cRu Issue 46
July, 2003 / / / /
276 Subscribers World Wide // / / / /
Table Of Contents
Opening:
Message From the Editor
Features:
On The Rebound -- An Interview with Nagz and Mephizto
Hooz Deez? -- An Interview with Ciaran and Ben
Reviews:
Music:
In Tune -- Heavens Descent by In Tense
On The Sideline -- Cillke by Emit
The Lineup -- Monthly Music Listings
Demo:
Screen Lit Vertigo -- Nighttime and Glitch
Opinion / Commentary:
Editorial -- Theres Always a First Time
Coplans Eyes -- Culture
Link List: Get Somewhere in the Scene
Closing: Staff and Contact Information
Message From the Editor
Hi Static Line readers, got your ears on? Good, because this months
issue is like a buffet: it is cheap, tasty, and when youre through, you
wont be left hungry. This months issue has two interviews. One is with
Ciaran and myself so you can get to know us a little better. The other is
with Nagz and Mephizto, who discuss the Hungarian scene and also their
song Lenina58. I hear if you play it backwards, you will hear the
Mister Ed theme song. We have 2 months of The Lineup crammed into 1
issue! Coplan and I have both written module reviews, about Heavens
Descent by In Tense and Cillke by Emit. Coplan and Ciaran wrote
interesting editorials about the scene, one from the angle of social
dynamics, and the other focusing on newcomers. And we can trust Seven to
review demos, two of them this month: Nighttime and Glitch.
You may have noticed in the header that the email subscription count has
dropped. Dont be discouraged, our number of readers has grown last
month. We removed many stale e-mail addresses that had been bouncing.
Please do subscribe if you havent already.
I would like to draw attention to a couple of things. First is a new
project called Mod-Radio, a new service allowing folks to play online
radio. It can be found at http://www.back2roots.org/Music/Mod-Radio/.
This is different from most Internet Radio because it does not use
streaming audio formats, but uses native module formats. The project
offers access to more than 65,000 mods, organized into 54 radio channels!
The supported players are WinAmp and DeliPlayer. For Linux and BSD heads,
I hacked up a small shell script that should work with Mozilla, Netscape,
Lynx and any player:
http://staticline.scenespot.org/suppliment/46/mod-radio.sh
Second, in the USA, the Pilgrimage Demo Party is coming soon. It is
scheduled for August 9th, 8am until midnight in Salt Lake City, Utah.
This party is free of charge, and is aimed at getting more people involved
with the scene. It includes hands-on seminars to educate talented coders
in the arts of demo coding. Read more at http://pilgrimage.scene.org
Thats it, enjoy this issue, and remember that articles for next months
issue can be sent in plain text to staticline-owner@scenespot.org.
--Ben Collver
On The Rebound
Interview with Nagz and Mephizto
By: Valzihjken
During game 4 of the NBA finals, part of Lenina58 was played during an
interview with some guy called Kenyon Martin. I dont watch basketball
I just happened to notice the music coming from the TV. It was on the US
station, ABC. My brother and I were in the room and both recognized it at
about the same time. As of now, we cant find any other sceners who were
even watching the game. Lenina58 was tracked by Nagz and Mephizto for
Language Lab. I was honored to do the following interview, which took
place through IRC and email exchanges. It has been edited for content and
to fit on your screen. Lenina58, which is a bigbeat/triphop XM from
2002, is Language Lab release OOO51.
NAGZ: OK. start start.
VALZIHJKEN: Anyway, what do you two think of this event?
NAGZ: This interview or the thing theyve released our track there?
VALZIHJKEN: The fact that they played Lenina58 on ABC. Are you upset or
happy? Do you want money? Do you like the accidental publicity? Do you
want credit?
MEPHIZTO: Well both : mostly happy, but Id REALLY like to know how did
they get this track. Well..
NAGZ: Both. They shouldve asked us. Counting with the fact this song
has been released at Languagelab ll.planet-d.net, that might have
happened that someone has stolen the track, wrote his name in and
released at the channel somehow. But that could also happen that I
doubt theyve asked Radio Cafe, a Hungarian radio station, and released.
But this music was copyrighted.. we shouldve got paid somehow hehe : and
are you 100 darn sure?
MEPHIZTO: This track is not an underground track anymore, itll be
released in public this autumn at a record company here in Hungary.
VALZIHJKEN: Cool.
MEPHIZTO: So we could be upset as well. But we dont give a darn, really
VALZIHJKEN: I feel about 97 sure that it was Lenina58.
NAGZ: Valz you said your brother also recognized it as our song... Then it
makes it more sure. I think we might contact ABC television... at least
for the recording.
NAGZ: And who is that sick sonofa... who puts THIS music UNDER an
interview?!?!? :
VALZIHJKEN: Heh heh.
NAGZ: Its more like a lounge music. :
MEPHIZTO: Justice for us!!! :P
VALZIHJKEN: I think it sounded very nice on the show. Helped the mood.
NAGZ: That can happen... but but the speech audibility and Lenina58
doesnt meet :
VALZIHJKEN: True, Nagz.
MEPHIZTO: Well hey. Llets clear something out.
NAGZ: Your room?
MEPHIZTO: Was it played in the television, or at the arena during the
interview?
VALZIHJKEN: On ABC television.
NAGZ: Right : Meph, I think he could only recognize it if it was played
on television at the arena, it just washes out vagy miafasz
VALZIHJKEN: Could you introduce yourselves?
NAGZ: ?lvem?ll? hangrovar : I let the introducing to Meph. Eespecially
because he started doing that music : I mean I let it for him at 1st
MEPHIZTO: : K I started producing music back in the mid of the 90-s,
using trackers and stuff, later I fell in love with Propellerheads Reason
and Cubase, and a lot of VSTI stuff as well.
I really loved to produce music for the public, became a scener later, but
then one day I got signed myself and a few of my friends at a record
label in Hungary. since then I stopped to be honest : scene activity,
and were doing our own business as Fusion-X but I still care about the
scene, just dont have the time to produce music for demoscene but I still
like it.
VALZIHJKEN: Does this make you enough money? Do you have a second job?
MEPHIZTO: Of course I do : First, I dont do it for money only for
reputation and respect, as all the sceners do. : Its ok if I get money,
but its not the main goal.. ok Im over, spit something out Nagz :
NAGZ: Poeeee! Im David Halmi. 20 years old, sound and info/electro
technician, partyrat, casanova, dreadhead, Satan and Jesus in 1 2?
person. he he... to turn it sincere: been making musics for 7-8 years,
as Ive been interested in music ever in my life.. been using and still
FastTracker, but lately Im shoring it up with other gears like Buzz, SF,
sometimes Acid... and Im eager in trying out DX and VST stuffs. And I
have a didgeridoo and a djembe else than other oriental and african percs
and been playing jazz-piano but Ive stopped.
VALZIHJKEN: So, what are your current plans in the scene?
NAGZ: Uhm. Ive kinda stopped scene at least Ive got fed up with
Hungarian demoscene
MEPHIZTO: Me too me too :P
NAGZ: Yeah yeah. we b 1337z0rz
VALZIHJKEN: I only wish I could claim to be able to do that.
NAGZ: I bet you have ears, eyes and hands. I see nothing like a drat for
doing that:
VALZIHJKEN: Id be fed up with the US scene, if I could find it.
NAGZ: Hehhe : First you need to be a so-admired part of it no?
VALZIHJKEN: What do you plan to do with your lives outside of the scene?
MEPHIZTO: I think that would be a short answer from both of us. Wed like
to produce music till death. :
VALZIHJKEN: Yes, but do you think you actually will?
NAGZ: Me not. At age of 60 Ill become deaf and will paint. :
MEPHIZTO: Who knows... well try. :
NAGZ: I also want to make music but I know that itll never be my 1st
source for getting money.
VALZIHJKEN: What sceners make your favorite scene music?
MEPHIZTO: A Buzifinnek
NAGZ: Heh ye. Graff Vim Falcon Keith303 Scaldor Waka-X Manwe Xhale Ram0ne
Solo Carlos Moby Traven Decibelter Hunz Matrixcubed Norfair DNA-Groove ..
some of them.
MEPHIZTO: Well I like the experimental side of the scene, like
Brothomstates was.
NAGZ: Yeah, havent mentioned those IDM lamers :DDDD MD is the best among
them IHMO
VALZIHJKEN: What is your fave scene mag?
MEPHIZTO: demoscene.hu of course P
NAGZ: Scene mag? Is there any?
VALZIHJKEN: Oh boy.
NAGZ: My fave was Booster ok just ... 1/4 scene: and terror news!
Havent ever read one but Tomcat is really loving that and OK I do it
also.
MEPHIZTO: Yeah Booster and TN kicked butt, and CLI sometimes. :
NAGZ: Bark bark.
NAGZ: I used to get some publicity in Booster. : Darn what a lamer Ive
been then... now Im bigger. :P
VALZIHJKEN: What is your favorite non-music pastime?
NAGZ: Non-music pastime? You mean activity when I stand up from this
junk?
VALZIHJKEN: Yes.
MEPHIZTO: He does.
NAGZ: Going anywhere. It could be a long walk or a concert or a dancing
hall outdoor in this weather or anything but rotting here. I like
partying as long as I have money. Then I steal beers. :
MEPHIZTO: Yes, drinking and hmm.. other things :, hanging out with
friends.
NAGZ: Do we have any?
MEPHIZTO: And we like to listen to music as well. :
NAGZ: Last year Ive bought a friend, but some months ago it broken the
window and escaped. : Ive just farted.
MEPHIZTO: Lets get back to Lenina58 then.
NAGZ: Where did the name come from? :
VALZIHJKEN: Yes, where did the name come from?
NAGZ: I know that XM numbering that weve played DCC pingpong with
started at 51 and got up to 58. but Lenina58... it had an another name
: uhm. Who found it out Meph? Me or you?
MEPHIZTO: I dunno. Cant remember sorry. :
VALZIHJKEN: How long did it take you to make it?
MEPHIZTO: Maybe 2-3 days? :
NAGZ: Grrrrrr. Lenina 57 is on way tho. My 1st screwaround in reason.
:P
VALZIHJKEN: Do you like co-ops better than solos?
NAGZ: Definitely not. :
MEPHIZTO: No. But Nagz had some kickin ideas he had to make as he told
me on IRC : so I passed it to him.
NAGZ: I must say I want to beat out the crud from Mephizto for that we
made that music together and not me alone.
MEPHIZTO: And the rest is history! :P
NAGZ: : I might get some criticism like I dont get this interview
too seriously.
VALZIHJKEN: What do you think of having a semi-local scene in Hungary?
NAGZ: Semi-local? you mean Jew-scene? :
VALZIHJKEN: Do you prefer THE SCENE or the Hungarian Scene?
MEPHIZTO: :PPPP
NAGZ: Oh. I WOULD prefer Hungarian scene but ... as I said, Ive got fed
up.
MEPHIZTO: Yes, it has seen better days.
NAGZ: Much better.
MEPHIZTO: Maybe itll rise again. Maybe not..
NAGZ: In 97 theres been 12-13 Hungarian scene parties.
MEPHIZTO: Right now we have 1 or 2.
NAGZ: And the biggest one counted 1000 attenders as I heard. yeah.. with
150 people.
MEPHIZTO: Way more.
NAGZ: My first party was Ragest98.
MEPHIZTO: Ragest parties and stuff...
VALZIHJKEN: Do you still go to scene parties?
NAGZ: My last party was Flag2k2, held by us. I mean Greenroom others.
Havent been to Antiq2k2 and Towel2k3 and I wont visit Scenecon2k3 this
weekend.
MEPHIZTO: Once in a year maybe. GOOBER GOOBER GOOBER
VALZIHJKEN: Tell me about your groups. What are they, which do you
contribute most to, etc.
NAGZ: My groups have been.. uh... Greenroom, Rebels, LanguageLab,
j?coute, 243, Section, Tequila, Analogik, Mellow Leader Blues, Parallel
Everything, Dr. Universe Game Source, Arrahmeie .... many of them have
always been inactive.. Ive worked a lot for Greenroom mainly WildDemos
and party org FLaG and for LanguageLab ll.planet-d.net
MEPHIZTO: My group is Digital Dynamite, founded back in the 90-s, but we
were most active between the year 00-02, now we stopped the activity a
bit. weve won several Hungarian parties, mostly with intros.
VALZIHJKEN: What do you do before you track? Do you do anything to
prepare?
NAGZ: Yes. Waking up and having a bottle of still mineral water in my
arm-distance. :
MEPHIZTO: Nothing at all.
VALZIHJKEN: What inspires you?
NAGZ: Everything. Life. Myself.
MEPHIZTO: Could be anything... nature, catching a nice smile of a nice
girl :, the city, sometimes big parties I dont mean demoscene parties.
VALZIHJKEN: Of all of your tracks, which is your favorite or best?
MEPHIZTO: Lenina58 of course Well to be honest, my favourite is
Sleeping Beauty, I composed it to a girl I loved most in my life, but
now everythings gone. Only the song remained.
NAGZ: I think my chiptune called xyzawoo was a bead of me, it was just
like sitting down like a freak and writing out something from my feelings.
When I stood up 2 hours later I just realized that Ive made something
Ive never done before. Progressive chiptune made in a trance somehow. :
VALZIHJKEN: Meph, where can we get your music?
MEPHIZTO: I dont have anything on the net, because of the record label,
so mostly in cd-shops or whatever.
VALZIHJKEN: Ok, I guess were done. Thanks!
If you want to contact either of these two, try demoscene on ircnet.
Maybe youll get lucky.
Find a few of Nagzs releases at:
http://ll.planet-d.net
http://jecoute.cjb.net
Wish I could tell you where something other than Lenina58 by Mephizto
could be found. : Wish you could tell me that actually...
--Valzihjken
Hooz Deez?
An Interview with Ciaran and Ben
By: Dilvie
Last issue, the readers of Static Line were hit with a major adjustment to
the staff - namely the fact that there are now two new editors of the
magazine: Ben Collver and Ciaran Hamilton. Who are they? Well, my goal
was to find out and share my findings with you, the readers.
DILVIE: Lets start with names along with aliases, akas, stupid nick-
names, and other such nonsense. What are they?
BEN: My name is Ben Collver, I go by SunDragon most of the time in IRC but
I prefer to use my own name when Im not just shooting the breeze.
CIARAN: My name is Ciaran Hamilton. I dont really use any special name
online. I used to be called Kiwihead, though. The Kiwi part comes
because my name is pronounced Keer-an, and at school, people often
shortened it to Kiwi. I liked it, and thought Id put head after it,
cuz I was feeling random. And thats how that name came about. Nothing
to do with New Zealand, despite what some people think. :
DILVIE: Where do you hail from?
BEN: Corvallis, Oregon, USA. Were right in the center of the Willamette
Valley, close to the coast, close to the Cascade Mountain Range, close to
the three largest cities Portland, Salem, Eugene.
CIARAN: West Sussex, England, United Kingdom.
DILVIE: How did you get involved in the demoscene?
BEN: One day my brother said hey listen to this and emailed me a MOD. I
had to use a search engine to find something that would play it. I was
impressed, and immediately took interest in trackers, and by proxy, the
demo scene.
DILVIE: Do you remember what year that was?
BEN: That was 1995. I was using Windows 3.11, mod4win, and trumpet
winsock. My first tracker was screamtracker 3. I think my brother used
some MS-DOS clone of protracker.
CIARAN: I first got involved with the scene when I saw that on the CD of
one my favourite magazines at the time, there was a large collection of
MOD files on it, along with MultiTracker. This would be a number of years
ago... probably about 10 years ago, maybe less.
MultiTracker became my favourite toy. : I loved playing with it and
seeing what stuff I could do. In fact, I still have a copy of the first
real tune I made with MT. It sounds awful, but I still have a sort of
fondness for it. :
Hmm. No, wait, I think my first encounter with the demoscene stretched
back further than that now that I think about it. I think my first
encounter with the demoscene was probably back when I used to have an
Acorn Archimedes computer. On one of the cover discs for a magazine called
BBC Acorn User now just called Acorn User, they had a program called
!HQ-Tracker. It used a similar sort of method of tracking to MODs, but it
was slightly different, although I cant remember how. But I only got
really involved with MultiTracker.
DILVIE: So you both came into the scene from a musical perspective. Have
either of you done anything else with it?
CIARAN: Anything else with the scene? Not really. Although Im interested
in programming, Ive never really wanted to do the graphics or coding side
of a demo. I do want to do the music for a demo or two, but I dont
really know where I would start. Im not in a group, although Id like to
be.
BEN: I remember a friend put 2nd reality on PCs at Radio Shack. I wrote a
PC clone of bomberman, 4 player. It used Allegro for the graphic library,
MikMod for the music library, and built under DJGPP to run in MS-DOS.
Thats not exactly a demo, but it touches on the coding aspect. dont
tell anyone, but the graphics were ripped from a SuperNES ROM Okay,
Ben, I wont tell... Neither will the readers...
DILVIE: How did you get involved with Static Line?
BEN: I used to read Trax Weekly, and while searching for module reviews, I
found Coplans In Tune in the Static Line. I think I subscribed late
2002, and I really appreciated the quality of the zine. I also looked
forward to The Lineup.
CIARAN: Fast forward to last year. I had just received my copy of the
MindCandy DVD. I noticed that in the credits, they mentioned Static Line.
I was curious as to what it was, so I searched for it and found that it
was this cool magazine about the scene, which I thought had pretty cool
articles in it. So I subscribed. :
BEN: Then Coplan asked for volunteers to take over as editor.
CIARAN: Right. Somewhere after issue 44 had gone out, we heard on the
list that Coplan had got engaged, and thus he didnt have enough time to
continue editing the zine. I emailed him, and in the email I mentioned
that I thought it would be best to have two editors, as I hadnt really
done anything like this before.
BEN: Was that before he mentioned that I had also emailed him?
CIARAN: Yes. Coplan then emailed us to say what exactly was involved.
DILVIE: Static Line has been around since Trax Weekly dissolved about five
years ago. Had either of you read Trax Weekly?
CIARAN: Ive never read Trax Weekly, no.
BEN: I used to read Trax Weekly, I think I stopped at a busy time in my
life when I moved and changed ISPs
DILVIE: How are you enjoying your new responsibilities? The two of you
have already been tested on issue 45, correct?
BEN: It is really helpful to have 2 of us on the team.
CIARAN: Yes, it is. Im certainly enjoying it.
BEN: We did work on issue 45. Coplan handed us the articles and said
Here you go, Ill help as much or as little as you want.
CIARAN: We already had the material for issue 45 from articles that
Coplan already had, although Ben also did his music review and I did the
Message from the Editor.
BEN: It was fun to jump into it.
CIARAN: Definitely. : I enjoy doing things like this.
DILVIE: Do either of you have plans for the future of Static Line? What
will change? What will stay the same?
BEN: I would like to contribute more content to the Line as I educate
myself musically. I really enjoyed Setecs articles on synthesis, and
would like to continue along that line.
CIARAN: Right now, I think we think most everything will stay the same,
although we have built a currently quite bare website for it -
http://staticline.scenespot.org
BEN: We did make one change when we did issue 45 that wouldnt be visible
to anyone. It seems Ciaran and I come from a coder/Unix background and
think along similar lines.
CIARAN: Yes. We switched the way we edited the magazine from being edited
manually to making some short scripts to help us a bit.
BEN: We started typesetting the zine with groff instead of the MS-DOS
editor Coplan was using Aurora.
CIARAN: It allows us to do pretty neat things. Although internally we make
issues in the format groff wants, we tried to keep the final text layout
as close to the original as possible.
Were hoping to make some improvements to the editing process to make it
easier. groff is sorta hard to write in, so Im working on developing a
typesetting language for SL that we can translate directly to groff.
BEN: I dont think weve had time yet to think of any major improvements
or future strategy for the magazine.
DILVIE: Are both of you planning to be at Pilgrimage, or other demo
parties in the near future?
BEN: I am looking forward to meeting Coplan at Pilgrimage, I hope we
manage to.
CIARAN: I hope I can make it to a party somewhere, hopefully close to
home Ive never been to a demoparty. : I definitely want to go to a
party though, especially after the article in Hugi 27 by Sir
Garbagetruck.
DILVIE: Time for the obligitory favorites: What is your favorite demo?
BEN: This is my favorite demo:
float o0.075,h1.5,T,r,O,l,Iint ,L80,s3200mainforsL
h-o,T -2,s4 -rO*OlI*I++ Lwrite1,--sL?L?--
6:6:7+World! n,1OIlr0,T+o /2OI*2*O+h,Il+T-r
It produces a Mandlebrot in ASCII.
CIARAN: I think my favourite demo is probably .fr-08 - .the .product.
Its a cool little 64KB demo that blew my socks off when I saw it the
first time, myself. youll be able to read about an experience with
fr-08 in the issue this interview appears in, btw :D
DILVIE: Favorite MOD?
CIARAN: Thats a hard one - Ive got a lot of music that I like. :D If I
was forced to pick one, it would probably be Feats Of Valor by Elwood.
BEN: I dont have a single favorite MOD, but over the years I have not
gotten tired of Mellow-Ds music. I also enjoy Xerxes and Kaneel, who
compose in similar styles to Mellow-D.
DILVIE: Good enough. Its been a pleasure.
Id like to personally express my thanks to the new editors for giving
Static Line a chance to continue and hopefully thrive as Coplan moves on
to other projects. It would be sad to see a five-year contribution to the
scene fade into memory as so many other resources have.
CIARAN: My thoughts exactly. Thats why I wanted to become an editor in
the first place. Its even better with two of us as it means that if one
of us is away temporarily or something, the issues will still go out on
time. : Plus Bens really helped when he made the magazine into the
format groff wants. It makes some things so much easier.
BEN: And Coplan is still helping us out, with advice and by contributing
content. I think it ought to be fun. And youre welcome :
DILVIE: It sounds like Static Line is in good hands.
--Dilvish
In Tune
In Tenses Heavens Descent
By: Coplan
-- Heavens Descent by In Tense --
At first listen, Ill admit, I hated the song. It reminded me too much of
a song I reviewed before. Fine, also by In Tense, has a very similar
style, similar chord progression, and a similar beginning. The way things
build and fade in and out are also similar. But then I started listening
it a little more. Yes, it all seems very similar, but one of his latest,
Heavens Descent, is more unique than I had thought.
Just like any typical trance song, things start very vauge. You have a
climbing and descending synthetic chords that repeat. As the progression
changes, the placement of these changes. And this tends to be the glue
for the entire song. A base line comes in at about thirty seconds into
the song. At first the instrument selection for the base line is
terrible. But it slowly changes and melts into a very soft sounding base
line by the time the percussion starts to come in. The overall feeling of
the song comes to life at about the 1 minute mark. It picks up most at
about 1:30.
Sadly, I know little about the production of the tune. Its sample and
instrument selection seems to rely very heavily on envelopes, almost as if
it were done on synthesizers. It is the type of tune that would very
naturally fall out of Renoise, Psycle or Buzz. The skill involved to get
these soft-synthesis sequencers to produce these kinds of instruments is
definately recognized by yours truly. As I said, this tune reminded me
quite a bit of Fine. But after you become familiar with both tunes,
youll see that In Tense has come a long way.
The percussion is a bit typical of a trance or a techno song. Yes, its
well placed, and very useable. Its not my favorite aspect of the song.
Whether or not this is the case, it seems to utilize a lot of break-beats.
I will, however, offer my recognition of the parts where only a hi-hat was
used, or where everything was cut out. I realize thats a wierd way of
saying things. But the reality is that I wouldnt review this song if it
didnt have at least that.
The thing I like about the song is the fact that things are always
changing. Too often, especially with trance styles, things tend to get
left and forgotten. The break-beat, once it comes in, never changes. The
background riffs tend to come in at a very repetative nature. The chord
progression never changes. In Tense doesnt do that, especially with this
song. There are parts where the chord progression holds the same notes
for the next several bars. There are other times where it changes after
only one or two bars. But more important is the fact that it is rarely
left to fend for itself. Occasionally, youll hear a piano playing in the
distant background. You might hear some other synthesized sounds popping
in and out. Maybe the chord progression gets carried through some other
instrument. The percussion helps to shape things here. But things are
always moving around the very static drum beat a requirement of any
electronic style. All in all, this is a good rendition of a very classic
trancey style. A winner, in my book, and definately one that will remain
on my play list for a while.
Song Information:
Title: Heavens Descent
Author: In Tense
Release date: 5/15/03
Length: 4:12
File Size: 5.6 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. Coplans 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 persons, We can be contacted through e-mail using the addresses
found in the closing notes. Please do not send files attached to e-mail
without first contacting us. Thank you!
On The Sideline
Cillke by Emit
By: Ben
As you are well aware, one of the great things about electronic music is
the absolute freedom of expression. With trackers or any other instrument
you learn the mechanics of music by practice. Id say trackers have a
much easier learning curve than most instruments, and have a rapid
interface that is well suited to whipping up fun, interesting sounds. In
my opinion it is more important that music be fun and interesting, than
for it to be done elegantly with technical finesse.
What makes a track fun or interesting? Fun is largely subjective, but
interesting is easier: something different. Not only different from the
generic stuff, but different from itself. Although house or trance
music can be pleasant to listen to, most of it is too repetitive for me to
consider it interesting. The house or trance music I do find interesting
typically makes use of unusual synthesized sound.
This is where Kevin Krebs comes in. I first found his music released
under the alias Emit. He uses radio noise, astronomical noise, and
software synthesizers to make what he describes as distant, cold, and
droning ambient music. I have also heard use of samples from various
childrens TV shows.
I am going to review Cillke, one of the older Emit tunes that is less
cold than most of his work. The name itself interested me, seeming
similar to some Scottish sea myth, so I asked Kevin where it came from.
He told me it was just a non-sense word he made up. Oh well. This song
didnt play so well in some of my players, so I suggest listening in
modplug or IT. This is a relatively short song, about 3 minutes.
The song begins with a drone, which progresses into a gentle rumble of
subsynth bass. Then a slow drum sequence kicks in, and the song has
arrived. For some reason it reminds me of a warm day on a grassy
riverbank, with distant airplanes and lawn mowers humming in the
background.
Then about order 17 there blurts long, forcefull bass notes to emphasize
the rhythm, and a bit of simple melody ties it over until order 35 where a
beautiful synth lead chirps in. The synth melody is somewhat wistful,
conjuring images of lost childhood. I have no idea where the vocals come
from, but they lend a surreal effect to the tune. I like how the voice is
echoed when the man asks Who do you resemble most? to produce a doubling
effect doububleblibling ebeffebect. And the song ends with a child
answering.
This song sounds pretty good for being all 8-bit samples. The style is
clear and uncrowded, bordering on minimal. I recommend the other tunes,
which can be found at http://www.833-45.net. Cillke is under the
section titled Emit. I also found an interesting paper about module
music by Emit, which may be read at
http://staticline.scenespot.org/suppliment/46/module-music.txt
Song Information:
Title: Cillke
Author: Emit
Length: 3:17
Filename: em-0.zip
File Size: 566k
Source: http://www.833-45.net/mods/
Also: ftp://staticline.scenespot.org/suppliment/46/
--Ben Collver
The Lineup
By: Novus
Welcome to The Lineup! Every month, I scour through the hundreds of new
releases on the scenes major archive sites to find the best new music,
saving you the trouble of having to download 20 instant-delete songs to
find 1 thats worth keeping.
With the recent hiatus of Static Line, The Lineup has also fallen a bit
behind, so heres the comeback plan: for Julys issue, the issue youre
reading right now, youll get the best tracks of April and May. And for
Augusts issue, youll get the best tracks of June and July, thus bringing
this thing back on track. Overused pun intended.
Feedback keeps comin on in. TS wrote thusly:
Just want to say that I like your music list. Since the connection
between music and demo scene has weakened and there are practically no
scene music archives brought to parties, it is quite hard to get new
modules these day with a smallband connection. Thus, your list serves well
for not totally loosing track about todays scene music releases - thanks!
Not all tracks were liked by me, but this was a matter of taste rather
than quality, so you can still be proud of 100 customer satisfaction
Thanks TS, though maybe thats down to 99 after Daniel Okely wrote
thusly:
I finally received static-line for the first time... having scoured the
back issues and downloaded songs from the lineup, I was looking forward to
this issue. I think that your song selections are great. Personally, I
think you could be marginally more strict, but then again music is such a
personal thing. :
Well, Ill take 99 satisfaction. Thanks for writing in! And you can
add YOUR feedback, positive or negative by e-mailing me at
vinceyoung@hotmail.com.
In the meantime, you may consider the following 33 tunes to be the best
tracks of April and May 2003:
-- THE BEST OF THE BEST: APRIL 2003 --
Quiet Storm - Yannis Brown - demostyle
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/mirrors/hornet/music/songs/1996/y/ybqstorm.zip
-- THE BEST OF THE BEST: MAY 2003 --
Tekkra Life - Vibe - electronica
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/groups/cornercut/029crc.zip
-- THE REST OF THE BEST --
A Trip To Nowhere: Temezos Mix - Temezo - trance
http://www.modarchive.com/cgi-bin/download.cgi/T/temezo2.xm
originally by Sonic Range
Acid Drops - Yannis Brown - pop
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/yannis/ybacidrp.zip
Anixiapolis 19 - Pro-Xex - electronica
http://www.modarchive.com/cgi-bin/download.cgi/A/apolis.it
Astral Dome - Pro-Xex - electronica
http://www.modarchive.com/cgi-bin/download.cgi/A/astraldome.it
Azure Sky - Aitrus - fantasy
http://www.modplug.com/mods/nrdownload.php3?sessiondownnum10547
Back For A Dance - Nightbeat - fantasy
http://www.novusmusic.org/songs/nbback.zip
Banjo Jamming - Yannis Brown - dance
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/yannis/ybbanjo.zip
Just trust me, okay? It wouldnt be in The Lineup without a good reason.
Countdown To Infinity - HomesickAlien - ambient
http://lysis.audio-stream.net/hsa/hsainf.zip
Cut It In Mellow - Guruyu - trip-hop
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/opiate/guruyu-cutitinmellow.zip
Definitively House - Mr. Young - dance
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/mryoung/mryoung/xm/yng-dhouse.zip
Dont Make Me Cry - Void Pointer Cadra - fantasy
http://www.slayernetworking.com/DJDvo/music/dontmakemecry.zip
Echoes - Annoxxia - fantasy
http://www.novusmusic.org/songs/echoes.zip
Essence Of Life - Prophecy - pop
http://koti.mbnet.fi/prophecy/musat/p-eolre.it
Faerie In The Sky - Aitrus - fantasy
http://www.modplug.com/mods/nrdownload.php3?sessiondownnum10658
Final Voyage - Melin - fantasy
http://lysis.audio-stream.net/melin/melfv.xm
Jazz Safari - Yannis Brown - pop
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/yannis/ybjsaf.zip
Looking On Evening Horizon - Slash - pop
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/slash/slashatdlookhorz.zip
My Territory - Void Pointer - techno
http://www.slayernetworking.com/DJDvo/music/hardcorebreakbeat.zip
Mysterious People - Mr. Young - pop
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/mryoung/mryoung/xm/yng-mpeop.zip
On The Road: Speedster Mix - GDream - dance
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/gdream/xm/otr.zip
On Y Va - Slash - electronica
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/groups/camomille/cam-07-onyvaslash.zip
One Mile Flight - Mastrix LPChip - trance
http://www.x-masmusic.com/music/mastrix/co-op/1mileflight.zip
Pacific Rainstorm - Coleridoo - trance
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/coleridoo/abpacif.zip
Perfection - Cyborg Jeff - trance
http://www.songarchive.org/songs/0154Nzon38b.itz
Progress - MV - ambient
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/groups/camomille/cam-13-progressmv.zip
Rings Of Saturn - Yannis Brown - demostyle
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/yannis/ybx120-2.zip
Saraswathi Path - Ivory - fantasy
http://cooth.chemical-reaction.org/thingies/spath.zip
Springloverainkissdream - Djkor - electronica
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/groups/cornercut/027crc.zip
Watching The Sad Moment - Void Pointer - techno
http://www.cutetrancegirls.com/other-sites/void-pointer/kissingitgoodbye.zip
Welcome Summer - Slash - demostyle
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/slash/slashatddd.zip
With Heart With Soul - Yannis Brown - demostyle
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/mirrors/hornet/music/songs/1996/y/ybsoul.zip
Latez!
--Novus
Screen Lit Vertigo
Nighttime and Glitch
By: Seven
-- Nighttime by Scarab Corpse --
party-version
Found at www.scene.org
1st place at the Birdie 13 demo compo
System requirements: No req. listed : 6MB HD, Windows.
Test Machine: PIII 900 640MB, Gamesurround III, Radeon 8500 LE 64MB,
Win98 SE
The credits:
Code: Cloaked Alien
Graphics: Krayz
3D: Cyc
Music: Gs
The demo:
Its clear from the start that Nighttime is a theme demo: the title
sequence shows desolate hills lit by a pale moon, with slow nocturnal
music setting the mood. But while most groups use 3D to tell their stories
these days, Scarab Corpse uses 2D images. Most backgrounds are close-up
details of a much larger image that isnt revealed until the end. Besides
the dark theme of this final image, a second thread involving purple teddy
bears is added to light up the mood. Because a demo showing only scrolling
backgrounds would bore you out of your sanity, some 3D effects were added,
such as butterflies, several particle effects, and a weird morphing blob
thats partly a mirror, partly flatshaded polygons. The 3D teddy doesnt
look very good IMHO, and isnt nearly as cute as the simple 3-winged
floating blobs.
Nighttime allows only 2 resolutions: 512*384 or 640*480, an in the
latter case the demo is shown with black borders around it. At first I
thought the demo was software rendered, but this isnt mentioned anywhere
in the info file, so maybe its to avoid scaling artifacts in the images,
which are very important for the mood of the demo.
The music starts almost gothic, with slow wailing voices accompagnied by
an organ, I think. Later a relaxed beat is aded but its still very
ambient. Since all effects are quite slow, theres little opportunity for
synchronizing, but the mood and speed of the soundtrack fit the visuals
very well.
Overall:
Its nice to see a demo that places most emphasis on 2D images, a
neglected art in todays 3D-dominated scene. For the rest the demo isnt
groundbreaking, the color scheme is a bit weird sometimes but overall its
nice to watch and listen to. Give it a try!
-- Glitch by Kewlers --
party-version
Found at www.scene.org
1st place at the Stream 2003 democompo
System requirements: 3.4 MB HD, 35 MB memory, Pentium 3 recommended,
GeForce2 3 recommended with recent drivers, windows
Test Machine: PIII 900 640MB, Gamesurround III, Radeon 8500 LE 64MB,
Win98 SE
The credits:
Code: Curly Brace
Graphics: Actor Dolban
Music: Little Bitchard, 110
Design: Mel Function, Curly Brace
The demo:
Glitch reminds me a lot of A Deepness In The Sky/MFX, since both demos
are essentially a single effect that grows slowly more complex. Glitch
starts with circular metal patterns, arranged in spherical layers. With
blue flashes, more parts appear on the outer side, and red lightning
circles around the sphere. After a while the core of the sphere starts to
morph, with more lightning appearing inside the sphere, and a room made of
thin black lines in a matrix form appears around it. The whole process is
randomized, so its never the same way twice, but those are the main
lines. Of course the camera jumps around constantly, and there are flashes
abound.
Besides a black and white Kewlers logo on broken polygons at the start,
and a similar Glitch title at the end, there are no pictures at all.
The music sounds experimental and very atonal, with little electronic
noises, slow sweeps and a irregular heavy bass. I dont like it very much,
I need at least a trace of a melody to enjoy music.
Overall:
Glitch left me a bit disappointed, I was expecting more from Kewlers.
One factor is the hardware, I think the GeForce 2 minimum requirement is
very optimistic. An ATI 8500 is between a GF3 and a GF4 in power, but I
had to choose the lowest resolution 640*480 to get an acceptable
framerate, and even then it was still jerking at times. Maybe it just
doesnt like ATIs? A good point is the randomness, Im really a fan of
ever-changing scripts and this type of demo is perfectly suited to it. So
fans of Kewlers, rejoice, for youll be able to watch this demo again and
again. For the others, check it out if you dont mind atonal music.
--Seven
Editorial
Theres Always a First Time
By: Ciaran
Last month, when I was editing issue 45, I had a great experience. I
introduced an online friend of mine to the demoscene for the first time.
Ironically enough, it was when I was telling her over IM that I was now a
co-editor of this magazine. She was interested in what the demoscene was,
so I pointed her towards http://www.oldskool.org/demos/explained/ one of
the particularly helpful sites in the Link List. I then started thinking
about which demo would be the best to show her first.
I wanted to show her what the demoscene was about in a nutshell. I also
wanted to impress her with what demos could actually do, but although
demos like Second Reality for example were brilliant at the time, I
figured theyd be less likely to impress newcomers today - plus, of
course, its hard to get some of these demos running.
In the end, I chose a 64KB demo - .fr-08: .the .product
http://theproduct.de/ - as the first demo I would show her. Shes
computer-literate, so she knew how small 64KB was, and she probably
thought it was a rather odd choice on my part. If I wanted to show her
what the demoscene was about, why not start with one of the larger
demos?...
I dont know what she was thinking as she watched the demo on her
computer, but I found myself fondly remembering what I felt like the first
time I saw it. After all, conventional wisdom says that 64KB is far too
small to put anything worth watching into, right? But, of course, that
notion is quickly laid to rest when you watch it. Lasting almost a full
11 minutes, it would probably make you rethink your opinion on the
demoscene quite radically if it was your first time.
As she watched on her computer, I put on the MP3 of the music that the
demo uses so I could tell where she was in the demo. I smiled when the
music passed the stage where the screen would have displayed You may
press escape now, but after a while, carried on - that was perhaps the
most jawdropping point for me when I first watched it - This thing has
*more*?.
Finally, as the music reached its end, I readied myself for the IM
message. I wasnt disappointed.
Oh. My. God.
She couldnt get over it for a while. She loved it. She felt, in her own
words, like a kid whos found a new toy. I think Ive discovered another
obsession. And of course, shes now a subscriber to Static Line. :
Now its your turn, as the readers - Im interested in knowing what your
experiences were. What was it like for you the first time you were
introduced to the demoscene? Is there one particular demo which you would
recommend for a newcomer to the scene? And - probably the most important
question - what message would you want to give about the demoscene? Email
us at staticline-owner@scenespot.org and well publish as many emails as
we can in next months issue.
--Ciaran
Coplans Eyes
Culture
By: Coplan
Culture is something that strikes us every day. In some countries, its
more common of a stumbling block than it is in other countries. The
United States, or any new world country, for example, has been plagued
with cultural differences from day one. Thats not to say that I agree or
disagree with whether or not these cultural differences should be
emphasized or ignored. Its not an issue to me. Racism is a poor result
in such differences. Its just important to acknowledge such differences,
and then accept them. Note I said ACCEPT, not IGNORE.
Alright, so whats this got to do with the scene? Fortunately for us, the
demoscene is deeply rooted in the internet. Until you meet that person
face-to-face, theyre just a cool guy. Or girl. Maybe black, maybe
white, maybe latino. Maybe they are 15. Maybe theyre 32. They could be
heterosexual, homosexual. They could have 500 piercings and 28 tatoos.
But you dont know any of that. The internet, for the most part is
annonymous. At least until people start asking questions. But I bring up
the issue because many of you end up at demo parties or other scene
gatherings from time to time. Jimmy Scener was, in your mind, a nice
young individual. Hes got good taste in music. Hes a very talented
music writer and he does a bit of code on the side. Hes learning very
quickly, and you really believe hell be the next big name in the ways of
the demoscene. Then you meet him at The Gathering, and HER name is
Jamie which could be a guys name, you admit, she has long black hair,
and shes Indian. But...in the big scheme of things, shes still got good
taste in music, is a talented music writer and she is learning to code
very well. Whats changed other than your perception of this person?
Very little. The mistake, after all, was your initial perception. But is
that such a mistake? No. Humans, by their very nature, have this natural
tendency to want to associate faces with names. If you are without a
face, you create one in your head. Go figure, it tends to be of someone
you ideally think fits the name. There is no true basis for the image you
develop in your mind. Now it would be a mistake, however, if you let any
of her natural appearance get in the way of making a new friend.
Fortunately, this doesnt always cause problems in the demoscene. I seem
to remember that almost any female artist gets rated higher than the male
artists as it is. So maybe the reverse is happening. But prejudice does
happen in the demoscene, and it shouldnt.
So what can you really learn from all this? Well, start by asking that
person some questions. You might find that person is very talented voxel
coder, and you want to learn some tricks. Or, maybe that person is very
good with latin rhythms maybe some irish guy is very good at them, who
says that person is latin?. People affect other people all the time.
But its up to you if you want the result to be a good one or a bad one.
Supposing you shut said person out because you were prejudice, then you
would be the one missing out.
Dont make judgement without the evidence. Its bad for your future.
--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
Hungarian Scene........................http://www.demoscene.hu
Italian Scene...........................http://run.to/lascena
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
United Trackers.................http://www.united-trackers.org
Archives:
Acid2.....................................ftp://acid2.stack.nl
Amber.......................................ftp://amber.bti.pl
Aminet.....................http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/aminet/
Cyberbox.....................................ftp://cyberbox.de
Hornet 1992-1996........................ftp://ftp.hornet.org
MOD Archive..........................http://www.modarchive.com
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
MAZs sound homepage..................http://www.maz-sound.com
Med.......................................http://www.med.fr.fm
Miasmah.............................http://www.miasmah.cjb.net
Milk.......................................http://milk.sgic.fi
Moplayaz..........................http://ssmedion.de/moplayaz
Mono211.................................http://www.mono211.com
Morbid Minds..............http://www.raveordie.com/morbidminds
Moods.............................http://www.moodymusic.de.vu/
* Mstation.....................http://mstation.org/software.html
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/ruffengine
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
Triads C64 music archive.............http://www.triad.c64.org
UltraBeat.........................http://www.innerverse.com/ub
Vibrants................................http://www.vibrants.dk
Zen of Tracking.........................http://surf.to/the-imm
Programming:
3D engines..........http://cg.cs.tu-berlin.de/ki/engines.html
3D programming portal.................http://www.3dgamedev.com
Documents...............http://www.neutralzone.org/home/faqsys
File format collection...................http://www.wotsit.org
Game programming portal...............http://www.gamasutra.com
LCC free C compiler.........http://www.remcomp.com/lcc-win32
NASM free Assembly compiler......http://www.cryogen.com/nasm
Programming portal......................http://www.gamedev.net
Programming portal.....................http://www.flipcode.com
Programming portal......................http://www.exaflop.org
Programming portal............http://www.programmersheaven.com
Programming portal.....................http://www.freecode.com
PTC video engine.........................http://www.gaffer.org
Magazines:
Amber...............................http://amber.bti.pl/dimag
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
Buenzli Switzerland......................http://www.buenz.li
Dreamhack Sweden....................http://www.dreamhack.org
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
Csound-tekno e-mail list......................................
............http://plot.bek.no/mailman/listinfo/csoundtekno
Demonews Express.........http://www.teeselink.demon.nl/express
Demo fanclub........................http://jerware.org/fanclub
Digital Undergrounds.....................http://dug.iscool.net
* Everything tracking..http://zolaweb.com/Zola/trax/tracking.htm
U Freax.....................................http://www.freax.hu/
GfxZone............................http://gfxzone.planet-d.net
* Mod-Radio...........http://www.back2roots.org/Music/Mod-Radio/
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:
Graphics.........................................ircnet pixel
Graphics French..............................ircnet pixelfr
Music......................................irc.scene.org trax
Music.............................................ircnet trax
Programming.....................................ircnet coders
Programming....................................efnet flipcode
Programming French............................ircnet codefr
Programming German........................ircnet coders.ger
Programming Hungarian......................ircnet coders.hu
Scene.........................................ircnet thescene
Scene French..................................ircnet demofr
Scene Hungarian............................ircnet demoscene
Zx-spectrum scene..................................ircnet z80
-- Staff --
Editors: Ciaran / Ciaran Hamilton / staticline@theblob.org
Ben / Ben Collver / collver1@comcast.net
Staff Writers: Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan@scenespot.org
Dilvie / Eric Hamilton / dilvie@dilvie.com
Novus / Vince Young / vinceyoung@hotmail.com
Psitron / Tim Soderstrom / tigerhawk@stic.net
Setec / Jesper Pederson / jesped@post.tele.dk
Seven / Stefaan VanNieuwenhuyze/ seven7@pandora.be
Tryhuk / Tryhuk Vojtech / vojtech.tryhuk@worldonline.cz
Vill / Brian Frank / darkvill@yahoo.com
The Watcher / Paul-Jan Pauptit / sprout@zonnet.nl
The current issue of Static Line can always be found on the Web at:
http://staticline.scenespot.org/issues/currentissue
Static Line Subscription Management:
http://www.scenespot.org/mailman/listinfo/staticline
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
staticline-owner@scenespot.org by the last Friday of each month. New
issues are released on a monthly basis.
See you next month!
-eof---------------------
July, 2003 / / / /
276 Subscribers World Wide // / / / /
Table Of Contents
Opening:
Message From the Editor
Features:
On The Rebound -- An Interview with Nagz and Mephizto
Hooz Deez? -- An Interview with Ciaran and Ben
Reviews:
Music:
In Tune -- Heavens Descent by In Tense
On The Sideline -- Cillke by Emit
The Lineup -- Monthly Music Listings
Demo:
Screen Lit Vertigo -- Nighttime and Glitch
Opinion / Commentary:
Editorial -- Theres Always a First Time
Coplans Eyes -- Culture
Link List: Get Somewhere in the Scene
Closing: Staff and Contact Information
Message From the Editor
Hi Static Line readers, got your ears on? Good, because this months
issue is like a buffet: it is cheap, tasty, and when youre through, you
wont be left hungry. This months issue has two interviews. One is with
Ciaran and myself so you can get to know us a little better. The other is
with Nagz and Mephizto, who discuss the Hungarian scene and also their
song Lenina58. I hear if you play it backwards, you will hear the
Mister Ed theme song. We have 2 months of The Lineup crammed into 1
issue! Coplan and I have both written module reviews, about Heavens
Descent by In Tense and Cillke by Emit. Coplan and Ciaran wrote
interesting editorials about the scene, one from the angle of social
dynamics, and the other focusing on newcomers. And we can trust Seven to
review demos, two of them this month: Nighttime and Glitch.
You may have noticed in the header that the email subscription count has
dropped. Dont be discouraged, our number of readers has grown last
month. We removed many stale e-mail addresses that had been bouncing.
Please do subscribe if you havent already.
I would like to draw attention to a couple of things. First is a new
project called Mod-Radio, a new service allowing folks to play online
radio. It can be found at http://www.back2roots.org/Music/Mod-Radio/.
This is different from most Internet Radio because it does not use
streaming audio formats, but uses native module formats. The project
offers access to more than 65,000 mods, organized into 54 radio channels!
The supported players are WinAmp and DeliPlayer. For Linux and BSD heads,
I hacked up a small shell script that should work with Mozilla, Netscape,
Lynx and any player:
http://staticline.scenespot.org/suppliment/46/mod-radio.sh
Second, in the USA, the Pilgrimage Demo Party is coming soon. It is
scheduled for August 9th, 8am until midnight in Salt Lake City, Utah.
This party is free of charge, and is aimed at getting more people involved
with the scene. It includes hands-on seminars to educate talented coders
in the arts of demo coding. Read more at http://pilgrimage.scene.org
Thats it, enjoy this issue, and remember that articles for next months
issue can be sent in plain text to staticline-owner@scenespot.org.
--Ben Collver
On The Rebound
Interview with Nagz and Mephizto
By: Valzihjken
During game 4 of the NBA finals, part of Lenina58 was played during an
interview with some guy called Kenyon Martin. I dont watch basketball
I just happened to notice the music coming from the TV. It was on the US
station, ABC. My brother and I were in the room and both recognized it at
about the same time. As of now, we cant find any other sceners who were
even watching the game. Lenina58 was tracked by Nagz and Mephizto for
Language Lab. I was honored to do the following interview, which took
place through IRC and email exchanges. It has been edited for content and
to fit on your screen. Lenina58, which is a bigbeat/triphop XM from
2002, is Language Lab release OOO51.
NAGZ: OK. start start.
VALZIHJKEN: Anyway, what do you two think of this event?
NAGZ: This interview or the thing theyve released our track there?
VALZIHJKEN: The fact that they played Lenina58 on ABC. Are you upset or
happy? Do you want money? Do you like the accidental publicity? Do you
want credit?
MEPHIZTO: Well both : mostly happy, but Id REALLY like to know how did
they get this track. Well..
NAGZ: Both. They shouldve asked us. Counting with the fact this song
has been released at Languagelab ll.planet-d.net, that might have
happened that someone has stolen the track, wrote his name in and
released at the channel somehow. But that could also happen that I
doubt theyve asked Radio Cafe, a Hungarian radio station, and released.
But this music was copyrighted.. we shouldve got paid somehow hehe : and
are you 100 darn sure?
MEPHIZTO: This track is not an underground track anymore, itll be
released in public this autumn at a record company here in Hungary.
VALZIHJKEN: Cool.
MEPHIZTO: So we could be upset as well. But we dont give a darn, really
VALZIHJKEN: I feel about 97 sure that it was Lenina58.
NAGZ: Valz you said your brother also recognized it as our song... Then it
makes it more sure. I think we might contact ABC television... at least
for the recording.
NAGZ: And who is that sick sonofa... who puts THIS music UNDER an
interview?!?!? :
VALZIHJKEN: Heh heh.
NAGZ: Its more like a lounge music. :
MEPHIZTO: Justice for us!!! :P
VALZIHJKEN: I think it sounded very nice on the show. Helped the mood.
NAGZ: That can happen... but but the speech audibility and Lenina58
doesnt meet :
VALZIHJKEN: True, Nagz.
MEPHIZTO: Well hey. Llets clear something out.
NAGZ: Your room?
MEPHIZTO: Was it played in the television, or at the arena during the
interview?
VALZIHJKEN: On ABC television.
NAGZ: Right : Meph, I think he could only recognize it if it was played
on television at the arena, it just washes out vagy miafasz
VALZIHJKEN: Could you introduce yourselves?
NAGZ: ?lvem?ll? hangrovar : I let the introducing to Meph. Eespecially
because he started doing that music : I mean I let it for him at 1st
MEPHIZTO: : K I started producing music back in the mid of the 90-s,
using trackers and stuff, later I fell in love with Propellerheads Reason
and Cubase, and a lot of VSTI stuff as well.
I really loved to produce music for the public, became a scener later, but
then one day I got signed myself and a few of my friends at a record
label in Hungary. since then I stopped to be honest : scene activity,
and were doing our own business as Fusion-X but I still care about the
scene, just dont have the time to produce music for demoscene but I still
like it.
VALZIHJKEN: Does this make you enough money? Do you have a second job?
MEPHIZTO: Of course I do : First, I dont do it for money only for
reputation and respect, as all the sceners do. : Its ok if I get money,
but its not the main goal.. ok Im over, spit something out Nagz :
NAGZ: Poeeee! Im David Halmi. 20 years old, sound and info/electro
technician, partyrat, casanova, dreadhead, Satan and Jesus in 1 2?
person. he he... to turn it sincere: been making musics for 7-8 years,
as Ive been interested in music ever in my life.. been using and still
FastTracker, but lately Im shoring it up with other gears like Buzz, SF,
sometimes Acid... and Im eager in trying out DX and VST stuffs. And I
have a didgeridoo and a djembe else than other oriental and african percs
and been playing jazz-piano but Ive stopped.
VALZIHJKEN: So, what are your current plans in the scene?
NAGZ: Uhm. Ive kinda stopped scene at least Ive got fed up with
Hungarian demoscene
MEPHIZTO: Me too me too :P
NAGZ: Yeah yeah. we b 1337z0rz
VALZIHJKEN: I only wish I could claim to be able to do that.
NAGZ: I bet you have ears, eyes and hands. I see nothing like a drat for
doing that:
VALZIHJKEN: Id be fed up with the US scene, if I could find it.
NAGZ: Hehhe : First you need to be a so-admired part of it no?
VALZIHJKEN: What do you plan to do with your lives outside of the scene?
MEPHIZTO: I think that would be a short answer from both of us. Wed like
to produce music till death. :
VALZIHJKEN: Yes, but do you think you actually will?
NAGZ: Me not. At age of 60 Ill become deaf and will paint. :
MEPHIZTO: Who knows... well try. :
NAGZ: I also want to make music but I know that itll never be my 1st
source for getting money.
VALZIHJKEN: What sceners make your favorite scene music?
MEPHIZTO: A Buzifinnek
NAGZ: Heh ye. Graff Vim Falcon Keith303 Scaldor Waka-X Manwe Xhale Ram0ne
Solo Carlos Moby Traven Decibelter Hunz Matrixcubed Norfair DNA-Groove ..
some of them.
MEPHIZTO: Well I like the experimental side of the scene, like
Brothomstates was.
NAGZ: Yeah, havent mentioned those IDM lamers :DDDD MD is the best among
them IHMO
VALZIHJKEN: What is your fave scene mag?
MEPHIZTO: demoscene.hu of course P
NAGZ: Scene mag? Is there any?
VALZIHJKEN: Oh boy.
NAGZ: My fave was Booster ok just ... 1/4 scene: and terror news!
Havent ever read one but Tomcat is really loving that and OK I do it
also.
MEPHIZTO: Yeah Booster and TN kicked butt, and CLI sometimes. :
NAGZ: Bark bark.
NAGZ: I used to get some publicity in Booster. : Darn what a lamer Ive
been then... now Im bigger. :P
VALZIHJKEN: What is your favorite non-music pastime?
NAGZ: Non-music pastime? You mean activity when I stand up from this
junk?
VALZIHJKEN: Yes.
MEPHIZTO: He does.
NAGZ: Going anywhere. It could be a long walk or a concert or a dancing
hall outdoor in this weather or anything but rotting here. I like
partying as long as I have money. Then I steal beers. :
MEPHIZTO: Yes, drinking and hmm.. other things :, hanging out with
friends.
NAGZ: Do we have any?
MEPHIZTO: And we like to listen to music as well. :
NAGZ: Last year Ive bought a friend, but some months ago it broken the
window and escaped. : Ive just farted.
MEPHIZTO: Lets get back to Lenina58 then.
NAGZ: Where did the name come from? :
VALZIHJKEN: Yes, where did the name come from?
NAGZ: I know that XM numbering that weve played DCC pingpong with
started at 51 and got up to 58. but Lenina58... it had an another name
: uhm. Who found it out Meph? Me or you?
MEPHIZTO: I dunno. Cant remember sorry. :
VALZIHJKEN: How long did it take you to make it?
MEPHIZTO: Maybe 2-3 days? :
NAGZ: Grrrrrr. Lenina 57 is on way tho. My 1st screwaround in reason.
:P
VALZIHJKEN: Do you like co-ops better than solos?
NAGZ: Definitely not. :
MEPHIZTO: No. But Nagz had some kickin ideas he had to make as he told
me on IRC : so I passed it to him.
NAGZ: I must say I want to beat out the crud from Mephizto for that we
made that music together and not me alone.
MEPHIZTO: And the rest is history! :P
NAGZ: : I might get some criticism like I dont get this interview
too seriously.
VALZIHJKEN: What do you think of having a semi-local scene in Hungary?
NAGZ: Semi-local? you mean Jew-scene? :
VALZIHJKEN: Do you prefer THE SCENE or the Hungarian Scene?
MEPHIZTO: :PPPP
NAGZ: Oh. I WOULD prefer Hungarian scene but ... as I said, Ive got fed
up.
MEPHIZTO: Yes, it has seen better days.
NAGZ: Much better.
MEPHIZTO: Maybe itll rise again. Maybe not..
NAGZ: In 97 theres been 12-13 Hungarian scene parties.
MEPHIZTO: Right now we have 1 or 2.
NAGZ: And the biggest one counted 1000 attenders as I heard. yeah.. with
150 people.
MEPHIZTO: Way more.
NAGZ: My first party was Ragest98.
MEPHIZTO: Ragest parties and stuff...
VALZIHJKEN: Do you still go to scene parties?
NAGZ: My last party was Flag2k2, held by us. I mean Greenroom others.
Havent been to Antiq2k2 and Towel2k3 and I wont visit Scenecon2k3 this
weekend.
MEPHIZTO: Once in a year maybe. GOOBER GOOBER GOOBER
VALZIHJKEN: Tell me about your groups. What are they, which do you
contribute most to, etc.
NAGZ: My groups have been.. uh... Greenroom, Rebels, LanguageLab,
j?coute, 243, Section, Tequila, Analogik, Mellow Leader Blues, Parallel
Everything, Dr. Universe Game Source, Arrahmeie .... many of them have
always been inactive.. Ive worked a lot for Greenroom mainly WildDemos
and party org FLaG and for LanguageLab ll.planet-d.net
MEPHIZTO: My group is Digital Dynamite, founded back in the 90-s, but we
were most active between the year 00-02, now we stopped the activity a
bit. weve won several Hungarian parties, mostly with intros.
VALZIHJKEN: What do you do before you track? Do you do anything to
prepare?
NAGZ: Yes. Waking up and having a bottle of still mineral water in my
arm-distance. :
MEPHIZTO: Nothing at all.
VALZIHJKEN: What inspires you?
NAGZ: Everything. Life. Myself.
MEPHIZTO: Could be anything... nature, catching a nice smile of a nice
girl :, the city, sometimes big parties I dont mean demoscene parties.
VALZIHJKEN: Of all of your tracks, which is your favorite or best?
MEPHIZTO: Lenina58 of course Well to be honest, my favourite is
Sleeping Beauty, I composed it to a girl I loved most in my life, but
now everythings gone. Only the song remained.
NAGZ: I think my chiptune called xyzawoo was a bead of me, it was just
like sitting down like a freak and writing out something from my feelings.
When I stood up 2 hours later I just realized that Ive made something
Ive never done before. Progressive chiptune made in a trance somehow. :
VALZIHJKEN: Meph, where can we get your music?
MEPHIZTO: I dont have anything on the net, because of the record label,
so mostly in cd-shops or whatever.
VALZIHJKEN: Ok, I guess were done. Thanks!
If you want to contact either of these two, try demoscene on ircnet.
Maybe youll get lucky.
Find a few of Nagzs releases at:
http://ll.planet-d.net
http://jecoute.cjb.net
Wish I could tell you where something other than Lenina58 by Mephizto
could be found. : Wish you could tell me that actually...
--Valzihjken
Hooz Deez?
An Interview with Ciaran and Ben
By: Dilvie
Last issue, the readers of Static Line were hit with a major adjustment to
the staff - namely the fact that there are now two new editors of the
magazine: Ben Collver and Ciaran Hamilton. Who are they? Well, my goal
was to find out and share my findings with you, the readers.
DILVIE: Lets start with names along with aliases, akas, stupid nick-
names, and other such nonsense. What are they?
BEN: My name is Ben Collver, I go by SunDragon most of the time in IRC but
I prefer to use my own name when Im not just shooting the breeze.
CIARAN: My name is Ciaran Hamilton. I dont really use any special name
online. I used to be called Kiwihead, though. The Kiwi part comes
because my name is pronounced Keer-an, and at school, people often
shortened it to Kiwi. I liked it, and thought Id put head after it,
cuz I was feeling random. And thats how that name came about. Nothing
to do with New Zealand, despite what some people think. :
DILVIE: Where do you hail from?
BEN: Corvallis, Oregon, USA. Were right in the center of the Willamette
Valley, close to the coast, close to the Cascade Mountain Range, close to
the three largest cities Portland, Salem, Eugene.
CIARAN: West Sussex, England, United Kingdom.
DILVIE: How did you get involved in the demoscene?
BEN: One day my brother said hey listen to this and emailed me a MOD. I
had to use a search engine to find something that would play it. I was
impressed, and immediately took interest in trackers, and by proxy, the
demo scene.
DILVIE: Do you remember what year that was?
BEN: That was 1995. I was using Windows 3.11, mod4win, and trumpet
winsock. My first tracker was screamtracker 3. I think my brother used
some MS-DOS clone of protracker.
CIARAN: I first got involved with the scene when I saw that on the CD of
one my favourite magazines at the time, there was a large collection of
MOD files on it, along with MultiTracker. This would be a number of years
ago... probably about 10 years ago, maybe less.
MultiTracker became my favourite toy. : I loved playing with it and
seeing what stuff I could do. In fact, I still have a copy of the first
real tune I made with MT. It sounds awful, but I still have a sort of
fondness for it. :
Hmm. No, wait, I think my first encounter with the demoscene stretched
back further than that now that I think about it. I think my first
encounter with the demoscene was probably back when I used to have an
Acorn Archimedes computer. On one of the cover discs for a magazine called
BBC Acorn User now just called Acorn User, they had a program called
!HQ-Tracker. It used a similar sort of method of tracking to MODs, but it
was slightly different, although I cant remember how. But I only got
really involved with MultiTracker.
DILVIE: So you both came into the scene from a musical perspective. Have
either of you done anything else with it?
CIARAN: Anything else with the scene? Not really. Although Im interested
in programming, Ive never really wanted to do the graphics or coding side
of a demo. I do want to do the music for a demo or two, but I dont
really know where I would start. Im not in a group, although Id like to
be.
BEN: I remember a friend put 2nd reality on PCs at Radio Shack. I wrote a
PC clone of bomberman, 4 player. It used Allegro for the graphic library,
MikMod for the music library, and built under DJGPP to run in MS-DOS.
Thats not exactly a demo, but it touches on the coding aspect. dont
tell anyone, but the graphics were ripped from a SuperNES ROM Okay,
Ben, I wont tell... Neither will the readers...
DILVIE: How did you get involved with Static Line?
BEN: I used to read Trax Weekly, and while searching for module reviews, I
found Coplans In Tune in the Static Line. I think I subscribed late
2002, and I really appreciated the quality of the zine. I also looked
forward to The Lineup.
CIARAN: Fast forward to last year. I had just received my copy of the
MindCandy DVD. I noticed that in the credits, they mentioned Static Line.
I was curious as to what it was, so I searched for it and found that it
was this cool magazine about the scene, which I thought had pretty cool
articles in it. So I subscribed. :
BEN: Then Coplan asked for volunteers to take over as editor.
CIARAN: Right. Somewhere after issue 44 had gone out, we heard on the
list that Coplan had got engaged, and thus he didnt have enough time to
continue editing the zine. I emailed him, and in the email I mentioned
that I thought it would be best to have two editors, as I hadnt really
done anything like this before.
BEN: Was that before he mentioned that I had also emailed him?
CIARAN: Yes. Coplan then emailed us to say what exactly was involved.
DILVIE: Static Line has been around since Trax Weekly dissolved about five
years ago. Had either of you read Trax Weekly?
CIARAN: Ive never read Trax Weekly, no.
BEN: I used to read Trax Weekly, I think I stopped at a busy time in my
life when I moved and changed ISPs
DILVIE: How are you enjoying your new responsibilities? The two of you
have already been tested on issue 45, correct?
BEN: It is really helpful to have 2 of us on the team.
CIARAN: Yes, it is. Im certainly enjoying it.
BEN: We did work on issue 45. Coplan handed us the articles and said
Here you go, Ill help as much or as little as you want.
CIARAN: We already had the material for issue 45 from articles that
Coplan already had, although Ben also did his music review and I did the
Message from the Editor.
BEN: It was fun to jump into it.
CIARAN: Definitely. : I enjoy doing things like this.
DILVIE: Do either of you have plans for the future of Static Line? What
will change? What will stay the same?
BEN: I would like to contribute more content to the Line as I educate
myself musically. I really enjoyed Setecs articles on synthesis, and
would like to continue along that line.
CIARAN: Right now, I think we think most everything will stay the same,
although we have built a currently quite bare website for it -
http://staticline.scenespot.org
BEN: We did make one change when we did issue 45 that wouldnt be visible
to anyone. It seems Ciaran and I come from a coder/Unix background and
think along similar lines.
CIARAN: Yes. We switched the way we edited the magazine from being edited
manually to making some short scripts to help us a bit.
BEN: We started typesetting the zine with groff instead of the MS-DOS
editor Coplan was using Aurora.
CIARAN: It allows us to do pretty neat things. Although internally we make
issues in the format groff wants, we tried to keep the final text layout
as close to the original as possible.
Were hoping to make some improvements to the editing process to make it
easier. groff is sorta hard to write in, so Im working on developing a
typesetting language for SL that we can translate directly to groff.
BEN: I dont think weve had time yet to think of any major improvements
or future strategy for the magazine.
DILVIE: Are both of you planning to be at Pilgrimage, or other demo
parties in the near future?
BEN: I am looking forward to meeting Coplan at Pilgrimage, I hope we
manage to.
CIARAN: I hope I can make it to a party somewhere, hopefully close to
home Ive never been to a demoparty. : I definitely want to go to a
party though, especially after the article in Hugi 27 by Sir
Garbagetruck.
DILVIE: Time for the obligitory favorites: What is your favorite demo?
BEN: This is my favorite demo:
float o0.075,h1.5,T,r,O,l,Iint ,L80,s3200mainforsL
h-o,T -2,s4 -rO*OlI*I++ Lwrite1,--sL?L?--
6:6:7+World! n,1OIlr0,T+o /2OI*2*O+h,Il+T-r
It produces a Mandlebrot in ASCII.
CIARAN: I think my favourite demo is probably .fr-08 - .the .product.
Its a cool little 64KB demo that blew my socks off when I saw it the
first time, myself. youll be able to read about an experience with
fr-08 in the issue this interview appears in, btw :D
DILVIE: Favorite MOD?
CIARAN: Thats a hard one - Ive got a lot of music that I like. :D If I
was forced to pick one, it would probably be Feats Of Valor by Elwood.
BEN: I dont have a single favorite MOD, but over the years I have not
gotten tired of Mellow-Ds music. I also enjoy Xerxes and Kaneel, who
compose in similar styles to Mellow-D.
DILVIE: Good enough. Its been a pleasure.
Id like to personally express my thanks to the new editors for giving
Static Line a chance to continue and hopefully thrive as Coplan moves on
to other projects. It would be sad to see a five-year contribution to the
scene fade into memory as so many other resources have.
CIARAN: My thoughts exactly. Thats why I wanted to become an editor in
the first place. Its even better with two of us as it means that if one
of us is away temporarily or something, the issues will still go out on
time. : Plus Bens really helped when he made the magazine into the
format groff wants. It makes some things so much easier.
BEN: And Coplan is still helping us out, with advice and by contributing
content. I think it ought to be fun. And youre welcome :
DILVIE: It sounds like Static Line is in good hands.
--Dilvish
In Tune
In Tenses Heavens Descent
By: Coplan
-- Heavens Descent by In Tense --
At first listen, Ill admit, I hated the song. It reminded me too much of
a song I reviewed before. Fine, also by In Tense, has a very similar
style, similar chord progression, and a similar beginning. The way things
build and fade in and out are also similar. But then I started listening
it a little more. Yes, it all seems very similar, but one of his latest,
Heavens Descent, is more unique than I had thought.
Just like any typical trance song, things start very vauge. You have a
climbing and descending synthetic chords that repeat. As the progression
changes, the placement of these changes. And this tends to be the glue
for the entire song. A base line comes in at about thirty seconds into
the song. At first the instrument selection for the base line is
terrible. But it slowly changes and melts into a very soft sounding base
line by the time the percussion starts to come in. The overall feeling of
the song comes to life at about the 1 minute mark. It picks up most at
about 1:30.
Sadly, I know little about the production of the tune. Its sample and
instrument selection seems to rely very heavily on envelopes, almost as if
it were done on synthesizers. It is the type of tune that would very
naturally fall out of Renoise, Psycle or Buzz. The skill involved to get
these soft-synthesis sequencers to produce these kinds of instruments is
definately recognized by yours truly. As I said, this tune reminded me
quite a bit of Fine. But after you become familiar with both tunes,
youll see that In Tense has come a long way.
The percussion is a bit typical of a trance or a techno song. Yes, its
well placed, and very useable. Its not my favorite aspect of the song.
Whether or not this is the case, it seems to utilize a lot of break-beats.
I will, however, offer my recognition of the parts where only a hi-hat was
used, or where everything was cut out. I realize thats a wierd way of
saying things. But the reality is that I wouldnt review this song if it
didnt have at least that.
The thing I like about the song is the fact that things are always
changing. Too often, especially with trance styles, things tend to get
left and forgotten. The break-beat, once it comes in, never changes. The
background riffs tend to come in at a very repetative nature. The chord
progression never changes. In Tense doesnt do that, especially with this
song. There are parts where the chord progression holds the same notes
for the next several bars. There are other times where it changes after
only one or two bars. But more important is the fact that it is rarely
left to fend for itself. Occasionally, youll hear a piano playing in the
distant background. You might hear some other synthesized sounds popping
in and out. Maybe the chord progression gets carried through some other
instrument. The percussion helps to shape things here. But things are
always moving around the very static drum beat a requirement of any
electronic style. All in all, this is a good rendition of a very classic
trancey style. A winner, in my book, and definately one that will remain
on my play list for a while.
Song Information:
Title: Heavens Descent
Author: In Tense
Release date: 5/15/03
Length: 4:12
File Size: 5.6 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. Coplans 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 persons, We can be contacted through e-mail using the addresses
found in the closing notes. Please do not send files attached to e-mail
without first contacting us. Thank you!
On The Sideline
Cillke by Emit
By: Ben
As you are well aware, one of the great things about electronic music is
the absolute freedom of expression. With trackers or any other instrument
you learn the mechanics of music by practice. Id say trackers have a
much easier learning curve than most instruments, and have a rapid
interface that is well suited to whipping up fun, interesting sounds. In
my opinion it is more important that music be fun and interesting, than
for it to be done elegantly with technical finesse.
What makes a track fun or interesting? Fun is largely subjective, but
interesting is easier: something different. Not only different from the
generic stuff, but different from itself. Although house or trance
music can be pleasant to listen to, most of it is too repetitive for me to
consider it interesting. The house or trance music I do find interesting
typically makes use of unusual synthesized sound.
This is where Kevin Krebs comes in. I first found his music released
under the alias Emit. He uses radio noise, astronomical noise, and
software synthesizers to make what he describes as distant, cold, and
droning ambient music. I have also heard use of samples from various
childrens TV shows.
I am going to review Cillke, one of the older Emit tunes that is less
cold than most of his work. The name itself interested me, seeming
similar to some Scottish sea myth, so I asked Kevin where it came from.
He told me it was just a non-sense word he made up. Oh well. This song
didnt play so well in some of my players, so I suggest listening in
modplug or IT. This is a relatively short song, about 3 minutes.
The song begins with a drone, which progresses into a gentle rumble of
subsynth bass. Then a slow drum sequence kicks in, and the song has
arrived. For some reason it reminds me of a warm day on a grassy
riverbank, with distant airplanes and lawn mowers humming in the
background.
Then about order 17 there blurts long, forcefull bass notes to emphasize
the rhythm, and a bit of simple melody ties it over until order 35 where a
beautiful synth lead chirps in. The synth melody is somewhat wistful,
conjuring images of lost childhood. I have no idea where the vocals come
from, but they lend a surreal effect to the tune. I like how the voice is
echoed when the man asks Who do you resemble most? to produce a doubling
effect doububleblibling ebeffebect. And the song ends with a child
answering.
This song sounds pretty good for being all 8-bit samples. The style is
clear and uncrowded, bordering on minimal. I recommend the other tunes,
which can be found at http://www.833-45.net. Cillke is under the
section titled Emit. I also found an interesting paper about module
music by Emit, which may be read at
http://staticline.scenespot.org/suppliment/46/module-music.txt
Song Information:
Title: Cillke
Author: Emit
Length: 3:17
Filename: em-0.zip
File Size: 566k
Source: http://www.833-45.net/mods/
Also: ftp://staticline.scenespot.org/suppliment/46/
--Ben Collver
The Lineup
By: Novus
Welcome to The Lineup! Every month, I scour through the hundreds of new
releases on the scenes major archive sites to find the best new music,
saving you the trouble of having to download 20 instant-delete songs to
find 1 thats worth keeping.
With the recent hiatus of Static Line, The Lineup has also fallen a bit
behind, so heres the comeback plan: for Julys issue, the issue youre
reading right now, youll get the best tracks of April and May. And for
Augusts issue, youll get the best tracks of June and July, thus bringing
this thing back on track. Overused pun intended.
Feedback keeps comin on in. TS wrote thusly:
Just want to say that I like your music list. Since the connection
between music and demo scene has weakened and there are practically no
scene music archives brought to parties, it is quite hard to get new
modules these day with a smallband connection. Thus, your list serves well
for not totally loosing track about todays scene music releases - thanks!
Not all tracks were liked by me, but this was a matter of taste rather
than quality, so you can still be proud of 100 customer satisfaction
Thanks TS, though maybe thats down to 99 after Daniel Okely wrote
thusly:
I finally received static-line for the first time... having scoured the
back issues and downloaded songs from the lineup, I was looking forward to
this issue. I think that your song selections are great. Personally, I
think you could be marginally more strict, but then again music is such a
personal thing. :
Well, Ill take 99 satisfaction. Thanks for writing in! And you can
add YOUR feedback, positive or negative by e-mailing me at
vinceyoung@hotmail.com.
In the meantime, you may consider the following 33 tunes to be the best
tracks of April and May 2003:
-- THE BEST OF THE BEST: APRIL 2003 --
Quiet Storm - Yannis Brown - demostyle
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/mirrors/hornet/music/songs/1996/y/ybqstorm.zip
-- THE BEST OF THE BEST: MAY 2003 --
Tekkra Life - Vibe - electronica
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/groups/cornercut/029crc.zip
-- THE REST OF THE BEST --
A Trip To Nowhere: Temezos Mix - Temezo - trance
http://www.modarchive.com/cgi-bin/download.cgi/T/temezo2.xm
originally by Sonic Range
Acid Drops - Yannis Brown - pop
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/yannis/ybacidrp.zip
Anixiapolis 19 - Pro-Xex - electronica
http://www.modarchive.com/cgi-bin/download.cgi/A/apolis.it
Astral Dome - Pro-Xex - electronica
http://www.modarchive.com/cgi-bin/download.cgi/A/astraldome.it
Azure Sky - Aitrus - fantasy
http://www.modplug.com/mods/nrdownload.php3?sessiondownnum10547
Back For A Dance - Nightbeat - fantasy
http://www.novusmusic.org/songs/nbback.zip
Banjo Jamming - Yannis Brown - dance
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/yannis/ybbanjo.zip
Just trust me, okay? It wouldnt be in The Lineup without a good reason.
Countdown To Infinity - HomesickAlien - ambient
http://lysis.audio-stream.net/hsa/hsainf.zip
Cut It In Mellow - Guruyu - trip-hop
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/opiate/guruyu-cutitinmellow.zip
Definitively House - Mr. Young - dance
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/mryoung/mryoung/xm/yng-dhouse.zip
Dont Make Me Cry - Void Pointer Cadra - fantasy
http://www.slayernetworking.com/DJDvo/music/dontmakemecry.zip
Echoes - Annoxxia - fantasy
http://www.novusmusic.org/songs/echoes.zip
Essence Of Life - Prophecy - pop
http://koti.mbnet.fi/prophecy/musat/p-eolre.it
Faerie In The Sky - Aitrus - fantasy
http://www.modplug.com/mods/nrdownload.php3?sessiondownnum10658
Final Voyage - Melin - fantasy
http://lysis.audio-stream.net/melin/melfv.xm
Jazz Safari - Yannis Brown - pop
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/yannis/ybjsaf.zip
Looking On Evening Horizon - Slash - pop
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/slash/slashatdlookhorz.zip
My Territory - Void Pointer - techno
http://www.slayernetworking.com/DJDvo/music/hardcorebreakbeat.zip
Mysterious People - Mr. Young - pop
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/mryoung/mryoung/xm/yng-mpeop.zip
On The Road: Speedster Mix - GDream - dance
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/gdream/xm/otr.zip
On Y Va - Slash - electronica
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/groups/camomille/cam-07-onyvaslash.zip
One Mile Flight - Mastrix LPChip - trance
http://www.x-masmusic.com/music/mastrix/co-op/1mileflight.zip
Pacific Rainstorm - Coleridoo - trance
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/coleridoo/abpacif.zip
Perfection - Cyborg Jeff - trance
http://www.songarchive.org/songs/0154Nzon38b.itz
Progress - MV - ambient
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/groups/camomille/cam-13-progressmv.zip
Rings Of Saturn - Yannis Brown - demostyle
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/yannis/ybx120-2.zip
Saraswathi Path - Ivory - fantasy
http://cooth.chemical-reaction.org/thingies/spath.zip
Springloverainkissdream - Djkor - electronica
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/groups/cornercut/027crc.zip
Watching The Sad Moment - Void Pointer - techno
http://www.cutetrancegirls.com/other-sites/void-pointer/kissingitgoodbye.zip
Welcome Summer - Slash - demostyle
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/slash/slashatddd.zip
With Heart With Soul - Yannis Brown - demostyle
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/mirrors/hornet/music/songs/1996/y/ybsoul.zip
Latez!
--Novus
Screen Lit Vertigo
Nighttime and Glitch
By: Seven
-- Nighttime by Scarab Corpse --
party-version
Found at www.scene.org
1st place at the Birdie 13 demo compo
System requirements: No req. listed : 6MB HD, Windows.
Test Machine: PIII 900 640MB, Gamesurround III, Radeon 8500 LE 64MB,
Win98 SE
The credits:
Code: Cloaked Alien
Graphics: Krayz
3D: Cyc
Music: Gs
The demo:
Its clear from the start that Nighttime is a theme demo: the title
sequence shows desolate hills lit by a pale moon, with slow nocturnal
music setting the mood. But while most groups use 3D to tell their stories
these days, Scarab Corpse uses 2D images. Most backgrounds are close-up
details of a much larger image that isnt revealed until the end. Besides
the dark theme of this final image, a second thread involving purple teddy
bears is added to light up the mood. Because a demo showing only scrolling
backgrounds would bore you out of your sanity, some 3D effects were added,
such as butterflies, several particle effects, and a weird morphing blob
thats partly a mirror, partly flatshaded polygons. The 3D teddy doesnt
look very good IMHO, and isnt nearly as cute as the simple 3-winged
floating blobs.
Nighttime allows only 2 resolutions: 512*384 or 640*480, an in the
latter case the demo is shown with black borders around it. At first I
thought the demo was software rendered, but this isnt mentioned anywhere
in the info file, so maybe its to avoid scaling artifacts in the images,
which are very important for the mood of the demo.
The music starts almost gothic, with slow wailing voices accompagnied by
an organ, I think. Later a relaxed beat is aded but its still very
ambient. Since all effects are quite slow, theres little opportunity for
synchronizing, but the mood and speed of the soundtrack fit the visuals
very well.
Overall:
Its nice to see a demo that places most emphasis on 2D images, a
neglected art in todays 3D-dominated scene. For the rest the demo isnt
groundbreaking, the color scheme is a bit weird sometimes but overall its
nice to watch and listen to. Give it a try!
-- Glitch by Kewlers --
party-version
Found at www.scene.org
1st place at the Stream 2003 democompo
System requirements: 3.4 MB HD, 35 MB memory, Pentium 3 recommended,
GeForce2 3 recommended with recent drivers, windows
Test Machine: PIII 900 640MB, Gamesurround III, Radeon 8500 LE 64MB,
Win98 SE
The credits:
Code: Curly Brace
Graphics: Actor Dolban
Music: Little Bitchard, 110
Design: Mel Function, Curly Brace
The demo:
Glitch reminds me a lot of A Deepness In The Sky/MFX, since both demos
are essentially a single effect that grows slowly more complex. Glitch
starts with circular metal patterns, arranged in spherical layers. With
blue flashes, more parts appear on the outer side, and red lightning
circles around the sphere. After a while the core of the sphere starts to
morph, with more lightning appearing inside the sphere, and a room made of
thin black lines in a matrix form appears around it. The whole process is
randomized, so its never the same way twice, but those are the main
lines. Of course the camera jumps around constantly, and there are flashes
abound.
Besides a black and white Kewlers logo on broken polygons at the start,
and a similar Glitch title at the end, there are no pictures at all.
The music sounds experimental and very atonal, with little electronic
noises, slow sweeps and a irregular heavy bass. I dont like it very much,
I need at least a trace of a melody to enjoy music.
Overall:
Glitch left me a bit disappointed, I was expecting more from Kewlers.
One factor is the hardware, I think the GeForce 2 minimum requirement is
very optimistic. An ATI 8500 is between a GF3 and a GF4 in power, but I
had to choose the lowest resolution 640*480 to get an acceptable
framerate, and even then it was still jerking at times. Maybe it just
doesnt like ATIs? A good point is the randomness, Im really a fan of
ever-changing scripts and this type of demo is perfectly suited to it. So
fans of Kewlers, rejoice, for youll be able to watch this demo again and
again. For the others, check it out if you dont mind atonal music.
--Seven
Editorial
Theres Always a First Time
By: Ciaran
Last month, when I was editing issue 45, I had a great experience. I
introduced an online friend of mine to the demoscene for the first time.
Ironically enough, it was when I was telling her over IM that I was now a
co-editor of this magazine. She was interested in what the demoscene was,
so I pointed her towards http://www.oldskool.org/demos/explained/ one of
the particularly helpful sites in the Link List. I then started thinking
about which demo would be the best to show her first.
I wanted to show her what the demoscene was about in a nutshell. I also
wanted to impress her with what demos could actually do, but although
demos like Second Reality for example were brilliant at the time, I
figured theyd be less likely to impress newcomers today - plus, of
course, its hard to get some of these demos running.
In the end, I chose a 64KB demo - .fr-08: .the .product
http://theproduct.de/ - as the first demo I would show her. Shes
computer-literate, so she knew how small 64KB was, and she probably
thought it was a rather odd choice on my part. If I wanted to show her
what the demoscene was about, why not start with one of the larger
demos?...
I dont know what she was thinking as she watched the demo on her
computer, but I found myself fondly remembering what I felt like the first
time I saw it. After all, conventional wisdom says that 64KB is far too
small to put anything worth watching into, right? But, of course, that
notion is quickly laid to rest when you watch it. Lasting almost a full
11 minutes, it would probably make you rethink your opinion on the
demoscene quite radically if it was your first time.
As she watched on her computer, I put on the MP3 of the music that the
demo uses so I could tell where she was in the demo. I smiled when the
music passed the stage where the screen would have displayed You may
press escape now, but after a while, carried on - that was perhaps the
most jawdropping point for me when I first watched it - This thing has
*more*?.
Finally, as the music reached its end, I readied myself for the IM
message. I wasnt disappointed.
Oh. My. God.
She couldnt get over it for a while. She loved it. She felt, in her own
words, like a kid whos found a new toy. I think Ive discovered another
obsession. And of course, shes now a subscriber to Static Line. :
Now its your turn, as the readers - Im interested in knowing what your
experiences were. What was it like for you the first time you were
introduced to the demoscene? Is there one particular demo which you would
recommend for a newcomer to the scene? And - probably the most important
question - what message would you want to give about the demoscene? Email
us at staticline-owner@scenespot.org and well publish as many emails as
we can in next months issue.
--Ciaran
Coplans Eyes
Culture
By: Coplan
Culture is something that strikes us every day. In some countries, its
more common of a stumbling block than it is in other countries. The
United States, or any new world country, for example, has been plagued
with cultural differences from day one. Thats not to say that I agree or
disagree with whether or not these cultural differences should be
emphasized or ignored. Its not an issue to me. Racism is a poor result
in such differences. Its just important to acknowledge such differences,
and then accept them. Note I said ACCEPT, not IGNORE.
Alright, so whats this got to do with the scene? Fortunately for us, the
demoscene is deeply rooted in the internet. Until you meet that person
face-to-face, theyre just a cool guy. Or girl. Maybe black, maybe
white, maybe latino. Maybe they are 15. Maybe theyre 32. They could be
heterosexual, homosexual. They could have 500 piercings and 28 tatoos.
But you dont know any of that. The internet, for the most part is
annonymous. At least until people start asking questions. But I bring up
the issue because many of you end up at demo parties or other scene
gatherings from time to time. Jimmy Scener was, in your mind, a nice
young individual. Hes got good taste in music. Hes a very talented
music writer and he does a bit of code on the side. Hes learning very
quickly, and you really believe hell be the next big name in the ways of
the demoscene. Then you meet him at The Gathering, and HER name is
Jamie which could be a guys name, you admit, she has long black hair,
and shes Indian. But...in the big scheme of things, shes still got good
taste in music, is a talented music writer and she is learning to code
very well. Whats changed other than your perception of this person?
Very little. The mistake, after all, was your initial perception. But is
that such a mistake? No. Humans, by their very nature, have this natural
tendency to want to associate faces with names. If you are without a
face, you create one in your head. Go figure, it tends to be of someone
you ideally think fits the name. There is no true basis for the image you
develop in your mind. Now it would be a mistake, however, if you let any
of her natural appearance get in the way of making a new friend.
Fortunately, this doesnt always cause problems in the demoscene. I seem
to remember that almost any female artist gets rated higher than the male
artists as it is. So maybe the reverse is happening. But prejudice does
happen in the demoscene, and it shouldnt.
So what can you really learn from all this? Well, start by asking that
person some questions. You might find that person is very talented voxel
coder, and you want to learn some tricks. Or, maybe that person is very
good with latin rhythms maybe some irish guy is very good at them, who
says that person is latin?. People affect other people all the time.
But its up to you if you want the result to be a good one or a bad one.
Supposing you shut said person out because you were prejudice, then you
would be the one missing out.
Dont make judgement without the evidence. Its bad for your future.
--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
Hungarian Scene........................http://www.demoscene.hu
Italian Scene...........................http://run.to/lascena
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
United Trackers.................http://www.united-trackers.org
Archives:
Acid2.....................................ftp://acid2.stack.nl
Amber.......................................ftp://amber.bti.pl
Aminet.....................http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/aminet/
Cyberbox.....................................ftp://cyberbox.de
Hornet 1992-1996........................ftp://ftp.hornet.org
MOD Archive..........................http://www.modarchive.com
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
MAZs sound homepage..................http://www.maz-sound.com
Med.......................................http://www.med.fr.fm
Miasmah.............................http://www.miasmah.cjb.net
Milk.......................................http://milk.sgic.fi
Moplayaz..........................http://ssmedion.de/moplayaz
Mono211.................................http://www.mono211.com
Morbid Minds..............http://www.raveordie.com/morbidminds
Moods.............................http://www.moodymusic.de.vu/
* Mstation.....................http://mstation.org/software.html
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/ruffengine
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
Triads C64 music archive.............http://www.triad.c64.org
UltraBeat.........................http://www.innerverse.com/ub
Vibrants................................http://www.vibrants.dk
Zen of Tracking.........................http://surf.to/the-imm
Programming:
3D engines..........http://cg.cs.tu-berlin.de/ki/engines.html
3D programming portal.................http://www.3dgamedev.com
Documents...............http://www.neutralzone.org/home/faqsys
File format collection...................http://www.wotsit.org
Game programming portal...............http://www.gamasutra.com
LCC free C compiler.........http://www.remcomp.com/lcc-win32
NASM free Assembly compiler......http://www.cryogen.com/nasm
Programming portal......................http://www.gamedev.net
Programming portal.....................http://www.flipcode.com
Programming portal......................http://www.exaflop.org
Programming portal............http://www.programmersheaven.com
Programming portal.....................http://www.freecode.com
PTC video engine.........................http://www.gaffer.org
Magazines:
Amber...............................http://amber.bti.pl/dimag
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
Buenzli Switzerland......................http://www.buenz.li
Dreamhack Sweden....................http://www.dreamhack.org
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
Csound-tekno e-mail list......................................
............http://plot.bek.no/mailman/listinfo/csoundtekno
Demonews Express.........http://www.teeselink.demon.nl/express
Demo fanclub........................http://jerware.org/fanclub
Digital Undergrounds.....................http://dug.iscool.net
* Everything tracking..http://zolaweb.com/Zola/trax/tracking.htm
U Freax.....................................http://www.freax.hu/
GfxZone............................http://gfxzone.planet-d.net
* Mod-Radio...........http://www.back2roots.org/Music/Mod-Radio/
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:
Graphics.........................................ircnet pixel
Graphics French..............................ircnet pixelfr
Music......................................irc.scene.org trax
Music.............................................ircnet trax
Programming.....................................ircnet coders
Programming....................................efnet flipcode
Programming French............................ircnet codefr
Programming German........................ircnet coders.ger
Programming Hungarian......................ircnet coders.hu
Scene.........................................ircnet thescene
Scene French..................................ircnet demofr
Scene Hungarian............................ircnet demoscene
Zx-spectrum scene..................................ircnet z80
-- Staff --
Editors: Ciaran / Ciaran Hamilton / staticline@theblob.org
Ben / Ben Collver / collver1@comcast.net
Staff Writers: Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan@scenespot.org
Dilvie / Eric Hamilton / dilvie@dilvie.com
Novus / Vince Young / vinceyoung@hotmail.com
Psitron / Tim Soderstrom / tigerhawk@stic.net
Setec / Jesper Pederson / jesped@post.tele.dk
Seven / Stefaan VanNieuwenhuyze/ seven7@pandora.be
Tryhuk / Tryhuk Vojtech / vojtech.tryhuk@worldonline.cz
Vill / Brian Frank / darkvill@yahoo.com
The Watcher / Paul-Jan Pauptit / sprout@zonnet.nl
The current issue of Static Line can always be found on the Web at:
http://staticline.scenespot.org/issues/currentissue
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See you next month!
-eof---------------------
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