_//\\________________________________________________________________________ _\\__T_A_T_I_C___L_I_N_E__________________________________________ May, 2000 __\\_________________________________________________________________________ \\//__ Monthly Scene E-Zine ________________________________ 126 Subscribers _____________________________________________________________________________ --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Table Of Contents ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Opening: Message From the Editor Letters From Our Readers Features: Mekka & Symposium 2000 Results Columns: Music: In Tune -- Wayfinder's "Hymn" Inside the Virtual Studio -- Buzz Tracker The Listener -- Music From Carlos, Necros and more Retro Tunage -- "Nightvision" by Sandman Demo: Screen Lit Vertigo -- "Sleepless" by Smash Designs Intro Watch -- Tac2 by Tazadum (Final Version) Intro Watch -- Mekka 2000 Intro Reviews General: Scene Dirt -- News & Rumors Call to Keyboards -- Demoparties Required Link List -- Get Somewhere in the Scene Closing: Credits --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Message From the Editor ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Wow, what a busy month! I can't speak for everyone, but finals are almost over. I took a break to throw this together for you all -- not that anyone can just THROW this together anymore. It's getting big, is it not? Nothing wrong with that. Anyhow, this month's issue is a few days early because of finals. Good job spreading the word folks! We have 14 new readers, bringing us to a total of 126 readers. Keep spreading the word, and sharing our issues. This month, we got a lot in here. For one, Mekka just ended not too long ago, and we have a whole bunch of tidbits about that competition. We have an abridged form of the results, and a few demo reviews and song reviews related to it as well. Dilvish is back! You didn't really think he'd stay away that long, did you? Well, it's not his Zen column, but he's providing us with tidbits of information about the "Virtual Studio," this month, he covers Buzz Tracker. We are growing quite nicely...but I wouldn't mind haveing a few more non-review columns in here. Maybe a few interviewers, or something else? If you're interested in joining staff, contact me. --Coplan --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Letters From Our Readers ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- -=- Letter from Eggbird -=- Static line rules. but with this boost in size now that dj kinda cooled down a bit, why not change to bi-weekly instead of monthly? --Eggbird egbert@teeselink.demon.nl -=> Reply from Coplan: It's funny that you should mention that. With Static Line growing in size, that is definitely an option. Static Line started as a Monthly Magazine so we could maintain both Quality and Content. But, if Content has increased to this level, it is very possible that we may switch to a bi-weekly magazine. What does everyone else think? --Coplan --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Mekka & Symposium 2000 Results Abridged Version Prepared By: Coplan ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- The following results account for only the top three placements in each category of Mekka 2000. For the general public, the complete listings are not necessarily that meaningful. If you would like to view the complete results, they can be found at the following web address: http://ms.demo.org/2000/final-re.txt Wild 1 Bitte 8 Bit Hitmen 2 Metro Tomac / Suburban 3 Hau Strange Haujobb SID Music 1 Chaos 2000 DJB & GRG 2 Freak-Show Alien/WoW/Surprise Productions 3 Logical Control/dIGITAL Progressive Music 1 Morning Light wayfinder 2 The Joss Tune phred 3 Morning Star - remix Netpoet / Park PlayStation Demo 1 Strange Worlds Haujobb 2 Monophobia Witchcraft 3 Mups - The Demo Silvia, Soraya & Jan of Mups Pixel Gfx 1 Jesus 2000 Acryl/Scoopex,Haujobb 2 Evil in me Raven/Nuance 3 Deep Throat Bifrost of Loonies PC Demo 1 Sleepless Smash Designs 2 Mikro Strange Haujobb 3 Nature Suxx Federation Against Nature PC 64K Intro 1 Heaven Seven Exceed 2 Matrix Addict 3 Some bookprint and a broken heart Replay PC 4K Intro 1 Toasty Freestyle 2 Meuk Ritz/Revolution 3 SuperQuadric KILLER/NEXTEMPIRE MP3 Music 1 Brother In The Sky Chromag / Haujobb 2 Sommerparty Virgill 3 Record Royale wayfinder Fast Intro 1 Jobbsuche Pap & Skyrunner 2 Da Krisch Plack Thorax 3 Haujobb=Jaujop Fuzzion C64 Graphis 1 Oppa Roxx Rayden/Breeze/Cyberpunx 2 Rider JailBird/Tempest/Padua 3 cyclone de l'interieur Cyclone C64 Demo 1 Deus Ex Machina Crest 2 +H2K Plush 3 T4 SDS C64 4K Intro 1 +H4K Krill, Caprice, Fanta 2 Matrix The Movie - Intro Cover Allitaice/SCS-TRC & Top Secret/WOW/Cult 3 My Vision TUM Amiga Demo 1 Cybercinematastic Loonies 2 Back to the roots Haujobb 3 First Awakening Creative Minds Amiga 64K Intro 1 Gift [Gush2] Potion 2 Strange Distortion Craid-Hellfire-SolarC-Roz 3 Omnicrom Loaderror / Ephidrena Amiga 4K Intro 1 Bier Loaderror/Ephidrena 2 Wave 2000 % Azure & Platon 3 Art Of 4k Shape/DCS+Kure/RNO Alternative Music 1 I've A Jazzy Feeling BZZ (!FAKE! STOLEN FROM CARLOS/MANDULA) 2 Break Down Baby Chromag of Haujobb 3 Nine Millimeter Virgill Alternative Gfx 1 Sakraler Monumentalbau Shadow / Digital Overflow 2 Hope Strange Inferno / Haujobb 3 Synthetic Heaven JCS / Haujobb 32K Game 1 t32 Myth 2 Pong 32K Freestyle 3 Duzzle Dobble Mr. Van / Secretly --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- In Tune Wayfinder's "Hymn" By: Coplan and Setec ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- -=- Introduction -=- Well, it's been a while, but I promised myself I would review Wayfinder's [somewhat] latest tune from Azure: "Hymn". I was on #trax one night, and I heard someone mention that a new group, Azure, was out there, so I went to check it out. Low and behold, the first tune from the group was written by co-founder Wayfinder. I've reviewed tunes from Wayfinder in the past, and so I decided to grab it. Just happens that Setec also grabbed the tune, and we both like it. So, Wayfinder is now one of the few people that has had more than one formal review in Static Line. Hope no-one minds (trust me, you shouldn't). -=- Coplan -=- First let me look at the surface of the tune, before I get into the technical aspects of the entire trance peice. I am not one that is very good at classifying music (just ask Setec how many times I called some of his music Trance when in fact it wasn't). But, with the creation of Azure, I'm starting to at least understand a bit more about trance. What difference is it to me, I know that I like a lot of it, and "Hymn" by Wayfinder is no exception. I must say, this is another one of those songs that I feel I need to move to. Maybe it's the static base drum beat in the background. In many cases, I don't like the "boom-boom-boom-boom-ba-boom" of the base drums in music that I listen to, but I have noticed that in a few songs it works very nicely. This is one of them. I've decided that it has a lot to do with the supporting music. Listen to the base line -- it's easier to hear at the beginning of the song. I think that's the key, the base line seems to add an additional depth to the song. Lets add more layers shall we? What about all those acids in the background, and all those strings on occasion, and the rest of the percussion? This song has quite a nice subtle mix of just about everything there, and Wayfinder has given a lot of attention to each. Don't let the base drum fool you, the percussion is actually quite well done. It is simple things such as cutting the base drum out on occasion, and having ride cymbols pop in when we're at a peak moment in the song. But, the boy knows how to take breaks when needed. We can't have every moment in the song traveling with full-frontal-motion. We gotta get some variety in there. Now, all that isn't enough for me to love the dynamics of a song. Mind you, for me, I can have a lot of respect for the dymanics of a song, but I don't necessarily like the song. The same hold true the other way, I may like a song, but that doesn't mean it's technically amazing. This song obviously demonstrates a bit more than tracking. After talking with Wayfinder one night on #trax, I discovered that he sequenced all the acids and the leads apart from the tracker. It's a good thing I talked to him, because I might just assume that he ripped his samples from some existing song -- recording and clipping as necessary. But that's not the case. And when I go back and listen to all his lead samples, and his acid samples, there's no way he could've done the method I had initially thought. There was a great deal of time put into the sequencing of those little blocks of audio bits. After talking to Dilvish and Setec a lot these days, I must say, this is starting to become a not so uncommon method of creating tunes. I am starting to sway that direction myself, simply because the quality is incredible compared to what I can do with a tracker alone. As I finish up, let me remind you that you should probably follow up on some of the groups that you're buddies are affiliated with. Azure has a few new songs up there, including one from Tawan (a guest writer) titled "Fantasy." It is definately worth checking out. --Coplan -=- Setec -=- Wayfinder recently announced the founding of a new music group - Azure - entirely centered on making trance music. This piece, "Hymn", is the first release for the group and has been crafted by Wayfinder himself. I will try to make this review as based on techique as I can, since I really do not enjoy the style particularly. And techincally this is a marvelous piece. The sample quality and overall mixing is splendid and could well be a professionally mastered single of sorts. It starts off with your off-the-shelf standard four on four trance beat, only in this tune it actually sounds quite good. And naturally all of it is blended with a single bass on the upbeats. No news here. :) But then comes a really tasty distorted 303-like sound that lays neatly somewhere in the back of the mix. This transcends into a nice nifty chord progression that moves along quietly for a while until the wellknown machine gun snare hits and a no-drum section enters, with a quite nice progression and later on a REALLY great synth lead section with loads of good filtering. This of course brings back the percussion and bass and moves along with the 'chorus' of the track, being that previously mentioned chord progression and synth lead. Then all of the sudden it breaks into a drums only part that slowly brings back that distorted 303 riff and later on the chords once more. I kinda felt like the whole thing basically just repeated at this point. I would've really liked to have seen some more flavour added to this second time around. Like a layered beat on top, more sounds, whatever. Something to distinguish the second time from the first. The track goes into the main chorus part again, with no further change in anything but the time it is played in. This continues for a while and then breaks into only drums and bass once more, slowly fading out and then climbing into a final cymbal hit. This is a really hard piece for me to comment on, because I can truly enjoy the techique and admire the overall sound of the piece. On the other hand, it is just plain too dull for my liking. The chord progression used is good, the synth lead is awesome, it is not that. It is just that it does not alter at all throughout the piece. I am not sure if this is just what trance is all about and whether I am just being an arse. I just don't enjoy it after a few listens. More spice, Wayfinder. Add a b-part to keep the attention of the listener for more than one go at the main part. As it is now it is like a two minute track repeated two times. Well-crafted, extraordinarily mixed, but a tad too dull ... It is still worth a download though. Especially if you usually dig trance ...I am actually looking forward to the next release by Azure. --Setec Song Information: Title: Hymn Author: Wayfinder Filename (zipped/unzipped): az-01.zip / az-01.it (IT 2.14) File Size (zipped/unzipped): 3.4 MB / 3.8 MB Source: http://azure.zerion.com Alternate: http://ic.l7.net/statline/current.html "In Tune" is a regular column dedicated to the review of original and singular works by fellow trackers. It is to be used as a tool to expand your listening and writing horizons, but should not be used as a general rating system. Coplan's and Setec's opinions are not the opinions of the Static Line Staff. If you have heard a song you would like to recommend (either your own, or another person's), We can be contacted through e-mail useing the addresses found in the closing notes. Please do not send files attached to e-mail without first contacting us. Thank you! --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Inside the Virtual Studio Buzz Tracker By: Dilvish ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Things are looking good these days for the digital music makers. There are several advanced trackers in the works, a selection of virtual recording studios, plug-ins galore, real-time software synthesizers, very high quality i/o hardware, and even a new operating system that looks ideal for music production. In my next few articles, I'll take a look at some of the new software that might be of interest to digital music makers, and share my impressions with you. From there, I'll give my predictions on the directions of digital music production, and share tips, techniques, and the secrets of the pros, ranging from advice about the latest gear, to ideas that might help you make your digital arrangements sound more realistic, and expressive. I hope you enjoy it. Since a lot of readers are familiar and comfortable with the tracker style interface, I'll start off with a look at some of the new trackers. In this issue, I'll take a look at the modern pioneer of tracking, Oskari Tammelin's Buzz Tracker digital composer. Tracking technology has changed a bit over the last few years. We've gone from 4 channel forced hard panning with 8 bit samples to 64+ channels of 16 bit samples with panning envelopes and NNA's. So what could be next? If you haven't seen Buzz, you're missing an important step in the evolution of the tracker, and what looks like a merger between the familiar realm of tracking, and the new world of the virtual recording studio. Buzz combines familiar pattern based editing with virtual instruments and effects. Machines that you can plug together with cables, just like in a real studio environment. Many people are developing machines for Buzz, and the best part is, both Buzz, and the majority of it's machines are freely available for download. Unfortunately, in my opinion the interface suffers from a lack of experience, and is counter-intuitive for many users. I personally found that while I enjoy having a tracker interface to work with, the shortcomings, especially the limited transport controls, detract from my creativity. It would be really nice if there was better support for MIDI connectivity, and an intelligent audio/midi routing system. Also missing is a graphical channel mixer. It would be nice to use those nice Buzz effects as channel inserts, or auxiliary devices. It could save us a bit of CPU power, and give us better control over the final sound at the same time. While Buzz makes no claim at being a virtual recording studio (it calls itself a digital composer), it is already well on it's way, and it would sure be nice if users had the option of recording, mixing, and sequencing an entire composition using nothing but Buzz itself. Of course, many users have jumped these hurtles without a hitch, and swear by Buzz as the *only* tracker worth using. So what's my opinion? If you haven't seen it, GET IT. It's free, innovative, and so far, the very deffinition of the new tracker generation. That all sounds great, so are the real down sides? As a tracker, the interface falls a bit short of what most of us are accustomed to. I miss the alt+arrow key combinations for jumping from one track to the next, transport controls and key combinations for playing *only* the current pattern (though you can solo the current machine with CTRL-L, I prefer the looping pattern playback that other trackers provide), play from current position, skip forward/skip back, etc... Another thing I'd like to do is edit multiple patterns side-by-side. A bass generator track next to my drum kit, for example. The pattern sequencer has similar flaws in the transport controls, as well as being a fairly big pain to work with - few users will understand what to do here without first consulting the documentation. Before you can do anything in the sequencer, you have to hit CTRL-Enter and select a machine. There is no visible documentation on the screen indicating that you need to do this, so first time users (if they're like me and avoid documentation until they've played with something for a while and can't figure it out) will be at a total loss here. Once you do bring up the instrument selection, you'll see a list of the machines that you've created patterns for. While you can use your mouse to highlight a machine, double clicking does not select it. You have to press Enter here. That done, a list of available patterns appears on the right side of the screen. You can give each pattern a descriptive name, which is nice, but as far as I can tell, the only way to audition the pattern is to put it in your sequence list, and press play. While you can use your mouse to set the song position, and press play, as far is I can tell, there's no keyboard command to play from the current position. Fortunately, there are some neat features that almost make up for the drawbacks here. For example, you can select a pattern, and set start and end points to loop the pattern. If you use variable pattern sizes, it wouldn't be hard to create some interesting cyclic effects using this feature. Duplicating that effect would be considerably more difficult in trackers like IT and FT2, requiring considerable work if you want to do something as simple as to offset your bassline cycle a little bit.. you would have to manually edit every pattern involved. If you could set BPM and TPB for each individual pattern, you'd really have a lot of freedom to experiment! You can, however, change BPM during the course of the song, by editing Master patterns. These patterns control mix & pan values for your various instruments and effect returns, much like a real mixer - however, they don't give you any aditional EQ or dynamics control, and, of course, it's the tracker interface - no way to set level sliders or knobs or record mixer automation -- yet... creating smooth fades and changes will take a lot of work and dedication for now. Thankfully, there is a feature that allows you to interpolate between selected values. What this means is that you can select a volume row, set the start value, and the end value, hit CTRL-I, and have all the values in between filled in for you. The only problem with that is that it is strictly linear. It would be nice if we could adjust a curve shape, or even set a follow path graphically. However, I have a feeling that this feature is just a hint of the potential power Buzz has to offer. The Wavetable editor is not immune to interface problems... sample browsing could be simplified greatly if it was easier to set keyboard focus where you want it to be. I know I personally prefer to keep my hands on the keyboard at all times, if I can help it, using the mouse for things that the mouse is good at, like editing envelopes, or tweaking volumes or cut-off filters in a realtime preview mode. The Wavetable loader has trouble with many common sample formats, including many forms of .WAV files, so I hope you have a sample converter handy. It seems to handle most of my .XI files without too much trouble, but it is obvious here that Buzz tracker is still a young program with a long way to go. My favorite feature of the Wavetable is the ADSR editor. This by itself is almost enough to make up for the shortcomings. Along with allowing you to draw your own envelopes, the ADSR editor allows you to select betwen linear and logarithmic control over each parameter, as well as set the resolution (the number of points between one parameter and the next). Now if only we could assign those nice envelopes to effect parameters from the machine list... What really sets Buzz tracker apart from the rest of the crowd is the machine setup screen. Here, you can choose from a variety of software synths and effects processors, among which the sample tracker is only one. There are many machine developers with their own homes on the web, offering buzz machines free to download... some of them better than others, but most of them worth at least checking out. As a matter of fact, Buzz has enough software synths available that you can create whole songs without ever using a single sample. Many people do just that, and it sounds really good. The flexibility in machine routing is really nice, allowing you to create all kinds of wild effects - Buzz makes a terrific techno composer just for this reason. In short, Buzz tracker gets my compliments for it's many innovations, flexibility, and power, but it never fails to leave me feeling like there is much missing. I'm sure that as it continues to evolve, that feeling will begin to fade, but for now, it's frustrating enough to send me back to Impulse tracker for most of my tracking work. On the other hand, Buzz is a very powerful program that allows to you create soundscapes you can only dream about in other trackers. If you haven't tried it out, I urge you to at least download it - play with it for a few days.. compose a few songs in it. Kick the tires. Many people do this, and never look back. Maybe you'll be one of them. Buzz 1.2 is slated to be released shortly, and it looks like it will add a host of new features, so chances are, a few of my current complaints will no longer be issues in a short while. Slated features include, among other things, presets, templates, better help files, and new icons. If you have any questions, tips & tricks, or advice on using Buzz, feel free to mail them to me at dilvie@yahoo.com. I'll try to answer any questions, as well as post your tips in upcoming articles. That's it for now. You can find more info about Buzz at the following URLs: http://www.buzz2.com/ http://www.buzztrack.com/ --Dilvish --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- The Listener Music from Carlos, Necros and more By: Tryhuk ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- -=- "Giants steps" musicdisk -=- -=- -- Carlos -=- Music by Carlos is like a water. You would expect that it will flow down only, but as you get to rapids it jumps up and down and it is so living that you have to do your best to hold on and not to drown. His new musicdisk again features what came out during the time since the "first beep musicdisk" and it is again a lot jazzy. As I said, Hungarians have sometimes very wild music and weird mood changes, and for some people it is so incomprehensible, that they just can't get over it. If you don't mind this wild style of changes, you may find out that this musicdisk contains some very good tracks like "Autumn", which is is a sequel to "Streets of Budapest" and appears on the disk as the intro song. "Autumn" naturally follows the original song, keeps the same theme, main difference between the tracks is, that "Autumn" is much calmer, it follows the same melody with almost same instruments, but in completely different way which makes it interesting even for people who know the original (it also appears on the disk). That's a sign of good musician. As the tracks go, style of the music changes many times, sometimes it's pure club jazz, sometimes it moves to funk and other styles and you won't probably like all the tracks. But it sounds so real and living that you can turn it on and imagine that you're sitting in some caffe restaurant where Donau is beneath you. If you like jazz and missed some of the tracks by Carlos, I recommend it to you. Song Information: Title: Giant Steps Author: Carlos / Jecoute Release date: march 2000 Length: 47m44s Filename (zipped/unzipped): giant.zip / many files File Size (zipped/unzipped): 8.5 mb / 17.5 kb Source: http://jecoute.cjb.net -=- "Ubik" -=- -=- -- alpha conspiracy -=- It's not usual to write about track from one artist in two consecutive issues of any diskmag, but I just couldn't help myself, because this track is so good. Necros says that this track is an attempt to produce a track that would mix sound of garage groups and electronica. Once it starts, it sounds like a normal melodic, half ambient, repetitive electronic track with a bit guitarish sound. But then comes the percussion with room reverb and gives the track whole new, heavier sound, which is brighted by the background fsol-like sounds. Drumline is quite simple and played mostly on lowfreq percs which help to keep that heavy sound in combination with other light sounding instruments. Through the whole track goes one theme with small pauses only. This also helps to keep up that garage group feeling and gives more space for mixing skills of andy. When I've listened to it for the third time, it also reminded me on Zodiac, who's tracks also have that mix of garage group sound and scene alternative trax. Still, among those two attempts is a big difference that can't be easily described and has to be heard. Song Information: Title: Ubik Author: Alpha conspiracy Release date: april 2000 Length: 4m13s Filename: ubik.mp3 File Size: 4 mb Source: http://www.alphaconspiracy.com -=- Other interesting tracks: -=- First "Park" release is a "melancholic EP" which features 4 tracks by amove&velvet, falcon and netpoet. It is a slow and melancholic music for lazy afternoon. It has a bit triphop sound, mostly be the alternative background sounds. Soft and nice. park.planet-d.net | park_allstars_-_melancholik_ep.zip | 3mb | april 2000 Also be sure to grab hq version of falcon's tracks "french connection", an excellent mix of triphop, orchestral music and jazz. It has been released through "Aural Planet". www.auralplanet.com | Aural Planet - French Connection | 7.235mb | 2000 "Live is fatal" by Wayfinder is one of the current four releases (4/4/00) of a new group "Azure" which concentrates on making good trance music. I have to say that Wayfinder is one of the few trance-making musicians whom i respect and his latest azure releases only prove that he is the best. If you're interested on tracking technique, check out "hymn" (1st release) pattern 36 which contains a part of the original lead sequence that has been saved into wav and then loaded again. azure.zerion.com | Az-02.mp3 | 5887 kb | 5m00s "virtuel kaleidoskope" is level-d's excellent multipurpose disk which features 17 tracks (however some of them were released before), 19 drawings and some poems by ps. I would define style of this musicdisk as sweet melancholic. Unfortunatelly some of the tracks/pictures are too sweet even for me. Anyway there are also some really good pieces, so best way is to grab tracks/pictures by your favourite musician/graphician. vk.planet-d.net | 22.305 mb all files packed | april 2000 --Tryhuk --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Retro Tunage "Nightvision" by Sandman By: Tryhuk ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- I wanted to write a retro about a track by a person who wasn't member of FM or FC and Coplan came with idea of this song by Sandman. Alexander Brandon aka Siren aka Sandman didn't appear in fm, but we can say that he was a student of necros and he is also member of Straylight, a commercial group which made music for games like Crusader or Unreal. Other members of this group were necros, basehead (still active) and leviathan if i remember it correctly. From this company comes also his imho biggest success - game Unreal, where he cooperated with Michiel Van Den Bos. Unreal was that large project, that some of the scene releases had to appear in it and this song belongs among the few elite. Originaly it was released in 1996 as KFMF track and soon a package with demostyle videoclip followed. It opens with rhythmicaly very strong part with very bold percussion. As the song goes, alex adds background sounds and lets them slowly take over the song. Final state is almost ambient and this part also contains the strongest theme of the lead. Both parts alternate in the song and that is a strong technique - you get the rhythm, then you slowdown and listen to a good melody and than you get again the tempo and run again. It sounds that you won't have too much rest, but siren gives simpler drumline into the beginning of each part and that produces effect of half tempo, so you have enough time to adapt your hearbeat and song sounds more smooth. (That reminds me on recent song by moloko, where she cuts from loud part and in the next silent sequence she fades in bassdrum which hits perfectly like the heartbeat and then song continues - very impressive technique). You may easily find out that alex is very good musician with sense for mood changes, extremely good leads and very good work with tempo. He also belongs among those musicians who release only a small part of their work and so you get to high quality tunes only and you can be sure that you don't get any crap. If you like this song, get also his other releases (mostly kfmf) and be sure to get his oracle musicdisk (juni production - coop with Sirus). It can be found at scene.org in musicdisk section, I think. Song Information: Title: Nightvision Author: Sandman (Siren) / KFMF Release date: dec 1996 Length: 3m41s Filename (zipped/unzipped): ktv_1296.zip / k_vision.s3m File Size (zipped/unzipped): 505 kb / 575 kb Source: www.kosmic.org -> 1996 releases --Tryhuk --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Screen Lit Vertigo 'Sleepless' by Smash Designs (party-version) By: Seven ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Found at ftp.scene.org/pub/incoming/ms2000/demos 1st place at Mekka & Symposium 2000 System requirements: 8.2 MB HD, no mentions about CPU-power or RAM (guess: Pentium MMX & 64MB) Indoor Demo & Music System used, so most sound & vidcards supported. Test Machine: PII 350 64MB SB16, Win98 in dos-mode (BOOTGUI = 0) The demo: Aha! Just as I'm trying to buy a 3D-card ("You need a 3D-card that still supports AGP 1.0 ? I'm not sure ... "), Smash Designs brings us a demo with the message "Software-rendering still rocks!" And I can only agree :). Last year Smash Designs won MS2000 with Event Horizon, and now they do it again with Sleepless, a demo based on the same (improved) engines. So this is again a heavy 3D DOS-demo, viewable in every possible resolution and color depth, including the weird ASCII & C64 modes. Warning: Sleepless is about 50% story, and the review contains spoilers. So you may want to watch it first and read the review later. The opening sequence looks like that of a cheap horror-movie: we move through a forest of bare trees, at night under the full moon, with the outline and the windows of an old mansion visible in the distance. The credits are shown while some typical slow, dark movie-music plays, with violins and cymbals going crescendo. It feels a bit cliche, but it gets you in the mood. Next we see a room inside the mansion, filled with antique furniture and a fireplace, and a man in a black suit, reading an ancient book. With a sudden crash, one of the windows is blown open, even though it is a push-up window. The man closes it, but then more strange things start to happen: the pendulum starts to turn backwards, the books of the library fly away from the shelves, and at the end the man is floating around too. Here the story-based 3D sequence is abandoned for more normal demo-effects: bump-mapped tunnels with a morphing blob, a phong-shaded hand under an invisible spotlight, casting animal-like shadows on the wall, and a tree with visible rays of light, again casting a shadow. Also the music changes from a "movie-soundtrack + sound-FX" to a happier demo-tune. For the non-coders: Shadows are much harder to calculate than illumination like phong or gouraud shading. That is because not only do you have to check every poly against every lightsource (N*M operations), but you also have to check if there is another poly between them (N*N*M operation). But you can "fake" shadows by not letting objects cast shadows on themselves, only on a background. That way you can draw the objects as usual, and you need to calculate the shadows only when drawing the background. These "half-shadows" are the ones used here. The screen stays black for some seconds while the next part is loaded. It's a new 3D-sequence, of a girl in a modern apartment, waking up and opening the curtains. There are some nice faked light-effects, like the LEDS of the alarm clock and the sun shining through the curtains. The girl is dressed in underwear only, what else did you expect in a demo? When she looks in a large mirror, she notices that the sheets on the bed in the mirror float in the air, while those in the real world are still lying on the bed. So the mirror-world differs from the real world, and she walks through the mirror, into outer space between the start, the sun and the earth. Quite psychedelic, he? We zoom in on the Earth, which is rather ugly textured. There's a cross-fade into a voxel-scape of islands with changing level-of-detail: the voxels closer to the camera are more detailed then those at the horizon. The bad side is that the edge between maximum and lesser detail is quite visible. Also an ugly peak is visible at the corner where the height-map wraps around. After another cross-fade the girl is sitting in a rowing boat on the sea. The movements of the boat and the waves are fairly realistic. After some more loading (black screen! boo!) the last part comes up: the interior of a 3D temple, where the man & the girl meet each other. The contrast made me laugh: the man with red tie, white shirt and sharp black suit, the girl in her 2-piece underwear. Very demo-style, yes :). They are holding hands while several colored particle-streams rotate around them, a la Tribes. Then we zoom out of a TV-set showing these images, into the apartment of the girl that's watching the TV. Again this gives me a deja-vu (Moai/Nomad, f.e.) Overall: Sleepless is a story-based 3D-demo, so some people will find it boring after watching it once. That's a matter of taste. But nobody can deny that this demo is very good technically. The 3D engine is very advanced and pretty fast. It runs still smooth in 512*384, only in 640*400 some parts start to slow down. OK, all the 3D freaks with their GE-force cards are now laughing, but not everyone has a 3D-card (yet :)). About the models: Smash Designs choose to use human characters, which are of course more interesting then static objects or camera rides through empty rooms, but they are also far more difficult to animate realistic. I think they did it above average, although it's clearly no motion-captured quality. The main bad point are the motionless faces, it's hard to feel anything for a character with the emotional expression of a stone. I think that's the next step, animated faces will make demos a good deal more realistic then better skeleton-based animation. The soundtrack is an important factor in the atmosphere of this demo. Especially in the 3D-sequences when there is no music, the sound of footsteps, the wind and the cracks of the fire really push you into the right feeling. Apart from the symphonic intro, the tunes are normal demo music with synths, drums, bells and the like, and a good rhythm/melody mix. The only thing I missed were pictures. There are some small pictures of OK quality, but the two 5-second breaks during the loading of the next part would have been a perfect occasion to show a full-screen image. Overall Sleepless is a very enjoyable demo, well worth the 7.7 MB download. --Seven --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Intro Watch Tac2 by Tazadum (Final Version) By: Gekko ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- 64k intro winner at Trax 2000 (Sweden) Download: ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/parties/2000/trax2000/in64/taz_tac2-refinal2.zip Requirements: - MMX - 64 Mb RAM - Windows 95 or newer - DirectX: 640x480, 24 or 32 bits/pixel mode Credits: Demol - programming Zeal - programming Claw - programming Sombie - graphics Steffo - music The previous release of Tazadum was 'Fiesta Mexicana' (Dreamhack 1999). That is an average one; the code is not bad, but the intro itself is quite ugly, to be honest. After that one this intro was a surprise, at least for me. TAC 2 is a very fine intro. Every little detail is fine-tuned. The music is a good chiptune-like song. The video is kept together with it very neatly. One specific style follows through the whole intro: high resolution with a movie type wide screen, flat shaded 3d objects, randomly fading horizontal lines and fine colors fitting each other. There is a small poem going on line by line. There are a lot of effects, including rather complex ones, too, like raytracing or 3d morphing. Still, the intro does not look just simply like a sequence of effects - the music and the design connects them very well. TAC 2 does not show revolutionary ideas, but it is very beautiful in every aspect. This is the way an intro should look like in 2000. --Gekko --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Intro Watch Mekka 2000 Intro Reviews By: Gekko ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Mekka 2000 party (Germany) was held in 21-24th April 2000 - in two weeks' time. Here is a quick review on the intro releases. These are based on my very first impressions; it can happen that I could not get something for the first few times I watched them. The order of the intros reflect my own opinion. I tried to find out the nationalities of the authors, too, although I was unsure in some cases. These intros were made in various places of the world; from this it is obvious that Mekka 2000 was not just a local German party at all. Download: ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/party/2000/MEKKASYMPOSIUM2000/... -=- 64kb intro competition -=- Heaven 7 by Exceed (Hungary) result at Mekka 2000: 1/9 (winner) req: DOS, GUS + Windows version 'Heaven 7' is an amazing intro. The number 7 in the title is an allusion to the famous intro 'Bakkslide 7', which, as they state, gave much inspiration to the authors. Still, 'Heaven Seven' is completely different. A nice tune gives the background, while there is a poem being shown line by line. The whole screen is in a constant movement; the effects and the lines of the poem continually zoom and fade. There are very spectacular effects, most of them are particles or raytracing - with Picard's extreamly fast engine. The two most impressive ones are the opening part, where a human figure made up of particles is running in the light; and a raytracing effect, a kind of morphing fractal made up of spheres. There are several annoying grammar mistakes in the poem, which substract much of the pathos of the production; I hope these will be corrected in the final version. Plainwork by Unik (Germany) result at Mekka 2000: 8/9 req: Windows 95, DirectX This is a very fine intro. The design is similar to Whisker's intros; everything is minimal: flat shaded objects, plain squares, and so on. Neither of the effects are original, but all are beautiful; the colors are in order, too. A-move wrote a fine song which fits in the intro well. Some bookprint and a broken heart by Replay (Sweden) result at Mekka 2000: 3/9 req: Windows 95, DirectX This is another intro by Whisker; very minimal: white background with a few flat shaded 3d objects. Besides these there is a kind of caleidoscope effect. In the centre of the intro there is a poem. This is meaningful - deep, I would say; unlike the previous Replay intros. It is about loss of love and misunderstanding. Boys by Funktion (Sweden) result at Mekka 2000: 4/9 req: Windows 95, DirectX Yet another intro by Whisker, 'Boys' has hardly any connection to its title. It has a minimalist style; there are flat shaded 3d objects, circles, and similar effects. The tune is typical of Chavez, with heavy bass drums. These together make a good intro. Genesis by Magic Dreams (Germany) result at Mekka 2000: 5/9 req: Windows 95, DirectX 7 (3d video card) The code is fine; there is a quite good 3d engine with additional effects like shadows and reflection. There are many 3d scenes, although there is no story or any connection among them. The textures are beautiful; there are no still pictures. The music is not bad, but it is nothing special. Matrix by Agravedict (Poland) result at Mekka 2000: 2/9 req: DOS only, SB This intro is about some silly thoughts on the film 'Matrix'. The music is a 'demotune'; not bad, but it is very repetitive and gets boring after a time. There is a raytracer, a rather complex 3d engine and transparent light spots. The code is quite good, but the design is not. The colors are weird. The green color of the letters does not fit anything else in the intro. Falco - The Space Runner by Cryogen (Poland) result at Mekka 2000: 9/9 req: DOS, GUS + Windows version I felt (although I may be wrong) that it is a typical 'wanna-be-Jizz' intro. The effects, the music and the design indicate this. The music is a 'psychadelic trance chiptune' - probably the case is that the coders had no software synthetiser but the musician was expected to make a 'Jizz'-like song in a few kilobytes. The intro is very colorful (too colorful, in fact); this is due to the generated textures. There are several bitmap effects and environment-mapped 3d objects. The intro has a kind of theme, as the name suggests, but it is not really clear for me. There is a flying spaceship and a still picture of a robot; I could not make up anything sensible from these. All in all, this intro is not really coherent and lacks style; but the code is rather good. It is not a bad intro. Butterbestellen by Tum and Colorfast (Germany) result at Mekka 2000: 6/9 req: Windows 95, DirectX, OpenGL (3d video card) It is a 3d effect intro, without any story or theme. The graphics and the music are mediocre. The design is weak, the colors are strange and do not fit each other. It kept flickering - but it can happen that it is just my machine's fault. Still there are a few good or above-average effects, for example a morphing cylinder. I think that the authors are new to the scene; if this is the case then this intro was a good start. Destination: nowhere by INTerror (Poland) result at Mekka 2000: 7/9 req: 32 MB RAM, DOS only, GUS or SB It is a typical intro. In my opinion the musician attempts to copy Jizz. The design is terrible. The colors are almost random. There is one still picture of a man holding a bottle - it is ugly and does not fit into the intro. The code is rather good. There are mountains and rivers in the 3d scenes; although they look very artificial. There are the usual effects like transparent light spots. In the last effect the screen is tiled up and all the previous effects are shown in the little tiles. It is not bad, but it reminds me to Boost 2 by Doomsday. --Gekko --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Scene Dirt News & Rumors By: Coplan ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- As per recomendation of Psychic Symphony/Demojournal, I am going to include tidbits from his news breifs in this section in addition to other sorts of news that I dig up. So, to many of you who read both mags, some of this might not be news. =) -=- First issue of Planet Chartsmag -=- First issue of Planet Chartsmag is out. Find it at ftp://amber.bti.pl/incoming/ also soon on scene.org or direct from http://www.agravedict.art.pl/planet/ -=- Arf!Studios News Server -=- Arf!studios has created a news server to cut back on the spam happening with the big associates discussions on the mailing list: http://news.arfstudios.org http://www.arfstudios.org -=- Song Rip at Mekka 2000 -=- A person, so-called BZZ (e-mail address zbatky@apcc.com) stole a song by the famous Hungarian scener jazz musician Carlos/Mandula. This song was the soundtrack of the Rage 1998 winner demo Dis. This person entered the tune under his own name to the alternative music competition of Mekka 2000 (jazzy.zip). The organizers did not realize this cheating. To make things even more complicated, Carlos also entered his new song there, 'Autumn in Budapest' (autumn.zip; read review by Tryhuk in this issue). This song ranked 10th while the other won! -=- Hornet Is Back -=- Last month, Hornet Archive appeared to have lost its Domain. But, have no fear, for those of you still useing their wonderful search engine to search through oldskool works, the Hornet Archive is back online under it's old Domain. (Thank God this section is News _and_ Rumors) --Coplan Scene Dirt is a semi-regular column offering the latest tidbits of information to its readers. If you have any bits of information that you think should be here, contact coplan (coplan.ic@rcn.com) and offer as much information as possible. --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Call to Keyboards Wrapup: The Fall of Another Great SceneMag New Topic: Demoparties Required By: Coplan ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- -=- Wrap Up: The Fall of Another Great SceneMag -=- Eino Keskitalo's Reply: > Someone asked me the other day "when was the last time I released a > tune." So I jumped on my FTP server and checked: October 1999. In > fact, I only released four songs in 1999. That is way below average, > i'm sure. So, then the person in-turn asked why I don't make any > effort to promote the scene. So, I explained that I publish Static > Line, and he responded: "Since when was a magazine contribution?" If you put it that way, the only sensible answer is: A monthly newsletter of quality is sooo much more a contribution than an average unheard tune lost in the depths of Trax in space or Mod Archive. ASCII textfile is the least discriminating scene product in regards of for example, processing power or equipment. --Eino Keskitalo eino.keskitalo@purkki.mbnet.fi Seven's Reply: Hi, Seven's keyboard again: As a writer for Static line and the former version of DemoJournal, I can assure you that a diskmag DEFINITELY is a contribution to the demoscene . The point I wanted to make: diskmags are not just a mean of communication, they are also archives of the demo-scene history. My first contact with the scene was via the "PC underground" book, which came with a CD with demos and one issue of Imphobia. The demos blew me away, but reading Imphobia 7 really showed me the community of sceners behind the demos. When I got the Hornet CD, I read all 122 issues of DemoNews on it, and that way I learned the major trends and events that happened years before. For example, everyone knows that Future Crew made the fantastic Second Reality demo, that won Assembly 93. But how many people know that Future Crew, as the PC organizers of Assembly'93, changed the compo-machine to a more powerful CPU, presumably because Second Reality needed it? And that there was aproblem with the SoundBlaster Pro, playing only in mono, except for the last demo (Second Reality) which used a lot of stereo effects? I know that articles are not always 100% true, so you have to be careful about what you believe, but now I understand why some people think so negatively about Future Crew. For a newbie, this kind of knowledge is near to impossible to get just by reading newsgroups or chatting on IRC. The only way is to read old diskmags, something that I encourage everyone to do :) Seven out. --Seven Stefaan.VanNieuwenhuyze@rug.ac.be -=- New Topic: Demoparties Required -=- Don't jump to conclusions, I'm not debating about the existance of Demoparties. However, I'm debating the reasons for attendance. I guess this time, CTK is a bit of a personal exploration. I have never been to a demoparty. Never! I have also never heard anyone complain about me never attending. I am hoping that one day, I will attend one (*Cough* Coma people, decide on a date, please). But I guess the question is -- what am I (or any other person) missing? Again, i'm not questioning the existance of such. And I'm sure it's a good time. But what I want people to do with this month's CTK is to fill everyone in on why YOU like to go to demoparties. Do you have fun? Were you dissapointed? Do you attend them regularly because you can't get enough? Are they essential to the personal understanding of The Scene? Why or why not? Okay, a short topic, but I'm curious. I'm sure many others are as well. --Coplan --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Link List ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Featured Site: Demonews Express http://www.teeselink.demon.nl/express Writeup By: Coplan This is a pretty cool little site I happened upon the other day. Essentially, the site is nothing but a customizable frame that allows you to define your own links within a pull-down menu. It will then display the selected site in the lower frame. It can be used for almost anything, but since the default settings are for Scene News sites, we'll mention it. =) Featured Site: Goodstuff http://www.artloop.de/goodstuff Writeup By: Tryhuk "Goodstuff" is a site, which seeks out good songs. Sometimes, even every day, you can find there a link and comments on a new tune and because the songs are selected by a-move, andromeda, jazz, kenny beltrey, netpoet, velvet, argus and xenon, you can be sure that you'll find here only a good stuff. Go now. Featured Site: Noerror http://www.error-404.com/noerror/ Writeup By: Tryhuk "Noerror" is a new site with most fresh music news. Must visit for every scene music lover. Featured Site: Fabtrax http://www.cyberverse.com/~boris/fabtrax/home.htm Writeup By: Tryhuk "fabtrax" doesn't care necessarily about most fresh releases, but it contains reviews of all time legends, links and info. Needs a lot of work to be done, but it looks good and if you're new to the scene, it is surely interesting place to visit. Featured Site: Music Massage http://www.scene.cz/massage Writeup By: Tryhuk "Massage" is a "module review show" which features every 2 weeks eight carefully selected non-mp3 tracks. Here's a part of manifesto: "To spread good music. that's my goal. I'm trying to support you, the listeners, with high quality modules. It's simple. I give you the latest productions as well as oldskool mods. But it's top class music, no boring shit. I'm searching through the net. Well known labels as well as new stars." I think that after seeing/hearing 8 issues i can say that adamm has a good taste and I can recommend this magazine to people who are interested also in music labels like CBR, Kyoto republic, Rebound and other. Groups: 3g Design..............................http://3gdesign.cjb.net Aardbei.....................................http://aardbei.com Acid Rain..............................http://surf.to/acidrain Agravedict........................http://www.agravedict.art.pl Anakata..............................http://www.anakata.art.pl ANDESA Soft International..................http://andesa.da.ru Astral..............................http://astral.scene-hu.com Astroidea........................http://astroidea.scene-hu.com AtomiK....................................http://atomik.ini.hu Bomb..................................http://bomb.planet-d.net BlaBla..............................http://blabla.planet-d.net Blasphemy..............................http://www.blasphemy.dk Byterapers.....................http://www.byterapers.scene.org Calodox.................................http://www.calodox.org Chrome..............................http://chrome.scene-hu.com CoPro.....................................http://www.copro.org Damage...................................http://come.to/damage Dance...................................http://dance.flipp.net Defacto 2..............................http://www.defacto2.net Dolops......................... ........http://dolOps.scene.hu Exceed...........................http://www.inf.bme.hu/~exceed Fobia Design...........................http://www.fd.scene.org GODS...................................http://www.idf.net/gods Green.....................................http://green.dyns.cx Grif........................http://arrabonet.gyor.hu/~rattgrif Haujobb......................................http://haujobb.de Hellcore............................http://www.hellcore.art.pl IJSKAST.............................http://www.ijskast.cjb.net Immortals..............................http://imrt.home.ml.org Infuse...................................http://www.infuse.org Just For Fun...........................http://jff.planet-d.net Kilobite...............................http://kilobite.cjb.net Kolor................................http://www.kaoz.org/kolor Kooma.....................................http://www.kooma.com Label zero.........................http://labelzero.pganet.com Mandula.........................http://www.inf.bme.hu/~mandula Monar................ftp://amber.bti.pl/pub/scene/distro/monar Nextempire..................http://members.xoom.com/NEXTEMPIRE Ninja Gefilus.........http://www.angelfire.com/or/ninjagefilus Noice.....................................http://www.noice.org Orion..............................http://orion.arfstudios.org Quad........................................http://www.quad.nl Rage........................................http://www.rage.nu Replay.......................http://www.shine.scene.org/replay Retro A.C...........................http://www.retroac.cjb.net Rhyme................................http://rhyme.scene-hu.com Skytech team............................http://www.skytech.org Sunflower.......................http://sunflower.opengl.org.pl Suspend......................http://www.optimus.wroc.pl/rappid Tehdas...................................http://come.to/tehdas Tesko..........................http://www.scentral.demon.co.uk 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.ca.tc Universe..........................http://universe.planet-d.net Vantage..................................http://www.vantage.ch Music: Aisth.....................................http://www.aisth.com Aural planet........................http://www.auralplanet.com Azure..................................http://azure.zerion.com Blacktron Music Production...........http://www.d-zign.com/bmp Chill..........................http://www.bentdesign.com/chill Chippendales......................http://www.sunpoint.net/~cnd Chiptune...............................http://www.chiptune.com Da Jormas................................http://www.jormas.com <*> Fabtrax......http://www.cyberverse.com/~boris/fabtrax/home.htm Five Musicians.........................http://www.fm.scene.org Fridge...........................http://www.ssmedion.de/fridge Goodstuff..........................http://artloop.de/goodstuff Ignorance.............................http://www.ignorance.org Immortal Coil.............................http://www.ic.L7.net Intense...........................http://intense.ignorance.org Jecoute.................................http://jecoute.cjb.net Kosmic Free Music Foundation.............http://www.kosmic.org Level-d.................................http://www.level-d.com Miasmah.............................http://www.miasmah.cjb.net Milk.......................................http://milk.sgic.fi Mah Music.............................http://come.to/mah.music Maniacs of noise...............http://home.worldonline.nl/~mon MAZ's Sound homepage.............http://www.th-zwickau.de/~maz Mo'playaz..........................http://ssmedion.de/moplayaz Mono211.................................http://www.mono211.com Morbid Minds..............http://www.raveordie.com/morbidminds Noise................................http://www.noisemusic.org <*> Noerror......................http://www.error-404.com/noerror/ One Touch Records......................http://otr.planet-d.net Park..................................http://park.planet-d.net Radical Rhythms.....http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/merrelli/rr RBi Music.............................htpp://www.rbi-music.com Ruff Engine................http://members.xoom.com/ruff_engine SHR8M......................................http://1st.to/shr8m Sound Devotion................http://sugarbomb.x2o.net/soundev Soundstate.........................http://listen.to/soundstate Sunlikamelo-D...........http://www.error-404.com/sunlikamelo-d Suspect Records........................http://www.tande.com/sr Tequila........................http://www.defacto2.net/tequila Tempo................................http://tempomusic.cjb.net Theralite...........................http://theralite.avalon.hr Tokyo Dawn Records........................http://tdr.scene.org UltraBeat.........................http://www.innerverse.com/ub Vibrants................................http://www.vibrants.dk Wiremaniacs.........................http://www.wiremaniacs.com Others: Arf!Studios..........................http://www.arfstudios.org Calodox demolinks exchange.....http://calodox.planet-d.net/cde #coders..................................http://coderz.cjb.net Comic Pirates.........................http://scene-central.com <*> Demonews Express.........http://www.teeselink.demon.nl/express Demo fanclub........................http://jerware.org/fanclub Demoscene.org news forum..............http://www.demoscene.org Digital Undergrounds.....................http://dug.iscool.net Doose charts...............................http://www.doose.dk Dreams2 CD.........................http://nl.scene.org/dreams2 Freax...................http://freax.scene-hu.com/mainmenu.htm GfxZone............................http://gfxzone.planet-d.net Hugi size-compo...............http://home.pages.de/~hugi-compo Orange Juice.........................http://ojuice.citeweb.net PC-demos explained.....http://www.oldskool.org/demos/explained Pixel...................................http://pixel.scene.org Scenet....................................http://www.scenet.de Sunray..............................http://sunray.planet-d.net Swiss List.................http://www.profzone.ch/vantage/list Swiss Scene Server.......................http://www.chscene.ch TakeOver................................http://www.takeover.nl Textmode Demo Archive.................http://tmda.planet-d.net Hungarian scene page...................http://www.scene-hu.com Trebel...................................http://www.trebel.org Zen of Tracking.........................http://surf.to/the-imm DiskMags / SceneMags: Amber...............................http://amber.bti.pl/di_mag Amnesia...............http://amnesia-dist.future.easyspace.com Demojournal....................http://demojournal.planet-d.net Dragon......................http://www.wasp.w3.pl/pages/dragon Fleur................................http://fleur.scene-hu.com Heroin...................................http://www.heroin.net Hugi........................http://home.pages.de/~hugidownload <*> Music Massage......................http://www.scene.cz/massage <*> Planet Chartmag...........http://www.agravedict.art.pl/planet/ Pain..................................http://pain.planet-d.net Scenial...........................http://www.scenial.scene.org Static Line......................http://www.ic.l7.net/statline Total Disaster...................http://www.totaldisaster.w.pl TUHB.......................................http://www.tuhb.org WildMag...........................http://www.wildmag.notrix.de FTPs: Amber.......................................ftp://amber.bti.pl Cyberbox.....................................ftp://cyberbox.de Flerp.....................................ftp://flerp.scene.hu Scene.org..................................ftp://ftp.scene.org Skynet archive.................ftp://acid2.stack.nl/pub/skynet ACiD2 Archive.............................ftp://acid2.stack.nl --=--=-- ----=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------ Editor: Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan.ic@rcn.com Assistant Editor: Gekko / Gergely Kutenich / gk@scene.hu Columnists: Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan.ic@rcn.com Dilvish / Eric Hamilton / dilvie@yahoo.com Gekko / Gergely Kutenich / gk@scene.hu Louis Gorenfeld / gorenfeld@vrone.net Setec / Jesper Pederson / jesped@post.tele.dk Seven / Stefaan / Stefaan.VanNieuwenhuyze@rug.ac.be SiN / Ian Haskin / sin@netcom.ca Subliminal / Matt Friedly / sub@plazma.net Tryhuk / Tryhuk Vojtech / xtryhu00@stud.fee.vutbr.cz Virt / virt@bellsouth.net Technical Consult: Draggy / Nicolas St. Pierre / draggy@kosmic.org Jim / Jim Nicholson / jim@kosmic.org Static Line on the Web: http://www.ic.l7.net/statline ftp://flerp.scene.hu/scene/DiskMag/StaticLine To subscribe to the Static Line mailing list, send an e-mail message to "majordomo@kosmic.org" with "subscribe static_line " in the message text. You will then be asked to confirm your addition to the mailing list. Expect a new issue during the first weekend of each month. To unsubscribe from the mailing list, send an e-mail message to "majordomo@kosmic.org" with "unsubscribe static_line " in the message text. Your subscription will then be removed. If you would like to contribute an article to Static Line, be aware that we will format your article with two spaces at the beginning and one space at the end of each line. Please avoid foul language and high ascii characters. Contributions should be mailed to Coplan (coplan.ic@rcn.com). See you next month! -eof---=------=--=------=--=--