______/\___________________________ __ ________________ ___ /\_______
\____ \ ________ _ _ ______ \ / \| \ ________ | \/ ______/
/ | \ _) \ \_/ \ | \ / \ \ _) \ | \______ \
/ | \ \ | \ | \/ \ \ /~\ \ / \
\_____ /_______/___| /________/\____\_____/_______/_________/________/
===\_____/============|____/========================================[+tZ^]==
DemoNews Issue #80
January 22, 1995 - January 28, 1995
------------
DemoNews is a weekly publication for the demo scene. It is produced at the
Internet FTP site ftp.eng.ufl.edu (HORNET). This newsletter focuses on
many aspects of demos and demo making. Everyone is welcomed to contribute
articles, rumors, and advertisements.
Information about HORNET and DemoNews can be found at /demos/news/README
Start.of.DemoNews.080,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,
SIZE: 26,874 SUBSCRIBERS: Last week: 1176 This week: 1220 Change: +44
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
SECTIONS ARTICLES
---------------- ----------------------------------
General DemoNews/HTML
Traffic Jam
New Uploads Files recieved at HORNET
Editorial CodeThink(School);
Music The Solo Sample CD
Advertisements TinyZ ASCII Advertisement
Hot Sound & Vision CD
Back Issues How to Get 'em, Descriptions
Closing Comments Quote for the Week, etc.
,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,
<<General>>
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
_____DemoNews/HTML by White Noise, HORNET webMaster.
We talked about it, promised it, pushed back deadline after deadline, but
it's finally here. Your patience will finally be rewarded.
HORNET ftp site now has an official identity on the World-Wide Web, and
houses within it DemoNews/HTML, the WWW offspring of DemoNews. Now you can
read all this information with hypertext links to the files on HORNET as
well as graphics all over!
To reach DemoWorld, HORNET's identity on the WWW, the URL is
ftp://ftp.eng.ufl.edu/demos/dw/dw.html
Since DemoWorld has been created with Netscape and Netscape Navigator in
mind, it uses many html extensions proper to Netscape and Navigator. Use
of these browsers is necessary for best results.
A last note: as you may have noticed, the only way to reach DemoWorld is
through an FTP link to the site. This has a major drawback: if the site
is nearly full (ie around 100 users are online), you may experience image
transfer errors. The images are actually really there, but the server will
not send them. If this is the case, then maybe you should try and connect
later, when activity on the site is lower.
Enjoy!
_____Traffic Jam
HORNET can hold a maximum of 100 ftp users at one time. This limit is
frequently being reached. As a result, I would like to ask all of you to
start using our FAST mirror ftp.cdrom.com (/pub/demos). This mirror is
relatively close to HORNET and it is a great deal FASTER. This site also
mirrors the /incoming directory and updates it regularly, so there is no
need to hop on HORNET just to check for new uploads. By the way, did I
mention that this other site is FASTER? :)
,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,
<<New Uploads>>
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
NOTE: All locations start with /demos and then their respective sub-
directory. Please note however that the actual base directories
(like /pub/msdos/demos) may differ from mirror to mirror.
Location Filename.Ext Size Description
---------------- ------------ ---- ----------------------------------------
/demos
/alpha/NEW/tp94 fg_beta .zip 319 First Glimpse by Xtended Fantasy
klara .zip 478 Klara 31 by Trance (GUS and x87)
/alpha/NEW happy95!.zip 18 Happy New Year by Agony
h!disord.zip 271 Disorder by Halcyon from Juhla '95
ld-warpf.arj 1457 WARP / Legend Design Bugfixed (1/2)
ld-warpf.a01 830 WARP / Legend Design Bugfixed (2/2)
mhappy95.zip 38 Happy 1995 demo by Mile
semtex .zip 410 Semtex City by J!P. 1st place Juhla '95
x-y-z .zip 513 Project XYZ Orange Demo from Juhla '95
/mags skymag#7.zip 421 Skyline Magazin Issue #7
/nets dgnet .zip 8 The Digital Graphics Network
/news nadd_v10.zip 1392 New Age Demo Database v1.0
/parties dmogrps .txt 2 New Media '95 info (party in BC, Canada)
juhlares.txt 3 Results from Juhla '95
tp94_res.txt 3 The Party 1994 results (old)
/music
/disks defimd-a.zip 955 Defiance Unleashed #1 (1/3)
defimd-b.zip 886 Defiance Unleashed #1 (2/3)
defimd-c.zip 540 Defiance Unleashed #1 (3/3)
f10_pck1.zip 1736 Force Ten Music Pack #1
relapse3.zip 818 Music disk by distorsion
/songs/s3m b-solit .zip 48 Solitude by Compu-Man (12 chn)
cybernet.zip 254 Cybernetica by the Riders
double .zip 153 Simplicity & Purple Sky by MusicMan
fdm2-had.zip 213 Forbes Dancing Machine by Hadji/dmk
k-weasel.zip 231 That's The Weasel by Boomer the BassPig
lv-wish .zip 273 Wish by Leviathan/Renaissance
ti-cycle12.zip 349 Ambient track by Twisted Image
xfiles1 .zip 32 Song for Xfiles Lovers by Damond Choi
zeolspac.zip 90 Zeolite Space by Bolleke
/songs/xm crimea1 .zip 814 Crima by TheKraken
mld-make.zip 239 Make Me Better by Mellow-D
nf-blow .zip 505 [I can't read your EleEt shit]
sawdust2.zip 437 Sawdust II by Putrid Mind
/code
/graph/3d rotate .lzh 7 2d rotate text file by Draeden
rotate3d.lzh 35 3d rotate text file by Draeden
/graph/images rotatebm.zip 25 How to rotate bit-maps in Pascal
scale .lzh 7 Bit-map Scaling in ASM
/graph/plasma plasexp .zip 3 Jare's modified plasma code (Plexus)
/graph/scroll scroll2 .zip 41 Scrolling demo (speed up verticle clip)
/graph/text tv10 .zip 45 Textview... to do with .zip headers?
/graph/tutor tut17 .zip 18 Asphyxia Trainer 17 (Pixel Morph-static)
/sound sbdsp103.zip 13 SBDSP Sound Blaster Drivers...
vaisdk .zip 89 SDK for VESA audio interface BIOS ext.
/utils byterape.zip 164 ByteRaper v4.0 Rip demo graphics+music
cryptdem.exe 310 Encryption for files
keyboard.zip 10 Low-Level Keyboard Handler
keydef .zip 12 Macro maker for your keyboard
learn .zip 7 Support for KEYDEF program.
obbuf .zip 12 OBBUF - Full 255 Char Keyboard buffer
pop&push.zip 8 Push and Pop your DOS directories
/graphics
/TP94 tp94gfx1.zip 1315 The Party '94 Graphics (1/2)
tp94gfx2.zip 523 The Party '94 Graphics (2/2)
/utils dst_frac.zip 12 Fractal Trace v1.0 by Gougoutt/DST
veced100.zip 233 3D vector editing tools
,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,
<<Editorial>>
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
_____CodeThink(School); by Christopher G. Mann
For most of us coders in the scene, Christmas is a distant memory and
school is a bad habit we can't seem to break. Day after day we are forced
to interact with other people our age who know nothing of C or Assembler.
Trust me, its very difficult to explain to your lunch buddies how your
latest ASM graphics algorithms work.
As I spend so much time coding and reading related manuals, it would be a
difficult thing indeed to restrict my mind soley academic matters during
the day. In this vain, I here present some ideas for incorporating
coding-related thoughts to the tedium school.
// INCLUDE FILES
#include <BodyIO.h> // walk(), write(), eat()
// If using Microsoft C++, this file
// includes burp() and fart()
#include <LanguageEnglish.h> // sayf(), listenf()
#include <Time.h> // lookclock(), attemptAnalogClock()
#include <LookInterested.h> // eyesopen(), noyawn()
#include "SnowHabit.h" // smoke(), coffee(), talktoofast()
// CONSTANTS
const NumCourses = 5;
const NumKewlCourses = 2;
const NumSuckCourses = NumCourses - NumKewlCourses;
const TimePerClass = 45;
const TimeForFun = NumSuckCourses * TimePerClass;
// CODETHINK() FUNCTION
void CodeThink(int timeleft) {
if (timeleft > 40) {
GetInspiration = lookat(classmate(PrettyGirl));
NewEffect = createffect(rand());
ThinkFeasibility(NewEffect);
if (rand() == 100) remember(DoomGame);
ThinkAlgorithm(NewEffect);
}
else {
AnswerEmail(ThinkAhead);
if (bored > 100) {
WriteNote(friend);
CountHowMany(rand(ObjectInRoom));
}
FigureOutEffect(rand(demo));
}
}
// MAIN PROGRAM
void main() {
// TIME TO GET UP
char awake[10] = "no";
int snoozefactor = 5;
do {
AlarmRings(7:00); // this is hardcoded, change if required
awake = "mabey";
if (snoozefactor > 1) {
HitSnoozeButton(snoozefactor);
snoozefactor--;
}
else {
awake = "yes";
turnoffalarm();
}
} until ((awake == "yes") || (alarmbroken() == 'y'));
// MORNING ACTIVITIES
getup(); // use getupc() to 'c'onceal side effects of rated X dreams
// smoke(); <-- I'm trying to quit
if (family(status) == "Donna Reed")
sayf("Good Morning %s, I am now awake.",FamilyMember);
else getbathroom(first);
getdressed();
if !(AssemblerCoder) {
eatmeal();
watchnews();
pet(DOG+CAT);
}
else {
openfridge();
eatavailable();
if (family(status) == "disfunctional") yellat(rand(familymember));
}
// now we are ready for school!
if (age < 17) bustoschool(); else drivetoschool();
// SCHOOL LOOP
int timeleft;
for (int classloop=0; classloop<NumCourses; classloop1++) {
goto(class); // normally you aren't supposed to use goto's, but
// I don't feel like jumping
timeleft = TimePerClass;
if (class == "kewl")
do {
payattention();
takenotes();
participate(fearfactor);
timeleft--;
} while (timeleft > 0);
}
else {
do {
eyesopen(2);
timeleft = TimePerClass - (lookclock() - startclass(classloop));
CodeThink(timeleft); // see function definition above
noyawn();
} while (timeleft > 0);
}
}
} // end of school day
So in summary, if you budget your time effectively you can accomplish quite
a bit during the course of a normal school day.
Some people may not like this unorthodox style of writing, so
if (ThisArticle(funny) == NOT)) SendFlame(/dev/null);
author("Christopher G. Mann"); date("January 21", 1995);
,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,
<<Music>>
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
_____The Solo Sample CD by Chuck Biscuits / Heretics
Most composers I've talked to on the net would love to get some sample-CDs.
Let's face it - they can be a very useful source of the building blocks of
your music - raw sounds. They are limited in their use by those with
samplers, sampling synthesisers, or the tracker musician - those of us who
cannot afford the first two, which are generally at the more expensive end
of the synthesiser scale, are limited to the third choice. But I digress.
I'm reviewing the Solo (disc Solo-1) sample cd entitled "workstation volume
one". A humble title, at a humble price. With the top-end sample-CDs
costing in the range of 50 pounds UK, or $100US (and them just not being
reall available in Australia [where I live] at all!), it's just too
expensive for alot of composers to bother, especially if they're unsure as
to the sounds on the disc and if it's really what they're after. The
workstation one sample CD cost me $34.95A (about $27US), and I picked it up
from a local techno/hiphop record store. Now, onto the actual CD itself:
The CD is all audio, in Phillips redbook format (1-99 track, 44.1kHz,
16-bit, stereo, 75 frames/sec). Within the 54 tracks the composer is
firstly given a collection of 24 drumloops, ranging from mid-range quick
techno to 90-odd bpm rap and 120-odd bpm rock backbeat/funk loops.
Inside the jewel case (which has a weird picutre of the inside of a canyon
looking up on it) is enclosed a sample list, which is quite difficult to
read, the text being similar in shade and colour to the background. That
aside, the information given here is very useful - most importantly, the
speed (in BPM, beats-per-minute) is given for all 24 loops.
There's actually two copies of the loops each, one in tracks 1-24 and a
second copy in tracks 31-54. The first set have some effects (mainly just
a light reverb) and are slightly spatial in the stereo sense. The second
copy of the loops (in the same order from 31-54) are "as above/no fx/mono",
which is good for tracker composers since we need mono samples - however
you could create interesting effects by sampling both from the exact start
of track (say with a CD-ROM red-book format audio grabbing utility) and
crossfading the two in the stereo-domain.
And the loops bring my first disappointment about the CD - the loops are
played far too long! Most of the loops, in the first set of them (tracks
1-24), are played up to 30 times each. This kind of space filling,
although very annoying, is evident on a lot of "budget" sample-cd's simply
due to the fact that they are cheaper, so you're going to get less on them,
even if you see the disc and think "wow, 63 minutes, 650 megs of samples!".
The second time the loops are played, with no effects and in mono, as
stated earlier, we are saved from the inanity of the above repeating, but
still, the loops are repeated twice or three times. Since most of the
loops are only 4 bar, and a couple have a variation in the second set of 4
bars, only one loop would be required - this also makes it easier to loop
if they haven't cut it off too short.
If you're wondering what's in the tracks 25-30, this is where the
"workstation" element of the sample CD is. Tracks 25 to 27 are full of
samples from the Roland JD-800 workstation synth. The JD-800 was an
attempt by Roland to revive some of the "old school" analogue controls,
such as were evident on their classic analogue synthesisers like the
Juptiers and the Junos (apart from the last Juno, the Alpha Juno 1 and 2)).
The synthesiser didn't do too brilliantly, but is still capable of creating
some great sounds, as is proven on the disc. We range from lots of string
pads and short 1/2 bar pad loops to "velo crunch" sounds which sound
something akin to a Fender Strat being played through the cleanest
distortion pedal you've ever heard, and then feeding back. Great stuff.
There's 25 samples in each track, so that's 150 samples in all in the
JD-800 section. The samples are well split up, having a second or two of
space between them (about the only good thing about budget cd's, the filler
space is there and you dont have to be a perfect looper/sampler to get the
sounds out because they're not rammed up against each other such as in some
"more-samples-for-yer-cash" CDs).
Tracks 28 to 30 contain samples from the E-Mu Proteus 3/World collection.
E-Mu have made a bucket out of providing these superb little sample-replay
units (the Proteus series) with little programming functions. They're
mainly a preset unit, however they have sold like hotcakes, and the
Proteus/1 (rock/pop) and Proteus/2 (orchestral) were accompanied a few
years ago by the 3/World. There's a lot of cool ambient/world/ethnic
sounds in this section, some interesting pads, overall a lot of useful
sounds. There's a little too much of the Shakuhaci-type instrument on this
sample cd, we have "Shakflute" in the JD-800 section, and "Koto", "Ney
Flute", "Pluck", "Jade Spring" (oh how original preset names :), "Shinto",
"Shakuhachi" and so on, in the proteus section (just to name a few). This
is a little nauseating after awhile, but fortunately there's also some good
sounds.
I have just one major quam about the Proteus section, which is simply that
the sounds are played too quietly. You really need to turn up the CD
player to be able to sample the sounds well, and by doing that of course
you begin to add noise, which is unwanted and unnecessary - a little more
care in the recording process would've improved this part of the CD no-end.
You could of course rip the audio directly from the CD via a CD-rom drive
assuming you have one, but this is very annoying if you dont, and it
detracts from the overall usefulness of the CD a little. There's 75
samples in this section also, making 150 samples in the instrument section
and 24 (*2) loops on the CD.
Although it may sound like I've been bagging this CD, I really enjoy alot
of the loops - and the loops are to the most part original, also, I haven't
heard these lurking on any other sample-cd's, although I'm sure some of
them are, I cant pick any of the loops out of many (only 1, to date) songs,
and there's variety of great pad, lead, organ, synth and ethnic sounds on
the CD. The price was initially the reason I had a listen and checked it
out, and for the price, especially over here, it would be hard to find much
better. If you're after a few loops and some interesting (yet useable)
sounds, it's most definately worth a look.
datafile:
"workstation one" (solo cd-1)
54 tracks, 62 minutes and 43 second
2 copies of 24 drumloops
150 instrument sounds
- 75 from the Roland JD-800
- 75 from the E-Mu Systems Proteus 3/World
,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,
<<Advertisements>>
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
_____Advertisement 1 of 2
_______
--------| /----------------------. hi kids, tinyz of the infamous
| __| /____________________ | katharsis!ascii crew here... this
| .---/ | __/____ _____ _______/_ | is a short ad to inform you that
| | _/ _ \ \_______ \_| for the next quarter (3 months) kts
| | \ | \ / / /+-. will be doing pro bono logos/dizes
`-+ \___| \______/___________/ | for pretty much any demo group that
`------|_________/-----+tZ^------------' wants one... mail me for the 411
^ - rotund 'K' tinyz/katharsis
[email protected]
_____Advertisement 2 of 2
!! Hot Sound & Vision :: The World's Finest Collection of Multimedia !!
(Well, as of 11/93 :). Volume 2 is due 5/94 !!)
It has 638mb of stuff on it, with a nice front-end menu
Files are in .ZIP, and each directory has a FILES.BBS
19.00 (UK Pounds). This is approx US$28.
DEMO\MAIN * 74mb, 323 files * The World's Best Demos
DEMO\FUTCREW * 6mb, 18 files * The DemoGroup FutureCrew's Demos
DEMO\DIY * 6mb, 51 files * Make your own Demos, source code & utils
DEMO\GAME * 26mb, 57 files * Demos of (Forthcoming) Games
GIF\PROGS * 12mb, 87 files * Software to View/Edit/Hack GIF/JPG Pics
GIF\PIX * 70mb, 824 files * GIF/JPG Pictures (Miscellaneous)
GIF\FEMALE * 69mb, 531 files * GIF/JPG Pictures (Female)
VISION\PROGS * 24mb, 234 files * Various Graphics/Screen Programs
VISION\FLI * 59mb, 214 files * Animations (FLI/GL/DL/MPG etc)
VISION\RAY * 17mb, 76 files * Computer Oriented Art (Raytrace/Fractal)
FUN * 76mb, 496 files * Fun and Games on a Grand Scale
SOUND\PROGS * 31mb, 306 files * Various Sound Programs
SOUND\MOD * 116mb,1393 files * MODules (Sequenced-Samples Songs)
SOUND\MIDI * 6mb, 153 files * MIDI (Musical Inst. Dig. Interface)
SOUND\SAMPLE * 39mb, 317 files * Samples (Noises, Voices, Beeps etc)
HOTSV * 6mb, 22 files * Objectively Essential Software
Cost : 19.00 UK Pounds
Add 4.62% CreditCard. Add 17.5% VAT inside EEC.
Postage : Free UK, 2.00 Outside UK, 3.00 Outside Europe.
Inclusive Price : 23.36 UK, 25.36 EEC, 22.88 World.
Cards Accepted : Access/Visa/Mastercard/Eurocard
Cheques Accepted : Must be in POUNDS STERLING.
Orders by email :
[email protected]
Orders by voice : RJB Communications on +44 (0)932-253131
Orders by B.B.S : Sound & Vision BBS on +44 (0)932-252323
Orders by mail : 24 Oatlands Chase, Weybridge, Surrey KT13 9RY, UK
p.s. volume 2 is coming out soon!!
,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,
<<Back Issues>>
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
_____How to Get 'em
After reading this issue of DemoNews, you may be wondering how you can get
previous ones. Well fear not! There are two different ways to do so:
1: FTP to hornet.eng.ufl.edu and go to /pub/msdos/demos/news/OLD_NEWS and
start downloading anything you see.
2: Now you can request back issues of DemoNews via e-mail. Start a letter
to
[email protected] (any subject line) and in the body of the
letter include "get demuan-list <index>" where INDEX refers to the
index number of the issue.
For example: get demuan-list 43
This would retrieve DemoNews #76 (part 1 of 2).
For more recent issues that are split into multiple parts, you must send
an individual request for each index number.
_____Descriptions
Issue Index Date Size Description
----- ----- -------- ------ ----------------------------------------------
75 41,42 12/18/94 68009 A DemoNews Reader, The Birth of Commercial
Life, Editorial: Calm Before the Storm,
Interview with Mello-D, US Demo Scene
(Renaissance meeting), Jelly Tots and Pizza
Shops, Review of Wired '94 Graphics.
76 43,44 12/25/94 92589 Interview with EMF, DemoNews Readers Write,
Kimba's Life Story, X-Mas in the Demo Scene,
CORE, Demo & Music Database, Interview with
Purple Motion/Future Crew, Interview with
Krystall/Astek, Common Sense ][ by Perisoft,
Its X-Mas in Africa, Interview with Maxwood
of Majic 12, Assembly Part ][, Common Sense
Response by Stony.
77 45,46 01/01/95 101100 Chart History, Snowman Near-Disaster, Son of
Snowman, The Party 1994, Making Waves, Using
Assembly Part 2.
78 47-49 01/08/95 111185 The Party 1994: Results and Reviews, Report
by Stony and Friends, What happened to PC-
Demo competition. Editorial: TP94 = ASM94
part 2. Egg2: Trancescrambled Review, More
on Fast Tracker 2.03. General Rambling by
Denthor.
79 51 01/15/95 41832 A Day in the Life of Snowman, Ambient Sample
CD 1, Where's the Sound Blaster, TP94
Graphics review.
,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,
<<Closing Comments>>
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
The quote this week comes once again from "Programmers at Work". This
should be the last time I use this reference as I have recently completed
my reading of it.
This excerpt comes from an interview with Jaron Lanier, father of Virtual
Reality.
INTERVIEWER: You have quite a collection of musical instruments.
Which is your favorite?
LANIER: I don't know. It changes every week... Actually, musical
instruments have a lot to do with computers. They're one
of the best examples of users interfaces in the world.
Well, once again this was a small issue. This will probably not continue
as a trend into next week though. We have several big articles planned
that just did not make it to this week's issue.
See you in CyberSpace,
-Christopher G. Mann (Snowman)-
[email protected]
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,End.of.DemoNews.080.
