Subject: MIDI and REND386

From: Chris Hand <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 93 22:39:36 BST

Now that REND386 V5.0 is out (isn't the animation stuff great!),
I'm finally making a start on implementing MIDI support (possibly
some sort of soundcard support too).

I *do* have a simple set-up working (a new "sendmidi" command you
can use in animations), but the PD code I borrowed to drive the
MPU-401 interface uses "busy waiting", which seriously messes up
the more complex animations.  So I need to use an interrupt-based
scheme instead.

So: does anyone know where I can find a nicely-written piece of
code in C that implements interrupt-based MIDI comms?  I *could*
re-write the IBMCOM stuff that most people seem to be using
(MPU-401 is effectively a UART when in "dumb" mode), but I'd rather
follow the path of least resistance and use some ready-written code.

A local BBS here in England has some files called MPUINT.ZIP and
MPUPRO.ZIP in its PC-MIDI area, but I can't download them unless
I subscribe to the BBS (10 quid) and I'm not *that* desparate (yet!).

Thanks for any pointers,

Chris
[email-masked]

---

From: [email-masked] (Technically Sweet)
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1993 14:03:00 PDT

There's something called the CMU music kit, I think.
It has source for DOS MPU-401 cards.

MPU-401 is only MIDI.  The big selling sound cards
for PCs do sound sampling and FM synthesis as well.
The one to use (in my opinion) is the Gravis Ultrasound.

The GUS can load up any number of sound samples into 1 Meg.
It can play back 32 sounds at once in mono or 16 in stereo.
It does all mixdown, and will pitch-bend and pan-pot any sound
or all with individual controls.  You can get a DOS program
that will preprocess a sound sample into 8 samples from horizontal
and vertical directions, and a DOS library that knows how to
interpolate these into one sound channel with full 3D placement.
This software comes from Focal Point, the Beachtron folks.
Using anything else for PC sound is just a waste of time.
I think.  

The FTP site for GUS software is klingon.epas.utoronto.ca.
The official software development kit from Gravis is
archived there, and the manual is a separate PostScript file.

Gravis is being slow about delivering nifty add-ons, like
stereo sampling and CD-ROM control.  I think there's a
MIDI box for it.  But these are not important; GUS is just
wonderful for PC-based VR.  Nothing comes close.

-- 

Lance Norskog
[email-masked]
Data is not information is not knowledge is not wisdom.