_//\\________________________________________________________________________ _\\__T_A_T_I_C___L_I_N_E_______________________________________ August, 2001 __\\_________________________________________________________________________ \\//__ Monthly Scene E-Zine ________________________________ 228 Subscribers _____________________________________________________________________________ --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Table Of Contents ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- 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 --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Message From the Editor ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- 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 --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- The DemoDVD Project By: Phoenix ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- 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) --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- The Attitude of the Scene By: DarkFury ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- 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 --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- In Tune "Passion on Craq" by Mickrip By: Coplan ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- -=- 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! --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- The Listener Music by Wave, Nox Luce and Mickrip By: Tryhuk ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- 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 --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Retro Tunage "Purgatory" by Chris Jarvis By: Tryhuk ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- 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 --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Screen Lit Vertigo Demos by Alien Prophets, Fairlight and MGDesign By: Seven ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- -=- 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 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---=------=--=------=--=--