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


GUS Musician's Digest       Fri, 7 Jan 94  2:59          Volume 4: Issue   7  

Today's Topics:
                             bosen_l2.pat
                   Envelopes vs. Voices in Windows
                               Midisoft

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,  7 Jan 94 01:39:40 +0300
From: Lexy Bekhly <Pol@edito.msk.su>
Subject: bosen_l2.pat

>In order  to  use  this  patch  you  will  need  to install the new
>ultrasound window   drivers  that  come  with  "Patch  Maker  Lite"
>(pmak110.zip).

            A question:  are  pmak110's drivers just specific or the
         same as in the gus0035?
            I have 0035 drivers installed well NONE of  patchcaching
         apps (patchman,  MSRSession,  CWPro...)  is  able  to  load
         bosen_l2 into my GUS (w. 1M onboard) - they load  someth.
         about  256K  and think that it's alrite. Nothing is heard of
         course.
            Playmidi says  "load  patch  failure  bosen_l2 - 6" (BTW
         does anyone have a list of playmidi's errormessages -  what
         do they mean?). I can't audition this patch at all!
            Thanx on any help.

            Lexy F

Subject: bosen_l2.pat

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

Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 19:16:24 -0800
From: dna@netcom.com (David Altekruse)
Subject: Re: Envelopes vs. Voices in Windows

Clarke Brunt comments on my post:

>Some comments on yesterday's message about new Bosendorfer patch...

>>Since Patch Maker Lite has no envelope control features, I plugged in the
>>desired envelope parameters into the patch file with a hex editor.

>I haven't downloaded Patch Maker Lite yet, but does it REALLY have no
>envelope control. I would have thought that this was one of the more
>necessary requirements of a patch maker - I certainly had some fun
>experimenting with envelopes with the intractable patch.exe!

There is no control over envelope parameters in the Lite version.  Rumor has
it that it will be included in the PRO version, though I have no idea
when that will be available.  I couldn't agree with you more, however, that
the ability to control envelopes is too basic to be left out of even the
Lite version.  One simply can't make decent patches using the "one-size-fits-
all" envelope that Lite uses for most instruments, IMO.

If you make the "waveforms" under 64K you can go back and modify the
envelopes with patch.exe, of course, though that rather defeats the concept
of user-friendliness.  And the ability to make waveforms up to 256K in
size can be very useful.  Modifying the patches with a hex editor is quite
straightforward.  It just takes the SDK open to the patch format, a hex/dec
calculator, a hex editor, and some understanding of envelope parameters.
But it is time consuming, especially for a patch that has a number of
waveforms (bosen_l2.pat has 8), and about as far away from "user friendli-
ness" as one can get.  

>>One concern I had in making this new version was what voice number setting I
>>should use in the ultrasound window driver.  Envelope times are a function
>>of the number of voices selected.  A setting of 32 voices will result in
>>envelope times more than twice as long as with a setting of 14 voices.

>Surely this isn't right. I appreciate that the parameters actually loaded
>into the GUS registers need to vary with number of active voices, but
>surely the Windows driver adjusts the parameters stored in the patch file
>according to how many voices you have selected - I assumed that this
>was one reason why changing the number required Windows to be restarted.
>Correct me if I am wrong...

Why not find out for yourself?  It will only take you a couple minutes.  Set 
the number of voices in windows to 14 voices.  Restart Windows (which you have 
to do for the setting to take effect).  Load a patch that has a nice long decay
you can easily time, and then hold down a note.  Let's say you pick the 
electric piano (#2).  You'll get a time of about 8 seconds.  Now change the 
voice number to 32 and restart Windows again.  Play the same patch and note.  
If you selected the electric piano, you'll now get a release time of 18 
seconds.  (For this test I used the latest Windows drivers in pmake110.zip.)

Is this a bug?  Does Gravis plan on adding voice/envelope scaling to the 
windows drivers in the future?  If anyone knows, I'd be most interested
in finding out.

- David Altekruse, dna@netcom.com

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

Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 14:26:12 -0800 (PST)
From: Emory Menefee <em@crl.com>
Subject: Midisoft

I have search the faq and epas files in vain for a possible answer to 
the following problems with the Midisoft Recording Session.  There isn't 
much about this software at all, perhaps because Gravis only recently 
started shipping it.  

1. After a few weeks of satisfactory operation, I discover that I 
have lost definition for instruments.  For example, nos. 0-15 all sound like 
electronic piano, 16-23 like a reed organ, 24-31 like piano again, etc.  
I have tried everything I can think of short of reinstalling, including 
checking .ini files, etc.  Does anybody have any suggestions?  It bothers 
me that it happened in software, or at least I think it did.

2. I have been entirely unsuccessful in writing triplets.  The sign comes 
up on the screen over the cursor note, but triplets do not happen.  
Also, I've found the only way I can write a long held note underlying 
shorter notes is to give it a separate track, which looks like hell.  I 
realize I should probably be using something more sophisticated for 
composing, but I want to learn all I can with GUS, and it does claim to 
be able to handle these problems.

Does anybody know of a tech address at Midisoft?  Thanks.  Emory Menefee.

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

End of GUS Musician's Digest V4 #7
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