VOGONS

Common searches


Where to get GUS patches

Topic actions

First post, by Guest

User metadata

Now that DOSBox emulates the great Ultrasound, I wonder where can I get the sound patches. I owned an Ultrasound Max time ago, but sold it with all the original patches, the software and a *GREAT* patch kit I downloaded from the net made by a dude called Eero Räsänen. Now I can't find those patches anywhere nor the original Gravis ones 😢. Any help ?

Reply 1 of 57, by Alkarion

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Take a look here, these are the original drivers with patches included.

http://www.filelibrary.com/Contents/DOS/38/7.html

(I currently cannot access the address and I'm not sure if it's the exact location, perhaps you need to search for GUS)

Reply 2 of 57, by Guest

User metadata

Lots of thanks for the URL!!! I've downloaded 3.59 drivers and they work!!!

But searching the web for the newest 4.11 drivers, I've found the URL http://www.dcee.net/Files/Music/Gus/

And guess what? It has the GREAT Eero Räsänen patches! They are labeled "Pro Patches Lite 1.50". Many many thanks again! I'm now very very happy 😊

Reply 3 of 57, by MiniMax

User metadata
Rank Moderator
Rank
Moderator

Guest? Could you do a simple, 7-8 lines long guide on how to install those GUS patches? I guess it is second nature to someone who have (or has owned) a real board, but I would like a little bit of hand-holding here.

Thanks,
MiniMax

DOSBox 60 seconds guide | How to ask questions
_________________
Lenovo M58p | Core 2 Quad Q8400 @ 2.66 GHz | Radeon R7 240 | LG HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH40N | Fedora 32

Reply 4 of 57, by Guest

User metadata

Ok, let's go with the installation:

1) Download the 6 ZIP files containing the drivers from the URL I gave to you in my previous post. These are named "gus411a.zip" to "gus411f.zip". Unzip all of them into a directory accessable from DOSBox.

2) Launch DOSBox and execute the INSTALL.EXE in that directory. Choose to install the files into C:\ULTRASND (if you want to change it, you must change the DOSBox configuration file too). Choose not to install Windows drivers if prompted, as these are not needed unless you have Windows 3.11 installed. When prompted for the configuration values (base address, IRQ, DMA) choose the same you have at dosbox.conf file. If you didn't change any, these values will be 240, 5 and 3 respectively. In SoundBlaster *emulation* values, enter whatever you want, these will be never used (for example I entered the same as the SoundBlaster values in dosbox.conf). The soundcard tests will give some errors, you must skip them.

3) You will end with a C:\ULTRASND directory with a MIDI subdirectory in it, which contains all the sound patches. There will be an C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT file too which you can safely delete. Also, you can delete the directory you created at step 1 if you don't want to keep the original files. To test the MIDI capabilities, execute MIDIDEMO.BAT at C:\ULTRASND directory. With some luck, you will not find the disturbing noise problem I have.

That's all folks 😉

PD: Although the sound patches installed with 4.11 drivers are very good, there is a patch kit, Pro Patches Lite 1.50 made by Eero Räsänen, which is even better. I recommend you to install them, look at the URL I gave in my previous post. Download and uncompress the files like in the step 1 and follow the Installation instructions at PPATLITE.TXT (warning: in step 2, instead of modifying AUTOEXEC.BAT and rebooting, just type "SET PROPATS=x:\yyyyy" at command line and then do the following steps).

Reply 6 of 57, by voyageur

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Well the mididemo.bat was really choppy on my little athlon, but I found an old version of a program called cubic player that can uses GUS to play MIDI files: the audio output is quite pretty! 😀

Now the next free hours of the week will be dedicated to zone 66 with GUS sound 😁

Voyageur

Reply 9 of 57, by voyageur

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

I use Cubic player 1.7 with its bundled dos4gw 1.6. It works quite well except that it hangs at exit (which requires a Ctrl+F9 to do something else 😦 )

Voyageur

Reply 10 of 57, by Guest

User metadata

[I posted this message at the general forum by mistake 🙄 (Don't use Cubic Player to play MIDIs), but this was the real place I wanted to post in.]

Use Cubic Player for MODs and the like, but not for MIDIs. It's not an emulation issue, it's just Cubic Player that plays the instruments totally wrong, and I mean REALLY wrong : shorter length, incorrect ADSR times, shifted frequencies...

I tested version 1.7 of Cubic Player with some of the MIDIs that come with the Ultrasound software and there is a huge difference between PLAYMIDI and Cubic Player. Just test them both with STRIVING.MID or SOFUNKY.MID, you will hear the difference. Use "playmidi -video" command to avoid that ULTRASOUND hi-res screen which slows down the emulation .

Reply 11 of 57, by voyageur

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Ouch that's true! I used to play midi files (as well as mod files of course) on CP when I had a good old SoundBlaster, so I didn't notice that.

However even with the -video switch, playmidi is still too much for my poor athlon (and has sound saturation sometimes). 🙁 Luckily it's almost the only program using GUS which doesn't run smoothly on my box.

Good to know, though, that this isn't the ideal midi player (supporting GUS). Any other idea?

Voyageur

Reply 12 of 57, by Targaff

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

You know, I could swear I posted in this thread... 😒

Intel CC820 | PIII 667 | 2x128MB SDRAM | 3Dfx Voodoo 5 5500 @ Dell P790 | Creative SB PCI128 | Fujitsu MPC3064AT 6GB + QUANTUM FIREBALLlct10 10 GB | SAMSUNG DVD-ROM SD-608 | IOMEGA ZIP 100 | Realtek RTL8139C | Agere Win Modem

Reply 13 of 57, by Guest

User metadata

In the dosbox.conf file it states that "Patch sets used with Timidity should work fine." Swell, but how do you tell a game to use GUS? I've tried General MIDI setup for some games, but it hasn't worked. Does the game have to expressly support GUS, that is, must they have the 'Gravis Ultrasound' option in their setup program, or what? (Note: here I'm referring to any given game, if it's possible to play most games with the GUS emulation.)

Reply 14 of 57, by Stiletto

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
Targaff wrote:

You know, I could swear I posted in this thread... 😒

Maybe you let your login time out, and you're one of the guests?

"I see a little silhouette-o of a man, Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you
do the Fandango!" - Queen

Stiletto

Reply 15 of 57, by Targaff

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

No, I even recall seeing it posting; and none of the guest posts are what I asked.

Which was nothing important, just whether there was a reason to use an older version of CP and if later versions had better MIDI support.

Intel CC820 | PIII 667 | 2x128MB SDRAM | 3Dfx Voodoo 5 5500 @ Dell P790 | Creative SB PCI128 | Fujitsu MPC3064AT 6GB + QUANTUM FIREBALLlct10 10 GB | SAMSUNG DVD-ROM SD-608 | IOMEGA ZIP 100 | Realtek RTL8139C | Agere Win Modem

Reply 16 of 57, by seskanda

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Like the last guest, I have Timidity. However, it's NOT a useful program. So, unless I find a way to use it with DOSBox, i'll be promptly deleting it. I pretty much have the same question as Guest does. How can I use the GUS emulation (specifically, via Timidity) with games? I understand the SET ULTRASND stuff, but i can't seem to setup any game with GUS.

Reply 18 of 57, by seskanda

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie
Anonymous wrote:

The games MUST have an specific option to select Gravis Ultrasound. General MIDI, Roland or AWE32 will not work as they are completely different.

Go Figure!! Is there any alternative for this? You know what, someone should really consider making a *GUS Soft Synth* Ah, this would appease many a GUS enthusiasts, not to mention render GUS a trillion times more convenient & accessible!!!! I know of only one GUS emulator it's called Gusemu, and it just plain sucks!! I could never get the darn thing to work! Wait! what am i saying? Soft synths don't work with DOS games. 😢 Well, at least, the one's I use (Yamaha YXG50-100plus, Roland VSC 2, Edirol VSC 3.1, & Wingroove) don't. Do soft synths that work with DOS games even exist?

Last edited by seskanda on 2004-03-24, 00:01. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 19 of 57, by oneirotekt

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

I tried installing the GUS drivers as detailed above (from the 411 version linked) and as soon as I selected "Install" from the menu, I got kicked back out to the DOS(box) prompt. Any reason why? My DOSBox seems to be configured properly for GUS emulation.