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01 Issue 05
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Issue #5 (ARTICLE SECTION) . 0000 11 .
June 18, 1995 . 00 00 11 .
. 00 00 11 .
01 is a weekly newsletter for the demo scene. . 00 00 11 .
It is produced by the group Hornet at the site ftp.cdrom.com. . 0000 11 .
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Subscribers: 694 | Last Issue: 634 | Change: +60 | Size: 39,666 bytes
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-CONTENTS-
==[Section]=========[Article Name]=================[Author]==================
Introduction What's in This Issue? Snowman and GraveDigger
General 4DOS 4DEMOS: Part 3 Snowman
Message from Darkness/Imphobia Darkness
Some Extended Demo Reviews Phoenix
Music Interview with Mosaic GraveDigger
Review of Netmusik 1 GraveDigger
Tracking Tips V GraveDigger
Review of Imphobia 10 Music GraveDigger
Subscribing
Closing
===[Introduction]==[Snowman and GraveDigger]===================================
SM: Hello all, and welcome to the fifth issue of "01 Article Section".
GD: Hey, where's Jim and Jeff?
SM: Well, things are a bit rushed this week with Music Contest 3
finishing up. I didn't have time to contact them and get them to
participate.
GD: I see.. but being the lazy bum I am, I was easy to find on IRC, huh?
Oh well.. let's see what we have in this issue of 01..
SM: Well, to start we have the third in my series of "4DOS 4DEMOS"
articles. Now we're finally getting to the FUN FUN stuff.
GD: I have to admit I haven't grabbed 4DOS yet, but your articles provide
some great tips! I can't wait to try them out.
SM: Hey, thanks. :) The next article is a text file I grabbed off our
site. Its from Darkness of Imphobia and is pretty heated.
GD: It's unfortunate that a high quality production such as Imphobia must
receive such a reaction.
SM: I agree. Its one of the few productions in the scene that has
maintained a professional image over several years. Speaking of
Imphobia, now might be a good time to discuss the Charts and how it
affects our site.
GD: Right. We decided that because group directories require a lot of
maintenance, that we would use the Imphobia charts to decide which groups
get group directories.
SM: Actually, Imphobia makes our life a lot easier. Whenever someone
says "Hey, why can't _we_ have a directory?", we can just say "Its
Imphobia's fault". :)
GD: How true. :) Take note everybody! Your votes do count! Well... next,
we have some demo reviews from Phoenix. we haven't heard from him in a
while...
SM: Yes, I was very happy he decided to write for this issue. Moving
right along... next we have an Interview with Mosaic (one of the
scene's oldest musicians).
GD: That interview was a lot of fun to do. :) Also, he's really cool in
person.
SM: Man, I just noticed that you have 4 articles in this issue. Care
to tell us what the second is?
GD: I'm out of school now; does it show? :) Next is a review and
introduction to NetMusik, a bi-weekly newsletter about the digital music
scene.
SM: I noticed a lot of influences in formatting of that newsletter.
Hmm... where could they be getting their ideas from...
GD: I don't know if its safe to mention. The next article is part five of
my Tracking Tips column; subtitled "Melody Variations Part I."
SM: I like the tip about playing your melody line backward. Where are
you learning all this stuff anyway?
GD: I'm drawing a lot of it from my music theory classes in high
school...
SM: And with yet another music-related article, you have the honor of
finishing off this issue.
GD: I do feel honored. :) The last article is a review of the music in
Imphobia 10. What did you think of the music?
SM: To be honest, when it comes to a diskmag I usually am much more
interested in the articles than the tunes. However, the songs this
time were very appropriately done.
GD: That is true... I guess that's everything for this week.
SM: Well folks, this has been Snowman...
GD: ...and GraveDigger...
<>: And we are OUTTA HERE.
===[General]==[4DOS 4DEMOS: Part 3]==[Snowman]================================
_____General Introduction
Welcome to the third installment in the "4DOS 4DEMOS" series. By this
time, you should be getting very attached to some of the features 4DOS is
giving ya'. Trust me, once you make the switch from DOS to 4DOS, there's
no going back.
_____General Overview
This article assumes you have read Parts 1 and 2. Be sure to follow all of
the steps I listed there. We will be relying on them now. This article is
going to be a biggie, so get out your favorite beverage and flip on the
radio 'cause we are gonna be here for awhile.
To sum up what we have done so far:
Part 1
Created \4DOS and put files in there
Added "SHELL=" statement to CONFIG.SYS file
Part 2
Created \STARTUP
Created \STARTUP\SET_ENVS.BAT to handle environmental variables
Created \STARTUP\SET_COLS.BAT to handle color-coded directories
Today we are going to discuss PATH, CDPATH, and ALIASES.
You already know what PATH does. If you don't, stop reading this article,
turn off your computer, and go ask your mom to give you a lesson in DOS
Fundamentals. Anyway, today I'm gonna show you how to make your PATH
really big and obnoxious.
CDPATH is kind of like PATH, but it helps you search for directories
instead of executables.
ALIASES allow you to abbreviate commands or make new ones. Its one of the
best time-saving and useful features of 4DOS.
_____Miscellaneous
Bye Bye BAT, Yo Yo BTM. Taken from 4DOS online help:
"A batch file can run in two different modes. In the first, traditional
mode, each line of the batch file is read and executed individually. In
the second mode, the entire batch file is read into memory at once. The
second mode can be 5 to 10 times faster, especially if most of the
commands in the batch file are internal commands...
The batch file's extension determines its mode. Files with a .BAT
extension are run in the slower, traditional mode. Files with a .BTM
extension are run in the faster, more efficient mode..."
So now we are going to rename our files from .BAT to .BTM. Don't forget to
modify that header block inside each file to reflect this change. Also,
you will probably have to change your AUTOEXEC.BAT where the calls are made
to these files.
[PATH and CDPATH]
_____Overview
According to the "Tomb of Ancient Microsoft Lore":
"A PATH (pronounced pa'th) is an environmental variable containing a
string of ASCII characters (representing drive/directory combinations
and each separated by a semi-colon), thru which, by reference to this
variable, a series of locations can be searched for a file containing an
extension of BAT, COM, or EXE, and with filename being user-specified
from the command prompt... and whereupon finding a file matching both
said requirements, said file is automatically executed via the operating
system -- at such time the PATH variable remains inactive until the user
is once again returned to the command prompt...in his mercy. AMEN."
Gates 23:19
Let's go ahead and create a file called SET_PROM.BTM in the \STARTUP
directory. Here's my header block for this one:
: File Name : SET_PATH.BTM
: Title : PATH and CDPATH configuration for 4DOS
: Author : Christopher G. Mann
: Last Modification : May 28, 1995
: Purpose : Configure directory options for faster access.
Using the same trick we did with our SET_COLS.BTM, we can concatenate
multiple lines of data into one variable.
: Regular Stuff
PATH=C:\;C:\-STARTUP;C:\4DOS;C:\4DOS\4EDIT20;C:\COMP;C:\DOS;C:\F-PROT;
PATH=%PATH%C:\MUSIC;C:\NC;C:\NU;C:\PROG;C:\TC\BIN;C:\TM;
PATH=%PATH%C:\US;C:\UTIL\QBACK;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WP;
: Music Stuff
PATH=%PATH%C:\MUSIC\S3M;C:\MUSIC\XM;C:\MUSIC\MOD;C:\MUSIC\MTM;
Now wait a second! The directories C:\MUSIC\S3M, C:\MUSIC\MOD, etc. only
contain music files (no EXEs, COMs, or BAT/BTM files). Why on earth do I
have those directories in my path if there is nothing to execute there? The
exciting answer to this question can be found in the next issue of o1art.
Moving on to CDPATH... er... what exactly _is_ CDPATH? In essence, it
helps you look for directories just like PATH helps you look for files.
Assume I have the following directory structure on my C drive:
\GRAPH
\GRAPH\GIFS
\GRAPH\JPGS
...and then I set CDPATH=C:\GRAPH. Now, I can type...
C:\> cd gifs
...and BLAMMO!, I'm moved automatically to the \GRAPH\GIFS directory
without having to go to \GRAPH first. Pretty neat eh? So to finish up our
SET_PROM.BTM (in which both PATH and CDPATH are defined) we add:
: CD Path (search these for subdirectories)
SET CDPATH=C:\;C:\MUSIC;C:\MUSIC\-TRACK;C:\MUSIC\-PLAY;C:\HORNET;C:\TMP;
You want to know a secret? "path" and "cdpath" are both in UNIX too!
Don't forget to call SET_PATH.BTM from your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
[ALIASES (Basic)]
_____Overview
Unless you want this section to be 50k, we're only going to have enough
space to talk about the basics of aliases. We'll cover Intermediate and
Expert in future installments of this series.
Perhaps the best way to tell what an alias does is by giving an example:
C:\> alias d=dir
C:\> d 4dos4dem.*
4dos4dem.1 4450 6-18-95 16:52
4dos4dem.2 8657 6-18-95 16:52
4dos4dem.3 5915 6-18-95 20:45
So in this case, we have said to DOS that when we type "d", we want it to
substitute "dir". Pretty simple eh?
You might guess that we're going to have a file chock-full of aliases.
You'd be right. Is it going to be under \STARTUP? Sure is. Is it going
to be called SET_ALIAS.BTM? No! Would I be considered odd because I'm
asking myself a lot of questions? Sure would.
The dudes at JP Software designed 4DOS to be fast and efficient. To this
end, they have enhanced the way we load aliases. You _could_ have a file
containing the following:
(SET_ALIAS.BTM) alias d=dir
alias toohard=ft2.exe
alias diedie=win
But look at that! We have the word "alias" on every line. Isn't that a
bit redundant? Let's take the same file but remove the "alias":
(ALIAS.LST) d=dir
toohard=ft2.exe
diedie=win
Now all we have to use is the command "alias /r alias.lst" and 4DOS will
take each line of the file and make it an alias. We can add this command
to our AUTOEXEC.BAT file so that we read in aliases automatically when we
boot up. Using the "alias /r" command is much faster than having a .BAT
file containing tons of "alias x=y" statements.
Would you do me a favor? How about creating a list of your very own
(called ALIAS.LST) and sticking it in your \STARTUP directory. If you do,
I promise to give you lots of kEwL-kRaD tips on enhancing them. When
you're done, add the following line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:
alias /r c:\startup\alias.lst
Depending on how crazy you get with aliases, you might start running low on
environmental room. If you _do_ run out, increase the size by using the
method I described in the second installment of this series.
Well folks, next week we get to some _fun_ stuff! We'll talk about
EXECUTABLE-EXTENSIONS and PROMPT. We'll also have a section entitled
"Aliases and the Function Calls of Doom". Until then, take care everyone.
And remember, 4DOS 4EVER!
-Christopher G. Mann r3cgm@ftp.cdrom.com
===[General]==[Message from Darkness/Imphobia]==[Darkness]====================
Some days after the release of Imphobia Issue 10, a file was released by
Lord Cyrix/S!P BELGIUM. In the file, he stated that we included false
information in our magazine and in which, among various other false facts
about our group and the magazine, he stated that we faked a capture of a
message that Venior/S!P had written to me and which was included in one of
the Imphobia #10 article. Additional rumors have also been spread by the
same dudes in this direction on some Belgian BBS and maybe on some other
systems too.
For a bit more than three years now we are releasing the Imphobia diskmag
to the scene and we've put a lot of effort and time into it in order to
make a good magazine out of it, and we worked our butts off to deliver you
a magazine with VALUABLE and entertaining information. Therefore we were
really tired of such reaction.
After the release of Imphobia #9, Lord Cyrix, Venior and their friends
released a fake Imphobia #9 bugfix under the name of one of their
additional group "Templar" and at that time we already reacted with an
advertising messages in which we were so kind for not even telling we knew
who made it, in order not to make a bad reputation to S!P just because
their Belgian division couldn't behave properly.
This time they are releasing and spreading false rumors about our group and
the magazine... all this was going too far, much too far.. and although it
is not our policy in Imphobia to release such kind of "reaction text" we
couldn't just let the things like that without reacting, so we decided to
write this little text and to release it to the scene.
I really can't understand what's the aim of those people. I can't
understand how those guys can have fun by spoiling the scene and by making
a bad reputation to the group they're part of. The aim of the scene is to
have fun and to enjoy yourselves.
We are not awaiting any answers or whatsoever to this text and if one of
those guys would write one, we wouldn't even care anymore: those guys
really aren't worth it. We really hope we won't have to write such kind of
text in the future, because it's just not fun and it doesn't have any
interest to the scene.. The scene is not a wargame, the scene is a place we
have to enjoy and to try to make better and better, and not something to
spoil like that.
Out there,
-Darkness, on behalf of the Imphobia team.
===[General]==[Some Extended Demo Reviews]==[Phoenix]=========================
_____Demo Reviews
Hey, I am back, with some in-depth looks at recent uploads to Hornet FTP!
The rating scale:
* World Humiliation 1995.
** World Stagnation 1995.
*** World Intimidation 1995.
**** World Invasion 1995.
***** World Domination 1995.
"Who Else Can Upgrade A Robot" by Orange (korso.zip, 55k)
Party/Place/Category : Abduction '95 / 1st / 64k intro
Requires : 386/VGA/no EMM drivers loaded
Sound support : GUS/silence
Design: **** Effects: **** Music: **** Overall: **** (4 of 5)
Orange delivers another mind-warping production with this followup to
their Party'94 "Robot" intro. The jungle-trance music fits well with the
facial distortions (Amiga-like), and the usual poly-tunnels. This one is
definitely worth a download.
"Semtex Annihilation" by Jeskola! Productions (semtex64.zip, 60k)
Party/Place/Category : Abduction '95 / 2nd / 64k intro
Requires : 386/VGA
Sound support : GUS/silence
Design: **** Effects: ***** Music: ** Overall: ***+ (3.5 of 5)
Anyone who has compared recent Jeskola and Complex releases can easily
notice the resemblance. This is due to the fact that Jmagic also codes
for Jeskola! He did a nice job in this "sequel" to "Semtex City". The
bump-shaded (?) j!p logo and the torus are extremely impressive, with
nicely drawn backgrounds. Unfortunately, the music is too empty.
"Semiotic Ambience" by FIT (sembla.zip)
Party/Place/Category : Abduction '95 / 3rd / 64k intro
Sound support : GUS/?
Rating: *** (3 of 5)
I only watched this intro once, then erased it since my virus scanner
detected traces of its virus in memory. The version on cdrom.com is now
clean. Anyway, from what I remember, not extremely impressive, just some
flickery waving text among other things.
"Vesisade" by Chaos (chs_vesi.zip)
Party/Place/Category : Abduction '95 / 4th / 64k intro
Requires : 386/VGA
Sound support : GUS/silence
Design: ** Effects: *** Music: ** Overall: **+ (2.5 of 5)
Nothing exciting. Starts out with a nice pic (coughnuditycough), then
some vectors, and a zoom-rotate. Decent chip-music. Was infected,
should be OK now.
"Dino-Saurus" by Hirmu (hirrrr.zip, 109k)
Party/Place/Category : Abduction '95 / 5th / demo
Sound support : GUS/?
Design: ** Effects: *** Music: * Overall: ** (2 of 5)
I don't remember the requirements of this demo since I deleted it. It
features some nice blurred and phong-shaded (once again I hope I'm right)
dinosaur-vectors. They may like the noisy chip-music in Finland, but I
thought it was awful.
"Expression" by 3Some (expressn.zip)
Party/Place/Category : NAID '95 / ? / demo
Requires : VGA (what doesn't?)
Sound support : GUS/SB/SBPro/silence
Design: ** Effects: ** Music: ** Overall: ** (2 of 5)
Two guys and a girl from Baltimore, MD get together. They assemble a
demo, and show it at NAID. They make friends, and life is good. Mean-
while, nothing awe-inspiring has come out of this demo, just some dots, a
voxel-scape, and a shaded vector (being drawn and filled in front of your
eyes, point for originality). Hopefully, 3Some's future works will open
up the eyes of the world, but not just yet.
-Andy Voss vossa@rpi.edu
===[Music]==[Interview with Mosaic/Renaissance]==[GraveDigger]================
Mosaic is a musician for Renaissance, a group that he had responsibility
for starting. He recently placed 4th in the music competition at NAID in
Montreal, Canada, on April 15-16.
He has written music for the Renaissance megademo titled "Amnesia." His
most recent release was "Tears," his song from the NAID 1995 music
competition.
Interviewing Mosaic was a good opportunity to learn the opinions of one of
the older members of the demoscene in North America. He presents his views
in a no-apologies kind of way.
This interview was conducted in early May, 1995, and _finally_ it goes to
print. :)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
GD - Brett Neely of Hornet gd@ftp.cdrom.com
Mosaic - Ray Lee of Renaissance [no email address available]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
GD: Hello Mosaic! Could you tell us your name, age, and where you live?
MO: What, so you can rob me? I think not. =)
GD: Hahah.. Hey, if you have a lot of money, how come you're not sharing it?
MO: You want my address? What is this? =)
GD: Ok, quit wasting time. :) When did you first get interested in the demo
scene?
MO: Uh, about 4 1/2 years ago, me and C.C.Catch were standing by a bus stop
after high school.. and we were talking, and uhh, then.. we started
Renaissance. And that was 4.5 years ago, maybe even a little more now.
Then we acquired Tran.. then Daredevil... then we started making demos
and such. We just started composing music for all those demos; I used
to spend days at a time just staring at MODs and stuff, to try to learn
how to compose...
GD: What are your earliest thoughts of the demo scene?
MO: Well, demos were really fun to make... getting the ideas and all... and
trying to get in contact with the other people that made the demos. Now
its blown way out of proportion... The demo scene has reached a point
where unique demos are almost impossible to make now..
GD: Yeah. That is unfortunate. Trixter pointed out that he and Daredevil,
while judging demos at NAID, could see that code had been stolen
directly from demo example sources...
What was it like to make the music for Renaissance demos?
MO: I do remember having to rush through music making.. like making a tune
overnight cuz of a tight release date. We were really organized back
then... everybody had a time to call Sound Barrier [former Renaissance
Headquarters] and stuff. The board was closed during certain hours for
only REN members.
We also had a monthly meeting at JR computer world downtown...
GD: When did those meetings stop?
MO: Those meetings stopped when we started doing Kaeon II... actually,
after we started doing Kaeon II. We all brought out ideas for Kaeon II
and it was starting to progress.. then.. we dropped Kaeon II and
started to do Zone 66.
GD: Who was in charge of letting in new members, such as Nemesis,
Leviathan, and Ryan Cramer?
MO: Well, Renaissance has always been a democracy. You see to get in
Renaissance one has to be voted in by all the current members. Each
member, if he wishes, gets to ask the applicant questions and such, and
can reject an applicant based on any reason.
So, you see, as Renaissance gets bigger, that's what we don't want by
the way, its harder and harder for a person to join, and we only want
the very best in Renaissance anyhow.
Also, music applicants are voted in by the music guys, and coders are
voted in by the coders.
GD: That sounds like a good system. So there is no true "Leader" of the
group?
MO: Well, leaders? No, but the 3 original REN members (Mosaic, C.C.Catch,
and Daredevil) do most of the organizing and stuff, like sites,
business, etc.
As of now I'm reorganizing Renaissance!
GD: What do you hope to see Ren accomplish in the near future?
MO: Well, I'm reorganizing Ren, we may not ever be where we once were, but
we'll do the best to accomplish more. For the future, I expect to get
Renaissance members into an organization were we produce music for
games and such...
GD: So, no follow-up demo to Amnesia? :(
MO: Well.. we'll see. Most Ren members are in collage and busy, so we'll
have to wait a while till the coders get free and start doing
something, then maybe we'll do another demo. But as for demos.. not for
now.
GD: How important is the music aspect of Renaissance?
MO: Renaissance has always been a music based group. We wrote and released
the first 8 channel multitracker.. and the first multitrack FM+digital
tracker, so we've been working on music for a long time now, and each
of us has gained experience.
We've always relied on music to sort of stay ahead.. that as well as
innovative coding by Tran and Daredevil.
[Editor's Note: "first 8 channel multitracker" is a reference to
Composer 669. "first multitrack FM+digital tracker" refers to CDFM
which I believe was never publicly released.]
GD: Well, let's talk about NAID for a bit. First, congratulations for
placing 4th in the music compo..
MO: Thank you...
GD: Did you have any idea that your song would do well?
MO: Well, I didn't think i was gonna get placed, mainly because my songs
are always different from that regularly tracked by other people..
GD: I think that's specifically why your song stood out. Out of nearly
sixty songs, yours was one of a very unique but defined style..
MO: Thank you... I wanted to do something different for NAID.. I didn't
really care about being placed.. I just wanted to show people that
different music doesn't mean bad music.. and it doesn't have to be
known to be a winner.
I actually thought the judges would vote on crappy demo music, but
there were a lot of good tunes at NAID.
GD: I'm glad the judges did such a good job as they did..
MO: Yeah.. the judges did a great job; they chose winners from many
different types of music.
GD: Do you have any music theory training?
MO: Nah, not really, except for 4 years of looking and peeking into mods =)
And a little bit of books and such.
GD: Do you listen to a lot of tracked music that's released today? If so,
which composers do you like?
MO: Yeah, I like Basehead's great mix of jazz, Necros's jungle shit =),
Maelcum's hardcore techno...
I really don't listen to a lot of tracked music today, I rather listen
to the 4 channel mods from years ago.. I mean, the mods today sound all
the same, and that's my feelings exactly. I mean its like a guitar
through the whole tune, etc.. =)
I think mods today are too similar.. when I look at the old mods, they
have a uniqueness to almost each.. now, with all these channels, there
is no uniqueness except for a few.
GD: What different tracker programs have you used?
MO: I used many trackers: I used modedit (actually I tried modedit a long
time ago), then I used Scream Tracker, I used CDFM, I used composer
669, I used MMEDIT, Tetra...
GD: Of those, which is your favorite?
MO: Scream tracker 3 is my favorite.
GD: Why is that?
MO: I was used to the Scream Tracker interface, since I made most of my
songs on that starting 5 years back.
ST3 is cool... I like the interface... it was easy to learn.
GD: Do you make a lot of your own samples?
MO: No, I don't make a lot of my own samples. I'm using an Akai now to edit
and sample, then just sampling to the gus...
There are so many good samples out there! If you think about it, when
you make your own samples, most people get it off CDs and its somebody
else's samples anyway.. right?
So all these sample crazy people who think its lame to use other
peoples samples, all I have to say is: You're lame too, cuz you ARE
USING somebody else's samples! =) Besides, if ANDY [Necros] can do it,
then I can do it too =) ehehe...
GD: Do you intend to go to NAID 96?
MO: Well, NAID 96... quite possibly!
GD: What kind of professionally-recorded music do you listen to?
MO: Well, I used to DJ hiphop and Raggae, until I started flunking college
because of going to dj these parties.
I still do go to a lot of parties and I love raggae and hiphop still...
but I also listen to stuff like the lion king.. enigma, classical, and
jazz...
GD: Are you still in college now? Or are you working? Or neither?
MO: I am in the university of St. John's and I work in a video store =)
yippy =)...
GD: Hey, whatever gets you by. :)
MO: This is a long interview =) You planning on writing a book? haha
GD: Maybe I will. But if I want it to sell a lot of copies, I'd have to ask
you your opinions about the OJ trial. :)
MO: If you do write a book, I want 2% ahaha=)
GD: Ok, anyway... Is there anyone who you would like to say hello to?
MO: Yes... I would like to say hello to MCgarret Genesis (been sticking
with Renaissance ever since the beginning, he's our Euro coordinator,
and mad flight as well), and if it goes far enough, Fabulous Furlough
and his snes programming, and to my good bud CC and to TRAN =)
GD: Isn't Tran working as a janitor at European demoparties or something?
MO: Haha.. nah, see, let me give you the scoop on Tran. Tran is really not
that bad of a guy, we just sorta made him into an evil man that he
believes he is. =)
GD: Ah. You've corrupted him? Great! "Demo coder goes insane in New York,
hundreds injured. Details at eleven"
MO: Eh?
GD: Allright, well I figure I've wasted enough of your time and mine for now
:) Anything else you'd like to say before we leave?
MO: My favorite movie is Forest Gump!
GD: I've never seen it. :( Anyway, thanks for doing this interview!
MO: Is that it? I think you've tortured me enough =).. ok later man! =)
===[Music]==[Review of Netmusik 1]==[GraveDigger]==============================
Netmusik is a new digital music newsletter being produced by Saint Vitus
(robe0041@gold.tc.umn.edu). It offers a different perspective of the music
scene, providing information on the aspects of the outside music world.
It provides a small but nice selection of articles, holding true to what
the editor told me when I asked if I could submit articles to his
newsletter: "I want articles that will inform, not just take up space."
(paraphrased)
Included in the articles are discussions on sampling and copyright laws;
something that every musician should be aware of. A discussion of an ordeal
involving the rap group "The Fat Boys" is included.
Saint Vitus has a nice writing style. His use of one- or two-sentence
paragraphs effectively breaks up the monotony of a long article. This simple
but rarely used technique can make an article easier to read, and when
articles are easier to read, it usually means that more people will read
them.
Layout-wise, it could use a bit of work. I've never been a fan of numbering
articles in a newsletter. Particularly for the editor, it is frustrating to
insert articles, which would require changing all of the numbers. Also,
large ascii article headers are used in place of article borders. Both
separators might give a nicer appearance.
There are plans to create a WorldWideWeb page to advertise this newsletter.
This should be happening in a "few weeks," according to S.V. himself.
Another issue was due to be released on June 17, but I have not seen it
yet. I'm sure this new issue will have more interesting information within,
and if you have the ability to, you should grab a copy and check it out.
Netmusik is uploaded to ftp.cdrom.com /pub/demos/news/netmusik.001 and is
available on IRC for dcc file transfer.
All in all, Netmusik 1 is a nice first issue, and hopefully it will continue
to produce quality information of interest to net musicians.
-Brett Neely gd@ftp.cdrom.com
===[Music]==[Tracking Tips V: Melody Variations I]==[GraveDigger]=============
You can create interesting melody lines by coming up with a short melody
line and using variations of it in combination with the original. There are
a few ways to vary your melody patterns:
1 - Reversal. Take your melody and reverse it. Start from the end and work
your way to the beginning again. Example:
Before: After:
| Channel 1 | | Channel 1 |
|C-4 01 64 ...| |G-4 01 64 ...|
|D-4 01 64 ...| |... .. .. ...|
|E-4 01 64 ...| |E-4 01 64 ...|
|... .. .. ...| |D-4 01 64....|
|G-4 01 64 ...| |C-4 01 64 ...|
This is also effective for creating a call-response type of melody.
2 - Note removal. Take your melody, rewrite it, and try removing a note from
the original melody. This will create a noticeable gap in the melody line
and will be catchy. It also helps break the monotony of a piece.
Before: After:
| Channel 1 | | Channel 1 |
|C-4 01 64 ...| |C-4 01 64 ...|
|D-4 01 64 ...| |D-4 01 64 ...|
|E-4 01 64 ...| |... .. .. ...|
|... .. .. ...| |... .. ......|
|G-4 01 64 ...| |G-4 01 64 ...|
I would suggest using the two example melodies in a sequence. Put the
original melody first, and follow it with the modified melody line.
3 - Octave jumping. This is similar to the note removal technique, but
instead of removing notes, you are raising or lowering a note's octave.
Before: After:
| Channel 1 | | Channel 1 |
|C-4 01 64 ...| |C-5 01 64 ...| <-- raised octave
|D-4 01 64 ...| |D-4 01 64 ...|
|E-4 01 64 ...| |E-4 01 64 ...|
|... .. .. ...| |... .. ......|
|G-4 01 64 ...| |G-4 01 64 ...|
Keep in mind that tracker programs, in order to raise a note value, will
play the sample at a faster speed, and thus short samples will be cut off
more quickly at a higher octave.
Be sure to catch the next Tracking Tips column for Part II of "Melody
Variations."
-Brett Neely gd@ftp.cdrom.com
===[Music]==[Review of Imphobia 10 Music]==[GraveDigger]=======================
Imphobia 10 contains four user-selectable music modules, all of which are
4-channel and 8-channel MODs. They are selectable within Imphobia by
pressing F1-F4. The screen will fade out, the new song will be loaded, and
the screen will fade back in again. I guess I don't know why it's designed
like that.
With four excellent songs from musicians such as The REW, Claws, NHP, and
Scorpik, issue #10 of Imphobia is much more than a diskmag. It is a
complete experience. The four songs each create a different mood, and it is
up to the user to decide.
The first song is called "Late Visit" and is written by Scorpik. Written on
an Amiga, this 4-channel song offers a chilling atmosphere with a very
effective rhythm. The piano melody is echoed, giving it a unique depth
which is sometimes difficult in four channels of music. Some of the string
chord transitions are not very smooth, and perhaps portamento or offset
effects could have been used.
The song also has a portamentoed bassline in certain sections, and a mumbled
voice sample. It works well as a background song; not being very dominant.
Next song in Imphobia is The REW's "Midnight Rhumba." This song is the only
8-channel song in the mag this time around. A little more upbeat than the
first song, it has a nice chord change. Also introduced early in the song
is a vibrato-heavy lead. A nice drum fill precedes the second lead section.
The third lead section is brilliant in its use of chord and lead
transitions.
The songs use of a quarter-note-dotted and eighth-note feel throughout
makes it a solid composition. It has some nice sound effects apart from the
lead, chords, bass, and drums, which help to give it a unique personality.
The next tune is called "Stolen Data" and was written by NHP.
Unfortunately, it sounds a lot like one of the 4-channel tunes from
Imphobia 9. It starts out in a 48-channel rhythm, accented by the drum
line. Unfortunately, some of the looped samples give away their
imperfections within the song, and it is a minor distraction, particularly
with the lead bell-like sample. This song makes a nice transition from 6/8
time to 4/4 time, and slows down at the same time.
The use of different instruments as the lead in the second section provides
a nice call-and-response interlude. The chord changes are smooth and
provide for a nice accompaniment.
The last song, my personal favorite, is called "Out of control" by Clawz.
This 4-channel song is very mellow with chords fading in and out over a
gently pulsing bassline. The drum beat soon follows; a very clever 32-row
repeating pattern, all within one channel. When appropriate, the drum beat
is taken away, to reveal a very ambient lead and chord accompaniment.
This song is perfect in every way: from the mood that it creates, to the
data within. The samples work with each other to create a smooth song; just
right for Imphobia background music. In its mostly minor chord execution,
it provides the right surface notes while placing a memorable lead within
your ears.
All of the music in Imphobia 10 is of very high quality, and is effective
for its purpose.
-Brett Neely gd@ftp.cdrom.com
===[Subscribing]===============================================================
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===[Closing]===================================================================
For questions and comments, you can contact us at:
Snowman | r3cgm@ftp.cdrom.com - general stuff, o1 + HNews newsletters
GraveDigger | gd@ftp.cdrom.com - music reviews, #trax, TraxWeekly
Trixter | trixter@ftp.cdrom.com - code, newsgroups, file permissions
Jeff | jeff@ftp.cdrom.com - unusual stuff, WWW, NAID96 organizer
Dan Wright | dmw@inca.gate.net - Freedom CD
===============================================================================
