-Start-of-Demo-News-#66------------------------------------------------------- ___________ _________________ ____ ____________ \_______ \/ __________ | \ \________ \ _____ \_ \ __)___/ \/ \__/ \ _/ \_/ \ \_ :_: \_ \_ \______________/__________/____| :______/_____________/ October 16, 1994 - ISSUE #66 - October 22, 1994 _________ _______________ ___ ___ ______________ / _ \/ __________ | | \/ ___________/ / | \ __)___/ : : \_______ \ _/ | \_ \_ _ \_ | \_ \_______|_______/_________/_____|________/___________/ ============================================================================== ((CONTENTS)) ============================================================================== Section 1..............Standard Information Section 2...........................General Section 3.............................Files Section 4.............................Music Section 5..............................Code Section 6...........................Demo CD Section 7....................Advertisements Section 8..................Top 25 Downloads Section 9..............................Misc Section 10...........................Closing ============================================================================== ((Section 1...Standard Info)) ============================================================================== 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). There are currently four active demo-operators at this site: Dan Wright (Pallbearer) - GENERAL - dmw@eng.ufl.edu Christopher G. Mann (Snowman) - GENERAL - r3cgm@dax.cc.uakron.edu Mike - GENERAL - weis@elf.stuba.sk Jason (Cavalier) - ANSI - cavalier@shadow.net This site is mirrored by the following ftps: ftp.uwp.edu ftp.luth.se --> DOWN lately due to hard drive problem. ftp.sun.ac.za ftp.uni-erlangen.de ftp.uni-paderborn.de ftp.cdrom.com SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THIS "NEWSLETTER" can be obtained 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 ============================================================================== ((Section 2...General)) ============================================================================== Our space problem has cooled off for awhile. We have about 15-20 Megs free so you should not have problems uploading any new stuff. Please keep the creation of directories to a minimum--none--cause they are too hard to delete or in our case to hard to get the sys admin to delete them. ============================================================================== ((Section 3...Files)) ============================================================================== Filename.ext Location Description ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ .-----------. | --DEMOS-- | (all locations start with /pub/msdos/demos...) `-----------' boem.arj /alpha/NEW Decent BBS intro by Spirit. GUS. pgloader.zip /alpha/NEW Power Grids BBS loader. SB. Newest version. riversos.arj /alpha/NEW Rivers of Suggestion by SUBSYSTEMS. GUS/SB. shamaani.zip /alpha/NEW Complex's production from Abduction party. .-----------. | --MUSIC-- | (all locations start with /pub/msdos/demos/music...) `-----------' cc_rtsnd.zip /disks Capacala (The Real Thing) butr-klf.zip /klf Space Butter by Maelcum cell-klf.zip /klf Cellar Dweller by Maelcum flk_face.zip /klf Facing the Hole by Piromaniak here-klf.zip /klf Here It Is by Maelcum klf-wos2.zip /klf World of Spirits by Khyron poet!klf.zip /klf Poetry in Motion II by Basehead rbth-klf.zip /klf Rebirth of Rave by Maelcum tl-demon.zip /songs/mod Demonic Sensation by Timelord death_st.zip /songs/s3m The Deat's Dance by Crazy Teo jackedin.zip /songs/s3m Jacked In by Freejack never_al.zip /songs/s3m Never Alone by Crazy Teo ragdepth.lzh /songs/s3m Raging Depths by Zigg DELETED -corrupt- tdm_fonk.lzh -cleanout- 9innails.zip auxilary.zip axlmod01.zip axlmod02.zip axlmod03.zip backward.zip blender .zip enjoys3m.zip inca .lzh m4w200sx.zip modpro .zip morgl100.zip nobody .zip octavius.zip overflow.zip please .zip pn_coral.zip pn_dscal.zip progres2.zip secsight.lzh shatdelu.lzh silver .zip sky_armg.zip sky_nagd.zip sky_pand.zip sky_psrx.zip sky_sbvr.zip sky_wait.zip worldtec.lzh zzplay10.lzh .--------------. | --ART/ANSI-- | (all locations start with /pub/msdos/demos/...) `--------------' We have an ANSI maintainer--cavalier@shadow.net. He usually posts his comments within the "/incoming/ansi" directory. .----------. | --CODE-- | (all locations start either /demos/programming or /demos/code) `----------' The /programming directory will be reorganized and slowly moved to the /code directory by me, Snowman. wgt5beta.zip /code/graph/library WGT5.0 for Watcom C 10.0 graphics library 3dvect38.zip /code/graph/vector 3D Vector Engine by John McCarthy pm-10-94.zip /code/pmode PMODE 3.04 - October Update sb_pas10.zip /code/sound Program SB in Turbo Pascal .----------. | --MISC-- | (all locations start with /pub/msdos/demos/...) `----------' acme-cl2.zip DELETED ACME mini music disk...CORRUPT. asm94rep.zip /compos/asm94 ASM '94 Party review by Iguana. /groups/iguana bus-hyp.arj /compos/party94 Hypnosis's bustrip to the PARTY IV. gd0994.zip /diskmags Diskmag by ESCAPE. platin12.lzh /diskmags Platinum 12 diskmag. German. tplas20.zip DELETE Screen saver. ============================================================================== ((Section 4...Music Articles by Snowman)) ============================================================================== (GENERAL) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ There were not many uploads this week. :( Next week, no-ryan.zip and no-cc.zip will be deleted. These are the tunes from Renaissance's music disk Nothing On, and they are very good. I suggest you download them now before they are gone. I wrote a hell of a lot of material for this issue of Demonews. Rather than skimming and deleting it because there is so much, I suggest you save it and read it a little bit at a time. Here's a rather odd letter I recently received: Snowman : Tue Oct 4 21:35:33 1994 I was lurking through a ftp site down in florida earlier tonight when I saw that's it's operator's name was "Snowman". By coincedence my handle also happens to be "Snowman". I've written to find out when you adopted the name "Snowman", for if you chose the name before me then I cannot with good conscience continue going by that title. If I chose the name first then I have no problems living on the Net with another Snowman. (I would never dream of demanding anyone to change their name). I decided to change my handle to Snowman during in March of 1993. I would be gratefull if you can inform me as to the date you changed your name. Thanks in advance. [Back to Snowman (Christopher G. Mann)] Just for the record, I chose my handle in February of 1992, when I first log- ged on Canton Connection BBS. I had absolutely reason for chosing that specific name. At the "Handle: " prompt, I had to type something, so I just thought Snowman was as good a name as any. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (MOD4WIN 2.10) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ !What a player! I first downloaded MOD4WIN a couple of months ago and was very impressed. I don't like Windoze, but this player was enough to keep me in the straight- jacket-GUI for a while. My shareware expiration came and I couldn't use the program any more. I stopped using Windoze. Recently one of the authors of MOD4WIN wrote me and asked if I'd like a registered version of the program. I said sure, and last week I got it in the mail. This may seem like a small thing, but the label on the disk was very nice and it set me up for the professional level of this player. I tested MOD4WIN out of a couple of my own tunes and it handled them wonder- fully. It uses whatever sound drivers you currently have installed in Windows so both GUS and SB users should be happy. It handles MOD, S3M, MTM, 669, with more formats being supported soon. The sound output is excellent, and MOD4WIN can play songs back at 44.1, in stereo, 16-bit, and in Q-Sound. There is also a read-ahead buffer so that the song doesn't jump everytime a new window or application is being opened. The authors have done his homework to provide this level of excellence. I believe that they deserve a lot of credit for putting this thing together. You can find the shareware version of MOD4WIN at : /music/programs/players/m4w210sx.zip & m4w210sx.txt You can contact the authors at : jpuchert@mailbox.syr.edu ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (DYNAMIC STUDIO) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [VLad DRacl writes...] Well, I just downloaded the Dynamic Tracker, and I must say I like it a LOT... 255 instrument limit, 16 channels, sample editing, MIDI capabilities, CD-Player and more. Plus, a nice looking interface... Though it's quite mouse-driven, there's also keyboard commands for most of it, which makes it nice. The interface reminds me of something... (amiga) Can't quit place it... (amiga) I think I've seen it before... (amiga) I think the (amiga) interface of it is one of the slickest (amiga) GUI/text type thingies I've seen... :) Sound quality is good, plenty of effects, looks nice... I (would) give this tracker 2 thumbs up if it weren't for the STRICT crippling of the program (no saves, no CD play, some other stuff)... Plus, for $55, it isn't exactly going to be the demo-musician's first choice. :( Not only that, but the first method of payment they suggest is *CASH*... Hmmm.... Anyway, though... I like this tracker, but there's some seriously badly crippled features that can't be accessed unless you send (roughly) $55 CASH to SWEDEN, for gawd sake! *sigh* Looks like I'll be sticking to MMEDIT for a little while longer... :( -VLad DRacl- [Back to Snowman] I really like this tracker as well. However, $55 is a bit out of my price range at this point. I was going to contact the author about the tracker, but I couldn't find internet address in the documentation. If you are from ProWare Sweden, please get in contact with me. I may be able to help you get some registrations. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (MUSIC CONTEST ][ RESPONSE) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Most of the feedback I have received concerning MC][ has been positive. Here are just a few of the letters I have received. Hadji : Tue Sep 27 01:09:51 1994 Hey Snowman...just thought i'd tell you that you put a lot of work into Music Contest ][, and I enjoyed it, even if I am still not satisfied with the song I entered ;) Haha...but in all seriousness, I'd like to see you get on IRC sometime too man! :) C-ya! Ryan Cramer : Tue Sep 27 10:02:15 1994 ...I also thought that the MC2 demo was quite awesome, I think that everybody is really going to be impressed how nicely the results were presented. MC2 really wrapped up nicely. I'm going to start my MC3 song now. :) I think its great that you exceeded everybody's expectations by producing a demo and putting everything on CD... Anyways, great work! Krystall : Tue Sep 27 17:59:39 1994 ...I must say that the contest was pretty well organised. You found a way to make the votes fair to everybody. I don't have a lot of time to write you, but here are some things I found you could do for the next one. The most important thing, IMHO, would be to make the contest shorter. You could make it finish in the summer, like July, to be sure that the results are released before the school start. It would be better for everyone. Imre OLAJOS, Jr. (LaLa of TranSByte) : Thu Sep 29 01:27:18 1994 MC2 was an excellent way to let the world know about the talented amateur musicians. Personally, I am very proud of my music which was ranked 6th in the Rookie section. I think, the quality and the quantity of the composi- tions was fairly high, and it was DAMN WELL-ORGANIZED !!! :) Just a thought for MC3: why not release all the entries to some public place, like the WUARCHIVE, or the official GUS FTP-site, or even the Usenet? There still would be dedicated judges, just like in MC2, but the broader public would have a chance to vote, too. For example, each indivi- dual would vote for the first three musics, and these votes would be accumulated. I know that technically it is very hard to implement, but it is not impossible. Also, how about the ever-growing WWW? It would be nice to set up a neat hypertext page for MC3 and have everybody free access to all the entries and other related infos. Alexander Verburgt : Sat Oct 1 09:44:51 1994 Hi Snowman, thanks for organising the MC ][. I like the idea of this compo and it was for me a very nice experience. I will certainly join MC ]I[ next year !! Jenkins of Synth Dream PC : Tue Oct 4 09:11:37 1994 I really enjoyed participating and I am looking forward to MC]I[! Good things about the contest: * joining a contest without traveling across the world to some party place * strong judgement system: gives a musician really the feeling people have been listening to their tune instead of voting on famous names * detailed information available, including updates: gave me the feeling the contest was still alive * friendly organisation: incorrect uploads were not wiped immediately * and most important of all: a deadline, fast publishing of results and incredible fast sending of prizes (Ive got mine = netherlands in one week) Clement Poon : Thu Oct 13 11:28:04 1994 Hi! I would just like to inform you that I got my disk ok, like you asked us to do. I did expect songs instead of the MC2 files, but that's ok! Anyways, here's some feedback on the results for MC2: All us 'Calgary' musicians (me, Markell (1st), Lloyd, etc.. and other non musicians) thought that the results were kinda rushed and didn't really make much sense... But oh well, these reflect our opinions and not the judges, so what's final is final. Oh well, it was a good contest anyways. So I still look forward to MC ]I[. Oh, BTW, I know that this was a BIG contest, but I would've really liked it if each judge could just put in a couple words to justify their decisions like the MC I thing. It would've helped us understand why each song deserved what it got... Clement Poon...continued : Fri Oct 14 15:54:23 1994 Anyways, we were on the subject about voting. You did mention that there was 75 entries and 13 judges. Yah, I understand how big a task that might have been, so when the job gets BIG like this one, split up the work load! Have each judge write up comments and then upload the whole wad to you, and all you have to do is just stick it in one big archive containing all the comment files from each judge! I don't know, cause of course, I have never done a music contest before, so there's got be to another side to side, but it's a suggestion anyways. Oh, about the voting. Somehow, I am opposed as to having public voting. It's just that if you have public voting and you have 2 categories to go by, I think that you should have 2 seperate categories of judges. Because one is based on Samples and the only one, Technical, it's really hard for the judges to give fair marks. So might be not that good at music theory (that DOES include me!), they would have no idea how to give fair marks to the Veterans guys. ...Now are the judges being objective or are they just bored with listening to so many songs? I think that the panel should've been split. Oh well... I would like to say that MC ][ was still a great success and congratulate you for it! [Back to Snowman] As you can see, there were many good suggestions. I will probably implement some of them when MC]I[ rolls around. Overall, people seem to be very pleased with the way MC2 turned out. I was happy to do it, and I look forward to doing it again next year. ============================================================================== ((Section 5...Code Articles by Snowman)) ============================================================================== (GENERAL) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ There are two very good manuals out there that I have seen for programming demos. The first is Richard Ferraro's THIRD edition to: Programmer's Guide to the EGA, VGA, and SVGA cards. Our local Borders book store had this at $45. Its ISBN is: 0-201-62490-7. The second is Tricks of the Game Progamming Guru. It has a CDRom full of C source code and covers many topics like ray-casting (used in Doom) and vectors. It is published by Sams. I have bought "Teach Yourself C in 21 Days" and "Teach Yourself Advanced C in 21 Days" from Sams, and they are sup- erior manuals. I expect no less from this new manual. You can pick it up for around $45. Thanks to Trixter who pointed this book out to me. I currently don't have either of these manuals. :( Of course, the best trainer IMO for getting started in the demo scene is Denthor of Asphyxia's "VGA Trainer series". You can find these under /code/graph/tutor. Best of all, its FREE! :) I am currently working on converting the source in these tutorials from Pascal to C. ============================================================================== ((Section 6...ESCAPE Demo/Music CD)) ============================================================================== Check /pub/msdos/demos/incoming/democd for UPDATES and information. We now have everything done for the CD and ready to be sent off for pressing. Of course I had hoped to be done by MID OCTOBER but the queueing of data and art took much longer then expected--especially the art part. Considering how talented people in the demo scene are it is amazing how difficult it is to get anyone in ANY group to contribute art or anything else. This is "THE" demo CD we are creating... for demo enthusiast by demo enthusiast. We didn't put any .GIF's or .FLI's or other shit on this disk...just DEMOS/INTROS/MUSIC...and a couple demo diskmags. The results will be out in about TWO weeks so we will let YOU (well, those who order/requested/will order) be the judge. We are pressing 300 copies with an option to press another 150 (unlikely). This is not done for profit and we do not have any big distributors/ investors so the pressrun was kept to a minimum to reduce possible loss. I expect to upload .jpg files (800x600 or higher) of the ART appearing on the CD in their anticipated COLORS. You can download this BIG file from the /democd directory. The CD will contain 209Megs of data and 48 minutes worth of music (12 songs) which is a correction from last weeks newsletter. I had to sixth about 20 megs for formatting space/precautions. The CD will be a Mixed-MODE ISO 9660 formatted CD. Approximate selling cost is $10 (down from earlier predicted cost). I hope to have an EXACT cost by next week so people can start sending money/etc. ============================================================================== ((Section 7...Advertisements)) ============================================================================== From zynit@maloka.waw.pl Fri Oct 14 19:10:57 1994 _____ _______ ______ _____ ________ _______ ________ __ __ \___ \__/ _____/ _/ ____/ _\___ \__\____ \_/ ____/_\____ \_/ :| \_ _/ | \ _)_/ \_/ | \_/ | \ | __/ | \_ :| __/ .| \ / :| \\ \ _ \ .| \\ \_ _ \ . \_ ___ \\ // .| \ \\ :| \\ :| \\ ___ \ :| \\ ___ \_/ \ \\ \\ | \\ \\.| \\ .| \ |: \\.| \ | \\ / \____ //__ //_| /_ //_ . /_| //__ //__ // -tZ!\______/ \_____/ \______/ \_______/ \______/ \______/ \______/ \____/ ftp://deadbaby.res.wpi.edu/ Deadbaby is a FTP site run by SiDS [ACiD], who also coded the well know tribe view. This is an ANSI/Art Scene ONLY site. No demos, no muzak, no code, just packs, zines and text files. Deadbaby is also a dist site for many groups, including: katharsis!ascii, shiver, union, etc etc... hmm... that's about all... so ftp over to deadbaby.res.wpi.edu NOW! [This is great...maybe we will transfer all our ANSI/GFX to the above mentioned site and gain some much needed space.] From rob@span.com Sat Oct 15 19:13:45 1994 :: The Latest & Best Multimedia Collection :: 19.00 UK Pounds (approx US$28) *** Hot Sound & Vision Volume 2 *** Released 22nd September 1994 The CD has 661mb of stuff on it, with a superb frontend menu Files are in ZIP/GIF/JPG, and each directory has a FILES.BBS DEMO\MAIN * 58mb, 215 files * The World's Best Demos DEMO\ANSI * 56mb, 98 files * ANSi Graphics & MiniDemo Packs DEMO\MUSIC * 28mb, 28 files * MultiMedia MusicDisk Collections DEMO\GAME * 42mb, 40 files * GameMags, GameReviews, and GameDemos DEMO\DIY * 13mb, 128 files * Make your own Demos; Source & Utils FUN * 62mb, 300 files * Fun and Games on a Grand Scale SOUND\PROGS * 16mb, 111 files * Sound & Music Software SOUND\MOD\PRO * 58mb, 438 files * MODs : Songs By Prolific MODmakers SOUND\MOD\MISC * 95mb, 752 files * MODs : Songs By Everyone Else SOUND\MIDI * 6mb, 42 files * MIDI : Musical Inst. Dig. Interface SOUND\GUS * 14mb, 111 files * Gravis : UltraSound Utils/Songs SOUND\SAMPLE * 9mb, 31 files * Samples : Noises, Voices, Beeps etc GIF\PROGS * 6mb, 22 files * Software to View/Edit/Hack GIF/JPG Pics GIF\ANIMAL * 25mb, 144 files * GIF/JPG Pictures: Animals/Nature GIF\ART * 19mb, 161 files * GIF/JPG Pictures: Art/Paintings/Cartoons GIF\FEMALE * 67mb, 604 files * GIF/JPG Pictures: Female GIF\MISC * 22mb, 136 files * GIF/JPG Pictures: Miscellaneous GIF\TRAVEL * 13mb, 115 files * GIF/JPG Pictures: Travel/Space/War VISION\PROGS * 16mb, 98 files * Various Graphics/Screen Programs VISION\FLI * 20mb, 31 files * Animations (FLI/GL/DL/MPG etc) VISION\RAY * 9mb, 57 files * Computer Oriented Art (Raytrace/Fractal) HOTSV2 * 7mb, 21 files * Useful Software, and Index Files/Lists Cost : 19.00 UK Pounds Add 4% if CreditCard. Add 17.5% VAT UK/EC. Postage : Free UK, 2.00 Outside UK, 3.00 Outside Europe. Inclusive Price : 23.22 UK, 25.22 EC, 22.76 World. Hot Sound & Vision 1 still available for UKP-15.00 (+VAT/CCard) Or buy HotS&V-1 AND HotS&V-2 for only UKP-30.00 (+VAT/CCard) Cards Accepted : Access/Visa/Mastercard/Eurocard Cheques Accepted : Must be in POUNDS STERLING. Orders by email : rjb@span.com Orders by voice : RJB Communications on +44 (0)1932-253131 Orders by B.B.S : Sound & Vision BBS on +44 (0)1932-252323 Orders by mail : 24 Oatlands Chase, Weybridge, Surrey KT13 9RY, UK ============================================================================== ((Section 8...Top 25 Downloads)) ============================================================================== Not this week. ============================================================================== ((Section 9...Misc)) ============================================================================== I maintained this demo site from its beginnings in August/September 1992 to April 1993 and then from Late 1993 till now. I plan on retiring from mainting this site within the next month and would like somone to replace me. As we stand this person will be Snowman (Christopher) however, Snowman will need somone to help him. If you really explored this site you know it could use some updating--demos reviewed, older/crap demos deleted, file links deleted, files linked, certain directories updated and such. I do not have the time to do all this...maybe you do. Maybe you have ideas for improvement. If you feel you can help and are a dedicated person then please contact Snowman or myself. We only want SERIOUS people who can continue to put in the 5-10 hours a week this site requires. Most of the previous people who attempted to help started strong and dwindled to not helping at all...the work built up and now...well, there is enough work to occupy a 40 hour week then 5 hours each additional week. Well, maybe I am exagerating. ============================================================================== ((Section 10...Closing)) ============================================================================== Questions/Comments/Complaints...mail: -dmw@eng.ufl.edu