_//\\________________________________________________________________________ _\\__T_A_T_I_C___L_I_N_E______________________________________ January, 2002 __\\_________________________________________________________________________ \\//__ Monthly Scene E-Zine ________________________________ 254 Subscribers _____________________________________________________________________________ --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Table Of Contents ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Opening: Message From the Editor Letters From Our Readers Features: The Root -- Gene Wie (Psibelius) Columns: Music: In Tune -- Music of the year 2001 The Listener -- A Hypothetical Multi-Artist CD from 2001 Demo: Screen Lit Vertigo -- Several Demos from 2001 General: Editorial -- A Challenge for 2002 Link List -- Get Somewhere in the Scene Closing: Credits --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Message From the Editor ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- 2001 has been an interesting year for many of us. As far as the Scene is concerned, I'm convinced that the year 2001 is just the beginning of the rebirth of the scene. Late in the year, I saw much more activity than at the beginning of the year, or even in the year 2000. We have seen a lot of new groups, a lot of new talent, and a lot of new services. The Demoscene is once again gaining in popularity, both within the scene itself, and from observers. For the first time in many years, a major magazine, Wired Magazine, has mentioned the existance of the scene. But Wired didn't stop there, they covered a major scene party, Assembly '01, in four complete articles. For more information, visit scenespot: http://www.scenespot.org/?command=showNews&article=101 Well, the rebirth starts here with Static Line. Albeit, I guess we're not the major scene authority, and we don't claim to be. But I imagine that we have just enough to demonstrate how much the year 2001 has begun to impact the demoscene as we know it. I'm sure that by the end of 2002, or the beginning of 2003, we will all look back on 2001 and realize its impact. So without further ado, I will bring to you the latest issue of Static Line, a review of 2001. --Coplan --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- The Root Scene Change Sponsored by: Coplan By: Gene Wie (aka: Psibelius) ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- -=- Introduction - By: Coplan -=- As you all know, we occasionally like to invite oldskool sceners to write a brief recap of what their involvements in the scene. This was a concept started by Tryhuk a long time ago, and it has opened our eyes, and our readers' eyes, to the big picture of the scene. We have learned much about what the scene was, and how it has become what it is today. This month, I'm very proud to say that we have a special writer: Gene Wie (aka: Psibelius). If the name doesn't sound familiar, then you havn't been involved in the scene for very long. A long time ago, before the advent of Static Line, before I became a writer within the scene, there was a magazine called TraxWeekly. It was not started by Gene, but he eventually became the editor of the popular tracking e-zine. That is where I got my start, as In Tune first existed within Trax Weekly. Therefore, Gene has been a very special influence for my involvement in the scene. So without further comment, I present to you: Gene Wie. -=- The Root -=- I really didn't expect to be writing an e-zine article ever again. Especially not one related to or discussing the much heralded (and now rather amorphous) electronic music scene. Leave it to Coplan to find me after a few years of inactivity and ask me to write something. In any case, I've been asked to talk about my origins in the scene, contributions to it, and my personal observations on its past, present, and future. Seems to me like a lot to choke down, so let's get started. Most people will remember me for one of two things. The first, is "TraxWeekly," that ever present near-weekly newsletter for the music scene, spawned in the wake of a pause in publication of the much larger (and to my own recollection, much more well organized) DemoNews, of the now-defunct Hornet Archive. The other is that gargantuan horde of musicians known as "Epinicion Productions" a music group which ended it's two years of existence with over one hundred thirty members, who produced over two hundred fifty unique compositions. Let's start at the beginning. I got my start in "the scene" in ANSI art. Around 1992, a friend of mine (Jordan Snodgrass, aka Flood Myth, now electronic musician "the snodgrass" with the imputor.com label) pulled together some 2400 modems, got into BBS'ing, and ran smack dab into the art crowd. Without the internet, we didn't see much of mod music in our area code (619) and spent most of our first year online immersed in petty squabbles with other local "artistes." As I started dialing long distance (oh yes, "LD," baby), I started noticing lots and lots of "mods" to download. Being a proud Media Vision PAS16 owner, I had the chance to listen to a couple of them with Trakblaster Pro. Being a musician in "real life," I got hooked on mods completely. First were pieces by Dr. Awesome and Captain. 1993 and 1994 was the era of Future Crew, Purple Motion, Skaven, Dizzy, Mr. Man, Cybelius, and a slew of others. Their music, and their ability to generate the sounds they did without expensive equipment (and my own ability to play this music without having to travel halfway around to world) inspired me in a way nothing else did to date. In 1993 I learned to track using Renaissance MultiTracker, by Starscream. In the years ahead as people moved on to ScreamTracker3 and FastTracker2, I stuck with the MTM format. Come to think of it, around 1995, in discussion on #trax, Maelcum (of Kosmic fame) and I came to the conclusion that we were probably two of the last few trackers on the entire planet even using MultiTracker. I tested out Impulse Tracker in it's early stages when Jeff Lim was coding like mad, and switched over when IT came into it's own as a superb tracking software. Bless Jeff, he even wrote support in IT for converting MTM files. That was the single feature (besides the excellent editing functions, NNAs, etc.) that tided me over. From 1994 to 1996 I ran "Epinicion Productions." From the get go, Epinicion was always really just "new and starting musicians" and a few experienced sceners who tagged along for the ride. I think I'd be opening up a can of warms if I went on about stuff the group did and the politics that involved it and other groups at the time, but I just want to say that I had a great time running it, met lots of cool people interested in music, and came away from it with a much better understanding of how to deal with people when you don't get the chance to talk to all of them face to face. There's a lot of people from Epinicion whom I've never been able to associate anything but a handle, a couple songs, and an email or two. That's enough though; their dedication to the group and efforts continue composing in spite of the criticism they recieved showed me plenty about their spirit. Now here's two rather amusing asides: I sent perhaps one of the ugliest, and worst tracked songs I've ever written to Basehead by DCC on IRC #trax during my early days on there. I'm quite sure that Baze listened to the first 10 seconds, turned it off, and probably said something along the lines of, "this guy friggin' sucks." Then there was this wonderful time where a bunch of people had to convince me that Daredevil was indeed the founder of Renaissance. Ahh, the days of blissful ignorance...and I can't forget my other partner in crime, Jesse Rothenberg (aka Island of Reil or "ior" as he is better known), one of my best friends in high school and scene compatriot. Wonder what he's up to these days... I needed a group to settle down in, and ended up with my friend Ryan Hunt (aka Pinion) in pHluid, the music division of ACiD Productions. I joined the reformed division in 1995, and that was sort of my "scene dream realized." All of us *idolized* the graphicians of ACiD (and also iCE) when we first got into the whole business of BBS'ing, ANSI art, and whatnot, and to be a small part of the group was what I equated with finally "making it." Regardless of the validity of that assessment, to this day I am still a member of the group, though my last tracked release was over a year ago. It's the one small part of the scene I hold on to, and it's for the people in it who supported me in my own efforts at tracking. Also, from 1996-1998 I edited "TraxWeekly," the weekly music scene newsletter. I was coached in the intricacies of e-zine and listserver management by Christopher Mann, aka Snowman, of Hornet. TraxWeekly was founded and edited by Populus, who handed the editorship to Popcorn a few months after. Following a rather vicious coup (involving a large number of individuals and events which I still refuse to discuss) I took control of the newsletter around issue thirty or so, and continued working on it until issue one-hundered-nineteen. Events in my personal life prevented from ever continuing work on TW after that. Issue one-hundred-twenty sits incomplete on my old Pentium 166 machine (in my closet somewhere) even as I write this. One of these days I'll put it together in it's final form and send it here to Static Line for perusal. I went at tracking solo for a short time last year, without any real involvement the scene. My work can be found at: http://www.gts2k.com/~psibelius/ I don't really have any huge, all encompassing commentary about the scene as it is today. Having not participated for some years now, I don't know what's happening. I'm glad to see that #trax is still active though, and ran into lots of old friends for hours and hours after the events of September 11, 2001. I read the bulletin boards on United Trackers from time to time to see what people are up to. From what I see, it seems to me that the scene is much larger, a bit more impersonal, and densely populated compared to the early 90's. I don't think we didn't expect this to happen though; we pushed so hard to get the "underground electronic music scene" out into the open it was bound to get over-commercialized at some point. Still, tracking to me is that "in-between" world where music and technology collides, and the people who choose it as their artistic medium come up with audio works that are completely unique and different from the pure "modern music" composers and traditional instrumental/vocal mindsets. My own personal life has largely paralleled my (diminishing) articipation in the scene. I finished a five year run as an ndergraduate studying information and computer science last year. I turned down all my job offers in order to go back to school and pursue a master's degree in conducting and instrumental performance. In my spare time I compose constantly for my string quartet (and let me plug Sibelius 2 for a moment: it's excellent!), and I plan to move into larger works for orchestra and wind ensemble. At some point I hope to teach and conduct high school and college instrumental ensembles. It's been ten years since I first fired up that modem, and I think all that time I spent in front of a screen for the scene has given me a life experience a lot of people miss: meeting and understanding people who come from many diverse cultures with many disparate customs. Okay, let me leave you all with a gift. Fire up your web browser and grab this file: http://www.gts2k.com/~psibelius/TW-complete.zip It's every single issue of TraxWeekly, from 1-119, including a different issue 25 (when the big coup over the editorship occured), and finally, a series of "art" files from various ascii artists who graciously spent their time designing the headers for various sections in the newsletter. Thanks to all of you for making TW a reality! Thanks for the soapbox, Coplan. The memories have been fun. --Gene Wie (aka: Psibelius) former editor of TraxWeekly former director of Epinicion Productions member of pHluid Music Productions tenant of IRC #trax then, now, and always, a proud member of the scene -=- Editors Note -=- TraxWeekly is now available in its entirety on the SceneSpot FTP: ftp://ftp.scenespot.org/Archives/magazines/trax_weekly/ --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- In Tune Music of the year 2001 By: Coplan ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- -=- Introduction -=- Every January, I like to do a quick review of all my favorite tunes of the previous year. I don't like to rank such tunes, as I have a very broad taste in music. Many of these tunes truly can't be compared to each other. In addition, I realize the fact that I have only found a very small fraction of all the music that was released in the year 2001, and I'm sure there are some better tunes (and some worse) that I have missed. Again, I suggest that this list be used to find some music you may not have heard. It might be a good way to find new music from artists you've never heard of. Use this as a guide. I'm sorry to say that I have no idea where I got most of these tunes...so you'll have to do a search to find a lot of them. As I don't have these in original form (Zip files, complete with NFO files and what not), I will not post them publically on our server. However, if there is any tune you're having trouble finding, I will offer it to you in any way I can get it to you. -=- 2001 Tunes -=- "Be What you Wanna Be" By: T-Tracker (XM Format) A trance-like tune from the mind of T-Tracker. When I listen to this tune, I can't help but to think that I'm involved in some sort of racing game on my computer. But as that is not the case, I explore deeper into the song and see the demoscene influence. (Reviewed for In Tune, Static Line issue #33) "GDream - We Are Not Alone (Nightflower's Space Invasion Remix)" By: Nightflowers (IT Format) This is one of my favorite Trance tunes from the past year. As I said in my past review: I wish I had the original to this song. It would be my hope that hearing the original before I hear this remix would make me more impressed with this version. Regardless, this is a tune that I have on my workout play list, and it's one I'm glad to have in my collection. (Reviewed for In Tune, Static Line issue #33) "Passion on Craq" By: Mickrip (IT Format) One of the oldskool trackers is still tracking today for Fairlight. The man has some of the most original music in the scene today, though I admit his tracking style still remains along oldskool lines. Regardless, this rock tune is very interesting to listen to, and worthy of an honorable mention for this years year end review. (Reviewed for In Tune, Static Line issue #35) "March With Me" By: Subliminal (IT Format) I'm not exactly sure how you would classify this song. Maybe rave, maybe trance? It doesn't matter, though. The point is that the song is full of energy, and you'll be moving when you hear it. I've known subliminal for a very long time. This remains as one of his best songs that I've ever heard. It's filled with lots of break beats, and plenty of other things going on. You'll listen to this a few times, and notice something new every time. I'll admit, this isn't a tune for everyone, as it can be very hardcore. But, many will like it even still. "Thandava: Dance of Shiva" By: Ivory (IT Format) Honestly, I don't have any clue where I got this song. But it sits on my hard drive, and I gave it a listen the other day. It's a Goa Trance tune, and one of the most interesting I've ever heard. Goa is a very interesting style, and one that is, in my opinion, very difficult to carry out well. The work with the acid synths alone could drive anyone mad. In something like Buzz or Psycle, or with a hardware synthesizer, this might not be such a difficult style. But Ivory wrote this in an IT format -- so there was a lot of time put into this tune. This is one fact that is very obvious. "Thandava" is another tune that I have added to my workout play list, as it fills me with energy. "Where's My Sauna?" By: Andromeda (XM Format) Apparently, Andromeda is pretty angry about the fact that he cannot find his sauna. This is a a Drum & Base tune with some trance mixed in. The feeling portrayed by the song is actually a feeling of confusion. The percussion seems very angry, yet the leads seem to be very calm and reserved. It's not a tune for everyone, but again, it's something that a lot of you will have respect for. "A Dark Vision" By: Zaril (MP3 Format) This is a tune that you can grab from the Hellven website. "A Dark Vision" is a bit of a jazzy tune. It's obvious that Zaril spent a great deal of time doing some post-mixing. The song may be a bit repetative, but it is worth a good listen. I tend to play this song in the background while I work. The quality of this song, and the quality of the FX alone, will give you reason enough to appreciate this tune. "Dreamcoat" By: Mistrial (MP3 Format) Another tune you can grab from the Hellven website. It's a relaxing tune that has a great deal of influence from the Ambient, Trance and Drum & Base styles. Classification is not important for songs of this nature. The name for this song almost says it all. When you listen to this tune, you are wrapped in a completely different world, a world in which your dreams seem to be controlled by music -- the music of Mistrial. This is one of those tunes that has layer upon layer of different sounds. The longer you listen to the song, the more layers are added. You will find that you no longer control your thoughts or emotions when you listen to this song. (Reviewed for In Tune, Static Line issue #37) "Early Mourning" By: Chimera (MP3 Format) Grab this from the Hellven website as well. How many scene tunes do you hear with lyrics? This is one, and the lyrics are of pretty good quality. Honestly, the lyrics sound familiar. I don't know if this is a remix of a commercial song or not. Regardless, this song is incredibly well done, and probably ranking among my favorites of all time. There is some incredible post-mixing as well, especially with the bone-chilling echos throughout the song. "K2 (The Race - Part I)" By: Wayfinder (MP3 Format) Wayfinder always seems to find his way onto my lists. Well, this is the first of his that reaches it this year. As always is the case with Wayfinder, this is another tune. Filled with energy, inspiration and time, this tune is no exception to the ever standing quality music that comes from the mind of Wayfinder. Any trance fan, or any Wayfinder fan will find this song as a favorite. "Resurrection (The Race - Part IV)" By: Wayfinder (MP3 Format) Again, the man makes it onto my list. Actually, this song is on several lists of mine: this year end review list, my favorites of all time and my workout play list. In the style of Robert Miles, this trance tune is filled with strings and pianos. But, in the style of Wayfinder, you also get a tune packed with some really high quality synthesized electronic riffs that fill out the song and give it content. The man is a genious, and this song demonstrates it. That is why this is one of my favorite songs of all time. (Reviewed for In Tune, Static Line issue #31) "Borneo is Fallen, My Dear" By: Ranger Rick (MP3 Format) This is one tune that you will have to grab from the SceneSpot ftp server. Ranger Rick has his own directory on that server, and within that he has a directory for his album: "Yes Chernobrov, It's a Time Machine". Ranger Rick is one of those trackers that would drive you nuts. He can finish a song in less than a day, and have it mixed and finalized for you the next day. He is incredibly talented, and has a lot of inspiration from many different sources. This tune demonstrates his abilities and his talents. The percussion is incredible, the leads are wonderful and the chorus is tight. And the crazy part about all this, if you were to ask him what he thinks of his music -- he'll tell you that he isn't that good. The poor guy doesn't seem to understand his own talent. "Warlock" (Coplan's 2001 Favorite) By: Caravan (MP3 Format) This tune is most easily gotten from the "Cadence & Cascade" demo by Andromeda Software Development (ASD) which was created for Digital Nexus '01. It took first place there. The demo can be found on scene.org. Plain and simple, the song is incredible. It is the type of tune that one might find in the late '60s. But it's not, it's new and its very original. There is a full orchestra, a very talented drummer, and a really good Hummand Organ player. It's even got the electric guitar solos in it. I can listen to this tune over and over again, and I will never grow bored. If you watch it with the demo, it makes for an exciting time. You start to question whether you were injected with some sort of illegal drug. But, you weren't, and it's still a great tune. I highly recommend this song for anyone to download. It is by far my favorite tune of the year 2001. --Coplan "In Tune" is a regular column dedicated to the review of original and singular works by fellow trackers. It is to be used as a tool to expand your listening and writing horizons, but should not be used as a general rating system. Coplan's opinions are not the opinions of the Static Line Staff. If you have heard a song you would like to recommend (either your own, or another person's), We can be contacted through e-mail useing the addresses found in the closing notes. Please do not send files attached to e-mail without first contacting us. Thank you! --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- The Listener A Hypothetical Multi-Artist CD from 2001 By: Tryhuk ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- I thought it wouldn't be bad at all to represent the "best of the scene music in 2001" in a form of a CD. Tracks are not sorted according their quality, I rather picked them to create a specific mood, to respect and materialize the idea behind the scene and of course to represent the best what has been born there during this year and what went through my years. 1. 2sided - Esem Very appropriate song to open the CD. It is a typical "esem" song with repetitive loops, ambient mood and all signs of minimalist music. 2. Neo - krii I had to decide which track to pick for this close selection. The second one I though on was "Blunt Times", both representing the unique style of krii. 3. depeche mode - world in my eyes (alphaconspiracy mix) Third track is a right moment for a style break in the playlist. I picked this remix of a depeche mode song not only because of the comeback of alphaconspiracy back to scene, but also because of the undeniable quality of the remix which brings to the song something of its own and makes sometimes too repetitive DM music more interesting. 4. blaktroniks (moving/tdr) - fais moi fremir Of course, one of the major changes in music scene was TDR's move to a new sound. It is characteristic by much more frequent use of vocals, saxophones and other instruments that can't be reproduced using the classic tracking techniques without the use of big samples. In addition to this, "fais moi fremir" is a very nice song. 5. tori amos - slinky red thing (gun purist rmx) After calm track 4 has to come something more dynamic but not too aggressive. I reached again for a remix, this time of a tori amos song. All I want to say about this song that I appreciate that the author of the remix respected original and unique style of tori amos and made the song "within the limits". 6. m. altemark - creating dissent We've reached the middle of the CD and so its time to wake up the sound. There's no doubt that this place belongs to "creating dissent" by altemark, a song represented on hellven musicdisk "urbanism". The song features itself with an aggressive of not that frequent style. Definitely one of the "must hear" songs of the year 2001. 7. ...presenting superbeat - funkymuskrat This track has been reviewed in previous issue. Check it out. 8. fun tourist - ddd The triad of electronic songs is closed up by an excellent song by fun tourist. It is definitely one of the all time "mono" releases within the major trend of this electronic group. It mixes distorted sounds and structures with melodic elements in an exceptional way and once again a "must hear" song of the year 2001. 9. krii / tokyo dawn records - blunt times For the calm down I decide to pick the second song of krii I already mentioned. No matter whether you download "Neo" or "Blunt times", both tunes are nice music to addict to. 10. Xerxes / Fairlight - Unik Although I don't consider this song as a one that belongs among the top songs of this year, I decided to use it to spice up the sound of the playlist. A typical ambient chill out music. 11. nagz-goodnight kiss As we have moved into an ambient sound, this small piece of music came on my mind. Only non mp3 release in this playlist as a reminiscence to the scene past. Doesn't it remind you on the times when we have listened to ambient songs of Dune? 12. nox luce - night light It is time to close the playlist. Let's get back from dreams back to real world and there's no better track than "Night Light" with its house beat and sounds that bring back funk and blues and push it forward to 21st century. That's it, I hope you'll get the songs and run again through the selection with the sound in your years, I'm a bit sad that I didn't give to static line what I wanted this year. I wish you a good and interesting year 2002. --Tryhuk --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Screen Lit Vertigo Several Demos from 2001 By: Seven ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Random remark: I recently had a problem: several demos that used fmod as soundengine, didn't play any music at all. Even some older demos that I'm sure *did* work before, had this problem. I guess it's because I installed the DX8.1 SDK debug version, but I'm not sure. Anyway, by downloading the latest fmod (www.fmod.org/files/fmod340.zip) and overwriting the old fmod.dll with the new one for each demo, I managed to get the music working again. I thought I'd should mention this in case others have the same problem... Test machine for all demos: PIII 900 640MB, SB1024, GeForce 2MX 32MB, Win98 -=- De Profundis by Kolor (final version) -=- Found at www.kaoz.org/kolor 1st place at the Dialogo 2001 democompo. System requirements: PIII, 10.5 MB HD, 3D card with OpenGL support (this final works also with TNT2 cards and has a lowmem option for PCs with only 128 MB mem) The Credits: Shiva: code Noize: 3D & textures Raytrayza: Music & typographic design The Demo: De Profundis is inspired by a poem with the same name from Georg Trakl. You can find the text at: http://www.gutenberg.aol.de/trakl/gedichte/profundi.htm (if you can read German) If you can't read German, use Babelfish: http://babelfish.altavista.com The demo is pure 3D, showing desolate fields dotted with power lines, some abandoned farming vehicles, an empty cabin housing a lonely spider, a rusty silo, some weeping willows next to a stream, ... you get the feeling. Everything is colored in depressing shades of brown, gray and green, and flashing gray lines and stains adds to the impression of watching an old, worn-out movie. The pulsing light started to annoy me after a while, though. The animation of the black raven hopping on a fence is quite good, and the model is so detailed you can see the individual feathers in the wings, but the rest of the animations are simple to nonexistent. The textures on all models are very detailed and realistic. There are some stylish calligraphic logos for the title and the credits, I suppose those are the reason you can only chose two resolutions to watch the demo (640*480 and 1024*768, others would probably suffer from aliasing). The music is a slow, dark tune, dominated by the percussion, and with plaintive "haaa"-voicesamples in the background, but with little melody. It's stored in MO3 format: a module whose samples are compressed with MP3, the best of both worlds. Pity it isn't used in more demos... Overall: The demo succeeds very well in evoking the mood of the poem, but since that mood is a dark, desperate one, you probably won't watch it very often. It's sure worth checking out, but like a story-demo, it becomes boring after a few times. -=- pandaLIZATION by Frogwize (party-version) -=- Found at www.scene.org 1st place at the Dreamhack 2001 democompo. System requirements: PIII 500, 9.5 MB HD, Geforce or better, "lots of ram" The Credits: Code: phatcat 2D/3D: skinny p Music: qwan/Uprough The Demo: Only 6 weeks after Frogwize won 2nd place at TRSAC with Don Quijote, this 2-man team is back with pandaLIZATION and actually won the dreamhack compo with it! Congratulations to those hard workers! Panda has a very similar style to Don: heavy 3D visuals showing fragments of a story, supported by minimalistic 2D overlays with slogans like "Government instruction: have a HAPPY day". The main actors are a strange lonely cyborg in an appartment, and a swarm of little flying robots with spraycans, with freedom and creativity as the main themes. It's obvious that a lot of thought has gone in the 3D models: they are very detailed and original. The cyborg has big, symphatic eyes, which are offset by the thin, needle-like fingers. You can see his "hart" beating, and when he "eats" his meal, a small dial on his head turns (to the "full energy" position, I imagine). If you pay attention, you notice the walls of the appartment changing color when a green holographic screen folds out, like radiosity. Unfortunately, all this eyecandy comes at a price: you need some serious 3D hardware to enjoy it. Fiddling with the OpenGL settings of the driver (force 16 bit, vertical sync always of etc) helped a lot, but I still have a few half-a-second freezes, which accumulate till the music is several seconds out of sync :( This is especially bad, because the music switches between a slow, ambient tune during the cyborg scenes, and a faster dnb-ish track for the swarm scenes, plus there are many sound effects such as typing at a keybord or the hissing of a spraypaint can that suffer from the delay. Overall: Ignoring the HW requirements, pandaLIZATION is a great demo: thought-provoking story/theme, fitting soundtrack, and visuals that are so detailed I kept finding new things after watching it five times. The "geforce or better" in the requirements is overly optimistic, though, and may be a remnant of the Don Quijote demo (just as the logo in the setup window). But if you've a geforce 2 or higher, you've no excuse not to watch this. -=- Virtual Vodka by Fairlight (party-version) -=- Found at www.scene.org 2nd place at the Dreamhack 2001 democompo. System requirements: Pentium 233, 9.4 MB HD, 64 MB ram, DirectX 8.0 The Credits: Code: Pantaloon 2D-gfx: Graffik, Aln 3D-gfx: Forge Music: Bliss The Demo: The info file describes Virtual Vodka as "a 100% beer demo". But even when they are drunk, Fairlight makes better demos than the average demogroup. Their latest production is a typical effect-demo with lots of detached parts and a couple of 3D scenes thrown in. Each part has a little nameplate, such as "The forest of life" or "radial rabbiwaaf x". Variations on morphing blobs and very smooth radial blur are plentiful, plus things like map distortion and double-textured backgrounds. Nothing new or special, but it looks good. The blue globe with lightning at the end is nice too. The 3D scenes are not very original: a forest with lots of identical plants and trunk-only trees, a tomb in a crypt with another morphing blob above it. The monks in the monastry move OK, but the particle fire looks artificial. Most of the transitions are fade-in, fade-out, but there's one where the previous scene breaks in hundreds of little squares, which fly away into the next scene. It's been done before, but real transitions are so seldom used today that it's nice to see it again. Besides the familiar Fairlight logo at the start, there are two full-screen pictures, one title screen with an evil head, and another featuring a big flesh-eating plant with a big eye and lots of teeth. They're both a bit blurry, though. The music is a typical demo-tune: it starts a bit theatrical, then goes into a happy melody with bells and piano. It changes a lot, sometimes it cuts down to percussion only, or it softens and then jumps back to full force. Near the end some unintelligible voice samples are used, and it finishes with a presumptuous "Legends never die!". Nice tune, but syncing is almost non-existing. Overall: Virtual Vodka is an average Fairlight demo, no spectacular new effects, but nothing ugly either. The speed of the demo is fast enough to avoid boredom, the music is good, and the system requirements are low enough to let everybody watch it. -=- Elements by Haujobb (party-version) -=- Found at www.scene.org 1st place at The Party 2001 democompo. System requirements: 20 MB HD, Windows, a 3D card, no infofile so you've to guess :( The Credits: Code: Cynic, Droid Graphics: Visualice Music: Virgil, Tasmium The Demo: The results from The Party were available last night, so I could review the winner just in time for the Static Line deadline. Elements is a big demo (20 meg, 11 zipped), but it's worth it. It starts with a couple of metallic blobs with tentacles flying in a train-like fashion through a futuristic landscape. The buildings are not in 3D, but beautiful painted backgrounds, and the strange train moves through them seamlessly. The rest of the demo is more abstract, with 3D object looking like a cross-over between flowers and spiders, with long tentacles reaching for something. At one moment, several of them come together, like a puzzle, aligning their spikes towards a center of light. White schematics and texts scroll over the screen, moving at the same relaxed speed as the objects. There are many backgrounds images, in the fanciful Visualice style, but some are barely visible behind the effects. Take a look at the data directory to enjoy them fully, some of them aren't even shown in the demo (Title2 or waterfall f.e.) A minor peeve I have are the ugly jpeg artifacts in some places, like the dried up ground, the shadow of the spider at the end, and a few of the texts. Why you would squeeze a 512*512 image to 7.5 kb, if you include another image as a 700 kb png (lossless compressed) where you can use a mask, is beyond me. The music is an ambient track with a few idm-ish beeps and ploinks. It's very relaxed, and fits the mood of the demo very well. There are some voice samples that don't add much to it IMHO: the rap about the party seems like a cheap way to get votes from the TP visitors, and as I'm not into drugs, the "I'm high, take a smoke" text is wasted on me. Otherwise, it's a very enjoyable tune. Overall: Elements is another high-quality Haujobb production, which certainly deserved the first place (No hard feelings hybris/NEMESIS, but I hope that 2nd-place demo was *really* released due to some error). Everything fits nicely together, giving you a 5 minute break from this stressful world. The only thing that's missing is an info file with requirements, which could spare some modem owners a hefty download ... --Seven Wishing everyone a happy 2002! --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Editorial A Challenge for 2002 By: Coplan ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- I would be telling an untruth if I were to say that I would like to see the scene remain as it is, or as it was. The fact is, the scene is always changing, always evolving. 2001 was no exception. I don't expect 2002 to be an exception either. These little tidbits might sound like a huge fortune cookie...but you'll get the idea. For the Coders: The demoscene has always been a scene of innovation. In 2002, you should be innovating. You should make every effort to innovate more than you ever did. When creating demos, celebrate the oldskool tricks and effects, but expand on them. Code variations on old techniques and create new effects of your own. Be the first to do something, and you will be remembered by all. For the 2d Artists: When I first got into the scene, there were two types of artists: pixelers and ANSI artists. Neither of which was very easy to do. But those are artists of the past, and while they are still honored and revered these days, I'd be willing to bet that a great deal of you use things like Photoshop. I have heard too many times that "Photoshop useing artists have no place in the scene." But you and I know that Photoshop has its place, so long as one knows how to use it. Your technique is not to simply edit existing photos. You create new dimensions, and new worlds with your tools. Carve your niche, and demonstrate to the ignorant that you belong. For the 3d Artists: Many people don't separate 2d and 3d artists. I don't know why that is, and I'm sure you don't either. In the world of demos, you are very valuable. You can create 3d models that coders can use to make their demos. If they don't think of that, remind them. You are an essential part to the creation of such demos, and you are often overlooked until the time comes. And even then, a coder might not understand your techniques...and therefore has difficulty understanding your place. You can help to change the scene into the scene of tomorrow. For the Musicians: In the early years of the scene, the name of the game was small file size, and catchy tunes. While you still write catchy tunes, the name of the game has changed. It's all about quality now. Your medium, more than any other aspect of the scene, is more fragile than one might expect. Different players play things differently, and your tune might not be heard the way you wrote it. Keep this in mind when you release a tune. While it is often criticized, MP3s are starting to take their place in the scene, and with good reason. An MP3 is the most portable format out there, and the one format that should sound perfectly the same reglardless of what player is playing it. Ignore what the critics say, if they criticize...they're lost in the scene of yesterday. But anyone with their ear to the scene knows that you can't limit yourself in such ways. You too can innovate in music, be it with your synthesizers, with Buzz or Psycle, with your oldskool tracker or whatever. You hold the ear of the scene, and you must keep that in mind as the scene continues to evolve. After all, the music has changed the most since the scene's birth. For Everyone: Whether you're a participant, or just an observer, this is your time to inflect your influences. You can offer criticism and you can offer your best product. Either of which will help to steer the scene in a given direction, even if it is a minutely small change in direction. My point is, too many people give up because they think they have no impact. But here I am with almost 300 readers now, and I wouldn't have dreamed of having any impact more than three years ago. I am one man, but I have an influence on the scene, even if it is small (300 readers out of how many scene members? That's a very small fraction). I don't mean to be arrogant, but it's true. The scene is filled with lots of Gene Wie's, Necros' and Coplans. Everywhere you turn, you'll see or meet another Snowman or another Phoenix. Every time you jump in #trax, you see the name Basehead with a moderator flag next to his name. Everyone in the scene has a story to tell, and I assure you that everyone has some impact on the scene, so long as they put their minds to it. Years ago, Maelcum put his mind to create a demogroup. Even today, the word Kosmic will always hold a place in scene. Hornet Archive might close, but how many servers have picked up in their tracks? Sure, it's not quite Hornet, but the demoscene has lived on, and it has evolved. And who did that? It wasn't the Hornet guys. It was other guys like you. I hope I am the inspiration that makes you the next Jeffrey Lim, creating one of the most famous tracking programs on the web today. How old is that program, and it's still one of the most widely used? How would you like to be that guy with your name in the credits for that program? Why not try? I hope I might be the inspiration to make you want to be the next Seven, one of the best, and most widely publicized demo reviewers in the scene today. If you don't think that any demo group isn't honored when Seven reviews one of their demos, you're wrong. I know for a fact that anyone is honored to get their demo mentioned by Seven. And I know that many groups try hard to get their demos reviewed by anyone. They strive for it. They work for it. They work hard to get their art recognized...and if you happen to be that guy that offers your criticism, then you might be the guy who sets a mold of expectation. People might turn to you and say "you know what? Your ideas and your thoughts make a lot of sense. Next time I make a demo, I will take your comments into consideration, and strive to make the best demo I have ever done." Imagine getting that e-mail in your inbox. Wouldn't you like to be that guy? My point is a very simple one. Just because you're one person doesn't mean that you can't help the scene to evolve. You have it within your power to make a change in the demoscene, no matter how large or how small. The future of the scene lies more in your hands than you might believe. The future of the scene depends more on you than you could ever dream. The sooner you realize that, the sooner tomorrow will come. So I challenge you: In the year 2002, I challenge you to be everything you can be for the scene, and to do everything that you can possibly do. You will find yourself one day writing an article for The Root, and you will wonder what has made you deserve such an honor. And it will be myself, or someone like me, to tell you that "You have made a huge influence on the scene to bring it to where it is today." That could be you. If you try hard, that will be you. --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 Danish Scene..............................http://demo-scene.dk 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 Planet Zeus..........................http://www.planetzeus.net 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 Delirium..............................http://delirium.scene.pl 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 Outbreak................................http://www.outbreak.nu 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 Spinning Kids......................http://www.spinningkids.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 Fairlight Music.....................http://fairlight.scene.org Five Musicians.........................http://www.fm.scene.org Fusion Music Crew.................http://members.home.nl/cyrex Goodstuff..........................http://artloop.de/goodstuff <*> Hellven.................................http://www.hellven.org 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://tokyodawn.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://www.wildmag.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 #trax e-mail list............................................. .............http://www.scenespot.org/mailman/listinfo/trax Underground Mine.............http://www.spinningkids.org/umine 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 Writers: 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---=------=--=------=--=--