Gravis - NicheInterests/mistfunk GitHub Wiki

Gravis, short for "Advanced Gravis Computer Technology, Ltd.", was an early-'90s (well, established 1983 but it took a while to boil to a head) PC hardware company based out of area code 604, most famous for the Gravis UltraSound, positioned as a successor to the Sound Blaster sound card, but also manufacturer of handy SNES-style gamepads for your computer -- indeed at one point in the '90s it was the world's biggest manufacturer of PC joysticks. It was bought in 1997 by Kensington, itself owned by ACCO.

If you sit through the credits of Second Reality, you will see a Gravis employee greeted by Future Crew, and indeed in the early '90s they helped to sponsor the Assembly demoparty (as well as New Media 1994 at BCIT, where Toothbrush Condensed won a GUS as a door prize!), recognizing that their advanced sound hardware could benefit from feedback and endorsement by some talented computer music programmers. (If you can, get an earful of the INEEDGUS.MOD tracker tune, hinging around use of the vocal sample: "I need Gravis UltraSound / to make better music. / ... but I can't afford.")