Preview
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_\\__T_A_T_I_C___L_I_N_E_______________________________________ August, 2001
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\\//__ Monthly Scene E-Zine ________________________________ 228 Subscribers
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Table Of Contents
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Opening:
Message From the Editor
Letters From Our Readers
Features:
The DemoDVD Project
The Attitude of the Scene
Columns:
Music:
In Tune -- "Passion on Craq" by Mickrip
The Listener -- Music by Wave, Nox Luce and Mickrip
Retro Tunage -- "Purgatory" by Chris Jarvis
Demo:
Screen Lit Vertigo -- Demos by Alien Prophets, Fairlight
and MGDesign
General:
Software Sense -- The Next Step in Tracking
Editorial -- Scene or Scenes?
Link List -- Get Somewhere in the Scene
Closing:
Credits
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Message From the Editor
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Crazy! The world is crazy! As is my life as of late.
This is being released on time, however, and so it doesn't appear as
though my life is that crazy. The good news is that life is starting to
become a bit normal again, and hopefully that means no more future
delays in the creation of Static Line. It will also hopefully mean that
I can get back to development for SceneSpot. Mind you, I need to finish
building my other computer first. Cross your fingers. Meanwhile,
please realize that SceneSpot is unfinished, but you can use it all you
wish. The advantage is that you can help dictate what happens next, and
what tools get thrown into the mix. You can help us to become the scene
resource that we intend to be.
Anyhow...this months issue is a good one. Psitron is back, but fear
not, he's not on a soap box this month. He's actually doing a nice
little review of the next generation trackers: Buzz and Psychle (a bit
more than I got into several months ago). We also have a nice little
article about the scene attitude from Darkfury. And for those of you
who like scene collections, you'll want to read up on the information
about the DemoDVD project. In addition to all these features this
month, we also have lots of tunes and demos to review (Seven went out of
his way this month, and reviewed three demos). So read on, and enjoy
yourself.
Until next month...
--Coplan
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The DemoDVD Project
By: Phoenix
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Hornet (the former demo archive group) and Fusecon (co-creator of the
Audiophonik CD) are hard at work on a new DVD (Digital Video Disc) that
will show several hours of PC demos.
The DVD is dual-purposed and thus will have two sides:
- Side 1: Modern, "eye-candy" demos. These are geared to grab the
attention of everyone, including your non-scene friends and family.
- Side 2: Classic, "oldskool" demos. These are the demos you just
can't get running anymore, and you'll get a kick out of watching
again, even if others just might think you're crazy!
Note that this will be an actual video DVD, one that you can watch on
your TV! But of course, if you want the original files, they will be on
DVD too. You can expect all kinds of features, not limited to:
- Optional commentaries on the demos while they play
- Menu screens to select each demo
- Alternate audio tracks with both original and remastered soundtracks
- A short documentary on the demoscene
- Several hidden surprises
For more information, please visit the website:
http://www.demodvd.org
It will be updated with the latest news on the project. Be sure to
read the FAQ section, it will answer most of your questions!
Currently, the important section of the website is the survey.
Please help us out by completing the online survey! Here you can help
us choose which demos you want to see on the DVD! You can also tell us
how we should present them, and what quality tradeoffs you'll be happy
with.
When voting on the survey, keep in mind that this DVD will focus on
PC demos only. If it is successful, we would like to make further
volumes for Amiga, C64, and maybe even intros! We'll just have to see
what the future holds.
For technical DemoDVD questions, feel free to contact Trixter
(trixter@oldskool.org), or to give us permission to include your group's
demos (or just to say hello :), you can contact Phoenix (email below).
Thanks for your help!
--Phoenix, DemoDVD team
(phoenix@hornet.org)
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The Attitude of the Scene
By: DarkFury
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While this may not be on the forefront of everyones mind, I feel that
the sluggish activity in the majority of the scene is a good cause to
raise this thesis to discussion. To begin, many wonder where the scene
is going. It is in decline, rebirth or just about any other change that
we can concieve the scene going through. While talking about all this is
fine for discussion, the truth remains that the actual state of the
scene is about the collective attitudes and efforts of the sceners
themselves.
Many attitudes are prevelant lately. Some prefer that the scene become
more elitist, as it once was and in many ways still is. Others venture
towards the philosophy that the use of modern technology is destroying
the scene. Yet others whole-heartedly encourage new technology as the
way of the future. Still others either promote or discourage the
addition to the scene of so-called 'newbies'. All in all, these
attitudes have there place. While these conflicting opinions should
encourage a bit of rivalry, they are completely unproductive as
pointless debates. While I won't and can't say any particular attitude
is wrong, I WILL explain why they have no place as the focus of
demoscene, collectively or as individuals.
While I haven't been witness to the birth of the scene, I was aware
of the technological enviroment of the time. At that time, doing
anything that the well known demo groups could do was an accomplishment,
no matter how simplistic it is to do these things now. Now, that the
technology IS more advanced, but rather than continuing to push the
limits of the hardware, and doing amazing things with it, we've resigned
to using standardized APIs. We've begun to fall prey to the real danger
of technology. Some already know where I'm headed with this. Of course,
I'm referring to the idea that if we don't understand and control
technology ourselves, we are truly slaves to it.
I'm all for using new hardware, it's amazing what can be done when
you have a seperate processor for graphics, sound and core mathematics.
If the coders of the early 90s had access to this kind of equipment,
while still having the attitudes they did at that time, I wouldn't have
been suprised to see productions 100 times better than those we see
today. Why would I dare to say this? Because something is fundamentally
different in our new attitudes. We're satisfied and placated. We don't
push for innovation any longer, we wait for it.
For the newbies in all areas, I'll address specifically that while
it is tough to become good at what your doing, that's no excuse to take
an easy way out. Doing things the hard way is what made the scene what
it is. You can be one of the most intelligent people out there, but if
you aren't willing to take the time and gain the experience required,
you'll never become as good at what your doing as someone who has. Part
of not only becoming a scener, but growing up, is doing things that are
tough. Making decisions you'd rather not and having standards and goals
for yourself are only a few of the things you must have in order to go
anywhere in not only the scene, but in life as well. Secondly, there are
more newbies in the scene who are willing to learn everything it takes
to be good. To these I offer encouragement, and a promise that if you're
serious about what you're doing, you'll go far, even if you're not
recognized in the scene, you'll have advanced yourself enough that you
can tell you have gained so many invaluable skills. As advice to many of
you, I will offer a simple explination about why so many texts, graphics
and songs seemed so advanced. When you begin, you're in a normal frame
of mind, but as you gain experience you'll soon learn a completely
different way of thinking. Developing logic, an ear for sounds or an eye
for colors and techniques are just a few of the first steps that must be
taken. Developing a good foundation in the area you are working is more
important than doing the most advanced thing in your field. Don't try to
skip something because you'd rather jump right into doing what you want.
It pays off to have learned the tedious things later when you need to
know them. Many have asked for tutorials, books and other refrences.
This is a good first step, but keep in mind that there isn't a refrence
for everything. Some skills are only gained through pratice and hard
work. I hope this article brings some motivation to those of you who see
the scene and recognize the state it's in.
Now, of those who are older sceners, very few of the coders I have
found have passion for the wetware of their programs, the fruit of their
labors. They're caught up in doing everything else they need to and see
coding as something they'll put off till they have the time. This is how
it has to be sometimes, but many don't return to coding when they have
the oppurtunity. Similarly, many trackers, while still continuing to
refine their skills, are splitting away from the demoscene in favor of a
purely musical scene. All the daily active scene related sites I once
visited are now strictly music scene. Graphicians, especially pixelers,
are all the more rare. Collectively, the scene is pulling itself apart
because it doesn't know what to do without a community that is active in
simply making differences, changes and moving forward. We argue and
complain about how everything is or ought to be, but yet that hasn't
revived the scene, has it?
Did the Death of DOS bring this situation to the scene? I pose this
question in all sincerity. Until the downfall of DOS, the scene appeared
healthy as ever. With the new attitude that Win 9x is the way to go, or
for some Linux, we no longer have to work as hard.
User/Coder-friendliness has replaced the once renowned art of learning
the ins-and-outs of this wonderous machine.
Personally, I still code for DOS. I see no problem with it's lack of
hardware support or incompatibility problems. While Win and Linux may
have advantages to DOS in every area, they can't replace the power
achievable in DOS. If I want support for a card, I'll write the drivers
myself. This not only delievers a challenge I'd never even need to
consider in a Win enviroment but improves my skills and my knowledge.
While I understand many hobby coders would not consider this a practical
decision. I am not a hobby coder. The only better control I could have
over a computer would be to write my own BIOS and OS. With this in mind,
some will ask how exactly I can say I don't mind incompatibility issues.
Honestly, by writing drivers and libraries that comply with the very
standards the hardware itself must follow. It's much more involved and
in-depth a process than to call an API. So for those who wish no such
involvement in such an archaic method of programming, you're welcome to
write whatever you want, however you want, for whatever platform you
wish. I'll still watch a demo no matter what platform it's released on.
I'll watch it if it's music is tracked or MP3. I'll watch hardware
accelerated demos or demos with completely software rendered graphics. I
don't see a problem with any of these things. But for me, I'll highly
respect some one who can do all this and more under DOS or better yet,
their own OS.
Demo coding was never just about how pretty the graphics are, or how
well the music plays, but what the CODER had to do to make that tweaked
VGA graphic routine astounding or get that track to play at 44khz with
32 active channels. For a tracker, I must say I thought tracking was
about writing modules. Trackers had always been more than JUST
musicians. They were specialized because they could do music in an
ungodly format that never would create the equivalent of music played by
hand. They could use a limited set of effects and still make sounds to
shake the soul. Finally, for graphicians, I've seen some great pixelling
now that we have tools like Photoshop, but I've also seen graphics that
are nothing but composites of scans, and images that are nothing but
blurs. While all of the alternatives to doing everything by hand are
valid and can still produce some astounding results, I'll still hold
that human creativity, resourcefulness and dedication are what we're
really missing now. We aren't doing things in an intelligent manner that
only organic life is capable of. We're becoming restricted to the
actions of the machines we created simply because we've become too lazy
to continue understanding the ever increasing complexity of the system.
Until we return to this pivotal state of mind in the scene, it will
never be what it once was. As our roots are in the realm of crackers and
hackers I'll quote the jargon file to finish my statement. Hopefully,
this definition will reiterate my sentiments in a bit more condensed
manner.
-=- Notes -=-
hacker -- n. [originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe] 1. A
person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how
to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to
learn only the minimum necessary. 2. One who programs enthusiastically
(even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing
about programming. 3. A person capable of appreciating hack value. 4. A
person who is good at programming quickly. 5. An expert at a particular
program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in `a
Unix hacker'. (Definitions 1 through 5 are correlated, and people who
fit them congregate.) 6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might
be an astronomy hacker, for example. 7. One who enjoys the intellectual
challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations. 8.
[deprecated] A malicious meddler who tries to discover sensitive
information by poking around. Hence `password hacker', network hacker'.
The correct term for this sense is cracker.
The term `hacker' also tends to connote membership in the global
community defined by the net (see the network and Internet address). For
discussion of some of the basics of this culture, see the How To Become
A Hacker (http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html) FAQ. It
also implies that the person described is seen to subscribe to some
version of the hacker ethic (see hacker ethic).
It is better to be described as a hacker by others than to describe
oneself that way. Hackers consider themselves something of an elite (a
meritocracy based on ability), though one to which new members are
gladly welcome. There is thus a certain ego satisfaction to be had in
identifying yourself as a hacker (but if you claim to be one and are
not, you'll quickly be labeled bogus). See also wannabee.
This term seems to have been first adopted as a badge in the 1960s by
the hacker culture surrounding TMRC and the MIT AI Lab. We have a report
that it was used in a sense close to this entry's by teenage radio hams
and electronics tinkerers in the mid-1950s.
-=- Closing -=-
Finally, as I expect to get both loads of flames and hopefully some
well thought out discussions on this article. I will conclude by asking,
are we in the scene to be sceners, or does the scene exist because we're
here to create demos and all of their related parts?
--DarkFury/Nutropik
resonant@onebox.com
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In Tune
"Passion on Craq" by Mickrip
By: Coplan
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-=- Introduction -=-
It's strange how one finds good tunes. Inspired by the fact that
someone sent me a link for Fairlight Music, and the fact that Seven did
a review of one of their demos this month, I jumped on their site. I
was actually on the site looking for the music for etTV, which was
available, but I got side-tracked. Mind you, I've never been to the
Fairlight music site before. So, I was almost catatonic to see that
Mickrip was still releasing tunes.
So I grabbed a bunch of his tunes. And among them was this short
little ditty: "Passion on Craq".
-=- The Tune -=-
Mickrip is not going to be the best tracker you've ever heard. But
the man is well inspired, as he has turned out several good tunes in
the past. Thus I knew I would find something at least entertaining
when I grabbed some of his latest works. My first impression: "The
guy has made some drastic improvements in his tracking skills."
Ironically, the last song I listened to from Mickrip was a tune
called "Astrid", which I admire for its incredible inspiration. The
dynamics on that song are pretty incredible, and his methods are even
more incredible. In "Passion on Craq", the dynamics and methods are
just as incredible, and much more entertaining.
The song is short, but it doesn't need to be very long. I don't
exactly know how you would classify this tune on the big scheme of
things. I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say it's a cross
between guitar rock, trance and hip hop, maybe even some club in there.
The most notable element of this song is the percussion. The song
starts with a very filtered drum loop, and it gets brighter as time
passes, and finally we get hit with the "real" percussion. Occasionally
throughout the song, you get exposed to the filtered loop again, and it
adds to the dynamic of the tune. The percussion is relatively simple
otherwise, but it is tailored to every situation in the song. It's well
timed, well matched, and entirely well done.
If you happen to be fortunate like myself, and you got a really good
stereo system hooked up to your computer, you'll enjoy the base in this
song. My little 15" sub was happy to play this ditty, as it gave it a
lot of exercise. The base line in this tune is, again, pretty simple,
but it is definately not boreing. It bounces around, and generally does
a lot to compliment the rest of the tune.
The lead bothers me slightly. It's good, don't get me wrong, but I
have never been too satisfied with guitars in tracked music. The
dynamics of guitars are so very difficult to reproduce, you might as
well use pre-recorded samples. Instead, Mickrip uses pre-recorded
riffs (very short ones), and blends them together ala the style used to
create an oldskool mod by the name of "Schwinging the swing"
(schwing.mod -- author unknown, as my copy's message is confusing as
hell). It works, but you can tell that it was fitted, as opposed to
recorded. Mind you, it's a very difficult method of doing guitar...and
it works better than recording one string -- but it isn't seamless.
Mickrip, fortunately, did a wonderful job with what he used, and it
came out okay.
-=- Conclusion -=-
All in all, I'm glad I grabbed the latest from Mickrip. It's good to
see that some guys are still around, and still tracking wonderfully. If
you're a Mickrip fan, or even if you're not, you'll want to grab this
tune, as it is definately worth the download. It's an IT too, so you'll
be able to learn from him as well (but a very large IT file, so you
remaining GUS people might have some minor problems).
Song Information:
Title: Passion on Craq
Author: Mickrip
Release date: June 18, 2001
Length: 2m33s
File Size (zipped/unzipped): 1.4mb / 1.3mb
Source: http://fairlight.scene.org
--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!
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The Listener
Music by Wave, Nox Luce and Mickrip
By: Tryhuk
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Sometime words flow easily and you've got to hold them not to spill
out of the editor's window. But this month it is going to be rather a
second case, when I have almost nothing to say. At least almost nothing.
After a long time I visited a homepage of Maniacs of Noise and I was
pleased by a few new songs by Wave, released in June. They are of his
usual style and although I don't feel like they would fall among my
favorite, it is nice to hear something different again and remind on the
good old times of five musicians and their awesome releases. Wild drums
and nice melodies in two waves heading into your head. Try them, they
won't hurt you.
Then of course, my attention was stolen by "Night Light" brought to
you by Nox Luce aka Norfair. I wanted to mention it before but it didn't
fall into my path and now if you want to hear a review, you'll have
to visit the goodstuff site (http://konsumer.de/goodstuff/).
Last track that catch my eye is "Tribute To Paddo" by Mickrip
released through Fairlight. It is a song with a guitar and strings only
and although it isn't special in any way, I have to admit, that it
belonged among the best stuff out of the latest scene releases that I've
heard. Maybe I'm influenced by my memory on his previous songs from the
times of Analogue and Stage 9, but after hearing most of the songs that
he made during the time since then, I've got to say that this one is a
bit special among them.
I'm afraid that's all. I had a busy month, I was also on holidays and
so most of the scene music I heard during July was on the Nectarine
radio which is better and better with every day passing since its start.
If you have a chance, give it a try because you'll get to songs that you
wouldn't normally download.
Song Information:
Title: Nectatrine radio
Source: http://www.scenemusic.net
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Retro Tunage
"Purgatory" by Chris Jarvis
By: Tryhuk
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Yesterday I had a 24th birthday and now I feel very nostalgic. I
thought this will be the best time to write a review for retro tunage
and while meditating about storytelling I sat down to a computer and
after a long time I run Cubic Player once again. I searched for a track
that would fit into my current mood and which is special in some way and
I didn't have to search for too long.
The track, actually two tracks, I chose are Purgatory Opening and
Closing theme written by Chris Jarvis and made for a short movie by
Terry McMullin and Marko Keser.
Four minute long Opening theme is inspired a lot by Heat Miser from
Massive Attack. Chris borrows a lot from the original track and one could
almost call it a remix of the original track. But what a good remix!
In the beginning he sets up a sensible tempo and he keeps it for the
whole track. During the track he varies petty instrumentation and only
the piano remains as the main instrument of the song. Same as a film
maker having its lead character on which he concentrates. I think this
is the best way to get someone into a story, set a tempo and a direction
even without having to show much in the movie. Music is great narrators
instrument and many people forget that.
The closing theme is twice as long as the opening one and uses a
similar style of instrumentation. In the beginning, the author evokes a
water drop feeling brought not only by piano hits, but also with
repeated brass and well picked percussion accompanied by many real life
sounds that fill the space and give it a more full feeling. The piano
appears more and more often like a few drops turning into a stream and
gathering grains of sand with. The stream strengthens and behaves like a
destiny in a real life - sometime we have a choice and sometimes we
don't.
As you can see, I have my own vision behind the songs and I believe
this is how good music should sound. Try to see through my eyes or
find your own point of view. Or maybe find yourself the movie, which
I haven't seen. I only know that I like these two tracks and that they
belong among my favorite three tunes by chris jarvis. The third one is
"Northern Sky" which is probably his best track and which belongs among
the best tracked songs though I haven't mentioned it here yet. So if you
decide to try some releases of this oldskool tracker, add this one
to your download list.
Song Information:
Title: Purgatory
Author: Chris Jarvis
Release date: 1998
Length: 4m14s + 8m17s
Filename (zipped/unzipped): Cj-purg.zip / cj-purg1.it + cj-purg2.it
File Size (zipped/unzipped): 1.5mb / 1.2mb + 1.9mb
Source: Any site with releases from Analogue. For example scene.org.
--Tryhuk
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Screen Lit Vertigo
Demos by Alien Prophets, Fairlight and MGDesign
By: Seven
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-=- Unnamed Demo by Alien Prophets (party-version) -=-
Found at www.scene.org
1st place at the Scene Event 01 democompo.
System requirements: 3 MB HD, Windows, 3D card
Test Machine: PIII 900 192MB, SB1024, GeForce 2MX 32MB, Win98
The Credits:
Code: Jar, Gaia
Graphics: Shifter
Music: Nudge
The Demo:
Alien Prophets have won the Scene Event democompo with a demo that has
no name. I wonder how we're supposed to vote for it in the charts :) It
features mainly disconnected 3D effects, with no story or theme. Some
nice ones are a mass of chemical-notation style molecules in a tunnel
(or maybe it's a single big one), a cool yellow-transparant 3D
printboard or maze-like thingy, and the very best variation on metaballs
I've seen since ages. The objects are all abstract, such as
self-intersecting morphing blobs, a flock of yellow bricks, or plastic
spikey balls, with no rooms or environments.
On the 2D side there's the usual snow/line interference and an
oldskool text-plasma. The background pictures are either very abstract,
or granular photos of a technical nature, such as buildings, or a
computer,... There's also a picture at the start of a girl that is
replaced by an alien.
The music is IDM, with the usual instruments plus a stuttering voice
sample, and reminds me of the Moral Hard Candy soundtrack. There are
long quiet parts, alternated with a frenzy of percussion, and the demo
is synced to those changes nicely: both when switching effects, and when
changing camera positions within effects.
Overall:
This unnamed production is quite original for a 3D demo, although I
would have liked it to be a bit longer. But the readme.txt says "No
time. 8 minutes till deadline", and we know the relentlessness of
deadlines :( It is recommended that you check out this demo!
-=- etTV by Fairlight (final version) -=-
Found at www.scene.org
1st place at the Remedy 2001 accelerated democompo
System requirements:
7 MB HD, Windows 9X,2k,ME Pentium 233, 64 MB, Direct-X 8.0 The 3D
card should support multitexturing. Another final that works on Voodoo
cards should be released later.
(An info file *with requirements listed*! We love you, Fairlight!)
Test Machine: PIII 900 192MB, SB1024, GeForce 2MX 32MB, Win98
The Credits:
Code: Pantaloon
Music: Andromeda
Graphics: Graffik
3D: Pantaloon, Aln
The Demo:
Fairlight is getting better and better in making PC demos. With etTV
(E.T. as in alien), your computer has been taken over by a TV broadcast
from the typical extraterrestrials with overdeveloped heads, large
bambi-eyes and sharp fangs. They seem to like all kinds of tunnel
effects, multi-textured transparent ones, solid square tunnels with a
spiral of lights in the middle, and even the old software-variant with
multiple tunnels colliding and splitting. Other 3D parts include several
spherical layers with morphing holes around a flare (looks better then
it sounds), a metallic alien fetus in a green aquarium that kills the
framerate, trails of lights circling around something that looks like a
fat sunflower,... There are also some lines of poetry shown, fading out
too fast to read them all and thereby forcing you to rewatch the demo
(Clever designers, indeed).
etTV has several excellent pictures, starting with the pixeled
Fairlight logo in the setup box. Then there are the small alien
portraits in the credits, a magnificent full-screen alien head (with
added spherical zoom effect) and a couple of desolate outerspace
landscapes.
The music is hard to describe for me. It changes tempo a few times,
but overall it's quite ambient, with a slow flute and a repeated pattern
of beeps in the foregrond, and percussion in the background. It fits the
demo well. Syncing is mostly done via a tv-snow effect making the
transition between different parts, but it's used a bit too often for my
taste. There's also a nice chiptune played at the setup menu (seems to
be the new hype, and I like it), but sometimes it isn't played. Maybe a
bug?
For the people with too much time on their hands: keep pencil and paper
ready at the start, because the credits are shown both in alien and in
human-readable font. This is the key to decipher the numerous alien
messages in the backgrounds. One of the more visible reads "vote for
fairlight at remedy". (No sir, we did NOT use subliminal messages to
influence the audience).
Overall:
There's a little bit of everything in etTV: 3D environments, poetry,
a theme, pictures, 3D accelerated oldskool effects... Fairlight also
keeps some good old habits alive, such as using effects in the
background instead of static photos or "stylish" patterns, and showing
full-screen hand-drawn (maybe slightly photoshopped) pictures. The
variation results in a demo that is much less boring than a pure 3D
cameraflight / pure flatcolored design / pure morphing objects kind of
demo. So everyone, download this, watch it and learn.
-=- I Can Fly by MGDesign (final version) -=-
Found at demos.mgdesign.org
1st place at the VIP3 democompo
System requirements: 10 MB HD, 400+ MHZ CPU, 128 MB RAM, OpenGL 1.2.1
compatible 3d card with 32 MB mem (best with latest drivers)
Test Machine: PIII 900 192MB, SB1024, GeForce 2MX 32MB, Win98
The Credits:
Code: Nico
3D: Christian, Nante, UKW, Theo
Gfx: Theo, UKW
Music: Hiscan, Candle
The Demo:
MGDesign had to make several patches before I Can Fly wanted to run
everywhere, but the third one worked for me (after also installing the
latest detonator drivers for my vidcard). And was it worth the wait?
Yep, sure it is! After choosing whether you want to preload all data
(requires more memory), or to load data during the demo (may cause
slowdowns), an oldskool loading screen is shown. It's a low-res
starfield with a pixeled logo, their motto "In code we trust" and a
short looping tune, but no progress bar.
The demo itself has some hefty 3D. There are some scenes that bring
my GF2MX to a crawling speed (<10 FPS): inside a large mosque with light
shining through hundreds of windows, and a flight over a complex and
fairly detailed city. During that city flight, there's even a second
window in the corner, showing a different camera path. Luckily most
parts require less horsepower. I like the beginning a lot: a very nice
rounded 3D logo, surrounded by strings of cute-looking starry objects.
The starts throw shadows on the logo, and everything has matching pastel
colors. To show the credits, a MGDesign logo dissolves in a cloud of
cubes, some of which are textured with aliases or professions. Besides a
few logos and the detailed textures, there are no standalone pictures
used. There's one green "I Can Fly" screen near the start, but it
flashes by so quickly I almost didn't notice it.
The main soundtrack is a rock song by Candle, the music band by the
brother of Theo. Nice to see that some people take the effort to make
their own soundtracks, rather than ripping some commercial hit, Anyway
the song isn't bad, but the syncing seems to go wrong in some places,
example: that green logo. There are also two short looping .XMs, one for
the loading, one for the ending.
Overall:
I Can Fly has a few shortcomings: the bad syncing, the fact that you
can't change the high default resolution (could help those poor souls
with less-powerfull 3D cards), and that you've got to press escape to
stop :/ But the demo has some impressive parts, especially if you keep
in mind that this is MGDesigns first PC demo (They did an Amiga demo,
Dimension, 5 years ago). So, make sure to get this, or to download the
patch at demos.mgdesign.org if the party version didn't work on your
machine.
--Seven
--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
Software Sense
The Next Step in Tracking
By: Psitron
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
It has been quite some time since I have submitted an article. And for
those of you who regularly read my ramblings, I apologize - to all three
of you. =) In the scene, I have never been much on excuses, but,
suffice to say, life stepped in (in a very good way, I might add), and
my time and even participation in the scene has, until recently,
dwindled. Though, I had hoped to release this article last month -
unfortunately it was lost a few days before the deadline. In a
nutshell, I apologize for being away - most of it could not be helped,
but I wish to inform you that I am back with quite a few new articles
up my sleeve.
For those of you who read my usual articles, you may remember that I
have addressed the limitations of current generation trackers, such as
Fast Tracker or Impulse Tracker - and expressed my opinions on what a
next generation tracker might have. How would one, for example, address
the issues of using complex effects without having to go to an external
sample editor? If you recall my articles expressed thought about using
such things as macros. While not exactly using such an idea, two 'next
generation' trackers have taken the idea many steps further by adding a
visual element to structuring sounds and effects.
These two rather unique trackers are called Buzz Tracker (or simply
Buzz, if you prefer) and Psycle. Unlike a conventional tracker, which
is limited in precision and number of effects, Buzz and Psycle have
eliminated this brick wall that has recently irritated many newer
musicians. How do they work, one might ask?
The idea is quite simple, really, but not necessarily new. For those
of you who are on a budget, like me, you may have played around with a
few soft-synths, which used a visual approach to making sounds. Buzz
and Psycle work the exact same way, as a matter of fact, but includes
the tracker element and the ability to use samples. Essentially what
one can do is create complex sounds by linking different machines
together. Take this, for eaxmple:
------- ------- -------- --------
| 303 |----->| Delay |----->| Filter |----->| Master |
------- ------- -------- --------
The above uses a soft-synth machine called 303 and adds two machines,
delay and filter which modify the sound. In the case of Buzz, what makes
it so powerful is that you can modify the characteristics of almost
every machine using pattern-data which can then be sequenced together.
Psycle can do a similar thing, too, but this is partially where they
differ.
It is important to note that Buzz and Psycle use the same fundamental
ideas, but use different approaches. Buzz is a more radial approach
where one creates a series of patterns for EACH machine. You then can
mix all these patterns in the master order list (which is very similar
to a large pattern). For example:
| 303 | Delay | Filter | Master |
0000 | 00 | 00 | .. | Fade-In |
0016 | 01 | 00 | 00 | .. |
0032 | 02 | 00 | 02 | .. |
0064 | 02 | 01 | 01 | Fade-Out |
As you can see, what is happening is that the machine 303 has three
patterns which, in this example, carry the melody. The Delay is then
modified in the third pattern while the entire song fades out. A
particular unique idea that Buzz uses is the ability to name patterns.
This helps immensely when one wants to, for example, name patterns
according to chords (to thereby be able to glance at the order list and
know the chord progression easily), or in the above example, to easily
see what effects one is doing (Fading in and out). As one can see, it
becomes very easy to create complex, dynamic, music by merely layering
the melody with different effects and modifying both of these elements,
often at the same time, by having the ability to have each and every
machine have it's own patterns.
Psycle seems to, at least, so far (since it is still in beta stages)
utilizes a more conventional approach. Instead of having each machine
have it's own pattern and sequencing this pattern into a master order
list (like Buzz), Psycle has an order list more like a conventional
tracker. Each machine has it's own channel in a single pattern.
Compared to Buzz, this sounds rather plain and almost antiquated.
Actually, however, one of the main problems of Buzz is that it is so
powerful it becomes rather a burden to create complex melodies easily.
Since each machine has it's own pattern, one must jump around different
machines quite extensively. In Psycle everything is in front of you,
and thus, one can track much more quickly and easily. This advantage is
important with styles that usually have a complex melody, but for
electronic music, which is often repetitive and layered, Buzz seems to
be more useful.
It is important to remember, however, that Buzz (as well as Psycle) is
commonly not a replacement, but a supplement. A common practice is to
use Buzz like a soft-synth and import the created sounds into, say,
Impulse Tracker, where one can further create the song in a more
conventional manner. One can go the other way, of course, but I have
yet to find a machine for Buzz that imports Impulse Tracker modules
specifically. However, because of Buzz (and Psycle's) modularization,
one could just simply write a machine which would do just that. It
probably is not actually that simple to do so, but, nonetheless, it can
be done.
There you have it - a brief little glimpse of two extremely powerful
and innovative tools in the tracker's arsenal. I hope that this will
inspire you to, if you have not already, download a copy of either Buzz
or Psycle and give it a try. They are worth the download, even on my
slow connection... =)
--PsiTron
--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
Editorial
Scene or Scenes?
By: Coplan
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
I remember several years ago when the "Scene" referred to one of two
things: PC Demoscene, or the Amiga Demoscene. Many people would
consider them synonymous, the only difference being the hardware you
used. And each included any element utilized to create a demo:
graphics (GFX), music (trax) and code.
Is everything still together? Or do we have multiple scenes now?
It doesn't really matter, in the long run, how the scenes are
organized. The only time it would really matter is when you wanted to
find something. After all, the music scene has taken its own path as
of late, and it very often has nothing to do with demos. About 98% of
the music available will never be used for a demo. And most of that
doesn't even have potential, as it just might not be the right kind of
music for a demo. So is that music still part of the demoscene?
Probably not.
But as I said, it doesn't really matter.
Occasionally, someone will jump on their soap box and preach about
the fact that the demoscene should once again be united. Or they might
try to persuade people to avoid MP3s, as they don't seamlessly fit into
a demo. Or someone might point out that the music released these days
sound (believe it or not) too real. Why are these issues? Is it really
a bad thing that the music scene has taken its own course of action? Is
it really terrible that the music has its own identity now?
I write music using a tracking program. I write music for the
benefit of myself. It's a good hobby to have, and I share only a
fraction of the music that I write. I listen to other people's music
for the same reason. Unless I'm trying to learn a technique...I don't
care how it was written. I only care that I can play it on my
computer. So what's the big deal? The scene may have mutated a bit,
but to me, it's still a great place to be.
--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
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
<U> 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
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---=------=--=------=--=--