From mailserv@gaia.ucs.orst.edu Fri Nov 11 20:59:14 1994
Precedence: Bulk
Date: Fri Nov 11 18:53:09 PST 1994
From: gus-music-request@gaia.ucs.orst.edu (GUS Musician's Server)
Reply-To: gus-music@gaia.ucs.orst.edu (GUS Musician's Digest)
Subject: GUS Musician's Digest V10 #10

GUS Musician's Digest       Fri, 11 Nov 94 18:53 PST     Volume 10: Issue  10 

Today's Topics:
                  Bank switching and standard banks
                   Books on "computer music" wanted
                         The promised message

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: Thu, 10 Nov 1994 16:08 -0500
From: WADLEIGH@PROCESS.COM
Subject: Re: Bank switching and standard banks

Just to simplify the "voting" on standard banks and some of the issues 
related to bank switching:

1. There is already a powerful and well-established standard in the 
   Roland GS banking.  True, it has a minor conflict with the defined 
   MIDI standard, but as the linear/log volume conflict showed, the 
   established de facto standard carries more weight than the MIDI 
   standard in practical application.  Since the SCC-1 has already 
   established accepted standard patch maps and bank-switching methods, 
   the "best" plan would be to build the basic methods to be Roland 
   GS compatible (reversed bytes and all).  This gives methods that 
   provide a common standard for banks and controls which taps into an 
   existing base for sequences that now occupy many megabytes of server 
   space.

   Yes, don't choke.  I'm recommending that the GUS driver become a 
   full SCC-1 emulator.  It still requires a scan of patch and bank 
   changes to prepare to play any MIDI sequence.  This is necessary 
   because the SCC-1 was not designed for caching.  It would not be 
   much worse than the current pre-play trance, though.

2. There are limits to the SCC-1 that the GUS does not have to impose 
   under certain circumstances.  Incremental patch loading is one of the 
   things that the GUS could do over the SCC-1.  This should be a 
   separate mode (like the linear/log volume switch).  The CC0/CC32 
   ordering could likewise be configurable.  The SCC-1 mode would simply 
   be the default.

Advantages:
   Accepts established standards for a large number of banked patches.
   Provides compatibility with a large base of existing sequences.
   Allows use of existing software that supports SCC-1.
   Provides expansion into features beyond current limits (e.g. 
   incremental patch loading).
 
Disadvantages:
   Requires full-sequence scan before playing.
   Requires fixing existing "bugs" in current drivers.
   Makes for a larger driver.

Note:
   The SCC-1 compatibility refers only to synth playback.  It does not 
   handle the MIDI port, where the GUS remains a subset of the MPU401 
   built into the SCC-1.

Advocacy:
   Make it act like an SCC-1 and you tap a huge base of demand.  Make it 
   act like anything else, and you have to try to sell against all sorts 
   of hardnosed resistance.  Are you listening Gravis and Forte?

Hal

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

Date: Fri, 11 Nov 1994 10:20:13 +0500
From: Tomas Stark <Tomas.Stark@lule.frontec.se>
Subject: Books on "computer music" wanted

Can someone out there please help me! Being a new MIDIer and GUSer I'm
looking for good books explaining the standards and possibilities of "computer
music".

Since I'm working with computers daily I'm not afraid of the more heavy technical
stuff.

I have a Roland PC-200 MkII keyboard and a GUS-MAX card.
______________________________________
 
  Tomas Stark, Sweden
______________________________________

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

Date: Fri, 11 Nov 1994 12:18:11 -0500 (EST)
From: Jonathan Strong <jstrong@emerald.tufts.edu>
Subject: The promised message

Dear Keith:

Here's a letter for the Jonathan file, sent via Scootmail.  I hope you're 
sound asleep right now, snoring peacefully.  (Note from Scoot: How can 
you be asleep if you're reading this?)  If you want to call me in NYC, 
I'm at Justin Richardson's: 212-924-6726.  Just in case!  I hope I find 
some weird rare old opera LPs cheap.  And I hope Deniz's concert is 
good.  I wish you could be there.  I'm sure it's classier than "Happy 
Arcadia."  There was a full-size Cecilia Bartoli cardboard cut-out at 
Tower Records.  Scott thought he should steal it for you!  I'll be in 
touch when I return, but till then I'll be thinking of you.

Love,

Jonathan

Keith - call me, too, if you get lonesome.  I hope to see you some time 
soon.  Hang in there!  - Scott

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

End of GUS Musician's Digest V10 #10
************************************

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