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DemoNews Issue #97 - July 30, 1995 | Size : 52,303
------------- | Subscribers : 1455
DemoNews is a weekly newsletter for the demo scene. | Last Week : 1433
It is produced by Hornet at the site ftp.cdrom.com. | Change : +22
|
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<CONTENTS>
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Uploads
Articles
Review of Progression Music Disk............Ryan Cramer
Fast Tracker v2.04 Review...................GraveDigger
Music Contest 3 Results.....................Snowman
The Japanese Demo Scene.....................rot-N
Interview with Zodiac.......................Ryan Cramer
Advertisements
PMODE/W v1.20...............................Daredevil
Subscribing
Closing
=-[Uploads]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
=----------------------------------------------------------[File Information]-=
All files listed below are on ftp.cdrom.com or one of its mirrors.
Ratings are completely subjective and do not necessarily reflect opinions
of the demo scene in general.
ftp.cdrom.com too slow? Try our mirror at ftp.luth.se. You may even
upload to this site under /pub/msdos/demos_upload.
=---------------------------------------------------------------------[Demos]-=
Location /demos/alpha/1995 Size Rated Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ----- ---------------------------------=
/a/akm-bomb.zip 12 * Bomb by Arkham
/a/akm_dob.zip 40 *+ DOB not by Arkham
/e/excuse-1.zip 1030 ***+ [1/2] No-Excuse by Omicron
/e/excuse-2.zip 791 ***+ [2/2] 1st Place Icing '95 Demo
/h/hardboil.zip 20 ***+ Hardboiled by Reality
/m/mousetro.zip 31 *+ Mousetro by Solar Designer / BPC
/p/pha_mure.zip 53 ***+ Murel by Phenomena
/p/prp-aa.zip 308 *** Artist Alliance BBS by Propaganda
/p/pureness.zip 1433 **** Pureness by WaterLogic (1st TS95)
/r/rekku.zip 130 *** Rekku intro by Orange
/r/rty_flux.zip 17 ***+ Mindflux BBS by Reality
/s/sametech.zip 70 **** Sametech Annihilation by COM:SEX
/s/sck-econ.zip 25 ** E-Connect BBS Intro by Shock!
/s/starbbs.zip 95 **+ Star BBS Intro by Oxygen
/s/startro.zip 18 ***+ Startro by Reality
/w/wkd-cww1.zip 38 ** Wicked BBS Intro by Conway
/z/zntrphy.arj 1456 *** [1/2] Zoantrophy by MiST
/z/zntrphy.a01 596 *** [2/2] 1st at DeMoBit '95 Party
Somewhere in Holland '95 (Demos)
/g/goldorak.zip 1124 *** 1st Goldorak by Real-Time
/a/an-mod0.zip 344 ***+ 2nd Model 0 by Analogue
/i/img_spoo.zip 440 [n/a] Spoon by Image (WINDOWS DEMO!)
/s/spoonfin.zip 441 [n/a] Spoon (update) by Image
Somewhere in Holland '95 (64k Intros)
/a/acme-syw.zip 56 ***+ 1st Smoke Yellow Weed by Acme
/n/nameless.zip 68 *** 3rd Nameless by LaSerDance
/a/acme-byn.zip 52 ** Acme Blows Your Nose by Acme
/a/acme-sux.zip 28 * Acme Sucks by Acme
/b/bhmorbid.zip 67 ** Morbid by Bunghole Productions
/c/cornetto.zip 25 * Cornetto by Cornetto
/k/kaboom.zip 46 ** Kaboom by Sentinel
/m/mass-jwl.zip 61 ***+ Jewelry by Massive
Bush Party ][ '95 (64k Intros)
/b/bunny.zip 58 ***+ Bunny by SRK
/b/burma.zip 64 ***+ Burma by Proxima
/c/cdz_cdz.zip 46 ** Condem by Condenz
/c/crap.zip 23 * Crap by Phrenetics
/d/dandruff.zip 37 ***+ Dandruff by YeTi
/f/formor.zip 38 ** For Morroskvld by Illuminati
/s/so.zip 61 ***+ So? by Xenon Develop. (Bush Party)
/v/visions.zip 59 **** Visions by Sorrox
=-------------------------------------------------------------[Music:General]-=
Location /demos/music Size Rated Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ----- ---------------------------------=
/disks/1995/0-9/7mod-cbr.zip 1241 **+ Music for the m. C.Brown Records
/songs/1995/mod/0-9/4getpast.zip 133 ** Forget The Past. ?
/songs/1995/mod/p/pollette.arj 360 ***+ J'ai Pollette .. The REW
/songs/1995/mtm/e/esp_mchn.zip 53 **+ Minimal(remix) Watchman/ESP
/songs/1995/mtm/e/esp_trth.zip 203 *+ The Liar's Truth Watchman/ESP
/songs/1995/s3m/0-9/2-ult.zip 132 ***+ Ultimate Perfor. Prance / dbduo
/songs/1995/s3m/b/briliant.arj 491 ***+ Brilliant The Peric
/songs/1995/s3m/c/cutmastr.zip 251 *+ Cut master, cut Hannibal Lecter
/songs/1995/s3m/d/dj3_sm.zip 276 ** Sound Mind DJ Cubed
/songs/1995/s3m/d/ds-aluni.zip 240 ***+ The Alunis Proje Dead Silence
/songs/1995/s3m/d/ds-intrw.zip 157 *** Wrong Soul,Inter Dead Silence
/songs/1995/s3m/d/ds-kryah.zip 164 *** Lands of Kryah Dead Silence
/songs/1995/s3m/d/ds-tab.zip 75 **+ Tab Dead Silence
/songs/1995/s3m/e/epi-frgt.zip 50 * Forgetting Me aradia/EPI
/songs/1995/s3m/e/epi-lite.zip 47 *** Light Headed szalemandare/EPI
/songs/1995/s3m/e/esp_debd.zip 126 ** Debassed v1.1 Elemental+Watchm
/songs/1995/s3m/e/esp_eyes.zip 406 ** Eyes of Despair Watchman/ESP
/songs/1995/s3m/k/k_monot.zip 114 *** Monotone karl/Kosmic
/songs/1995/s3m/l/lp-dragn.zip 59 **+ DragonWarriorMus LordPegasus
/songs/1995/s3m/l/lresort.zip 212 *** Last Resort cerebral neuros
/songs/1995/s3m/n/newbegin.zip 133 **+ A New Beginning Mhoram
/songs/1995/s3m/n/nicklbag.zip 336 *+ Ladybug Hits ... Hannibal Lecter
/songs/1995/s3m/p/painkilr.zip 286 * PainKiller Aradia
/songs/1995/s3m/p/phist.zip 250 ** Eagle Phist Hannibal Lecter
/songs/1995/s3m/p/p_ecstxy.zip 389 **+ Ecstaxy Primal
/songs/1995/s3m/r/repress.zip 356 ***+ Repression Siren
/songs/1995/s3m/v/vclm-oph.zip 182 * Night Song (Cru. Vegetablecalm
/songs/1995/s3m/v/vo-atlan.zip 262 ** The Rise of Atl. Voyeur / flip
/songs/1995/xm/0-9/180.zip 630 *+ Tekno13 Robodude
/songs/1995/xm/k/k_synerg.zip 420 *** Synergistic Khyron/Kosmic
/songs/1995/xm/r/rivendel.arj 212 **** Rivendell The REW
/songs/1995/xm/s/spinwhip.zip 378 *+ Spin Whipping satyriCON
=--------------------------------------------------------[Music:Non-Reviewed]-=
Location /demos/music Size Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ---------------------------------------=
/programs/players/cp14.zip 1022 Cubic Player v1.4 by Niklas Beisert
/programs/players/cp14l.zip 241 Cubic Player v1.4 lite by N. Beisert
/programs/trackers/digitr23.zip 117 DigiTrakker v2.3 by Lard/Rew(Nostology)
/samples/gusperc.zip 1454 GUS MIDI Percussion Patches from Roland
/samples/proteus1.zip 2033 Proteus 1/XR Synthesizer samples [1/3]
/samples/proteus2.zip 1825 Proteus 1/XR Synthesizer samples [2/3]
/samples/proteus3.zip 729 Proteus 1/XR Synthesizer samples [3/3]
/samples/roland1.zip 2898 Roland SCC-1 Sound Canvas samples [1/2]
/samples/roland2.zip 1917 Roland SCC-1 Sound Canvas samples [2/2]
/samples/s3msmpl1.arj 608 Miscellaneous S3M Samples (in SMP form)
/samples/sw-441a.zip 7435 Korg X5 - 44.1khz samples
/samples/sw-blp.zip 2217 Korg X5 - Bass/Solos/Pads/Effects
/samples/sw-brwbl.zip 2241 Korg X5 - Woodwinds/Brass/Pads
/samples/sw-cust.zip 2357 Korg X5 - Custom patches
/samples/sw-d50c0.zip 2650 Roland D50 - ROM card 1050-00 samples
/samples/sw-d50c1.zip 3278 Roland D50 - ROM card 1050-01 samples
/samples/sw-drums.zip 1063 Korg X5 - Drum patches
/samples/sw-pad1.zip 1659 Korg X5 - Pads and Effects
/samples/sw-piagt.zip 2012 Korg X5 - Pianos, Guitars, and Organs
=----------------------------------------------------------------------[Code]-=
Location /demos/code Size Rated Lang Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ----- ---- ----------------------------=
/demosrc/fcsp2src.zip 32 ****+ A FC's Starport 2 Intro source
/graph/plasma/plasma3.zip 16 *** A 320x400 interleaved plasma
/graph/sprites/edispr20.zip 66 *** Sprite editor (in french!)
/graph/sprites/spriv103.zip 30 ***+ Sprite editor by Discordis
/libs/dfmake.zip 39 *** C File concatenation library
/memory/rumb117i.zip 57 *** Gives upper mem without EMM
/text/tim486.zip 36 **** A Database of CPU timings
/utils/bin2arr.zip 29 *+ A C Converts binaries to includes
/utils/clay235.zip 167 **** Great 3D object editor
/utils/f3d150.zip 322 *** Makes 3d objs. from TT fonts
/utils/flos.zip 61 **** DemoPerson's command shell
/utils/hsi2arr.zip 68 ***+ C RAW to C-readable array conv.
=------------------------------------------------------------------[Graphics]-=
Location /demos/graphics Size Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ---------------------------------------=
/pictures/ajtjpg.zip 2478 AJT graphics pack by Infiny Prod.
/pictures/mk-ritua.gif 439 Picture by Mr. Krinkle
/pictures/oddy.zip 239 Atrophy
/pictures/singgirl.zip 46 Singing Girl by TMK/INF at Bushparty 2
=-------------------------------------------------------------[Miscellaneous]-=
Location /demos Size Description
=-------------------------------- ---- ---------------------------------------=
/hornet/traxw/traxweek.008 33 TraxWeekly #8
/hornet/traxw/traxweek.017 33 TraxWeekly #17
/hornet/traxw/traxweek.018 86 TraxWeekly #18
/hornet/traxw/traxweek.019 102 TraxWeekly #19
/party/asm/1995/a95inv.zip 743 The Assembly 1995 Invitation Intro
=-[Articles]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
=---------------------------[Review of Progression Music Disk]--[Ryan Cramer]-=
_____Introduction
At last! The long awaited Progression music disk from Necros has finally
been released. I will tell you right now, this *is* the best single artist
music disk ever produced in the PC demoscene. No other music disk has ever
approached the quality of music that you will find in Progression!
_____Interface
The music disk has a very simple, yet easy to use interface. In the
background is a beautiful picture and logo drawn by Xten of iCE. In the
foreground, we have a list of six songs and an information box for each
song. Everything is extremely clean!
You can change songs by using your up or down arrow keys. One thing that I
especially liked about the interface was the fact that when one song
finishes, it moves on to the next. This is an extremely useful feature that
I wish more music disks would incorporate!
My only complaint about the interface is that if you want to jump to a
song, you will have to scroll down to it and for every time you hit the
arrow key, it will load up the entire song. This means that if you want to
jump down to the fifth song, your going to have to load the first four
while your trying to get there.
Other music disks could learn a lot from this interface, its beautiful,
simple, and easy to use.
_____Music
Ok now to the important stuff. The music in this disk is really incredible.
When you hear it, you will not believe that it is tracked! This is some of
the most realistic sounding music that I have heard. Necros really shows
his stuff in this music disk, and I think that this music proves him to be
one of the best in the PC music scene. Of course, many of you already knew
that. :)
The music in Progression makes most other scene music seem like child's
play. What you are listening to on Progression is equal to or above the
quality of much commercially published music that you might purchase at the
record store.
In the past, some of Necros's songs didn't have the best quality samples.
That is no longer the case, the samples used in the songs on Progression
sound like they are straight from a CD. In fact, Necros played and sampled
much of the guitar used in the disk.
What you are hearing in Progression is as realistic sounding as it gets on
the computer. However, these are no pre-fab songs like we've been hearing
from some musicians lately. These songs are actually tracked and not just
re-makes of something that was originally produced outside of the tracker.
Necros has already proved his tracking ability in the past, and the
tracking in Progression is some of his best.
The music disk consists of six songs which include two excellent guitar
tunes (The Crossing & Collage), one hard jazzy tune (Metroplex), one
techno/demo/newage type song (Point), one hard "groove oriented" unique
tune (Isotoxin), and a grand finale of a song called Grey Note which sounds
so live that you will not believe it!
As you can see, the disk includes quite a variety of music. There is
something there for everyone, however I think that you will find all of the
songs to be equally enjoyable. My personal favorites were "Collage" and
"Point". The song "The Crossing" was actually Necros's Music Contest III
entry, and it will no doubt take one of the top places in the contest.
[The song placed 2nd in the Veteran division]
_____Conclusion
Score, 10 out of 10. There is no question that this is one of the best
music disks ever produced in the PC scene. The quality of the music is
consistent throughout the entire disk, there are no shortcomings! If you
don't already have Progression, get a copy of it right away. Start the
disk, lie down, and concentrate on the music ... you will be moved! This
music disk definitely raises the standards!
Necros can be contacted via email at:
[email protected]. You can find
Progression on ftp.cdrom.com either in the /music/disks directory or
the /incoming/music/disks directory under the filename: fm-prog.zip
Ryan Cramer / Renaissance -
[email protected]
=----------------------------------[Fast Tracker v2.04 Review]--[GraveDigger]-=
_____Introduction
Triton has released version 2.04 of their "Fast Tracker," the tracker that
is mouse-driven and saves in the MOD and XM (eXtended Module) formats. Some
of its features include: easy configuration, FT Nibbles (the game we all
know and love), and a sample editor.
This version was tested on a GUS Max with 512k of RAM.
_____Configuration
Upon first loading this tracker, fresh out of the zip file, the default
colors were horrendous. However, I merely had to click on "Config," then
"Layout," and select a different color scheme (I recommend "blues") to
remedy the situation.
The mouse pointer is configurable as well, but the default pointer seems to
be the best. You can also choose between two designs of "busy" mouse
pointers, which are activated when the CPU is in use. The two choices are a
clock with a swinging pendulum, and an hourglass which fills up and flips
itself when it runs out.
_____Sample Editor
The sample editor is perhaps the best element of the program, in my
opinion. Although FT 2.03 allowed the user to switch to 16-bit sampling, it
would crash. Thus, the switch has been disabled in the new version. (Among
the bugs pointed out by the authors is "16-bit sampling doesn't work on the
GUS") It offers a selection between Line and Mic inputs, configurable
sampling rate, and sampling volume. My complaint of the sample editor is
that it always shows the file length in hex, which means if one is sampling
with the intentions of using the samples in another tracker which has a
limit on the file size, it is difficult to get the filesize correct.
If you want to loop your samples, you are in luck. The FT on-board sampler
allows forward looping (as used in trackers such as Scream Tracker 3) and
ping-pong looping (the looped segment is played back and forth instead of
in a continuous circle). [This is also known as bidi (or BIDIrectional
looping)]
Also, to get the smoothest possible loop, there is an editing command
called "X-fade." This command will operate on the looped portion defined by
editing the sample (depending on the type of looping being used) to create
a smooth overlap instead of a noticeable click.
_____New Features
Among new features in version 2.04 are a CDROM sample dumper, keyoff
command using the capslock key, and a dos shell.
Samples can be transferred directly from a CDROM drive, which allows for
the creating of error-free samples. This is implemented by clicking on the
button which is labeled 'CD-Dump' in the main row of buttons.
Many users had a problem using the 'keyoff' command because Fast Tracker
was coded on a Swedish keyboard. The program does offer selectable code
pages as defined by country, and this new feature allows everyone to be
able to use a keyoff.
One of the greatest additions to this release of FT is the Dos Shell.
Joining the ranks of most other trackers with dos shells, FT previously
separated the user from their machine with only limited dos support
commands intended for purposes of loading and saving. However, the first
time I ran FT2, I remember shelling to DOS by clicking on a button. But,
after that very first time I ran it, the DOS shell button disappeared, and
I have not been able to find it since.
The coders managed to remove the mouse requirement when running PMP, the
XM/S3M/MOD protected-mode player. Users were puzzled by the mouse
requirement while the player had no interface of any sort. The authors had
previously stated that the reason a mouse was required was because their
VCPI code was all integrated, and removing the mouse portion was difficult.
_____Conclusion
Overall, the design and layout of Fast Tracker can be a bit confusing.
Everything is on one screen, and the lack of hotkeys makes the transition
from other trackers which do support hotkeys, a rather difficult one.
However, popularity of FT continues to rise, and many of its users are
quite die-hard about it.
Triton has done well with this upgrade in fixing many quirks with the
program as pointed out by its users. I hope they will continue to release
upgrades in order to fix more bugs, such as the 16-bit sampling on a GUS,
true SMP sample saving (When saving a sample in SMP format, it actually
saves in SAM format), better S3M loading support (panning commands aren't
recognized), as well as other bugs which they mention themselves.
GraveDigger / Hornet -
[email protected]
=----------------------------------------[Music Contest 3 Results]--[Snowman]-=
_____Introduction
Have you waited long enough? On the newsgroups, in e-mail, on IRC, on the
phone, the people are yelling, shouting, screaming "Where are the results
for Music Contest 3!?" The results are in, so enjoy!
All voting has been carefully checked for accuracy and authenticity. One
judge had to be disqualified due to odd voting patterns. Overall,
everything went quite smoothly.
Due to academics, I have been unable to complete the mc3final.exe today as
expected. The results are printed below, but the comments and subscores
have been ommited. They _will_ be released next weekend.
I would have delayed the release of all results until next weekend, but I
felt a lynching coming on...
_____Veteran Results
Rank Author Song-ID Rated | Rank Author Song-ID Rated
---- ------------------ ------- ----- | ---- ------------------ ------- -----
1 Jase E-94956 9.024 | 34 Bedlamite E-39342 7.205
2 Necros E-29812 8.841 | 35 Thanatos E-89842 7.197
3 Nemesis E-98842 8.697 | 36 Freejack E-98442 7.158
4 Leviathan E-95642 8.515 | 37 Hades E-48866 7.153
5 Big Jim E-95264 8.347 | 38 Soundwave E-56172 7.089
6 Markell Moss E-45554 8.309 | 39 Falcon E-34854 7.077
7 Shikando E-98138 8.206 | 40 Breeze E-59438 7.037
8 Ryan Cramer E-79942 8.138 | 41 Replay E-59874 6.899
9 Bar E-69547 7.989 | 42 DJ Tek E-29612 6.888
10 Firelight E-74556 7.964 | 43 Lord Pegasus E-98942 6.862
11 Esper Division E-43864 7.957 | 44 Khyron E-54752 6.846
12 Future Assassin E-09344 7.953 | 45 Bert E-40259 6.840
13 Blanka E-93442 7.882 | 46 Chris Whitney E-86224 6.828
14 Teo E-91347 7.858 | 47 Phoenix E-79362 6.781
15 Asyntote E-69447 7.857 | 48 Dark Wolf E-89072 6.639
16 Vizz E-91944 7.854 | 49 Wally E-93746 6.604
17 Crusader E-89562 7.837 | 50 Hollywood E-67384 6.516
18 Krystall E-79014 7.809 | 51 Audiokraft E-43053 6.437
19 SLiCE E-09161 7.800 | 52 MALY E-24755 6.418
20 Hukkart Live E-91042 7.797 | 53 Tatekuni Ito E-40752 6.400
21 Octoque E-92148 7.766 | 54 M. Janiszewski E-29932 6.183
22 Jester E-93343 7.658 | 55 PeriSoft E-99452 6.149
23 Zapper E-29044 7.598 | 56 Grave Digger E-19024 6.056
23 Lloyd Yoon E-04045 7.598 | 57 Rama E-86234 6.027
24 Primal E-69962 7.581 | 58 Mhoram E-12242 5.984
25 Epeius E-93244 7.556 | 59 Draygen E-98742 5.708
26 Sirrus E-92442 7.535 | 60 Mild E-84962 5.313
27 welti E-93542 7.484 | 61 The Soulman E-44753 5.296
28 Vivid E-45153 7.463 | 62 The Crow E-12342 5.000
29 Stalker E-49812 7.459 | 63 TheHacker E-62822 4.945
30 Rasto Skultety E-84657 7.437 | 64 Thor E-93612 4.909
31 Nexus E-98343 7.435 | 65 Quarex E-14325 4.832
33 PrOtOcOl E-19124 7.396 | 66 Mr. Crazy Head E-19424 4.264
32 Psibelius E-06427 7.346 | 67 E.v.Y. E-39413 4.216
_____Rookie Results
Rank Author Song-ID Rated | Rank Author Song-ID Rated
---- ------------------ ------- ----- | ---- ------------------ ------- -----
1 Mayhem O-95444 8.740 | 34 Human O-98462 6.602
2 Morph O-09144 8.188 | 35 Joel P. Thornton O-39962 6.591
3 Spyder O-40052 8.144 | 36 Shao Khan O-89144 6.554
4 Tangerine O-95760 7.984 | 37 Fly O-44159 6.547
5 Zoso O-74452 7.889 | 38 Festa O-40156 6.520
6 Clef O-93946 7.843 | 39 Mute O-41852 6.470
7 Luv Kohli O-95342 7.832 | 40 claim O-34052 6.425
8 Zeus O-93162 7.798 | 41 Bozart O-64054 6.382
9 Atlantic O-19646 7.580 | 42 Shrike O-29342 6.250
10 Pirat O-97093 7.552 | 43 Beppu O-59642 6.236
11 The Pope O-39244 7.500 | 44 jUicE! O-67287 6.224
12 Aquatic Nuisance O-89442 7.489 | 45 Kenzaburo Ito O-48752 6.164
13 Shuffle O-69647 7.437 | 46 AmusiC O-78080 6.077
14 Kal Zakath O-34652 7.378 | 47 Castile O-09746 6.010
15 Airon O-40853 7.370 | 48 Nero O-92512 5.964
16 Nas-T O-99849 7.303 | 49 Fredrik Lundqvist O-71789 5.926
17 Riders O-14876 7.298 | 50 Austin Huang O-79642 5.877
18 Monaco's O-94151 7.293 | 51 Kapper O-79742 5.831
19 Blackwolf O-89712 7.237 | 52 Populus O-69144 5.786
20 Undertaker O-92042 7.222 | 53 Andre Uesato O-90651 5.763
21 Darth O-92712 7.217 | 54 Sopepos O-59241 5.724
22 Chaotic Mind O-49516 7.191 | 55 Devious O-90352 5.720
23 Daf O-07223 7.140 | 56 Swift Rain O-92662 5.712
24 Malakai O-09524 6.945 | 57 Thomas Lundgren O-78489 5.671
25 NecroMancer O-70942 6.891 | 58 Synergist O-49312 5.604
26 Neuropsy O-79842 6.851 | 59 NightStrike O-41152 5.420
27 Karl O-29142 6.847 | & Red Penguin
28 Daedalus O-79242 6.814 | 60 White Owl O-59344 5.409
29 Heaven O-94257 6.795 | 61 b0bby O-39544 5.407
30 Vector O-95944 6.780 | 62 Brantley Lancaster O-98642 5.072
31 Cerebral Neurosis O-91432 6.777 | 63 Miss Saigon O-37752 4.942
32 MASTERWho O-41252 6.747 | 64 VooDoo O-99361 4.766
33 Vladimir The Wik O-47483 6.658 | 65 Charles Odom O-98242 2.786
_____Conclusion
All results have been checked and there is little chance of error. If you
have any questions or comments concerning the results, feel free to send me
mail. However, it may take a few days for a response.
Look for mc3final.zip at an ftp.cdrom.com near you next Sunday.
Snowman / Hornet -
[email protected]
=------------------------------------------[The Japanese Demo Scene]--[rot-N]-=
[This article was taken from the comp.sys.ibm.pc.demos newsgroup]
Hello. I'm rot-N. If you feel this is hard to read, please remember
English is my 2nd language :-)
I'd like to show you Japanese demos. Well ..... no ... None. Nothing I can
introduce to you. Instead of showing you Japanese demos, I will report why
there is no demos produced in Japan.
Main PC used in Japan is PC-98 series. This PC was designed to use in
Japanese office. Their display have 16 colours 640x400 pixels in a screen.
But that screen display device is not upgradable, and their screen
resolution is fixed to 640x400 pixels, they don't have low resolution mode.
(for example 320x200 pixels 256 colours).
PC-98s hi-resolution graphic screen (640x400 16 colours) is 2 times slower
than PC-ATs mode-13h (320x200 256 colours) graphics. And they have less
colours. 16-colours are not enough for games. So when game publisher made a
game for PC-98, they gave up making high-speed graphic routine. But they
tried hard to display beautiful colour (colour of skin especially :-) ).
Then they thought, the only 2 games that they can use that routine are
graphic-ADV and graphic-RPG with naked-Jap-animation girls. Yes. Those kind
of games don't require fast graphics routines.
Last time I had been to Akihabara (famous electronics town in Japan), I was
looking for a software to see what kind of games amateur programmers are
coding. Awesome... hmm what's awesome? They are sold in shrinked package.
In the package there are manuals floppys and a photo of the game's screen
shot. Almost all of that photo are naked- Jap-animation girl's pictures.
I think something strange when think about the gamer playing those kind of
games in there room alone. (sitting in front of the console , looking
display , saying "strip off... take off clothes... " wao :)
No need to say, the girl on the screen is not photo realistic. I say again,
they are all Jap-Animation girls. Can we call them PC-Gamer ?
In the other hand, games for other consoles (NES,SNES,Genesis..etc) are
fine. When Programmer write a game for them, he does not need to think
about the speed of the screen. There VDPs power is strong enough. So
naked-Jap-anim-girl games for those console are minor. But unfortunately
amateur programmer can't make games for them.
So amateur programmer in Japan knows how to display colours (of the
skin :-) on the screen beautifully. But does not have technique to display
on screen faster, say to do vecter graphics ...
Last time I had been to Japanese book store , I found a book about CG. I
expected vector graphics and voxels, but they are all "How to draw
Jap-animation Girls" :-) I found "Shading" in that book, but it is "shade
of human (woman :-)) body"
May be you can find why "OTAKU" is negative word in Japan :-).
By the way , European coders have AMIGA and their Mega-Demo culture. When
they bought fast 486-PC, they began to make demos for PC. But in Japan,
only a few people knows Amiga, and limited person in that group knows
Amiga-Demos.
The lack of Japanese demo is caused by strange game culture in Japan. (that
culture is caused by PC-98s slow screen). So as long as Japanese people
using PC-98, they have their own PC-Game culture. You don't need to pay
attention to Japanese Games and Demos.
Do you want to see naked-Jap-animation girls in the demo, instead of cool
shaded vector graphics?
Thank you for reading my poor English.
rot-N
=------------------------------[Interview with Zodiac/Cascada by Ryan Cramer]-=
Greetings! This is the first interview that I've done in a long time. Those
of you that read DemoNews back in the days (about a year ago) probably
recognize my name as I used to do a lot of these interviews. Well I am very
pleased that DemoNews is once again back, and we have an awesome interview
for you with Zodiak of Cascada!
Zodiak is the veteran of all scene veterans. He was probably the very first
PC DemoScene musician. His group, Cascada, existed back when there were no
other demo groups on the PC. He has seen the PC scene change over the years
and is a very fascinating person to talk to. Our interview here covers a
lot on the vintage days of the scene.
Besides the fact that Zodiak has been in the scene for so long, he also is
one of the scene's top musicians. In the charts, Zodiak has always been in
the top five musicians in the scene. Anyone that has heard Zodiak's music
(which probably includes all of you) knows how incredibly talented Zodiak
is.
It would be impossible for me to list all of the projects that he has done
music for over the years. He has done music for demo's such as Cronologia
(the scene's first real demo), HexAppeal, Holistic, and many intros. He
also won first place in the The Party '94 and The Party '95 multichannel
music competitions. Zodiak also has a music disk with $volkraq coming out
soon which will really be nice to hear!
I was first introduced to Zodiak's music when I saw Cascada's Cronologia
demo for the first time. The music was awe inspiring. The song "DarkDays"
from the Cronologia end credits has always been one of my favorite songs.
Many scene musicians were introduced to the scene through Zodiak's music
(including myself). Zodiak is definitely one of the scene's most respected
musicians, and I am very happy that we were able to do this interview for
you to read. The interview was conducted via email in early July 1995.
Enjoy!
RC = Ryan Cramer / Renaissance -
[email protected]
ZK = Zodiak / Cascada (Erik Stridell) -
[email protected]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
RC: What is your current occupation, age, and where do you live?
ZK: I'm in my 19th year and live in a little town called Surahammar,
just outside Vasteras which lies about 120 kilometers west of
Stockholm - the capital of Sweden.
My current occupation is...none - I guess you could say I'm happily
unemployed. I will most likely be working full time with our
(Cascada's) Virtual Reality project as soon as we can get some more
funding but until then I guess I'm stuck out here in the countryside...
I might take a course in studio-technology in the autumn.
RC: Can you tell us how Cascada originated? What were your first
productions, and how long ago was this?
ZK: Well, there was in fact no demoscene on PC when we started. I think
it was sometime in 1989. I had a little group together with Shadowbyte
(currently a Codeblasters-member), but I guess we weren't doing much,
we mostly played around with his Amiga. We weren't very old I guess...
hehe let's see.. - '89, I must have been 13 years old and Shadowbyte
was 12!!!
I had been swapping programs with Iceman (who later coded most of the
Cascada stuff during 1990-93) and I know he could do some stuff in
Turbo Pascal so I asked him to do some intros for my group (we actually
cracked some games - which was not that hard back then when there were
only three new games released per month ;-) ) and later tried to get
him to join our group, but he had found a friend in Pharos (who coded
everything that Iceman didn't during the same period) who wanted to
start a new group. And he could program in assembler (it is important
to understand how incredible this was in 1989)!
However I was very happy when Iceman called me up a few weeks later and
asked me if I wanted to join their new group, Omega. We cracked some
games and made trainers during 1989 and half 1990 but then in the
summer of 1990 we decided it didn't make much sense so we started to
think about making demos on PC like the ones we had seen on Amiga.
So after lots of theories in how you could do a music system on a PC we
released the infamous X-mas'90 demo which was the first demo ever with
a music system. Some people claim that the Future Crew was before but I
insist that their slide show that was released a few months before is
not a demo, just still pics with music ;-))
It didn't matter anyway because there were no contact between the
scenes back then, only national competition - and our competition was
the SpacePigs. If you don't count our scrollers and colorcycling
bouncing logos back in 1989 for the group Omega, I guess the first real
production was out in early December 1990.
RC: Cascada is considered to be one of the founders of the PC demoscene,
especially with their ground breaking Cronologia demo. Can you describe
the demoscene and Cascada to us at that time?
ZK: When Cronologia was released, lots of things had happened to the
scene. First of all, the bbs-scene had started to prosper. This meant
that the days of mailswapping had come to an end. Before that my only
contact with the world outside was my mail to Dutch Computer
Enterprise (the makers of the Dragnet demo) who supplied me with all
the mid-European stuff and with BCG/Sorcerers who got me the stuff
from Finland.
I like to think I really did the scene a favor at that time,
distributing everything over the borders. However, when Cronologia came
there had been many new groups popping up and we had had the first
PC-only party ever (I think at least) - the SpacePigs/Cascada party in
Uppsala in the summer of 1991 where we even had international visitors
- Dutch Computer Enterprise.
We had shown Cronologia there which was originally called "Time", a mix
of part two and three of Cronologia. Then Pharos coded the first part
and Iceman the last part and we thought why not do a megademo. We were
a bit afraid that it would be considered too big though... it didn't
fit on a 360kb disk!!! After lots of messing up and making other parts
(that wasn't included in the final version, we had from the beginning
seven parts). We had also got some new members, for example Jeffe and
Mirage who are still members.
I think my biggest mistake ever in the scene was to write my own
address instead of Iceman's in the text files. I shouldn't have
directed the reactions to myself. I got all the fancy letters (and
there were MANY letters!) while Iceman and Pharos who had done the hard
coding just got some nice words. This finally caused them to get tired
of the scene - so much work for nothing.
If Iceman would still have had the spirit I think Cascada would have
been a much bigger name today, for example he made a real bitmapvector
just a few weeks after Cronologia which he didn't want to release
because we didn't have anything to go with it. Imagine a textured cube
in January '92! So take this as a lesson, kids!
RC: How/When did you get started tracking music and on what platform?
What other musicians influenced you at this time?
ZK: In early 1990 when Pharos made his music system there was no such
thing as a working PC-tracker. So I bought an Amiga. I wanted to do
that anyway, all the fancy demo came on that platform. I guess I was
very inspired by the early Amiga-demo-music cause that's all I got
hold of, I never had the contacts to get new Amiga stuff (and I didn't
care much either, I just played around in Noisetracker).
So I was mostly inspired by "real" music, which was probably good for
me because that made me develop my own style very early. There was just
about no techno-music at all back then so I tried to do just plain good
songs with the instruments from the ST:00-04 disks.. Then in 1991 I got
to be the beta-tester of the SpacePigs' tracker Digistudio (which was
later released commercially by Covox) so I started tracking on the PC
instead, and all the mods in Cronologia are made in Digistudio (with a
noisy resistor-D/A in the LPT port).
RC: You have done a lot of fantastic music over the years, what do you
consider to be your best work?
ZK: Thanks! Well I wouldn't call it fantastic but I admit there are tunes
that I am quite happy with. I always tend to tire of them before I'm
half finished though and they never ever sound like I wanted them to,
but then when I listen to them a few weeks later I kinda like some of
them.
Believe it or not, but that horrible hard-rock tune in the middle of
our first demo, X-mas'90 is one of my favorites. If the samples weren't
so horrible it would have been perfectly good power-rock. ;-) Then I
"sort-of-like" Reflecter, I was a bit nervous when I made it that it
would be just total crap to all other people - maybe I was the only one
who would understand it? But I was proven the opposite in the Party4
voting. ;-)
RC: What software/hardware/equipment do you use for tracking and sampling?
ZK: I currently have a Gusmax which I used to be very happy with but am
not anymore as the card itself takes in a lot of noise from other
cards which can cause some fuzz and silent clicks. I use FastTracker2
for everything, sometimes I do use USS8 for sampling things in high
resolution and sometimes CoolEdit to make flanging, filter and
white/brown noise.
RC: What experience in music do you have outside of tracking?
ZK: I play the guitar in a band which does currently not have a name.
I would like to get into the music-industry more. I guess you could
say we play the kind of music that comes in between Joy Division and
PJ Harvey... To be honest, most of my music-creativity rather goes
into that band instead of the tracker-tunes, so that's a reason why
I am not usually very productive. Hope you'll all be buying my
albums in the future! ;-)
RC: What is the future for Cascada and Cascada/VR? Will you be doing more
demos (maybe for ASM'95)?
ZK: I like to think we will but to be totally honest I doubt there will
be any bigger productions from us. I think there are chances that we
will release small stuff just to show our routines to people now and
then but unless we can find some more coders there won't be any more
large releases. So any good Swedish coder who wants to join in,
contact me!
The next production from me is a musicdisk I'm doing together with
$volkraq/Gollum, dedicated to all you fans of guitar music. It was
going to be released at the Bushparty but not too surprisingly I
didn't make it in time... Guess it should be out soon.
RC: Who's better, Pamela Anderson or Erika Eleniak? Give us an objective
unbiased comparison. Do you think that Erika will ever return to
Babewatch?
ZK: Pamela was better until she married that stoopid heavy metal drummer
and started to make silly tattoos. Erika was undoubtedly a better
actor (like if that would matter..hehe), and her body measures are
much more natural than Pamela's. She's by far more woman than Pamela
will ever be. And she could weep much better. I agree that Pamela
makes it better in Playboy magazine, but she shouldn't wear a
swimsuit, she looks better without it. Besides, Erika is a much more
beautiful name ;) So ERIKA!!! Come BACK! ALL IS FORGIVEN!!!!!
Interviewer's Note: Please note that the above opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the DemoNews crew. Some of us have grown more partial to
Pamela Anderson, but Erika Eleniak will always be welcome in any one of our
homes.
RC: You have been part of the PC demoscene since its birth, can you tell us
how it has changed over the years, and if it as interesting as it used
to be?
Oh.. that's a hard one. For my part I think it was much much much more
fun before when everyone was always friends with each other, when you
released or showed something new you always got positive criticism
along with the possible negative one.
Nowadays it sometimes seems (at least in the mailnets like GSN and DGI)
that it's almost not allowed to really like a demo. Especially the
finnish people just can't seem to like the new stuff. Everything sucks.
Always. It's so childish!
In the beginning of the scene nobody had to brag or show off, everyone
knew what had been done and what to expect from each other. But
something happened after "Unreal". It's very hard to define what, but
the scene became very hard and sometimes cruel, and it's just getting
worse.
Some people felt that they had to be as cool as the best groups so
everyone who wasn't as experienced as themselves were suddenly lamers,
and all their work sucked. If I had been working on a demo for many
months I wouldn't want to hear that it sucks!!
I think many new groups who make demos aren't encouraged by the glory
of being on top, they want vengeance and respect. Why do groups have to
fight each other??? I don't know what has happened but I have many
times found myself wishing it was 1990 all over again.
RC: For awhile, Cascada and Imphobia had merged, but soon separated again.
What happened, and why?
ZK: The reason for the merge was mainly that the only really active
person in Cascada at the time was myself, and as we weren't doing
anything for the scene I helped Imphobia as I had found a good friend
in Jeff (Darkness/IMP). This little co-operation ended up in a merged
group.
We worked on a demo that was to be released at the Assembly'94, but the
time schedule screwed up completely (as it always does when you make
demos) so we didn't make it in time and then the coder had to study
etcetera etcetera so the demo wasn't finished off. We both tried to
make the cooperation work but it was impossible to keep in touch as
neither of us even had email back then so I decided to simply leave the
group, that would be the best for everyone.
And since Basehead joined Imphobia they've got a brilliant musician
anyway, so they don't need me anymore. Going back to question five, I
really like the tunes I made for the unfinished Imphobia-demo because
they came directly from my head and were really great fun to do. Pity
if no one will hear them in the end.. but I haven't lost faith in
Imphobia!
RC: I'm not sure that everyone understands exactly what Cascada/VR is. Has
Cascada successfully gone from a demogroup to a commercial software
company? Has this been profitable for Cascada? I think that many
demo groups aspire to one day form a company.
ZK: Cascada/VR are just the four Cascada members that are currently
developing a VR-system; myself, Robban, Roberto(Hellraiser) and Mirage.
We have a company but nothing is happening with it. Since 1993 we have
been struggling with different contracts with a few companies but we
unfortunately haven't yet succeeded to get all the funding right. It
has not yet been profitable in any way whatsoever! But we're hoping that
it will be in the future.
A word of wisdom for all you demo-enthusiasts dreaming of doing what we
have done: - Think twice! No, thrice!! Four or five times is not too
much!!! Don't think there's any easy money involved in this business.
Be ready to work your arse off for absolutely nothing in return. If
you make it through there can be lots of money involved, but be well
aware of what you're getting into.
RC: What are your current musical influences, either in recorded music or
tracked music?
ZK: That's hard to say.. I don't get any inspiration from tracked music. It
might sound weird, but music that gives me inspiration often sounds
totally opposite to what I am doing. Usually melodies just pop up in my
head or leak to my fingers while playing the guitar.
I guess I could drop some band-names, I am a great fan of Indie-pop and
alternative rock-music; The Verve, Smiths, Pavement, Portishead,
Slowdive, The Stone Roses, Catherine Wheel and so on, but I also like
jazz and atmospheric music like Mike Oldfield and Andreas Vollenweider.
Of course good old pop like the Beatles and the Box Tops. And Paul
Simon rules ok. I guess it's safe to say that I appreciate all kinds of
music.
RC: Are you competing in MC3?
ZK: Unfortunately not, I didn't make it to the deadline. Hopefully next time
around.
RC: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview!
ZK: Thanks, we'll keep in touch!!
[End of Interview]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hope you enjoyed the interview! Zodiak can be reached through email at:
[email protected]
Ryan Cramer / Renaissance -
[email protected]
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