_//\\________________________________________________________________________ _\\__T_A_T_I_C___L_I_N_E________________________________________ April, 2001 __\\_________________________________________________________________________ \\//__ Monthly Scene E-Zine ________________________________ 205 Subscribers _____________________________________________________________________________ --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Table Of Contents ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Opening: Message From the Editor Letters From Our Readers Features: Crack Intros Ambience 2001 Party Report Psycle -- New Release & Notes Columns: Music: The Listener -- Music by Nagz, 4t thieves and Gun Purist Retro Tunage -- "Beast From Inside" by Cube Demo: Screen Lit Vertigo -- Stigma by Emotive (party-version) General: Scene Sense: -- The Mod vs. MIDI Sequencing (and MP3) Editorial -- Honesty in Music Link List -- Get Somewhere in the Scene Closing: Credits --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Message From the Editor ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- It is of my regret to inform you that we are going to be short one member of our staff from this issue on. Gekko, who has written for us ever since Demojournal ceased circulation, is going to be parting from us. The feature article on "Crack Demos" in this issue will be his last. We wish him luck in the future, and hope that he might pop in and write us every once in a while. In other news, we have a pretty decent issue this month. Seven is back with his party reports (the boy loves demo parties) as he reports on Ambience 2001. He also reviews the winning demo from Ambience in Screen Lit Vertigo. Tryhuk has also given us some good reviews on music, new and old this month in both of his columns: Retro Tunage and The Listener. Then, you got the editorials from myself and PsiTron. Read up, and enjoy. --Coplan --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Letters From Our Readers ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- -=- Letter from Dilvish -=- Hi Coplan, Just because a new OS will not be a viable option for a while does not mean that the scene should ignore alternatives. A lot of us are very unsatisfied with the popular OS, and some of us have the skills to work on a BETTER alternative for everybody. I think I mentioned in an earlier response in this debate that an OS capable of real-time streaming, signal processing, and performance-oriented networking would not cause a sacrifice in performance for database applications or word-processing. We could use it, and end users could eventually migrate for FREE, if they chose. Will we try to force it? Certainly not. Will we lie down and do nothing, pretending that the popular choice is "good enough" for us, just because it's "good enough" for end-users? No way. Scene coders know how to make sexy interfaces, slick graphics, killer audio, cool effects, and make things skinnable. (Look at Sonique if you need an application example). That's the UI stuff that will win over the average Joe. In the mean-time, it will take literally years of work to create an OS that could compete with Windows in usability or performance. Using Linux as a base might give us a big head-start, but the hardware support issue will probably not solve itself for a few years yet, and Linux, though it's improving every day, is not quite there yet on many other fronts. However, Linux is open source, and many of us will be happy to hack away at it until it seems like the ONLY option for the demoscene. Already, there is headway being made with things like the ALSA project, and the recently proposed driver standardization (which may or may not catch on with manufacturers). The bottom line is, the debate is not over. Many of us are not satisfied, whatever popular opinion says, and thanks to the growing strength of the open source movement, we may have the last word in the end, whether the rest of the scene comes in late in the game or not. I suspect that we won't have the support of the rest of the scene until we have made tremendous strides, and it would be silly to cling to Windows any longer. Personally, I think it's long overdue. --Dilvish --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Crack Intros By: Gekko ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Let us start by going back to where the scene has come from. I am hesitant because I do not know how much you, the readers, have heard about this. Several of you know all this, and there are n plus one articles and internet pages about the origins of this little community. Still, to be sure, the best is if I start from the basics, and make up my own version of The Story. If you know at least as much about computers that you are reading this article, you must also know that there are computer games, which are not free, of course, and there are illegal groups of programmers who spend their free time on removing the copy protection and making these freely available to anyone. They are the 'crackers' and their community is called the 'warez scene'. This movement can be dated back to about the early 1980s, and to the ancient computers Commodore 64 and Atari. Probably these times are not that far from today and us after all, and there are many of you for whom this was the motivation to get involved in the scene. At least in my case it was a C64 and around 1992 where the initiative came from. In the early days these crackers were of course proud of being able to overcome the tricks the game developers devised against them. This is why they wanted to sign their names in the programs. This 'sign' was soon developed to a short show of their name with a souce of video effects and music. This was displayed before the game itself begun, there comes the name 'introduction', or in a short form, 'intro'. To compare to something from 'real life', these were similar to the logo of the media companies that we can see before a movie begins. To turn back to technical details, these effects had to be somehow squeezed into the game program itself, where there was hardly any empty place left. This is where the size limitation comes from. Later on, some of the programmers realized that they had more fun with working on these effects than with cracking or playing the games - because this activity is creative. You can express yourself in this in a way - yes, you can even call it 'art', even if some of the people would look blankly at you if you do so. These programmers were to be called 'coders'. The warez scene itself had a competitive spirit, the best was the one who could crack the hardest protection, the one who could deliver the most programs. This was where the idea came from that a competition ('compo') could be held for these intros, too. The goal was to make it as spectacular as possible. To make them comparable, a common size limitation was set for the entries to these competitions. This was different for each machine, now on the PC the 64 kilobytes limitation is the most common. That is, your goal is to write a program that can not exceed 64 kilobytes in size, and it has to show as spectacular graphics and has to play as good music as possible. At this point, the name 'intro' had not too much sense anymore, since it was not to introduce anything, but the name stuck. At least this way we can trace the story back easier. The other idea was to abolish this size limitation and make a program that demonstrates all what the programmers could force the computer do - this would be a demonstration, a so-called 'demo'. The people who create these demos and intros are the members of the 'demo scene'. Hardly any of them have connection with the 'warez scene', these two communities gradually splitted. In these days the motivation of someone to become a demoscener has usually nothing to do with cracking, it is rather about programming, computer graphics or music. We the demosceners know how the story of the demos and intros continue up to today. But most of us do not know about how the other path went. The computer game companies, not surprisingly, did not stop the production of games after the creation of the demoscene, and the warez scene lived on. I do not want to write their history, my only concern now is their intros. The name of these was from then on crack intro or 'cracktro', to distinguish it from a demoscene intro. Nowadays on the PC these intros are not anymore that markable to the people who play pirated games. They are not inserted into the game itself but included as a separate program - if the user wants to know what that could be, he starts it, otherwise it remains unnoticed. There is also a new kind of program - the installer. This is a small application which helps the user set up the pirated game onto the computer. This is usually very much like an intro (has a logo of the group and music) but it also has practical application apart from showing who the author was. How does a cracktro look like, then? It is similar to a demoscene intro (if this helps), but the old features of intros are kept most of the time. We can see old school logos and music - those which remind one to the works before the early 1990s. Graphics-wise this means graffiti type logos and fonts and simple effects like starfields or text scrollers. Old school music of the warez scene and the demoscene is 'chip music'. This style is the imitation of the sound which could be made by the old sound synthetiser chips. The intros look like this probably because of the nostalgy of the crackers, and they also signal the fellow-feeling on the scene: "we have roots" and "we belong together". They are very similar to old school intros on the demoscene. This is time I named a few groups. If you became interested, you can get their intros over the internet (see the list of URLs in the end of the article). There is Razor 1911, Fairlight and Myth; all these were active from the mid-1980s up to today. There are quite a few spectacular intros by these groups. To name an influential crack intro coder, I would choose Hetero of Razor 1911. Interestingly, Razor 1911 and Fairlight have demo divisions, too. The members of these make no illegal work but create demos for demoscene parties. Class is a newer group, but probably the most active one these days. They have very spectacular installers. Xpression is a group that creates crack intros. It is not directly involved in the warez scene, that is, they do not crack programs. They make intros to warez scene groups on request. They are not involved in the demoscene either, they do not make intros for competitions on demo parties. There is a collection of the intros they made to several dozens of crack groups. There is also a site especially dedicated to cracktros, called Intro Zone. This is an excellent collection of crack intros by several groups. As a side note, I would like to recommend chiptune.com, where you can find a collection of chip musics, the old school style which is most commonly used in these intros. A warez scener might frown when reading this article, I made simplifications and the only aspect of the warez scene I considered are intros. However, if you are not into these communities, you might have already got dizzy by the flood of the terms and acronyms. It would have been pointless to get into further details. I hope I was able to tell a few new pieces of The Story and I could convince you that you should click some of these URLs below. --Gekko -=- Related Pages -=- Intro Zone - members.easyspace.com/erekose Xpression - www.xpression.org Fairlight Crack Division - www.flt.org Fairlight Demo Division - www.fairlight.org Chip Music - www.chiptune.com --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Ambience 2001 Party Report By: Seven ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- -=- Friday, 2 February -=- I had some problems getting transport to Ambience, but in the end I just left work half a day earlier to get there. You've got to set priorities in your life :) The downside was that I arrived at 16:30, and the doors would open at 19:00. That's 2.5 hours standing outside, waiting in the cold, listening to the conversations of the other people waiting there, I noticed most of them were gamers. I didn't dare to walk too far away from my PC, but I found one other scener, the german musician: Skyrunner. At 19 o'clock, the people outside (already several hundreds) started to get nervous, counting down and yelling at the orgos etc. But it took another 30 minutes before the doors finally opened, and only a few people could enter at a time. That didn't prevent the crowd from pushing everyone towards the entrance. Suddenly I didn't feel as cold anymore, but on the other hand much flatter (mass hysteria at it's best). After paying the entrance fee, we could grab a lot of free goodies that the sponsors had dumped at Ambience: game magazines, game CD's and dito DVD's. To avoid this game-overkill, I went on a search for the demoscene areas. Area C and D, five classrooms on the first floor, should be our home for the next few days. But the people I met in the C-room told me they were freelanners, and the next room was already occupied by some hackers. In the D-room some German sceners had settled down, and so did I. While I had to accept the risk of being trampled in the "queue", I didn't accept that the same would happen to my PC, therefore I had to leave it outside while getting in (besides, it's too hard to carry a monitor, a PC case, a backpack and a sleepingbag all at the same time). That's dangerous, of course, and when I came back my worst fears had become reality: some vandal had damaged my PC!!! Luckily it must have been a beginner vandal, cause all he did was rip out the escape key from my keyboard. Still it's very annoying: I can't quit the text editor with which I'm typing this now (Message to the vandal: One day I'll find you, idiot, and you can be sure you'll have to buy me a brand new escape key!) After having installed my stuff, I tried to get the network running. In the meantime more german sceners arrived, among them Farbrausch and Smash Design. I had a little discussion with KB and other farbrausch members about their cheating last year ("Damn, you still remember that?"), and while I don't agree with their pro-cheating arguments, they seems to be nice guys. Djefke arrives too, plus I noticed the Inscene orgos in Area A, so there are at least a few other Belgians here. After a lot of struggling with the network settings, I can finally access the LAN and www.ambience.nl, which is were the schedules, the forum etc are located. -=- Saturday, 3 February -=- The farbrausch guys are showing some things with their own projector on a small screen in section D: the final version of The Product, an anti-quake wild demo. The website and the domain name server have been down for some time, but now they're accessible again. Still the surprise compo rules are not yet published, nor can we see which movies will be played at the movie theater. And the forum on the website is a nice feature, but it seems as though the orgos do not read it, or at least they don't answer any questions :( Skyrunner is getting tired, he wants to sleep but the deadline for submitting 4-channel mods is at 9:00 in the morning, and so far the website gives an "access denied" error when you click a submit link. Rather than risking to sleep through the deadline, he stays awake till the submit forms work. At 4:12, 2 out of 3 tables in our room suffer from a power failure (OK, actually the computers on those tables suffer). Luckily I'm sitting at the good table :) An organizer explains that some fuse blew up, and that it's *not* a good idea to let the other tables draw power from ours, because that would just blow up the remaining fuse. Submitting via the website still doesn't work, but now it's allowed to bring your entries to the info desk on disks or CD's. 7:12: Awake again after a few hours of sleep. Besides the large sleeping hall in another building, this year there's also an auditorium on the first floor used as a sleeping area. We like that. 9:18: Now its Djefkes turn to catch some sleep while I keep an eye on the hardware. But he returns five minutes later, the security guys had woken him up because he was sleeping in the hallway, which is forbidden. They also came to check the rooms and woke up the people sleeping under the tables, and confiscated a pack of cigarettes from a German scener who was smoking again in the classroom (It's only allowed in area B and the relaxation area). I support them on the smoking issue, and I can imagine some good reasons why it's unsafe to let everybody sleep where they want, but when some sceners wanted to discuss, the security crew just said "Hey, we don't make the rules, we're just here to enforce them!" That's a rather lame conversation killer :/ Luckily the orgos have started to answer the questions on the forum, albeit on an irregular base. 12:00: the first compo (4-channel music) should start about now, but there's no one near the compo hall... Remembering last year's schedule slips, I choose not to wait and go back to section D. 13:15: I went to the info desk to ask if they could send someone to the scene areas to warn when the compo starts, because the network is malfunctioning again. The guy at the desk said he'd try to do so. In one of the hallways some first-aid helpers were helping a guy who was lying on the floor, it seems he had had an epileptical attack or something. The result of staring at a screen for too long, combined with a serious lack of sleep? Nah, in that case there wouldn't be much people left standing here :) 15:00: The new compo schedule is available, due to the problems with the website all compos are delayed (but we knew that already). The 4 channel music and the 4K intro compos will start at 4 o'clock. 15:50: And here we go again: a local TV station has send out a crew to make an entertaining little report on a game/demoparty. For those who think that the scene is becoming mainstream: I'll only believe that if I don't see any TV-crew at any party during an entire year. After they had made some overview-shots of the room, the female interviewer (blonde of course) was semi-interested in Update, I guess because he had painted his hair green. Then she asked an organizer why there was rivalry between the hard-core sceners and the gamers etc etc. That interview took place in the doorstep of the room, so no-one could go to the comporoom without disturbing them. Clever, clever :/ The 4-channel compo had some decent entries, but most were too close to house/gabber for my taste. There were only 2 4K-intros, both of low quality. a low-resolution demo about the life of a pixel, and a java-applet that showed one water/morph effect and a scroller in Dutch. That java-intro was made by Ile, and he wrote some controversial things (in a funny style) in that scroller: gamers should be beaten up, the organizers are nazis because the've stolen cigarettes from the German sceners etc. But the TV-crew was recording the 4K compo, and because the orgos clearly didn't like to have that scroller broadcasted, the intro was quickly interrupted :) Because these joke-intros didn't do the capabilities of the demoscene much justice, and since the TV-crew couldn't wait for the demo/animation compo, Please The Cookie Thing/Aardbei (the winner of last year's 64K compo) was shown on the bigscreen too. The website is up again, with a bunch of angry messages on the forum from freelanners complaining about the slow and unreliable network, from sceners complaining about the security, and on and on. I shrug and go get some fries and a sandwich at the cafetaria, which works flawlessly :) 18:30: With half an hour delay, the animation compo starts.There are 5 entries, the first is rECTUM cAUDA's Star Whores, which starts as a parody on Star Wars, but doesn't follow that theme till the end. Technically it's quite OK, but overal it's a typical rECTUM cAUDA prod. Second comes a fly-through of a nuclear reactor, which was rather boring, except for the impressive modelling of the fluid moving through pipes. This one crashed near the end, it was shown again but with the same result. Must have been an corrupt upload :/ Next came a dutch joke-entry "Nul Vleugel", which is the literal translation of "Zero Wing". As you can guess, it's about "All your base are belong to us!" (During a mail conversation with Baxter/Green before the party, I had guessed that at least 3 productions would abuse that phrase. We'll see if I was right). The next entry was a rather boring concept-video of people sitting on chairs, and the last was IMHO the best one: Legoland/Parabyte. Yet another Lego-inspired production, about two little men fighting each other with cars, a buldozer, a heli,... The texts are a bit zany, but the animations are cool :) The graphic compos (handdrawn, photo-based and raytraced) followed a bit later, but the quality wasn't very high :/ 21:30: Before the remaining music compos start, an additional handdrawn and photobased picture were shown, maybe they missed the deadline or got lost on the web. The multichannel compo had 10 entries, most of them were quite enjoyable, a bit ambient/trance. According to Djefke, they all sounded the same, but he can't know since he left after the third tune or so. After a 10-minute pause, the house compo started, so I left. Those housetunes all sound the same anyway :) 23:24: The house compo is over, and all remaining demo compos will start tomorrow around noon. The network is being replaces piece by piece, it seems that the fiber cables are causing problems (don't ask me how that's possible), and now we're getting regular UTP cables. The freelanners have a collective heart attack, judging from the postings on the forum ( "Lambience is the worst LAN-party I've ever attended!" and the like). Since I've a 10 Mbit card anyway, I notice only a better stability. Good. -=- Sunday, 4 February -=- 2:27 Not much is happening. I'm leeching movies (Wallace and Groomit :)), but the server is under heavy load. I might as well get some sleep in the meantime. 6:11 Back from dreamland, and appearently so many people are sleeping now that the servers are much faster :) I've to be careful not to kick Skyrunner in the head, cause he's sleeping under the table. 8:11 Almost everyone is sleeping now, also under tables or in hallways. The security doesn't seem to care anymore: one guy walked in and pretended to scan the room for sleeping people, and there was this scener not really visible but snoring *really* loud, and the security guy just walked away :) 8:42 Voting and downloading from the website works for a few categories, nice. 10:56: Avoozl is searching for a bootable floppy and an anti-virus program that can be started from a (Dos)floppy, because Inopia's computer is heavily infected. We tried with F-prot, and it managed to clean up the mess. 14:30: All compos have passed. There was only one 64K intro, the invitro for Mekka/Symposium, from Farbrausch. The demo compo followed next, and was fraught with problems: one demo crashed, another was actually live recompiled (debug version) on the bigscreen. A third one (Bluemchen, a joke demo by Schoko/Kekse) showed a nice setup window at the start, which disappeared after you pressed OK, and the rest of the demo was loaded, which took about ten seconds. Unfortunatly, the mouse pointer didn't change to an hourglass, nor was there any other indication that the demo was still active. So the orgos (who were probably a tad nervous at that point) started a second instance of the demo, and of course the whole thing crashed again :( After 45 minutes we had finally seen all 5 demos, which were from medium to low quality. (Rest of report written at home) Back in section D, the Farbrausch people had somehow found out how to get into the organizers preselection system, which lacked any protection. They messed with the settings and laughed at the stupidity of the organizers. A security guy noticed the commotion, and they showed him what was wrong. An hour later (after I had voted), we heard that the public voting had been replaced by jury voting because a) not enough people had voted and b) people had complained they could vote only for two of the five demos (I suppose because they tried to vote when Farbrausch had disabled the others). So we had to wait two hours longer before the prize ceremony started, while the jury judged the productions. In the meantime I downloaded the wild entries, talked with Inopia and other dutch sceners, and played some games of table soccer with Diver, Skyrunner and another guy whose name I don't remember. By sheer luck, I even managed to win one :) But yet another problem arose: the gamers wanted to leave Ambience. Normally, to prevent theft, it's forbidden to walk away with equipment during the demo compos and the prize ceremony. The orgos had argued with the gamers, but they couldn't convince them to wait till the prize ceremony was over. So we were told that the safety of our (the sceners) hardware could not be guaranteed during the prize ceremony :( As a compromise, it was forbidden to move PC's in the demoscene sections, and sceners in the other halls could bring their hardware in out hallway. Fed up with waiting, some sceners started to hit on the door of the compo hall. An angry orgo opened, and was quite surprized when someone sugested that it would be nicer if we could wait inside the compohall, watching some old demos. After consulting the other orgos, they decided that that would be better indeed, and so we could at least sit down and watch something. Finally the prize ceremony started. There wasn't much enthousiasm from the audience: hardly any applause, booing when the results for a gaming compo were anounced (strangely, even the gamers themselves didn't applaud for the winners of a gaming compo). The prizes were always a T-shirt, some software (often games) and (for the bigger ones) some hardware. Most sceners who won games threw them to the audience, much to the pleasure of the gamers. Skyrunner placed third in the normal music compo, and Farbrausch of course won the 64K intro compo. KB managed to throw his game in such a direction that none of the gamers could catch it, I'm not sure if that was on purpose or by accident :) The demo compo was won by Stigma/Emotive, the demo that needed a live recompile on the bigscreen. And so Ambience was over. Djefke and I said goodbye to the other people in section D, and we promised to visit Mekka/Symposium to see them again. We hopped in Djefkes car and drove back to Belgium. So how do I feel about Ambience 2001? Well I don't like being negative, but here I've no choice: the organizing sucked badly, from a demoscene point of view. I don't care about the network problems (which were caused by oversensitive powersupplies in the switches, resulting in massive random broadcasts, read it at www.ambience.nl), they tried hard to solve that. But it seems the orgos didn't learn anything from last year: compos were still not announced properly, people still had to wait way too long in a cold hallway without any indication when the doors would open, the security guys couldn't speak English and some were rather arrogant, etc etc. Add to this the low quality of the compos and the slow network, and you'll understand the people (sceners AND gamers) who say they won't visit Ambience again next year. I still had much fun seeing old friends again and meeting new people, but it could have been much better. We'll see next month if Mekka/Symposium manages to fulfil the expectations. --Seven --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- The Listener Music by Nagz, 4t thieves and Gun Purist By: Tryhuk ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- -=- Nagz: "Shame of Moquiwa" -=- After some good experience with nagz's music during last few months, I decided to download all his "language lab" releases. "Shame of moquiwa" seemed to me as a most interesting track and that's why I'm bringing it to you now. As I try to find and define a style of this track, I'm getting in a serious trouble. It has a lot out of a music of Siren, especially out of his songs in Unreal. In some places nagz copies some of his awesome leads you could hear in the mentioned game, but he also adds to it something of his own and makes a bit fun out of it. But that isn't what makes the track so special. He uses many sounds like lovely short saxophone, additional flutes,vocals and gives to this track a unique sound. Sorry but I'm not able to describe it, but if you like melodic music with fresh ideas, this song is something for you. Song Information: Title: Shame of Moquiwa Author: Nagz Release date: 2000 Length: 3m40s Filename (zipped/unzipped): ll-034.zip / ngz-mqws.xm File Size (zipped/unzipped): 907kb / 1.5mb Source: ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/groups/language_lab/ll-034.zip -=- 4t thieves: "Mists of Time, EP" -=- I made quite a lot of downloads in a last few days and this EP seemed to me as a best release to pick for you. If you take a look on it, you'll find out that there isn't anything special on this music, it doesn't contain any revolutionary ideas nor catchy leads. It is just a three track EP with ambient music. What I like on it are its fresh samples, its calm game with the sounds that doesn't necessarily try to be experimental and prefers rather the music itself. I think that 4t thieves proved by their other releases that their music is worth trying. If you like ambient music and 30mb are no problem for you, consider downloading this EP. Song Information: Title: Mist of Time Mist of Time Ambient Trancendental Author: 4t thieves Release date: 2001 Length: 6m39s + 8m47s + 5m19s Filename: see source File Size: 29mb Source: http://kahvi.stc.cx/audio.html ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/groups/kahvicollective/ kahvi017a_4tthieves-mistsoftime.mp3 kahvi017b_4tthieves-mistsoftimeambient.mp3 kahvi017c_4tthieves-trancendental.mp3 -=- Gun Purist "Slinky Red Thing" -=- If I would try to roughly describe this track, I would have to use same words as I used for "mist of time". It is an enjoyable track, almost ambient, that builds on nice vocals of Tori Amos, fast but soft percussion and kind and memorable melodies. Upsetting and calming at one time. Song Information: Title: Slinky red thing Author: Gun Purist Release date: 07/12/00 Length: 4m27s Filename: gun-purist-slinky-red-thing.mp3 File Size: 4.2mb Source: http://www.mono211.com/content/releases/nmomp1.html ftp://mirror.support.nl/pub/mono/drfetid/gun-purist-slinky-red-thing.mp3 --Tryhuk --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Psycle New Release & Notes By: ksn ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- PSYCLE (i know you know and like it) has a new version (1.5b1plus) Here's a sum up of all the improvements : Note: + is addition ! is bug fix + "twf" command added and slightly changed the Generators Bar. + Note playback on Machine View! + Mouse support (Cursor positioning and block selecting) + Track Soloing (Pressing S or the green light- Mute with M) + Added Interpolation of command parameters. The Key is CTRL+I + Tempo and TPB pattern commands added. They are FFxx and FDxx respectively + ".psy" extension is added automatically when saving. + Added posibility to change the Generator/Instrument of the Selected Block. + Added < > to change the Generator. + Added the missing code to the "Dec" and "Clear" buttons in the Sequencer. + Added Block Saving as a Request of Gerwin. Saves the selected block to a file + Added parameter numbering to the internal Effects (I forgot that, sorry) The key for the "twf" command is the same than the "twk", but pressing Shift + Block Transpose Added. Use CTRL+Q to move upwards and CTRL+A downwards (if french keyb conf is used, then CTRL+Q is downwards and CTRL+A upwards) ! Fixed crash when showing the properties dialog of machines with a long name ! Patched the crash bug when loading some psycle songs that use VST's. ! Fixed strange crash with some old songs (1.1b1?) that had a wrong TPB ! Fixed bug where Parameters of machines weren't shown ! Fixed a loss of the current directory after loading or saving songs. ! Changes in the "NewValue" Dialog ! Fixed the Machine moving bug when the Machine frame got the focus ! Instrument change with the arrows correctly changes the instrument ! TPB correctly updated when loading a song. ! !!!!___Changed TPB command from FDxx to FExx___!!!! ! Fixed bug where setting FF00/FD00 crashed psycle ! Fixed bug where also using twk/twf the tempo/TPB was changed ! Interpolation now iterpolates the full command/parameter row, not only the parameter part. ! Now trully fixed the lost of directory when loading (I fixed it when saving, but for some reason I didn't for loading) The program can be found at psycledelics as usual: http://www.pastnotecut.org/psycle/ --ksn --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Retro Tunage "Beast From Inside" by Cube By: Tryhuk ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- When I started to write this review for the first time, I thought I will drop just a few lines because (as was sung in many songs) words loose their sense if they've been all said before. But then I forgot all prepared text in my work and I'm writing it for the second time and I think I'll make it a bit longer this time. I'm quite sure I mentioned this track before in demojournal as a part of Dee musicdisks. Of course there are more very good songs by Cube I can write about, but this one still stays as my favorite because of some unknown reason. One time I even thought to write about a completely different song, but I prefer being a bit repetitive and write with interest than to be innovative and produce crap. I think that many scene people also need to take it into their hearts. But now, let us proceed to the review. As you might guess it is one of those melodic songs with distorted samples and well memorable memories. Not by accident was Dee 2, a musicdisk with music by Nitro, Teque and Cube picked as one of the best in the year 1997. Of course it wasn't only Dee 2 musicdisk that came out and soon, on the third one appeared a song "beast from inside", one of cube's best songs ever. It has all what a good song needs - a well designed multilayered structure, very good and memorable melodies and excellent panning so all of the instruments remain clear and they don't get lost under other sounds. I believe that used samples are rather a secondary thing. I'm sure that if you would substitute them by a completely different set, you would still have a great song. Also transitions of the song are well made, they don't break the tempo and they don't loose too much of the power. Let us take a deeper look on the particular layers. Most of people notice from the sound of drumline that it consists out of drum loops, but because they're short it still gives to the author enough space for variation. They are more consistent than a tracked loops and they also sound more realistic - nothing wrong with that. Chord progression is surprisingly simple - Cube opens with two tone consonance and jumps to classical 3 note chords one octave above. You might notice that he often repeats same chords in many patterns in sequence, with a change of only one note. Because he plays all notes of the chord with a delay and changes always a last note of the chord, he creates a nice feeling through this simple trick. In some sequences he features a few new chords and works with them in the second part, but still it is a perfect presentation how much can be done with a few accords. What left now are the leads and accompanying sounds. I think there's not much to say about leads, they are lovely. For the secondary melodies and for the ambience Cube uses many sounds, many times with very fast melody or with very dynamic volume (like guitars). He changes them very often so the song doesn't sound same all the time even when it has only minor changes. I'm afraid this article grew too much, so I'll end it up. If you're trying to make experimental music, don't forget that melody is what makes a music and let this song to be an example of this. Good night or what time you have. Go and track something nice. Song Information: Title: Beast from inside Author: Cube Release date: March 15, 1997 Length: 4m16s trimmed Filename (zipped/unzipped): beast.zip / beast.xm File Size (zipped/unzipped): 320k / 647k Source: http://db.cs.helsinki.fi/~tlonnber/files/mod/beast.zip --Tryhuk --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Screen Lit Vertigo Stigma by Emotive (party-version) By: Seven ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Found at www.scene.org 1st place at Ambience 2001 demo compo System requirements: A recent nVidia card, resolution is fixed at 800*600. A heavy CPU and 14 Mb diskspace Test Machine: PIII 900 192MB, SB128, GeForce 2MX 32MB, Win98 The credits: Code: Pleques Music: Crystal Score The Demo: In the (Dutch) info file, it's written that this demo was made in 3 days, and that the author is happy with the monitor he won with it. We're glad for him, but it's clear Stigma is *very* unfinished: it stops very abruptly and the music fades out suddenly, no setup possibilities, 9 Mb uncompressed images etc. So why did the Ambience orgos vote Sigma numberr one? Well, first there's the music by Crystal Score: it's a track with a lot of variation, it starts with a flight operator talking, then it uses gregorian voices, a bit later an asian flute kicks in... Weird, but it all fits together nicely. There's a perfect balance between rhythm and melody, something that matters a lot for me. The effects include flat-shaded mountains and psychedelic colored morphing blobs, complex particle systems and motion-blurred transparant tubes. The latter two effects look quite good, and switches to a new effects are synced to the music. There's also one good picture of a chinese man, might be handdrawn. Overall: Stigma is quite buggy. Once, it refused to start, saying there was something wrong in a .cpp file, and once it has changed my windows background image from "spread" to "centered". It's also very unfinished, with several effects shown twice to fill the timeframe. I would recommend you to wait for the final, but the author himself says in the info file there probably won't be one, as he thinks the demo isn't worth it. So, check it out if you're curious, or if you want to listen to the soundtrack. --Seven --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Scene Sense The Mighty Mod vs. Malicious MIDI Sequencing (and the MP3) By: PsiTron ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- For the last two months, I have given you my thoughts on OSes and while the arguments about them are very far from over, the one thing I have found about the OS war is that every single person is standing behind facts - facts misconstrued with opinions, that is. Thus, the reason no one gets anywhere is because everyone is right and wrong at the same time, by providing a mix of such fact and opinion. The facts, also are a complex mess of system configurations themselves; different drivers used, hardware, setup, etc. In a nutshell, my intent was not to piss off the editor =) and I do believe I pissed him off pretty good. Thus, it is time to focus on something more immediately pertinent to the scene - The differences in MIDI and Tracking. First, however, to describe the differences, one has to define what exactly one is referring to. For example, does the word 'Tracking' mean just the interface or the interface and the format (two very different things). Does MIDI simply mean Musical Instrument Digital Interface, describing the standard in which musical devices communicate; or does it mean MIDI Sequencing. For the scope of this article, I will concentrate on MIDI Sequencing (and how it has been largely applied to mp3's) and Tracking in general (that is in reference to both the interface and the format). In a world where software piracy is interestingly easy, one may find many applications on a musician's PC that may have a questionable origin. Thus the world of MIDI Sequencing has become a larger part of the 'Free Music Scene' (the combination of the 'Tracking Scene' and 'MP3 Scene', at least for the scope of this article). Why? Versatility, that is why. MIDI Sequencing has the interesting capability to not only interface with hardware but, of course, also software. Thus one is not limited hardly at all to what one can create. With a tracker, at least ones such as Fast Tracker or Impulse Tracker (let us not, of course, forget ModEdit! =) one IS limited in capability. There is simply a finite of amount one can do with a sample before the module gets humongously too big (by being forced to use large wave files to compensate for the limitations of the tracker). Depending on one's intended application, of course, a tracker has many advantages. Again, in reference to games like Unreal Tournament (a favorite of mine, if you read my articles regularly =), which utilizes a modified S3M file format, with some IT extensions, one has the ability to create seamless looping songs that are capable of changing mood. In the case of Unreal and UT alike, quality is a bit on the low-fi side (most modules have only a few 16-bit samples, if any), but the size of the modules themselves are very small for the amount of music present (about 2 hours 20 minutes). If one were to use something like an MP3, this type of versatility would be lost (as well as shear space) as I have not seen seamless looping MP3's ever without a click here or there. CD Audio is worse than MP3's, when speaking of looping, because the laser has to physically move back to the starting position of the song, though the quality is at its best, offering raw uncompressed streams. This is perhaps the largest reason the developers of Unreal decided to largely focus on MODs - because there is never an interruption in the music. Hearing an MP3 click back to the loop point, or having to wait the second or so of silence while the CD-ROM moves back to the beginning destroys the mood the one is trying to create (in both a game and demo, though demos frequently don't repeat songs =). Perhaps the biggest asset to MODs when speaking of seamless looping is their ability to carry over effects from the end of the song to the beginning. If you are a looping song guru like myself, you will find that, if made properly, it takes quite some time to notice a MOD is looping at all - the strings might fade into another chord, or the loud blaring praxis bass you used as a sort of bridge fades out. To be fair, this application is best suited for games or such things that have long and complex, nonstop, music. It is not very necessary for the average musician who is not addicted to hearing a song loop seamlessly an infinite amount of times. Therefore, it stands to reason the most musicians prefer using things and methods outside of the tracker to achieve a better sound and cooler effects - such as MIDI Sequencing. However, to say the modules are dead is as ludicrous as saying the scene is dead. They are not - their use has simply become different. I still envision the module to be prevalent in demos, if one is to carry the demo ideal over into the musical side of it - or at least intros. And, surprisingly enough, FMOD (a library often used in demo and game applications) uses only about one-tenth the CPU power when playing a MOD (using interpolation, volume ramping and filtering) that an MP3 would use. But I have restated this all too much already - perhaps because I am too stuck on the tracker interface too much to notice and utilize the versatility of MIDI Sequencers (or, until recently, have had far too little HD space to work with, or I am just too damn lazy to NOT grab certain software off the net, like some musicians have =). I am also something of a perfectionist, and somewhat of an idealist. In the PC world, I like to see the acute utilization of hardware to replace the burdens that the CPU has to deal with. I am currently unaware of hardware MP3 decoder cards (though I am sure they may exist) which take the burden off the CPU, much like the good ole' GUS PnP did, or the EWS64 does, or how the SB Live should (but Creative did not implement such a thing correctly, as far as I am aware - at least not with the efficiency that GUS did). Regardless of how little burden MP3s have on today's CPU, those are still clock cycles wasted that could go to something like a few extra polygons. You will notice by now that I have been referencing MP3's a large amount - this is because that when utilizing MIDI and external programs, there are few times when the result is small enough to fit into a MOD as a wave. Thus MP3 offers the only other alternative (besides CDs, of course, but they are not near as versatile when trying to distribute over the net, obviously) because it would be a horrible idea to try and distribute files in their native format - MIDI Sequencers are not designed in such a way anyway. Furthermore, many musicians have used post-processing techniques to achieve a better sound - something which can only be done when the intended output is an MP3 or CD. While it is just as easy to distribute a MOD in the MP3 format, many songs are modified outside the tracker, using some sort of device that probably uses MIDI. But what does all this crap mean? Well, it means that both MIDI Sequencing and Tracking are not perfect. MIDI Sequencing, because of it's versatility cannot have a portable module format like a tracker does, because it largely interfaces with hardware or software plugins to control and reproduce the sound. Trackers, at least the current (stable) generation of them are limiting by allowing only certain effects and methods of creating and reproducing music. So what, then is the solution? In my opinion, a tracker has the best interface known to man because the interface is so unique yet versatile to use. Many recreations of it have had a certain twist of their own which give them a particular style that some musicians like, and some do not. Yet the main concept remains the same, and if this concept could be carried through into MIDI Sequencing, or, better stated, if both could collide into one - the music scene would be a good portion closer to perfection. One could, for example, utilitize the tracker interface and create a MIDI sequencer around it, much like zTracker has done. Unfortunately, as cool as zTracker seems to be, the author himself states that he does not wish to implement wave-based facilities into it (for the complexity involved). And still the problem of using such songs in a game, using their native file format, is still very prevalent. Truly the best situation is one that is portable, which is why mp3's are so prevalent. So, how about a tracker format that is able to utilize pluginable modules (not to be confused with the file format) which could then be used for creating effects such as reverb, echo, filtering, etc., and furthermore, could be integrated into the module format itself. For example, if the musician wishes to use reverb, he could go grab a reverb plugin (or write one, for the multi-talented out there) and use it in a particular song, say for a demo. The same module could then be inserted into the player code (or perhaps the module itself - space permitting) of a game or demo and reproduced. It would be wonderful if the machine it was played on also utilized hardware mixing, again, much as the EWS or GUS PnP does and then one could have strictly the best of both worlds. And of course, one could add a plugin to interface with other external drivers of hardware, when necessary and when the intended output is an MP3 or a CD (as a plugin that interfaces with expensive hardware would be useless if the listener does not have such hardware =) Of course the problem still remains about the limitations that effect columns and the alpha-numeric characters that represent effects is still prevalent. I think that in the near future one will, in fact, find a more common ground among the concepts used in MIDI Sequencing and Tracking. Using a different, or more refined effects system would give trackers much more versatility that they, in recent years, have lacked. Having 'plugins', after all, is of no use if one is limited greatly in how many one can use at one time. Personally, my tracking style is such that I enjoy working largely in the patterns - I believe it offers a much more versatile (albeit less accurate) approach. Thus, personally, I would like to see a way in which effects could be use in greater numbers without adding effect columns after columns. It would be interesting to see if someone would expand on the idea of macros of some sort and even programmable machines that could be used and modified in the pattern-data. Granted such a system has not yet been developed and current trackers still are limited in comparison to the scope that MIDI Sequencing has, and surely if one just wants to make MP3's or CD's, zTracker looks very promising, if you love the tracker interface as much as I. But by using plugins mentioned, the size of modules would decrease greatly, but the versatility would increase providing a higher quality of playback, allowing seamless looping with decreased filesize. In fact, the filesize may be so low that the concept of distribution modules in their native format might become more popular (a practice that I much prefer). This is an idealist approach to the solution by a die-hard tracker, I will full well admit. Nonetheless, it is an interesting thing, a pipe dream it may be, that was worth mentioning. I enjoy writing such articles like these because, I hope, it spurs growth and thought into the scene when I think it sometimes lacks little or none. It pains me greatly to hear people say "The Scene [Demoscene or Trackerscene] is dead [or dying]," which of course it is not. But rather the scene is changing, one cannot deny - and in this midst of change, it hurts not one bit to propose one way the scene might change, and for the better, I would think since, I hope that such future trackers remain, like the spirit of the scene, free. In reality, that is largely the scope of this article. MIDI Sequencing is NOT cheap (not if pursued via legal means =) and often to achieve a good sound, good quality hardware is also needed. The main benefit of trackers is that many have been free, are reasonably powerful, and are designed in such a way that new musicians need not to buy out their local music store to create a half-decent sound. Knowing all this, what might the future hold? That can only be answered through speculation. MP3's are not going to go away. Nor will MIDI Sequencing (of course). For they both have their uses and applications. Nonetheless, it would be a sad shame to see the tracker fade away and I hope someone gets off their lazy arse and starts development on a new one soon. Yet if there is no demand there is really no point of having a product - free or not. Thus if the scene wishes to bask in the light of MIDI Sequencing, it will. I can say, however, that I believe the tracker as an interface will not fade away at all. Though, I would very much want to see some sort of hybrid of MIDI and Tracking that would allow artists to have more versatility about what they create and how they distribute it (in a module-like format, or in mp3 or a derivative). The scene, however, is an entity of it's own, yet we are each a small part of it. And thus the answer to what the scene will do lies in each of us sceners. What we do depicts how the scene acts. And perhaps that might make all the difference in the world. --PsiTron --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Editorial Honesty in Music By: Coplan ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- I honestly can't picture a world without tracking. But that's me. The average computer user doesn't find this to be any issue what-so-ever. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that the average demo coder would also be able to cope. After all, he could rip his favorite song into an MP3, and stick it into a demo somehow. Not too difficult, eh? But I'm not writing to the average computer user. And though there might be a few of you reading this that are demo coders, I'd be willing to bet you'd still like to hear some tracked tunage every so often. But I'd be willing to bet that a great majority of you are trackers of some sort, and share the same feelings as I... I couldn't picture a world without such a release of musical activity in my brain. Mind you, when I speak of tracking, I'm accounting for those of you who use SoundForge ACID, or those of you who use some MIDI Sequencer. I'm speaking of digital music as created on your computer with your software of choice. Granted, as I already pointed out, pulling such music creation systems out of the world wouldn't change the views of many people. But everyone needs to find a good way to release themselves. For me and many others, it's through music. I release my thoughts and emotions through the (poor) music that I write. Most of my music never gets heard by the public, but that's not the point. Yes, it's nice to see some of my music heard by the public, and I like getting what little kudos I get for my music. But that's not the reason I write music. As is the case with many musicians, I write music because I like to. I like the whole concept of creation. I will sit and admire the different stages of my tracking career from time to time. I'll listen to the crappiest tunes I've ever written and recognize the fact that those tunes are less than average. I admire the fact that I realize that. I admire the fact that I can honestly say to myself that I dislike a song I wrote, and why. It's all about honesty. To others, your ego will surface. I will never say to anyone that I suck. I can honestly say to myself that I don't suck, and I expect that no one out there will admit that to themselves as well. Most people will at most acknowledge that they need improvement. I need improvement, but that's far more productive than saying "I can't do this, fuck it!" The first several tracks I wrote never made it to the public scene. That's fine, I didn't write them for the public scene. I wrote them so that I could write a tune that was worthy of release to the public scene. The fact that I release music to the public scene has nothing to do with getting commendation for my music. Again, it's nice to get recognized for your music, but that, again, is not the point. As with any art, I feel that music should be shared. Culture, in general, is developed from people sharing their ideas and their concepts. Without the sharing, one doesn't learn from another, and the conception cycle ends. It's about sharing. Sharing your music (or art) is serves two purposes. For one, it benefits others. Your song could very well be the reason someone else write another tune. Your song might inspire that person to write the best tune that they ever wrote, and then the satisfaction is extended through the cycle. But your song could also benefit you, as you are constantly striving to be better. Others might have comments, and though some might not be very constructive, you occasionally find something useful. Even getting a general public view of your music helps, as you'll start to notice patterns. Perhaps you'll find that you're better at one style of music than another. That will either lead you to develop that style, or try to improve the other. It depends on what you set your mind to do. It's about you and your music, and what you think of it. It's about what others think of it, and what you accept from their thoughts. It's a constant cycle going 'round and 'round, and you grow as a person as a result. You have a release, a faucet attached to your brain, and if you neglect that you're stupid. A world without such a release is one that would be grey, and bland. Aren't you glad you have your tracker? --Coplan --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Link List ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Portals: Orange Juice.............................http://www.ojuice.net Scene.org.................................http://www.scene.org SceneSpot.............................http://www.scenespot.org CFXweb.......................................http://cfxweb.net Pouet.net.................................http://www.pouet.net Demoscene.org.........................http://www.demoscene.org Scenet....................................http://www.scenet.de Demo.org...................................http://www.demo.org Czech Scene................................http://www.scene.cz Hungarian Scene........................http://www.scene-hu.com Italian Scene...........................http://run.to/la_scena ModPlug Central Resources..........http://www.castlex.com/mods Norvegian Scene............http://www.neutralzone.org/scene.no Polish Scene...........................http://www.demoscena.pl Russian Scene..........................http://www.demoscene.ru Spanish Scene............................http://www.escena.org Swiss Scene..............................http://www.chscene.ch Archives: Acid2.....................................ftp://acid2.stack.nl Amber.......................................ftp://amber.bti.pl Cyberbox.....................................ftp://cyberbox.de Hornet (1992-1996)........................ftp://ftp.hornet.org Scene.org..................................ftp://ftp.scene.org Scene.org Austra........................ftp://ftp.au.scene.org Scene.org Netherlands...................ftp://ftp.nl.scene.org Swiss Scene FTP...........................ftp://ftp.chscene.ch Demo Groups: 3g Design..............................http://3gdesign.cjb.net 3State...................................http://threestate.com 7 Gods.........................................http://7gods.sk Aardbei.....................................http://aardbei.com Acid Rain..............................http://surf.to/acidrain Addict..................................http://addict.scene.pl Agravedict........................http://www.agravedict.art.pl Alien Prophets...................http://alienprophets.ninja.dk Anakata..............................http://www.anakata.art.pl Astral..............................http://astral.scene-hu.com Astroidea........................http://astroidea.scene-hu.com BlaBla..............................http://blabla.planet-d.net Blasphemy..............................http://www.blasphemy.dk Bomb..................................http://bomb.planet-d.net Broncs..................................http://broncs.scene.cz Byterapers.....................http://www.byterapers.scene.org Bypass.................................http://bypass.scene.org Calodox.................................http://www.calodox.org Cocoon..............................http://cocoon.planet-d.net Confine.................................http://www.confine.org Damage...................................http://come.to/damage Eclipse............................http://www.eclipse-game.com Elitegroup..........................http://elitegroup.demo.org Exceed...........................http://www.inf.bme.hu/~exceed Fairlight.............................http://www.fairlight.com Fobia Design...........................http://www.fd.scene.org Freestyle............................http://www.freestylas.org Fresh! Mindworks...................http://kac.poliod.hu/~fresh Future Crew..........................http://www.futurecrew.org Fuzzion.................................http://www.fuzzion.org GODS...................................http://www.idf.net/gods Halcyon...........................http://www.halcyon.scene.org Haujobb..................................http://www.haujobb.de Hellcore............................http://www.hellcore.art.pl Infuse...................................http://www.infuse.org Kilobite...............................http://kilobite.cjb.net Kolor................................http://www.kaoz.org/kolor Komplex.................................http://www.komplex.org Kooma.....................................http://www.kooma.com Mandula.........................http://www.inf.bme.hu/~mandula Maturefurk...........................http://www.maturefurk.com Monar................ftp://amber.bti.pl/pub/scene/distro/monar MOVSD....................................http://movsd.scene.cz Nextempire...........................http://www.nextempire.com Noice.....................................http://www.noice.org Orange.................................http://orange.scene.org Orion................................http://orion.planet-d.net Popsy Team............................http://popsyteam.rtel.fr Prone................................http://www.prone.ninja.dk Purple....................................http://www.purple.dk Rage........................................http://www.rage.nu Replay.......................http://www.shine.scene.org/replay Retro A.C...........................http://www.retroac.cjb.net Sista Vip..........................http://www.sistavip.exit.de Skytech team............................http://www.skytech.org Sunflower.......................http://sunflower.opengl.org.pl Talent.............................http://talent.eurochart.org The Black Lotus.............................http://www.tbl.org The Digital Artists Wired Nation.http://digitalartists.cjb.net The Lost Souls...............................http://www.tls.no TPOLM.....................................http://www.tpolm.com Trauma.................................http://sauna.net/trauma T-Rex.....................................http://www.t-rex.org Unik........................................http://www.unik.de Universe..........................http://universe.planet-d.net Vantage..................................http://www.vantage.ch Wipe....................................http://www.wipe-fr.org Music Labels, Music Sites: Aisth.....................................http://www.aisth.com Aural Planet........................http://www.auralplanet.com Azure...................................http://azure-music.com Blacktron Music Production...........http://www.d-zign.com/bmp BrothomStates.............http://www.katastro.fi/brothomstates Chill..........................http://www.bentdesign.com/chill Chippendales......................http://www.sunpoint.net/~cnd Chiptune...............................http://www.chiptune.com Da Jormas................................http://www.jormas.com Fabtrax......http://www.cyberverse.com/~boris/fabtrax/home.htm Five Musicians.........................http://www.fm.scene.org Fusion Music Crew.................http://members.home.nl/cyrex Goodstuff..........................http://artloop.de/goodstuff Ignorance.............................http://www.ignorance.org Immortal Coil.............................http://www.ic.l7.net Intense...........................http://intense.ignorance.org Jecoute.................................http://jecoute.cjb.net Kosmic Free Music Foundation.............http://www.kosmic.org Lackluster.....................http://www.m3rck.net/lackluster Level-D.................................http://www.level-d.com Miasmah.............................http://www.miasmah.cjb.net Milk.......................................http://milk.sgic.fi Mah Music.............................http://come.to/mah.music Maniacs of noise...............http://home.worldonline.nl/~mon MAZ's sound homepage..................http://www.maz-sound.com Med.......................................http://www.med.fr.fm Mo'playaz..........................http://ssmedion.de/moplayaz Mono211.................................http://www.mono211.com Morbid Minds..............http://www.raveordie.com/morbidminds Noise................................http://www.noisemusic.org Noerror.......................http://www.error-404.com/noerror One Touch Records......................http://otr.planet-d.net Park..................................http://park.planet-d.net pHluid..................................http://phluid.acid.org Radical Rhythms.....http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/merrelli/rr RBi Music.............................http://www.rbi-music.com Ruff Engine................http://members.xoom.com/ruff_engine SHR8M......................................http://1st.to/shr8m Sound Devotion................http://sugarbomb.x2o.net/soundev Soundstate.........................http://listen.to/soundstate Sunlikamelo-D...........http://www.error-404.com/sunlikamelo-d Suspect Records........................http://www.tande.com/sr Tequila........................http://www.defacto2.net/tequila Tempo................................http://tempomusic.cjb.net Tetris....................................http://msg.sk/tetris Theralite...........................http://theralite.avalon.hr Tokyo Dawn Records........................http://tdr.scene.org Triad's C64 music archive.............http://www.triad.c64.org UltraBeat.........................http://www.innerverse.com/ub Vibrants................................http://www.vibrants.dk Wiremaniacs.........................http://www.wiremaniacs.com Zen of Tracking.........................http://surf.to/the-imm Programming: Programming portal......................http://www.gamedev.net Programming portal.....................http://www.flipcode.com Game programming portal...............http://www.gamasutra.com 3D programming portal.................http://www.3dgamedev.com Programming portal......................http://www.exaflop.org Programming portal............http://www.programmersheaven.com Programming portal.....................http://www.freecode.com NASM (free Assembly compiler)......http://www.cryogen.com/nasm LCC (free C compiler).........http://www.remcomp.com/lcc-win32 PTC video engine.........................http://www.gaffer.org 3D engines..........http://cg.cs.tu-berlin.de/~ki/engines.html Documents...............http://www.neutralzone.org/home/faqsys File format collection...................http://www.wotsit.org Magazines: Amber...............................http://amber.bti.pl/di_mag Amnesia...............http://amnesia-dist.future.easyspace.com Demojournal....................http://demojournal.planet-d.net Eurochart.............................http://www.eurochart.org Heroin...................................http://www.heroin.net Hugi........................................http://www.hugi.de Music Massage......................http://www.scene.cz/massage Pain..................................http://pain.planet-d.net Scenial...........................http://www.scenial.scene.org Shine...............................http://www.shine.scene.org Static Line................http://www.scenespot.org/staticline Sunray..............................http://sunray.planet-d.net TUHB.......................................http://www.tuhb.org WildMag...............................http://wildmag.notrix.de Parties: Assembly (Finland).....................http://www.assembly.org Ambience (The Netherlands)..............http://www.ambience.nl Dreamhack (Sweden)....................http://www.dreamhack.org Buenzli (Switzerland)......................http://www.buenz.li Gravity (Poland)............http://www.demoscena.cp.pl/gravity Mekka-Symposium (Germany)...................http://ms.demo.org Takeover (The Netherlands).............,http://www.takeover.nl The Party (Denmark).....................http://www.theparty.dk Others: Demo secret parts....http://www.inf.bme.hu/~mandula/secret.txt Textmode Demo Archive.................http://tmda.planet-d.net Arf!Studios..........................http://www.arfstudios.org #coders..................................http://coderz.cjb.net Demonews Express.........http://www.teeselink.demon.nl/express Demo fanclub........................http://jerware.org/fanclub Digital Undergrounds.....................http://dug.iscool.net Doose charts...............................http://www.doose.dk Freax................................http://freax.scene-hu.com GfxZone............................http://gfxzone.planet-d.net PC-demos explained.....http://www.oldskool.org/demos/explained Pixel...................................http://pixel.scene.org IRC Channels: Scene.........................................ircnet #thescene Programming.....................................ircnet #coders Programming....................................efnet #flipcode Graphics.........................................ircnet #pixel Music.............................................ircnet #trax Scene (French)..................................ircnet #demofr Programming (French)............................ircnet #codefr Graphics (French)..............................ircnet #pixelfr Scene (Hungarian)............................ircnet #demoscene Programming (Hungarian)......................ircnet #coders.hu Programming (German)........................ircnet #coders.ger --=--=-- ----=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------ Editor: Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan@scenespot.org Columnists: Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan@scenespot.org Dilvish / Eric Hamilton / dilvie@yahoo.com Psitron / Tim Soderstrom / tigerhawk@stic.net Setec / Jesper Pederson / jesped@post.tele.dk Seven / Stefaan VanNieuwenhuyze/ seven7@writeme.com Tryhuk / Tryhuk Vojtech / vojtech.tryhuk@worldonline.cz Technical Consult: Ranger Rick / Ben Reed / ranger@scenespot.org Static Line on the Web: http://www.scenespot.org/staticline Static Line Subscription Management: http://www.scenespot.org/mailman/listinfo/static_line If you would like to contribute an article to Static Line, be aware that we will format your article with two spaces at the beginning and one space at the end of each line. Please avoid foul language and high ascii characters. Contributions should be mailed to Coplan (coplan@scenespot.org). See you next month! -eof---=------=--=------=--=--