Precedence: Bulk
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 93  3:22 MDT
Errors-To: gus-music-owner@dsd.es.com
From: gus-music-server@dsd.es.com (GUS Musician's Server)
Reply-To: gus-music@dsd.es.com (GUS Musician's Digest)
Subject: GUS Musician's Digest V1 #6


GUS Musician's Digest       Mon, 25 Oct 93  3:22 MDT     Volume 1: Issue   6  

Today's Topics:
                  16 bit daughtercard availability?
                  Distortion of playback in Windows
                        GUSJam, patches etc...
                     GUS Musician's Digest V1 #5
                     GUS recording under Windows?
                         low recording levels
                   Midi Connectors/boxes/cables...
                             Midi Volume
                             Patch making
                          piano.pat (2 msgs)

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: Mon, 25 Oct 93 16:45:04 EST
From: David Mitchell <davidm@hparc1.aus.hp.com>
Subject: 16 bit daughtercard availability?

G'day all,

Does anybody know when the 16-bit recording daughtercard will be released?
I'm certain somebody has probably posted the specs before, but if anybody
could repost/send me the details I'd appreciate it.

Once the 16-bit card's available, I think we're going to see an explosion in
the availability of patches.  With 8-bit, it's not really worth my time to
sample high-quality sources (I don't have a CD-ROM or dedicated sampler), but
when 16-bit becomes available, I'll gladly start sampling sounds off my GM
module to replace those shipped with the GUS and I've got no trouble with
posting these patches to epas for other people to use.  I imagine a lot of
other people feel the same way.  Francois' sampling of various gear proves
to me that the GUS is a viable source for reasonable quality sound.

My personal wish list (in order) for GUS stuff is:
- 16-bit daughtercard
- patch bank loading utility (not that I *hate* editing ultrasnd.ini, but...)
- a *friendly* patch editor
- software emulation of filters, etc. for GUS patches similar to those
available on high end dedicated samplers (i.e. Why can't my GUS do *everything*
a K2000 can do?)
- drivers for OS/2 and WinNT
- more/better games drivers (OK, hands up who's NEVER played a game with their
GUS!!)

Dave Mitchell
Highly satisfied GUS user

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

Date: Sun, 24 Oct 93 9:18:14 EDT
From: apervazo@sas.upenn.edu (Andrian Pervazov)
Subject: Distortion of playback in Windows

I've noticed a strange thing - when playing a midi file under Windows,
some (or maybe all, buth with some patches it's more obvious) patches
sound sort of distorted and muddy. For example - cymbals, flute, guitar
etc. At first, I thought it was because of the bad patch quality, but then
I discovered that in DOS, when using playmidi the same files and patches
sound much much better. I have 1 MB of memory and the setup of the
ultrasound driver uses the "hgh fidelity" option, so this shouldn't be the
case. Has anybody out there experienced the same problem? Any suggestions? 

--  
|===============================================|
|	Andrian Pervazov 	                |
|	University of Pennsylvania              |
|	Music Department                        |
|	Internet: apervazo@mail.sas.upenn.edu   |
|	Phone: 215-382-0798                     |
|===============================================|

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

Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1993 17:55:21 -0400 (EDT)
From: dionf@ERE.UMontreal.CA (Francois Dion)
Subject: GUSJam, patches etc...

> From: dmcintyr@muselab.ac.runet.edu
> Subject: cutom patches etc.
> 
> Does anyone know once and for all just exactly what the legality is of
> borrowing sounds from a commercial keyboard?  Francois Dion said something
> about it being impossible to copyright a wave form.

The waveform itself cannot be copyrighted but a patch is software and so can
be copyrighted. This is quite subtle. You can extract a waveform from a
copyrighted within what is permitted (you'll have to check with your lawyer).
For example, sampling another machine is acceptable. So you can then
redistribute a new patch made from the wave or simply the wave, but you cannot
redistribute the original patch (like an EPS16+ or Kurzweil patch for example)
unless it is stated that you can. By default, the copyright is there (like
any text you write on internet, you have a copyright by default).

> If this is completely
> true then I have a friend with a mondo awesome keyboard that puts the GUS
> patches to utter shame.  It seems like it would be a fairly simple matter
> to sample everything and make GUS patches that would sound almost as good,
> but I wouldn't want to do anything blatantly illegal.

Whatever you do, i take no responsibility for. If you want real legal advice,
ask your lawyer and evaluate.

> Gravis really needs to come up with some sort of bank switching mechanism
> to facilitate having custom patches. 

It's beeing tested (or so i heard) presently so expect to see the new drivers
soon (which include linear volume too).

> ------------------------------
> From: PWRJAM01@Uctvax.UCT.AC.ZA
> Subject: EPS songs format to MID format

I only have the sysex, disk format and .ins format. I dont have the .sng
format. However I think Terje on the EPS list has it and has made a
converter for Macintosh. the EPS list is at eps-request@reed.edu.

> ------------------------------
> From: read@utpapa.ph.utexas.edu (Dave Read)
> Subject: GUS recording under Windows?
> 
> I DL'ed GoldWave from EPAS last night, and started playing around with
> it, recording some sounds from a microphone, and then from the
> pre-amped output on my guitar.  Everything worked great, except that
> the input levels were awfully low.  Then I tried recording with Pocket
> Recorder and finally the 'microphone' accessory that comes with
> Windows...But all had the same 'low volume' problem.

What is the impedance of the guitar preamp and microphone that you tried?
The microphone input expects 600 ohm, so if you have a 10Kohm mike, you wont
get very high levels. As for the line input it expects 1.8v peak to peak or
2v peak to peak max. A CD player for example will output a maximum of 2V
typically. Some equipment are on a 1v peak to peak max so it will record at
a lower level.

> Does anybody know how to get the GUS to record with a higher input
> amplification, or do I have to build an outboard pre-amp to record at
> reasonable levels??

The GUS with "standard" audio equipment is perfectly matched giving 1.76v
output max (maximum output from DAC) from a file recorded with a 2V input.
If you dont get this, you'll either need an external mixer or if you have
a tape deck with gain control, try using it between your sound system and
the GUS.


***and last thing***

Let's try GUSjamming. Included in the message is a powerchord file uuencoded.
Use uudecode (it is also on epas) on this message and you'll get paid1.zip.
The file doesn't have much musical info, it's just the main loop plus hihat
intro from Eric B. and Rakim's "Paid in full". Now, whoever feels like it,
add a bassline or synth or whatever and reupload the result as paid2.zip, etc.
The point is not to recreate paid in full, but just elaborate on the loop and
create a new song. Also, you can create new drum loops (hopefully related to
the initial loop!) or change volume levels etc...

Now, GUsers, at your keyboards! Let's see what kind of monster we can come up
with. I would suggest staying with the powerchords file till the final mix
because not everybody has wincake pro and it is also easier to modify the
bassline and drums in powerchord.

So here it is, uuencoded, 49 lines.
-----cut-----
begin 644 paid1.zip
M4$L#!!0``@`(`$A]6!ME`<0V=@0``-`?```,````4$%)1$953$PN4$]7[9G+
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M`````0`@````H`0``%!!241&54Q,+E185%!+!08``````@`"`'0```!A!P``
"````
`
end
-----cut-----

Ciao,
-- 
Francois Dion
    '  _   _   _ 
 CISM (_) (_)  _) FM       Montreal , Canada       Email: CISM@ERE.UMontreal.CA
      (_)  / . _)             10000 Watts          Telephone no: (514) 343-7511
_______________________________________________________________________________
Audio-C-DJ-Fractals-Future-Label-Multimedia-Music-Radio-Rave-Video-VR-Volvo-...

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

Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1993 18:52:32 -0400 (EDT)
From: Phat H Tran <ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: Re: GUS Musician's Digest V1 #5

> Date: Sat, 23 Oct 93 08:55:36 EST
> From: CWENTLIN@KENTVM.KENT.EDU
>
> re: MIDI Mapper disappearing 
> What could have happened, and why? P.S. I did replace my gravis config file
> with the original midimap.cnf.

MIDI Mapper disappears when the MIDI driver for whatever soundcard you 
have is uninstalled.  So check in Control Panel, Drivers for your
Ultrasound audio driver.  If it's not there, Add it.  If it is there, try
removing it and then adding it again.

Phat.

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

Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1993 10:57:33 -0400
From: Alex Harden <harden@acsu.buffalo.edu>
Subject: Re: GUS recording under Windows?

>Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1993 13:47:55 +22311151 (CDT)
>From: read@utpapa.ph.utexas.edu (Dave Read)

>I DL'ed GoldWave from EPAS last night, and started playing around with
>it, recording some sounds from a microphone, and then from the
>pre-amped output on my guitar.  Everything worked great, except that
>the input levels were awfully low.  Then I tried recording with Pocket
>Recorder and finally the 'microphone' accessory that comes with
>Windows...But all had the same 'low volume' problem.

>Does anybody know how to get the GUS to record with a higher input
>amplification, or do I have to build an outboard pre-amp to record at
>reasonable levels??

did you enable the Mic Input via the UltraSound Mixer applet in Windows?

that's the only thing i can think of off hand...

alex
--
alex harden -- university at buffalo -- harden@acsu.buffalo.edu
----------------------- bassist at large ----------------------
 rickenbacker - ibanez - hartke - peavey - boss - dod/digitech
          "i'm not a funky guy." -- geddy lee of rush

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

Date: Sun, 24 Oct 93 12:21:04 EDT
From: dmcintyr@muselab.ac.runet.edu
Subject: low recording levels

To the person who had recording trouble...  Just a thought.  I have
similar trouble myself.  Everything worked fine but the recording levels
were so ridiculously low that it was worthless.  Then someone asked me if
I remembered to turn the microphone input on with the mixer.  Oops!  That
fixed it for me and now the recording level is fine.
--Michael--

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

Date: Sun, 24 Oct 93 4:41:56 MDT
From: Steve "Bongos" Larson <larson@ee.ualberta.ca>
Subject: Midi Connectors/boxes/cables...

Hi all.

Some of you are wondering about the midi box, etc. I spoke with Matt
many moons ago, and the PAS midi cable works fine w/o modifications.
I think there is a patch in the FAQ (?) for a SB midi cable too. The
cable I'm using is called "Sound Galaxy" and has Midi in/out and
a joystick extension. If you don't need 'thru', this is a cheap cable
at ~$35 Can and works well.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Steve Larson,   Department of Computer Engineering, University of Alberta
larson@bode.ee.ualberta.ca	c311-47@ucs.ualberta.ca (if bode bounces)

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

Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1993 15:22:43 -0400
From: KWAN  RICHARD SIK YIU <kwanr@ecf.toronto.edu>
Subject: Midi Volume

Is there a program in Windows that can adjust the volume of midi files?
Cause I tried to write a song using Midisoft, but it is barely hearable.
I tried to pump the volume of each track to its maximum, but still too
soft. Also some of the midis I downloaded from epas is either too soft 
or too loud. I need to adjust my speaker volume or the mixer in order to
get the right volume. I would like to know if there is a program that 
could allow user to change the volume of the midi files.

Thanks in advance!
A Happy GUS owner!

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

Date: 24 Oct 1993   13:12:02 PST
From: chrisw <chrisw@leland.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: Patch making

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

>>From: dmcintyr@muselab.ac.runet.edu
>>Actually it wouldn't be such a simple matter now that I consider for a
>>time.  I'd have to sample each sound in several ranges and be sure to turn
>>off any reverb, as sampled reverb would make the patches sound awful... 

What you really need to do is to make a patch on the keyboard you're taking
the sample from that simply plays back the sample with no filtering, 
amplitude envelope or modulation (including velocity sensitivity). 
Also switch off the effects.

Then it's a fairly simple matter to find the loop points that they use for
the sample in the keyboard and use them on the GUS. Also, you can
hear the split points fairly clearly and you just sample a note in the
middle of any two split points, and use the same split points on the GUS.

Of course, this only works for sampling the acoustic instruments. The 
`synthy' sounds generally work BECAUSE of the filters, etc. So the correct
approach is really to try and edit the patch so there is a stable part
somewhere in the sample which you'll be able to loop. 

Of course, if you're sampling percussion noises things are much easier.

However, my basic recommendation to people thinking of making patches is
DON'T DO IT unless you have 16-bit recording facilties! The built in 
recording capabilities of the basic GUS aren't really up to it. Better to 
wait for the 16-bit card rather than have to do everything again once
you get it.

>>Michael-- << dmcintyr@muselab.ac.runet.edu >>:
>>That patch sounds quite good.  Much better than acpiano.  I noticed one
>>thing though...  In the high range it almost seems to have too long of an
>>attack or something.  When played rapidly in the high range the sound
>>seems to cut off before it's even started.  I realize that on a real piano
>>there's no sustain, but this seems to be something with the attack, not
>>the sustain or decay.

A couple of possibilities. Firstly, if they're using REALLY high notes, then
my highest sample is getting a long way out of range. Since every octave
halves the duration of the note, the notes will get pretty short.

Secondly, perhaps your mid is using up all the GUS notes you've got enabled
and you're getting new notes cut short because of this?

Thirdly, since my MPU-401 input still isn't working, I can't actually
play the patch on a keyboard yet. I might re-tweak the patch once I'm
midi in-ed again. 

The thing I might do if I get enthused is redo the whole thing with some
(fixed) filtering of the waveforms. The problem with the current patch is
that it always sounds like the notes are being hit really hard. Of course,
if I redo it it will always sound like they're being hit softly. Another
reason for Gravis to get around to implementing layers in patches with
varying velocity / amplitude curves.

BTW, now I think about it, most of the sustain in high notes on a piano
either comes from reverberations of the other strings (if the sustain
pedal is down), or from reverberations of the hall/ room/ house.

>>Dan:
>>If you're in the market for a relatively inexpensive, but really nice MIDI
>>controller, check out the Roland A-30. I believe it's between $600-700 US.

But Dan, how can you condone such false advertising (Re: `weighted keys')?!?

Chris.

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

Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1993 00:11:05 +1100
From: adriano ennio raiola <adrianr@mullian.ee.mu.OZ.AU>
Subject: piano.pat

Just listened and compared piano.pat to the exisiting ones, sorry Chris,
but I think piano.pat sounds a bit artificial compared to the acpiano,
which has a much more natural sounding decay. And for that matter i wouldnt
really substitute it for any of the other pianos (at 180K its not worth it)

what sort of piano is it representing anyway?

adrian

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

Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1993 10:28:20 +0800 (PST)
From: Francis Li <fli@nermal.santarosa.edu>
Subject: piano.pat

I got the patch from epas, but when I edit it into the default.cfg file,
whenever I play a MID that needs it, I get a "Load patch error piano - 6"
or SOMETHING like that. What's wrong? I have a 1meg GUS...

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

End of GUS Musician's Digest V1 #6
**********************************

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