ooooo a a o48888P"""78 8b. ,p q8 88a 48K 8 ,poo888ooP' ,oo88o o' q. d8b d888b 78888oooo. dP' `888' d8"' `88 `8888888q 48b 48P' `88 `""""8888 Y88 ,8' 88 d88 7 d88P d8P 8oo oo88 V88. `88o. ,o888 88 Y88b Y88. ,8D / / `5488888"' `78b. `"88888'`8o q888 `88m `Y88888P / / 8888 / / \------------------------- 88 8D --------------------------------/ / \ \---------------- o ,d888888 ----------------------------------/ \ \ January `888 888 888 \ \ 1999 888 `"' d8888oo, \ \ 888 `888' Y88P,d888b. dP' `88 NO. \ \ 888 q8b 88P 8888'`888 88b,,,,, 88 Subscribers \ \ 888888 7b 88' 888' `88 88'`"""78P ---------------\ \ 88 88888b dP ,88. 88; 88, 78b, .,p --------------------\ 7888P 88888P ,8888b. a888. a888 `888888P' ascii by: ZXPKNOBB --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Table Of Contents ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Opening: Message From the Editor Letters From Our Readers Columns: In Tune -- Natasha's "Riki Tiki Tavi" Monthly Software Review -- "Modplug Tracker" Update Screen Lit Vertigo (Part 1) -- "State of Mind" by Bomb Screen Lit Vertigo (Part 2) -- "Kkowboy" by Blasphemy+Purple Features: 1998 Song Countdown -- Coplan Ranks His Favorite 8 Songs of 1998 Closing Credits: --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Message From the Editor ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Aside from our normal columns this month, there are a lot of news. Psychic Symphony has resigned as the writer for "Screen Lit Vertigo." The article published this month will be his last. No need to fear, however, the column will not be short-lived, for he has found someone to take over the column. Meet Seven, the new columnist for "Screen Lit Vertigo." Both Psychic's last and Seven's first articles have been published this month. That's two demo reviews -- ain't that great? Dilvish and SiN are both in stressful times, so they are takeing breaks from the usual hustle and bustle of writing a monthly column. They will be back shortly, so don't worry. Meanwhile, I am covering "In Tune" by myself this month as I review Natasha's "Riki Tiki Tavi," as per her request. Read her letter to us, and then check out what I think. Louis is back after a vacation of sorts. He brings us an update on the latest from Olivier Lapicque. You know what he though of the ModPlug Tracker way back when. Now, read and see what Louis thinks of ModPlug now! Welcome back Louis. What Happened to Calvin French??? Several of you sent me messages about his last column so that I could forward it to Calvin when I got a hold of him. Unfortunately, he is nowhere to be found. His e-mail address has been disconnected, and I am unaware of a new one. Therefore, your messages have not yet been delivered. Also as thus, his column will be delayed until someone find him. Calvin, if you're reading this, please get in touch with me!! Finally, as it is January, the beginning of a new year, I have done a top 8 countdown of my favorite tracked tunes of 1998. Check them out and see if you know the tunes. Once again, I appologize for the short issue. It's a difficult time for many of us...it's fortunate that we got out this month. This would be a good spot to throw out a shamless plug and a note that we're always looking for new writers. =P Oh, just a quick request! The archive we have listed at the end of this publication is an address to ftp://demo.dyn.ml.org. I was informed that the server has moved, though my informant was unsure of the new address. Could someone please send me this information. Thanks in advanced. -- Coplan --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Letters From Our Readers ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- -=- Letter from Andreas Viklund -=- Thanks for a very good and interesting review of my song "Exquisite". It was very fun to read such a detailed review. I think I actually learned a lot just by trying those things you wrote about (lower piano volume in one part of the song, for example)... Keep up the great work, and happy holidays! (yes, just a couple of days late. hehe...) -- Andreas / lagoona & kfmf -=> Reply from Coplan: As much as many of you like reading my reviews, I like doing them as well. I especially love it when an author of a song I reviewed comes back and shows me that he heard and understood what I said. This means a lot to me. This is my greatest contribution to the scene, to the scene that I have grown to love so much. Thank you... -- Coplan -=- Letter from Natasha Breanne Thompson -=- Hello and a Happy New Year to you :) I have finished with another song for the beginning of the New Year. It is called 'Riki Tiki Tavi' and the theme is based upon the mongoose character (Riki Tiki Tavi) in a story. There is a little more info about the story on the page with the song and its cover. http://home.earthlink.net/~natashabt/rikitiki.html If you'd like, please have a listen..... :) Take Care, -- Natasha Breanne Thompson (a.k.a *TeChNoBoT*) -=> Reply from Coplan: Thanks for the message, Natasha. There is a full review of Natasha's song, "Riki Tiki Tavi," in this month's "In Tune." Check it out. Oh, and if anyone else out there wants a review...please don't hesitate to ask. Natasha got hers. =) -- Coplan --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- In Tune Natasha's "Riki Tiki Tavi" By: Coplan and SiN ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Natasha Breanne Thompson, also known as Technobot, came to us just a little while ago and requested a review of her work titled "Riki Tiki Tavi." Since she asked, SiN and I decided that we'd download the song, and check it out. This is the first time that we have had a formal request to review a song. More of you who are willing to learn should do the same. If nothing else -- even if you don't learn anything -- all you did was waste the time to write me an e-mail message about how you want us to review something. What's a few minutes if there is a chance that you'll get some good information for the future. =) Well, end of my request to you...on with the review. -=- Coplan -=- First of all, I must say I didn't know what to expect when I got the request from Natasha. In the past, when people have asked me for a review, they have asked me to keep it private for one of two reasons. The first is the fact that they feel their work sucks -- a lack of confidence. The second is the fact that they realize the song needs ironing, but they are blind to its wrinkles and don't know where to start with the steam. So, when I got the request from Natasha, she was confident and proud. As you can see in her letter above, she explained the basis for her inspiration -- a very confident approach. That alone made me what to grab this tune and check it out. So khudos on the proper attitude! Vocal samples? Why not? In electronic music? Again, why not? Almost the entire basis for this song lies within the vocal samples. Mind you, they aren't necessarily lyrics. These vocal samples are almost used as instruments. Now one must keep a few things in mind when useing vocal samples. The first is the fact that they must be clean and clear. This doesn't account for effects that you add to them as is the case here. The second is that if you have multiple voices, they must fit together. In "Riki Tiki Tavi," there are two sets of voices: male and female. The male voice is demanding, course and brisk. The female voices compliment the male set by being gentle, soft and relaxed. These voices compliment eachother well. Finally, when useing vocal samples, you can't let them overwelm the rest of the song or seem out of place. Watch your volume levels, and watch your panning. In this case, I feel that the female voice tends to shift too far to the left sometimes and too far to the right in its echo. This also plays along with the volume level because if the sample were faded in slightly, or played softer, you wouldn't notice the sudden introduction of that sample -- something undesirable on gentle and relaxed samples such as the feminine voice in this song. This can be avoided in two ways. The first, and most logical method, is to mess with the panning directly. One could either start closer to center and shift outward from the center, or to simply place it slightly closer to a resonant instrument already playing, such as a horn or a flute. This would blend down the dramatic addition of voice. The second method would be to play with the volume levels and trick the listener into believing that the voice "drifted in." This requires you to start at a lesser volume for that sample, and increase it as it plays useing the volume slide command. This trick doesn't work with many samples, so don't get discouraged if you can't figure out what the hell I'm talking about. Now, onto my more linear method of reviewing. =) The introduction, in my eyes, is strong and efficient. It is fairly short, but it somehow puts you into the mood for the song. I'm not exactly sure why this works so well, but I can make a good educated guess. I believe that the introduction works primarily because of a good selection of samples. The '7thsense' sample seems to work well with the 'Gitar' samples. The chord progression lies within the '7thsense' samples at the biginning. Natasha was wise to keep that sample moveing in four channels at the beginning. It is the only instrument sample playing, and therefore it should avoid dead space or space where the overall volume level drops dramatically. The male voice now comes in and almost introduces the song, like a welcome in a way. The 'Gitar' samples then fades in with their rendition of the chord progression. Listen closely...its there. If the voice didn't exist here, she would've had to start fadeing in the Gitar samples much earlier, or much longer. In order 3, we notice our first major change. Along with that female voice comes our first base instrument of any depth. The 'Basswah' samples are very well used to balance out the bouncy melody of the 'Gitar' samples. With exception of the base drum that is soon to come, most of the percussion is done in loops. There's nothing wrong with drum loops...just make sure you use ones fit for the song. More khudos to Natasha for finding good drum loops for this song. As for the Base Drum, listen to it. It isn't as simple as it appears. Occasionally it hits in in triplet. What is important here is when it hits in triplet relative to the song. Notice that whenever there is a major jump in the pitch of the chord progression, the chord progression changes or if there is new peice of the song added, the base drum his three times quickly. A transition starts mounting in order 11, and a damn good one I might add. The 'goldenhour' sample kicks in, softly at first, but eventually demands a lot of attention as it gets louder. It seems to carry the lead role for a while, but then come the rezers and the 'stratos' samples. These samples alone transform the whole song into a nearly mystical trance. The song goes on in this dream world for a good portion of the rest of the song. Wow, do I feel like I'm one of those cobras (read the song text if you don't know the story). Somewhere around order 28 starts the weakest part of the song, still tight mind you. Up to about order 32, I feel like I'm listening to a completely different song from a Metroid game or something. Haveing parts in the song this drastically different is tricky. The entire portion has to be very well transitioned. The transition into the section is far to simple. Something dramatic would work, but that isn't suitable for this song. I would imagine a transition similar to the one I described at the beginning would best work here. For starters, I would mimic the last riff of the 'goldenhour' sample here and there as a form of unity. Second, I might get rid of the base drum for a short while. Introduce it again shortly before the song shifts back to the old mood. The closing works fairly well. It is a simple closeing that I have examined many times before in this column, so I won't bore you once again with all the gory details. I will say, however, that the key to this transition lies in the percussion as its riff changes. This lets the listener know something is happening. Another key element to this closeing is the slight echo of the gitar in the background. Finally...there's that well placed voice again. =) You may have noticed I talked alot about the samples in this song. The truth is, these are all very good samples. Natasha sampled all these herself from her sythesizer. There has been a great effort put into the careful selection of samples here, and it shows. The tightest piece of this song is its sample selection. Well, that's about all for one of the best songs of its type out there. Quality electronic music like this is hard to come by these days. While you're downloading, you might as well check out the rest of Natasha's web page. I personally downloaded two other songs of hers and found them to be just as enjoyable. Hope you found the review informative. --Coplan Listening Info: Coplan: IT 2.14 useing default Interwave drivers; Koss Mixing Headphones and his home stereo. SiN: IT 2.15 useing MMX PNP drivers; volume ramping (@48kHz); MikIT; Senheiser Studio-Reference Headphones and his home stereo. Song Information: Title: Riki Tiki Tavi Author: Natasha Breanne Thompson Filename (zipped/unzipped): rikitiki.zip / rbland1.it File Size: 1666k Source: http://idahoopalmine.simplenet.com/zip/rikitiki.zip "In Tune" is a regular column dedicated to the review of original and singular works by fellow trackers. It is to be used as a tool to expand your listening and writing horizons, but should not be used as a general rating system. SiN and Coplan's opinions are not the opinions of the Static Line Staff. If you have heard a song you would like to recommend (either your own, or another person's), we can be contacted through e-mail useing the addresses found in the closing notes. Please do not send files attached to e-mail without first contacting us. Thank you! --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Montly Software Review "ModPlug Tracker" Update By: Louis Gorenfeld ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Olivier Lapicque gets my vote for the most-improved programmer of 1998. His software (you know, the ModPlug series) went from software that I felt people should pay me to download, to programs that I use regularly. I would recommend ModPlug Tracker to anybody learning to track. It has a friendly familiar Windows interface, and features that some original trackers don't have: Cleanup (to get rid of unused samples, patterns and instruments), ability to keep open multiple files at a time, list of recently opened files, clickable sample editor so that you can hilight parts of the wave and loop or edit them, a chord editor and pretty good filter support. It will also load GUS and SoundFont2 sets. Another good feature is an effects selection screen. Though this isn't needed for experienced trackers, it is something I wish I had when I started. The tracker should appeal to both FT2 and IT users since it saves in both formats and can be configured to behave a little like them too. When you first start a song you select what format first, not when you save. This way, you can write a song and not worry about the particular format being too limiting to save what you already have. It also alters the effects list to match that of the format. The interface still could be slicker: on an 800x600 display I still needed to scroll around the General and Comments tabs, and on a 1024x768 display there was a lot of unused space. But even with these minor drawbacks, this is a great place to start writing your own music. Rating: 3+/4 Min. Req: P90 or better and 8 MB RAM Rec. Req: 486dx4 or better and 16 MB RAM Platform: Windows 95 Homepage: http://modplug.com --Louis "Farmer" Gorenfeld --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Screen Lit Vertigo (Part 1) "State of Mind" by Bomb (Party version) By: Seven ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Found at http://files.theparty.dk/files/1998/pcde/dist/m0debomb.zip 2nd place at TP8 System requirements: From the info-file: "Works with my P120 + 16MB" Dos: SoundBlaster 16, VESA2, no memory manager except himem.sys Win: DirectDraw 15/16bit modes, Directsound Linux: X11, lots of other things I don't understand as I'm not a Linux-user. Test Machine: PII 350 64MB SB16, Win98 in dos-mode (BOOTGUI = 0) Dos: crashes when returning to dos, both with & without EMM. Win: crashes halfway the canyon-part. Linux: Can't test this, no Linux. The demo: This is the most videoclip-like demo I've ever seen. It starts with a big "NO parental advisory required" sign, Then diving into a tunnel, leading to a room with an Escher-knot. Meanwhile, text from the music is flashing and scrolling all over the scrren, accompagnied by TV-like static (not really like snow). This is something that continues the entire demo. A few flashing screens later, we see a big spaceship. Hey, wait a minute! It's the same spaceship as in Eden/Bomb, but with less textures! Well, we see it only a few seconds, then some MPEGs of people demonstrating in the street are shown, with the text: "WORK BUY CONSUME DIE." Now the best part (IMHO) kicks in: a flight thru a big high-tech canyon, filled with spaceships. This is something that should last much longer (I feel). Metaballs appear, on an MPEG background. Not really original, I've seen those things even in 4K's. After a rotating galaxy of stars/lights, another MPEG is repeating, this time of people working in a factory. Some kind of tunnel (one of the few real 2D effects in this demo) is replaced by an Bomb-logo (one of the few real pictures in this demo). In the background of the greetings, some torusses (tori?) are shown (with shadows! Not easy!). After the credits, a final MPEG is shown. The music: The first thing I did when I first saw State of Mind, was decreasing the volume. It was a bit too loud, and it's the kind of music that makes your parents wonder what they did wrong with your education :). It's a kind of metal/rock music, a la Rage Against The Machine. Although its not 100% my taste, it fits the demo perfectly. Or maybe we should say the demo fits the music perfectly, because it's not tracked, it's an MP3 of an existing group! ("State of mind"/SENSER). There has been a lot of fuss about that on the net, but apparently Bomb had permission to use it. So there are vocals in it, and you can better pay attention to them instead of to the texts, because those move/disappear way too fast to read. Overall: A bit of visual overkill, but you can look several times to it, always discovering something new. I think the videoclip-feeling makes it very accessible to non-sceners, so if you need to explain to someone what the demoscene is about, you might start with this (if he/she likes this kind of music, that is. Don't want to scare anyone away :)). Still, I don't really like the movement towards MPEGs & MP3s. Real clips have no size-restriction and are not realtime, so we'll never beat them. I think we should keep the real-time effects and self-made music & pictures (personal opinion, feel free to do whatever you want). Strange facts: - Krafton/Nomad (with others) did the "visual supply". He also worked on Moai, which won the PC demo compo. So his work placed 1st and 2nd! Congratulations! - Lots of nice command-line options (try mind-h). Pressing space saves a snapshot of the current screen to your harddisk, really usefull to read some text. (Also usefull for reviewers. Thanks!) --Seven --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Screen Lit Vertigo (Part 2) "Kkowboy" by Blasphemy+Purple By: Psychic Symphony ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- 3rd at The Party 8 ftp://demo.cat.hu/scene/Demos.'98/TheParty8/DEMO/kkowboy.zip What can i say. This one rules!!! Design me baby! Code by Slyde of Blasphemy and Vipa of Purple. It's 640x400 all the way! Mostly 3D splines and curves. There is also this awesome opening lightning and a tunnel at the end. The credits during the tunnel is simply breath-taking! Music by the master of disaster, Mellow-d. It fits the design and mood of the demo very well. Following his own traditional "Mellow-d style", he wraps up another joint ready to be smoked by the guys of blasphemy+purple. The 3D is by Byter of Blasphemy and Thorsten of Purple. Not much to say here! Some cool design work though! Graphics by Thorsten of Purple and Mads of Purple. There is also some heavy design work in here! Awesome similarities to Purple's successful "Plastik". This is basically Summer Encounter '98 revisited! What the americans call the "2-in-1"! ;) Which is great!!! "Plastik"+"Louis Lane"="Kkowboy" It's a weird equation but it works for the guys from denmark! Not much more i can say. Maybe a small mention to that 3D lightsource virus-looking thing also looked awesome. This is one of those #product-speaks-for-itself" things. Just go get it! Psychic Symphony / psychic@esoterica.pt --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- 1998 Song Countdown Coplan Ranks His Favorite 8 Songs of 1998 By: Coplan ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Someone on #trax asked me one time why I don't rate the songs that I review. There's actually two simple reasons for this. The first is that I find it does absolutely nothing to help the artist grow as a musician. Second, and my biggest reason, is that I don't rate mainstream songs as I listen to them on the radio. Think about it...when was the last time you heard something from U2 and rated it on a 10 point scale? It's not a competition, so why bother? There's only three options in most cases: You like it, you don't like it, or you aren't sure. Three point scales just aren't that common in statistical data, so I don't bother. However, when you plot one song against another, you'll most likely like one song better than the next. That's where this special article comes into play. My roomate (who has been mentioned at least twice in the past) is always asking what my favorite songs are of the 229 songs on my hard drive. He's not asking because he really wants to know, he's actually asking because he wants to know which songs he should copy. The truth of the matter is, if I don't like it, I don't keep it. So if its on my hard drive, I like it. But, if I had to rank all the tunes that I have from 1998, this is what my list would be. Granted, it may not be an accurate of what is truly the best of 1998. After all, how many songs are released every year in the scene? More than I could count. Well, here goes. (BTW, there are only 8 songs listed because I found there to be a huge gap between my 8th favorite of the year and my 9th favorite. Without any comparison, there's no point in ranking them). -=- 8. Line of Force (trch-lin.it) -- Tourach of Chaos Theory Classic Van Halen fans will like this song. It is reminiscent of rock from the late 1970's and early 1980's. Here we go, jump in your melodic time machine and load up this tune, it'll bring back memories. Seriously though, it's a good tune, and definately worth the download time. See the full review in issue #2. -=- 7. Love in the Stars (lovesta3.it) -- Airon of Phaze^D Here's a ballad for all of you who like to dance slow and close to your date. The percussion can be kind of bland at times, but the leads are something to die for. Some of the best slow-song lead work I have seen in a long while. -=- 6. Space Pop (m6v-spop.it / bz-spop.it) -- Blue Zone of Immortal Coil Blue Zone is one of the best trackers in the scene today, and this is the second song of his that among my favorites. This is a very unique song, almost New Age stylistically speaking. It is not the typical song, far too complex for a simple analysis, far too good to take apart. If you don't want to take my word for it, note the fact that it did take 6th place in MC6. -=- 5. He Said (sc_hes8.xm) -- Setec of Immortal Coil No doubt about it...this is the first song I cue up when I'm feeling in a dark and mysterious mood. It's an industrial song with some really funky percussion. From the beginning of the song, you are captivated into listening -- calmly. Then, there is no escape...the song has taken a turn and becomes a little more wild, and very mysterious. Check it out...it's one of my favorites, and I'm not often a fan of industrial styles. -=- 4. Outerspace Girl (03outers.it) -- Phytoplankton To be honest, I don't think this song is really available anywhere. I will have to check on that and get back to you. If anyone wants this song, please e-mail me, I'll be glad to send it. This is a guy I discovered through a friend of mine. He is not truly a member of the scene, but its tracked music, and its one of my favorites. The sample work is incredible. I have never dreamed of useing some of these samples as instruments or in some cases percussion. Welcome to your first peak at the music of the future. Damn, I wish this guy would become more active in the scene. -=- 3. Exquisite (av_exqui.xm) -- Andreas Viklund of TSEC This seems to be a trance, rock and new age hybrid here (though I never have been good with putting "labels" on music styles). The percussion in this song is phenominal, the sample work is amazing, and the tune is pretty well done. I came across this song while looking for something to review for an issue of Static Line, and it is now one of my favorites. Read my full review in issue #6. -=- 2. Carpe Diem (m6v-diem.it) -- Siren This song was served to while I was a judge for MC6 in the first round. It is a song that I had actually picked to place higher than it did. I expected it to pull 1st or 2nd place. Unfortunately, it only took 5th place. Still, that's not too shabby. The song is a rock-like song, though far more funky than the average rock song. Siren's style here is very similar to that of Necros. The percussion work is tight, the samples are excellent, the guitar work is unbelievable. This is definately a song you should go download from the MC6 directories of Hornet before it closes for good. -=- 1. Sorrow's Triumph (strimph.it) -- Obsidian Dream: Catspaw, Dude and Dream Scyth A dramatic and romantic orchestral tune for any music lover. Inspiration from all forms of orchestral music and even rock. This is one of my all time favorite tunes, right up there with Jase's "Kingdom Skies" and Necros's "Shadow Caster." This is one of the only three-way co-op songs that I know of, and it is very effectivly done. Going over the song with a fine toothed comb, I found very little errors in the song. Quality, aestheticly pleasing...what more could you ask for. There's no doubt that this should earn 1st on my scale. See the full review in issue #4. --=--=-- ----=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------ Editor: Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan@thunder.temple.edu Assistant Editors: Ranger Rick / Ben Reed / ranger@ironweb.com Subliminal / Matt Friedly / sub@plazma.net Web Manager: Dilvish / Eric Hamilton / dilvie@kosmic.org Columnists: Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan@thunder.temple.edu Calvin French / frenchc@cadvision.com Dilvish / Eric Hamilton / dilvie@kosmic.org Louis Gorenfeld / gorenfeld@vrone.net Setec / Jesper Pederson / setecjp@hotmail.com Seven / Stefaan / Stefaan.VanNieuwenhuyze@rug.ac.be SiN / Ian Haskin / sin_@netcom.ca Staff Writers: Acell / Jamie LeSouef / jlesouef@melbpc.org.au Darkheart / Zach Heitling / darkhart@san.rr.com Psychic Symphony / psychic@esoterica.pt Setec / Jesper Pederson / setecjp@hotmail.com Technical Support: Draggy / Nicolas St. Pierre / draggy@kosmic.org Static Line on the Web: http://www.ic.i7.net/statline ftp://demo.dyn.ml.org/scene/DiskMag/StaticLine To subscribe to the Static Line mailing list, send an e-mail message to "majordomo@kosmic.org" with "subscribe static_line" in the message text. You will then be asked to confirm your addition to the mailing list. To unsubscribe from the mailing list, send an e-mail message to "majordomo@kosmic.org" with "unsubscribe static_line" in the message text. Your subscription will then be removed. If you would like to contribute an article to Static Line, be aware that we will format your article with two spaces at the beginning and one space at the end of each line. Please void foul language and high ascii characters. Contributions should be mailed to Coplan (coplan@thunder.temple.edu). See you next month! -eof---=------=--=------=--=--