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Demo News 074
Start.of.DemoNews.074=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
______/\___________________________
DemoNews Issue #74 \____ \ ________ _ _ ______ \
December 11, 1994 -- December 17, 1994 / | \ _) \ \_/ \ | \
/ | \ \ | \ | \
DemoNews is a weekly publication for \_____ /_______/___| /________/
the demo scene. It is produced at the ===\_____/============|____/==========
Internet FTP site ftp.eng.ufl.edu __ ________________ ___ /\_______
(aka HORNET). This newsletter focuses / \| \ ________ | \/ ______/
on many aspects of demos and demo- / \ \ _) \ | \______ \
making. Everyone is welcomed to / \ \ /~\ \ / \
contribute articles, rumors, and \____\_____/_______/_________/________/
advertisements. ==============================[+tZ^]===
<< Christopher G. Mann [Snowman/HORNET] - r3cgm@dax.cc.uakron.edu >>
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
SIZE: 77,744 SUBSCRIBERS: Last week: 804 This week: 921 Change: +117
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Section 1.......Standard Information --> Who Are We?
Section 2....................General --> General Comments by Snowman
Interview with Vic/AcmE
Duplicate Uploads
Section 3..................Editorial --> A Defence of Demoscene
Section 4..................Partyline --> The Making of NAID / Apraxia
Section 5................New Uploads --> New Files for the Week
Section 6...........Musicians Corner --> Interview with C.C.Catch/Ren
Review of Scream Tracker 3.2
Section 7..............Coders Corner --> Where is Denthor?
Section 8.............Artists Corner --> Review of Autodesk Animator Pro
Section 9.............Advertisements --> PSMuzakDisk
Purple (Diskmag - Contrast)
Data Connection BBS
Section 10..............Miscellaneous --> General Comments by Snowman
Section 11...........Closing Comments --> Quote for the Week
==============================================================================
((Section 1...Standard Information))
==============================================================================
"HORNET" is the name of an FTP site on the internet. It is a place where
people upload and download files. However, HORNET has grown much larger
since it was first created 2.5 years ago by Dan Wright. Now HORNET
releases a weekly newsletter called DemoNews, and is starting to offer other
services. HORNET specializes in the "demo scene", and files that are re-
lated to demos, coding, music, or graphics are welcome.
Site Name : HORNET
Address : hornet.eng.ufl.edu (128.227.116.7)
Location : Florida, USA
System E-Mail : dmw@eng.ufl.edu
<There are currently 9 active demo-operators for this site>
/ Christopher G. Mann -- COORDINATOR -- r3cgm@dax.cc.uakron.edu \
|Jeff (White Noise) WEBMASTER | MUSICOP Ryan Cramer|
|Kim Davies DNDISTRO | CODEOP Grant Smith (Denthor)|
|Mike DREVIEW | CREVIEW David Thornley (Metal)|
|Brenton Swart (Zenith) DREVIEW | ARTOP Stony|
\ /
<There are currently 7 other FTP sites that mirror HORNET>
/ \
|FTP Name IP Address Country Base Directory |
|-------------------- -------------- --------- --------------------|
|ftp.uwp.edu 131.210.1.4 USA /pub/msdos/demos |
|*ftp.luth.se 130.240.18.2 SWEDEN /pub/msdos/demos |
|ftp.sun.ac.za 146.232.212.21 S. AFRICA /pub/msdos/demos |
|ftp.uni-erlangen.de 131.188.2.43 GERMANY ?? |
|ftp.uni-paderborn.de 131.234.10.42 GERMANY /pub/msdos/demos |
|ftp.cdrom.com 192.216.191.11 USA /pub/demos |
|freedom.wit.com 144.92.88.30 USA /systems/ibmpc/demos|
\ /
*Only site that mirrors the /incoming directory
[SUBSCRIBING TO DEMONEWS]
You can subscribe to this newsletter by mailing listserver@oliver.sun.ac.za
and putting "subscribe demuan-list your_real_name" in your message.
The listserver is what sends out this newsletter every SUNDAY morning.
kimba@it.com.au is the keeper of the listserver. If you have any questions
about subscribing to DemoNews, write to him.
For those who use the GUI environment check out our DN.HMTL in the
/demos/news directory. The URL is ftp://ftp.eng.ufl.edu/demos/news/DN.HTML
==============================================================================
((Section 2...General))
==============================================================================
(General Comments by Snowman)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What a week! This issue of DemoNews took almost my entire Saturday to put
together, and we have a lot of great articles for your reading enjoyment.
This week, I lost contact with Denthor. His account has bounced mail since
last Monday, and I have no idea what is up. If anyone knows what the deal
is, please let me know.
On Monday night, I totally lost the ability to access HORNET. It appears as
though the official system administrator at the University of Florida (where
HORNET is at) saw lots of new people logging into the dmw (Demo maintainer)
account. However, those were just the people that I have asked to help out
with HORNET and did not have any malicious intent. I only discovered that
this was the reason on Wednesday. Until that point, Dan and I had thought
that someone might have cracked into the account and changed the passwords.
While the situation has been resolved, it did remind me of the potential
danger in allowing so many people access to HORNET. As a result, security
is much more strict and very few people can now get into the Demo Maintainer
account.
On a side note, has anyone heard from Otto Chrons in a while? It used to be
that at least one new version of DMP would be released each week. Now I
think its been several months. If have any information, please let me know.
I am heading into exam week here at the University of Akron, so next week's
DemoNews might be a bit skimpy. Ryan's school schedule is running parallel
to mine, so I'm hoping we can get a few articles from other sources.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Interview with Vic/AcmE by Snowman)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This week, I have been fortunate enough to get an interview with Vic/AcmE.
We had a bit of difficulty in deciding a time when we could both be online.
Vic lives in The Netherlands and is 8 hours ahead of me. Despite all of
the difficulties, I am pleased with how things turned out.
There are two factors making this interview a bit odd. First, I am heading
into exam week, and the stress is causing me to behave a bit strangely.
Second, it was already 23:25 (for Vic) when we STARTED the interview. He
had just finished writing his article for Imphobia 9 and was a little tired.
If I had given this interview to Ryan Cramer to proof ahead of time, he
would likely have told me to cut out a few parts. So if you are a true
'professional' and would find a silly interview beneath you, then stop
reading about halfway through.
SM = Christopher G. Mann - [Snowman/HORNET] - r3cgm@dax.cc.uakron.edu
VC = Victor Van Vlaardingen - [Vic/AcmE] - v932546@si.hhs.nl
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[start of interview: December 8, 1994, 22:25GMT]
SM: Hello, how are you doing?
VC: Hello, and I'm doing, great. Especially now, when talking to someone
at the other side of the earth; LIVE!
SM: Yes, I believe that you are 8 hours ahead of me. But, on with the
interview... First, how did AcmE form and who are its current members?
VC: Well, at about two years ago, a coder and designer/graphician came
together and thought it would be a cool idea to form a demo group. Then
they made a little intro called AcmE. They asked for some people to
join them since they were with only two men.
When I read this text, I was just a beginning musician, but I had the
guts to deliver a module to them. They thought it wasn't THAT GOOD,
but they really needed a musician. So, when time passes, everyone
became better and better.
Then we made another intro for the Bizarre-party here in holland. At
the party, we met a lot of people, and we also ran into a coder named
Laserdance. He competed also in the intro-compo, and became second
after us. We thought he was kind of cool and so wo asked him to join
forces with us. He was honored to do so. By that time we were a group
of 5, so I just forgot to mention one person: MailMan. He joined us in
the earlier days, before the party. He is a graphician.
I think I also should mention the name of PolyTracker's coder:
LoneRanger. He was, together with Aap, one of the two who started
AcmE.
Later we also met SimStim and Ricochet, respectively a coder and a
graphician. So We had a complete demo group. Unfortunately Laserdance
stepped out of acme lately, so that leaves us with euhm, 7 people (did
I count that correctly).
SM: I lost count. :) What other productions have you done in the past two
years?
VC: Well, here's a list: Mental Masturbation, Blue Steel demo, D.O.A.,
Planet Earth intro and the last but certainly not least: Peace. Also,
we have released an adlib player. (An adjusted SADT-player, originally
coded by S!P). And I've released some modules. Maybe the most known
one is Clairvoyence which we made a little production of. I think
that's about it.
SM: Well, I loved the song in Clair (Clairvoyence). If I recall correctly,
there was mention in the intro that you had used AcmE's own tracker and
that some of the effects were a bit odd. Would you elaborate on that?
VC: Well, some effects we use can only be used on the GUS. Like reverse
play, bilooped samples, 16-bit. Now I know that some of those CAN be
done on a SB(Pro), but it would give a lot of problems, like it would
need a lot of CPU-time. So, since the GUS is a very fast soundcard,
and since it has 32 channels, it's simply the best card to make music
with. SB is not a standard for us anymore. Therefore we decided to
implement effects that cannot easily be supported by any other
soundcard.
SM: Now, I was very impressed with your GUS support in your productions,
and it seems that your group has a good tracker to work with. Why then
did you release an Adlib player?
VC: AH!, that was in the OLD days, when the GUS was only a dream. We all
had a SB(Pro) and we didn't know any better. AND, we needed an adlib
player for a little BBS-intro for BLue Steel, our former HQ.
SM: Do all members of AcmE live in the Netherlands?
VC: Hm, well all the current members do. We have had a member in
South-Africa (a graphician), but we kinda lost contact with him, and it
was too difficult to discuss the design of a demo with him, so he
stepped out of AcmE.
SM: How do you plan and design a demo in AcmE?
VC: Well, all the former demos have been designed mostly by Aap. He's our
main designer. In those former days, everything was a bit messy: There
was a design paper, but it never ended the way we wanted to. I always
made a song in advance and the rest of the group adjusted the demo to
it.
Now we thought that that was not good enough for AcmE, so now, for the
Party '94, we wanted to do it differently. First we made the design
(for THE Party) on paper. Then all the effect we could think of are
discussed with the coders. Some effects couldn't be done, because they
simply couldn't be done (Sounds like the logic of Spock), but with the
rest, that could be made, we finished the design of the demo.
Then when all the effects are made, the coders link them together and
give them to me. Then I start to make some music, that fits with the
demo. We thought that this is the best way of making a demo. And
hopefully we'll see that when we're at the party!
SM: I'd like to talk about the party in a second. But first I wanted to
ask you: what is your official and un-official role in AcmE?
VC: Uhm, Official: Musician. Unofficial: Well, lately I start to do some
PR and design because Aap is getting busier all the time. But these
items are no real big roles in AcmE. Aap and I simply discuss thing
about the demo and other things like getting t-shirts for The Party and
stuff.
SM: OK, you've hinted about the party several times now. :) What does
AcmE have planned?
VC: Ah, we're going to compete with a demo and all the usual stuff like
music and graphix. And that's about it I guess.
SM: How close are you to finishing up the demo?
VC: HAHAHA, We're not even a little close. I haven't started on making
ANYTHING for the demo yet. I just hope it doesn't end up like DOA.
SM: Mabey some last minute coding at the party itself? :) What other
groups does AcmE have ties with?
VC: euhm, well, we're going to release a chart-mag together with Hypnosis.
This is going to be COOL! And look at what I've written here CHARTS!
No complete stories, just CHART, with VERY cool graphix and VERY cool
music! The graphics and music will be done by someone else in every
issue. People like PL and Zodiak have already applied to do some stuff.
SM: This is a bit off the subject, but how has the weather been lately? (I
might not put this in the interview, but I'm trying to think of some
odd attention-getting things. :))
VC: (you're absolutely right. People need to read some funny things so now
and then.)
The weather is, how shall we say that in a decent way: showers, logs
are breaking off the trees, (serious, a couple of meters away from my
home) and elephants flying through the air. The weather SUCKS! (Autumn
I guess...)
SM: What do you think about the demo scene in the USA? (this is not to be
a slam-fest) :)
VC: yeah, wel, uhm, aah, wel, Tran is pretty cool, and you have some cool
musicians, but for the size of the states, you may have some more
talent. Don't you agree?
SM: Yes. It often frustrates me that, for as large as the USA is, that
there isn't more action. I have been at a loss for sometime as to why
this is...
SM: Hmmm, when I think Netherlands, I picture windmills and tulips...
VC: Ahm, you're right, they do exist here. But can you imagine a bus full
with Hollanders arriving at the party with their tulips and wooden
shoes?
SM: Do you celebrate Christmas?
VC: Me personally?
SM: No, people in the Netherlands...
VC: Jep, we do. And every year we do it more. Do you know "Sinterklaas?" or
your version Santa Claus?
SM: Yes, I am familiar with the gentleman you refer to.
VC: oke, well, that used to be our december partyday (the 5th). But he's
fading away now, and christmas is getting more and more important for
all the people around here. They find it more fun, but don't ask me
why...
SM: Hmm. I seem to remember childhood stories of how you either get candy
or a piece of coal in your wooden shoes at Christmas, depending on how
you behaved during the year. Which do you think you will get this
year?
VC: Well, my parents are watching this now, so I will not answer the
question.
SM: :) Hello Mr. and Mrs. Vic.
VC: hello back.
SM: This conversation is becoming more and more odd, but should make for
some good reading in DemoNews... :)
VC: Think so, when DemoNews is become odd as well, I think more people will
read it and subscribe themselves to receive it every Sunday morning.
SM: I just checked a little while ago, and found that we are up more than
105 subscribers since last Saturday! Does anybody talk about DemoNews
in the Netherlands?
VC: Well, We in the demo scene definitely do. When I talk with Aap on
sunday, he always mentions something cool in DemoNews. And I will talk
about it the with The Rew, and The Rew talks about it with... etc. Its
like a rabbit on the loose...
SM: REW asked me to do an article for Imphobia. Its only half done, and
I'm supposed to have it to him by the end of this week...
Lately, there has been a lot of negative attention on HORNET for
removing the ANSI from the site. What do you personally think about
the ANSI scene?
VC: hmm, IS THERE AN ANSI SCENE? I know some people that are dedicated to
making ansi's but I believe I only know two people who do so...
SM: Do you think that ANSI should be considered part of the demo scene as a
whole?
VC: Well, In demo's you do not see ansies, normally spoken that is, but
where DO you see ansi's: in BBS's. My opinion is to make it a bbs
scene or something. Demos are about coding, and art (oops, caught
myself, ansi is a kind of art). Was there a big attention to the ansi
area at HORNET?
SM: Well, we used to get quite a bit of ANSI uploaded. However, I did a
check to see how much room it was eating up. I think it was in the
neighborhood of 70 megs. We only have 340 to work with, and we were
running out of space quite a bit. In addition, people kept making new
directories under /incoming/ansi and putting hard-to-remove files in
there. These two factors led me to decide to remove it. I am starting
to regret that decision. :(
VC: Hm, wel, if there is so much attention to the ansi scene/site, then
maybe you should re-open it and just delete all the ansi's older then
let's say 4 weeks. I guess everyone who wants to see them, has them,
and they will be happy as well. You have to serve the customers,
right...
SM: Yes, I guess. Re-instating limited-term ANSI on HORNET is a
possibility. Hmmm... Did you have anything to do with the
coding/design in Blue Steel?
VC: EUhm, yeah, I made an adlib tune.
SM: I was wondering. There was one section at the end that had the
spinning dot-sphere. It seemed as though that might have been put in
there just because the music still had more to go. Is this true?
VC: wait a sec, parents just leaving, GOD, They were making we CRAZY!!!!!!!
SM: ok
VC: Wait, you mean the demo. We've also made this bbs-intro I've already
mentioned before. That's what the adlib shit was there for. The music
for Blue Steel the demo was of course a module. And yes, The meaning
of the end at the demo, was indeed to let the people think it's over,
but then it wasn't. We got more of those reactions, and people liked
it...
SM: Don't get me wrong. I really liked the effect that the demo had. It
was very relaxing. I have to ask though, where did you get those bird
samples from the beginning of the song?
VC: let me think.. I believe I ripped it out of a patch, but that might
just be not true. It could be a sample I got from Aap, but I didn't
make it myself, not this one :-(
SM: Hmmm... Do you have any pets?
VC: Jep, I have two hamsters; A male and..... female. They are currently
in production again... Last nest contained 12 little ugly hamsters. So
now and then I simply have to separate them, 'coz, if I don't the house
will be stamped with hamsters! But, I adore them, I think they are the
sweetest beings on the earth.
SM: I used to have several hamsters. However, they all died. Have you
ever considered getting the female fixed so she can't breed?
VC: Yeah I have, but first of all, I think that is really an evil thing to
do. Would YOU like to be CASTRATED if you didn't want it to? Second, I
love those ugly young hammies as well...
SM: Well, I would think that fixing the female would be easier than trying
to convince the male to use birth control...
VC: Yeah, I tried that, he wouldn't listen to me, but as I said, I don't
mind, and I have an address where I can leave the new hamsters, so
that's no problem for me...
SM: While we are talking about animals: In the USA, we have 'hunting
season' where people go out with shotguns and blow away little fluffy
dear. Do you have a similar thing in the Netherlands?
VC: Hm, I think there are people who do so, but we do not have a particular
season for it. Except now with christmas; there are hundreds of
rabbits living here in the area, and they are shot for.... DINNER!!
SM: How old are you and are you in school?
VC: I am 19 and I study "informatica", computer programming. I don't know
the word for that in english.
SM: networking?
VC: ehm, well, Not really networking, that's what The Rew does, I make
programs like databases for companies. Pl
[and with a talk daemon crash, Vic was gone...]
[end of interview: December 8, 1994, 23:40GMT]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Duplicate Uploads by Ryan Cramer)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lots of people have been re-uploading files in the /incoming/music
directory on hornet that were uploaded in previous weeks. Please stop
uploading duplicates. If a file that you have put into the incoming
directory is not there, it has been moved to its proper directory. You can
always tell where files have been moved to by checking the latest issue of
DemoNews. There is no reason to put it back on the ftp site! :)
If you have any questions, feel free to send me email as I manage the
music directories on hornet.
Thanks,
Ryan Cramer
rcramer1@osf1.gmu.edu
==============================================================================
((Section 3...Editorial)) <BY> Christopher G. Mann (Snowman)
==============================================================================
(A Defense of Demoscene)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In 1595, Sir Philip Sidney published "The Defence of Poesy." At the time,
poetry had been considered by many to be a wasteful activity. The Norton
Anthology of English Literature states "In this long essay Sidney
systematically defends poetry (his term for all imaginative literature)
against its attackers and, in the process, greatly exalts the role of the
poet and the moral value of poetry."
In a similar vain, I here attempt to justify why the demo scene is a
legitimate activity. Below I present five major advantages.
Demo groups, a fundamental structure in the demo world, are comprised of
four major classifications of people: coders, musicians, artists, and
organizers. As in the business environment, each member has a specific
role and each must perform their own duties for the benefit of the group.
Team cooperation is a skill that most people must acquire when entering the
job market, and demo groups provide experience in this.
Achieving success in the demo scene generally requires years of work. Even
if an individual is extremely talented in one of the four major areas
aforementioned, it still takes a great deal of time to learn how to use the
tools needed. Mozart, The Beetles, or even Jimmy Hendrix would be hard
pressed to sit down in front of Fast Tracker ][ and compose a module.
Similarly, Michelangelo would be lost with a ray tracer, and da Vinci would
probably cut off one of the mouse buttons before learning how to utilize
the intricacies of Corel Draw. There is a certain amount of supplementary
knowledge required about "how things work" before an individual can become
productive. That extra knowledge, gained in the demo scene, can influence
people to produce art like no other.
On a more financially-aware level, the demo scene often leads to commercial
opportunities. Take for example Future Crew or Triton; both produced
multimedia advertisements for well known companies. Skills learned in the
demo scene are often directly applicable to the business environment. Even
if an individual is hired for a job without listing the "demo scene" as a
qualification, the experience that person has gained will almost certainly
complement their production and make them a more valued employee.
Even being aware of the demo scene's existence generally indicates that an
individual has learned a fair amount about computers. Understanding the
basic components of a computer, its operating system, and simple terminal
commands are all required just to obtain a demo. Most people in the scene
have more than a passing knowledge of computers, and in fact, many go on to
learn a frightening amount about their respective areas. One aspect of
this relates back to the team-environment mentioned earlier: even if an
individual does not have time to learn something they need, there will
always be other people and contacts who can provide the information. In
that respect, the demo scene is a vast collection of people sharing
knowledge.
Perhaps the best "real world" advantage of the demo scene is that it does,
in effect, allow one to understand the "real world." For the most part,
people in the scene can not function as well when limited to contact only
with their own section of Earth. With increasing communications
technology, it is fairly easy to chat or mail someone on the other side of
the world. This also means that a lot of social customs and personal
opinions, once considered solid and universal foundations, are forever
thought of differently. More than knowledge, skills, or talent, this can
effect who a person IS for the rest of their life.
In summary, participating in the demo scene is an activity that should be
highly encouraged. Now at least, when parents criticize their sons and
daughters for spending so much time in front of the computer, those sons and
daughters can present some concrete justification to their parents. For
those who no longer live with their parents, this essay may act as sort of a
warm reassurance that their time spent is worthwhile. The demo scene is an
international family of people striving to make their lives better, and I for
one am happy to be a part.
-Christopher G. Mann (Snowman) December 10, 1994
==============================================================================
((Section 4...Partyline))
==============================================================================
The Making of NAID / Apraxia by: William Le (The Veritech Knight)
and Etienne Caron (Mr. Khan)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greetz, William here. Christopher G. asked me to write a little
article so that Everyone could know a bit more about the NAID
team and how the project got started.
Veritech Knight > Okay, we are now live. Joining us now is Mr. Khan,
the other Main organizer. Say hi to everyone.:)
Mr. Khan > Hi everybody. Well, here it is, our first public
address concerning the Naid / Apraxia demoparty.
Hmm... Well, how'bout explaining to everyone how
we got the idea?
VK >
Good idea. One sunny afternoon, we were all talking about ASM 94,
and how we wanted oh so much to go. But, still, for students on a
budget, things don't always work that way. Mr. Khan was looking for
some sort of good administration project, the usual projects being
volleyball competitions, trivia games and the like, in other words,
boring stuff. And then inspiration came : "A demoparty! God!
With all the stuff we have access to in this college, it would be...
it would be... it WILL be Awesome!!!"
We sat down the whole lot of us (Me,Khan and Eric(Midnight Sun)),
and tried to think of a name. Well we finally took out the ole'
dictionnary, threw it on the ground, and looked at the page that was
all crumpled up. We saw "Apraxia" (we were looking for something with
an X, but something non-killer like "X-terminator" :) ) , and the
definition is "State of total paralysis, where only the nervous
system keeps working.".
MK > Something like the perfect couch potato, if you will.
VK > In other words, "You're senses are still there but the body don't
work no more".
MK > So, VK, what should we add. I mean, was it all this simple?
VK > Hell no!
MK > Hell is right! I remember we were allways walking around the
school with the same question:
"Yeah, it WILL be a resounding success... If we get the school to
swallow it! Man! Think about it. We're gonna come up to them and
say : `Hi there Mr. Principal. Well, here's how it goes. We want
a place in your school for 1000 computer freaks, make 'em stay up
all night, play music and strange little computer programs on a
HUGE big screen, with a sound system that will be too loud, and
such other type of madness'.'
That'll take some heavy convincing man. Very heavy..."
Thus started... The paper chase.
VK > I'd like to point out, that to make this dream come true for all
of us organizers, we worked and *are* working really really hard.
You know, the"hey,-don't-I-have-an-exam-tommorow" type of work.
So be at the party and enjoy the results with us!!
MK > ..So after 2 months of parperwork, we had done it! They said yes.
Ok, we used every dirty trick in the book, but we even convinced
THEM that it would be hot!
VK > BTW, the main administrators for student activities are now
certified demo freaks. Thus answering an age old question. Yes, it
IS contagious. :)
MK > So, what else ya think people would like to know about? Hey! I
know, let's tell them about us. Imagine you're on the Tonight show.
I'm Dave, <But not as funny looking :) >. So tell us about yourself.
VK > Well, My passion for demos and the demo scene started during the
'92 year, when I met Eric (Midnight Sun, aka "Med", as in "Club Med",
but without the Club). The first demo I ever saw was Cronologia by
Cascada, and I was hooked from that day on. A few months later we
saw Future Crew's Unreal for the first time and we both got bit by
the "We-HAVE-to-go-to-assembly" bug. We both carried the dream into
our CEGEP school years (that's the two years before University here
in Quebec). Well since then, many demo-viewing filled nights have
past, and I must tap myself on the shoulder for being smart enough
to open a demo oriented board (-> getting allll the wonderfull demos
on my own computer is fun :> ).
So there ya go. Two certified demo freaks. Which reminds me, when we
first saw the "Dolby Surround" logo in FC's 2nd reality, we went out
and bought ourselves a dolby surround amp, and let me tell you folks
that we impressed quite a few people with it :>, plus, it'll be one
of the amps driving the sound for the NAID...
So, Dave :) , do tell us how you met your first demo :)
MK > Well, my process of addiction to demos was kinda special. I got
addicted, got out of it for 6 years, got a life :) and then came
back to it when I saw that getting a life was not all that fun. :>
First demo : C-64, music text display explaining rules of a game.
Man, that was cool. Then I saw my first scrollys, and that was
also fascinating... and after my sabatical, my next computer was
an Atari ST. By that time I was done for life. Got my PC last year,
I still love it and always will. You have to understand, in our
neck of the woods, it was'nt always easy to get in touch with people
who had a similar interest. But new technologies arose, the BBS
scene in Montreal got bigger, and the rest will go down in history :>
Now, let's talk about NAID. Here goes : You all saw the text-file.
You all know what is about to happen. Yup, a big demo-party, right
over here on our side of that big Atlantic puddle. You might
actually wonder how we get to pull it off, seing that everyone
this year seems to be talking about organizing something like this.
Well people, the recipe is kinda simple, but hard to implement :
Convince your school, find tallented, dedicated and a professional
kind of team, and you're off.
We got both. Our school's computer students association is in on the
Naid, teachers and administrators of the school find in it something
totally new and exciting, in short, karma is on our side for now,
and it's way to late to stop :>
Well people, we sure hope we got your attention. This party is gonna
happen on the 15th and 16th of April 95, demofreaks or not, come in
great numbers and bask in the sheer glow of SUPPA DEMO MADNESS! :>
VK> Well that's it for the both of us.. one last thing before the
usual "too-many" greetz..
BE THERE AND DIE , OR BE NOWHERE AND CRY!
Don't forget to check the new infofile and contact us!
Da greetz:
from Mr. Khan: Med, Spelljammer, Struk, Deverox, Boggart,
Coluche, Francois dion, Robert Brien, Andree Bouchard,
Francois Boucha, and my mom. Hi Mom :>
from VK: Mdd!!, Mr. Khan :), The Judge, Snibbule!, TEI,
Mr. Brownstone, Black One, Malcolm X, Frugus Eggbeater
(the Barney killer), Mr. Mister, Coluche, Apenis <g>,
Struk, Deverox and the rest of the NAID team, all the
users on my board, and Star (xx). Quick "Hi"'s to
everyone who has allready showed an interest and emailed
me <Jackie,Berky,Jason,etc.,and Lily -> You got ticket
number 00001 :) >
Thanx go out to: CEM for making this possible, Christopher G. Mann, and
the whole scene for over 2 years of fun and more to come...
See ya at Da Party !
==============================================================================
((Section 5...New Uploads))
==============================================================================
FILENAME.EXT LOCATION SIZE DESCRIPTION
------------ ---------------- ---- -----------------------------------------
.-----------.
| --DEMOS-- | (all locations start with /pub/msdos/demos...)
`-----------'
1infect .zip /alpha/NEW 788 N-Factor presents 1st Infection (GUS)
ckykken .zip /alpha/NEW 393 Zuul Design presents Chikken
contrast.zip /alpha/NEW 923 Contrast by TFL-TDV (2nd at Wired '94)
cult .zip /alpha/NEW 91 Isch-Crew - The CULT Intro (1st Wired)
face_m12.zip /alpha/NEW 64 Face (Poor 2) - Majic 12 (GUS)
hn-surpr.zip /alpha/NEW 50 Hypernova presents - Wired Plasma
hn-voya .zip /alpha/NEW 425 Hypernova presents - Voyage (3rd Wired)
hyp-ptg .arj /alpha/NEW 175 Pentagram Intro (with source)
necronom.zip /alpha/NEW 1442 Imagine - Necronomicon (1st Wired)
once-lsd.zip /alpha/NEW 87 Laserdance/Acme presents Once (intro)
oncedemo.zip /alpha/NEW 324 Laserdance/Acme presents Once (demo)
orange12.zip /alpha/NEW 572 Orange scandisk (GUS)
santa .zip /alpha/NEW 13 Santa Claus is Comin' to Town! (Windows)
snowtro .zip /alpha/NEW 55 Snow by Natas of Lithium (C Source)
swapintr.zip /alpha/NEW 135 "A little polish intro."
te_dmo .zip /alpha/NEW 468 Twisted Existence Demo (SB,GUS)
tp4_inv .zip /alpha/NEW 777 Official Invitation to The Party 1994
wtnhouse.zip /alpha/NEW 363 Witan House (GUS) from Facts of Life
xmasmtb .zip /alpha/NEW 18 Many Titled Board BBS by Black Light
.-----------.
| --MUSIC-- | (all locations start with /pub/msdos/demos/music...)
`-----------'
surr_dec.zip /disks 361 Music from the Surrounders for 12/94
sbmix10 .zip /programs/mixers 9 SBMIX v1.0 - SoundBlaster Mixer
grind13 .zip /programs/players 1303 GRIND - Modplayer shows people dancing
scrmt32 .zip /programs/trackers 176 Scream Tracker 3.2 (read review below)
ovn-demo.zip /songs/dmf 261 Voyages by Ovan/Hypernova (3rd Wired)
ovn-offe.zip /songs/dmf 107 The Offense by Oven/Hypernova (1st Wired)
ovn-sovo.zip /songs/dmf 315 Sotto.Voce by Ovan/Hypernova (1st Wired)
acme-ch .zip /songs/mod 79 Digital Extacy by DiscoMan
as-quing.zip /songs/mod 202 Quin'z Forrest by The Orme (Wired'94)
bassline.zip /songs/mod 208 Bassline invasion by D.Dewever
ic_ambia.zip /songs/mod 96 Ambiance by BlackLion/ImpCda (Wired'94)
lostalon.zip /songs/mod 78 Lost Alone by Domino
ovl-maly.zip /songs/mod 256 Maly's Music (1st Place Amiga @ Wired)
quinorme.zip /songs/mod 205 Quinorme by Wired Party '94
various .zip /songs/mod 213 Various by Alexel (Wired Party)
aminpast.zip /songs/mtm 209 A Minute Past the... by Fortunato
defi-fis.zip /songs/mtm 246 Fisherman's Libido by quarex (12 chn)
2k-oprnd.zip /songs/s3m 262 Operand 12 by Karl
ambi2000.zip /songs/s3m 77 Beyond 2000 by KXMode/Ambiance
ambibasi.zip /songs/s3m 285 Basikal by KXMode/Ambiance
defi-can.zip /songs/s3m 167 Can't by Perisoft (16 chn)
defi-ir .zip /songs/s3m 71 Industrial Rage Re-Release by Zer0
defi-neo.zip /songs/s3m 30 Neonate by Ranger Rick
defi-sch.zip /songs/s3m 76 Simple Chaos by Zer0 (8 chn)
defi-vic.zip /songs/s3m 106 Victory by Perisoft (16 chn)
gertrud .zip /songs/s3m 144 Gertrud! by Avatar
gww .zip /songs/s3m 103 Gone with the Wind by Bodnar Gabor
internet.lzh /songs/s3m 183 Internet by Oxide/Valhalla
leave .zip /songs/s3m 186 Leave Me Alone by Null N. Nothing
linus .zip /songs/s3m 13 Linus & Lucy by Jeff Taylor
nf_ecout.zip /songs/s3m 295 Ecoutez by N-Factor (Wired'94)
np-goodb.zip /songs/s3m 64 How to say Goodbye by Neuropsychosis
peanut .zip /songs/s3m 28 Peanut by Pinion
torch .zip /songs/s3m 134 Torch by Null N. Nothing
traxxwd1.zip /songs/s3m 106 Follow Me by Blaze Runner (2nd @ Wired)
traxxwd2.zip /songs/s3m 191 Crusader by Blue Adonis (3rd @ Wired'94)
dreamsdz.zip /songs/xm 590 Dreams of Deez by Vogue/Triton
klf-unle.zip /songs/xm 193 Unleashed by Khyron/KLF
power .lzh /songs/xm 147 Power by Scott Idler (6 chn)
under .zip /songs/xm 194 Under the Sea by Vivid (16 chn)
zonedisr.zip /songs/xm 313 Zone Disruptor by Vogue/Triton
.----------.
| --CODE-- | (all locations start with /pub/msdos/demos/code...)
`----------'
un2pack2.zip /compress 23 Un2pack v2.0 (Anti-Pklite-Unpacker)
cfsource.zip /demosrc 146 Source for Copper Faked by the Faker
fakedemo.zip /demosrc 335 Source code for Fake Demo
wm-h_src.zip /demosrc 76 ASM source for ACiDween greeter
micropcx.zip /graph/images 2 ASM source for SMALL .pcx viewer
viewtga .zip /graph/images 12 View TGA by VLA
motionrd.zip /graph/scroll 30 Smooth verticle scroller by Patch
syn .zip /graph/tunnel 31 Dot Tunnel by Insane Creators
tut1new .zip /graph/tutor 16 Snowman's converted Demo Tutor p1 (C++)
tut2new .zip /graph/tutor 37 Snowman's converted Demo Tutor p2 (C++)
tut3new .zip /graph/tutor 37 Snowman's converted Demo Tutor p3 (C++)
vectball.zip /graph/vectorball 38 Vector Balls by Tumblin / BIM
vectbal2.zip /graph/vectorball 190 Vector Balls 2 by Tumblin & Rush / BIM
pm-11-94.zip /pmode 82 PMODE v3.06 and PMODE v.51 (November 94)
pmode307.zip /pmode 54 PMODE Kernel v3.07 (Bug-Fix version)
pmw102 .zip /pmode 53 PMODE/W For Watcom C/C++ v1.02
.----------.
| --ART--- | (all locations start with /pub/msdos/demos/...)
`----------'
spriv100.zip /utils 22 Spriter v1.00 good editor 4 sprits/icons
cyrout .zip /wired94 34 Lots of Lord Cyrix Gfx released at Wired
hc-ranma.zip /wired94 20 HC-Ranma - released at Wired 94'
nadia .zip /wired94 40 Nadia... - 2nd place at Wired 94'
robot .zip /wired94 74 Robot - 3rd place? at Wired 94'
sunsweat.zip /wired94 60 SunSweath - released at Wired94
tarzan .zip /wired94 44 Tarzan - 3rd place? at Wired 94'
ukko39 .zip /wired94 67 Ukko - 1st place at Wired 94'
.----------.
| --MISC-- | (all locations start with /pub/msdos/demos...)
`----------'
wired209.zip /diskmags 250 WiRED Online Magazine Issue #2.09
ibmcompo.zip /parties 4 IBM-FC-Accession present Warp Demo Comp
naid21 .nfo /parties 15 NAID Information Text v2.1
wrdbug .zip /parties 63 Wired 94 Official Intro (GUS/SB bugfix)
wrdrst .zip /parties 139 Wired 94 Results Demo by Antares
wrdrst2 .zip /parties 166 The REAL official Results to Wired 94'
wired94r.zip /parties 8 Wired 94 PartyReport by the Orme
==============================================================================
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((Section 6...Musicians Corner)) <BY> Ryan Cramer [Iguana/Renaissance]
==============================================================================
This week we've got an excellent music section consisting of an interview
with C.C.Catch from Renaissance and an extensive review of the new
ScreamTracker 3.2 which was released this week! The interview with
C.C.Catch starts out with the history of how I got to know him and a look
at the many productions which he has been involved in. The interview isn't
a really long one, as we were both limited on time, but I think you'll
find it to be some great reading! You'll also get to learn how Renaissance
started! :) The next article is an in-depth review of the new
ScreamTracker 3.2. If your a musician, or even if your not, be sure to
read it! Its got some really useful information and comments on this
nice update to the legendary ScreamTracker ]I[. Enjoy...
Ryan Cramer
Fairfax, Virginia, USA
George Mason University
[Iguana/Renaissance] Hornet Music Maintainer
Please send feedback to: rcramer1@osf1.gmu.edu
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| (__ | (__ | (__/ _` | _/ _| ' \
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INTERVIEW: C.C.Catch of Renaissance [Music Article 1 of 2]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Introduction
~~~~~~~~~~~~
This week, we have an interview with C.C.Catch of Renaissance! C.C. is one
of the most famous musicians in the entire PC demoscene, and he has been
since the very beginnings when some of the early Renaissance demos were
released. I know that many of the musicians in the scene today were very
inspired and influenced by his work, including myself. C.C.Catch is one of
the founding musicians in the demoscene and he's been involved with it
since the time when you could count the number of released demos with the
fingers on your right hand. :)
History
~~~~~~~
Amnesia was released about the same time that I bought my first soundcard
(an SBPro). Being pretty excited about my new soundcard, I called all of
the BBSs to try and find stuff to show it off. I downloaded a bunch of
MODs and CMF files and such. Eventually, I discovered demos. One of the
first ones I found was something called RBGDEMO2. I was totally amazed by
this demo and could not believe how incredible it was! I decided to call
the BBS that was listed in the ending screen for this demo. This BBS
turned out to be the former Renaissance WHQ called The Sound Barrier. Once
I got onto the Sound Barrier, I looked around for other productions from
this group called Renaissance. There was one huge demo called Amnesia. I
figured that if Amnesia was anywhere near as cool as RBGDEMO2, it would be
well worth the download and the long distance $$ that I was paying for
the call!
Amnesia
~~~~~~~
I watched Amnesia, and I was TOTALLY in AWE! I had no idea my computer was
capable of this sort of thing. I was most impressed by the music in the
demo by C.C.Catch and Mosaic. I will never forget the first time I watched
Amnesia... I had discovered a piece of artwork unlike any other.
The next day, I desperatly tried to call through to the Sound Barrier to
ask these people how the hell they did that! I sent messages to C.C.Catch,
Daredevil, Tran, and Mosaic telling them how cool I thought that demo was.
I got a really nice reply from C.C.Catch who seemed truly thrilled about
how much I liked his music. Mosaic apparently had already left Renaissance
at that time, so I could not talk to him there, but I tried!
The Sound Barrier
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Over the next few months, I kept in contact with C.C.Catch. I thought it
was pretty cool, talking to a celebrity such as him! I kept downloading
more of his music and really gained a lot of respect for his stuff. I
eventually decided that I wanted to learn how to get into this music, he
got me started. He gave me lots of valuable tips on how to track
music, and gave me tons of feedback on my first attempts at music. I had
no musical background at all and I got really frustrated with it, but he
kept me going. Daredevil also sent me some positive feedback and
constructive criticism. I would never have gotten started in music had it
not been for C.C.Catch and Daredevil.
C.C.Catch's Involvement in the Demoscene
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As a result, I'm very happy to do this interview with C.C.Catch. He has
probably been involved with more demo scene productions then any other
musician in the entire scene. ALL of his music is great, and he has always
paid a LOT of attention to detail in his music, it shows! C.C.Catch also
does work for computer games. He has done the music for two hit games
called Zone66 and One Must Fall which are distributed by Epic Megagames.
C.C. is also very versatile in the styles of music that he can do; his
style ranges from beautiful Chinese music to hard hitting techno songs,
and more! I look forward to hearing what he does in the future!
It would be impossible to print a complete discograpy of C.C.Catch's work
as he has done SO MUCH stuff, but a partial listing of the major productions
that he has done music for would include:
Partial Listing of Productions with Music by C.C.Catch
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- All early Renaissance productions (RBGDEMO, RBGDEMO2, TDEMO, YARDEMO, etc)
- Amnesia Megademo
- Zone66 game by Tran from Epic Megagames
- WorldCharts
- Imphobia (multiple issues)
- Epidemic Multigroup music disk
- TONS of individual releases including STMs, MODs, 669s, & MTMs
- Tran's HELL demo
- Renaissance's NothingOn music disk
- RMUZIK0 music disk
- Kaeon game by Tran
- DoWhackDo intro by WhiteShadow
- Daretro intro by Daredevil
- Epic Megagame's hit game called "One Must Fall"
...and thats just a PARTIAL listing!
Where to find C.C.Catch's music
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can find a FEW pieces of music by C.C.Catch at:
ftp.uwp.edu - /pub/msdos/demos/music/artists/cccatch
Also try Hornet for some demos that he's been involved in:
ftp.eng.ufl.edu - /pub/msdos/demos/groups/renaissance
The best resource for his music is Data Connection BBS where I think we
have just about every piece of music released by him. We also have all of
the demos, intros, and other productions that he has been involved with.
There is an advertisement for Data Connection in the advertisements
section of this DemoNews. Hope you enjoy the interview!
[start of interview: C.C.Catch / Renaissance]
CC = C.C.Catch (aka Kenny Chou) of Renaissance - cccatch@escape.com
RC = Ryan Cramer of Iguana/Renaissance - rcramer1@osf1.gmu.edu
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
RC: How old are you? Whats your current occupation and where are you
located?
CC: I'm 19 and in college. I goto that crappy Queens Community College
in New York. :)
RC: What equipment and software do you use for composing?
CC: I'm *still* using MMEdit, but I think that I will try both ST 3.2 and
FT2 in the future. There's more options in both of those (no offense
to StarScream). ;)
I get samples from my Korg O1/W, Roland SC55 (Sound Canvas), and
Roland R8 (drum machine) ...depending on what I need for the specific
song. Plus, I try to do some MIDI shit, but well... its annoying!
I sample with either Triton's FastTracker 2 sample editor or
Daredevil's beta (command line) GUS sampler.
RC: What kind of music are you working on right now?
CC: Ryan, I did a couple of patterns yesterday on a song, I better finish
it before January 1st! :) Projects, hmm... Ray (Mosaic) is bugging me
to contact Tim Sweeney from Epic Megagames and see if there's any job
openings for a team effort. Besides that, nothing right now.
RC: No doubt, you'd easily be able to get work from Epic considering
you've already done music for two of their hit games. Has "One Must
Fall" been profitable for you? Are you happy with how that worked out?
CC: Yeah, I'm happy with One Must Fall. I got a nice direct pay, plus
picked up a teeny percentage out of it. :) Plus, I play it a lot!
RC: One Must Fall is an awesome game, I think its going to be one of
Epic's best sellers. I'm addicted to it, and your music is great! Fits
perfectly.
CC: Thanks. :) Hope they contact me when they make a CD version...
RC: Speaking of which, what do you think is the BEST music that you've
done through the years? This can be a single song, or maybe a bunch,
but what are your favorites?
CC: Ryan, well I can't really name a favorite of mine, but... I liked the
Virtual Reality song in our demo "Amnesia". :) God, the song matched
perfectly, plus, it's actually complete. Gasp!
RC: I always loved that song too, and the music from the RMUZIK0 music
disk was classic as well!
CC: I didn't get much response from people on those, but I liked 'em too.
MELLOW! ZZZzzzzz... ;)
RC: Well, on a related question, which productions have you most enjoyed
doing music for?
CC: Zone 66! It was the first game I got to do music on (excluding Kaeon),
plus it got me into the Epic Megagames freelance list. :)
RC: Musically, what do you think the future holds? Do you think maybe more
game music, demo music, or what?
CC: I think I better reach the January 1st deadline or else I'll get
locked out of #trax on IRC. :)
First off, you know Renaissance, we're lazy ass mofo's ... so demos
will be pretty rare from us. Plus, I want to do game music. :)
RC: When you first started composing, what sparked your interest in it? I
remember you mentioned something about Dr. Awesome to me awhile back.
CC: Dr. Awesome is awesome. =) When I first began, it seems he was the
only good musician out there.
RC: Can you tell us the story of how you got your alias, C.C.Catch?
CC: C.C.Catch was a damn female singer! (I'm not a female of course, and
I'm not gay either). Before I knew she was, uh.. female, I used the
handle on elite boards. Then when I bought her tape, well, oops! :)
RC: hehehe
CC: I couldn't turn back, didn't want to change handles! :)
RC: What was the best composing environment you ever used?
CC: CDFM, rocks man! Its a cheesy tracker of course though, right Ryan?
NOTE: CDFM is the tracker that uses 9 FM channels and 4 digital channels
---- which was used in Amnesia, Zone66, RMUZIK0, and other Renaissance
demos. The tracker (which was written by Tran) was never publicly
released.
RC: The music created in there was great, it was so unique!
CC: Yeah, I've got so many unfinished songs from CDFM that I never
released, because there's no &$%^# player!
RC: Well, we haven't heard a lot of music from you lately, what have you
been doing?? :)
CC: Nothing much ... Just playing MUD and MAGIC (but everyone knows
that). Yesterday Ray (Mosaic) and I were whining about how sucky we
are. hehe.
RC: How did Renaissance start? I know that you were there from the
beginning.
CC: Well, I came up with the name "Renaissance", and a few months after
Kaeon was made, Mosaic started talking about forming a demogroup.
Mosaic called me while I was on the phone with Tran and he told me to
ask Tran to join! I was reluctant, but I asked, and Tran joined!
Then Tran asked Daredevil to join, and Daredevil asked Radioisotope,
and thats where Renaissance started.
RC: So you and Mosaic were the founding members of Renaissance?
CC: Ryan, let the world know! Mosaic started Renaissance!
Gasp!
RC: How did you meet Tran?
CC: Remember the game, Kaeon? Well, Tran wanted music for it, because his
music was a bit cheesier then mine at the time. :) So he called me and
asked, with that usual grumble of his.
RC: Kenny, thanks a lot for doing this interview and taking the time to
answer all of these questions. Are there any people that you'd like to
greet or additional things that you'd like to say?
CC: Hmm... Greets to Ryan, Necros, Draygen, Khyron, Baseface, Godface,
Stalkah, Bchrome, Flossy ... uh man, too many people to greet.
My Mom =), #trax ...THE WORLD!
Hope that you enjoyed this weeks interview! We won't be having interviews
every single issue, just because its kind of hard to get in contact with
some of these people. :) But, next week, I am trying to get an interview
with Purple Motion of Future Crew. I am hoping that will work out. Stay
tuned!
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REVIEW: ScreamTracker 3.2 Upgrade [Music Article 2 of 2]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This week, ScreamTracker 3.2 was released! There isn't really anything too
exciting about ST 3.2, but for those diehard ST users, this is a great
update to this popular tracking software. The previous version of Scream
Tracker (version 3.01) was ridden with quite a few bugs; some pretty
nasty, and others that weren't too bad. Nevertheless, there were enough
that PSI decided to release a new "bugfix" version. After using ST 3.2 for
a few hours here, I'm very happy to say that its definitly an improvement.
The bugs that were in ST 3.01 never really hampered people from making
great pieces of music in it, but I think that ST 3.2 makes this tracker
a little more friendly. However, ST 3.2 is still not a bug-free program!
One new bug that has been introduced is very obvious, and I'm surprised
that it even exists! When loading a sample, I always get the message
"Warning, Not Enough Memory Available (1024k GUS)". This happens on all
samples that I load, no matter how small or large they are. This
unnecessary warning message is VERY annoying, but luckily it does not
conflict with the loading of samples. All of the samples still load up
just fine. This is not a big problem, but I hope that PSI will fix this in
the near future with a new bugfix version or a patch.
Included with the Scream Tracker 3.2 package is a file called
WHATSNEW.320. This file is basicly just a list of the bugs that were fixed
and new features that were added. I'm not going to print all of them here,
but I will go over a few of the new features that I found interesting. For
a complete list of ST 3.2's new features, be sure to check out the
WHATSNEW.320 file included with it.
New features (partial listing)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Flip sample command - converts an Amiga sample to a PC sample and
> vice versa. Text files have to be flipped after they are loaded into
> memory so they can be viewed.
Samples for tracked music come in both PC and Amiga formats. The only
difference between the two formats is that the bytes are arranged
differently. Scream Tracker 3 uses the PC format, as does MultiTracker
and a few other programs. However, FastTracker uses Amiga style samples.
Those that have experimented with both Fast Tracker 2 and Scream Tracker
3 know that when you load a sample saved from ST3 into FT2, it will sound
totally screwed up. Likewise when saving a sample in FT2 and loading it
into ST3. This is a result of what I described above; the samples are in a
different format.
When your in FastTracker II, you can convert your sample and make it sound
correctly by hitting the "CONV" button in the "S.E.Ext" (Extended Sample
Editor) screen.
In ScreamTracker 3.2, the new command that they have added is the ALT-A
command, this will convert an Amiga sample to the proper PC sample format.
This command is accessable only while in the Sample Window. One thing that
I really like about ST 3.2 is that it tells you "Warning, this may be an
Amiga sample, ALT-A will convert it" before you load it. This new sample
conversion feature is very useful, and I know that I'm going to make use
of it quite often. I'm somewhat surprised that this feature was not there
from the very beginning.
In ST 3.2, hitting ALT-V will let you view the current sample in a text
mode viewer. This means that you could load text files as samples. Such
text files could include information about your song, BBS ads, and such.
In order to make one of these text files viewable, you have to convert it
to an Amiga style sample by hitting ALT-A. Give it a try, its a pretty
neat feature. I'm going to start including text in all of my songs. :)
> Save sample without header (ALT-W) command.
In the previous version of ST3, whenever you saved a sample, it would save
it as a DP3 file. A DP3 file is a sample that includes various loop and
fine tuning information at the beginning of the file. DP3 files are
extremely useful when you only work with ST3, but if you are using ST3 to
rip out samples for use in another tracking software, you would find that
not many other trackers recognize DP3 files. When using another tracker,
any sample that you loaded which was saved from ST3 would have an annoying
click at the beginning of it. This click sound is just the raw non-sample
data from the header of the DP3 file. Now that ST 3.2 includes the ability
to save a sample WITHOUT the DP3 header, you will no longer run into this
problem.
ALT-W = Save sample without DP3 header: Use this when saving samples for
use in other tracking programs.
ALT-O = Save sample with DP3 header: Use this when saving samples for use
in ST3 only.
> Skip value of 0. (ALT-0)
Usually when you hit a note in the pattern edit screen, the cursor moves
down to the next position in the pattern. If you hit ALT-0, then when you
hit a note, the cursor will stay in the same position until you manually
move it with your arrow keys. This is useful for when your experimenting
with different notes on a particular position in a pattern. It saves you
the trouble of constantly hitting your up arrow to get back while your
trying to find the right note. One such situation that you might find this
useful is when you are experimenting with laying out chords.
> A sample can now be cut at the loop end point in the instrument list.
This sounds like a nice memory saving feature. It means that you could
delete the unused sample data when your loop end is less than the sample
length (assuming I understand this correctly). However, I haven't been
able to figure out how to do this, any ideas?
> Fine Vibrato command. (Four times more accurate than normal vibrato)
Sometimes you just can't get the perfect vibrato with the standard vibrato
command. The fine vibrato command will fix that, it gives you a little
more control over the sound of your sample. I like it!
> Set chan
nel panning command. (Only on a GUS!)
This is one of the best things about ST 3.2. Finally we can use panning
while in ST3! Previously, you could use various panning commands, but you
would never hear the result of them in the tracker. If you wanted to hear
the result of your channel panning, you'd have to go play your song with
another program like DMP. ST3's channels either were in non-stereo, or
they were positioned to the left or to the right. Now, your channels can be
panned in any of 16 positions! You can change the pan position of any
channel by using the S8x command (where x = 0..F). However, its
unfortunate that they did not implement the "Xxx" command which seems to be
more commonly used for panning in most S3Ms that I have seen.
> Channel default pan settings. (Only on a GUS!)
In the F1 "Order List and Variables" screen, next to each of the channel
number identifiers, there is an additional character field where you can
specify the pan position for that individual channel. You can use a value
of 0 through F, where 0 is all the way to the left, and F is all the way
to the right.
> Channel pan position visible on infopage. (Only on a GUS!)
The channel pan position in the infopage is a little hard to find, and you
*must* be in stereo mode for it to appear. The pan positions fields each
consist of a single character in the range of 0..F. These appear right
between the volume bars and the sample names, ie:
________________ ______________________
|****** | 3 |02: Chord.Major
|********** | C |05: HiHat.Open
|*** | 3 |07: TightBass
|************* | C |01: BassDrum.echo
|******** | F |05: KorgLead
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
^^^
|||
Pan positions
> Gravis ultraclick removal by using 16, 24 or 32 GUS channels
> (the more channels, the lower the sound quality will be in KHz,
> but the clicks will lessen considerably).
This improves the sound quality in ST 3.2 a fair amount. Previously, ST3
didn't do any ultraclick removal. Ultraclicks are just little pops and
cracks that result when you change samples or change the volume of
samples. This only occurs in some instances, but when it does, it can get
annoying. Ultraclick removal can be done by using a technique called
"volume-ramping". Volume ramping means that the volume on the sample is
turned way down when a crack is likely to occur so that you do not hear
it. I never had trouble with ultraclicks in the previous version of ST3,
but apparently a lot of people did, and this new feature fixes that. I'm
not 100% sure that it uses volume-ramping, but whatever it does, it gets
the job done. :)
> The position counters and Channelscope now work with GUS, too.
Well, the channelscope sure doesn't work on my GUS. The channelscope is
still bracketed indicating it is "unavailable". However, if you use the
"-x" command switch when loading up ST3, the channelscope will work.
Before you try that, I'll warn you that when I used the channelscope,
it worked on my system for about 10 seconds, then it froze up the whole
thing. I'd suggest not using them, and this is probably why the
documentation makes no mention of the "-x" parameter.
> You can now save your custom color palettes.
This version of ST3 lets you modify the default palette of colors. The
previous version of ST3 also let you do this, but it would not save your
colors, so you would have to go back and change them everytime you loaded
it up. Because of this, I think that everyone pretty much got used to the
default color scheme in ST3. Well, now we can finally save the color
schemes that we create! There's a problem though, its fairly difficult
to change colors. The color selection box is not very intuitive and its
kind of like a slot-machine; you have got to be lucky to stumble upon the
color code that you want. I don't expect many people will be coming up
with very elaborate color schemes in ST3.
Conclusion
~~~~~~~~~~
ScreamTracker 3.2 is really a great upgrade. While its not perfect, I
think that its a major improvement from the first release. Most of the
major bugs have been fixed and the composing environment is 100% more
stable then it used to be. There is no doubt that FastTracker 2 is quite a
bit more advanced than ST3, but I think that the environment in ST3 is
still a lot easier to use than FT2. Its all a matter of personal
preference. Some of the people that I have interviewed are sticking with
ST3 for this very reason. In addition, S3Ms are probably the most widely
supported module format on the PC right now. I think this upgrade will
continue to hold S3Ms as the primary module format and at the same time
make composing them a lot easier on us ST3 users. :)
Special thanks to Ali Ebnereza (HeatWave) for contributing a lot of
insight to this article. He knows ST3 inside and out and he helped with a
lot of the information here. He can be contacted at: aebnerez@osf1.gmu.edu
Closing
~~~~~~~
Thanks, and hope that you enjoyed this week's Music Section! Please
contact me by internet if you have any comments or questions.
==============================================================================
.oooooo. .o8
d8P' `Y8b "888
888 .ooooo. .oooo888 .ooooo.
888 d88' `88b d88' `888 d88' `88b
888 888 888 888 888 888ooo888
`88b ooo 888 888 888 888 888 .o
`Y8bood8P' `Y8bod8P' `Y8bod88P" `Y8bod8P'
((Section 7...Coders Corner)) <BY> Denthor
==============================================================================
(no article from Denthor this week)
Stay tuned to this column for future articles including: an Interview with
Maxwood and Dee-Cug's "How to Code Music Drivers."
==============================================================================
.o. .
.888. .o8
.8"888. oooo d8b .o888oo
.8' `888. `888""8P 888
.88ooo8888. 888 888
.8' `888. 888 888 .
o88o o8888o d888b "888"
((Section 8...Artists Corner)) <BY> Stony
==============================================================================
(Review of Autodesk Animator Pro)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Autodesk Animator Pro is a program that can be used to create animation.
It has the ability to create animations with different pictures placed
after each other and also animations doing funny things with one picture.
The program itself is very large and it takes a long time to learn
everything from the program. There are a lot of different options. These
options are very handy even if you don't create animations. For example, if
you have made a picture with a black background and want to put in on a
white background you can change this color from black into white or fill
this background with white, you do this with the paint program you always
use but then you'll see that the picture is much to bright. Well with the
option 'Dark' in AAP you can make the program look darker.
It also has options to sharpen a picture or soften or make it look as if it
has a relief in it. There are just a lot of functions in it. It takes a
long period of testing them and experimenting with them.
The program isn't that easy to use with all its functions, I have been
using it for a long time and know a lot of functions that can be of use
with changing a picture. The program isn't to be used as a paint program,
it's more difficult to draw in AAP instead of a 'normal' paint program.
The program does need EMS and does have some strange errors and error
messages. When you don't have enough EMS you get a message that something
can't be found and sometimes it just crashes in the middle of the program
and comes with the message from out of memory or memory failure. It can use
VESA graphics cards so it will work on almost all configurations. It's
recommended to have at least 8 meg and a fast machine to work with it
because it takes a lot of memory and time. I'm running it on my 486DX2/66
with 4 meg and a VLB graphics card and it is running quite well.
...Stony
==============================================================================
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==============================================================================
((Section 10...Miscellaneous))
==============================================================================
Next week we should have several more good articles, including an interview
with Purple Motion/FC and Maxwood/Majic 12. Also be on the lookout for
Dee-Cug's "How to Code Music Drivers." This should be a 5-6 part series
starting later this month.
We are averaging 21 new subscribers to this newsletter a day! At this
rate, will will pass 1000 mid-next week. I personally have no idea how
many people there are in the scene, but it looks like we might find out. :)
If you have anything you'd like to contribute to DemoNews, I'd be more
than happy to include it. It doesn't matter if its an advertisement or an
article, we can use it. Let me say it again: If you are a coder, musician,
gfx artist, or organizer and have something to contribute, please send it
my way.
We could really use some Party 94' articles soon. There has been very
little action in this department. Also, we could especially use some more
artists articles.
==============================================================================
((Section 11...Closing))
==============================================================================
The quote for this week comes from "Progammers at Work" p.208. In an
interview Bob Carr said the following:
I enjoy writing, and I think I'm literate. I still toy with the idea
of being a writer of fiction. Writing English and software are far
more than just acts of capturing something in code or on paper. They
are processes that help evolve your thinking tremendously. When you're
forced to write something down, you think the idea through two or three
steps further. - Bob Carr
See you all next week!
-Christopher G. Mann (Snowman)-
r3cgm@dax.cc.uakron.edu
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-End.of.DemoNews.074.
