jmarsh wrote on 2024-07-26, 04:00:

Games that relied on ultramid were definitely the majority - however most of them had a static library version built into their sound drivers. Some of them would still show telltale signs of loading patches into memory on startup. It was a lot simpler than writing GUS output from scratch; you didn't have to know a thing about the hardware since ultramid provides API functions (via a software interrupt) for both music playback (by passing MIDI messages) and digital audio.

Interesting! I remember having to load UltraMID for many (real mode) games to work with my GUS back in the day, but I always thought that UltraMID was used only for music playback, as implied by the "MID" part in the name. I had no idea that UltraMID also provided an API for digital sample playback. But indeed, the documentation of the UltraMID INT 78h API in RBIL confirms this. Thanks, I learned something new today. 🙂

Would you (or others) happen to know if any games that supported the Gravis Ultrasound via UltraMID did so only for music playback, while accessing the GUS hardware directly or through another driver? I'm wondering this because the UltraMID API appears to provide a nice hardware abstraction layer that would allow for easier emulation, even on newer sound hardware without Intel 8257 (ISA) DMA support.

Of course, as you stated, some of those games would come wirh a statically compiled version of UltraMID, but it makes sense that such a built-in version would check for a pre-loaded (newer) version of UltraMID already being resident, right? Like later games that came with embedded versions of UNIVBE for VBE 2.0 support?

So it would appear that there are (at least) three real mode sound hardware abstraction APIs with varying levels of support in DOS games:

• INT 66h (DIGPAK/MIDPAK)
• INT 10h (VBE/AI)
• INT 78h (UltraMID)

Or did I misunderstand this?

New release! V2.1.0 MPU-401 now available in all modes.

This has got to be one of the best retro sound cards.

https://github.com/polpo/picogus/releases/tag/v2.1.0

Fantastic!! 👏👏👏
I've been waiting eagerly for this feature - and from the little testing I've done so far, it works beautifully!

Uh, this release makes me wish I had a wavetable header on my v1.1 card 😁

appiah4 wrote on 2024-07-30, 11:06:

Uh, this release makes me wish I had a wavetable header on my v1.1 card 😁

You're still good for external modules, or a Serdaco Chill -style adapter.

Shreddoc wrote on 2024-07-30, 22:14:

appiah4 wrote on 2024-07-30, 11:06:

Uh, this release makes me wish I had a wavetable header on my v1.1 card 😁

You're still good for external modules, or a Serdaco Chill -style adapter.

O have a Chill III. Cheers Serdaco, you are the best 😀

Tested the new firmware with a DreamBlaster S2. It works flawlessly!

I've never looked into wavetable, but this discussion has piqued my interest. I already have an SC-55. Would a wavetable daughterboard offer any advantages over it? The seem pretty pricey, but I might keep an eye on for one of it's worth it.

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2024-08-01, 01:32:

I've never looked into wavetable, but this discussion has piqued my interest. I already have an SC-55. Would a wavetable daughterboard offer any advantages over it? The seem pretty pricey, but I might keep an eye on for one of it's worth it.

Main reason is to just have an additional option for MIDI playback. The other advantage of an internal daughterboard is it takes up less room and wiring than an external sound module.

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2024-08-01, 01:32:

I've never looked into wavetable, but this discussion has piqued my interest. I already have an SC-55. Would a wavetable daughterboard offer any advantages over it? The seem pretty pricey, but I might keep an eye on for one of it's worth it.

ive been using a mt32-pi in wavetable format (see youtube scrapcomputing and i built them myself) so that gives me mt32 with intelligent mode and fluidsynth that will load sound fonts.

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-08-01, 01:50:

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2024-08-01, 01:32:

I've never looked into wavetable, but this discussion has piqued my interest. I already have an SC-55. Would a wavetable daughterboard offer any advantages over it? The seem pretty pricey, but I might keep an eye on for one of it's worth it.

Main reason is to just have an additional option for MIDI playback. The other advantage of an internal daughterboard is it takes up less room and wiring than an external sound module.

Thanks. I invested in a nice mixer to deal with the cabling problems, but more midi options would be nice, especially if they sound different from what I have.

Pickle wrote on 2024-08-01, 01:57:

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2024-08-01, 01:32:

I've never looked into wavetable, but this discussion has piqued my interest. I already have an SC-55. Would a wavetable daughterboard offer any advantages over it? The seem pretty pricey, but I might keep an eye on for one of it's worth it.

ive been using a mt32-pi in wavetable format (see youtube scrapcomputing and i built them myself) so that gives me mt32 with intelligent mode and fluidsynth that will load sound fonts.

Oh cool! I will definitely check that out.

Nice video from Phil on mouse emulation https://youtu.be/GiyuoIrxi5U?si=cvrprJKawLJSDEIJ

zuldan wrote on 2024-07-30, 06:17:

New release! V2.1.0 MPU-401 now available in all modes.

wow ! just wow !

so to clarify, the picogus.uf2 is the firmware that needs to be flashed onto the card? is there a video showing the process how to do it ?

and then use the latest pgusinit.exe to run it after boot and select what mode I want? eg -mode sb for SB compatibility and nothing else to get the wavetable header working as its automatic right away with ALL modes at same time? so can just go to game, choose SB for digital sounds and select General Midi on 330 for music using something like Dreamblaster S2 connected to the header port?

thanks

zuldan wrote on 2024-08-02, 13:17:

Nice video from Phil on mouse emulation https://youtu.be/GiyuoIrxi5U?si=cvrprJKawLJSDEIJ

that's awesome, that really makes me want one, good mouse emulation and soudcard emulation, hmmmm

Has anyone had any luck getting the PicoGUS to work in GUS mode for Windows 3.11 drivers? I saw some discussion in this thread, but no specific instructions on how to install the driver. I attempted to follow this guide

Guide: How to install Gravis Ultrasound Drivers in Windows 3.11

But, am still getting "Driver Error: Cannot load the Ultra Wave and MIDI Synth driver..." message when trying to add the driver in Windows 3.11.

ahyeadude wrote on 2024-08-03, 14:23:

Has anyone had any luck getting the PicoGUS to work in GUS mode for Windows 3.11 drivers? I saw some discussion in this thread, but no specific instructions on how to install the driver. I attempted to follow this guide

Guide: How to install Gravis Ultrasound Drivers in Windows 3.11

But, am still getting "Driver Error: Cannot load the Ultra Wave and MIDI Synth driver..." message when trying to add the driver in Windows 3.11.

Yes it works! Check if the SYSTEM.INI has a section for the GUS drivers (outside of the MIDI=, WAV=, MIXER= settings)... If it has, check if the settings are okay (DMA, IRQ, Port, etc).

Saw Phils video but I am wondering whether you can then also use a PS/2 Mouse and a PS/2 to USB adapter and use it on this card. That way you would have a somewhat newer but still somewhat period accurate input device.

Linoleum wrote on 2024-08-03, 18:23:

ahyeadude wrote on 2024-08-03, 14:23:

Has anyone had any luck getting the PicoGUS to work in GUS mode for Windows 3.11 drivers? I saw some discussion in this thread, but no specific instructions on how to install the driver. I attempted to follow this guide

Guide: How to install Gravis Ultrasound Drivers in Windows 3.11

But, am still getting "Driver Error: Cannot load the Ultra Wave and MIDI Synth driver..." message when trying to add the driver in Windows 3.11.

Yes it works! Check if the SYSTEM.INI has a section for the GUS drivers (outside of the MIDI=, WAV=, MIXER= settings)... If it has, check if the settings are okay (DMA, IRQ, Port, etc).

What steps did you take to install? Also did you use the standard driver pack supplied with PicoGUS? (ultrasnd.zip)

Been playing around with the PicoGUS for a few weeks now, love the card. I got an Athlon system that plays great with it, and a Pentium 4 system that does not (it will just power off anytime while attempting to use the card beyond PGUSINIT.) That board is very picky with other things (particularly AGP) anyway, so I'm not going to chalk that up to the PicoGUS.

The recent firmware that makes MPU401 available in all modes is fantastic. This alone has made it feasible as a one-card solution. I run it in GUS+MPU mode, which seems to be the most compatible. SB mode won't be detected by Tyrian and produces some garbage audio in Duke 3D, but that isn't why I got one anyway.

I also found out how to get Return To Zork to use GUS for sound effects and MPU for music. Couldn't ask for more, unless *somehow*, Adlib would be available also. 😀

Thanks to all involved in the development of this project.