8MBGM and 8MBGSFX Gravis Patch Set v1.3
=======================================
(C)Copyright 1997-2004, Rich „Weeds„ Nagel - All rights reserved

Overview
--------
The files in this archive consist of a complete set of high quality Gravis
format patch files that were created from EMU Technologies "8MBGM.SF2" and
"8MBGSFX.SF2" SoundFont format soundbanks (E-mu Rev B).

The patch set consists of 635 Gravis format patches (a total of 32,156,227
bytes of patch files) which make up a single high quality General MIDI
compatable standard melodic bank, and a total of nine different General MIDI
compatable drum kits (Standard, Room, Power, Electronic, TR-808, Jazz, Brush,
Orchestral, and Sound Effects drum kits).

These patch files can be used with the software wavetable synthesis MIDI music
synthesizer "Timidity", or any program or utility that supports Gravis format
patches for music synthesis (such as the native Gravis patch support included
with PRBOOM, the native Timidity support included with ZDOOM, the software
wavetable synthesis digital MIDI "DIGMID" music driver support included with
BOOM or any other Allegro based application, or the MIDI player support of the
Cubic Player).

Essentially this patch set will make the MIDI music playback of any of the
above mentioned applications sound highly realistic, all without the need of
expensive MIDI hardware.


Installation
------------
First create a new directory on your hard drive (i.e. "C:\8MBGMPAT"), and then
simply unzip the files contained in the 8MBGMPAT.ZIP archive to this new
directory.


Allegro Usage
-------------
1) Run the ASETUP.EXE or SETUP.EXE configuration utility that is included with
   the Allegro based application.

2) Select the proper "Digital Driver" for your sound card.

3) For best sounding results, change the Digital Driver's sampling rate within
   the configuration utility to 22,727 (or higher).

4) Back at the main Setup menu, click on "Midi Driver" and select the "Digital
   MIDI" (DIGMID) option.

5) Click on "Patches" and navigate around your hard drive to the directory
   where you unzipped the patches, and then select one of the following nine
   configuration files:

   BRUSH.CFG    = Standard Melodic Bank and Brush Drum Kit
   ELECTRIC.CFG = Standard Melodic Bank and Electronic Drum Kit
   JAZZ.CFG     = Standard Melodic Bank and Jazz Drum Kit
   ORCHSTRL.CFG = Standard Melodic Bank and Orchestral Drum Kit
   POWER.CFG    = Standard Melodic Bank and Power Drum Kit
   ROOM.CFG     = Standard Melodic Bank and Room Drum Kit
   SFX.CFG      = Standard Melodic Bank and Sound Effects Drum Kit
   STANDARD.CFG = Standard Melodic Bank and Standard Drum Kit (default)
   TR808.CFG    = Standard Melodic Bank and TR-808 Drum Kit

6) Back at the main Setup menu, click on "Test" to test your Digital Driver and
   Midi Driver selections.

7) Back at the main Setup menu, click on "Save Changes and Exit". The setup
   utility will then create the file ALLEGRO.CFG in the current directory with
   your saved settings.


BOOM Usage
----------
1) Run the ASETUP.EXE configuration utility that is included with BOOM.

2) Select the proper "Digital Driver" for your sound card.

3) For best sounding results, change the Digital Driver's sampling rate within
   the configuration utility to 22,727 (or higher).

4) Back at the main Setup menu, click on "Midi Driver" and select the "Digital
   MIDI" (DIGMID) option.

5) Click on "Patches" and navigate around your hard drive to the directory
   where you unzipped the patches, and then select one of the following nine
   configuration files:

   BRUSH.CFG    = Standard Melodic Bank and Brush Drum Kit
   ELECTRIC.CFG = Standard Melodic Bank and Electronic Drum Kit
   JAZZ.CFG     = Standard Melodic Bank and Jazz Drum Kit
   ORCHSTRL.CFG = Standard Melodic Bank and Orchestral Drum Kit
   POWER.CFG    = Standard Melodic Bank and Power Drum Kit
   ROOM.CFG     = Standard Melodic Bank and Room Drum Kit
   SFX.CFG      = Standard Melodic Bank and Sound Effects Drum Kit
   STANDARD.CFG = Standard Melodic Bank and Standard Drum Kit (default)
   TR808.CFG    = Standard Melodic Bank and TR-808 Drum Kit

6) Back at the main Setup menu, click on "Test" to test your Digital Driver and
   Midi Driver selections.

7) Back at the main Setup menu, click on "Save Changes and Exit". The setup
   utility will then create the file ALLEGRO.CFG in your BOOM directory with
   your saved settings.


Cubic Player Usage
------------------
1) Edit the "guspatchpath=" line in the CP.INI configuration file (located in
   your Cubic Player directory) to point to the drive and complete path to
   where you unzipped the patches on your hard drive (i.e.
   "guspatchpath=C:\8MBGMPAT", minus the quotes).

2) Optionally copy one of the following nine configuration files to the
   filename DEFAULT.CFG (located in the directory where you unzipped the
   patches):

   BRUSH.CFG    = Standard Melodic Bank and Brush Drum Kit
   ELECTRIC.CFG = Standard Melodic Bank and Electronic Drum Kit
   JAZZ.CFG     = Standard Melodic Bank and Jazz Drum Kit
   ORCHSTRL.CFG = Standard Melodic Bank and Orchestral Drum Kit
   POWER.CFG    = Standard Melodic Bank and Power Drum Kit
   ROOM.CFG     = Standard Melodic Bank and Room Drum Kit
   SFX.CFG      = Standard Melodic Bank and Sound Effects Drum Kit
   STANDARD.CFG = Standard Melodic Bank and Standard Drum Kit (default)
   TR808.CFG    = Standard Melodic Bank and TR-808 Drum Kit

3) For the best sounding results, press the "E" key on your keyboard within
   Cubic Player to access the "Echo Editor" menu, and select the "Waschmaschine
   & Hagel (c) Koegl" echo while playing a MIDI file.


PRBOOM Usage
------------
1) Copy the TIMIDITY.CFG file from the directory where you unzipped the patches
   to your PRBOOM directory.

2) Edit the "dir c:\patches\8mbgmpat" line in the TIMIDITY.CFG configuration
   file (located in your PRBOOM directory) to point to the drive and complete
   path to where you unzipped the patches on your hard drive (i.e. "dir
   c:\8mbgmpat", minus the quotes).

3) For best sounding results, change the "Sample Rate" within PRBOOM's "Sound
   Options" menu to 22,050 (or higher).


Timidity Usage
--------------
1) Copy the TIMIDITY.CFG file from the directory where you unzipped the patches
   to your Timidity directory.

2) Edit the "dir c:\patches\8mbgmpat" line in the TIMIDITY.CFG configuration
   file (located in your Timidity directory) to point to the drive and complete
   path to where you unzipped the patches on your hard drive (i.e. "dir
   c:\8mbgmpat", minus the quotes).

3) For best sounding results, select "Enable Chorus Control Effect", "Enable
   Reverb Control Effect", "Enable Overlapped Same Voice", 16-bit, and stereo,
   and change the sampling rate to 44,100 (or higher) within Timidity's various
   "Preferences" menus.


ZDOOM Usage
-----------
1) Download the special version of Timidity for ZDOOM from
   http://www.zdoom.org/files/timidity4zdoom.zip.

2) Unzip the files contained in the timidity4zdoom.zip archive to your ZDOOM
   directory.

3) Copy the TIMIDITY.CFG file from the directory where you unzipped the patches
   to your ZDOOM directory.

4) Edit the "dir c:\patches\8mbgmpat" line in the TIMIDITY.CFG configuration
   file (located in your ZDOOM directory) to point to the drive and complete
   path to where you unzipped the patches on your hard drive (i.e. "dir
   c:\8mbgmpat", minus the quotes).

5) Edit the "snd_mididevice=" line in the ZDOOM.INI configuration file (located
   in your ZDOOM directory) to read "snd_mididevice=-2" (minus the quotes).

6) For best sounding results, edit the "timidity_reverb=" and
   "timidity_chorus=" lines in the ZDOOM.INI configuration file (located in
   your ZDOOM directory) to read "timidity_reverb=1" and "timidity_chorus=1"
   (minus the quotes) to enable MIDI reverb and chorus, and the
   "timidity_frequency=" line to read "timidity_frequency=22050" (or higher).


Technical Information
---------------------
If you understand the basics of Gravis format patches and the concepts of
software wavetable synthesis, have a look at all of the configuration files
included with this package. There are numerous remarks of interest in those
files that I have added throughout the years as this project has slowly
developed (since December 1997), and during the time that the configuration
files were created and edited.


Legalities
----------
The 8MBGM and 8MBGSFX Gravis Patch Set (8MBGMPAT.ZIP) may be freely distributed
in it's unmodified and unedited form with no modifications to any of the
included support files or documents, and in it's original unmodified and
unedited ZIP format archive for any non-commercial use as freeware.

The archive and/or it's contents may not be distributed on any commercial
CD-ROM or any other commercial magnetic or electronic media (commercial or
freeware implied), on any "pay per download" online service, for any purpose of
financial gain whatsoever, or for any purpose other than 100% freeware.


Version History
---------------
v1.0                  - First unreleased test version.
(December 8, 1997)

v1.1                  - Second unreleased test version.
(December 11, 1997)

v1.2                  - Privately released test version.
(January 1, 1998)

v1.3                  - Final release.
(April 20, 2004)


ENJOY!
------
Rich „Weeds„ Nagel [CIS: 112615,1575]
RichNagel@compuserve.com
112615.1575@compuserve.com
RFNagel@juno.com
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/RichNagel
http://www.geocities.com/RFNagel
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Metro/7256
http://snor.cmoo.com/weeds
http://www.cmoo.com/~snor/weeds
