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 ----------------------------------/ \ \ March `888 888 888 \ \ 1998 888 `"' d8888oo, \ \ 888 `888' Y88P,d888b. dP' `88 68 \ \ 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 -- Krop3rom's "Metal Grinding on Metal" The Zen of Tracking -- Leave of Abscence Screen Lit Vertigo -- "Sign Off" by Superstition (party version) Features: New Positions Open Commentary on Demo-Parties Feedback -- Proposal for a New Group See the Sines -- Basics of Sound Closing: Credits --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Message From the Editor ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- First of all, I would like to thank everyone for their patience. This issue is NOT late. It is on our website right on time. However, the Kosmic Free Music Foundation (the provider of this listserve) just got a wonderful new server. So...we got put on the back burner while they configured their new server. I feel a congratulations is in order of Kosmic. Moveing on, this issue will hopefully mark the last of the "word of mouth" advertising. I have published a few messages on the alt.music.mods and the alt.binaries.sounds.mods newsgroups as per recomendation of Glen Warner. You can read his message to us in the "Letters" section. Meanwhile, I have also started placing advertisments and the like on several websites. Hopefully we'll increase our reader base, and more importantly, our writer base. There are now a few columns up for grabs. If you want to write for us, and havn't been able to think of an original column...feel free to grab one of the ones that's up for grabs. More details to follow in an article appropriately called "New Positions Available." We have a lot for you to read this month. In Tune: SiN and I review an unusual song by Krop3rom titled "Metal Grinding on Metal." Another current review from Seven as he reviews a demo by Superstition titled "Sign Off." This is the prize-winner from Ambience '99. Setec is back with two articles, one is a proposal for a new tracking society/group of sorts, the other deals with some principals of sound. Read both...especially the proposal. Seems interesting to me. Finally, we have a guest article from Ntropy, who shares with us a little commentary on demoparties. Thanks Ntropy! We'll see you next month with the next issue of Static Line. With that new server at Kosmic...it'll be on time too. =) --Coplan coplan@thunder.temple.edu --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Letters From Our Readers ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- -=- Letter from Glen Warner -=- Just a quick note to let you know that your 'zine is being read. You might consider posting a couple copies of Static Line to alt.binaries.sounds.mods and alt.music.mods, though; there's apparently a suprising amount of readers that have never heard of your magazine. As for contributions/issue size ... well, here's something that may (and I must stress: MAY) materialize in the future: I have a 100 question interview with Necros. It was supposed to be published in the British magazine "Computer Music" in their special issue on mods. Unfortunately, the 'special issue' had about two pages worth of coverage, and the editor has not been very forthcoming in response to my several e-mails. As such, I have offered the interview to the US magazine "Electronic Musician". They seem interested, but they want an article on mods to accompany it. I'm working on that now. Since I am writing this article 'on spec', they may not use it. Should this be the case, I will e-mail you again and attach the interview (EM is rather fanatic about using stuff that has appeared elsewhere). Would that help? --Glen gdwarner@ricochet.net -=> Reply from Coplan: First of all, thanks for the tip about the newsgroups. Being that I don't check out the newsgroups that often, I am not accustomed to useing it as a tool for advertisement. I have posted a message to both newsgroups, and I hope to see some response from that. I have also begun looking for related web pages that might allow a link to us. As for your hopeful article, lets just say I have my fingers crossed. I hope you are able to write for us in the future, but I would surely not be upset if for some reason you couldn't. Thanks for the feedback. It's good to know we have good readers. -- Coplan --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- In Tune Krop3rom's "Metal Grinding on Metal" By: Coplan and SiN ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- This month, we are going to be reviewing the music of Krop3rom. This may be a difficult tune to get a hold of, so we have made it available on our web page for a short time. It will be listed with current articles. In the future, we may start doing this with all of our reviews. Let us know what you think. Anyhow, on with the review of "Metal Grinding on Metal" by Krop3rom. SiN is back for a short while, as he may be leaving the staff. We will miss him, but meanwhile...I'm forcing him to pick the song and start us off. I feel it's his turn. =) -=- SiN -=- Wow.. this tune was a hard one to review...Not because it was bad, but because it is very, VERY, different from just about anything I have ever heard tracked before. I would put this tune into the atmospheric genre, with some ambient influences as well. The first thing that I noticed when playing this song is that it isn't musical at all, it doesn't try to be .. and it never pretends to be... this may be somewhat off-putting to some of you, but I don't think it should be... you just need to approach the piece from another angle... [I cannot review this song in a conventional manner, but I'll do my best in any case] Samples: The samples are all good quality and completely suit the character of the piece. Techniques: Krop3rom make very good use of the "surround" effect available in impulse tracker to really thicken the pads and ambient textures.. he also makes good use of panning to keep on off balance and interested. Overall Impression: I think this piece is great - it is unique, it is interesting to listen to (just lie back and close your eyes and see where this song takes you), and it is perhaps the most aptly named tune I have ever listened to (though Skaven's "Catch That Goblin" is right up there for being well named)... but it is really hard to review... so I encourage you to listen to it! .. if you visit Efnet #trax Krop has shown no reluctance to dcc it to anyone who asks for it.. Remember.. keep an open mind --SiN sin_@netcom.ca -=- Coplan -=- First of all, while listening to this song, there are two things that one must have: patience, and a passive additude. Those of you who are music theory buffs, those of you who like chorus and molodies, those of you who like form in their music -- this song isn't for you. In fact, I wouldn't even call this a "song." It is truly an experimental peice that deals with sound depth and passive ambient sound. Since the first three orders consist of some sort of funky "clonk" sound and echos, I'm going to cut right to order 3 (there's logic here if you count order 0). Anyhow...at order three, a second channel is dedicated to the clonk sample (my name). While the first one is set in surround sound, the second shifts back and forth from the left side to the right. There's a slight problem here...most people don't have surround sound support. For those of us who use a stereo system, this literally does nothing but make it sound in the center. (I don't even know...is surround sound in Impulse Tracker true "surround sound?"). When surround sound is played on a stereo system in this manner, and when the same instrument is played at the same pitch with a shifting panning, that panning is naturally amplified. Therefore, the hard-left panned sample sounds really "left-heavy." Again, beware of the GUS user. This will make the sound different...be careful. I like sample 3 here...I assume that's where the song got the name from. It really does sound like metal on metal. Next stop, order 6. More percussion-like samples are introduced. The samples themselves leave something to be desired. But, at least it breaks up some of the monotony of the song. Order 7, rezer sweaps. Great samples, and great use of them here. There isn't much variation it the samples use though. This alone has a major aesthetically negative effect on the rest of the song. As the song continues, I really don't know what to make of it. I'm not at all about saving face, so I'll be blunt: I don't agree with SiN's opinion of this being a great song. I find it very very drawn out, and at times irritating. On an up note, however, Krop3rom has gotten a good ear for when to introduce these unique samples. I don't find any conflict between samples as far as how they are used, and how they affect the song. The samples are all of very good quality, and I feel that their use is effective. Though original, the song was not very pleasing to my ear. The best part of the song is the closing few orders. Starting at order 21, a sample that so perfecty fits is introduced. Though it is packaged in an unfluctuating melody, I can't help but to shutter when that instrument comes in. It sends a creepy chill up my spine, and I like that. To bad, however, that this is order 21 out of 24...quite nearly the end of the song...in fact at about order 22, it will fade slowly to silence. In the future, one might want to start a song here. I'm sorry that I don't share SiN's view on this song. Perhaps its because of my stubborn need for some sort of dynamic lead instrument in music, or perhaps its because there wasn't enough change in this song. The song is definately worth a download. It is unique in form, style and mood, and worth a listen. If you like it, then it was worth the download. If you dislike it...it was only a few minutes of your time. But if you don't grab it...you'll never know if you'll like it or not. --Coplan / Immortal Coil coplan@thunder.temple.edu 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: "Metal on Metal" Author: Krop3rom Filename (zipped/unzipped): kr-metal.zip / kr-metal.it File Size: 604k Source: http://www.ic.l7.net/statline/kr-metal.zip (temporary) "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! --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- The Zen of Tracking Leave of abscence By: Dilvish (spoken for by Coplan) ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Fear not everyone, the column has not died. It will return in due time. So as not to sacrifice the quality of the column, Dilvish has taken a leave of abscence. He is currently working in his fairly new job, and has recently been married (Congratulations from all at Static Line). Meanwhile, until his company is able to afford new computers, Dilvish has taken his own computer into work -- what a workoholic. Therefore, he isn't able to carry out his column until further notice. We at Static Line thank you for your patience as we await the return of "The Zen of Tracking." --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Screen Lit Vertigo "Sign Off" by Superstition (party-version) By: Seven ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Found at ftp.scene.org 1st place at Ambience'99 System requirements: Hmm, the party version has no nfo file, but I think you need at least a P2 to run this smooth. Maybe a Pentium with MMX will do too, as there are lots of different layers merged together. Vesa2 is needed; a soundcard and 4.5 MB HD can be useful too. Test Machine: P2 350 64MB SB16, Win98 in dos-mode (BOOTGUI = 0) Dos: EMM: crashes almost at the end, after the metaballs. XMS & clean: runs perfectly. Windows: Exits immediately with a paging-error. The demo: At Ambience'99, Superstition competed in the demo, 64k-intro, wild and pixeled gfx compos (maybe I forgot some others), and they ranked first in almost all of them. One might think this would result in a loss of quality, but looking at Sign Off, the winner (yes, they had 2 demos, which reached first AND second), you see the opposite is true. The first word that comes to my mind when watching this is: "Layers". There are always 2 or 3 layers with different effects visible, which gives an overwhelming amount of things to look at. It's just impossible to see every detail at once, so you really want to see it again and again. There are few really impressive effects (although the combination of the two tunnels is breath-taking). Pictures are more important in this demo. The backgrounds are impressive and often colorful, some smaller pictures are superimposed over every effect, and there are some very good full-screen pictures with a very soft and blurred look. The music: Rhythm is more important than melody here, with lots of drums and noise. There are a few breaks, during the full-screen pictures and the greetings, when there are only a few instruments playing. Without this variation, the tune would become boring at the end. Some things like the flashing pictures are really synchronized to the beats, the rest of the demo just follows the music at equal speed. Overall: This demo is a good mix of everything: 3D, 2D-effects, full-screen pictures, smaller pictures, ... Although there is no real theme, there are some small design-touches that add much to the overall "feel", e.g. several pictures of people under water, or the omni-present raster over the effects. According to the credits, only three people made this (Magicboy, Deadline and G-day/Quad). If you look at everything Magicboy and Deadline released at Ambience'99, they must be some of the most active sceners at the moment. Let's hope they keep making things with this quality. --Seven Stefaan.VanNieuwenhuyze@rug.ac.be --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- New Positions Open By: Coplan ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Staff positions are now open within Static Line. If you would like to write columns for Static Line, but your column of choice has already been taken, here's your chance. The following column positions are now available: -Monthly Software Review -Monthly Interview -Humor -Song Review (as a partner with Coplan) If you have any interest in filling any of these positions, please contact me at the address listed below. Perhaps you have your own ideas in mind. --Coplan / Immortal Coil coplan@thunder.temple.edu --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Commentary on Demo-Parties By: ntropy ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- What is it exactly that in the end attracts people to these "Demo-Parties", what is it that keeps them coming. It can't be the poor organizational talents of the Powers-That-Be, nor the sleep deprevation or intoxication with soda and sugar that wreak havoc on many a young bodies. It can't be the doorhandles of the toilets puked over by some idiot in distress, nor the excessive ambient booming of lamish crap "music", nor the cries of dying Quakers as they once again walk straight into the cold embrace of virtual death. Is it the scene-spirit that bonds them, that mythical thing spoken of with awe and respect or is it being able to do what they want to do, feeling yuckily sticky for 72 hours, coming home with a load of new warez and, perhaps most importantly, with the knowledge that they are not alone in their craving, that their passion is shared by others. Kindred spirits? Maybe, maybe not. But in the end we all collapse onto our beds with a mad grin of satisfaction on our faces... We were there. --ntropy --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Feedback Proposal for a New Group By: Jesper Pedersen / Setec ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- I am one of those pathetic fools that craves feedback on my tunes. I am not romantic enough to claim that it is enough for me to be statisfied with what I put out, not caring whether people hear it or not. Hell no! I want some proper feedback, some criticism, comments, someone telling me to stop tracking, anything. I want to know that people actually listen to what I put out, and I want some ideas for improvements cause I damn well know there is room for some. So. Since I feel the scene in general doesn't provide me with feedback, I am taking matters in my own hands. I am hereby inviting anyone interested to join a new music group. The thing that will differ from how most groups work is that feedback on new releases by the other members is REQUIRED in order to stay in the group. In other words, if you do not grant the other members with comments you will be kicked. Of course, if you are practically unable to give comments, proper excuses will be accepted. But only for so long. Keep coming up with excuses and you will be asked to leave the group. I don't know whether this has been tried before, I don't know if I should have my head examined for proposing this, but I find the idea of the whole thing rather interesting. So. Anyone interested should contact me at : jesped@post.tele.dk Include a little info on yourself and a link to some of your stuff. If you are in, I will contact you with further info. I still haven't decided on a name for the group, I figured I might get no applications at all, so I did not bother. That is a detail we can always work out together. There. Who knows, maybe I am a bit of a romantic after all. --Setec / Immortal Coil jesped@post.tele.dk --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- See the Sines Basics of Sound By: Jesper Pedersen / Setec ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- A few days ago I was lucky enough to be involved in quite an interesting conversation with ShadowH, covering the subject of sound - how to synthesize analog instruments to be more exact. I will not go further into the actual contents of the debate, merely state that it made me want to dig further into the topic. So I figured the best way to learn is to try to teach others what you know. Thus in this article I will attempt to outline some basics of sound. It is my plan then, to try to learn more about the subject and return with an article from time to time. But why the hell should basics of sound interest you? Well, if you only want to dig through your library of Necros and Skaven tunes for sample sources, so be it. Skip this article, load up that fc-siner.smp and start doing your thing. If however, you would like to expand your ways of obtaining samples, this is one hell of a way to do it. Understanding sound will allow you to make samples completely from scratch, hardcoding it all from rock bottom. And even if coding samples isn't your thing, this will be a great help for anyone using softsynths or real synths as sample sources. By understanding sound you will find it easier to obtain the exact sound you want, rather than just twisting those knobs at random. Anyhow, here goes. PART I - Elementary, my dear Watson Try to load up a sine sample in the sample editor of your choice. What you will probably get is some sort of graph representing the sine sample; a sine waveform. This is as simple as it can get. Keep this form in mind for the remainder of this section, I won't bother to draw asciis, I suck at it so it would probably just confuse you. When trying to describe a sound in general terms, there are three basic elements; pitch, brightness and volume. Pitch is probably obvious to most of you, it is determined by the speed at which the wave repeats. If you look at your sine waveform you will see how at first it is at zero, then gradually rising, falling below zero and then once again rising to zero. This segment is called a period. The pitch is determined by how many times the wave competes a period during a single second; the frequency of the wave. Naturally, this is measured in Hertz (Hz), 440 Hz being the middle A. Each time you double the frequency you go up one octave. Simple as that. Volume. Another thing that is obvious to most, but still deserves just a little explanation to let you all know exactly what we are talking about. When describing waveforms, the amplitude of the waveform corresponds to the "height" of the thing. The farther the peak of the waveform is from zero, the greater the amplitude and the louder the volume. Brightness can be a bit more tricky to understand. To simplify it greatly it corresponds to the complexity of the waveform. If you look at the sine wave it is as simple as it can be, but if you try to load a string sample it is far more complicated. This change in complexity is heard as change in brightness. Partials - or overtones - is also related to the brightness of the sound. And this leads us into the next part. What the hell are partials? Well. To explain this, we need to get one thing clear first. The sine bass is the mother of all sounds; so treat the little fella with respect! What this means is that all waveforms are made up of several sine waves; the fundamental (or basis), and multiples of that base frequency. These others are what we call partials. Any integer multiples are called harmonic partials, all others are inharmonic. Now - like I mentioned earlier - these partials have a great thing to say when it comes to the brightness of the sound. The more high-frequency par- tials the sound includes the brighter the sound. You might also say that such a sample contained a lot of "overtones". So what would you do if you wanted to make a specific sound more mellow, less bright. Naturally you would need to get rid of some of the partials with high frequencies. Filter them out, so to speak. And this is where that synthesizer all time favourite comes in place; the LPF - Low Pass Filter. This filter simply allows you to specify a cutoff frequency and then removes any partials with frequencies above that level, hence creating a less bright sound. A very simple filter, not difficult to understand at all unless you do not grasp the concept of partials. You need to understand how sounds consist of more than one frequency. By the way - while we are at it - in case you are wondering what the resonance setting in the LPF actually does, this is quite simple as well. It simply amplifies the partials in the area of the cutoff frecuency. Well. There is a little basic sound theory for you. I will probably return with more articles on the subject. In case I have any of this theory messed up, correct me. --Setec / Immortal Coil jesped@post.tele.dk --=--=-- ----=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------ 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 / jesped@post.tele.dk 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---=------=--=------=--=--