Apparently-To: john.smith@gravis.com


GUS Musician's Digest       Sat, 13 Nov 93  3:34         Volume 2: Issue  13  

Today's Topics:
                     *I* am your father, Luke...
                 GUS and DOS-based MIDI applications.
                            Keyboard HELP
                           Slurs on GUS etc
                     Some responses to Digest #12

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: Fri, 12 Nov 93 06:34:10 PST
From: deraud@power.amasd.anatcp.rockwell.com (Robert Lee DeRaud)
Subject: *I* am your father, Luke...

>From: Gavin <SCARMAN@hfrd.dsto.gov.au>
>Subject: Darth Vader/Dalek voice

>Anyone got any tips on how you can modify a normal voice to sound Vader-ish, or 
>electronic similar to the Daleks of Dr Who? I would guess just modulation would 
>provide a reasonable result but I haven't found a way to do this that works 
>properly.

FWIW, the Darth Vader voice was NOT heavily processed: it's just James 
Earl Jones with a touch of reverb; the breath noise is just a Scuba 
regulator through a noise gate. Dunno how to do this with the GUS, as 
the 'tone generator' is definitely one-of-a-kind :-)!

I'm not a Dr. Who fan so I don't know what Daleks sound like (or what 
they are, for that matter), but most 'computer' voices are human voices 
passed through a vocoder. Check the literature on the subject; I suspect 
the effect requires either a) a programmable DSP or b) a bunch of analog 
electronics - definitely not real-time software-only.

Some rather neat vocal effects can be done with relatively cheap guitar 
effects pedals. For short snippets, just sample the result, but it's not 
really practical for an entire vocal track.

***********************************************************************
Lee DeRaud                             Will program Windows for food.
Rockwell Int. AESD                   (Hey, I'm easy but I'm not cheap!)
   DoD #985 - Fast and ugly beats slow and cute any day of the week.
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
     My employers would certainly endorse my opinions if they
    could only understand them...for now, they just ignore me.
***********************************************************************

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

Date: Fri, 12 Nov 93 19:15:28 PST
From: Erik Teose <erikt@tekig1.pen.tek.com>
Subject: GUS and DOS-based MIDI applications.

Hi,

I am considering buying a GUS, and am looking for info. Hope someone can
help. I would like to run an older version of Band-in-a-Box (version 5,
I think), which is DOS-based, and use the GUS as a self-contained 
MPU-401-based GM sound source. So as far as Band-in-a-Box is concerned, it
sees a MPU-401 that has a GM box attached to it. Can this be done with
MegaEm? (What exactly is MegaEm anyways - a TSR, or just a GUS "initializer"?)
Has anyone done this? Does anyone know if Band-in-a-Box uses the MPU-401 
in dumb or smart mode?

Thanks for any info.

Erik Teose
erikt@tekig1.pen.tek.com

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

Date: Fri, 12 Nov 93 10:45 EST
From: kildayb@erau.db.erau.edu (2)
Subject: Re: Keyboard HELP

>DOES ANYBODY have any suggestions on a cheap/ economical NEW OR USED keyboard??
>Where I can get one? (NEW) or does anyone have a used one they want to get rid >of?

Try looking in your local newspaper's classified ads, or see if there is a loca classified publication (they usually go by names like "trading post", or "the want ads")

Scan through the sections containing pianos, keyboards, musical equipment, etc.

Check out the ones that fit your price range, and if it is not specified call the person selling the keyboard and ask if its midi ready (it better be:) ) and ask if it is velocity sensitive, how many keys does it have, etc.  (dont worry about weighted key action, it costs too much and its relatively new to be a good buy on the used market)

For first time buyers, I would reccomend somthing like a KORG POLY-800.  It's midi capable and you can pick one up for around $100-$200. 

Oh yeah, check out your local music store, and see if they have back issues of Keyboard magazine.  I think it was about the August or September issue, but thy had a nifty bargin buyers guide to used keyboards.  This should help if you are not familiar with a certain brand of keyboard and are not sure if the offered price is a fair one.


good luck :)

B.K>

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

Date: Fri, 12 Nov 93 09:02:29 EST
From: "Burns Fisher, VMS Engineering  12-Nov-1993 0904" <fisher@skylab.enet.dec.com>
Subject: Slurs on GUS etc

>1) Is there any way to "slur" a note?  If your playing a clarinet,
>   for instance, and you go from a G to an A, you can do it in one of
>   at least two ways: make the notes distinct by touching your tongue
>   to the reed, or sluring them by not touching your tongue.  The 
>   initial sound (attack?) that the note makes is different.  Thus
>   far, I have been unable to get anything but a distinct note from
>   Cakewalk Pro V2.0, Recording Session, or Powerchords (this is similar
>   to a slide from G to A on a guitar), or WindJammer.  Any thoughts?

A good question.  I'm a clarinetest (acoustic) myself, and this is one of the 
first things I noticed when I got into MIDI.

On my D-110 synth, it seems that if one note starts soon enough after the 
previous note ends, it sounds sort-of slurred.  I'm not sure if the synth 
actually notices that the notes are so close and omits the initial tongue 
transient, or if it is just so close together that the ear is doing the 
smoothing.  I don't recall if the GUS did this either.  The clarinet patch is so 
un-clarinety (IMO) that I did not pay much attention.

I suppose that one could come up with patches for tongued instruments which had 
no tongue transient at the beginning.  Then you could switch patches according 
to whether the note you played was tongued or slurred.  Of course this means you 
either want the synth to do a patch change darned fast, or else you need to use 
2 channels for one instrument.

I'd be interested if you hear any answers that don't go into the digest!

Burns

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

Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1993 12:15:57 GMT
From: Clarke Brunt <CLARKE@lsl.co.uk>
Subject: Some responses to Digest #12

> Has anyone tried the Harpsichord? Any one that have a guess about what
> it is that has been sampled can send a note, but whatever it is, it
> isn't a harpsichord (or may a harpsichord sampled from a sheap Casio?)

Shoudn't it be spelled 'sheep'? But seriously, I couldn't agree more -
the harpsichord sounds terrible. Sounds like the waveform is being
clipped (amplitude too large). Try less active voices - it might not
sound quite as bad.

> How for ex. would you create 'real-time' patch editor? You may
> as well use what already must be there, namely a 'secret' API to the
> Ultrasound Windows driver, how else could the Patch Manager work? 

I see nothing in Patch Manager that cannot be done with the standard
Windows API, plus the knowledge that the patch files are listed in
ultrasnd.ini. (See in particular Windows calls MidiOutCache[Drum]Patches
and similar). I can see that a real time patch editor might be
tricky though - how do you get the modified patch loaded while you
try it out? Perhaps by writing it out to disk, and then re-caching
it (if the driver will tolerate having the file changed under its
feet). Does anyone know whether MidiOutCachePatches reloads all
of the set requested, or only the ones not already loaded?

> Is there any way to "slur" a note?

I think the only way to acheive what you want is using Pitch Bend,
which is pretty unsatisfactory, because e.g. you play a C, hold it
down, then include a series of increasing Pitch Bend messages until
the not reaches D. The trouble is that the note is still a 'bent' C
and not really a D. Also, you eventually run out of Pitch Bend
range, and the amount of bending is not necessarily standard.

> Use PowerChords...
> then put a melody over the top with, say, a piccolo.  I save this as
> a MIDI file and play it using the Media Player in Windows.  The
> melody track (piccolo) is now an octave lower than it was in 
> Powerchords.  Load it into WindJammer and it plays fine.  Play it
> with PlayMidi in DOS and it sounds OK.  I think that "Middle C" is
> an octave apart on the guitar and the piano (at least the way it's
> notated on the staff when your playing the same note).  Since
> PowerChords is a guitar based sequencer, is it "recording" my notes
> the way one would for a guitar and then globally transposing them
> up one octave?  If so, does the Media Player not recognize this
> transposition (is it a MIDI event)?

Certainly on some keyboard synthesizers, the same key might produce
different pitches with different patches e.g. piccolo might play an
octave higher than flute. This makes sense, because you might as
well make the limited range of the keyboard correspond to the usable
range of the instrument concerned. I don't think this is the case with
(most) GUS patches - for the most part note 60 plays middle C as
intended (exceptions might be 'pitchless' patches e.g. rain). There
is no MIDI event for transpose, so how is it possible to get a
different result in Media Player/WinJammer/PlayMidi? The only
(but unlikely) possibility is that you have got a +/-1octave keymap
somewhere in you MIDI Mapper setup, which is used by Media Player,
optionally used by WinJammer, and not used by PlayMidi. Do any of
the GUS INI or CFG files have pitch corrections in them - I can't
remember?

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

End of GUS Musician's Digest V2 #13
***********************************

To post to tomorrow's digest:                        <gus-music@dsd.es.com>
To (un)subscribe or get help:                <gus-music-request@dsd.es.com>
To contact a human (last resort):              <gus-music-owner@dsd.es.com>

FTP sites:           archive.epas.utoronto.ca              /pub/pc/ultrasound
                     wuarchive.wustl.edu            /systems/msdos/ultrasound
                     archive.orst.edu                    /pub/packages/gravis
                     theoris.rz.uni-konstanz.de                /pub/sound/gus
FTP mail server:     mail-server@nike.rz.uni-konstanz.de

Hints:
      - Get the FAQ from the FTP sites or the request server.
      - Mail to <gus-music-request@dsd.es.com> for info about other
	GUS related mailing lists (general use, programmers, etc.).



