💾 Archived View for spam.works › mirrors › textfiles › news › demonews.70 captured on 2023-06-16 at 19:21:51.

View Raw

More Information

-=-=-=-=-=-=-


-Start-of-Demo-News-#70-------------------------------------------------------
                        (SPECIAL BLOCKBUSTER EDITION)
   ___________  _________________ ____  ____________
   \_______   \/    __________   |    \ \________   \     November 13, 1994 -
   _____ \_    \    __)___/            \/    \__/    \    November 19, 1994
 _/     \_/     \         \_    :_:     \_            \_
 \______________/__________/____| :______/_____________/      ISSUE #70
     _________  _______________ ___ ___  ______________
    /    _    \/    __________ |   |   \/  ___________/      Produced at
   /     |     \    __)___/    :   :    \_______    \          HORNET,
 _/      |      \_        \_     _       \_    |     \_    ftp.eng.ufl.edu
 \_______|_______/_________/_____|________/___________/

==============================================================================
                  .--- .---.      ----- .---      ----- .---
                  |    |   | |\ |   |   |___ |\ |   |   |___
                  |    |   | | \|   |   |    | \|   |       |
                  `--- `---'            `---            `---'
==============================================================================

    Section  1.............Standard Information --> Who Are We?
                                                    Site Specifics
    Section  2..........................General --> Answers to Mail
                                                    Hornet, the New Team
                                                    How to Request DemoNews
    Section  3......................New Uploads --> New Files for the Week
    Section  4.................Musicians Corner --> Epidemic Music Disk
                                                    Fast Tracker ][
                                                    Ambience
                                                    MOD4WIN Thoughts
                                                    Dynamic Tracker Response
    Section  5....................Coders Corner --> ASM94 4k-intro Info
    Section  6....................Escape DemoCD --> Error in the Intro
    Section  7...................Advertisements --> Reckless Life BBS
                                                    TP94 Holland Bus-Trip
    Section  8....................Miscellaneous --> New Projects
    Section  9.................Closing Comments --> Quote for the Week

==============================================================================
((Section 1...Standard Information))
==============================================================================
      DemoNews is a weekly publication dedicated to the demo scene.  It is
  produced at the Internet FTP site ftp.eng.ufl.edu (aka WASP or HORNET).
  This newsletter focuses on all aspects of demos and demo-making (including
  music, art, and coding).  ALL are welcomed to contribute articles, rumors,
  advertisements, etc.

  Officially:

        Site Name     : Hornet or Wasp
        Address       : hornet.eng.ufl.edu (128.227.116.7)
                        raptor.eng.ufl.edu (128.227.116.25)
        Location      : Florida, USA
        System E-Mail : dmw@eng.ufl.edu

  There are currently 11 active demo-operators at this site:

        Name                      Position    Address
        ------------------------- ----------- -------------------------------
  <GEN> CHRISTOPHER G. MANN       COORDINATOR r3cgm@dax.cc.uakron.edu
        Dan Wright                (none)      dmw@inca.gate.net
        Mike                      ???         weis@elf.stuba.sk
        Styros                    LINKMAN     iq23@jove.acs.unt.edu
<DEMOS> Brenton Schwartz (Zenith) DREVIEW     bswa1595@pilot.stu.cowan.edu.au
<MUSIC> Ryan Cramer               MARTICLE    rcramer1@osf1.gmu.edu
        Per-Ivar Knutsen          MREVIEW     perk@stud.cs.uit.no
 <CODE> Grant Denthor             CARTICLE    denthor@beastie.cs.und.ac.za
        Diego Roversi             CREORG      piu1766@cdc8g5.cdc.polimi.it
        Andy Younger (King Tech)  CMOVER      aiy@mundil.cs.mu.OZ.AU
        David Thornley (Metal)    CREVIEW     dthorn@gco.apana.org.au
 <ANSI> Jason (Cavalier)          AGENERAL    cavalier@shadow.net

  This site is mirrored by the following ftps:

        FTP Name              IP Address      Country
        --------------------  --------------  ---------
        ftp.uwp.edu           131.210.1.4     USA
        ftp.luth.se           130.240.18.2    SWEDEN
        ftp.sun.ac.za         146.232.212.21  S. AFRICA
        ftp.uni-erlangen.de   131.188.2.43    GERMANY
        ftp.uni-paderborn.de  131.234.10.42   GERMANY
        ftp.cdrom.com         192.216.191.11  USA

  You can subscribe to this newsletter by mailing listserver@oliver.sun.ac.za
  and putting "subscribe demuan-list your_real_name" in your message.

  The listserver is what sends out this newsletter every SUNDAY morning.
  kimba@it.com.au is the keeper of the listserver.

  For those who use the GUI environment check out our DN.HMTL in the
  /demos/news directory.  The URL is ftp://ftp.eng.ufl.edu/demos/news/DN.HTML
  If anyone wants to do a graphic logo for this please get in touch.

==============================================================================
((Section 2...General))
==============================================================================
This issue is about 45k.  I apologize.  There was so much material I wanted
to put in here and I didn't even put in the /code uploads or the NAID demo-
party review.

However, I think that this huge DemoNews is a sign of some good things to
come.  Oh well... you might be better off downloading this issue and looking
at it with your favorite text editor.  Anyone want to make a front end for
this newsletter?

Answers to mail:

> If you're not too annoyed at the mention of this, do you have any idea if
> there ever were/will be CC1 results?  Someone I knew once saw something in
> demonews about a file that looked strangely like CC1 results... Can you
> shed any light?

Mike Phillips wrote me a couple of months back (when I was getting ready to
finish up Music Contest ][) and told me that he only needed two more voting
forms and then he would finish up the contest.  Personally, I do not believe
he will ever finish the contest.

Should HORNET finish up Composer's Contest?  I am willing to accept input
on the subject.  If enough people want to, I will set up some kind of voting
system, repost all of the CC1 entries, and get this thing finished.

> About the Pascal demo tutorials that you're converting to C++, when will
> they be out and where will I find them on hornet?

The first is done and should be out next week.  However, I was having some
problems converting the second one.  When this is cleaned up, the rest of the
tutorials should be converted in a short period of time (I have a month off
school for Christmas break).

> I subscribe to Demo News so that I can get to hear about new demos
> coming out. I don't want to download every one to check it out.
> What is the easiest way of finding out how good new demos are?
> Is there some way you could incorporate a rating in demo news?

I'm thinking that each DemoNews should contain ratings of the demos uploaded
the previous week.  However, there are SO many changes being made right now,
I think that I will let things cool down before more changes are made.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(HORNET, THE NEW TEAM)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Often times DemoNews is the easiest way to respond to all of the mail I get.
If you have written me about helping out with Hornet, READ THIS SECTION.

Who Does What:

<<GENERAL>>

  Name    : Christopher G. Mann (Snowman)
  Address : r3cgm@dax.cc.uakron.edu, dmw@eng.ufl.edu
  Title   : COORDINATOR
  Info    : I am in charge of coordinating activities here at Hornet.  I put
          : together DemoNews, move some of the files, and try to keep things
          : organized.

  Name    : Dan Wright (Pallbearer)
  Address : dmw@inca.gate.net
  Title   : EX-COORDINATOR
  Info    : In charge of putting the Escape DemoCD together and was the
          : previous coordinator of this site.

  Name    : Mike
  Address : weis@elf.stuba.sk
  Title   : ???
  Info    : I have never written you and I don't know what you do on this
          : site.  Please contact me.

  Name    : (Styros)
  Address : iq23@jove.acs.unt.edu
  Title   : LINKMAN
  Info    : Styros will be in charge of making links on Hornet (you know,
          : those symbolic things that are under /groups, etc).  Its not a
          : very fun job, but one which needs done.

<<DEMOS>>

  Name    : Brenton Schwartz (Zenith)
  Address : bswa1595@pilot.stu.cowan.edu.au
  Title   : DREVIEW
  Info    : From now on, Brenton will be helping to review the demos on this
          : site.  I think there is already someone in charge of this, so
          : I'll have to check.  Also, he will be helping to get all of the
          : .message files uniform on this site.

<<MUSIC>>

  Name    : Ryan Cramer
  Address : rcramer1@osf1.gmu.edu
  Title   : MARTICLE (Music Articles)
  Info    : Writes weekly articles for the "Musicians Corner" section of
          : DemoNews.  Ryan will also serve as our technical music advisor.
          : If you have any musical questions, they will be forwarded to him.

  Name    : Per-Ivar Knutsen
  Address : perk@stud.cs.uit.no
  Title   : MREVIEW (Music Reviewer)
  Info    : Ivar will be helping to review new music that is uploaded to
          : Hornet.  This will probably not start up for 2-3 weeks.

<<CODING>>

  Name    : Grant Denthor
  Address : denthor@beastie.cs.und.ac.za
  Title   : CARTICLE (Code Articles)
  Info    : Writes weekly articles for the "Coders Corner" section of
          : DemoNews.  Denthor will also serve as our technical code advisor.
          : If you have any programming questions, they will be forwarded to
          : him.

  Name    : Diego Roversi
  Address : piu1766@cdc8g5.cdc.polimi.it
  Title   : CREORG (Code Reorganizer)
  Info    : Diego will be helping to reorganize the /code directory.  After
          : this is done, Diego will help out with Project DemoBook.

  Name    : Andy Younger (King Tech)
  Address : aiy@mundil.cs.mu.OZ.AU
  Title   : CMOVER (Code Mover)
  Info    : From now on, Andrew will be in charge of moving code uploads
          : from the /incoming/code directory to their appropriate places
          : under the /demos/code directory.

  Name    : David Thornley (Metal)
  Address : dthorn@gco.apana.org.au
  Title   : CREVIEW (Code Reviewer)
  Info    : David will be helping to review source code that is uploaded to
          : Hornet.  This will probably not start up for 2-3 weeks.

<<ANSI/ART>>

  Name    : Jason (Cavalier)
  Address : cavalier@shadow.net
  Title   : AGENERAL
  Info    : I had never written Jason until this week.  From now on, he will
          : be giving me a list of updated ANSI each week to put in this
          : newsletter.

In the next couple of weeks, I will be contacting all of you individually
about your jobs.  However, please write to me with any ideas or thoughts you
have.  There are a LOT of people that I am coordinating with, but once things
settle down, it will actually be less work for me.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(HOW TO REQUEST DEMONEWS)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have been getting many requests from people wanting to subscribe to
DemoNews.  If you write me, you will receive the following letter:

|
| How to Subscribe to Demo News
| -----------------------------
|
| If you want DemoNews delivered to your mailbox each Sunday,
| you need to do the following:
|
| 1. start a mail to listserver@oliver.sun.ac.za
|    (subject line can be anything)
|
| 2. in the message body, put "subscribe demuan-list your_name".
|    (Substitute "your_name" with who you are).
|
| 3. send it!
|
| That's all you have to do.
|
| Once that is done, you will start receiving Demo News each
| SUNDAY morning in the mail.
|

This system is designed to be streamlined and automated.  If you have a
problem, feel free to write me.  If you just want to subscribe to DemoNews,
follow the instructions.

==============================================================================
((Section 3...New Uploads))
==============================================================================
FILENAME.EXT  LOCATION               DESCRIPTION
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------.
| --DEMOS-- |    (all locations start with /pub/msdos/demos...)
`-----------'
4k_less.zip   /alpha/NEW             Paranoids 4K ASM '94 intro.
busmatk4.zip  /compos/party94        The Party94 info and BUSTRIP. In Denmark
escintro.zip  /alpha/NEW             The ESCAPE Demo/MC2 CD intro. GUS.
venusluc.arj  /alpha/NEW             Subsystems Venus plus Lucas GUS
wrdrst.zip    /alpha/NEW             Wired Party's final results (top 3). GUS

.-----------.
| --MUSIC-- |    (all locations start with /pub/msdos/demos/music...)
`-----------'
epidemic.arj  /disks                 Epidemic Music Disk 1/3
epidemic.a01  /disks                 Epidemic Music Disk 2/3
epidemic.a02  /disks                 Epidemic Music Disk 3/3
popbpdi .zip  /disks                 Music Disk by Priests of Power
cmod205 .zip  /programs/players      CapaMod 2.05 -AWESOME MOD/S3M GUS PLAYER!
m3rip200.arj  /programs/rippers      M3RIP 2.0 Rips songs from many demos
ft2     .zip  /programs/trackers     Fast Tracker ][ (need I say more?)
sidpl123.zip  /songs/c64             Updated C64 Music Player (SB Only)
dzone   .zip  /songs/mod             Danger Zone by Kerry Ho
loose-tf.zip  /songs/mod             Loose Concensiousness by Trifixion
takesme .zip  /songs/mod             Takes me Away by Da Mellow Fellow
elec-o  .zip  /songs/mtm             The Electric Order by Fortunato
sr-newba.zip  /songs/mtm             New Bass by Warp
sr-pang .zip  /songs/mtm             Pangai by Warp
adv-beat.zip  /songs/s3m             Advanced Beats by The Peric & Beathoven
ambidemo.zip  /songs/s3m             DemoGrafix by Replay
cwnt    .zip  /songs/s3m             Crying With No Tears by Echo Mirage
dreamof2.zip  /songs/s3m             Dreams of Cocain by The Peric
exotic  .zip  /songs/s3m             Exotic by Cerulean
fbrain  .zip  /songs/s3m             Future Brain by Lord Soth
flips3m .zip  /songs/s3m             Flip by Kevin
free2   .arj  /songs/s3m             Free Laid Back Remix by Tragos
induct4 .zip  /songs/s3m             Induction by ??
nevrlost.zip  /songs/s3m             Never Lost by Domino and Evil Notion
nf_ecout.zip  /songs/s3m             Ecoutez by N-Factor
nihils3m.zip  /songs/s3m             Nihilism by Kevin
phreak  .arj  /songs/s3m             Phreaking Hardcore by Whizz Kid
sky_belg.zip  /songs/s3m             Belgio by Skyjump
sky_plut.zip  /songs/s3m             Plutonic Rock by Skyjump
sr-det  .zip  /songs/s3m             Det by Le Barman
srfstct .zip  /songs/s3m             Surfisticated by The Peric

DELETED
  -corrupt-        /music/time/aftermid.zip    abyss   .zip  ambient .zip
                   lostalon.zip
  -no description- epidem-1.zip  fiction .zip  mdss032c.zip  moondnce.zip
                   vortex2 .zip
  -old version-    cmod201 .zip  sidpl120.zip

Note: We had to delete some sample packs this week.  There is not enough
      room and they will be deleted from now on.

--------------.
| --ART/ANSI-- | (all locations start with /pub/msdos/demos/...)
`--------------'
Cavalier did not send in an article this week.

----------.
| --CODE-- |     (all locations start with /pub/msdos/demos/code...)
`----------'
Because of the size of this issue, I did not have time to do this directory.

==============================================================================
((Section 4...Musicians Corner))    <BY>    Ryan Cramer [Iguana/Renaissance]
==============================================================================
(GENERAL)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> [Christopher G. Mann] : From now on, Ryan will be doing this section.
>                         However, I may still have the occasional comment
>                         now and then.

Last week, two long awaited releases finally came out: The Epidemic
multigroup music disk, and FastTracker II from Triton. I'm sure that just
about everybody has already checked this stuff out, but here's a little
information about each.

I hope you enjoy these articles,
Ryan Cramer

rcramer1@osf1.gmu.edu
Renaissance/Iguana

All files/programs mentioned below can also be found on Data Connection BBS:
Node 1: (703) 506-8598 - 16.8k HST DS
Node 2: (703) 847-0861 - 28.8k V.FAST HST DS

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
         ____                    __
        /\  _`\_          __    /\ \                     __
        \ \ \L\_\  _____ /\_\   \_\ \     __    ___ ___ /\_\    ___
         \ \  _\L_/\ '__`\/\ \  /'_` \  /'__`\/' __` __`\/\ \  /'___\
          \ \ \L\ \ \ \L\ \ \ \/\ \L\ \/\  __//\ \/\ \/\ \ \ \/\ \__/
           \ \____/\ \ ,__/\ \_\ \___,_\ \____\ \_\ \_\ \_\ \_\ \____\
            \/___/  \ \ \/  \/_/\/__,_ /\/____/\/_/\/_/\/_/\/_/\/____/
                     \ \_\
                      \/_/                                Music Article 1 of 5
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

E P I D E M I C - Multigroup music disk produced by Renaissance/iCE
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

This music disk has been almost a year in the making, I remember many
months ago when people first started talking about it. It was originally
supposed to be released during the summer of '94, but many small problems
set it back. For those that have seen it, I think that just about everybody
agrees it was worth the wait.

The idea for Epidemic originally came from Syntax of iCE. He put a lot of
work into getting the whole thing organized. Originally, the music disk was
not as big as it turned out to be. About a year ago, Pixel/FC was visiting
the USA doing some work for Epic Megagames. At the time, he had the job of
doing all of the Epidemic graphics. I drove over to the Epic Megagames
offices (which are about 20 mins from my house) and checked out all of the
work that he was doing there, it was really amazing! In the final version,
Pixel's graphics were not used, but you can see what he was working on by
hitting F1 while your in Epidemic. At this time, Epidemic was in its very
early stages, and it turned out quite a bit different from the original
plan. The goal was to produce the best music disk in the scene.

Over the months, Epidemic sort of got set on the backburner. A lot of
people involved in its production did not have the time to complete it.
Early in October, I started asking if it was ever going to be released.
After some talk, we all agreed that we should have it out by November 1st
no matter what the case. Luckily, by November 1st, everything was ready to
go. Epidemic was released shortly thereafter.

In my opinion, Epidemic truly turned out to be the best music disk ever
made. All of the music was unique, high quality, and enjoyable to listen
to. Its the best collection of songs from some of the top musicians in the
scene that you will find. Epidemic is more then just great music, it also
had some excellent graphics by Ink/PM, Pixel/FC, Tran, Delsion/Cascada,
and Oman/Legend Design. I guess you could say it was a multigroup art disk
too. :) Daredevil/Renaissance also did a great job with the interface
coding, the mouse was really a neat idea. :) The music drivers written by
StarScream & Daredevil were really perfect for this music disk. Not only
did they sound awesome, but they supported a very wide range of soundcards.

In general, the music disk has a very mellow feel to it. Some people
complained about this, but I think that in a scene where techno seems to be
the norm (I do like techno btw) it was really a nice treat. My favorite
songs in the disk were: "Forever" by Basehead, "Split Second" by Nemesis &
Parity Error, "HyperControl v3.0" by Necros, and "Soon I Will End" by
Mellow-D. Of course, ALL of the music in the disk was outstanding though.

While most of the feedback from Epidemic has been very positive, there have
been a few things that people have complained about too. It seems that a
lot of members from the ANSI group "ACiD" think that Epidemic really sucks,
I can't understand why though?  In addition, Epidemic seems to have
problems running on some people's computers, although this is VERY rare.
The same thing can be said for just about every release that the demo scene
has ever put out. :) One bug that you might find in Epidemic: If you shell
to DOS while playing music, then change directories, and then EXIT back
into Epidemic, it will not be able to find its music files. :-| Epidemic
uses a CD Player style interface, but many people have mentioned that they
would have preferred a menu interface where they could select the song by
name and author. That is something for music disk coders to keep in mind
for the future, although I find the Epidemic interface very functional and
easy to use. Finally, the only thing I didn't really care for in Epidemic
was the cheezy ANSI logo that scrolled by in the beginning. While I'm sure
it was difficult to make such an ANSI, and the lettering was impressive, it
just did not fit in with the high resolution VGA graphics that were being
displayed around it.

The Verdict: Epidemic is definitly the best music disk in the scene today,
be sure to grab it if you don't have it already!

You can get the music disk from:

ftp.eng.ufl.edu - /pub/msdos/demos/incoming/music/
---------------
epidemic.arj - 1.43 megs
epidemic.a01 - 1.43 megs
epidemic.a02 - 1.39 megs

It might be relocated to /pub/msdos/demos/music/disks/ by the time you read
this.

NOTE: Due to a lack of space on Hornet, and because of the large size of
Epidemic, it may be deleted from the site pretty soon. You can also get it
from freedom which is mirroring hornet.

freedom.wit.com - /systems/ibmpc/demos/incoming/music/
---------------

Here's a list of the credits for Epidemic:

                              C  R  E  D  I  T  S

                   Forever .. Basehead [Mental Design / iCE]
                  Intro Tune .. C.C.Catch [Renaissance / iCE]
                The Passage of Time .. Ryan Cramer [Renaissance]
                   MoonGlow Groove .. Daredevil [Renaissance]
                            Don Huono .. Edge [EMF]
                     Torch and Stompy .. Leinad [Avalanche]
                 Escape and Triumph .. Leviathan [Renaissance]
           Essence II and Soon I Will End .. Mellow-D [Orange / iCE]
                     Intrepid .. Mosaic [Renaissance / iCE]
        HyperControl v3.0, IntroSpection .. Necros [Legend Design / iCE]
          From Beyond and Split Second ..  Nemesis [Renaissance / iCE]
                      Nova .. Purple Motion [Future Crew]
                        DataJack .. Skaven [Future Crew]

                   Interface Code .. DareDevil [Renaissance]
                     Intro Code .. StarScream [Renaissance]
             Sound System .. StarScream and DareDevil [Renaissance]
       Concept / Organization / Documentation .. Syntax Error [iCE / FC]
           VGA Graphics ..  Delsion [iCE], Ink [iCE / Psychic Monks],
           Pixel [Future Crew], Tran [Nothing], Oman [Legend Design]
                         Ansi Artwork .. Pnakotic [iCE]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
       _____         _     _____               _               ___ ___
      |  ___|_ _ ___| |_  |_   _| __ __ _  ___| | _____ _ __  |_ _|_ _|
      | |_ / _` / __| __|   | || '__/ _` |/ __| |/ / _ \ '__|  | | | |
      |  _| (_| \__ \ |_    | || | | (_| | (__|   <  __/ |     | | | |
      |_|  \__,_|___/\__|   |_||_|  \__,_|\___|_|\_\___|_|    |___|___|

                                                          Music Article 2 of 5
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FastTracker II by Triton
========================

FINALLY! The tracker all of us musicians have been waiting for has been
released. I had just about given up on this program, I thought that it
would never be released! However, I think that this tracker may have been
released just a bit too late, read on to find out why. I haven't had a lot
of time to screw around with this tracker yet, but I'll just leave some
initial impressions.

When I first got started in the music scene, a tracker called "FastTracker"
was just released, it was the first non-shitty tracker in the scene, and it
became very popular because it was reliable, it had a nice interface, and
it supported up to eight channels with the MOD format. This tracker in fact
INVENTED the 6 and 8 channel MOD formats. Before FastTracker came out, I
was using a piece of shit called "Whacker Tracker". I had always wondered
about the name "Whacker Tracker" and after using the tracker I started to
guess what the authors of the program were doing while they were coding it.
FastTracker was really an improvement, and it sounded GOOD on my SBPro.
(This was before I bought a GUS).

Now in November of 1994, Triton has finally released the sequel to
FastTracker II, and it looks to be the best tracker ever. FastTracker II
has so many features that there is no way I'm going to be able to cover
even a fraction of them here. Its something that you'll have to check
out for yourself.

FastTracker II is supposed to be sort of a Protracker for the PC.
Protracker is the standard Amiga MOD tracker, and those that have Amigas
swear by it. Perhaps they'll find they like FT2 even better? FT2 is
really very smooth, everything is well planned out and the interface is
beautiful to look at. Triton's coders have also made the tracker "cute"
(as some chick said) in many ways. For instance, the mouse cursor will
show a spinning hourglass while it is loading something, or, when you
want to quit, FT2 has a bunch of different messages it will display, one
being "You lazy bastard!". :) FT2 is also the most configurable tracker
that I have ever seen, its amazing what Triton has done.

FT2 offers a lot of new things not previously seen in other trackers.

Volume & Panning Envelopes: This is really a neat idea, and you can make
some trippy sounding samples with this stuff. However, I still am not
totally sure how useful this will be when making tracked music. I guess
only time will tell. I don't think that I will be using this feature
much, atleast not initially.

Internal sampler/sample editor: WOW! This is something that every
tracker should have STANDARD! Not much more to say except that this is
one of my favorite features of the program. One thing that could have

@Via Squish/386 1.11 2:200/427, Sun Nov 13 1994 at 06:47 UTC

been improved is the sample looping feature. Its kind of a bitch to hit
the WAVE key everytime you want to hear the sample. When trying to get a
perfect loop on sample, you might end up hitting that blasted key 500
or more times! FT2 could learn something from ST3 in this respect.

Nibbles: FT2 includes a little game called Nibbles. Its really a great
idea to have that. That way, when you get frustrated with your music,
you can have a little diversion. However, I find that the game Nibbles
is even more frustrating than making music. For my tastes, I would have
preferred a little pictures slideshow feature showing Sports Illustrated
Swimsuit models, and some of those chicks in that Victoria's Secret
Catalog. That would be much more calming than Nibbles. Perhaps an idea
for FT3 Triton?

While FT2 is truly very awesome, I've got a few gripes with it. The main
one being that the included documentation is not adequate at all. FT2 is
an immensely complicated program, yet I think that the only people that
really know how to use it is the people that coded it. I hope that in
the future, someone writes a better documentation for FT2, and one that
is actually in a text file, not inside the program (so we can print it
out).

Another problem that I have with FT2 is that the notes cut off as soon
as you let go of the key on your keyboard. This is very non-standard for
trackers, and it is going to take me a LONG time to get used to. In
order to keep it from cutting off, you've got to screw around with the
volume enveloping, but what if you want to make a MOD compatible song?
In addition, in the sample select window, there are buttons for
selecting samples 01..08, 09..10, 11..18, etc. I find this kind of
annoying, it would have been much more useful to make a scrollbar. There
are many other things that I could gripe about in FT2, but I must say
that theres a lot more to like about FT2 than there is to dislike.

Some people have also mentioned problems using FT2 with the Soundbastard
series of soundcards. My guess is that its a hint that you should
probably buy a GUS, but if you need it to work with your shitblaster,
try going into the sample editor and hitting the WAVE button, apparently
this initializes SoundCrappers somehow.

I think that FT2 was released just a little bit too late. It seems that
at this time, Scream Tracker ]I[ by Future Crew is really the standard.
Just about everybody is using ST3. I think that a lot of ST3 users are
not going to change over to FastTracker II because it has an extremely
different interface, and is using a different command set. This makes
the transition kind of difficult. Some ST3 users that I have talked to
have said that their attempts at using FT2 have made them frustrated.
ST3 is also more intuitive in some areas. My guess is that ST3 and FT2
will both be the standard trackers, I don't see one taking over the
other because each offers its own advantages.

I'd really like to congratulate Triton on what looks to be the most
impressive tracker ever made on the PC. They've obviously put a lot of
hard work into this one, and we really owe them a thanks. I was very
impressed that the tracker is not cripped in any way. This really gives
us the chance to see how well we can compose in it before registering. I
urge all of you that use FT2 to register it, Triton really deserves to
make a great profit on it. $20 is such a small amount to ask for such a
great tracker. Remember that old buggy tracker called SBStudio? That guy
wanted like $70 for that thing, what a rip off! $20 is a great deal just
for the sample editor in FT2!

You will definitly want to grab FT2, you can get it at:

ftp.eng.ufl.edu - /pub/msdos/demos/incoming/music/
===============
ft2.zip - 332570 bytes

By the time your reading this, the file may have been moved to:

/pub/msdos/demos/music/programs/trackers

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
           _____         ___.   .__                         _________
          /  _  \   _____\_ |__ |__| ____   ____   ____  ___\_____   \
         /  /_\  \ /     \| __ \|  |/ __ \ /    \_/ ___\/ __ \ /   __/
        /    |    \  Y Y  \ \_\ \  \  ___/|   |  \  \__\  ___/|   |
        \____|__  /__|_|  /___  /__|\___  >___|  /\___  >___  >___|
                \/      \/    \/        \/     \/     \/    \/<___>

                                                          Music Article 3 of 5
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Word has it that Tran might be releasing a new demo utilizing true color!
It may be something like Timeless, but better! Stay Tuned...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(MOD4WIN Thoughts by DWSPAST@VAX1.ACS.JMU.EDU)            Music Article 4 of 5
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey Snowman...

I noticed a file on ftp.eng.ufl responding to an article in Demo News (about
Dynamic Studio, I believe).  I had a quick comment on a couple of Demo News
reviews, though not really directly related to either program.

I purchased Mod4Win over the summer for what I consider to be an extremely
inflated price ($30 for simply a MOD player).  Mod4Win is far and away the best
Windows MOD player, and even in contention for one of the best outright.

However....JSInc. charges $30 for registration and $15 for simple updates (as
in, a 2.00 to 2.10 update).  Their program, in its "shareware" form, is not
only crippled; it is time-limited, and becomes totally unusable after 30 days.
In addition, it stores information somewhere on the user's hard drive that make
it impossible to re-install.

I've had nothing but praise for JSInc.'s product, and have supplied bug reports
when I've noticed small quirks.  However, JSInc.'s tech support (at least in
e-mail) has been rude, arrogant, and unacceptable at times.  I just thought I'd
throw in my two cents; Mod4Win seemed to get away a little too unscathed in its
review.  However, I have to confess that I haven't seen Dynamic Studio...

Keep up the good work, all around.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Dynamic Tracker Response)                                Music Article 5 of 5
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi there Snowman and VLad DRacl
-------------------------------

I fortunately happened to see the mail at your site today, 11-06-94. The re-
view you made of our program Dynamic Studio v1.00 was quite a relief. From
what I understand you liked the program pretty much. We have been working
really hard on DS for about a year and a half, but since you never get
satisfied with a program you have to quit sometime and release it to the
public.

I noticed that you talked about the serious crippling of the program. Yes,
all save functions have been removed from the demoversion, but this is not
a Dynamic-Studio-ONLY cripple, many programs does this to prevent piracy,
getting at least someone to register the program and so on... =)

Since the price is what really seem to be the problem, I have to say some-
thing about that aswell. Four people have been working with DS. This means
four people share the income of the program. So far so good... The price of
DS had to be set to $55 due to the following facts. A simple money order from
you to us costs _us_ $9!! And after that we have to subtract the taxes, ship-
ping and handling, disks, labels and so on... Whats left for us to split is
not really worth mention, I hope you see the problem we're having here... =(

You also mentioned registering DS by cash. Many people appriciate this type
of payment. Think of it as an option, you don't _have_to_ pay with cash, it's
just another option for those who prefer it. We infact talked to the banks
around here and they didn't have any negative comments about it..

It's a bit unfortunate but none of the guys in Loom Syndicate have an inter-
net address yet. =( However, a buddy of ours has got one we can use for now.
Note: This is only a temporary address! Use the following eMail address:

        pt91cfs@pt.hk-r.se

And now for the good part (so to speak). From the 1st of November (this year)
until the 1st of March (next year), we're having a SPECIAL PRIZE on Dynamic
Studio for about $35!!! We are decent guys, you know.. =) Anyways, there
shouldn't be any money-problems now. Our income during this period will be
nada/zip/zilch/nothing! But we feel it's better people can use the program
than it is to not use it cause of some problem! Watch out for an intro coming
out these days, containing the SPECIAL PRIZES, and the new registration
forms.

Anyway, thanks again for reviewing Dynamic Studio! We really appreciate it..

Many thanks from The Loom Syndicate!



                                        Signed Bonanza / Bj?rn Nordstr?m

                                        BTW: Are you my mother...

==============================================================================
((Section 5...Coders Corner))    <BY>    Denthor [Asphyxia]
==============================================================================
> [Christopher G. Mann] : From now on, Ryan will be doing this section.
>                         However, I may still have the occasional comment
>                         now and then.  Denthor's articles will start
>                         appearing in next week's DemoNews.  This week, its
>                         still Snowman.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Assembly 94 4k-intros) by Bryce Penberthy
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's what I found about the 4k intros....

All of the intros that were in the 4k intro directory were also included
in the file ass_pc4k.zip.  However there were some intros that were
included in the pack that were not in the demos directory.  These included:

SPAM            CMODORE         TINY            SPREADME
BARTI           LEGALIZE        HMMMM!          VIRT
THE_FART        MAGICBAL        RIPOFF          STONED
KRIKKIT         ANTRO           TR6             REDROCK
KILTRO          RAVEDEMO        THEWAY          PDL_CMPO
S-FRACT         COME!           TORNADO         FLIGHT
MOVEIT          ZOM486          ZOM386          G_APPLE
SMALLONE        PLASMAT         THE_CUBE        YELLOW
TOMTE           WACO            JOX             NUAGE!

If you use pkzip with the -d option then it will create separate
directorys for the top intros in the competition.  Most of the intros
used fractals, but there were some different routines spread throughout
the intros.  One worth mentioning was Fractal Dreams, which showed some
unique 3-d fractals.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(PKLITE vs. LZEXE)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I posted the following article last week.

| I would like to open a discussion on what the best .exe compressor is out
| there.  Personally, I know very little about this area and I have only used
| PKLITE and LZEXE a few times.  However, I'll bet that there are a few
| coders out there who have some thoughts on the matter.
|
| What do you think?

I received absolutely NO response on this topic, so I will say that PKLITE
is the best .EXE compressor ever made!  "pklite" is a lot easier to say than
"lzexe".  Since no one responded to last week's article, this is how I came
to my decision.

=============================================================================
((Section 6...ESCAPE Demo/Music CD))
==============================================================================
[From Christopher G. Mann]

I would like to apologize for forgetting something in the Escape intro.  No
mention was made as to the specific songs that will be contained on the
Escape CD.  Below is a list a generated for someone (I don't remember who):

Track  File Name     Song Name                  Author          Time  Player
?????  ????????????  ?????????????????????????  ??????????????  ????  ??????
  1    DATA          [CD-ROM Digital Portion]
  2    FARE2   .MTM  Farewell (MC2 theme)       Snowman         2.49    CMOD
  3    V-VOYAGE.S3M  Distant Voyage             Markell Moss    5.21     DMP
  4    V-GUARD .S3M  Guardian of Souls          Krystall        3.36     DMP
  5    V-ESTRNG.MOD  Estranged                  Khyron          2.25    CMOD
  6    V-OVERLD.MOD  Maximum Overload           Jenkins         4.20    CMOD
  7    V-LOST  .MTM  Lost In My Fantasy         Clement Poon    3.16     MTM
  8    V-FUSION.S3M  Fusion Harmony             Donovan Seidle  3.25     DMP
  9    V-VIBES .S3M  Wish this song had a name  Protocol        5.45     ST3
 10    R-ADRNLN.S3M  Adrenalin                  tR/\Sh          4.42     MDP
 11    R-DELIVR.S3M  Deliverance                JeDi            4.39     DMP
 12    TAKEME  .S3M  Take Me to the Night       Krystall        3.12     DMP
 13    STORY   .MTM  Story of Faith             C.C.Catch       3.40     MTM
?????  ????????????  ?????????????????????????  ??????????????  ????  ??????
       12 songs                                                47:10
                                                               47:32 (pause)

2 second pause between each song additional 22 seconds.

Escape is a combination audio/data CD.  It contains data you can
play with a standard CD player and data that computers can
understand.  Track 1 is reserved for the computer portion, and the
rest are all playable in any standard audio CD player.

With the exception of Farewell, Take Me to the Night, and Story of
Faith, all songs on this CD were entries in Music Contest ][.  MC2
was an international computer-based music competition that was
hosted by myself, Christopher G. Mann.  The top songs are now part
of Escape.

[From Dan Wright]

The ESCAPE CD intro was released last week (escintro.zip) which I hope

@Via Squish/386 1.11 2:200/427, Sun Nov 13 1994 at 06:47 UTC

many of you download even though most of you who read this section know
what is in the intro.  One thing the intro left out was the FACT that
there are 12 D/A songs--9 from MC2--on the CD.  Minor details...

The FINAL details regarding the CD's COSTS and RELEASE will be going out
this week so be on the lookout (E-mail) if you have reserved a COPY.


==============================================================================
((Section 7...Advertisements))
==============================================================================
[1]

      = R ? E ? C ? K ? L ? E ? S ? S     L ? i ? F ? E     B ? B ? S =

??Portugal's Coolest! Demo-Oriented: Demos,Intros,Demo Coding,Magazines,Art??
-=?[++351-(0)1-LiSBON!,24h,V32b,DX2/66LB,1 GiG,CD,Tapes,SysNav: Asskicker]?=-
          ???Electromotive Force (EMF) Dist Site & Portugal HQ???
                   ???Nostalgia Dist Site & Portugal HQ???
                     ???Union Dist Site & Portugal HQ???
                      ???VLA Dist Site & Portugal HQ???
                           ???Asphyxia Dist Site???
                                ???NUKE WHQ???

                           Call ++351-01-716 67 58
                          System password: RIVENDELL

                            No Ratio for LD callers

[2]

All Demo-Freaks in Holland who want to go to the Party '94 in Denmark and
don't know how ?!? We at Trance have organized a bus-trip which will leave
from Arnhem and will cost 100 guilders per person.If anyone outthere is
interested, mail me for more information and the (Dutch) invitation letter.
Leave mail to: p.vanmun0@hsbos.nl
Hope to hear from you soon !


==============================================================================
((Section 8...Miscellaneous))
==============================================================================
This newsletter is getting REALLY big now.  As a result, some changes are
being made. I will no longer be writing all of the coding and music articles.
Also, the "Contents" will now contain the titles of the articles under each
section.  I will also be giving up some of the responsibility of file-moving.

Here are some changes that are being made to HORNET:

    -review of music players, trackers, and utilities
    -the /code directory will be reviewed and detailed explanations will be
        given to the source code within
    -improved links > Diego will be helping to get these correct
    -DEMOBOOK, a collection of addresses and info from people in the scene
    -code expert > Denthor will be helping to contribute articles and answer
        questions about source code in the "scene".

==============================================================================
((Section 9...Closing))
==============================================================================
This newsletter seems to be getting larger each week.  Some of my best
friends in the "scene" are now on the staff, and they help to make DemoNews
a robust production.

When I was the only one writing the music and code articles, I felt that my
views might not acurately reflect those of the demo scene.  Not only that,
but I didn't feel I was really qualified to write in either section.

Next week we'll take an in-depth look at NAID, the North American Inter-
National Demo Festival.

The quote for this week comes from Axcess magazine (Vol II, #4, p98):

   "Programming complex demos in assembly is difficult and tedious,
    but it's also what separates the men from the boys." -- B. Walkington


                        -Christopher G. Mann (Snowman)-
                            r3cgm@dax.cc.uakron.edu

---------------------------------------------------------End-of-Demo-News-#70-