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Demo News 103
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DemoNews Issue #103 - September 30, 1995 | Subscribers : 1583
------------- | Last Week : 1564
DemoNews is a newsletter for the demo scene. | Change : +19
It is produced by Hornet at the site ftp.cdrom.com. | Archive Size : 1158M
Our demo archive is located under /pub/demos. | Last Week : 1127M
|
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
<CONTENTS>
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Uploads
Articles
Introduction................................Snowman
A Rodent's Eye View of the Scene............Liam the Lemming
4DOS 4DEMOS: Part 4.........................Snowman
FTP'ing to ftp.cdrom.com from the UK........KJB
Basehead is "Steppin' Out"..................GD
Top 10 Things the Demo Scene Never See......Liam the Lemming
Subscribing
Closing
=-[Uploads]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
=----------------------------------------------------------[File Information]-=
1. All files listed below are on ftp.cdrom.com or one of its mirrors.
2. Ratings are completely subjective and do not necessarily reflect opinions
of the demo scene in general.
3. ftp.cdrom.com too slow? Try our mirror at ftp.luth.se. You may even
upload to this site under /pub/msdos/demos_upload.
4. ftp.cdrom.com _still_ too slow? :) Check out DN102 for info on ftpmail.
=-------------------------------------------------------------[Demos:General]-=
Location /demos/alpha/1995 Size Rated Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ----- ---------------------------------=
/../1992/lovedemo.lzh 22 **+ Love Demo (must be over 18)
/../1993/s/sldemo.lzh 173 ** Demo by Silicon Logic
/../1993/s/ssaft.lzh 448 *** ASM93: Strumpsaft by Unexpected
/../1993/w/wacked1.zip 29 *+ Wacked One by Wacked
/../1993/w/wfdemo.lzh 243 *** Waite Group Ad. by Future Crew
/../1993/x/xmasgrtz.lzh 68 ** Christmas Greetz! by Morbid Man
/../1994/f/f2_lib1.zip 344 *** [1/2] TP94: Liberation by Force 2
/../1994/f/f2_lib2.zip 1205 *** [2/2] TP94: Liberation by Force 2
/../1994/f/friends.zip 875 **+ Friends will be Friends by SLC
/../1994/f/fullintr.zip 38 * TP94: Fastmaster Shooter
/../1994/f/fun.zip 67 ***+ TP94: Fun by Sorrox
/a/aambient.zip 70 *** Ambient Intro by Antares
/a/answer.zip 40 *+ Answer by Warlock of Amnesty
/a/arto.zip 809 *+ Arto by Verhot
/c/cards.zip 25 * Cards v1.2 by Dragon Emperor
/c/cytopyge.zip 256 [n/a] Cytopyge by Angels of Death
/e/emf_vrs2.zip 509 ****+ ASM94: Verses (revision) by EMF
/e/ev.zip 419 *** Ethereal Visions by NIS
/f/fr_debut.zip 77 ***+ Debut by Fraction
/g/gamoto.zip 90 ** Gamoto by Debris
/g/greetro.zip 199 **+ Happy New Year by Sunrise Prod.
/h/h!disord.zip 271 **** Disorder by Halcyon
/h/hobtro.zip 10 **+ Birthro by Xenon Development
/k/kiddo.zip 132 ** Kiddo by Apex
/l/liberfix.zip 12 **+ TP94: Liberation (fix) by Force ][
/l/lrstro.zip 57 **+ LarsTro by Larst
/m/mhappy95.zip 38 ** Happy 1995 Demo by Mile
/m/mind.zip 64 **** TP94: Mind Crash by Spirit
/n/nitro.zip 26 ***+ Nitro by Stereocode
/n/nooon_no.zip 1339 **** TP94: No by Nooon
/n/nooon_st.zip 1170 ****+ ASM95: Stars (bugfixed) by Nooon
/n/ntro.zip 69 * Eroc by Lithium
/n/nytextro.zip 115 *** New Year's Greetings by Overlook
/p/perfect.zip 1185 *** Perfect Balance by Wild Style
/p/pogo.zip 6 * Another Snowy Day by Pogo Max
/r/ranztro.zip 92 **+ Ranztro by The Revengers
/r/rosetro.zip 95 *** Rosetro #2 by Overlook
/s/semtex.zip 410 ***+ JUH95: Semtex City by J!P
/s/sr1gwp.zip 1464 [n/a] Super Reality by Binbou Himanashi
/t/tap-sg94.zip 378 *** Season's Greetings by Apollo Proj.
/t/textro.zip 190 **** Textro by OTM
/t/tfa-love.zip 88 **+ Valentine Intro by TFA
/t/tucxmas.zip 21 ***+ Xmasdemo '94 by TUC
/u/underh2o.zip 977 ***+ GP95: Underwater by Technomancer
/x/x-mas.arj 267 ** X-Mas by Neutron
/x/x-y-z.zip 513 ****+ JUH95: Project XYZ by Orange
/x/xorgasm.arj 563 **** TP94: Xorgasm by Genuine
=--------------------------------------------------------[Demos:Non-Reviewed]-=
Location /demos/alpha Size Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ---------------------------------------=
/bbs/e/einstein.zip 9 Einstein by Zion
/bbs/g/gi-tough.zip 38 The Golden Image by Tough
/bbs/h/hyp-md.arj 38 Maniax Dream by Hypnosis
/bbs/m/mciesc.zip 14 MCI Escapes by Subsystem
/bbs/m/methsign.zip 7 Methodone by Extreme
/bbs/s/smaintro.lzh 20 BBS-Intros by SMA
/bbs/s/sp_bbs.zip 30 Kilroy by S!P
/bbs/v/vc_intro.zip 12 Violent Crimes #2 by King Tech
=-------------------------------------------------------------[Music:General]-=
Location /demos/music Size Rated Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ----- ---------------------------------=
/disks/1995/c/cos-11d1.zip 1167 *** [1/2] 11 Mins... by Cosmic
/disks/1995/c/cos-11d2.zip 1278 *** [2/2] 11 Mins... by Cosmic
/disks/1995/c/cos-ep11.zip 1312 **** [1/2] Lost in Trancen. by Cosmic
/disks/1995/c/cos-ep12.zip 1406 **** [2/2] Lost in Trancen. by Cosmic
/disks/1995/d/dbeat-1.zip 1295 ***+ [1/3] Downbeat by Union
/disks/1995/d/dbeat-2.zip 1215 ***+ [2/3] Downbeat by Union
/disks/1995/d/dbeat-3.zip 1144 ***+ [3/3] Downbeat by Union
/disks/1995/d/ds.zip 1535 ***+ Drastic Scream by Lasse Makkonen
/disks/1995/f/f10_pck6.zip 1949 ****+ Pack 6 by Force Ten
/disks/1995/h/hbt666-1.zip 1354 *** [1/3] Highbit 666 by various
/disks/1995/h/hbt666-2.zip 1361 *** [2/3] Highbit 666 by various
/disks/1995/h/hbt666-3.zip 732 *** [3/3] Highbit 666 by various
/songs/1994/mod/k/k_voyage.zip 173 **** Voyager by Hollywood/KFMF
/songs/1994/xm/m/morph2.zip 141 **+ Metamorph part II by Vogue
/songs/1995/mod/d/deemusek.zip 78 *+ Dee Museek by DD
/songs/1995/mod/s/sr-vgnf.zip 163 *** Vengeance & Freedom by Parallax
/songs/1995/s3m/b/beatskip.zip 10 *** Skippin' a Beat by lp
/songs/1995/s3m/d/_dflow95.zip 184 **+ Digitize by S.A.Harteveld
/songs/1995/s3m/d/darkside.zip 173 ** Light on the Dark Side by DD
/songs/1995/s3m/d/defi-agc.zip 220 ** Against the Clock by Blackwolf
/songs/1995/s3m/d/defi-top.zip 133 *** Top of the Mountain by Blackwolf
/songs/1995/s3m/d/devotion.zip 57 *+ Devotion 4 Motion by Decibel Duo
/songs/1995/s3m/d/digistrm.zip 103 *** Digital Storm by DD
/songs/1995/s3m/f/fm-scrap.zip 433 ****+ Skyscraper (Remix) by Necros
/songs/1995/s3m/h/hide17.zip 117 ***+ House Eey #17 by Hidenori Hori
/songs/1995/s3m/h/hide22.lzh 273 **+ House Eey #22 by Hidenori Hori
/songs/1995/s3m/h/hide24.lzh 131 *** House Eey #24 by Hidenori Hori
/songs/1995/s3m/m/m-skumth.zip 222 *** Skulme Planer Theme by Mystical
/songs/1995/s3m/m/mo-sunse.zip 223 **+ Sunset in Seattle by Mondo
/songs/1995/s3m/n/nation-1.zip 319 * House Mixes 1-4! by Article III
/songs/1995/s3m/n/nation-2.zip 763 *+ Undercurrent RMX by Article III
/songs/1995/s3m/n/nation-3.zip 416 * Gothic by Gato the Phat Cat
/songs/1995/s3m/n/nation-4.zip 366 *+ Agents of Testing by Article III
/songs/1995/s3m/n/nitree.zip 112 **+ The Night Tree by Lord Blanka
/songs/1995/s3m/o/oct-coma.zip 101 **+ Coma by Octoque
/songs/1995/s3m/p/planetx.zip 296 *** Planet X by Darkwolf
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pl_uknow.zip 185 * You Know What You Are by Plastique
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pl_who.zip 163 * Who Was In My Room.. by Plastique
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pl_zany.zip 79 *+ Animaniacs Theme by Plastique
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-7wndr.zip 150 ***+ Seven Wonders by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-cry.zip 102 ***+ Cathartic Rain by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-decon.zip 207 *** Deconstruction by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-dlivr.zip 281 **** Deliverance by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-dscrd.zip 199 **+ Dischord by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-flux.zip 154 *** Kinetic Flux by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-galv.zip 145 **+ Galvanized by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-hiway.zip 72 **** Highway Song by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-homln.zip 196 **+ Homeland by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-lumin.zip 115 *** Luminosity by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-magic.zip 53 *** Magic Carpet by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-metro.zip 175 ***+ Metropolis by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-oracl.zip 85 **** Oracle by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-soc.zip 159 **** Stream of Conciousness by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-spell.zip 120 **** Spellbound by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-trans.zip 104 *** Transcendence by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-vison.zip 92 **+ Tunnel Vision by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-warp.zip 94 ** Hyper Space by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/p/pn-wotl.zip 88 *** Way of the Leaf by Pinion
/songs/1995/s3m/r/rendezv4.zip 217 **** Rendez-vous part IV by the Zapper
/songs/1995/s3m/r/rh_tod.zip 228 *+ Temple of Dreams by Red Horizon
/songs/1995/s3m/r/rh_vp2.zip 53 ** Virulent Psychosis by Red Horizon
/songs/1995/s3m/s/satori.zip 115 **+ Satori by Incarnate/Guild
/songs/1995/s3m/s/smeg_bug.zip 150 *** Scatterbug by Smeghead
/songs/1995/s3m/s/smeg_epi.zip 207 ** Epileptic machine by Smeghead
/songs/1995/s3m/s/smeg_ful.zip 99 *** Full circle by Smeghead
/songs/1995/s3m/t/t-kryah.zip 163 ** Lands of Kryah by Ded Silence
/songs/1995/s3m/t/t-piano2.zip 154 *** Death Symphony by TFH
/songs/1995/s3m/t/t-s0ul.zip 69 * Soul by TFH
/songs/1995/s3m/t/t-skybug.zip 69 *** Skybuggy by Ded Silence
/songs/1995/s3m/t/tearsvic.zip 212 *+ Tears of victory by Populus
/songs/1995/s3m/t/thestudy.arj 94 ** In the study by Hector
/songs/1995/s3m/t/tlgrae.zip 296 *** Graen. Masterpiece by Lord Blanka
/songs/1995/s3m/t/tmrmx-is.zip 114 *+ Texture Met. Model Flat by JPF
/songs/1995/s3m/t/tr_vulca.zip 54 * Vulcan by Tread
/songs/1995/s3m/t/tw_mods.zip 190 ** [4 Songs] by Tuffe
/songs/1995/s3m/v/vibes.zip 112 *** Feel the vibes by Avalanche
/songs/1995/s3m/v/voyager.zip 188 *+ Blue voyager by Petador
/songs/1995/xm/a/amblight.zip 149 **** Ambient Light by Vogue
/songs/1995/xm/a/amnoise.zip 198 * Noisy AM by Sine
/songs/1995/xm/c/cognitio.zip 59 ** Cognition by Sledgehammer
/songs/1995/xm/d/dsa_fla.zip 218 *** First,Last,Always by Rascal
/songs/1995/xm/d/dsa_myst.zip 470 ***+ Mysterious Unknown by Rascal
/songs/1995/xm/d/dsa_notx.zip 467 *** Notive.X by Rascal
/songs/1995/xm/e/es_sky.zip 576 *** Desert Sky by Clifford E. Sheep
/songs/1995/xm/f/f-moo.zip 646 * F**k Moo by Sine
/songs/1995/xm/f/far.zip 222 *** Far from home by LizardKing
/songs/1995/xm/f/forfire.zip 316 * Forest Fire by Sine
/songs/1995/xm/h/heaven.zip 32 **+ Heaven Help my Heart by Ms.Saigon
/songs/1995/xm/k/koningin.zip 266 *** Koningin by Dynamix
/songs/1995/xm/k/krkn-cym.zip 949 ** Change your mirror by The Kraken
/songs/1995/xm/m/mftp.arj 190 * Music...by Pieter van der Veen
/songs/1995/xm/m/mindc20.zip 322 **+ Mind Control v2.0! by Teknicolor
/songs/1995/xm/m/mld-guid.zip 241 *** The Guide by Mellow-D
/songs/1995/xm/m/moby-go.arj 218 ** Moby-go by Pieter van der Veen
/songs/1995/xm/n/never.zip 139 **** Never Ending Story by LizardKing
/songs/1995/xm/n/nf-blow.zip 493 *+ Blow your mind by Audiokraft
/songs/1995/xm/p/paraguay.zip 275 * Paraguay by Shaq
/songs/1995/xm/p/polizei.arj 252 *+ Polizei by ?
/songs/1995/xm/p/pumpuli.zip 3 ** Pumpuli by Feather
/songs/1995/xm/s/space-e_.arj 590 ** Space Emotion by Estillo
/songs/1995/xm/t/texp_ia_.zip 249 *** Time Explosion by IA
/songs/1995/xm/t/triph0p.zip 45 * Triphop by Stuttering MC
/songs/1995/xm/v/vrcyber.zip 527 ** Cyberspace by Virtual Rhythm
/songs/1995/xm/v/vrdestro.zip 396 ** Destroy by Virtual Rhythm
/songs/1995/xm/v/vrfeeltr.zip 400 *+ Feel the rhythm by Virtual Rhythm
/songs/1995/xm/v/vrgabber.zip 420 * Gabber Screams by Virtual Rhythm
/songs/1995/xm/v/vrhardco.zip 369 * Hardcore by Virtual Rhythm
/songs/1995/xm/v/vrhypno.zip 251 *+ Hypnotizer by Virtual Rhythm
/songs/1995/xm/v/vrintvoi.zip 305 ** Internal voice by Virtual Rhythm
/songs/1995/xm/z/zs-woc2.zip 159 **+ Winds of Change II by Zoso
=--------------------------------------------------------[Music:Non-Reviewed]-=
Location /demos/music Size Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ---------------------------------------=
/programs/players/xtcp060.zip 179 XTC-Play 0.60b by Sanction
/programs/players/starp223.zip 32 StarPlay 2.23 by Jedi/Oxygen
/programs/rippers/ripper47.zip 132 Ripper 4.7 by Jonas
=----------------------------------------------------------------------[Code]-=
Location /demos/code Size Rated Lang Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ----- ---- ----------------------------=
/demosrc/tdm-code.zip 60 *** A Source for Tedium / Oxygen
/graph/3d/objstar.zip 31 *** C Starfield & 3D object in C
/sound/hsc_src.zip 48 **** A P HSC file player (Adlib/FM)
/sound/maplaypc.zip 212 ***+ C MPEG Audio file player
/utils/detect.zip 6 *** C Detects type of music file
=-----------------------------------------------------[Miscellaneous:General]-=
Location /demos Size Rated Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ----- ---------------------------------=
/mags/1995/dask08.zip 631 ***+ DaskMig #8
/mags/1995/dask08fi.zip 5 ***+ DaskMig #8 (bugfix)
/mags/1995/unreal03.zip 241 **+ Unreal #3
=------------------------------------------------[Miscellaneous:Non-Reviewed]-=
Location /demos Size Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ---------------------------------------=
/hornet/d..s/101-120/demonews.102 47 DemoNews #102
/hornet/demonews/other/dnr110.zip 62 DemoNews Reader v1.10 by Phoenix
/info/traxw/tw26jive.txt 35 TraxWeekly #26 fun-funny "jive" style
=-[Articles]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
=---------------------------------------------------[Introduction]--[Snowman]-=
Hello all, and welcome to DemoNews issue 103!
This is the "week of the uploads." Our reviewers (myself included) have
been working as fast as possible to review new and old files on our site.
As you can tell by the number of files in the "Uploads" section, we've been
busy. :)
This week, we have a pot-luck collection of articles for your reading
pleasure. Since we're trying to get this newsletter out every week, I'll
devote my attentions to DemoNews.104 rather than bore you with a long
introduction.
Have fun and read on...
Snowman / Hornet - r3cgm@ftp.cdrom.com
=----------------------[A Rodent's Eye View of the Scene]--[Liam the Lemming]-=
_____Preface
This article may seem pretty pointless - everyone's done an "observations
of the demo scene" article, right? From the newest newbies right through to
veterans like Basehead. So why am I doing it?
Well, I just feel like putting my two cents/pennies/francs/marks/kroner/
gilders' worth (delete according to nationality :) ) to the age-old
arguments...
Also because I promised Snowman an article and I couldn't think of a good
subject. :) Better make it sound interesting then... don't want hordes of
DN fans unsubscribing on the strength of this article... ;)
_____Introduction
The demo scene is rife with conflicting opinions...
Ripping samples:
"Samples are sacrosanct! Especially mine! Don't touch! Hands off! (etc)"
"Hey, those samples are cool! I think I'll claim 'em as my own..."
"I've got no sampling equipment, so I'll use someone else's samples and
credit them..."
Other people's work:
"Ha! You're not as good as me, so you're LAME!"
"No I'm not!"
"Yes you are!" (repeat ad nausea)
The current state of demo, erm, "design" *ahem, ahem*
"Hey, look at our kEEw|0 demo with millions of metal-shaded toruses!"
"Here's our demo... nothing new, but it's a laugh riot!"
"Our demo ROXX! cos it uses some brand new routine. We've taken it
completely out of context so it looks boring but hey! It's a c00l
routine!"
Naturally, this creates a lot of tension. So many opinions, and nobody
seemingly willing to budge an inch on any issue. I doubt my points of view
will help things in that respect, but I'd like to think at least that most
people out there will agree with some of my viewpoints.
After all, that's all they are... my own personal views.
_____The Great Ripping Debate
This is arguably one of the hottest topics on the demo scene. Lots of
newbies make the mistake of not giving credit WHERE IT'S DUE. :) This earns
them a bad reputation, and I admit I almost made that mistake myself.
In fact, in most of my early work (the stuff I uploaded in May 95) I didn't
say which samples were from where. I made a list of modules I'd taken
samples from and put it in the instrument list of THREE of my modules. That
was DUMB.
They were also this one song and two remixes... bundled together. Which
makes it REALLY DUMB. (Don't do this at home, kids. :) ) Think about it.
The list of credits is in ONE zip file. Very VERY dumb.
(The more curious among you can find it at ftp.cdrom.com. Dunno which
directory it's in, but its filename is MISADVNT.ZIP.)
Anyway, I figured out soon enough that it wasn't exactly "the done thing"
to rip other people's samples and went through my whole sample collection,
amending the headers (I use ST3, y'see) so they each contained a simple
description of the sample alongside the module it came from.
I believe that's all I _can_ do, really. I've "made" a few original samples
using DigiPlayer 3.0 by manipulating other people's samples, and I've even
done a really nice sample of my own voice from within FastTracker 2. But
nothing really substantial. Mainly because I don't have a synth.
And no, a Yamaha FM keyboard doesn't count. :)
So that's what I do. I rip samples left, right and center, but I _always_
credit my sources these days. At the top of almost all my newest mods'
instrument lists you'll find each sample has its own description and the
module it originated from, even before the title of the song.
I'm even trying to track each and every sample back to its origin, and it's
taking a looooong time. :) I reckon it's worth it, though.
For the sake of giving credit where it's due... I believe it's well worth
it.
_____Other People's Work
Let me put a scenario to you. You, along with the other coders in your
brand new demo group, have just coded this routine which you think is
really snazzy and cool-looking. You recruit a graphician and a musician,
put the snazzy "new" routine in a demo with reasonable structure (for a
first demo), some impressive graphics and a very slightly dodgy song, and
release the demo.
You carry on working on a demo to enter at a competition in a few months
and wait for a bit of appreciative e-mail about that first demo. Nothing
turns up.
You log onto an IRC server and hop on to #trax or #coders or whatever, and
mention your group and the demo. Within seconds (lag permitting :) ), the L
word is mentioned...
LAME.
Cue the flame war. Things get extremely fraught and you end up being kicked
from the channel. You're deeply stung by the injustice of it all and vow
never to bother with the demo scene again.
Okay, lets go back to the bit where the guy's waiting for e-mail, shall we?
The second demo hasn't even begun to take shape yet - a few ideas for
effects, but nothing really solid. You check your e-mail.
Someone found your demo and read the infotext (you _did_ remember to put an
infotext in with the demo, didn't you? ;) ), and bore in mind that it was
the group's _first_ demo. They offer a little constructive criticism, and
compliment you on the demo's structure.
You feel much better now you and your group have some recognition and thank
the sender for his helpful advice, and the compliments about the structure.
You go on to complete the second demo. Sadly, it doesn't qualify at the
competition, but you don't let it put you off.
Besides, your graphician came third in the graphics compo.
See what a difference that _one_ message can make? It's a shame, really,
that 99% of the time, that's all it ever is - a story made up by some
columnist.
What I'm saying is this. Remember the days when you were starting out? The
PC demo scene was young, newcomers didn't have so much to prove and
everyone really got along. These days, with real-time phong shaded toruses,
morphing motion-blurred polygons and so on, newcomers have a hell of a lot
to live up to.
If you were in that position, you wouldn't want to be labelled a lamer.
Would you?
_____I Got Dem Ole "Nothin' But Another Torus Demo" Blues Again...
Okay, hands up who was at Assembly 95.
Now, hands up who saw a torus there... wow. _All_ of you. Quelled
surprise.
Hands up who saw _lots_ of toruses... everyone? Again? Hmm.
Okay, put your hands down if you enjoyed this mass occurrence of toruses.
...What? Nobody? I'm shocked.
Okay, put your hands down anyway. Now... uh, you at the front. You had
your hand up. Can you tell me just _how many_ toruses were in all the
Asm95 demos?
Pardon? ...You lost count? Ah.
But how did they manage to fit all those toruses into the demos without
sacrificing the quality of the demo design?
...What d'you mean, there was no design???
The biggest gripe about the demo scene currently seems to be the lack of
design and structure to the most recent demos. More or less everyone in
comp.sys.ibm.pc.demos seems to hark back to the days of Second Reality
(yeah, it's that one again :) ) when "demos had some semblance of
structure, and some thought went into the design", rather than the current
state of Torus Overkill.
What happened? Coding skills are important, naturally, but it's the whole
package that matters with a demo, not just the code. It's the music. It's
the graphics. It's the design, the structure. It's the _whole thing_ that
counts.
I still have Second Reality on my system. I'll probably delete Nooon's
Stars before too long. (It crashes out with an exception error just at the
Nooon logo... although, to its credit, there seem to be no toruses up to
that point. :) )
Stop and think about 2ndR for a moment. Think about how the music matched
the "mood" of the demo - during the scrolly across the water, the plasmas
(before the plasma cube), the raytraced sword and the bubbling landscape,
the music became more... I dunno... mellow, I'd call it.
When was the last time you saw such an effective combination of music,
graphics and code? If I'm right, the answer for most of you will be "Second
Reality".
Like I said... what happened?
_____Conclusion
Feel free to mail me about the subjects I've voiced an opinion on here...
or indeed, any side of the demo scene. Being a composer I naturally have a
preference to the tracking side of things, but the three topics I've just
taken you through are ones I feel very strongly about, so feel free to mail
me to chat about those in particular.
At worst, this article has lost DemoNews a large amount of credibility.
Still, I never believed in worst case scenarios. ;)
At best, it's made you stop and think about the state the demo scene is in
right now. Mind you... I don't have faith in best case scenarios either.
Liam the Lemming / S!P - cmslhes1@livjm.ac.uk
=--------------------------------------------[4DOS 4DEMOS: Part 4]--[Snowman]-=
_____INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the forth installment in the "4DOS 4DEMOS" series. It has been
over three months since I've written one of these things. It might be a
good idea for you to go back and read the first three parts.
_____General Overview
This article assumes you have read Parts 1, 2 and 3. Be sure to follow all
of the steps I listed there. We will be relying on them now. Just for
reference, here is a list of what we have covered so far (and what we will
cover today):
Part 1 (demonews.091) - Overview of 4DOS
How to get started
Part 2 (demonews.093) - Made SET_ENVS.BAT for environmental variables
Made SET_COLS.BAT for color-coded files
Part 3 (demonews.095) - Renamed .BAT files to .BTM to speed things up
Made SET_PATH.BTM for PATH and CDPATH variables
Made ALIAS.LST for basic-level aliases
Part 4 (demonews.103) - Added to SET_ENVS.BTM for executable extensions
Added to ALIAS.LST for intermediate-level aliases
Some may question the wisdom of having so many .BTM files when they could
all be put together in one big .BTM file. Although I do intend to show you
how to put these all together in a later part, now it seems that having
separate .BTM files for each type of activity makes things clearer.
Today we are going to discuss executable extensions and intermediate-level
aliases. Executable extensions allow you to "execute" S3Ms, GIFs, and ASM
files (I'm not kidding). Intermediate-level aliases will discuss several
of the more k3wLiO ways of tweaking your system.
_____EXECUTABLE EXTENSIONS
Imagine being able to type FM-RIFF from your dos prompt and having CapaMod
automatically load up in the background and start playing FM-RIFF.S3M.
Imagine being able to type PAM_ANDR and have Display pop up and show you a
fine picture of Pamela Anderson (called PAM_ANDR.JPG).
And for those more code-oriented, imagine being able to type MYPROG and
having your favorite compiler automatically start working on MYPROG.CPP.
_____How Does It Work?
Yes folks, all this and more is possible when you harness the power of
executable extensions. But how does it work? How can you do it? 4DOS
includes functionality for you to specify a given program to run when you
type the name of a file with a given extension. For example, type:
SET .S3M=C:\MUSIC\PLAYERS\CMOD225\CS3MTSR.EXE
Now let's assume we have a file called NEWSONG.S3M which is located either
in the current directory or somewhere in your CDPATH.
Now type NEWSONG. 4DOS will expand this and invisibly use the command:
C:\MUSIC\PLAYERS\CMOD225\CS3MTSR.EXE NEWSONG.S3M
Now if you were to type NEWSONG /lop0, 4DOS would expand it to:
C:\MUSIC\PLAYERS\CMOD225\CS3MTSR.EXE NEWSONG.S3M /lop0
So it is easy to add an extra command line argument or two if needed.
All you gotta do is add a bunch of these to your SET_ENVS.BTM file and you
can really impress your friends. Here are a few starters:
: Archives
SET .ARJ=ARJ x -y
SET .A0?=ARJ x -y
SET .ZIP=PKUNZIP -d
: Code
SET .ASM=TASM
SET .CPP=TCC -mc -a -G -2 -O
SET .PAS=TPC -$G+ +$A+
: Graphics
SET .GIF=DISP
SET .JPG=DISP
SET .TGA=DISP
: Music
SET .MOD=LH E:\-PLAY\CMOD225\CMODTSR.EXE
SET .S3M=LH E:\-PLAY\CMOD225\CS3MTSR.EXE
There are a couple things to take note of here:
-"SET .ASM=TASM" was used instead of "SET .ASM=TASM.EXE" because the .EXE
extension is optional (in most circumstances).
-We used the ? in "SET .A0?=ARJ x -y" so that we could unarj files with
extensions of .A01, .A02, .A03 etc. 4DOS allows you to use * and ?
wildcards in the extensions you specify.
-Although not really a 4DOS function, we used the LH with "SET .MOD" and
"SET .S3M" so that we could Load High the CapaMod player. Depending on
the song you are playing, you might be able to snag a few extra k of
base memory for other things while a tune is playing in the background.
Don't forget that for these commands to work, the SET_ENVS.BTM file has to
be run again. You can do this by rebooting, typing SET_ENVS, or re-running
your AUTOEXEC.BAT. But you already knew that of coz, so I digress...
_____ALIASES (Intermediate)
In issue 95 of DemoNews, we talked about what aliases were and how to use
them. Today we'll look at some more advanced features.
_____Partial Alias Names
Consider the alias "DEMOS =CDD C:\DEMOS". Not too complicated, right? You
type DEMOS and your system puts you in the C:\DEMOS directory. That CDD
simply means "Change Drive and Directory". If we had only used CD and we
were currently in the E:\NONOPICS directory, then the alias would not have
worked because it would have had to change to a different drive.
Now consider the alias "DE*MOS =CDD C:\DEMOS". What is that * doing in the
middle? Probably the best way to explain it is by example. We already
know that typing DEMOS will take us to the C:\DEMOS directory, but with
that * in place, we can type DEMOS, DEMO, DEM, or DE and 4DOS will do the
same thing.
Having an * means that we can type in the full alias name, or any part of
it up to the *, and the same thing is done.
Even after using 4DOS for so long, I have not found a real use for this.
Maybe you start out early making the alias DEMOS and then later want to
change it to just DE. Then I guess having DE*MOS could help you through
the transition process. We probably won't be using Partial Alias Names
much, but please remember that it is there.
_____Using Alt, Ctrl, and Function Keys in Aliases
Consider the alias "@Alt-d =dir". You press ALT-D and 4DOS spits out the
word "DIR" at your prompt. You hit enter and you get a directory.
That's what I call a little slick.
Now consider the alias "@@Alt-d =dir". Now you press ALT-D, and instead
of 4DOS spitting out the word "DIR", it automatically executes the command
and hides the word "DIR" from you. Now that's what I call pretty slick.
Here are some common aliases you may wish to put in your ALIAS.LST file:
ALIAS @@F6 =tm.exe
ALIAS @@Alt-d =dir
ALIAS @@Shift-1 =c:\music\tracker\st3\st3.exe
ALIAS @@Ctrl-Tab =c:\games\heretic\her.bat
For a complete list of key names (like Alt-, Ctrl-, Tab, etc.) just type
HELP ALIAS at your 4DOS prompt.
_____Multiple Commands in Aliases
Consider the alias "@@Alt-d =`cls ^ dir`. So what's with the ` and ^
characters? Well, the ^ is a command separator. This means that our alias
first does CLS and then it does DIR. The ` is just used to group the two
commands together. It's also there as a safeguard we won't talk about now.
Here are some more aliases you can now add to your ALIAS.LST file:
ALIAS FT2 =`MOUSE.COM ^ FT2.EXE`
ALIAS ANGRY =`CDD C:\MYMUSIC ^ DEL *.*`
_____Parameters in Aliases
The forth and final little alias lore we will look at are parameters within
aliases. Consider the alias "cooldir =`cls ^ dir %1 %2 %3 %4`. This
notation is just like a .BAT file. Each % refers to command-line
argument.
Now you can type COOLDIR *.S3M *.MOD and 4DOS will expand this to:
CLS
DIR *.S3M *.MOD
Now you can use really cool aliases like the following:
ALIAS D =`cls ^ dir /h /j /k /ogen %1 %2 %3 %4`
ALIAS @@Alt-d =D
In this case, when you press Alt-d, the alias D is executed. All of those
parameters I'm using after dir are just to make things look really pretty.
That's what I call extremely slick.
_____A Note of Caution
Do be careful. If you define an alias that is a pre-existing command (like
"alias dir = ... ", "alias copy = ... ") your new command would replace the
old one. I'll discuss this more in a future tutorial.
_____CONCLUSION
Now you are getting into some really neato stuff. Believe it or not, we've
only touched the surface of 4DOS. Next week we'll talk about reusable
directory variables, the "select" command, and 4DOS function calls.
And remember, 4DOS 4EVER!
Snowman / Hornet - r3cgm@ftp.cdrom.com
=-------------------------------[FTP'ing to ftp.cdrom.com from the UK]--[KJB]-=
I've just read the latest issue demonews and the above article about
ftpmail caught my attention. You might be pleased to hear that your site is
not always slow and I quite often reach speeds of around 15k/sec ftp'ing to
the UK.
As no e-mail address for 'Aquafresh' was given might you consider telling
him that I've found the site slow (around 1k/sec) only during the week (Due
to heavy U.S. use??). During Saturday & Sunday mornings/afternoons though
speed picks starting at around 3k/sec+ on Saturdays and reaching a peek of
about 10-15k/sec on Sundays.
To sign off I'd just like to say that it's nice to have a specialized site
to call on for all the latest demos & music. The Demonews contributors are
also to be thanked for their reviews of the latest releases helping me to
make the most out of my downloads.
Thanks.
KJB - madhouse@gonk.compulink.co.uk
=------------------------------------------[Basehead is "Steppin' Out"]--[GD]-=
Not long after the release of his Five Musicians-affiliated musicdisk, a
seven-song compilation titled "Lotus Position," Basehead (Real name Dan
Grandpre) announced that he was leaving the demo scene. It came as a
surprise to everyone, including Necros, who was probably Basehead's closest
friend in the scene.
Met with frustrated, sad, and even angry fans, he maintained his decision
to leave. At the time, he was a member of the Kosmic Free Music Foundation,
Imphobia, and Five Musicians.
He leaves behind approximately three years on the PC scene, during which
time he completed about 120 songs. Among those are the four songs from his
"Shades of Night" trilogy, "Elegance" from the ASM'95 demo "Elegant," songs
in musicdisks such as Kosmic's three "EGG" musicdisks and the popular
"Epidemic" musicdisk, as well as his final scene contribution, his
musicdisk.
Through his years on the PC music scene, he has written co-op tunes with
Necros, Siren, and C.C.Catch, competed and placed third in the NAID'95
music compo, and impressed countless fans with his unique style. His
respectable history of music theory education makes him one of the best
composers that the scene has known.
Below is a condensed form of the Basehead Discography, as compiled by
Majesty and released with the "Lotus Position" musicdisk.
_____Time, Title, Date of Completion, Footnote Indicators, (extra info)
Time Title Date Status
=-----= =---------------------------= =---------------= =-----=
(2:17) Out of Time Again, 9 June 1993 (x)
Ego Trip, 16 June 1993 (x)
(3:40) Original Version 16 June 1993 (x)
(3:54) New Lead Version 17 June 1993 (p)
(2:52) Faster Mix 28 August 1993 (p)
(2:38) Infectious Groove, 19 June 1993
One Step Beyond, 21 June 1993
(2:24) Original Version (poor mix), 21 June 1993
(2:24) Slam Rhythm Edit 15 November 1993 <?> (x)
(2:46) Darkroom 23 June 1993 (x)
(4:35) The City Limits 27 June 1993
(2:54) Crime Story 4 July 1993
(3:18) Panic Button (Hit-it!) 6 July 1993 (x)
(2:06) No More Sunshine 9 July 1993 (p)
(2:10) Perpetual Dawn 14 July 1993 (p)
Full Mental Jacket 15 August 1993
(2:28) Original Version 15 August 1993 (p)
(2:50) Razor Sharp Edit 16 August 1993 (p)
(3:00) Razor Sharp Edit II 18 August 1993 (x)
(6:17) Transflux! 25 August 1993
(2:40) Dark Side of the Moon 6 September 1993
(3:02) Party's On (housemix) 6 September 1993
(1:45) Northstar 8 September 1993
(3:22) Crime Story II 15 September 1993 (p)
(1:21) Jazz Katt 16 September 1993 (p)
(5:20) Odyssey Revisited 26 September 1993 (p) <?>
(1:01) Anarchist Fish (remix) 12 October 1993 (p)
(3:25) Lucid Dreaming 25 October 1993
(2:28) High Voltage/Untitled (remix) 20 November 1993 <?> (x)
(7:45) Shades of Night 15 December 1993
Do U Wanna Trance? 29 December 1993 (x)
(2:18) Original version 29 December 1993 (p)
(3:01) Three Minute Edit 29 December 1993 (p)
(4:23) Full Length Version 18 January 1994 (x)
(7:28) Euthanasia (ravemix) 4 January 1994
(8:08) The Cosmic Courier 10 January 1994
(4:27) Starlight 19 January 1994 (x)
(3:02) Freestyle Funk/Dig This 26 Februrary 1994 (x)
(3:05) Lucid 28 April 1994
(2:27) Loss 30 April 1994
(3:50) Psionic 2 May 1994
(4:01) Fire&Ice 9 May 1994
(3:24) Zodiac-introtune 15 May 1994
Revelation 21 May 1994
(3:05) Original Version 21 May 1994
(3:30) Swing Version 21 May 1994
(5:22) Nostalgic 26 May 1994
(4:23) High Velocity, 3 June 1994
(6:48) Hologram Rose 4 June 1994
(6:03) Wide Awake 26 June 1994
(22:20) Shades Of Night II 30 June 1994
(4:35) Vision 8 July 1994
(10:34) Indian Ritual Theme 11 July 1994
(4:38) Quick(tek)intro-1 14 July 1994
(9:45) Collapsehouse 17 July 1994
(13:24) Tripping To Neptune 26 July 1994
(6:46) Summer Daydream 28 July 1994
(5:08) Sensual 5 August 1994
(4:36) Dope For Your Mind II 7 August 1994
(7:23) Arcadia II 12 August 1994
(4:36) Weeping Willow Rag 24 August 1994
(6:06) Deviate 29 August 1994 (x)
(7:16) Forever 7 October 1994
(2:06) Quickintro-2 10 October 1994 (x)
(3:58) Quickchip-1 10 October 1994
(6:53) Poetry In Motion II 10 October 1994
(2:28) Happy Birthday to Inky! 16 October 1994
(7:07) Shiver 17 October 1994
(5:39) Twitch 17 October 1994
(20:36) Shades Of Night III 23 October 1994
(5:44) Last Dance 24 October 1994
(2:49) Mad Hatter 25 October 1994
(4:12) No More Secrets 29 October 1994
(1:35) Ravaged Nightmare Intro 12 November 1994
(9:35) Twilight Garden 14 November 1994
(18:05) Imajica 19 November 1994
(18:26) Chiba City Lights 1 December 1994
(9:32) Sokoban-main (cdagame) 9 December 1994
(5:32) Snow Dancing 12 December 1994 (x)
(12:26) Antimatter 17 December 1994
(8:40) iCE-Experience-v1 19 December 1994
(1:57) Quickchip-2 25 December 1994 (x)
(5:25) Synapse 26 December 1994
(6:52) Cloud Nine 1 January 1995
(8:03) Take Me Higher (click2) 14 January 1995
(6:24) Mindstream 15 January 1995
(14:20) Celestial Lullabye 29 January 1995
(9:29) Spartacus 4 February 1995
(24:20) Quickchip-3(fantasia) 7 February 1995
(11:24) The Wunderkind 13 March 1995
(4:26) Can't Fake The Funk 19 March 1995
(6:57) 2deep 19 April 1995
(6:03) Dawn 22 April 1995
(3:30) Summercon-intro 24 April 1995
(11:05) Violent Micro 29 April 1995
(4:29) Guinness 30 April 1995
(2:45) Bizarre 2 May 1995
(5:46) Evolution 14 May 1995
(3:06) Gotham Nights 24 May 1995
(1:16) Quickintro-4 3 June 1995
* (8:37) Freedom At Midnight 4 June 1995
* (4:51) Steppin'Out 5 June 1995
* (4:23) Smooth Operator 9 June 1995
* (5:56) Last Request 11 June 1995
(3:54) Carpe Futurus 18 June 1995
(9:29) Missing Time 21 June 1995
*(12:32) Open Your Mind 24 June 1995
*(11:27) Shades of Night IV 10 July 1995
(3:58) Crusader-credits 16 July 1995
(5:22) Crusader-science 17 July 1995
(4:05) Crusader-spc.station 18 July 1995
(3:35) Crusader-prison 30 July 1995
(4:19) Elegance 2 August 1995
(4:23) Crusader-military 2 August 1995
(3:03) Crusader-misc1 16 August 1995
(3:43) Crusader-misc2 16 August 1995
(4:23) Crusader-misc4 18 August 1995
(5:26) Crusader-misc5 18 August 1995
(4:20) Search for the Lost Riff 28 August 1995
* (5:39) Passion Play 15 September 1995
(51:66) Lotus Position 16 September 1995
Footnotes:
(x) Never officially released.
(p) Part of Basehead's private collection (never released.)
(*) Song appears on the "Lotus Position" musicdisk
<?> Completion date may not be exact.
_____Conclusion
As a final tribute, we will have an interview with Basehead next week. Be
sure to read it, as it's probably the last interview you will see from him.
GD / Hornet - gd@ftp.cdrom.com
=-----------[Top 10 Things the Demo Scene Will Never See]--[Liam the Lemming]-=
10. Basehead ripping off PeriSoft's instruments.
9. Necros joining Epinicion.
8. The triumphant return of ModEdit 2.00.
7. PeriSoft deleting THAT siner synth from his sample collection.
6. Skaven finishing off Ice Frontier.
5. Big Jim joining Epinicion.
4. The point of Windoze 95.
3. Eye to eye.
2. Third Reality.
1. Liam the lemming / S(ix) M(usicians). ;)
Liam the lemming / S!P - cmslhes1@livjm.ac.uk
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=-[Closing]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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...........................................................End.of.DemoNews.103.
