Apparently-To: john.smith@gravis.com


GUS Musician's Digest       Wed, 17 Nov 93  3:36         Volume 2: Issue  17  

Today's Topics:
                         JUST TO LET YOU KNOW
                  new drivers - skipped notes buglet
                         New Windows Drivers
                          Patch Maker Light
                          Portamento (again)

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: Tue, 16 Nov 1993 8:44:07 -0500 (EST)
From: Bryan Cass <BC@VTI.dnet.idx.com>
Subject: Re: JUST TO LET YOU KNOW

Sorry to waste bandwidth on this...but I got so excited reading yesterday's
digest I just have shout YAY!  THANK YOU, GRAVIS!

Bryan

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

Date: Tue, 16 Nov 93 21:32:36 EST
From: ivan@molson.ho.att.com (Ivan Strom)
Subject: new drivers - skipped notes buglet

Gravis - re new windows drivers:

If a note_on is immediately (same tick) followed by a controller 7 message,
the note_on will not sound, resulting in "skipped" notes.

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

Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1993 09:38:44 +0200
From: Vesa.Karhila@fmi.fi (Vesa Karhila)
Subject: New Windows Drivers

Some comments about the new windows drivers:

- The linear volume is nice. Certain midi files sounded much more
  balanced than before (I suppose those files were made for SCC1).
  On the other hand some of my own "works" lost their sound
  balance. Confusing!  Is either of these volume methods a standard?
  Is either of them some how technically superior?  Should we agree
  to compose using only one volume method? Which????

- The previously missing 8th octave is now present. Nice!

- Midi notes were still dropped every now and then! I tested with
  one of my own "works", originally made for AdLib (only 6 melodic
  voices and 3 percussive voices), and I got dropped off notes (or
  perhaps they are notes that start too late?) both in WinJammer
  (uses the plain windows driver) and in MediaPlayer (uses the driver
  via MidiMapper). I cross checked the midi file with DOS PlayMidi:
  no drop outs there!!! (I have an old and trusty 33MHz 386DX.)

- 'debug 0/1' - feature (disabling the patch checking) should be
  nice althought I did not take any timing measurements, yet.

Except for the note drop outs I feel the new drivers are just the
thing I have been waiting for.  Thanks.
--
Vesa Karhila (vesa.karhila@fmi.fi)

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

Date: 16 Nov 93 12:24:21 +0100
From: "Alexander Majarek, Sascha, SAM"  <Alexander.Majarek@uibk.ac.at>
Subject: Patch Maker Light

Any idea where (on INTERNET) to get Patch Maker Light which was
announced in John Smith's "Just to let you know" ???

Thanks in advance for any hint.

SAM

*********************************************************************
*Alexander.Majarek@uibk.ac.at * There are 3 ways (fast, sweet, sure)*
*Perthalerg. 1c/11            * for a man to ruin himself:          *
*A-6020 Innsbruck             * 1. Gamblin'   (fast),               *
*AUSTRIA (EUROPE)             * 2. Women      (sweet) &             *
*Tel.: 0043-512-84-26-15      * 3. Computers  (sure)                *
*********************************************************************

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

Date: Tue, 16 Nov 93 06:19:32 PST
From: deraud@power.amasd.anatcp.rockwell.com (Robert Lee DeRaud)
Subject: Portamento (again)

>From: cowles@hydra.convex.com (John Cowles)
>Subject: Re: GUS Musician's Digest V2 #13

>On most synths, you can set the pitch-bend sensitivity, with the usual
>default being 2 semitones, and the ability to set the sensitivity from one
>semitone to 24 semitones. Pitchbend itself is divided into 8192 steps, with
>the middle being at 4096 - so the default of 2 semitones will allow you
>to go from -1 semitone to +1 semitone in units from 0 to 8191. It would be nice
>if GUS would have a 'settable' pitchbend sensitivity

I was under the (apparently mistaken) impression that the GUS was 
General Midi compatable as far as controllers were concerned, and pitch 
bend sensitivity is one of the controllers called out by GM. Has anyone 
actually tried this?

>From: Clarke Brunt <CLARKE@lsl.co.uk>
>Subject: Portamento

>I had no idea what 'portamento' meant, indeed I still don't have
>much idea. I doubt very much that the GUS supports it, buts it's
>really the drivers that dictate which portions of MIDI the GUS
>'supports', the hardware itself being quite versatile.

>So what exactly is portamento supposed to do, and is it something
>for the wishlist for the new Windows drivers? Mind you, if it
>involves sliding the pitch of notes (sort of automatic pitch bend)
>it sounds tricky to implement.

OK: portamento (at least as implemented on synthesizers, as opposed to a 
formal musical definition) is a smooth transition ("slide") in frequency 
between adjacent notes. Usually the speed of the transition can be 
controlled also. Some synths (my Yamaha FB01, for one) have an 
'automatic' type of portamento (switchable in the patch) which turns on 
the effect if the notes are played close together (legato) and turns it 
off when a gap is present - very handy for string bends.

As far as implementation is concerned, actually DOING it is fairly easy; 
the hard part is deciding which notes are 'adjacent' in a polyphonic 
sequence - the effect itself makes more sense for a solo (monophonic) 
instrument.

>From: chrisw@leland.Stanford.EDU
>Subject: Tonguing vs Portamento

>Just to straighten things up: portamento has nothing to do with tonguing
>woodwind instruments (or `slurred notes' for that matter). Slurring
>refers to the type of noise (in particular the sound of the attack) not the 
>pitch of the noise.

Dunno about this 'tonguing' thing (although I SHOULD: I've been a Herbie 
Mann fan for about thirty years..:-) but isn't a 'slur' a half-tone slide 
up to or down to the desired note on attack?

>By the way, the GUS doesn't support portamento, either. (Moreover, it 
>only has one tone pitch bends - as far as I know, anyway).

The older I get, the worse my ears get: I could have sworn that several 
of Chris' mids had pitch bends greater than two semitones!

***********************************************************************
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.
***********************************************************************

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

End of GUS Musician's Digest V2 #17
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