to save a
>game, I heard "SBOS installed" in the background.

	*laffs*  Maybe I should try that.
                                         ____
              _  _  _                  / \   \ 
            /' )' )' )                |   |   |           
              /  /  /                 | (_|__/         \   
             /     /  __. .__    ___  |   |  __.  . .   \  .   ___ 
            /     (__(_/|__) )__/(__   \_/__(_/|__)\_)__/\__)__) <_ 
                    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  |
+---------------------------------------------+-----------------------------+
From: ehobbs@nmt.edu (Eric Hobbs)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
Subject: Re: Sbos!=SBPRO
Date: 18 Dec 92 07:33:47 GMT
Article-I.D.: nmt.1992Dec18.073347.1085
Organization: New Mexico Tech

In article <1992Dec17.195655.23774@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> cwatters@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Coyt D Watters) writes:

[cut]

>>possible, but it'll take a lot of work.
>
>Hmmm.  Must be the text-speech software.  My Currah's software handles
>Ghost and Laugh pretty well.  It also featured a "dictionary" which allowed
>for customized pronounciation.  Macintalk was a LOT worse than the 
>Currah Cart on my C64.  The Currah's software also did pretty good with
>punctuation, although averything else would be spoken in a monotone.
>
>It did, however pronounce ghoti as G o (long o) tee.  
>
>Of course, if SBtalker solves it.....(big grin).  Will SBtalker work with 
>SBOS?
>
>-Coyt


After I got my GUS, a friend with a SB brought me over SBTalker to try.
He wanted to see the GUS fail.  To both his and my surprise, it worked
great.  I don't remember what it sounds like on a SB, but it was very
coherent and understandable on my GUS.  


HOBBS!
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
From: etcmng@iitmax.iit.edu (Michael N Goldshteyn)
Subject: Cakewalk (.WRK) files FTP site?
Organization: Illinois Institute of Technology
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 92 04:45:04 GMT


Is there an FTP site that has Cakewalk (.WRK) files? Please leave me an
address if there is one.

Thanks

Mike

etcmng@iitmax.iit.edu
From: c23st@kocrsv01.delcoelect.com (Spiros Triantafyllopoulos)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
Subject: Re: SB16 Released at Last!
Date: 16 Dec 92 18:06:22 GMT
Organization: Delco Electronics Corp.

In article <rwyckoff.25.724387918@cardinal.sc107.wesleyan.edu> rwyckoff@cardinal.sc107.wesleyan.edu (Catullus) writes:
>an SB knockoff) built in.  I know people who own them.  And when was the 
>last time you were able to download a hardware upgrade, anyway?  A new 
>version of SBOS for the GUS has already been released, and I've had about 
>90% success with that. (as opposed to 80% for the old version).  Considering 
>that of those 90% of games that SBOS will emulate SB for, a further 50% will 
>have one bug or another that will render them unplayable, I'd call that 
>pretty good.

Gee, the intellectual level of USENET is way down. Thank G*d for the
Christmas vacation...

Well, Mr. Catullus, if they taught you anything in Wesleyan, was it that
emulation is never a good solution? It consumes CPU, memory, etc. 

90% success for a commercial product means 10% failure. That's about in
par with the SCUD missile in my book. 

And I'd still like an explanation of why 50% of the games will have a
bug that would render them unplayable... 

I am not against logitech/gravis; I own a joystick and a mouse from them
and they're super. But the Gravis must rank up there with the best of them
when it comes to releasing a product on time, hyping it, and, most
important, in generating the most "GUS beats XXXX even if it's all software"
messages.

Spiros
-- 
Spiros Triantafyllopoulos                    c23st@kocrsv01.delcoelect.com
Software Technology, Delco Electronics       (317) 451-0815
GM Hughes Electronics, Kokomo, IN 46904      [A Different Kind of Disclaimer]
From: captain@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Bran Muffin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
Subject: Twin Peaks .au files
Summary: info for all those who asked
Date: 14 Dec 92 14:13:56 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX


Several people have sent mail to me asking for this information, which was
requested on the net last week.  There are around 10Meg of Sun format .au
sound files at an ftp site called: audrey.levels.unisa.edu.au.  These are all
sound bites from the David Lynch tv show Twin Peaks.  The files are in both 
the Sun format, and some MAC format that I didn't recognize.  SOX will 
convert the Sun format into just about any format one might want: VOC, WAV,
SND, etc.

-- 
|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     \_^___/   |
From: dporter@altair.csustan.edu (Darren Porter)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
Subject: SB Programming info
Date: 14 Dec 92 22:00:42 GMT
Organization: CSU Stanislaus

Sorry if this is a FAQ, but I can't find the FAQ list (if there is one).
Please point me to some references on Sound Blaster / SB Pro programming
either via ftp or books to buy.

Thanks.

-- 
______________________________________________________________________
|Darren T. Porter                        |  internet mail:           | 
|Mathematics Student                     |       dporter@csustan.edu |
|California State University, Stanislaus | 			     |
From: mirage@camelot.bradley.edu (Jeffrey Hoffman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
Subject: Re: SB16 Released at Last!
Date: 12 Dec 92 15:57:55 GMT
Article-I.D.: camelot.mirage.724175875
Organization: United Anarchists Front

gting@fraser.sfu.ca (Gabriel Sii Kuok Ting) writes:
>swkgohw@nuscc.nus.sg (Sir Launcelot Du Lac) writes:

>>Hail People!

>>At long last, the Sound Blaster 16 ASP hast been released in it's home
>>country, Singapore!  Cost is S$498 (about US$300-350).  But now, I'm a

>US$300 for an FM based card??? What a joke. And I thought the PAS16 was
>overpriced...

Just FYI... in the Jan '93 Issue of Computer Gaming World, ComputAbility
has an ad touting the SB16 for $219.  That's right here in the US.

I don't mean to imply that it's out here... just that the price has already
been established near the $200 mark.

________________________________________________________________________________
mirage@camelot.bradley.edu	|		Stuff.  Whatever.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
From: dacs@aud2.aud.auc.dk
Subject: TEST - PLEASE IGNORE
Organization: Aalborg University Center, Denmark
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 11:31:11 GMT

testing
From: joak@ocf.berkeley.edu (Jonathan A. Kung)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
Subject: GUStuff
Date: 19 Dec 1992 10:21:06 GMT
Organization: U. C. Berkeley Open Computing Facility
NNTP-Posting-Host: bigbang.berkeley.edu

Hi there, excuse me for being a bit bubbly, but my GUS came in
today, and I'm still pretty excited!  Wheee!
Anyway, after spending 6 hours downloading the files that SHOULD
HAVE BEEN ON THE DISKETTES THAT WEREN'T IN THE BOX WITH THE BOARD
(excuse my irritation, it surprised the hell out of me!), I got
the thing installed.  Veeery nice!  Thing is, I have these stereo
desktop Memorex (can't be more than 3" diagonal) speakers plugged
into the amplified out.  The problem is that the default sound is
always so loud and sharp!  Should I get better speakers (with vol.
controls on them independent of the card)?
I'm also not sure which IRQs and such are free on my computer, is
there something to run in case I don't trust the setup that comes
with the GUS?  (currently on default settings)
I still haven't gotten any digitized sounds on Falcon3, even when
I cut the cache (I have just 2 megs) for about 600Kb expanded. I
tried sbos w/ and w/o -o2, loaded high, but I didn't get any speech.
I didn't see a listing for Wizardry 7 with SBOS on the latest list,
has no one gotten any sound with SBOS?  Playing the .snd files straight
seems to work...

Thanks!
-Jon Kung
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
From: rdippold@cancun.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold)
Subject: Re: GUS Games List V1.01
Organization: Qualcomm, Inc., San Diego, CA
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 19:18:12 GMT

rv@erix.ericsson.se (Robert Virding) writes:
>In article <rdippold.724032606@qualcom>, rdippold@qualcom.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold) writes:
>>GUS Tested Games Compatability List V1.01 Dec 10, 1992
>>
>>Native GUS Support
>>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>Chuck Yeager Flight Combat Simulator
>>

>How do you get this? Is there a special command line option or what? I
>have seen nothing in any documentation.

I should make a note here... there is a newer version of the software
that supports the GUS.  It seems to be rather hard to find...
-- 
If they ever give you a brief... attack the medical evidence.  Remember, the
jury's full of rheumatism and arthritis and shocking gastric troubles.  They
love to see a medical man put through it. -- John Mortimer
Xref: sparky comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard:5265 comp.music:5671
From: nllopis@ecs.umass.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard,comp.music
Subject: Questions on STM, MOD and ScreamTracker style programs.
Date: 13 Dec 92 20:13:33 GMT

I have a few questions and I would really appreciate if 
somebody could give me some help on this:

- Is there any programs that will convert a song in 
  STM format to a MOD format (the other way around
  Scream Tracker does :)

- Using a PC with SB, what are the best programs out there
  for composing music with digitized instruments? I know
  of Scream Tracker and it is OK. Any other suggestions?

- Anybody knows of already made libraries of samples to add
  to Scream Tracker. I have been making my own, but that 
  takes forever. It would be nice to be able to access a ton
  of sounds already classified.
  Anybody interested in swapping libraries?

And that's about it. Thanks a lot, and if you can help me, 
please better e-mail me back than post because I might miss
it now that I have finals coming up :(.
If sombeody is interested I will post if I get any usefull info.

Thanks.


		Noel Llopis
		nllopis@ecs.umass.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard, <IO20016@MAINE.MAINE.EDU> writes:
> [Text deleted comparing the GUS to the MT-32]
> However, when you listen to the GUS, it sounds "dryer"
> and more like a computer, lacking the warmth of the MT32 sounds.  I
> believe this is due to the reverb effect present on the MT32 and not
> on the GUS.  It is my belief that a little reverb (and/or chorus) would
> fix this up nicely.

  I think you've hit the nail on the head.  After I noticed the
  lack of ambience from the GUS's sound, I hooked the output to
  my effects processor.  Viola!  Instant ambience, and a lot more
  warmth to the sound.

  The lack of onboard effects is not a problem to me since I
  already have an effects processor, but I can see that it would
  be nice to have a daughter card with a built-in DSP.  But for
  $150, what do you expect?  I love the GUS!

> [...]
>                                        -Tom
>                                              IO20016@MAINE

--

  Stuart Yoshida

Internet: yoshida@elektra.fc.hp.com
   Voice: (303) 229-2324
From: gt3017a@prism.gatech.EDU (Guy Elden Jr.)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
Subject: Re: Should I buy a GUS?
Date: 13 Dec 92 06:03:28 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

In article <1992Dec13.034019.12545@wam.umd.edu> mmeltzer@wam.umd.edu writes:
>
>Is there any reason that I should wait a few months before going out and  
>buying one of these?  Or, reworded, should I go out and buy a GUS now, or  
>will there be better revisions in the near future?
>

   I don't see any reason to wait, other than if you want to buy from a store,
such as Electronics Boutique, or Babbages, you may have to wait a while... most
of the ones around here get them in and sell them the SAME day! Mail order
seems to be the fastest, and surest way to get one.

  About the software revisions... they should be available almost immediately
after they are released, at archive.epas.toronto.ca... That is, assuming
someone is kind enough to put them there. (There always is).

   Right now, the GUS SBOS program is in revision 1.22b, and seems to be doing
very well. I only have minor problems with one game right now, and so far, I
think only 3 or 4 don't work at all (among all games out there). Hopefully,
if Gravis keeps giving us the same level of support, even they will eventually
work.


>
>Also, what does the GUS package come with, and what's the best price  
>you've seen?
>

   The package has the card, six disks installation disks containing sample
midi files, digitized files, a setup program, SBOS (Sound Board Operating
System), for Adlib and Soundblaster support, and USS8, a simple recording/
playback tool for managing samples. Mine came with the latest setup disks,
which are also available at epas.

   I think mine cost $149, but it was from Babbage's (I think... sorry, I got
it as a gift).

   Some people have gotten it at around $129, and possibly lower.



All in all, when you compare it to the SBPro, you get more for the $$$ you
spend if you go with the GUS.


-- 
gt3017a@prism.gatech.edu             | "All of us get lost in the darkness,
a.k.a. Guy Elden Jr.                 | Dreamers learn to steer by the stars,
                    Neil Peart ------| All of us do time in the gutter,
                    'The Pass'       | Dreamers turn to look at the cars"
From: twong@civil.ubc.ca (Thomas Wong)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
Subject: Re: Need correct Ultrasound ftp
Date: 15 Dec 1992 19:53:55 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Civil Engineering, U.B.C., Vancouver, B.C., Canada
NNTP-Posting-Host: sam.civil.ubc.ca

In article <markus.326.724347653@clement.info.umoncton.ca> markus@clement.info.umoncton.ca (MARC PAULIN) writes:
>
>	You can also use klingon.epas.utoronto.ca since archive seem not to 
>work anymore.


Eeks! Don't use klingon! Use archive. The reason being
archive.epas.utoronto.ca is name that gets resolved by epas's
nameserver. Adam is doing this so that he can move the archive between
machines if load or disk space is a problem. And all he has to do is get
archive to point to the new machine where this is invisible as far as the
enduser (us) is concerned. So klingon might not be the permanent site as
we get more and more files uploaded to the site. So please use 
archive.epas.utoronto.ca.

I'll ask Adam why the name is not working right now.

Thomas.