Apparently-To: john.smith@gravis.com


GUS Musician's Digest       Sun, 30 Jan 94  3:12         Volume 4: Issue  30  

Today's Topics:
                         And more to come...
                  Gravis just to let yo #11 (4 msgs)
                     GUS Musician's Digest V4 #29

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: Sat, 29 Jan 1994 18:54:59 +0300
From: Lexy Bekhly <Pol@edito.msk.su>
Subject: And more to come...

            
                     * IMBOLG and OPTICAL PROMISE by F *
                       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
            I've just uploaded }FIRST.ARJ (yep 1st) on epas (plus  on
         ftp.kiae.su in /misc/sounds/synth/midi).
            Yes, it's up to blow out those multiple megs of midisongs
         around though it's about 5% of what I can be indeed... (Am I
         shy enough?.. OK, 6%!)
            
            ...Now seriously. Any feedback is greatly appreciated. If
         someone has a good lead guitar patches please  let  me  know
         your impression  of `Optical Promise' - it's based on guitar
         solos while  I have only the two patches by Eye&I...  Imbolg
         is Febr-1 holiday <holinight>.
            
            Lexy F

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

Date: Fri, 28 Jan 94 19:03:37
From: john.smith@gravis.com
Subject: Gravis just to let yo #11

(Continued from previous message)

   DEMO3D          - 3D Demo (InterActive/Running Demo)
   UltraMID V1.7   - Fixes controller #7 messages
                   - Fix possible divide by zero error message


UltraSound AIL32 (GAIL3212.ZIP)
----------------
Gravis has released AIL32 drivers for the UltraSound card. These are the
32 bit protected mode versions of the AIL sound drivers. Unlike our
real mode AIL drivers these do not require the loading of a TSR. Howeverr
they do require that you preload your patches onto the UltraSound card
via a program called LOADPATS (note that LOADPATS is NOT a TSR).

The immediate benefit of these drivers is you can now gain UltraSound
support in SimCity 2000, Shadow Caster, Syndicate, and Indy Car racing
to name a few. Many of the major game developers are moving to a 32 bit
platform and are excited about adding UltraSound support. This includes
Maxis, SSI, and many others.

I know the question will come up that why don't the drivers support
patch cacheing. The problem is loading the patches and DMA them to the
card will halt the system and possibly lockups during the transfer.
Since a MIDI file may contain any number of patches to load this
pause could be from 5-20 seconds depending on the number of patches
and speed of your system.

Jayeson is now working closely with game developers to get the AIL32 and
other protected mode drivers implemented into their games.


OS/2 Drivers
------------
We have been hearing from many OS/2 owners wanting drivers for the
UltraSound. We are letting you know that your messages ARE heard
and Gravis is commited to getting them done. We are not a $500
million company and do have limits on our resources.

The core of the drivers are looking good but are not making sound
yet. This is the next step <grin>. What you will see is OS/2 MMPM/2
drivers. They will NOT be Win/OS2 drivers and they do not give improved
SBOS support in a DOS box. I know you are waiting for an expected
release date but I can not. All I can do is tell you that we are
working on them and are commited to getting them done as soon as
possible. Once they are ready for public beta you will be the first to
know. I can tell you that it is not that far off, so please be patient.


Gravis and TRITON (GUSTRIT.ZIP)
 ------------------------------
When I was working on the Gravis sales demo last year I asked Triton
(Swedish demo group) to write a virtual reality fly by. This included
writing on the sides of buildings giving information about the UltraSound.
GUSTRIT.ZIP contains this demo.


Gravis Nodes - Software Creations
 --------------------------------
The Software Creations BBS, which was voted the Number 1 BBS in North
America (BoardWatch Magazine - September 1993) is now an official
Gravis node. With over 150,000 users we are proud to welcome them
aboard. There phone number is (508)368-7139. They will be setting up
the areas this week and should have them all visible the first week
in February.


UltraSound CDROM Audio Cable Fulfillment
 ---------------------------------------
SC&T International Inc. of Phoenix, Arizona will sell UltraSound audio
cables directly to users for a flat price of $12.95 plus shipping. You
may reach them at 1(800)-208-2080.


Consumer Electronics Show
-------------------------
We had some press releases during the CES show in Las Vegas. I've seen
some rumours spreading on the nets regarding these products so I would
like to clarify on what they actually are.

PS: The VFX1 was a huge success at the show among buyers and developers.

 VFX1 - VR System
 ----------------

Release Date:  January 07, 1994

TORONTO:        AED
VANCOUVER:      AED
OTC BBS:        GRVSF


            Advanced Gravis and Forte Technologies Announce
             New Joint Venture for Virtual Reality Systems


Forte Technologies, Inc. ("Forte") and Advanced Gravis Computer
Technology Ltd. ("Advanced Gravis") today announced they have signed
a letter of intent to form a new joint venture to introduce new
technology and products targeted at the consumer Virtual Reality market.


(Continued to next message)
---
  QMPro 1.51  -={ Gravis UltraSound - The Power of PC Sound }=-

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

Date: Fri, 28 Jan 94 19:03:40
From: john.smith@gravis.com
Subject: Gravis just to let yo #11

(Continued from previous message)

The letter of intent calls for the formation and financing of a new
company that Gravis and Forte would jointly own.  The new entity would
be the exclusive licensee and developer of the VR technology and
products. Advanced Gravis will negotiate to acquire rights to
manufacture and market products licensed from this venture.  The
formation of the venture is subject to the parties concluding formal
agreements concerning the terms, conditions and financing of the new
joint company and the receipt of all regulatory and governmental
approvals, as may be required.

The first product from this proposed new company is the VFX1 being
demonstrated this week in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronic Show.

The VFX1 is a fully integrated interactive head mounted virtual reality
system equipped with color 3D stereo display, proprietary 3D head
tracker to detect head motion, and stereo sound, all packaged in a
sleek ergonomic shell.

"This level of integrated design with displays, head tracker,
headphones, and PC interface video card, at a consumer price point, is
unprecedented in this young VR market," explains Paul Travers, President
of FORTE technologies.

"The VFX1 system connects easily with existing PCs and entertainment
software, so users can gain a whole new sense of realism.  The full
capability will come from true 3D VR software applications which are
currently being developed", said Grant Russell, President of Advanced
Gravis.

The VFX1 is the first truly integrated full VR headset to enter the
market at a target retail price of under $1000.  The product should be
ready for introduction by Fall 1994.  Features include:

 o  Dual 0.7 inch color LCD displays that offer high quality 428 X 244
    resolution
 o  Provides an image equivalent to watching a 35 ft screen in 3D at a
    distance of 35 ft.
 o  High fidelity stereo headphones
 o  Virtual Orientation System - VOS  head motion tracker provides roll,
    pitch and yaw coordinates
 o  Compatible with existing Multimedia IBM PC's

The VFX1 is aimed at the PC market, but is compatible with workstations,
or any device that utilizes a standard VGA card.  There is also an option
to accept NTSC or PAL video signals from home entertainment systems such
as Sega  and Nintendo .


 Piano Bundle
 ------------

Release Date:  January 06, 1994

TORONTO:        AED
VANCOUVER:      AED
OTC BBS:        GRVSF


          Advanced Gravis Provides Total Musical Solution with
                      Gravis Personal Piano System


Vancouver, British Columbia -- January 06, 1994 -- Advanced Gravis
Computer Technology Ltd., an innovator in affordable wavetable audio
boards and software, announced that they will ship in February a
complete home piano package based on the Gravis UltraSound board.
The "Gravis Personal Piano System" provides all the elements for a
versatile musical keyboard system that will satisfy the needs of
beginning  piano students to sophisticated orchestral composers for
under $495.  Unlike proprietary musical systems, the Gravis Personal
Piano System provides important multimedia components that can be used
by non-music computer users as well.

The Gravis Personal Piano System includes the following:

 Gravis UltraSound board, providing natural piano sounds along with
  192 MIDI instrument sounds. Gravis UltraSound uses wavetable
  synthesis to provide true-to-life sounds of musical instruments and
  special effects.

 A four octave velocity sensitive MIDI keyboard with full size keys,
  manufactured by Fatar, the worlds leading manufacturer of master
  keyboards.

 Pair of Powered Speakers.

 Musicware's Piano, a self-pacing, instructional piano teaching program
  for all ages levels, which steps users through a programmed teaching
  system designed to give users keyboard skills and build their
  confidence to explore the world of multimedia applications.

According to Grant Russell, president of Advanced Gravis, "the Gravis
Personal Piano System reaffirms our commitment to product development
by providing high quality multimedia solutions that the whole family
can experience and benefit from together."

The Gravis Personal Piano System includes Musicware Piano's
professionally developed and curriculum based teaching program.  Six
courses in all, Musicware Piano is designed to take beginning music

(Continued to next message)
---
  QMPro 1.51  -={ Gravis UltraSound - The Power of PC Sound }=-

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

Date: Fri, 28 Jan 94 19:03:44
From: john.smith@gravis.com
Subject: Gravis just to let yo #11

(Continued from previous message)

enthusiasts from the basics to the classics and beyond.  Following is a
comparison of Musicware Piano and Miracle Piano (based on information
available 12/29/93):

                                        Musicware Piano                 Miracle

Runs under Windows                      Yes                             No

Integrated Sequential Curriculum
Teaches:

Music Theory & Notation     Yes             No
Ear Training                            Yes                             No
Rhythm                      Yes             No
Sight Reading                           Yes                             No
Tracks Individual Students  Yes             No
Provides Immediate Feedback Yes             Yes

Structured Learning Format  Yes             No

Multiple course offering taking student
through 3+ years of traditional piano
instruction.                            Yes                             No

Once users become familiar with their new "piano", they can explore
other bundled software including Midisoft Recording Session and Power
Chords for Windows, and sample the variety of 192 patches provided
with the UltraSound board.

In addition to UltraSound, Gravis' 16-bit CD quality stereo sound
cards featuring wavetable synthesis and recording, Advanced Gravis
Computer Technology Ltd., also designs, manufactures and markets high
quality microcomputer input devices including joysticks, gamepads for
both PC and Macintosh platforms.


Wew, thats all that I can think of for now. Have a good weekend and
keep on GUSsing!

C'ya

John

cc: gus-music@dsd.es.com
    mikrodatorn@cw.se
---
  QMPro 1.51  -={ Gravis UltraSound - The Power of PC Sound }=-

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

Date: Fri, 28 Jan 94 19:03:33
From: john.smith@gravis.com
Subject: Gravis just to let yo #11

This message was originally addressed to JOHN SMITH
and a carbon copy was sent to you.
                    ----------------------------------------

Gravis JUST TO LET YOU KNOW #11
 ------------------------------

Gravis Macintosh MouseStick II & Mac GamePad SDK V1.2 (MACSDK.SEA)
 ----------------------------------------------------
The game developer's joystick guide for Macintosh contains a book,
joystick artwork and sample code for supporting the Gravis MouseStick
and Mac GamePad.

This guide provides a look at the various styles of Mac game
controllers and their implementation with an emphasis on the Gravis
MouseStick and Mac GamePad.


SBOS V3.8B (GUS0036.ZIP)
----------
This version of SBOS adds the following:

 - Automatically loads itself high (ie: no need to use load high - LH).
   A -m switch will by pass this.
 - No longer hooks the keyboard interrupt. This means by default you
   will not be able to use the keyboard to adjust the volume. You may
   use a -k switch to enable this feature.
 - Improved help screen in LOADSBOS
 - -O5 switch added to help improve digital audio. May cause problems
   with some memory mangers.

NOTE: You should not have to use any switches with SBOS. A file called
      SBOS.CFG contains a list of all the known games that require
      switches. In total there are only about 10.


UltraSound V3.1 Software (GUS0037.ZIP)
------------------------
The new UltraSound software is now an 8 disk set. Six for the base
software (patches, windows drivers, midi players, etc...) and 2
for the bonus software (power chords, midisoft, wavelite, etc...).
A full install requires 17Mb of disk space. Now, that is one heck
of a bundle. You not only get a great sound card (yes I could be
considered biased) but you get enough software to keep you and your
family entertained for months.

Note that this software will NOT be shipped to our users free of
charge. I'm working on putting a package together so that you will
be able to order the software and manuals directly from us. I'll let
you know the cost of this upgrade once I finish putting the package
together.

GUS0037.ZIP will consist of the BASE software minus the MIDI patches,
not the BONUS software. The following is a quick overview on what
has changed since V2.06a.

 Installation
 ------------
   Handles DOS 6 multiple configs
   Windows Setup - Windows is now all setup and configured from DOS
                 - Check for presense of other sound devices/drivers
                    (VSB*.386, VPAS*.386, or anything in the midi=,
                     or wave= that isn't the UltraSound drivers)
                 - Groups/icons created next time Windows loaded
                 - Drivers now put in the user's WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory

 Software Included
 -----------------
   Ultrajoy       - Will no longer give a MIDI IRQ timeout error
   Ultrinit V2.16 - -S  Silent - Do not display heading
                    -ej Enable Joystick (V3.4 GUS or higher)
                    -dj Disable Joystcik (V3.4 GUS or higher)
                    No longer floats the AdLib ports to improve
                     coexistence with other sound cards.
   Windows Drivers - Auto detects UltraSound hardware installed
                     Support for ICS/Codec mixer chips
                     Combined 16 bit and regular GUS drivers
                     Reads in Ultramix.ini file
                     > 64K patch sample size support added
                     ADC DAC set to 0db for 16bit CODEC by default
           Mixer   - Now changes depending on hardware installed
                     Gain slider (w/CODEC)
                     Added ALWAYS on top
   PLAYFILE V3.2   - Fixed sine wave problem
   PLAYMIDI V5.3   - Control 7 Messages fixed
                   - Sampled Release added
                   - Possible solution to droped notes added
   Mega-Em V2.03   - Master volume switch (-Vxx) fixed
                   - Corrected problems with IRQ 2 and EMM386
                   - EMUSET now checks to make sure SB IRQ's are working
                   - General purpose check for other resident GUS software
                   - Added -FAST switch to EMUSET for problems with
                      Sierra software on fast machines.
                   - Added support for Netroom 3.
                   - Fix EMUSET SB IRQ check
   SBOS V3.7       - Added support for comments in SBOS.CFG
                   - Some fixes for Carmen SanDiego
   Patch Maker Lite- Windows based patch editor
   MODUS V1.5      - More stabel version since .5

(Continued to next message)
---
  QMPro 1.51  -={ Gravis UltraSound - The Power of PC Sound }=-

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

Date: Sat, 29 Jan 1994 14:11 -0500
From: WADLEIGH@PROCESS.COM
Subject: Re: GUS Musician's Digest V4 #29

GJBLUES is presently undergoing a dual-track revision.  I got mail from two
people who took GJBLUES3 for alteration.  One is redoing the drum track and
the other is doing an instrument track (maybe replacing the scratch guitar
track, but he didn't say).

Has anybody pulled GJPAID to work on that one?

Hal

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

End of GUS Musician's Digest V4 #30
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