/\ /· \ _____ _____. _____ _____. // \ ______ .___\_ \_ | .___\_ \_ | // .\/ _ \_ | | | |____|_ _| | |____|_ | | | | |____| ______/ \_ | ______/ | | | ¯\____ \| |____| | | |____| | |____| | | | | | | | | | | |____. |· | |· | |· | |· | | |· | | |: | |: | |: | |: | | |: | | || | || | || | ||_ | | || | | | | | | | | | \ | | | | | ¯\_______/¯\_______/|____| | \_____/| |\_______/¯ cRu|________\ | | Issue #44 |· __|__ /\ ____ ____ |: \ / __/· \__\_ \___\_ \_ _. March, 2003 || / \ \__/ / / /___// | 325 Subscribers World Wide | /___/ \ / / __/_ / | | / / / / / / // | ¯\____ /___/___/ /¯\____ //____| \/ /___/ \/ --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Tale Of Contents ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Opening: Message From the Editor Letters From Our Readers Features: A Proposal: The Scene Resource Union From OldSkewl to NewSkewl - Making the Great Tracker Switch Reviews: Music: In Tune -- "Fine" by In Tense The Lineup -- Monthly Music Listings Guest Music Review -- "May" by Melvyl (review by Valzihjken) Demo: Screen Lit Vertigo -- "Planet Loop" and "Darkstar" Opinion / Commentary: Editorial -- Revolution or Refinement Link List: Get Somewhere in the Scene Closing: Staff and Contact Information --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Message From the Editor ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Last month, Novus interviewed Saurin "Myterium" Shah, the former webmaster of Trax In Space. Much to my surprise, it really attracted a lot of attention. Between Novus and myself, we recieved between 15 and 20 messages. Honestly, we rarely recieve more than 5. It's stirred up several debates, and lots of discussion, to say the least. Some, but not all, of your messages have been published this month. They can be found in our Letters section. The interview also brought me to finally collect my thoughts on the matter of the scene resource condition. I have an interesting proposal for all you site webmasters out there. You'll want to read my proposal in this months features. Well, we've got a great issue for you this month. I appreciate all the outside contributions for articles this month. Aside from our normal columns, you'll find an extra music review by Valzihjken and a feature article about modern tracking programs by Psitron. We hope you enjoy this months issue. Until Next month! --Coplan --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Letters From Our Readers ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- -=- A Message from Patrick Groove -=- That was a great interview. It was good to see ethical scene reporting and a search for the truth. I hope that when people read that interview they take away with them a sense of the sacrifice some of our fellow sceners make in bringing services to us everyday. As far as I can see the administrators of popular scene websites have indeed looked to the Trax In Space example in their daily operations. Keep up your spirit and excitement, Vince! --Patrick Groove United Trackers -=- A Message from Mister X -=- Great work on your interview with Saurin! I'm glad he finally came out to speak on the issue, as none of the others involved felt it was our place to. --Mister X -=- A Message from Kosmos (with comments from Novus) -=- Just read your article with Mysterium.. Interesting stuff. Of course no one is going to criticize himself, so ... there are a lot of things he's leaving out... Like the fact that he always wanted to profit from it - went to investors, took up a loan, next thing you know, he had an office where he purchased himself nice computers along with a leather chair. All was written off in taxes as his business expense. His #1 Goal was HIS SUCCESS - he was a business major. We butted heads against that one. Sceners and music was maybe #3, somewhere along the line. And yes, regardless what he says #2 was money. Growth is NOT the reason the site went down. Poor management is. You will say, "Sure, you don't have servers and bandwidth to pay for". And I'll reply "I have purposely thought of that, and have decided against it, because I foresaw the future." People may snicker at that, but UT went up right when Hornet was sinking. And TiS went up after Hornet has sunk. I don't have any beef with Mysterium now, but in the past I really did. Especially when we both had big plans together, but all he ended up doing was stealing my ideas and publishing them on his site. Anyway, I don't want to bad mouth the guy, he took a hard hit. And I'm glad that you finally let the scene know what really happened through his words. --Kosmos United Trackers -=- Reply from Novus -=- Actually, we covered all that. (Except for the leather chair bit, but whatever.) I mentioned in my intro that his goal was profitability, and that kept coming up in the interview as well. He made no attempt to hide that. But a person can have multiple reasons for doing something, some selfish and some altruisitc, often at the same time, and he brought up the altruistic motives as well. > Growth is NOT the reason the site went down. Poor management is. He admitted as such. When I point-blank asked him what went wrong, he said, "It actually mimics the dot-com busts. Too much cash going out, not enough coming in to support the operations." He also admitted to numerous bad decisions that he made. And I'd say letting a site grow too fast is a perfect example of poor management. Never underestimate the power of pre-planning. ;) --Novus --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- A Proposal: The Scene Resource Union By: Coplan ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Last month's interview with Msyterium yielded a lot of debates and discussions about the state of the demoscene. On a personal level, I cannot stand by without saying anything, and my normal editorial column isn't enough. Now, the title of this article might throw some people off. I don't for a minute believe that the demoscene needs a reformation. On the contrary, we've got quite a healthy population of musicians, coders, artists, what-have-you. But it's a bit bottom-heavy, and that's the problem. This isn't a debate (as you may find in my typical editorial column). This is partially a defense for SceneSpot and partially a proposal. First, the defense: When I started SceneSpot, at least in concept, I was still in college. I had a lot of time, a lot of energy and a lot of crazy ideas. I started making friends and tried as hard as I could to get the help I needed. As it turned out, the only help I needed up front was someone to get the ball rolling (thanks Ranger Rick) and someone to provide server space for me (again, thanks Ranger Rick). And while I still have a lot of time and effort going into the project, I still feel as though I'm pretty lucky. But I'm one person. I'm not a group, and sometimes my efforts are looked upon as copy-cat material. While SceneSpot shares some similarities with other sites, it is unique in its presentation and goals. Believe me when I say that the current version of SceneSpot is only a mere shadow of what SceneSpot can and will be one day. So enough about that...what's this proposal? What I propose is not entirely easy to comprehend. Nor is it something that is very easy to pull off. I havn't figured out exactly how everything could be done in the first place, but the scene needs some order in its resource sites. And this is the best solution (albeit an incomplete one) that I can come up with. Too many people try to change the scene. The reality is that the scene evolves. And the resources that belong to it also revolve. And once again, someone's always looking to change them. One of the faults of TiS is the fact that it tried to change the scene. Not good, as you have seen its outcome. But that's not bashing mysterium or his works. His work has paved the way for future scene contributors. You can argue with me on that point, but there's really very little to argue. So how does one deal with an ever-changing set of resources? One lets Darwin take over. Naturally, the demoscene and its resources is about surival of the fittest. But we're not talking creatures here, and the one thing that is overlooked in all this is that there aren't enough top-level contributors as it is. How many millions of people are involved in the demoscene today, and what very small percentage are willing or have the skills to run a website? Well, if Johny Demoscene's site dies, he's going to go with it. I've watched it happen hundreds of times. We don't just loose his site, we loose his talents and skills. THAT cannot happen if we expect to keep everything organized in a way that makes the scene thrive. For those of you familiar with American History, you'll notice that this is very similar to the Labor disputes of the late 1700's and early 1800s. This is why Unions were formed. Why don't we form a Scene Resource Union? Worry not, I'm not saying we have dues or anything like that -- at least not in the traditional sense. We simply make users fully aware of our affiliates and what resources they might offer. As our sites evolve, theirs evolves as well. Site "A" might decide to phase out it's news handling, while Site "B" might decide to focus on news handling. There's no hole, as Site "A" refers users to Site "B" for news. But Site "A" has a wonderful forum, so users get referred to it as well. Overlapping is inevitable, and it would of course be acceptable. Our goal is not to compete with each other, rather benefit from the awareness that the others bring us, and we return the favor by making our users aware of their resources. The first step, of course, would be to see who's interested. If you're at all interested, send me a message (coplan@scenespot.org) and tell me your thoughts. I'll be forming a mailing list if there is enough interest and we'll begin talking about the way this could all work out. I have a lot more mapped out than I have written here. I won't go into too much detail at this point, as it is all just an idea at this point. But I do have many ideas that, even if they aren't materialized, might help to benefit the scene in any way we can offer them. If nothing else, we might pool our resources and develop a centralized index of scene resources (think Yahoo) where the Scene Resource Union members can maintain a catalog of member's sites. Again, if you're interested, send me a message: coplan@scenespot.org --Coplan --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- From OldSkewl to NewSkewl Making the Great Tracker Switch By: Psitron ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Admittedly I have been out of the scene loop for a while. Call it what you will, but I have unfortunately been busy with life to do much else, tracking or otherwise. But I have finally found some time to get back to my tracking needs (I'm not all whole unless I track :) and, in the process, have finally made the plunge from what I will call 'oldskewl' trackers to the new, modern trackers that many composers now use. I thought, as a result, that I might walk through this somewhat daunting conversion for you, showing the differences and features from the old verses new 'skewl' trackers. Of course, quite a few musicians have opted to go to a full-fledge music sequencing program like Cubase or Cakewalk. And while they are wonderful programs, they are rather expensive and undoubtedly require some sort of hardware that can require quite an investment. Do not get me wrong, my personal opinion is that hardware can be rather important when composing music, using a tracker or otherwise. And though the advantages and disadvantages are out of the scope of what I intend on talking about here, suffice to say, as wonderful as hardware is, it is usually costly. As a result, the tracker is still a viable piece of software if one does not yet want to take the plunge into full blown sequencing. And, of course, if you must go to sequencing, but do not want to loose the tracking interface, there are always things like ShakeTracker, zTracker, etc. that allows one to do sequencing from within a tracking interface. Though, from reading the forums on SceneSpot, it seems that they do not compare to the professional sequencing packages - if you can afford it. For whatever reason, for those that feel they still want to use a tracker but are unable to use DOS, it may be time to try one's hand at the newer tracking software that is available today. There are many options, most of which run under Windows. An unfortunate circumstance for the Linux die-hards: looks like you're going to have to keep your system dual-booted or build a Windows box (as I have yet found a windows tracking program that runs reliably under WINE - if anyone has, drop me a line). There has yet to be a stable tracking solution for Linux other than Sound Tracker or CheeseTracker (which, unfortunately, is *still* buggy and not yet a viable alternative to Impulse Tracker, in my opinion) - both of which do not have the new features that modern trackers have. Who knows, however, perhaps we will get lucky one of these days :) In any case, the vast amount of features in today's trackers are quite nice and definitely worth looking into, no matter what OS you prefer to run. Many support features such as VST effect and instrument plugins, multiple effect columns, modular designs (as in the case with Psycle and BuzzTracker), etc. The interfaces have also been refined, some offering an entirely new interface while others build upon existing interfaces, like the Fast Tracker 2 interface. Unfortunately, for musicians that prefer the Scream Tracker / Impulse Tracker interface you may be out of luck as I have not yet found a modern tracker that successfully implements this interface to an acceptable degree, though many do offer some of IT shortcuts and similar effect-symbols (Axx, Bxx, Dxy, etc.). I personally have chosen to use Renoise which does a wonderful job of extending the existing FT2 style interface to include many wonderful enhancements (though it does fall short of the FT2 interface by not including Nibbles :) As a result, I will be concentrating largely on Renoise for the duration of this article. Be forewarned, however, the free version offered is missing some enhancements, notably ASIO and WAV-out support (which I will explain in depth later). If you are looking for a 100% free program that is similar to Renoise, I would suggest trying out Sk@le Tracker, which offers many of the features that Renoise has plus a few of its own - though it is currently still in beta. I come from a Scream Tracker background - it was what I started tracking shortly before going to Impulse Tracker. As a result, switching from that type of interface to Renoise was a bit daunting at first, largely because of the differences in keyboard shortcuts and navigation. I find myself using the mouse more than I honestly would prefer - one of the noticeable characteristics of an FT2-based interface. Though after a few weeks of playing around with it, I have grown quite accustomed to the FT2-based interface and enjoy the amount of information that is present on the screen at once. I also enjoy the hexadecimal representation of pattern lines and effect amounts, which give a more cleaner appearance. A volume level of 64 in Impulse Tracker is simply 40 in Renoise - 32 is 20, etc. I do still miss the Impulse Tracker interface sometimes, however - I suspect many die hard IT users will probably feel the same way. Nonetheless, to get the extra features available in the current generation of trackers, one will have to go through a learning process, no matter which tracking program is used. Aside from utilizing the FT2 interface, Renoise is chock full of enhancements that make the switch well worth the effort. One of them is the ability to have multiple note and effect columns per track which allows a much more complex array of effects that can be applied to a track as well as the ability to apply those effects to multiple notes. I have found this helps when one wants to apply effects to a chord progression, like a volume slicer to get that cool trancey sound :) It also helps to structure one's song a bit better and makes the pattern data cleaner. One of the interesting concepts that has been implemented into Renoise is a sort of effects stack. Not only is one able to use the standard set of effect like volume fade, re-trigger, etc. one is also able to use a series of included DSP effects, any number of which can be applied to a certain track. The number of effects per track is only limited by one's processor (of which Renoise does take up a pretty large part of). The interesting thing is that these effects can effect each other, depending on how they are arranged within the effect stack. This is much like how Buzz Tracker and Psycle allow one to use effects, only in Renoise it is presented in a more 'trackerish' way. It gets cooler, too! Renoise has implemented a tracker envelope system which allows one to be able to modify the DSP effects using a series of linear or curved envelopes. This allows a much greater degree of control and speed at which effects can be created in a track, which is especially helpful when using a filter. It also keeps the pattern effect columns free. The only down side I have found is that it is not possible to string the envelopes over a series of orders, at least that I am aware of, making it a bit of a pain when working with a lead over more than one pattern, or when fading the song out, etc. You can save the envelope into a preset and then simply apply the preset to the tracks and orders that you want to have the effect, though I would like to see a better way of doing this and it still doesn't solve the problem of wanted a very slow fade-out, or something similar. Nonetheless, this is a rather unique and welcomed feature that I have found to be very useful. As I said before, Renoise also implements VST effects and instruments, allowing one to go beyond using pure samples to create songs. This is particularly helpful if one is without a hardware-based synth or wants a particular sound not found in one's own sample library or synth. One of the largest benefits of using VST instruments is that the sound is generated on the fly, meaning there is no loss of quality like one may find when using a sample (especially at low or high octaves). There is also a vast amount of plugins out there, many of which are inexpensive or even free. Renoise's DSP also works with VST instruments, though I was rather surprised to find out that the standard tracker effects (like the volume slicer and note slide effects) do not work. I was even unable to change the volume that the VST plugins were played at from within the pattern. Worse still, there is no way that I have been able to find to be able to modify the plugin's parameters from within the pattern-data. Also be warned - the quality of these plugins varies considerably and many cannot compare the easy of use and quality that many hardware synths provide. Despite the drawbacks, I have found that they do come in handy, and many current-generation trackers, not just Renoise, have implemented at least partial support for VST plugins. And they certainly do help when you just want to play around with ideas or are trying to find a particular kind of sound. The last feature that I would like to bring to light is a greater support for the MIDI interface. MIDI has been supported in trackers for quite some time, though many modern trackers are supporting ASIO and MIDI-clock timing as well, allowing low-latency MIDI messages to be sent to and from hardware equipment. In all honestly, I have yet to try this myself in anything but Impulse Tracker and Buzz. This is due in large part to the fact that I myself have yet to have much in the realm of equipment and am currently running Renoise almost exclusively on my laptop, which has no conventional MIDI connection :) Though I do expect Renoise as well as other modern trackers to have better support for MIDI than was present with IT and FT2. One of the features of Renoise that I wish to try is the ability to sync to MIDI hardware which would allow one to be able to compose in both Renoise and on sampling equipment and synths which sounds very interesting indeed. From what I hear, however, do not expect Renoise to be up to par with professional sequencers, though for those just getting into hardware, wanting to use a sampler, or just wish to enter notes via a real keyboard, Renoise should work wonderfully. All in all, I have been very impressed with Renoise, after reviewing the large amount of trackers available. Though, since many of the features in Renoise are supported in other current-generation trackers; and since some support things that Renoise doesn't, I suggest you make your own decision. One of the things that I have been impressed about with these modern trackers is the diversity of interfaces that are available. It seems like it is the FT2 vs IT argument all over again, only worse :) Therefore, I encourage you to find the one that fits what you are looking for in a tracker best. Many swear by Buzz, some by Psycle, others are still using ModPlug Tracker while others may still be using Impulse Tracker, and perhaps a select few might still be using ModEdit. :) If you do want a newer tracker, however, do expect to do some learning and some experimenting no matter what you pick. I believe that you will find it is well worth the change. And though even I will probably never let go of Impulse Tracker (especially for the Mod Compos :) I am personally quite glad I broadened my own horizons - it has helped my music immensely --PsiTron --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- In Tune "Fine" by In Tense By: Coplan ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- -=- Introduction -=- In my quest to find new, good music, I am sometimes strayed by fancy effects or truly high-quality samples. I sometimes feel as though I've been attracted by the "features" as opposed to the context. Sometimes its for the best, as I would've never discovered Quasimojo if I weren't on my MIDI kick a few months ago. So I wandered back to the Chill Productions website to discover two very interesting details. First was the fact that Quasimojo has a few tunes in a Lesbian Porn flick (visit Chill's website to download those tunes: http://www.chillproductions.com). Second was that there's this guy, In Tense, that's been shelling out tunes like mad. I havn't seen a release rate on anyone like this in a long time. Curious got the best of me, and I grabbed a bunch of his tunes. One of them caught my ear: "Fine". -=- "Fine" by In Tense -=- If chip tunes were to ever have a more current, higher quality sound, this song would be the benchmark. The song is in MP3 format, so I know very little of how it was created. I can only imagine that this stuff is all synthesized with something like Renoise or Psycle or Buzz. These aren't chips, to say the least, but you get that sort of overall feel. Either that, or you took a trip back to the 80's. But that's not why this tune caught my ear. In general, it's a very simple tune with a simple, repetative base line, and some trance pads floating in and out of the song. There's a break beat and a few rest periods in the song. In fact, you could almost sing some Dead or Alive lyrics to the tune (Anyone else remember that 80's band, or am I really that old now?). As I was saying in my intro, we often overlook tunes such as this because of their chippy feel, or simple patterns, or what-not. For whatever reason...this one didn't slip through the cracks. Back in the day, more traditional styles of music are always discussed talking about movements, or at least a logical order. You always had an A part, followed by a B part, then the C part (the corus) which was followed by a D part, then maybe back to the C part, then the E part (e for end) finished up the tune. It's not so easy to talk about music this way anymore with all these modern styles. I like to think of some more modern electronic styles as a pool of Oil. And someone is putting different colors of water in the oil. It doesn't blend, and it swirls around, ever changing as the outside forces inflicts movement on it. This tune is very similar to that. The Oil, in this case, is the the base line and the percussion section. They're fairly consisten throughout the song. But there are all sorts of different colors of water that keep swirling around this core. It's really quite amazing to hear with headphones as well, as it really feels like parts are moving around your head. This is one of those tunes where you can get so much out of it by listening to it in different ways. At lower volumes, it's very relaxing and soothing. It would be a good ambient peice at that point. But if you turn it up, you can't help but to gasp at the dynamics. It's definately not an ambient style with volume. And there is so much going on. You can't place any sort of melody. There is one part where there is a trance pad off to the right side that plays one thing somewhere in the middle-upper octaves. And another trance pad starts playing something else in a much higher octave way off to the left. The parts are so different, it's almost chaotic. But it fits together perfectly. At what would seem like random points, they hit the exact same note, and then bounce off onto their chaos again. All the while the percussion and the base line are doing their own sort of counter-point. If you can't tell, this is really a difficult song to describe. You'll just have to go download it yourself. Song Information: Title: Fine Author: In Tense Release date: August 22, 2002 Length: 6:32 File Size: 8.6 MB Source: http://www.chillproductions.com --Coplan "In Tune" is a regular column dedicated to the review of original and singular works by fellow trackers. It is to be used as a tool to expand your listening and writing horizons, but should not be used as a general rating system. Coplan's opinions are not the opinions of the Static Line Staff. If you have heard a song you would like to recommend (either your own, or another person's), We can be contacted through e-mail useing the addresses found in the closing notes. Please do not send files attached to e-mail without first contacting us. Thank you! --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- The Lineup By: Novus ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Welcome to The Lineup! Every month, I scour through the hundreds of new releases on the scene's major archive sites to find the best new music, saving you the trouble of having to download 20 instant-delete songs to find 1 that's worth keeping. I'm always looking for feedback from you folks on how good a job I'm doing so far. Are the songs listed in The Lineup as good as you were hoping they'd be? Do I need stricter standards? Looser standards? More openness to other genres? E-mail me at vince_young@hotmail.com and sound off! In the meantime, you may consider the following 39 tunes to be the best tracks of February 2003: -=-THE BEST OF THE BEST -=- "Last Hope" - Cdnalsi - dance http://www.cdnalsi.as.ro/lasthpe.it -=- THE REST OF THE BEST -=- "Abandon" - Rage - demostyle ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/demos/groups/fobia/rage/abandon.zip "Alliance" - Drax - pop ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/drax/drx-alli.zip "Alternative Process" - Morphine - house ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/morphine/rbi-altp.zip "Always Remember" - Xerxes & Scirocco - fantasy ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/scirocco/n55-remem.zip "An Important Thought" - Smash - acid jazz http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2348 "Backflip" - Drax - dance ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/drax/drx-back.zip "Celestial Fantasia" - Beat - demostyle http://www.beatfox.com/music/celesfnt.s3z "Deceitful Love" - Jeva - pop http://data.modarchive.com/D/deceitful.it.zip "Declaration Of Ahh" - Laxity - light rock ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/laxity/lax-decl.zip "Don't Give Up" - Rage - demostyle ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/demos/groups/fobia/rage/dontgi_r.zip "Equinox" - Blasa - experimental ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/groups/moods/hum_m186.lha "Eternal Fire" - Glitch - techno ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/glitch/gl-fire.zip "Freeze" - G-Day - house ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/parties/1999/ambience99/mmul/house/freeze.zip "Give Me Some Hope" - Jay - pop ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/jay/jy_hope.zip "Humanoideja" - Stinger & Mellow-D - fantasy ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/stinger+mellow-d/sm-human.zip "Julli" - Rage - demostyle ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/demos/groups/fobia/rage/julli2.zip "Lonely Falcon" - Crusader - demostyle http://data.modarchive.com/L/lonefalc.it.zip "Love Generation" - Neotraxx - trance ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/neotraxx/nt_love.zip "Massacre At Chios" - Sikamikanico - fantasy ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/sikamikanico/massacre.zip "Midnight In Arabia" - Metal - trance ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/metal/mtl-arab.zip "Mind Of A Dreamer" - Beat - demostyle http://www.beatfox.com/music/mindrmr.xmz "My Sweet Atlas" - Kaneel - ambient ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/kaneel/kl_msa.zip "Night In The Tropic" - Error303 - pop http://data.modarchive.com/E/e303night.it.zip "Nine Millimeter" - Virgill & Reed - funk ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/virgill/xm/nine_millimeter.zip "Over The Mountains" - Rage - demostyle ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/demos/groups/fobia/rage/overmoun.zip "Panoramic Viewpoints" - Morphine - light rock ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/parties/1997/bizarre97/mmul/mph-pvpt.zip "Planets Of Euphoria" - Rage - demostyle ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/demos/groups/fobia/rage/planets.zip "Sad Shadows" - Samplemaster - demostyle http://data.modarchive.com/S/samplemaster-sasha.it.zip "Separate Ways" - Smash - jazz ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/smash/separate.zip "Solar" - Jay & Neophite - trance ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/jay/jn_sola.zip "Space & Time" - Rage - demostyle ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/demos/groups/fobia/rage/spacetim.zip "Static 2" - Laxity - pop ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/laxity/lax-sta2.zip "The Destination" - Morphine - dance ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/morphine/rbi-tdes.zip "The Man In The Iron Mask" - Wong Chung Bang - pop http://data.modarchive.com/W/wcb-ironmask.it.zip "The Regained Silence" - Tarahenrik - ambient http://www.modplug.com/mods/nrdetail.php3?session=&detailno=10467 "Twisted Vortex" - Argh - pop http://homepages.tcp.co.uk/~jonl/music/music/f4-tvort.zip "Two Homies From Arden" - Metal & Drax - house ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/metal/mtl-2hom.zip "Union" - Scirocco - demostyle ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/scirocco/union.zip "Von Elfen Und Feen" - Iwellius - fantasy http://mx.x-six.org:81/Iwellius/Mods/Elfen-Feen.zip "Windmill" - Mista Waisgai - trance http://kvartsv091.sn.umu.se/~mwg/mwg-wm.zip "Words" - Novus - dance http://www.novusmusic.org/novus/n_words.zip Latez! --Novus --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Guest Music Review "May" by Melvyl By: Valzihjken ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Before I start the review, a brief introduction: I'm Valzihjken. I'm 18 now, but many years ago, when I was young, I heard some Scener songs on some freeware games, some .mods and .s3ms. I didn't realize what they were until a few years later when I downloaded Winamp. In between that time, I saw some demos, and I have no idea why. I do know that my dad (who is over 45) knew about demos before I was born and even made some diskmag type stuff for a round-robin disk. When I dicovered these music files with Winamp, I searched for more on my hard drive and eventually found one that mentioned the Hornet. From there, I learned much about the Scene and downloaded many demos, most of which I deleted. I became distracted by games (yeah, I'm a hardcore gamer) and never came back until a couple a years ago. I don't even know why. Probably saw my copy of the "Maui" or "The Fulcrum" demo lying around on my hard drive and wanted to see what cool stuff had happened since. Always a music lover, I decided maybe I'd stop just singing the tunes I invented and actually make them in a replayable distributable format. So I learned to use Impulse Tracker. I've been hearing orchestrated concerts for a long time and love good jazz (Thelonius Monk, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, etc.). Because of my tastes, at least partially, I can hardly stand imitation. I can usually tell when a sax, a violin, a cymbal, or another intrument doesn't sound real. Thus, I don't like much tracked orchestral or Jazz music, though I can get past most of Smash's samples. Synth stuff that is supposed to be synthed, like a 303 or acid don't bother me at all, so I can enjoy acid Jazz and electronic-orchestral mods. Moving on to something more interesting: Hellven, wow. I found their site because of Coplan's review of one of Virt's songs and went their because I really like Virt's music and often follow Coplan's recommendations. Then I proceded to listen to just about all of their releases over a couple of days, and I thoroughly enjoyed most of their music. There's some wonderful heavy industrial-type stuff, but, I'm going to talk about very easy-listening ambient background stuff by Melvyl. I recommend getting all of their tracks to see for yourself what you like and don't like. It's all good, but these guys have some serious depression/anger problems or something else that causes an underlying theme of death and the question of existance. Maybe they just think it's funny. Anyway, Melvyl's song "May" (part of Hellven's "Someone" e.p.) is one that I could listen to repeatedly for a long time without annoyance assaulting my mind. In fact, I did. I'm still playing it. I'm still enjoying it. It's so simple, so quiet and peaceful, yet so worth paying attention to. You can be active or passive about listening, but it's still going to be a pleasant experience. Technically, what's there to dazzle you? Not much. Only seven samples, virtually no effect or volume column usage, and a very simple melody add up to minimalism or something like it. Drums show up in order 4 and a bassline in order 6 which sometimes feel more complex then the melody which is made of a few samples that, though they're electronic, make one think of flutes and strings. The bassline is very good and certainly pushes the song to much higher place in my music collection. I tried muting all the channels but the drums and bassline and it was still enjoyable. The melody, the real focus of the song in many ways, is basically a peaceful repetitive chord progression. Maybe it's not one of my favorite tunes of all time, or even one of my favorite tracked songs, but I think it will be played more often than most of my collection anyway because it helps to give me a good feeling. It doesn't feel like the same old song I just played yesterday. Go ahead, listen to it while you read your book, do your math problems, sketch, or proofread. Turn your pc game's stupid music off and let this loop instead, but before you do, play it loud with a good set of headphones over your ears with nothing else to distract you. It's better than pop, even with your eyes closed! Song Information: Title: May Author: Melvyl Length: 7:34 File Size: 581 kilobytes (uncompressed) Source: http://www.hellven.org http://www.scene.org --Valzihjken mbacon@infoway.lib.nm.us --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Screen Lit Vertigo "Planet Loop" and "Darkstar" By: Seven ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- -=- "Planet Loop" by MadWizards and Nahkolor -=- (final version) Found at www.madwizards.org 1st place at the TUM'02 democompo. System requirements: 10 MB HD, Geforce 256 or better with recent drivers, Windows Test Machine: P4 2.6Gh 512MB DDR, Realtek AC97 audio, Geforce4 488 Go, WinXP The Credits: Code: Performer Graphics: Spark Music: Mobby The Demo: It's been two months since TUM, and there's *still* no radeon patch available for Planet Loop! MadWizards, do you have *any* idea how much we ATI owners suffer due to your procrastination?! In the end, I couldn't stand it anymore and bought a ridiculously overpriced Nvidia card (which happened to come with a free laptop included. Off topic, does anyone else feels that blaming random scapegoats for your own extravagant purchases helps ease your conscience?) Anyway, Planet Loop is the first PC demo of the famous Amiga crew MadWizards, and I'm glad their design skills are unaffected by the move. Especially the first part, starting with the circular window in space seamlessly becoming a gateway in space, is of rare quality. It mixes a high-tech space theme with antique objects (the watch, the looking glass), all in warm copper colors. Together it remind me of steampunk sciencefiction. Effects include tunnels, stars, and even the old lens effect. The second part breaks the style: it's faster, more flashing. We fly through a realistic gas station, a cubist train station, and several abstract scenes that could have escaped from a Haujobb demo. There are overlays with dotted orbit-loops, and the typical unreadable small text, something I've never seen the point of. Both parts have abundant pictures, mostly as background or incorporated in the effects. There are faces, flowers, various abstract patterns, a coffin on rails etc etc, all drawn in a luminous yellow colorscheme. It's impressive, especially when you know both the 3D and 2D graphics are done by one man. The music by Mobby/Nahkolor is also in two parts. I can't really classify the first one: it starts pretty ambient, a bit melodic, but the percussion grows stronger until it dominates almost everything. The second part is somewhat IDM, with again a very strong rhythm section, but some echoing bells prevent it from getting to monotone. Syncing is very good, and the effects fit the tune (the spinning wheels near the end f.e.) Overall: I guess anyone who has the equipment to watch Planet Loop has already done so. If not: shame on you, you're missing a piece of demoscene history. The mix of different styles put me off a little, but otherwise this is a flawless demo. If you can't watch it, put it on your "demos to check out after my next upgrade" list, or keep an eye on www.madwizards.org, maybe the promised Radeon patch will see the light of the day somewhere in the future. -=- "Darkstar" by Smash Design -=- (party version) Found at www.scene.org 3th place at the TUM'02 democompo. System requirements: nothing listed, but probably a heavy 3D card. 13.5 MB HD, Windows. Test Machine: PIII 900 640MB, SB1024, Radeon 8500 LE 64MB, Win98 The Credits: Code: Kai, Tobi, Idefix Graphics: Music: Wayfinder The Demo: Darkstar is your typical heavy 3D storydemo with a twist: you can watch it in stereo-3D, if you have the required magenta/cyan sunglasses. For those without, there's a non-stereo executable too. The story is pretty simple: aliens attack the earth, the earth defends itself. Some 3D models are really impressive: the giant mothership, the swarm of alien fighters, and the helis, aircraft carier and mobile launcher on earth's side. There are almost no effects, except explosions, which happen a lot but don't look very good IMHO: too small, and the models don't break up in wreckage. The planets, the skies and most landscapes on the other hand are a pleasure to watch. The downside of all this eyecandy is that you'll need a top-of-the-line 3D card to enjoy it: I had a very noticable stutter in the framerate, and even after changing my cards settings to speed iso quality it did not disappear completely. Strange enough, it wasn't worst in the most complex scenes. I wonder if they used pixel shaders or other exotic stuff for the planets and stars? The music is by Wayfinder, I recently discover his Azure releases and this soundtrack fits right in with the rest of his tunes: a mix of techno and trance, with an aggresive rhythm that fits the battle scenes on screen. Overall: Darkstar isn't a demo you'll watch over and over again, but that's the fate of most story-demos. Here the story isn't even that original: I had flashbacks to Genocyd/GMF, 1st at Wired'97, during the "swarm flies out the mothership" scene. But maybe you can discover a hidden moral in the scene where a missile, prominently displaying the American flag, is shot down by an alien fighter (my pick: Saddam must be an alien). Get this one if you like 3D demos, if you've one of those stereo glasses, or if you need to benchmark your new Geforce FX. --Seven --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Editorial Revolution or Refinement? By: Coplan ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- It wasn't long ago that our very own Novus posted the "Novus Revolution" on his very own site. I will not post any of it here, but feel free to browse it at your convenience: http://www.novusmusic.org For the most part, his manifesto describes how the tracking scene has generally been in decline since 1998. It is an effort to get more activity in the tracking scene and get more involvement. There are some issues that I disagree about with his manifesto, but there are a lot of views that both he and I have in common. But his own title "Revolution" implies that we need to start from scratch, or overthrow what we already have. In general, I don't consider that a very viable practice. Novus speaks specifically about the music scene. But I think his manifesto could easily be applied to all scenes. You have heard me say it here many times, and countless times elsewhere: There isn't enough personal involvement in the scene. I could talk until I'm blue in the face (or type until I can't feel my hands), but there is very little that words will do to make you want to get involved. If you're not already involved, I'm willing to bet that you don't intend to get involved. So I guess this article is aimed at those who are already involved and looking for more. Legalize, organizer of the upcoming American Demoparty known as Pilgrimage, has done several outreach projects (and will be doing more) in his area. You can get details and field reports about his projects at his personal site: http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/polygony/outreach/ His projects are all aimed at getting more people involved in the scene. Some are purely informational while others have become hands-on seminars where he and his team educate talented coders in the arts of demo coding. His long term goal is to bring more awareness to the demoscene and hopefully get more people involved where it matters. So let us learn by his example and consider why he's doing so well with his work. Granted, his work takes a lot of coordination and time. But the benefits from such work are astronomical. The main difference is, however, that most people are much more likely to react and get involved if someone is sitting immediately in front of them. They can see this person. They can hear, see and feel his emotions as he gets excited about this hobby of his. That goes a long way. His work is definately a step in the right direction to helping the scene fix itself. But is the demoscene broken? Contrary to what Novus might say, however, I don't really think the demoscene is in decline at all. Yes, it has gotten a bit disorderly, but it has hundreds upon thousands of more members than it did in 1998. There are thousands more releases a year and the bar is raised every year. This year alone was the largest Assembly of all time. The scene isn't dying, it's just a bit confused, that's all. In 1998, we had a very simple system. Everything was either Amiga or Dos. Almost everything existed on Hornet, and communication occured in #trax, #pixel and #code. Almost all collaboration happened in the IRC channel. Now, life hasn't really changed much. But there are so many people. IRC networks would get bogged down (let alone the fact that IRC isn't the most popular form of communication anymore). Hornet closed its doors as its resources were drying up. Scene.org often times needs to add a hard drive, and even at that they still require applications to have space on their server. Gone are the days where one server could host it all. Gone are the days where we can go to one stop. We need a new model. We need to once again find some common ground and make the scene a much happier place. Let us look back at the scene right now. Web pages pretty much drive the scene now, as it has for a very long time. Almost every group has its own web page and its own file section. Some of them post mention of new releases on sites like NoError and Orange Juice. Others make no mention of such releases as it becomes tedious. How many news sites are there now? I can't count on all the fingers and toes that I have. Just look under "Portals" in our link list and you will see there are a lot. Is that all necessary? Probably not. Realistically, the thing that would make the demoscene a much happier place is if it were simpler and easier to navigate. Lets trim out some of the redundancy and collaborate all of our sites and all of our ideas together. Let the news sites cross-reference each other. Let the song databases share song information. Each site will be more complete and more accurate. And the end user will not have to browse 30 sites just to get an idea of what's new. It's all very possible in this day and age. The only thing is requires is time and patience. This is a resource that has always, unfortunately, come at a shortage. Those who are willing are often tied up with other projects. But maybe some of us need to make sacrifices to make the scene a better place. After all, it is YOUR demoscene. --Coplan --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Link List ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Portals: SceneSpot (Home of Static Line).......http://www.scenespot.org CFXweb.......................................http://cfxweb.net Czech Scene................................http://www.scene.cz Danish Scene..............................http://demo-scene.dk Demoscene.org.........................http://www.demoscene.org Demo.org...................................http://www.demo.org Diskmag.de...................................http://diskmag.de <*> Greek Scene............................http://www.demoscene.gr Hungarian Scene........................http://www.demoscene.hu Italian Scene...........................http://run.to/la_scena ModPlug Central Resources..........http://www.castlex.com/mods Noerror.................................http://www.noerror.org Norwegian Scene........................http://www.demoscene.no Orange Juice.............................http://www.ojuice.net Planet Zeus..........................http://www.planetzeus.net Polish Scene...........................http://www.demoscena.pl Pouet.net.................................http://www.pouet.net Russian Scene..........................http://www.demoscene.ru Scene.org.................................http://www.scene.org Scenergy on-line (8bit)............http://www.scenergy.natm.ru Scenet....................................http://www.scenet.de Spanish Scene............................http://www.escena.org Swiss Scene..............................http://www.chscene.ch Archives: Acid2.....................................ftp://acid2.stack.nl Amber.......................................ftp://amber.bti.pl Cyberbox.....................................ftp://cyberbox.de Hornet (1992-1996)........................ftp://ftp.hornet.org Scene.org..................................ftp://ftp.scene.org Scene.org Austra........................ftp://ftp.au.scene.org Scene.org Netherlands...................ftp://ftp.nl.scene.org Swiss Scene FTP...........................ftp://ftp.chscene.ch Demo Groups: 3g Design..............................http://3gdesign.cjb.net 3State...................................http://threestate.com 7 Gods.........................................http://7gods.sk Aardbei.....................................http://aardbei.com Acid Rain..............................http://surf.to/acidrain Addict..................................http://addict.scene.pl Agravedict........................http://www.agravedict.art.pl Alien Prophets.....................http://www.alienprophets.dk Anakata..............................http://www.anakata.art.pl <*> ASD....................................http://asd.demoscene.gr Astral..............................http://astral.scene-hu.com Astroidea........................http://astroidea.scene-hu.com BlaBla..............................http://blabla.planet-d.net Blasphemy..............................http://www.blasphemy.dk Bomb..................................http://bomb.planet-d.net Broncs..................................http://broncs.scene.cz Byterapers.....................http://www.byterapers.scene.org Bypass.................................http://bypass.scene.org Calodox.................................http://www.calodox.org Cocoon..............................http://cocoon.planet-d.net Confine.................................http://www.confine.org Damage...................................http://come.to/damage Dc5.........................................http://www.dc5.org Delirium..............................http://delirium.scene.pl Eclipse............................http://www.eclipse-game.com Elitegroup..........................http://elitegroup.demo.org Exceed...........................http://www.inf.bme.hu/~exceed Fairlight.............................http://www.fairlight.com Fobia Design...........................http://www.fd.scene.org Freestyle............................http://www.freestylas.org Fresh! Mindworks...................http://kac.poliod.hu/~fresh Future Crew..........................http://www.futurecrew.org Fuzzion.................................http://www.fuzzion.org GODS...................................http://www.idf.net/gods Halcyon...........................http://www.halcyon.scene.org Haujobb..................................http://www.haujobb.de Hellcore............................http://www.hellcore.art.pl Infuse...................................http://www.infuse.org <*> Inquisition....................http://inquisition.demoscene.hu Kilobite...............................http://kilobite.cjb.net Kolor................................http://www.kaoz.org/kolor Komplex.................................http://www.komplex.org Kooma.....................................http://www.kooma.com Mandula.........................http://www.inf.bme.hu/~mandula Maturefurk...........................http://www.maturefurk.com Monar................ftp://amber.bti.pl/pub/scene/distro/monar MOVSD....................................http://movsd.scene.cz Nextempire...........................http://www.nextempire.com Noice.....................................http://www.noice.org Orange.................................http://orange.scene.org Orion................................http://orion.planet-d.net Outbreak................................http://www.outbreak.nu Popsy Team............................http://popsyteam.rtel.fr Prone................................http://www.prone.ninja.dk Purple....................................http://www.purple.dk Rage........................................http://www.rage.nu Replay.......................http://www.shine.scene.org/replay Retro A.C...........................http://www.retroac.cjb.net Sista Vip..........................http://www.sistavip.exit.de Skytech team............................http://www.skytech.org Skrju.....................................http://www.skrju.org Spinning Kids......................http://www.spinningkids.org Sunflower.......................http://sunflower.opengl.org.pl Talent.............................http://talent.eurochart.org The Black Lotus.............................http://www.tbl.org The Digital Artists Wired Nation.http://digitalartists.cjb.net The Lost Souls...............................http://www.tls.no TPOLM.....................................http://www.tpolm.com Trauma.................................http://sauna.net/trauma T-Rex.....................................http://www.t-rex.org Unik........................................http://www.unik.de Universe..........................http://universe.planet-d.net Vantage..................................http://www.vantage.ch Wipe....................................http://www.wipe-fr.org Music Labels, Music Sites: Aisth.....................................http://www.aisth.com Aural Planet........................http://www.auralplanet.com Azure...................................http://azure-music.com Blacktron Music Production...........http://www.d-zign.com/bmp BrothomStates.............http://www.katastro.fi/brothomstates Chill..........................http://www.chillproductions.com Chippendales......................http://www.sunpoint.net/~cnd Chiptune...............................http://www.chiptune.com Da Jormas................................http://www.jormas.com Fabtrax......http://www.cyberverse.com/~boris/fabtrax/home.htm Fairlight Music.....................http://fairlight.scene.org Five Musicians.........................http://www.fm.scene.org Fusion Music Crew.................http://members.home.nl/cyrex Goodstuff..........................http://artloop.de/goodstuff Hellven.................................http://www.hellven.org Ignorance.............................http://www.ignorance.org Immortal Coil.............................http://www.ic.l7.net Intense...........................http://intense.ignorance.org Jecoute.................................http://jecoute.cjb.net Kosmic Free Music Foundation.............http://www.kosmic.org Lackluster.....................http://www.m3rck.net/lackluster Level-D.................................http://www.level-d.com Mah Music.............................http://come.to/mah.music Maniacs of noise...............http://home.worldonline.nl/~mon MAZ's sound homepage..................http://www.maz-sound.com Med.......................................http://www.med.fr.fm Miasmah.............................http://www.miasmah.cjb.net Milk.......................................http://milk.sgic.fi Mo'playaz..........................http://ssmedion.de/moplayaz Mono211.................................http://www.mono211.com Morbid Minds..............http://www.raveordie.com/morbidminds Moods.............................http://www.moodymusic.de.vu/ Noise................................http://www.noisemusic.org One Touch Records......................http://otr.planet-d.net Park..................................http://park.planet-d.net pHluid..................................http://phluid.acid.org Radical Rhythms.....http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/merrelli/rr RBi Music.............................http://www.rbi-music.com Ruff Engine................http://members.xoom.com/ruff_engine SHR8M......................................http://1st.to/shr8m Sound Devotion................http://sugarbomb.x2o.net/soundev Soundstate.........................http://listen.to/soundstate Sunlikamelo-D...........http://www.error-404.com/sunlikamelo-d Suspect Records........................http://www.tande.com/sr Tequila........................http://www.defacto2.net/tequila Tempo................................http://tempomusic.cjb.net Tetris....................................http://msg.sk/tetris Theralite...........................http://theralite.avalon.hr Tokyo Dawn Records........................http://tokyodawn.org Triad's C64 music archive.............http://www.triad.c64.org UltraBeat.........................http://www.innerverse.com/ub Vibrants................................http://www.vibrants.dk Wiremaniacs.........................http://www.wiremaniacs.com Zen of Tracking.........................http://surf.to/the-imm Programming: Programming portal......................http://www.gamedev.net Programming portal.....................http://www.flipcode.com Game programming portal...............http://www.gamasutra.com 3D programming portal.................http://www.3dgamedev.com Programming portal......................http://www.exaflop.org Programming portal............http://www.programmersheaven.com Programming portal.....................http://www.freecode.com NASM (free Assembly compiler)......http://www.cryogen.com/nasm LCC (free C compiler).........http://www.remcomp.com/lcc-win32 PTC video engine.........................http://www.gaffer.org 3D engines..........http://cg.cs.tu-berlin.de/~ki/engines.html Documents...............http://www.neutralzone.org/home/faqsys File format collection...................http://www.wotsit.org Magazines: Amber...............................http://amber.bti.pl/di_mag Amnesia...............http://amnesia-dist.future.easyspace.com Demojournal....................http://demojournal.planet-d.net Eurochart.............................http://www.eurochart.org Heroin...................................http://www.heroin.net Hugi........................................http://www.hugi.de Music Massage......................http://www.scene.cz/massage Jurassic Pack...........................www.jurassicpack.de.vu Pain..................................http://pain.planet-d.net Scenial...........................http://www.scenial.scene.org Shine...............................http://www.shine.scene.org Static Line................http://www.scenespot.org/staticline Sunray..............................http://sunray.planet-d.net TUHB.......................................http://www.tuhb.org WildMag..................................http://www.wildmag.de Parties: Assembly (Finland).....................http://www.assembly.org Ambience (The Netherlands)..............http://www.ambience.nl Dreamhack (Sweden)....................http://www.dreamhack.org Buenzli (Switzerland)......................http://www.buenz.li Gravity (Poland)............http://www.demoscena.cp.pl/gravity Mekka-Symposium (Germany)...................http://ms.demo.org <*> ReAct (Greece).............................http://www.react.gr Takeover (The Netherlands).............,http://www.takeover.nl The Party (Denmark).....................http://www.theparty.dk Others: Demo secret parts....http://www.inf.bme.hu/~mandula/secret.txt Textmode Demo Archive.................http://tmda.planet-d.net Arf!Studios..........................http://www.arfstudios.org #coders..................................http://coderz.cjb.net Demonews Express.........http://www.teeselink.demon.nl/express Demo fanclub........................http://jerware.org/fanclub Digital Undergrounds.....................http://dug.iscool.net Doose charts...............................http://www.doose.dk Freax................................http://freax.scene-hu.com GfxZone............................http://gfxzone.planet-d.net PC-demos explained.....http://www.oldskool.org/demos/explained Pixel...................................http://pixel.scene.org #trax e-mail list............................................. .............http://www.scenespot.org/mailman/listinfo/trax Underground Mine.............http://www.spinningkids.org/umine IRC Channels: Scene.........................................ircnet #thescene Programming.....................................ircnet #coders Programming....................................efnet #flipcode Graphics.........................................ircnet #pixel Music......................................irc.scene.org #trax Music.............................................ircnet #trax Scene (French)..................................ircnet #demofr Programming (French)............................ircnet #codefr Graphics (French)..............................ircnet #pixelfr Programming (German)........................ircnet #coders.ger Scene (Hungarian)............................ircnet #demoscene Programming (Hungarian)......................ircnet #coders.hu Zx-spectrum scene..................................ircnet #z80 --=--=-- ----=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------ -=- Staff -=- Editor: Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan@scenespot.org Staff Writers: Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan@scenespot.org Dilvie / Eric Hamilton / dilvie@yahoo.com Novus / Vince Young / vince_young@hotmail.com Psitron / Tim Soderstrom / tigerhawk@stic.net Setec / Jesper Pederson / jesped@post.tele.dk Seven / Stefaan VanNieuwenhuyze/ seven7@writeme.com Tryhuk / Tryhuk Vojtech / vojtech.tryhuk@worldonline.cz Vill / Brian Frank / darkvill@yahoo.com The Watcher / Paul-Jan Pauptit / watcher@tuhb.org Tech Consultant: Ranger Rick / Ben Reed / ranger@scenespot.org Static Line on the Web: http://www.scenespot.org/staticline Static Line Subscription Management: http://www.scenespot.org/mailman/listinfo/static_line If you would like to contribute an article to Static Line, be aware that we will format your article to 76 columns with two columns at the beginning of each line. Please avoid foul language and high ascii characters. Contributions (Plain Text) should be e-mailed to Coplan (coplan@scenespot.org) by the last Friday of each month. New issues are released on a monthly basis. See you next month! -eof---=------=--=------=--=--