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TraxWeekly Issue 082
/ the music scene newsletter - Issue #82
t r a x w e e k l y .______/_______ ____ ._____ ._______
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Issue Number: 82 | : .:. . |
Release Date: 25 Dec 1996 | . .:::. h a p p y :
Subscribers: 902 : .:::::. h o l i d a y s ! .
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/-[Introduction]------------------------------------------------------------
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Dear readers, welcome to TraxWeekly #82.
I hope that all of you have a wonderful and fulfilling holiday season,
whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukah, or simply nothing at all.
A times our world and this scene can get very annoying, and the conflicts
that plague us undermine the march into the future.
However.
I quote a comic strip (Shoe) by Jeff Macneilly:
Rudolph: So what's our featured gift this year, Mr. C?
Santa: It's a simple thing, really. It seems to be on everyone's list
again, so I thought I'd give it a try. Of course, no one knows
how to take care of it, so it'll break as soon as I deliver it.
Rudolph: What is this, another lousy toy made in cheapistan?
Santa: No...Peace on earth (batteries not included).
Think about that next time you feel the urge to lash out at your fellow
scene community members. Realize that among those that populate this
planet, we are truly lucky in being able to even participate in the music
scene at all.
Until next year, enjoy! =)
Gene Wie (Psibelius)
TraxWeekly Publishing
gwie@csusm.edu
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Letters and Feedback
1. Letter from Coplan
2. Letter from KXmode
General Articles
3. Impulse Tracker Tip of the Week...............Pinion
4. Ratings Solutions.............................Boris
Closing
Distribution
Subscription/Contribution Information
TraxWeekly Staff Sheet
/-[Letters and Feedback]----------------------------------------------------
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--[1. Letter from Coplan]---------------------------------------------------
From coplan@thunder.ocis.temple.eduSat Dec 21 12:43:56 1996
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 1996 18:21:03 -0500 (EST)
From: Coplan <coplan@thunder.ocis.temple.edu>
To: gwie@mailhost1.csusm.edu
Subject: IT tip of the week and mass interview...
I am a new subscriber to Trax Weekly, so I did my research. I
downloaded the last 4 or 5 issues to catch up on some of the topics that
have been published recently. First I want to start off by saying Trax
Weekly is a really good idea. For semi-new trackers like me, it can be
very helpful.
Pinion's "Impulse Tracker Tip of the Week" article is very
helpful. Though I haven't yet been able to use the reverb affect with
any of my songs, it is something that I am sure (very sure) I can use in
the near future. I hope he continues with it some more. Maybe a good
topic for someone to do (if not Pinion) would be IT's Instrument
support. Though I have read the manual, it is still sort of fuzzy, and
frankly, I still don't understand it's usefulness. Someone is bound to
have some tips on that. IT is finally starting to get more widely used,
and if Pinion doesn't continue with the article, someone should.
I also wanted to comment about the Mass interview that was
published in a previous issue (was it I.80?). I think, even though that
interview had a lot of silliness involved, it is a really great concept.
It made a few of those little personality differeces show. Each and
every person on #trax is slightly different, and sometimes we don't get
to see that. I would like to see the mass interviews continue. And for
anyone else who reads this: if you happen to be on during a mass
interview, try to take it more seriously. It has the potential to become
a really great column.
Coplan - Analogue Tracking
coplan@thunder.ocis.temple.edu
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--[2. Letter from KXmode]---------------------------------------------------
From randrew@primenet.comThu Dec 19 16:37:50 1996
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 1996 15:07:31 -0800 (PST)
From: Ryan Allen <randrew@primenet.com>
To: Gene Wie <gwie@mailhost2.csusm.edu>
Subject: a reply to pizzahead
> Create high-energy house, trance, techno, and hip hop beats, wheather
> you're a beginner or the hottest DJ on record. NewBeat trancemission
> provides all the tools needed to create studio quality music, including
> over 250 instrument and sfx samples, a common .wav format for exporting
> any sound to other Windows applications, FuseBox for drum kits and
> beats, Sound Warp for recording your own sounds, and 20 different sound
> Channels. (side note: thats what says its a tracking program, 20
> channels, and its not midi cus it uses wavs like a tracking program)
> Now Only $24.99
i've seen this ad. this doesn't prove that game developing companies are
searching for "scene" composers... this is just an ad for software that
allows you to create these styles of music. BTW, there is software out
there like Fast Tracker 2, Scream Tracker 3, Impulse Tracker 2 and more,
that are available for free (or a small donation fee) :)
k X m o d e ^ p H l u i d
email: randrew@primenet.com
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/-[General Articles]--------------------------------------------------------
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--[3. Impulse Tracker Tip of the Week]----------------[pinion (Ryan Hunt)]--
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Tip #2: Fun with NNAs (or "Why You Should Respect the Power of IT!")
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- New Note Actions (NNAs) are you friend! --
New Note Actions really are one of the coolest features of Impulse Tracker.
It used to be that to get a piano sample to sustain out you had to spread
it out over multiple (sometimes up to four or five!) channels. While this
isn't that big a problem, it's not asthetically pleasing, and can use up
most of the display.
Now through the wonders of technology we can do better! By simply giving
the default NNA of 'fade' to a piano sample a nice keyoff sustain can be
accomplished in all of a few seconds. Also, if the note fade setting is
set correctly then very few virtual channels need to be used. To do chords
you will still need another channel, but it's much more convienient to use
a single channel for runs and the like.
-- Be careful with NNAs of continue. --
REMEMBER: if you have a sample that rings out continuously you will want it
to stop eventually. If it doesn't, not only will you probably make you song
crash, but you will annoy the listener into deleting you song. I find that
the use for NNAs of continue is with drums, or other short-ish samples that
don't have loops. Of course there are exceptions, but this seems to be a
good rule of thumb.
-- You are not forced into using any particular NNA --
Don't forget also that you are not required to use the default setting every
time that sample is played. The beautiful thing about instruments is that
they take up very little file space. You can create multiple instruments
with different fade setting, default NNAs, volume envelopes, or one with no
NNAs settings at all, and it won't make a song file that is huge like adding
sample data will. Of course, you can also effect NNAs within the pattern
itself. Just use these simple commands to do the following:
NNA cut = S73
NNA continue = S74
NNA note off = S75
NNA note fade = S76
Keep in mind that these effects will be seen only when the next note in
that channel is played. Hence:
00 C-4 03 .. S74 | <-- This note will ring out until you do a ^^^
01 A#4 03 .. S73 | <-- This note will sound out util the note in
02 ... .. .. ... | row 03 is played where as it will be abruptly
03 C-5 03 .. ... | and uncerimoniously clipped.
04 ... .. .. ... |
Anyway... NNAs are a bit intimidating at first, but once you start using
them they are the bomb.
If you need further information on this trick or have an idea for a Tip of
the Week email pinion@netcom.com
-pinion (phluid)
email: pinion@netcom.com
web : www.acid.org/phluid/newmain.html
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--[4. Rating Solutions]--------------------------------------------[Boris]--
This is a followup to the letter from sub@plazma.net included in last
week's issue.
> Ok, My views on Reviews are that they can be VERY valuable, but not
> when it's, oh, hornet's * ratings... or anything along those lines when
> the music is evaluated and then the listener gives back feedback as to
> what could IMPROVE on the song, then it's a LOT nicer to have done...
Well, there IS an additional alternative out there. One that takes a
particular subset of songs (you'd need the slaves of Egypt to be able to
tackle 100% of the stuff released nowadays) found on ftp.cdrom.com and
Aminet and not only rates via 1-100, but also encourages its reviewers to
write commentary regarding the good and bad points of the song from their
perspective. A number of the reviewers are trackers themselves, and in
many cases their commentary reflects this higher than average expertise
in evaluating the song's aspects at a deeper level than the purely
subjective.
What am I talking about? I'm talking about the Weekly Module Review. A
few of you may have heard of it already. There were weekly solicitations
posted to various appropriate newsgroups over a period of a few weeks
about two months ago. Since then there have been posted six weeks worth
of reviews (= 60 modules) with an average response per module of about
ten. Meaning there were about 10 ratings/reviews provided for each
module.
This is a fairly relaxed project where anyone who feels they can offer
useful opinions to others on various modules can pitch in and help to
create a database of reviews and ratings for others to use.
I (Boris) organized this project partially because I wanted to get
involved some way in the music scene which has consumed most of my free
time since '90, and partially because I saw a gap in other reviewing/
rating processes.
The gaps were mainly that most ratings were not accompanied by any useful
commentary, and from what I was able to gather, the ratings given were
usually from only one person or a very small cadre of people.
> I personally appreciate it when even someone hears it and says "IT
> SUCKS" or "is this something to commit hara kiri to?" <maelcum> ;)
> Anyway, they ARE rather good things, and can even help the public to
> see what is a decent song out there...
Composers usually want feedback. From my experience talking with many,
they get pitifully little. There is, as usual, a high degree of inertia,
or perhaps apathy, to overcome. I'm trying to circumvent this by rounding
up as many people as possible so as to insure a fair amount of commentary
and a good number of ratings with which to balance the output.
Composers can read the reviews, dismiss or learn from them. Casual users
interested in finding good quality modules amidst the morass of junk, can
read the reviews and use the ratings for a quick overview.
Some people might suggest that since not every WMR reviewer is highly
knowledgeable in what it takes to track a module, their comments can't be
very useful. I would have to insist that this is not the case. Having an
open forum like this allows a cross-section of the general audience to be
heard. Some commentary will come from a technical angle, some will just
relate to general subjective reactions. Both are valid because I doubt
that most composers are composing only for the kudos they can receive
from other trackers. The listening public leans highly to the side of
the casual listener, and therefore they are the composer's major
audience.
A quick note regarding the 1-100 rating system I've chosen: I've noticed
here and there, comments regarding even the symbology used in rating.
Some have claimed the five-star ratings are useless, some have claimed
percentile ratings are useless...well, each are used because they fit the
circumstances. The symbology is almost a non-entity anyway, it's what is
interpreted from them. For us, the 1-100 system was chosen because I
wanted, specifically, to be able to subdivide the overall rankings so as
to allow fine separation. This is a choice, not a law. I don't suggest
that a module that rates an 86.24 is necessarily any better than one that
rates an 86.20. I leave it up to the database user to determine how finely
to consider the numbers. So, if someone likes the five-star rating style
used at the Hornet archive, they can easily adjust our ratings to that
method (subdivide into 10 whole point groups).
Ok, I took the time to generally outline the WMR project. I haven't been
blaring our existence all over the net (only a tiny bit), because I
wanted to get a decent amount of info on the web database, as well as
update the web pages (I am restricted to a non-graphical browser at the
moment, but am now working on the face lift - so the pages are still pure
text).
At the moment, the web page offers full
reviews and ratings on 60 modules. We do 10 per week so as to insure a
decent amount of reviews per module. IF we had two or three times the
number of reviewers (right now we have 27 active/semi-active), I'd jack
that up. There is an overall rankings page for a quick overview of all
modules. A page where all modules are subdivided by style(s), so people
can get a quick overview of their favorite genres. And there will be a
reviewer top ten page added pretty soon which will include information
about the preferences of each (well, many) reviewer and their top ten
rated selections from those they've reviewed. This is a good way for
users to fit their tastes to one or more of the reviewers and get a
possibly even better fix on which modules they might find to their own
tastes. Oh, and all the modules reviewed are downloadable from this
site.
Sorry for turning this into an advertisement, but I was going to submit
an advert to TW anyway at some point.
To finish it off: if any of you would like to help add meat to this
project, all you have to do is go to:
http://www.cyberverse.com/~boris/wmr-index.html
and skip to the "new reviewers page." There you will be asked a few
quick questions (very simple!), and can read a few Q&A bits to get an
overview of how the reviewing process works (also, simple). I hope some
of your 899 subscribers might be willing to invest a little bit of time
in this. The more reviewers the better.
> Also, another thing I want to mention is try and make your music REALLY
> GOOD. The quality of the samples can be a factor, but if you got your
> wonderful samples, but there's nothing there at all, what's the use of
> releasing it? I've seen a lot of this sort come from KFMF lately. I'm
> not dissing the group, it's just an honest opinion.
It's too bad you feel you have to validate your opinion so as to avoid
others' knee-jerking. Honest opinions are all that count anyway. Brown-
nosing does no one but possibly the brown-noser any good. It certainly
doesn't do the potential listening audience any good. We've reviewed two
modules from KFMF guys so far, one which got rather low ratings and
not-so-good reviews. No brown-nosing on our part. We have no agenda
other than to provide useful info.
[gene:]
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>
> Everyone has something to say about music reviews, and I guess someone
> takes a hit, no matter who carefully regulated the reviewing process is.
> On this planet, no human exists who is completely objective. Therefore,
> we will always have disagreements, thus ratings are never to the
> complete acceptance of 100% of the people involved.
This is one reason why I took the tack of a completely open reviewing
forum. Trying to fake people into believing all the reviews are
completely objective is futile. I prefer to accept the reality of
subjectivity and use it for good! (Ack! Forgot to remove my cape.)
Anyone who considers subjectivity in reviews to be an evil is, in my
opinion, missing the point. Both people and music ARE subjective by
their very nature. Objectivity is better left for technical aspects.
> All thins aside, I think that amidst their workload and the
> difficulties in managing the archive, the members of Hornet put out an
> admirable effort in a difficult job.
I should note that originally I was selecting newer modules at random so
as to keep any potential bias out of the mix. However, since there was a
rather high incidence of...lesser quality stuff (implying the majority)
coming up, I decided to use the Hornet ratings as a guideline and began
choosing modules that were rated as *** or higher. I figured it still
represents a fair cross-section of releases, and will avoid the problem
of reviewers getting sick of reviewing more glass than gems.
This worked. The average ratings from that point forward jumped by a
noticeable margin. So, I'd have to conclude that although I don't follow
the more crude (numerically speaking) five-star format, that it does
indeed still impart useful info. I have also noted that most of the two
star or lower modules that we reviewed earlier did, in fact, score lower
than average ratings. Of course, there still were some ratings clashes,
but that's expected in any case.
> These are people who volunteer their time and energy to making sure
> that the Hornet archive continues, and that more space is found to
> house everyone's creations.
And anyone that doesn't appreciate it, doesn't deserve it.
> For $0.00/hour, I think they do pretty well, don't you?
Unabashedly stealing the above two comments...this applies to the WMR
reviewers as well. We have similar goals and we have similar reasons.
We both do what we do because we think it's a Good Thing(tm) and it
provides a service that at least some people will appreciate. The rest
can ignore us as they see fit. I'm concerned about the former.
Boris - WMR
boris@cyberverse.com
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/-[Closing]-----------------------------------------------------------------
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The staff can be reached at the following:
Editor: Psibelius (Gene Wie)..............gwie@csusm.edu
Staff: Atlantic (Barry Freeman)..........atlantic@arcos.org
Benjamin Krause...................orogork@cs.tu-berlin.de
Fred (Fred Fredricks).............fred@paracom.com
Kal Zakath (John Townsend)........jtownsen@sescva.esc.edu
Kleitus (Seth Katzman)............skatzman@global2000.net
Mage (Glen Dwayne Warner).........gdwarner@cvn70b.vinson.navy.mil
Zinc (Justin Ray).................rays@direct.ca
Graphic Contributors:
Cruel Creator . Stezotehic . Squidgalator2 . White Wizard
TraxWeekly is a HORNET affiliation.
Copyright (c)1995,1996 - TraxWeekly Publishing, All Rights Reserved.
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until next week! =)
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