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                       cRu|________\     |    |                  Issue #44
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 March, 2003                             ||    /  \ \__/   /   /   /___// |
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--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Tale Of Contents
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
     Opening:
        Message From the Editor
        Letters From Our Readers
     Features:
        A Proposal:  The Scene Resource Union
        From OldSkewl to NewSkewl - Making the Great Tracker Switch
     Reviews:
        Music:
           In Tune -- "Fine" by In Tense
           The Lineup -- Monthly Music Listings
           Guest Music Review -- "May" by Melvyl (review by Valzihjken)
        Demo:
           Screen Lit Vertigo -- "Planet Loop" and "Darkstar"
     Opinion / Commentary:
        Editorial -- Revolution or Refinement
     Link List: Get Somewhere in the Scene
     Closing: Staff and Contact Information


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Message From the Editor
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

  Last month, Novus interviewed Saurin "Myterium" Shah, the former
  webmaster of Trax In Space.  Much to my surprise, it really attracted a
  lot of attention.  Between Novus and myself, we recieved between 15 and
  20 messages.  Honestly, we rarely recieve more than 5.  It's stirred up
  several debates, and lots of discussion, to say the least.  Some, but
  not all, of your messages have been published this month.  They can be
  found in our Letters section.

  The interview also brought me to finally collect my thoughts on the
  matter of the scene resource condition.  I have an interesting proposal
  for all you site webmasters out there.  You'll want to read my proposal
  in this months features.

  Well, we've got a great issue for you this month.  I appreciate all the
  outside contributions for articles this month.  Aside from our normal
  columns, you'll find an extra music review by Valzihjken and a feature
  article about modern tracking programs by Psitron.  We hope you enjoy
  this months issue.

  Until Next month!

                --Coplan


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Letters From Our Readers
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

  -=- A Message from Patrick Groove -=-

  That was a great interview. It was good to see ethical scene reporting
  and a search for the truth. I hope that when people read that interview
  they take away with them a sense of the sacrifice some of our fellow
  sceners make in bringing services to us everyday. As far as I can see
  the administrators of popular scene websites have indeed looked to the
  Trax In Space example in their daily operations. Keep up your spirit and
  excitement, Vince!

                --Patrick Groove
                  United Trackers


  -=- A Message from Mister X -=-

  Great work on your interview with Saurin!  I'm glad he finally came out
  to speak on the issue, as none of the others involved felt it was our
  place to.

                --Mister X


  -=- A Message from Kosmos (with comments from Novus) -=-

  Just read your article with Mysterium.. Interesting stuff. Of course no
  one is going to criticize himself, so ... there are a lot of things he's
  leaving out... Like the fact that he always wanted to profit from it -
  went to investors, took up a loan, next thing you know, he had an office
  where he purchased himself nice computers along with a leather chair.
  All was written off in taxes as his business expense. His #1 Goal was
  HIS SUCCESS - he was a business major. We butted heads against that one.
  Sceners and music was maybe #3, somewhere along the line. And yes,
  regardless what he says #2 was money.

  Growth is NOT the reason the site went down. Poor management is.

  You will say, "Sure, you don't have servers and bandwidth to pay for".
  And I'll reply "I have purposely thought of that, and have decided
  against it, because I foresaw the future." People may snicker at that,
  but UT went up right when Hornet was sinking. And TiS went up after
  Hornet has sunk.

  I don't have any beef with Mysterium now, but in the past I really did.
  Especially when we both had big plans together, but all he ended up
  doing was stealing my ideas and publishing them on his site. Anyway, I
  don't want to bad mouth the guy, he took a hard hit. And I'm glad that
  you finally let the scene know what really happened through his words.

                --Kosmos
                  United Trackers


  -=- Reply from Novus -=-
  Actually, we covered all that. (Except for the leather chair bit, but
  whatever.) I mentioned in my intro that his goal was profitability, and
  that  kept coming up in the interview as well. He made no attempt to
  hide that.  But a person can have multiple reasons for doing something,
  some selfish and  some altruisitc, often at the same time, and he
  brought up the altruistic  motives as well.

  > Growth is NOT the reason the site went down. Poor management is.

  He admitted as such. When I point-blank asked him what went wrong, he
  said, "It actually mimics the dot-com busts. Too much cash going out,
  not enough coming in to support the operations." He also admitted to
  numerous bad decisions that he made. And I'd say letting a site grow
  too fast is a perfect example of poor management.

  Never underestimate the power of pre-planning. ;)

                --Novus


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  A Proposal:  The Scene Resource Union
  By: Coplan
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

  Last month's interview with Msyterium yielded a lot of debates and
  discussions about the state of the demoscene.  On a personal level, I
  cannot stand by without saying anything, and my normal editorial column
  isn't enough.

  Now, the title of this article might throw some people off.  I don't for
  a minute believe that the demoscene needs a reformation.  On the
  contrary, we've got quite a healthy population of musicians, coders,
  artists, what-have-you.  But it's a bit bottom-heavy, and that's the
  problem.  This isn't a debate (as you may find in my typical editorial
  column).  This is partially a defense for SceneSpot and partially a
  proposal.

  First, the defense:

  When I started SceneSpot, at least in concept, I was still in college.
  I had a lot of time, a lot of energy and a lot of crazy ideas.  I
  started making friends and tried as hard as I could to get the help I
  needed.  As it turned out, the only help I needed up front was someone
  to get the ball rolling (thanks Ranger Rick) and someone to provide
  server space for me (again, thanks Ranger Rick).  And while I still have
  a lot of time and effort going into the project, I still feel as though
  I'm pretty lucky.  But I'm one person.  I'm not a group, and sometimes
  my efforts are looked upon as copy-cat material.  While SceneSpot shares
  some similarities with other sites, it is unique in its presentation and
  goals.  Believe me when I say that the current version of SceneSpot is
  only a mere shadow of what SceneSpot can and will be one day.

  So enough about that...what's this proposal?

  What I propose is not entirely easy to comprehend.  Nor is it something
  that is very easy to pull off.  I havn't figured out exactly how
  everything could be done in the first place, but the scene needs some
  order in its resource sites.  And this is the best solution (albeit an
  incomplete one) that I can come up with.

  Too many people try to change the scene.  The reality is that the scene
  evolves.  And the resources that belong to it also revolve.  And once
  again, someone's always looking to change them.  One of the faults of
  TiS is the fact that it tried to change the scene.  Not good, as you
  have seen its outcome.  But that's not bashing mysterium or his works.
  His work has paved the way for future scene contributors.  You can argue
  with me on that point, but there's really very little to argue.

  So how does one deal with an ever-changing set of resources?  One lets
  Darwin take over.  Naturally, the demoscene and its resources is about
  surival of the fittest.  But we're not talking creatures here, and the
  one thing that is overlooked in all this is that there aren't enough
  top-level contributors as it is.  How many millions of people are
  involved in the demoscene today, and what very small percentage are
  willing or have the skills to run a website?  Well, if Johny Demoscene's
  site dies, he's going to go with it.  I've watched it happen hundreds of
  times.  We don't just loose his site, we loose his talents and skills.
  THAT cannot happen if we expect to keep everything organized in a way
  that makes the scene thrive.  For those of you familiar with American
  History, you'll notice that this is very similar to the Labor disputes
  of the late 1700's and early 1800s.  This is why Unions were formed.

  Why don't we form a Scene Resource Union?

  Worry not, I'm not saying we have dues or anything like that -- at least
  not in the traditional sense.  We simply make users fully aware of our
  affiliates and what resources they might offer.  As our sites evolve,
  theirs evolves as well.  Site "A" might decide to phase out it's news
  handling, while Site "B" might decide to focus on news handling.
  There's no hole, as Site "A" refers users to Site "B" for news.  But
  Site "A" has a wonderful forum, so users get referred to it as well.
  Overlapping is inevitable, and it would of course be acceptable.  Our
  goal is not to compete with each other, rather benefit from the
  awareness that the others bring us, and we return the favor by making
  our users aware of their resources.

  The first step, of course, would be to see who's interested.  If you're
  at all interested, send me a message (coplan@scenespot.org) and tell me
  your thoughts.  I'll be forming a mailing list if there is enough
  interest and we'll begin talking about the way this could all work out.
  I have a lot more mapped out than I have written here.  I won't go into
  too much detail at this point, as it is all just an idea at this point.
  But I do have many ideas that, even if they aren't materialized, might
  help to benefit the scene in any way we can offer them.  If nothing
  else, we might pool our resources and develop a centralized index of
  scene resources (think Yahoo) where the Scene Resource Union members can
  maintain a catalog of member's sites.

   Again, if you're interested, send me a message:  coplan@scenespot.org

                --Coplan


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  From OldSkewl to NewSkewl
     Making the Great Tracker Switch
  By: Psitron
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

  Admittedly I have been out of the scene loop for a while. Call it what
  you will, but I have unfortunately been busy with life to do much else,
  tracking or otherwise. But I have finally found some time to get back to
  my tracking needs (I'm not all whole unless I track :) and, in the
  process, have finally made the plunge from what I will call 'oldskewl'
  trackers to the new, modern trackers that many composers now use. I
  thought, as a result, that I might walk through this somewhat daunting
  conversion for you, showing the differences and features from the old
  verses new 'skewl' trackers.

  Of course, quite a few musicians have opted to go to a full-fledge music
  sequencing program like Cubase or Cakewalk. And while they are wonderful
  programs, they are rather expensive and undoubtedly require some sort of
  hardware that can require quite an investment. Do not get me wrong, my
  personal opinion is that hardware can be rather important when composing
  music, using a tracker or otherwise. And though the advantages and
  disadvantages are out of the scope of what I intend on talking about
  here, suffice to say, as wonderful as hardware is, it is usually costly.
  As a result, the tracker is still a viable piece of software if one does
  not yet want to take the plunge into full blown sequencing. And, of
  course, if you must go to sequencing, but do not want to loose the
  tracking interface, there are always things like ShakeTracker, zTracker,
  etc. that allows one to do sequencing from within a tracking interface.
  Though, from reading the forums on SceneSpot, it seems that they do not
  compare to the professional sequencing packages - if you can afford it.

  For whatever reason, for those that feel they still want to use a
  tracker but are unable to use DOS, it may be time to try one's hand at
  the newer tracking software that is available today. There are many
  options, most of which run under Windows. An unfortunate circumstance
  for the Linux die-hards: looks like you're going to have to keep your
  system dual-booted or build a Windows box (as I have yet found a windows
  tracking program that runs reliably under WINE - if anyone has, drop me
  a line). There has yet to be a stable tracking solution for Linux other
  than Sound Tracker or CheeseTracker (which, unfortunately, is *still*
  buggy and not yet a viable alternative to Impulse Tracker, in my
  opinion) - both of which do not have the new features that modern
  trackers have. Who knows, however, perhaps we will get lucky one of
  these days :)

  In any case, the vast amount of features in today's trackers are quite
  nice and definitely worth looking into, no matter what OS you prefer to
  run. Many support features such as VST effect and instrument plugins,
  multiple effect columns, modular designs (as in the case with Psycle and
  BuzzTracker), etc. The interfaces have also been refined, some offering
  an entirely new interface while others build upon existing interfaces,
  like the Fast Tracker 2 interface. Unfortunately, for musicians that
  prefer the Scream Tracker / Impulse Tracker interface you may be out of
  luck as I have not yet found a modern tracker that successfully
  implements this interface to an acceptable degree, though many do offer
  some of IT shortcuts and similar effect-symbols (Axx, Bxx, Dxy, etc.).

  I personally have chosen to use Renoise which does a wonderful job of
  extending the existing FT2 style interface to include many wonderful
  enhancements (though it does fall short of the FT2 interface by not
  including Nibbles :) As a result, I will be concentrating largely on
  Renoise for the duration of this article. Be forewarned, however, the
  free version offered is missing some enhancements, notably ASIO and
  WAV-out support (which I will explain in depth later). If you are
  looking for a 100% free program that is similar to Renoise, I would
  suggest trying out Sk@le Tracker, which offers many of the features that
  Renoise has plus a few of its own - though it is currently still in
  beta.

  I come from a Scream Tracker background - it was what I started tracking
  shortly before going to Impulse Tracker. As a result, switching from
  that type of interface to Renoise was a bit daunting at first, largely
  because of the differences in keyboard shortcuts and navigation. I find
  myself using the mouse more than I honestly would prefer - one of the
  noticeable characteristics of an FT2-based interface. Though after a few
  weeks of playing around with it, I have grown quite accustomed to the
  FT2-based interface and enjoy the amount of information that is present
  on the screen at once. I also enjoy the hexadecimal representation of
  pattern lines and effect amounts, which give a more cleaner appearance.
  A volume level of 64 in Impulse Tracker is simply 40 in Renoise - 32 is
  20, etc. I do still miss the Impulse Tracker interface sometimes,
  however - I suspect many die hard IT users will probably feel the same
  way. Nonetheless, to get the extra features available in the current
  generation of trackers, one will have to go through a learning process,
  no matter which tracking program is used.

  Aside from utilizing the FT2 interface, Renoise is chock full of
  enhancements that make the switch well worth the effort. One of them is
  the ability to have multiple note and effect columns per track which
  allows a much more complex array of effects that can be applied to a
  track as well as the ability to apply those effects to multiple notes. I
  have found this helps when one wants to apply effects to a chord
  progression, like a volume slicer to get that cool trancey sound :) It
  also helps to structure one's song a bit better and makes the pattern
  data cleaner.

  One of the interesting concepts that has been implemented into Renoise
  is a sort of effects stack. Not only is one able to use the standard set
  of effect like volume fade, re-trigger, etc. one is also able to use a
  series of included DSP effects, any number of which can be applied to a
  certain track. The number of effects per track is only limited by one's
  processor (of which Renoise does take up a pretty large part of). The
  interesting thing is that these effects can effect each other, depending
  on how they are arranged within the effect stack. This is much like how
  Buzz Tracker and Psycle allow one to use effects, only in Renoise it is
  presented in a more 'trackerish' way.

  It gets cooler, too! Renoise has implemented a tracker envelope system
  which allows one to be able to modify the DSP effects using a series of
  linear or curved envelopes. This allows a much greater degree of control
  and speed at which effects can be created in a track, which is
  especially  helpful when using a filter. It also keeps the pattern
  effect columns free. The only down side I have found is that it is not
  possible to string the envelopes over a series of orders, at least that
  I am aware of, making it a bit of a pain when working with a lead over
  more than one pattern, or when fading the song out, etc. You can save
  the envelope into a preset and then simply apply the preset to the
  tracks and orders that you want to have the effect, though I would like
  to see a better way of doing this and it still doesn't solve the problem
  of wanted a very slow fade-out, or something similar. Nonetheless, this
  is a rather unique and welcomed feature that I have found to be very
  useful.

  As I said before, Renoise also implements VST effects and instruments,
  allowing one to go beyond using pure samples to create songs. This is
  particularly helpful if one is without a hardware-based synth or wants a
  particular sound not found in one's own sample library or synth. One of
  the largest benefits of using VST instruments is that the sound is
  generated on the fly, meaning there is no loss of quality like one may
  find when using a sample (especially at low or high octaves). There is
  also a vast amount of plugins out there, many of which are inexpensive
  or even free. Renoise's DSP also works with VST instruments, though I
  was rather surprised to find out that the standard tracker effects (like
  the volume slicer and note slide effects) do not work. I was even unable
  to change the volume that the VST plugins were played at from within the
  pattern. Worse still, there is no way that I have been able to find to
  be able to modify the plugin's parameters from within the pattern-data.
  Also be warned - the quality of these plugins varies considerably and
  many cannot compare the easy of use and quality that many hardware
  synths provide.  Despite the drawbacks, I have found that they do come
  in handy, and many current-generation trackers, not just Renoise, have
  implemented at least partial support for VST plugins. And they certainly
  do help when you just want to play around with ideas or are trying to
  find a particular kind of sound.

  The last feature that I would like to bring to light is a greater
  support for the MIDI interface. MIDI has been supported in trackers for
  quite some time, though many modern trackers are supporting ASIO and
  MIDI-clock timing as well, allowing low-latency MIDI messages to be sent
  to and from hardware equipment. In all honestly, I have yet to try this
  myself in anything but Impulse Tracker and Buzz. This is due in large
  part to the fact that I myself have yet to have much in the realm of
  equipment and am currently running Renoise almost exclusively on my
  laptop, which has no conventional MIDI connection :) Though I do expect
  Renoise as well as other modern trackers to have better support for MIDI
  than was present with IT and FT2. One of the features of Renoise that I
  wish to try is the ability to sync to MIDI hardware which would allow
  one to be able to compose in both Renoise and on sampling equipment and
  synths which sounds very interesting indeed. From what I hear, however,
  do not expect Renoise to be up to par with professional sequencers,
  though for those just getting into hardware, wanting to use a sampler,
  or just wish to enter notes via a real keyboard, Renoise should work
  wonderfully.

  All in all, I have been very impressed with Renoise, after reviewing the
  large amount of trackers available. Though, since many of the features
  in Renoise are supported in other current-generation trackers; and since
  some support things that Renoise doesn't, I suggest you make your own
  decision. One of the things that I have been impressed about with these
  modern trackers is the diversity of interfaces that are available. It
  seems like it is the FT2 vs IT argument all over again, only worse :)
  Therefore, I encourage you to find the one that fits what you are
  looking for in a tracker best. Many swear by Buzz, some by Psycle,
  others are still using ModPlug Tracker while others may still be using
  Impulse Tracker, and perhaps a select few might still be using ModEdit.
  :) If you do want a newer tracker, however, do expect to do some
  learning and some experimenting no matter what you pick. I believe that
  you will find it is well worth the change. And though even I will
  probably never let go of Impulse Tracker (especially for the Mod Compos
  :) I am personally quite glad I broadened my own horizons - it has
  helped my music immensely

                --PsiTron


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  In Tune
     "Fine" by In Tense
  By:  Coplan
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

  -=- Introduction -=-
  In my quest to find new, good music, I am sometimes strayed by fancy
  effects or truly high-quality samples.  I sometimes feel as though I've
  been attracted by the "features" as opposed to the context.  Sometimes
  its for the best, as I would've never discovered Quasimojo if I weren't
  on my MIDI kick a few months ago.

  So I wandered back to the Chill Productions website to discover two very
  interesting details.  First was the fact that Quasimojo has a few tunes
  in a Lesbian Porn flick (visit Chill's website to download those tunes:
  http://www.chillproductions.com).  Second was that there's this guy, In
  Tense, that's been shelling out tunes like mad.  I havn't seen a release
  rate on anyone like this in a long time.  Curious got the best of me,
  and I grabbed a bunch of his tunes.  One of them caught my ear:  "Fine".

  -=- "Fine" by In Tense -=-
  If chip tunes were to ever have a more current, higher quality sound,
  this song would be the benchmark.  The song is in MP3 format, so I know
  very little of how it was created.  I can only imagine that this stuff
  is all synthesized with something like Renoise or Psycle or Buzz.  These
  aren't chips, to say the least, but you get that sort of overall
  feel.  Either that, or you took a trip back to the 80's.

  But that's not why this tune caught my ear.  In general, it's a very
  simple tune with a simple, repetative base line, and some trance pads
  floating in and out of the song.  There's a break beat and a few rest
  periods in the song.  In fact, you could almost sing some Dead or Alive
  lyrics to the tune (Anyone else remember that 80's band, or am I really
  that old now?).  As I was saying in my intro, we often overlook tunes
  such as this because of their chippy feel, or simple patterns, or
  what-not.  For whatever reason...this one didn't slip through the
  cracks.

  Back in the day, more traditional styles of music are always discussed
  talking about movements, or at least a logical order.  You always had an
  A part, followed by a B part, then the C part (the corus) which was
  followed by a D part, then maybe back to the C part, then the E part (e
  for end) finished up the tune.  It's not so easy to talk about music
  this way anymore with all these modern styles.  I like to think of some
  more modern electronic styles as a pool of Oil.  And someone is
  putting different colors of water in the oil.  It doesn't blend, and it
  swirls around, ever changing as the outside forces inflicts movement on
  it.  This tune is very similar to that.  The Oil, in this case, is the
  the base line and the percussion section.  They're fairly consisten
  throughout the song.  But there are all sorts of different colors of
  water that keep swirling around this core.  It's really quite amazing to
  hear with headphones as well, as it really feels like parts are moving
  around your head.

  This is one of those tunes where you can get so much out of it by
  listening to it in different ways.  At lower volumes, it's very
  relaxing and soothing.  It would be a good ambient peice at that point.
  But if you turn it up, you can't help but to gasp at the dynamics.  It's
  definately not an ambient style with volume.

  And there is so much going on.  You can't place any sort of melody.
  There is one part where there is a trance pad off to the right side that
  plays one thing somewhere in the middle-upper octaves.  And another
  trance pad starts playing something else in a much higher octave way off
  to the left.  The parts are so different, it's almost chaotic.  But it
  fits together perfectly.  At what would seem like random points, they
  hit the exact same note, and then bounce off onto their chaos again.
  All the while the percussion and the base line are doing their own sort
  of counter-point.

  If you can't tell, this is really a difficult song to describe.  You'll
  just have to go download it yourself.

  Song Information:
     Title:  Fine
     Author:  In Tense
     Release date:  August 22, 2002
     Length:  6:32
     File Size:  8.6 MB
     Source:  http://www.chillproductions.com

                --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 Lineup
  By:  Novus
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

  Welcome to The Lineup! Every month, I scour through the hundreds of new
  releases on the scene's major archive sites to find the best new music,
  saving you the trouble of having to download 20 instant-delete songs to
  find  1 that's worth keeping.

  I'm always looking for feedback from you folks on how good a job I'm
  doing  so far. Are the songs listed in The Lineup as good as you were
  hoping they'd  be? Do I need stricter standards? Looser standards? More
  openness to other  genres? E-mail me at vince_young@hotmail.com and
  sound off!

  In the meantime, you may consider the following 39 tunes to be the best
  tracks of February 2003:

  -=-THE BEST OF THE BEST -=-
  "Last Hope" - Cdnalsi - dance
  http://www.cdnalsi.as.ro/lasthpe.it

  -=- THE REST OF THE BEST -=-
  "Abandon" - Rage - demostyle
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/demos/groups/fobia/rage/abandon.zip

  "Alliance" - Drax - pop
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/drax/drx-alli.zip

  "Alternative Process" - Morphine - house
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/morphine/rbi-altp.zip

  "Always Remember" - Xerxes & Scirocco - fantasy
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/scirocco/n55-remem.zip

  "An Important Thought" - Smash - acid jazz
  http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2348

  "Backflip" - Drax - dance
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/drax/drx-back.zip

  "Celestial Fantasia" - Beat - demostyle
  http://www.beatfox.com/music/celesfnt.s3z

  "Deceitful Love" - Jeva - pop
  http://data.modarchive.com/D/deceitful.it.zip

  "Declaration Of Ahh" - Laxity - light rock
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/laxity/lax-decl.zip

  "Don't Give Up" - Rage - demostyle
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/demos/groups/fobia/rage/dontgi_r.zip

  "Equinox" - Blasa - experimental
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/groups/moods/hum_m186.lha

  "Eternal Fire" - Glitch - techno
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/glitch/gl-fire.zip

  "Freeze" - G-Day - house
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/parties/1999/ambience99/mmul/house/freeze.zip

  "Give Me Some Hope" - Jay - pop
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/jay/jy_hope.zip

  "Humanoideja" - Stinger & Mellow-D - fantasy
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/stinger+mellow-d/sm-human.zip

  "Julli" - Rage - demostyle
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/demos/groups/fobia/rage/julli2.zip

  "Lonely Falcon" - Crusader - demostyle
  http://data.modarchive.com/L/lonefalc.it.zip

  "Love Generation" - Neotraxx - trance
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/neotraxx/nt_love.zip

  "Massacre At Chios" - Sikamikanico - fantasy
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/sikamikanico/massacre.zip

  "Midnight In Arabia" - Metal - trance
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/metal/mtl-arab.zip

  "Mind Of A Dreamer" - Beat - demostyle
  http://www.beatfox.com/music/mindrmr.xmz

  "My Sweet Atlas" - Kaneel - ambient
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/kaneel/kl_msa.zip

  "Night In The Tropic" - Error303 - pop
  http://data.modarchive.com/E/e303night.it.zip

  "Nine Millimeter" - Virgill & Reed - funk
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/virgill/xm/nine_millimeter.zip

  "Over The Mountains" - Rage - demostyle
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/demos/groups/fobia/rage/overmoun.zip

  "Panoramic Viewpoints" - Morphine - light rock
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/parties/1997/bizarre97/mmul/mph-pvpt.zip

  "Planets Of Euphoria" - Rage - demostyle
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/demos/groups/fobia/rage/planets.zip

  "Sad Shadows" - Samplemaster - demostyle
  http://data.modarchive.com/S/samplemaster-sasha.it.zip

  "Separate Ways" - Smash - jazz
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/smash/separate.zip

  "Solar" - Jay & Neophite - trance
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/jay/jn_sola.zip

  "Space & Time" - Rage - demostyle
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/demos/groups/fobia/rage/spacetim.zip

  "Static 2" - Laxity - pop
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/laxity/lax-sta2.zip

  "The Destination" - Morphine - dance
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/morphine/rbi-tdes.zip

  "The Man In The Iron Mask" - Wong Chung Bang - pop
  http://data.modarchive.com/W/wcb-ironmask.it.zip

  "The Regained Silence" - Tarahenrik - ambient
  http://www.modplug.com/mods/nrdetail.php3?session=&detailno=10467

  "Twisted Vortex" - Argh - pop
  http://homepages.tcp.co.uk/~jonl/music/music/f4-tvort.zip

  "Two Homies From Arden" - Metal & Drax - house
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/metal/mtl-2hom.zip

  "Union" - Scirocco - demostyle
  ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/scirocco/union.zip

  "Von Elfen Und Feen" - Iwellius - fantasy
  http://mx.x-six.org:81/Iwellius/Mods/Elfen-Feen.zip

  "Windmill" - Mista Waisgai - trance
  http://kvartsv091.sn.umu.se/~mwg/mwg-wm.zip

  "Words" - Novus - dance
  http://www.novusmusic.org/novus/n_words.zip

  Latez!

                --Novus


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Guest Music Review
     "May" by Melvyl
  By:  Valzihjken
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

  Before I start the review, a brief introduction: I'm Valzihjken.

  I'm 18 now, but many years ago, when I was young, I heard some Scener
  songs on some freeware games, some .mods and .s3ms. I didn't realize
  what they were until a few years later when I downloaded Winamp. In
  between that time, I saw some demos, and I have no idea why. I do know
  that my dad (who is over 45) knew about demos before I was born and even
  made some diskmag type stuff for a round-robin disk. When I dicovered
  these music files with Winamp, I searched for more on my hard drive and
  eventually found one that mentioned the Hornet. From there, I learned
  much about the Scene and downloaded many demos, most of which I deleted.
  I became distracted by games (yeah, I'm a hardcore gamer) and never came
  back until a couple a years ago. I don't even know why. Probably saw my
  copy of the "Maui" or "The Fulcrum" demo lying around on my hard drive
  and wanted to see what cool stuff had happened since.

  Always a music lover, I decided maybe I'd stop just singing the tunes I
  invented and actually make them in a replayable distributable format. So
  I learned to use Impulse Tracker.

  I've been hearing orchestrated concerts for a long time and love good
  jazz (Thelonius Monk, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, etc.). Because of
  my tastes, at least partially, I can hardly stand imitation. I can
  usually tell when a sax, a violin, a cymbal, or another intrument
  doesn't sound real. Thus, I don't like much tracked orchestral or Jazz
  music, though I can get past most of Smash's samples. Synth stuff that
  is supposed to be synthed, like a 303 or acid don't bother me at all, so
  I can enjoy acid Jazz and electronic-orchestral mods.

  Moving on to something more interesting:

  Hellven, wow. I found their site because of Coplan's review of one of
  Virt's songs and went their because I really like Virt's music and often
  follow Coplan's recommendations. Then I proceded to listen to just about
  all of their releases over a couple of days, and I thoroughly enjoyed
  most of their music. There's some wonderful heavy industrial-type stuff,
  but, I'm going to talk about very easy-listening ambient background
  stuff by Melvyl. I recommend getting all of their tracks to see for
  yourself what you like and don't like. It's all good, but these guys
  have some serious depression/anger problems or something else that
  causes an underlying theme of death and the question of existance.
  Maybe they just think it's funny.

  Anyway, Melvyl's song "May" (part of Hellven's "Someone" e.p.) is one
  that I could listen to repeatedly for a long time without annoyance
  assaulting my mind. In fact, I did. I'm still playing it. I'm still
  enjoying it.

  It's so simple, so quiet and peaceful, yet so worth paying attention to.
  You can be active or passive about listening, but it's still going to be
  a pleasant experience.

  Technically, what's there to dazzle you? Not much. Only seven samples,
  virtually no effect or volume column usage, and a very simple melody add
  up to minimalism or something like it.

  Drums show up in order 4 and a bassline in order 6 which sometimes feel
  more complex then the melody which is made of a few samples that, though
  they're electronic, make one think of flutes and strings. The bassline
  is very good and certainly pushes the song to much higher place in my
  music collection. I tried muting all the channels but the drums and
  bassline and it was still enjoyable.

  The melody, the real focus of the song in many ways, is basically a
  peaceful repetitive chord progression. Maybe it's not one of my favorite
  tunes of all time, or even one of my favorite tracked songs, but I think
  it will be played more often than most of my collection anyway because
  it helps to give me a good feeling. It doesn't feel like the same old
  song I just played yesterday.

  Go ahead, listen to it while you read your book, do your math problems,
  sketch, or proofread. Turn your pc game's stupid music off and let this
  loop instead, but before you do, play it loud with a good set of
  headphones over your ears with nothing else to distract you. It's better
  than pop, even with your eyes closed!

  Song Information:
     Title:  May
     Author:  Melvyl
     Length:  7:34
     File Size:  581 kilobytes (uncompressed)
     Source:  http://www.hellven.org
              http://www.scene.org


                --Valzihjken
                  mbacon@infoway.lib.nm.us


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Screen Lit Vertigo
     "Planet Loop" and "Darkstar"
  By:  Seven
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

  -=- "Planet Loop" by MadWizards and Nahkolor -=-

  (final version)

  Found at www.madwizards.org
  1st place at the TUM'02 democompo.

  System requirements: 10 MB HD, Geforce 256 or better with recent drivers,
     Windows

  Test Machine: P4 2.6Gh 512MB DDR, Realtek AC97 audio, Geforce4 488 Go,
     WinXP

  The Credits:
     Code: Performer
     Graphics: Spark
     Music: Mobby

  The Demo:
  It's been two months since TUM, and there's *still* no radeon patch
  available for Planet Loop! MadWizards, do you have *any* idea how much
  we ATI owners suffer due to your procrastination?! In the end, I
  couldn't stand it anymore and bought a ridiculously overpriced Nvidia
  card (which happened to come with a free laptop included. Off topic,
  does anyone else feels that blaming random scapegoats for your own
  extravagant purchases helps ease your conscience?)

  Anyway, Planet Loop is the first PC demo of the famous Amiga crew
  MadWizards, and I'm glad their design skills are unaffected by the move.
  Especially the first part, starting with the circular window in space
  seamlessly becoming a gateway in space, is of rare quality. It mixes a
  high-tech space theme with antique objects (the watch, the looking
  glass), all in warm copper colors. Together it remind me of steampunk
  sciencefiction. Effects include tunnels, stars, and even the old lens
  effect. The second part breaks the style: it's faster, more flashing. We
  fly through a realistic gas station, a cubist train station, and several
  abstract scenes that could have escaped from a Haujobb demo. There are
  overlays with dotted orbit-loops, and the typical unreadable small text,
  something I've never seen the point of.

  Both parts have abundant pictures, mostly as background or incorporated
  in the effects. There are faces, flowers, various abstract patterns, a
  coffin on rails etc etc, all drawn in a luminous yellow colorscheme.
  It's impressive, especially when you know both the 3D and 2D graphics
  are done by one man.

  The music by Mobby/Nahkolor is also in two parts. I can't really
  classify the first one: it starts pretty ambient, a bit melodic, but the
  percussion grows stronger until it dominates almost everything. The
  second part is somewhat IDM, with again a very strong rhythm section,
  but some echoing bells prevent it from getting to monotone. Syncing is
  very good, and the effects fit the tune (the spinning wheels near the
  end f.e.)

  Overall:
  I guess anyone who has the equipment to watch Planet Loop has already
  done so. If not: shame on you, you're missing a piece of demoscene
  history. The mix of different styles put me off a little, but otherwise
  this is a flawless demo. If you can't watch it, put it on your "demos to
  check out after my next upgrade" list, or keep an eye on
  www.madwizards.org, maybe the promised Radeon patch will see the light
  of the day somewhere in the future.


  -=- "Darkstar" by Smash Design -=-

  (party version)

  Found at www.scene.org
  3th place at the TUM'02 democompo.

  System requirements: nothing listed, but probably a heavy 3D card.
     13.5 MB HD, Windows.

  Test Machine: PIII 900 640MB, SB1024, Radeon 8500 LE 64MB, Win98

  The Credits:
     Code: Kai, Tobi, Idefix
     Graphics:
     Music: Wayfinder

  The Demo:
  Darkstar is your typical heavy 3D storydemo with a twist: you can watch
  it in stereo-3D, if you have the required magenta/cyan sunglasses. For
  those without, there's a non-stereo executable too. The story is pretty
  simple: aliens attack the earth, the earth defends itself. Some 3D
  models are really impressive: the giant mothership, the swarm of alien
  fighters, and the helis, aircraft carier and mobile launcher on earth's
  side. There are almost no effects, except explosions, which happen a lot
  but don't look very good IMHO: too small, and the models don't break up
  in wreckage. The planets, the skies and most landscapes on the other
  hand are a pleasure to watch. The downside of all this eyecandy is that
  you'll need a top-of-the-line 3D card to enjoy it: I had a very
  noticable stutter in the framerate, and even after changing my cards
  settings to speed iso quality it did not disappear completely. Strange
  enough, it wasn't worst in the most complex scenes. I wonder if they
  used pixel shaders or other exotic stuff for the planets and stars?

  The music is by Wayfinder, I recently discover his Azure releases and
  this soundtrack fits right in with the rest of his tunes: a mix of
  techno and trance, with an aggresive rhythm that fits the battle scenes
  on screen.

  Overall:
  Darkstar isn't a demo you'll watch over and over again, but that's the
  fate of most story-demos. Here the story isn't even that original: I had
  flashbacks to Genocyd/GMF, 1st at Wired'97, during the "swarm flies out
  the mothership" scene. But maybe you can discover a hidden moral in the
  scene where a missile, prominently displaying the American flag, is shot
  down by an alien fighter (my pick: Saddam must be an alien). Get this
  one if you like 3D demos, if you've one of those stereo glasses, or if
  you need to benchmark your new Geforce FX.

                --Seven


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Editorial
     Revolution or Refinement?
  By: Coplan
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

  It wasn't long ago that our very own Novus posted the "Novus Revolution"
  on his very own site.  I will not post any of it here, but feel free to
  browse it at your convenience:  http://www.novusmusic.org

  For the most part, his manifesto describes how the tracking scene has
  generally been in decline since 1998.  It is an effort to get more
  activity in the tracking scene and get more involvement.  There are some
  issues that I disagree about with his manifesto, but there are a lot of
  views that both he and I have in common.  But his own title "Revolution"
  implies that we need to start from scratch, or overthrow what we already
  have.  In general, I don't consider that a very viable practice.

  Novus speaks specifically about the music scene.  But I think his
  manifesto could easily be applied to all scenes.  You have heard me say
  it here many times, and countless times elsewhere:  There isn't enough
  personal involvement in the scene.  I could talk until I'm blue in the
  face (or type until I can't feel my hands), but there is very little
  that words will do to make you want to get involved.  If you're not
  already involved, I'm willing to bet that you don't intend to get
  involved.  So I guess this article is aimed at those who are already
  involved and looking for more.

  Legalize, organizer of the upcoming American Demoparty known as
  Pilgrimage, has done several outreach projects (and will be doing more)
  in his area.  You can get details and field reports about his projects
  at his personal site:
  http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/polygony/outreach/  His projects are
  all aimed at getting more people involved in the scene.  Some are purely
  informational while others have become hands-on seminars where he and
  his team educate talented coders in the arts of demo coding.  His long
  term goal is to bring more awareness to the demoscene and hopefully get
  more people involved where it matters.  So let us learn by his example
  and consider why he's doing so well with his work.  Granted, his work
  takes a lot of coordination and time.  But the benefits from such work
  are astronomical.  The main difference is, however, that most people are
  much more likely to react and get involved if someone is sitting
  immediately in front of them.  They can see this person.  They can hear,
  see and feel his emotions as he gets excited about this hobby of his.
  That goes a long way.  His work is definately a step in the right
  direction to helping the scene fix itself.

  But is the demoscene broken?

  Contrary to what Novus might say, however, I don't really think the
  demoscene is in decline at all.  Yes, it has gotten a bit disorderly,
  but it has hundreds upon thousands of more members than it did in 1998.
  There are thousands more releases a year and the bar is raised every
  year.  This year alone was the largest Assembly of all time.  The scene
  isn't dying, it's just a bit confused, that's all.

  In 1998, we had a very simple system.  Everything was either Amiga or
  Dos.  Almost everything existed on Hornet, and communication occured in
  #trax, #pixel and #code.  Almost all collaboration happened in the IRC
  channel.

  Now, life hasn't really changed much.  But there are so many people.
  IRC networks would get bogged down (let alone the fact that IRC isn't
  the most popular form of communication anymore).  Hornet closed its
  doors as its resources were drying up.  Scene.org often times needs to
  add a hard drive, and even at that they still require applications to
  have space on their server.  Gone are the days where one server could
  host it all.  Gone are the days where we can go to one stop.

  We need a new model.  We need to once again find some common ground and
  make the scene a much happier place.  Let us look back at the scene
  right now.  Web pages pretty much drive the scene now, as it has for a
  very long time.  Almost every group has its own web page and its own
  file section.  Some of them post mention of new releases on sites like
  NoError and Orange Juice.  Others make no mention of such releases as it
  becomes tedious.  How many news sites are there now?  I can't count on
  all the fingers and toes that I have.  Just look under "Portals" in our
  link list and you will see there are a lot.  Is that all necessary?
  Probably not.

  Realistically, the thing that would make the demoscene a much happier
  place is if it were simpler and easier to navigate.  Lets trim out some
  of the redundancy and collaborate all of our sites and all of our ideas
  together.  Let the news sites cross-reference each other.  Let the song
  databases share song information.  Each site will be more complete and
  more accurate.  And the end user will not have to browse 30 sites just
  to get an idea of what's new.  It's all very possible in this day and
  age.  The only thing is requires is time and patience.  This is a
  resource that has always, unfortunately, come at a shortage.  Those who
  are willing are often tied up with other projects.  But maybe some of us
  need to make sacrifices to make the scene a better place.

  After all, it is YOUR demoscene.

                  --Coplan


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Link List
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

  Portals:

      SceneSpot (Home of Static Line).......http://www.scenespot.org
      CFXweb.......................................http://cfxweb.net
      Czech Scene................................http://www.scene.cz
      Danish Scene..............................http://demo-scene.dk
      Demoscene.org.........................http://www.demoscene.org
      Demo.org...................................http://www.demo.org
      Diskmag.de...................................http://diskmag.de
  <*> Greek Scene............................http://www.demoscene.gr
  <U> Hungarian Scene........................http://www.demoscene.hu
      Italian Scene...........................http://run.to/la_scena
      ModPlug Central Resources..........http://www.castlex.com/mods
      Noerror.................................http://www.noerror.org
      Norwegian Scene........................http://www.demoscene.no
      Orange Juice.............................http://www.ojuice.net
      Planet Zeus..........................http://www.planetzeus.net
      Polish Scene...........................http://www.demoscena.pl
      Pouet.net.................................http://www.pouet.net
      Russian Scene..........................http://www.demoscene.ru
      Scene.org.................................http://www.scene.org
      Scenergy on-line (8bit)............http://www.scenergy.natm.ru
      Scenet....................................http://www.scenet.de
      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://www.alienprophets.dk
      Anakata..............................http://www.anakata.art.pl
  <*> ASD....................................http://asd.demoscene.gr
      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
      Dc5.........................................http://www.dc5.org
      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
  <*> Inquisition....................http://inquisition.demoscene.hu
      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
      Skrju.....................................http://www.skrju.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.chillproductions.com
      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
      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
      Miasmah.............................http://www.miasmah.cjb.net
      Milk.......................................http://milk.sgic.fi
      Mo'playaz..........................http://ssmedion.de/moplayaz
      Mono211.................................http://www.mono211.com
      Morbid Minds..............http://www.raveordie.com/morbidminds
      Moods.............................http://www.moodymusic.de.vu/
      Noise................................http://www.noisemusic.org
      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
      Jurassic Pack...........................www.jurassicpack.de.vu
      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
  <*> ReAct (Greece).............................http://www.react.gr
      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......................................irc.scene.org #trax
      Music.............................................ircnet #trax
      Scene (French)..................................ircnet #demofr
      Programming (French)............................ircnet #codefr
      Graphics (French)..............................ircnet #pixelfr
      Programming (German)........................ircnet #coders.ger
      Scene (Hungarian)............................ircnet #demoscene
      Programming (Hungarian)......................ircnet #coders.hu
      Zx-spectrum scene..................................ircnet #z80


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  -=- Staff -=-
  Editor:          Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan@scenespot.org
  Staff Writers:   Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan@scenespot.org
                    Dilvie / Eric Hamilton / dilvie@yahoo.com
                    Novus / Vince Young / vince_young@hotmail.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
                    Vill / Brian Frank / darkvill@yahoo.com
                    The Watcher / Paul-Jan Pauptit / watcher@tuhb.org
  Tech Consultant: 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 to 76 columns with two columns at the
  beginning of each line.  Please avoid foul language and high ascii
  characters.  Contributions (Plain Text) should be e-mailed to Coplan
  (coplan@scenespot.org) by the last Friday of each month.  New issues are
  released on a monthly basis.

     See you next month!

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