_//\\________________________________________________________________________ _\\__T_A_T_I_C___L_I_N_E_________________________________________ July, 2000 __\\_________________________________________________________________________ \\//__ Monthly Scene E-Zine ________________________________ 135 Subscribers _____________________________________________________________________________ --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Table Of Contents ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Opening: Message From the Editor Letters From Our Readers Features: Takeover 2000 -- 64k Intro Competition With Comments The VIP2 debate -- Ripping and Crediting The Root -- How They Got Involved (This Month: Stalker) Columns: Music: In Tune -- Blue Zone's "Robotic Electric Orchestra" The Listener -- Music from Smash, Twilton, Pretty Boy Cross Over Retro Tunage -- "Colors of Neptune" by Ari Demo: Intro Watch -- General: Scene Dirt -- News & Rumors Call to Keyboards -- Music Packs Out-Of-Date Link List -- Get Somewhere in the Scene Closing: Credits --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Message From the Editor ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Talk about busy. This issue was whipped up with a weed-whacker minutes before deadline. Ok, no really. But it was a close one. With everything going on in my life, Static Line is still my pride and joy, and I don't see anything that will change that. I have a great staff (Gekko and Tryhuk both work overtime to provide quality articles, and even when he's busy, Seven still writes something). The readers are great as well. Thanks to all of you who wrote to express your support and prayers for my mother. Her kidney was removed taking out most of the cancer, but she's not yet. Things are going okay, but she starts her Immuno-Therapy treatments this week, so we got a ways to go. But, this isn't a group therapy session, so lets get onto the part you guys really care about! We got a packed issue this month. Aside from all our regular columns, we have some comments about Takeover 2000 from Gekko. We also have more about the VIP2 Demo debate (The classic ripping debate with a twist). We also have another article for "The Root" (sponsored by Tryhuk): This month, Ari writes. Got a few new subscribers this month, and I'm glad to see that. In the upcoming months, you'll see new changes to the way things work (hopefully), as we now have access to our very own server. I'm not going to share too many details, but be forwarned: The mailing list will move soon. Those of you already subscribed won't have to resubscribe, but the application process may change a bit. I'll keep everyone posted. --Coplan --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Takeover 2000 64k Intro Competition With Comments By: Gekko ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- The previous Takeover brought several of the finest intros of 1999; I was a bit disappointed to see the entries to the intro compo this year. Here follows a very brief summary on all of them. -=- The results -=- 1. (104 points) pluxity by distance tomic warp / tpolm unik 2. (78 points) shortest route by analog44, dipe, flow & rieha / array 3. (78 points) soepkip10 by ... / kontvlokken posse 4. (75 points) hello by mnemonix and friends / kaleido Pluxity by Unik+TPOLM req: Windows/DOS ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/incoming/TAKEOVER00/in64/pluxity.zip Fine and well-designed intro: nice colors, simple flatshaded objects, halftones, wireframe rendering. It is however not 'unik' at all. There are no original parts, but all is arranged very neatly. The code is slow. Shortest Route by Array req: Windows; 3d card; DirectX ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/incoming/TAKEOVER00/in64/a-sroute.zip This intro is the first release of Array. It is only 36 kilobytes in size and it is quite short. The music is a simple but fine chiptune. Probably the weakest point of the intro is the design. There is a cheap blue-green setup from the beginning till the end. Most of the time there are 3d effects with spheres and cubes. At the end a fine morph is shown; it looks something like a waving flag and it is very impressive. If only they had spent more time on the outlook. Soepkip 10 by Kontvlokken Posse req: Windows; 3d card; OpenGL ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/incoming/TAKEOVER00/in64/soepkip10.zip Simple intro in oldschool style. There is not too much to say about this one. The oldschool effects have been the same for about 15 years now. Hello by Kaleido req: Windows; DirectX ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/incoming/TAKEOVER00/in64/kaleido-hello.zip This is a mediocre intro. The design is bad, despite all efforts (eg. the transparent squares). The colors are bad, the same for the font. There are simple particle fields, plasma/tunnel things and friends: these somehow don't look fine and they are cliches. There are two more original effects: light glow rings and a waterfall. The waterfall is quite spectacular. The intro is spiced up with jokes: the 'ring on the phone'-part and the solar eclipse effect. --Gekko --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- The VIP2 debate Ripping and Crediting By: Seven ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Yesterday, I took the last exam of my student life. Well, let's hope it was the last one, cause we don't know the results yet, but I'm fairly positive about it. One easy way to force yourself to study a lot is to bring your PC to the shop with the request to put a 3D-card in it, as I still haven't got the thing back. Hence my temporary absence from the Screenlit Vertigo corner, which I promise to make up for next issue. The importance of having a 3D-card in today's demoscene is getting higher and higher. At TakeOver 2000, the best 3 demos require all hardware acceleration, and 2 of the best 3 intros too. And for a demo-reviewer, nothing is more frustrating than being unable to watch the newest demos, especially when everyone is praising them sky-high. Such was the case with VIP2. VIP2/Popsy Team is an invitation demo for the Very Important Party 2 in France, and it placed 1st at the TakeOver democompo. Popsy Team has already proven that they can make fine demos, such as Mind's Evolution or Nothing New, but the reactions to VIP2 were extremely positive. "The best demo of 2000", "These guys are god" and "Popsy Team are my new heroes" were among the messages heard in comp.sys.ibm.pc.demos. However, things quickly changed when it was found out that the MP3-soundtrack, was a song from Fear Factory, a commercial band. Neither the credits in the demo nor the infofile mentioned Fear Factory, and although no-one from Popsy Team was credited as the author of the music, the general conclusion was: This Is A Rip! In a few days time, c.s.i.p.d was flooded with almost 500 messages on the subject. I don't remember them all by heart :), but I'll summarize the main points (so don't flame me if I don't quote something exactly). Popsy Team admitted immediately that the soundtrack was from the Fear Factory album "Obsolete", and that they had used it because they liked it so much. Fear Factory wasn't credited because the demo was finished at TakeOver, and they had a lot of last-minute problems while the deadline was coming closer. Rather than re-linking and re-synchronizing the demo, they decided not to include the already drawn Fear Factory credits, and to add these in the final version. The TakeOver audience would surely recognize the song, or at least realize it was a commercial track due to the high quality. A lot of people were not happy with this explanation. If you work on a demo for 2 months, then the credits could have been included much sooner, even *before* you add your own credits. And a note in the info-file does hardly takes a minute to write. Besides, several people who were at TakeOver said that they had not recognized the music, as some didn't even know Fear Factory, and thus thought that someone from Popsy Team had made it. Here some Popsy Team members admitted that they had been wrong, and mentioned that a final version with credits was almost complete. But that wasn't the end of the discussion. A smaller but significant part of c.s.i.p.d thought that is was simply unfair to use commercial material at a democompo, even if you credit the original authors. Commercial music is recorded at high-end studios with expensive equipment, and a non-professional musician cannot reach the same quality. Besides, using a commercial track when there are so many good scene-modules out there is an insult to the trackers. Here Popsy Team argued that they had made the demo just for fun, and that winning a compo should not be the main goal of a demogroup. And thus "an unfair advantage" is meaningless. Besides, it had been done before: the demo State Of Mind/Bomb uses an MP3 from Senser, a commercial band, and the demo is still at the top of the charts. That wasn't really a good argument, because State Of Mind had caused an equally big discussion when it was released, and the general consensus was that Bomb got away with it this time, but that it shouldn't happen again. Also most people did not agree with the compos-are-only-for-fun argument, but thought it was OK to make a demo with commercial material as long as you don't compete with it at a compo. An even smaller part of c.s.i.p.d had the opinion that even the demoscene should obey the copyright laws, and thus use no commercial stuff without the explicit permission of the authors. They referred to the Jay Newingham case, and argued that it's hypocritical to protect the work of scene musicians while at the same time allowing sceners to use the works of real-life artists. (If you don't know, Jay and his Planet-X band had ripped music of Unreal/Pulse, Basehead and Purple Motion/Future Crew, putting their own names on the tracks. A massive mail-campaign resulted in the ripper being thrown out mp3.com. You can read the full story in Grendels article in Pains February issue). The more underground-minded part of the scene found this over the top, after all the demoscene was born out of the warez and game-crackerscene, so we shouldn't behave as lawyers. A number of other topics was discussed in sub-threads, such as whether making a demo with pirated tools is the same as ripping music or graphics (general conclusion: it's not), whether there are any demos with non-commercial MP3's (Yes, a lot, so prohibiting the use of MP3s is not an option), and why people enter compos (for the big-screen experience, for the fame, and some for the money). -=- Conclusion -=- As the demoscene grows, it's harder to reach consensus on topics as this. Only a few rules are more or less agreed upon by everyone: 1) Always credit your sources. Putting your own name under some else's work is a major crime in the scene, but not crediting is almost as bad. Never assume that "people will recognize it": not everyone listens to you favorite band, not everyone has played this game (no, not even Quake), and not everyone knows that graphician. Give credit where credit is due, both in the demo and the info-file. 2) Don't use commercial stuff without permission for demos at compos, for the organizers could be held responsible for copyright-infringement. Showing, distributing and even simply storing your demo somewhere will be illegal, and while it's your own risk if you release it yourself (not at a party), organizers do not want legal troubles that could jeopardize future parties. As a matter of fact, most parties have already a "no copyrighted material"-rule. If they had know beforehand that people would make so much fuss about it, they definitely would have added those credits, said a Popsy team member (G-hell or U2, I don't remember). And indeed, it's often a matter of not knowing the rules, combined with laziness or lack of time. So if you hear of someone making a demo with ripped stuff, do them a favor and warn them for the negative reaction. --Seven -=- Related URLs -=- The original VIP2 is at the moment in: ftp.scene.org/incoming/TAKEOVER00/demo/vip2.zip (7164K) but will move sooner or later to: ftp.scene.org/pub/parties/2000 New version at the Popsy Team website: http://popsyteam.rtel.fr The Pain website: http://pain.planet-d.net --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- The Root How They Got Involved By: Ari (aka: Stalker) Sponsored By: Tryhuk ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- I was, am, and always will be a tracker. Tracking is an unrecognized, unappreciated, and misunderstood art. Just like any other instrument, tracking takes years of dedication and practice to get anywhere. Those beginning years are what I will speak of in this article. My name is Ariel Gross, and I used to go by Stalker, and I used to be a woman. Just kidding about that last part. It all started when I was 13 and I was browsing a local BBS. I found an unusual music file called "GRAVE.MOD" ... I thought, what the hell is a MOD? A good friend of mine that had just recently shelled out over $100 for a SoundBlaster Pro filled me in with the details. You could actually download free software to make and listen to free music. It was a mind-boggling idea, and I was into music, took piano lessons for a year when I was four years old, and I thought "what the heck, I can do this music thing." After about four months of tracking and digging as deep as possible in an attempt to find more about MODs, I found the sweet haven for tracker junkies like myself known as the demoscene. I went on a demo rampage, downloading every Future Crew, Renaissance, and Triton release ever. When I found out that these groups were using tracked music for their demos, I simply had to be a part of a demo group. I couldn't stand it. Another month after that, I was posting on several BBSes hailing the coming of the new entertainment known as DEMOS, and I was contacted by Zilym, a younger teenager that was a brilliant coder that was into coding demos. Well, to make a long story short, about six months later we formed Gentilezza, which turned into OTM, the SUPER DEMO POWERHOUSE YOU KNOW AND LOVE. Ok, so we only released one demo, and the entire thing was made in text, so it was really a textro... But I like to glorify. Fellow OTM tracker Tek (tek.dMusic.com) and I would frequently bounce music off each other, unknowingly pushing our musicality and preparing ourselves for newer and better trackers, such as Impulse Tracker, which is what I still make the majority of my music on today. Then the day came where I found Psychic Monks. I wasn't too concerned about the demos, but was completely dumbfounded by the musician - Necros. After a couple attempts at contacting him, I was finally successful, and he told me of an underground IRC hideaway known as #trax. Thank goodness for #trax, because it gave me the opportunity to form relationships with many brilliant musicians, and springboarded me into a group known as FM, or Five Musicians. Later I found out that I was Purple Motion's replacement... Purple Motion being the musician for Future Crew. Needless to say I was flabberghasted. I was a member of FM for a short while until one day I woke up on the wrong side of life and climsily quit the group. FM was my claim to fame, a name that people trusted, a means for me to distribute some music and actually get feedback. Well, it has been many years since I have been a regular in #trax, been a member of a tracking group (does Analogue count?), or really given any serious thought to the demo scene. It's a sad truth. However, my musical endeavors have not strayed. I work on music daily, struggling to find time around my fiancee, my own business (www.absmot.com), and other silly hobbies that I have picked up over the years (wanna see my magic nose goblins collection?) ... I am still highly commited to tracking despite the thousands of dollars I have poured into MIDI equipment. Tracking is an artform that has stolen my heart and will never give it back. I was, am, and always will be a tracker. As last words, I would like to thank everyone in the tracking scene for supporting me for so long, and a special shout out to Necros (now known as the Alpha Conspiracy, www.alphaconspiracy.com). Also check out my most recent tracks at ari.dMusic.com or www.cosmicbaby.com. --Ari (aka: Stalker) --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- In Tune Blue Zone's "Robotic Electric Orchestra" By: Coplan and Setec ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- -=- Introduction -=- For those of you who never had the opportunity to read Trax Weekly, I used to write this column for the legendary magazine. While I wrote for TW, I did a review of Blue Zone's "Melodious World." During the review, I fell in love with the Blue Zone style. The review lead me to request a membership in the group Immortal Coil, and Blue Zone happily accepted. When I picked up Static Line, I made a policy that I would not review songs by people associated with Static Line or Immortal Coil. The good thing about the folding of Immortal Coil is that, since I no longer have a shared affiliation, I can review tunes by my former group-mates. This song is not a new song. It is dated March 31, 1999. If I remember correctly, that's when things started to die down with Immortal Coil. The song was never released under the iC name, and I'm not sure it was even released at all. But, you can get it this month from the Static Line website on our Current Issues page. -=- Coplan -=- One of Blue Zone's talents is that he can make musical gibberish sound like musical beauty. Those of you familiar with his style will notice the influences by Jean Michel Jarre, and the computer based Demoscene. It's true, he's gotten the best of both worlds in all his music. To this day, Blue Zone is one of my favorite scene musicians, and this is one of my favorite tracks. It took me almost a year to proove to myself that my feelings aren't routed from biased. The peice is just incredible. There's a lot going on in "Robotic Electric Orchestra," and I fear that I can't quite understand it all, nor can I communicate to you why it's just such a beautiful song. The tune opens with a haunting bunch of riffs, very little base at all (this is why I call it haunting). Then he kicks in with a solid base line (though very subtle) and some percussion. It's at this point that we begin to see the complexity of the Blue Zone style. I can mute what seems to be the lead instrument channels (17, 18 and 26), and I still have a solid peice of music. That's what interests me! Like a hand woven blanket, you can remove one strand, and the blanket will still hold together. But this is no quilt. One of the great aspects about this song is the fact that tune flows from one part to another. There are repetative riffs that carry from one part of the song into the next, and then faded out as a new lead instrument is introduced. Start at order 13 for a demonstration. You hear what could be the chorus to the song: some very high pitched synths doing a simple riff. Then at order 14, you have a slightly lower pitched synth come in with long, pitch sliding notes (sliding up, sliding down, whatever seems fit). Then, at order 18, the sliding synths come in with a different riff so that Blue Zone can carry into the next part which starts at order 20, which is an outro riff, one that signals the near end of the song. But the very end of the song sounds like it could be the beginning of the song. I got a wierd idea that the song could be played backwards or forwards without loosing any quality to the song. I havn't officially tried it, but I wouldn't be surprised if it sounded just as wonderful backwards. I find it hard to explain why I love this song so much. I can only give you a minor glimpse with what I just wrote. But the truth of it all is that even the greatest of musical critics (which I am not) would have trouble explaining why things sound good. In this case, I feel that if I were to continue dissecting the song, you wouldn't learn anything more, so I leave you with this comment: Robotic Electric Orchestra is simply a song that everyone needs to hear to understand its power. It's a complex song with simple parts, all combined in a tapestry of sound. It has a quality that can be matched by few, but one that many have tried to achieve. Until next time. --Coplan Song Information: Title: Robotic Electric Orchestra Author: Blue Zone Filename (zipped/unzipped): bz-reo.zip / bz-reo.it (IT 2.14) File Size (zipped/unzipped): 1.4 MB / 1.5 MB Source: http://ic.l7.net/statline/current.htm "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. Coplan's and Setec'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 Listener Music from Smash, Twilton, Pretty Boy Cross Over By: Tryhuk ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Sorry people, but I had finals this month, I didn't find time to write a bigger review, so this month it will be a bit shorter. Also during holidays I don't expect to make big downloads, so if somebody wants to take care during upcoming 2-3 months (until I get a job), feel free to write something for this column. -=- Other tracks -=- Norfair belongs amongst my favorite musicians, and one of the main things I like in his music are the awesome leads. With "Lair of souls," Norfair follows the tradition he had in "anxiety" together with Hunz. Well, those leads are so nice. The style of the track is, again, somewhere between funk and jazz. http://www.kosmic.org | "Lair of souls" | xm and mp3 version available One of the tracks that really hit me this month is "Oranje bloom" by Pretty Boy Cross Over; released at monotonik. You'll immediately notice a bit of unusual percussion, well used resonant filters and distance-like attempt in construction of the ambient atmosphere and its minimalistic changes. Same way go main instruments, which play a simple and repetitive melody, but it works. It is a VERY nice track. http://www.mono211.com | pretty-boy-crossover-oranje-bloom.mp3 | 5.8mb Another track that touched me from the first sound: Echoes colide with upcoming sounds and form a melody in the style somewhere between Andreas Saag, Esem and T.Wilton. It has fresh and novel sound, interesting ideas and stable rhythm. Second good consecutive release by Twilton. Please grab "Room for one"! http://www.noisemusic.org | twilton-noise_room_for_1.mp3 | 4mb | 2000 I just had to visit mp3.com homepage of Smash, where he has mp3 versions of some of his tracks. One I haven't heard is "Once more," a dark jazzy trip-hop with a lot of "Last train" atmosphere, but evolving in a different way. Extremely good music! http://mp3.com/superjazz | once_more.mp3 | 4.3mb | 2000 (tlt rerelease) Last track I want to mention is "Trust you, trust me" by Twister. Although it is assigned as dnb, it has signs of ambient music with the background soundscapes and significant echoes, that give to the track more full feeling, but they don't take over it. Also dnb line shows signs of being influenced by modern electronic and breakbeat things, and some of the occasional sounds will remind you also on Portishead. http://www.tdr.scene.org | TOKYO173.ZIP | mp3 | 7.2mb | 5.6.2000 --Tryhuk --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Retro Tunage "Colors of Neptune" by Ari By: Tryhuk ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- In the beginning, I had problems accepting music from a guy who was called Stalker, later Ari. His music has weird progression, some tracks are very eccentric by everything that can be eccentric. Still, once you accept this style, you find out that his music is beautiful. Among his best releases definitely belongs his "analogue" releases "Pour toi, belle" and "Colors of Neptune". Both tracks have nice leads, although you can't always exactly say what can be considered as the main instrument. As i said, I love the way the leads move and every time I listen to it, I discover a part I didn't remember and I just wonder how I could miss it. But that's not all, Ari also works good with tempo and breaks, and his percussion is quite evolved (that was, IMHO, his weakest point in his oldest releases) and that makes the track look shorter than it is. And style? It just can't be described. It is ambient, sometimes jazzy, a bit influenced by chip tunes, experimental and above all original. It's a nice music with lovely leads and chords, that will touch your heart. I know that this review does no justice, but trust me - get this music. Song Information: Title: Colors of Neptune Author: Ari Release date: 1997 Length: 3m 27s (3m 21s trimmed) Filename (zipped/unzipped): ari-nept.zip / ari-nept.it File Size (zipped/unzipped): 520kb / 818kb Source: ftp.scene.org/pub/music/groups/analogue/... --Tryhuk --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Intro Watch Transagression 3 by MFX By: Gekko ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Winner 64k intro at Plutonium 2000, Finland MFX won fame for their realtime raytracing intros. They haven't released such an intro for a longer while. Now they are back with one, probably under inspiration of recent fine raytracing intros - Heaven 7 by Exceed, for example. The intro starts with a big subsampling bug (big white squares), and similar artifacts appear through the intro. The screen intentionally gets boxy several times, this hides the bugs a bit. The music is a spinning, fast house track. Its tempo gives the mood of the intro; although I must say that it's not my style at all. The intro is very minimal; there are no texts, poems, credits, greetings, logos, pictures: it is plainly a sequence of raytracing scenes. The camera is moving very fast, it follows the tempo of the music. Some of the scenes are: a mushroom, a flying eye, a glass and capsules, a scene with bouncing sphere (looks alike to radiosity, but I don't think it is), a snowman standing in a little temple (or?). There are countless other scenes, too. The music is plain and fast; one can say the same for the video. Transagression 3 is kind of 'raw' but very energetic. --Gekko --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Scene Dirt News & Rumors By: Coplan ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- -=- scene.org Hard Drive Is Full -=- There have been reports that the famous scene service is having storage problems. For more information, mail staff@scene.org. -=- GFX Needed for a 100kb Game -=- Gedeon of Paradise Studios is looking for some 2D graphics for a 100kb game to be presented at Inscene 2000 next week. E-mail Gedeon for details: gedeon@cyberdude.com -=- Underground Conference 4gw Results -=- The results for the Underground Conference have been posted. For information, visit the results page. (Anyone got an English Translation?) http://uc4gw.untergrund.net/results.txt (german) -=- Sista Vip Looking for Pixlers -=- Sista Vip is looking t make some demos, bus seems to be short on artists. If you're interested, take a look at their website, or contact Thx: Sista_Vip@yahoo.com http://www.sistavip.exit.de/ --Coplan Scene Dirt is a semi-regular column offering the latest tidbits of information to its readers. If you have any bits of information that you think should be here, contact coplan (coplan.ic@rcn.com) and offer as much information as possible. --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Call to Keyboards New Topic: Music Packs Out-Of-Date By: Coplan ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- -=- New Topic: Music Packs Out-Of-Date -=- I made a discovery several months ago: Phluid is still alive! When Immortal Coil broke up, a long time friend of mine, Subliminal, joined the legendary group. I was quite surprised to know it still existed. For those of you who may be new to the scene, or for the ignorant, Phluid has been around for many years. It's one of the old skool music groups, like Kosmic. They are the musical brance of ACiD, which is well known for it's ANSI and ASCII art of old. At one time, Phluid was a great music group, and perhaps they still are. But I couldn't tell you, because I don't have the means to download their music packs. Phluid has a very interesting philosophy: If you release music in packs, people will get exposed to the less known trackers as they download the packs for the well known trackers. A keen philosophy, and that is how many of Phluid's trackers ever got recognized in the mainstream. And it worked too, but only because at the time this trend was started, mods were maybe 2 and 3k. So I went to the Phluid website, because I was curious about the new music from Subliminal. I fear that I was unable to download his song, because it was part of a huge music pack. Actually, the July pack is divided into two packs, each about 26 MB. Unfortunately, both packs are labeled the same: "These packs include releases from our new member, Ubik, and also a guest release from Rimbo. Musicians featured in this pack include: Bibby // JelloKnee // Kneko // kX^mode // :m.zero // patientzero // RS3 // Subliminal // Troll // Ubik." Very respectible bunch of musicians, but I don't have the resources to download a 26MB pack, let alone two of them. Tracks are very large these days. I've seen tracks out there that are larger than 5 MB each, and it is assumed that these are the tracks that make these packs so huge. Unfortunately, I only have a 56k connection, and too much other stuff to be doing. I wouldn't mind downloading a pack once, but every month or two? The method is a bit out-of-date, don't you think? You're opinions here, please. --Coplan --=--=-- --=--=------=--=------=--=---- Link List ----=--=------=--=------=--=-- Featured Site: Fusion Music Crew http://members.home.nl/cyrex/ Writeup By: Coplan I havn't had too much chance to browse around, but this is a new group from what I understand. The web page is clean and easy to navigate. The group is small, but it looks like it's got a lot of potential. They got quite a few releases at the moment, so jump on over there and check them out. Demo Groups: 3g Design..............................http://3gdesign.cjb.net Aardbei.....................................http://aardbei.com Acid Rain..............................http://surf.to/acidrain Agravedict........................http://www.agravedict.art.pl Anakata..............................http://www.anakata.art.pl ANDESA Soft International..................http://andesa.da.ru Astral..............................http://astral.scene-hu.com Astroidea........................http://astroidea.scene-hu.com AtomiK....................................http://atomik.ini.hu Bomb..................................http://bomb.planet-d.net BlaBla..............................http://blabla.planet-d.net Blasphemy..............................http://www.blasphemy.dk Byterapers.....................http://www.byterapers.scene.org Calodox.................................http://www.calodox.org Chrome..............................http://chrome.scene-hu.com CoPro.....................................http://www.copro.org Damage...................................http://come.to/damage Dance...................................http://dance.flipp.net Defacto 2..............................http://www.defacto2.net Dolops......................... ........http://dolOps.scene.hu Exceed...........................http://www.inf.bme.hu/~exceed Fobia Design...........................http://www.fd.scene.org GODS...................................http://www.idf.net/gods Green.....................................http://green.dyns.cx Grif........................http://arrabonet.gyor.hu/~rattgrif Haujobb......................................http://haujobb.de Hellcore............................http://www.hellcore.art.pl IJSKAST.............................http://www.ijskast.cjb.net Immortals..............................http://imrt.home.ml.org Infuse...................................http://www.infuse.org Just For Fun...........................http://jff.planet-d.net Kilobite...............................http://kilobite.cjb.net Kolor................................http://www.kaoz.org/kolor Kooma.....................................http://www.kooma.com Label zero.........................http://labelzero.pganet.com Mandula.........................http://www.inf.bme.hu/~mandula Monar................ftp://amber.bti.pl/pub/scene/distro/monar Nextempire..................http://members.xoom.com/NEXTEMPIRE Ninja Gefilus.........http://www.angelfire.com/or/ninjagefilus Noice.....................................http://www.noice.org Orion..............................http://orion.arfstudios.org <*> Popsy Team............................http://popsyteam.rtel.fr Quad........................................http://www.quad.nl Rage........................................http://www.rage.nu Replay.......................http://www.shine.scene.org/replay Retro A.C...........................http://www.retroac.cjb.net Rhyme................................http://rhyme.scene-hu.com Skytech team............................http://www.skytech.org Sunflower.......................http://sunflower.opengl.org.pl Suspend......................http://www.optimus.wroc.pl/rappid Tehdas...................................http://come.to/tehdas Tesko..........................http://www.scentral.demon.co.uk The Black Lotus.............................http://www.tbl.org The Digital Artists Wired Nation.http://digitalartists.cjb.net The Lost Souls...............................http://www.tls.no TPOLM.....................................http://www.tpolm.com Trauma.................................http://sauna.net/trauma T-Rex.....................................http://www.t-rex.org Unik.....................................http://www.unik.ca.tc Universe..........................http://universe.planet-d.net Vantage..................................http://www.vantage.ch Music Groups: Aisth.....................................http://www.aisth.com Aural planet........................http://www.auralplanet.com Azure..................................http://azure.zerion.com Blacktron Music Production...........http://www.d-zign.com/bmp Chill..........................http://www.bentdesign.com/chill Chippendales......................http://www.sunpoint.net/~cnd Chiptune...............................http://www.chiptune.com Da Jormas................................http://www.jormas.com Fabtrax......http://www.cyberverse.com/~boris/fabtrax/home.htm Five Musicians.........................http://www.fm.scene.org Fridge...........................http://www.ssmedion.de/fridge <*> Fusion Music Crew................http://members.home.nl/cyrex/ Goodstuff..........................http://artloop.de/goodstuff Ignorance.............................http://www.ignorance.org Immortal Coil.............................http://www.ic.L7.net Intense...........................http://intense.ignorance.org Jecoute.................................http://jecoute.cjb.net Kosmic Free Music Foundation.............http://www.kosmic.org Level-d.................................http://www.level-d.com Miasmah.............................http://www.miasmah.cjb.net Milk.......................................http://milk.sgic.fi Mah Music.............................http://come.to/mah.music Maniacs of noise...............http://home.worldonline.nl/~mon MAZ's Sound homepage.............http://www.th-zwickau.de/~maz Mo'playaz..........................http://ssmedion.de/moplayaz Mono211.................................http://www.mono211.com Morbid Minds..............http://www.raveordie.com/morbidminds Noise................................http://www.noisemusic.org Noerror......................http://www.error-404.com/noerror/ One Touch Records......................http://otr.planet-d.net Park..................................http://park.planet-d.net Radical Rhythms.....http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/merrelli/rr RBi Music.............................htpp://www.rbi-music.com Ruff Engine................http://members.xoom.com/ruff_engine SHR8M......................................http://1st.to/shr8m Sound Devotion................http://sugarbomb.x2o.net/soundev Soundstate.........................http://listen.to/soundstate Sunlikamelo-D...........http://www.error-404.com/sunlikamelo-d Suspect Records........................http://www.tande.com/sr Tequila........................http://www.defacto2.net/tequila Tempo................................http://tempomusic.cjb.net Theralite...........................http://theralite.avalon.hr Tokyo Dawn Records........................http://tdr.scene.org UltraBeat.........................http://www.innerverse.com/ub Vibrants................................http://www.vibrants.dk Wiremaniacs.........................http://www.wiremaniacs.com Others: Arf!Studios..........................http://www.arfstudios.org Calodox demolinks exchange.....http://calodox.planet-d.net/cde #coders..................................http://coderz.cjb.net Comic Pirates.........................http://scene-central.com Demonews Express.........http://www.teeselink.demon.nl/express Demo fanclub........................http://jerware.org/fanclub Demoscene.org news forum..............http://www.demoscene.org Digital Undergrounds.....................http://dug.iscool.net Doose charts...............................http://www.doose.dk Dreams2 CD.........................http://nl.scene.org/dreams2 Freax...................http://freax.scene-hu.com/mainmenu.htm GfxZone............................http://gfxzone.planet-d.net Hugi size-compo...............http://home.pages.de/~hugi-compo Orange Juice.........................http://ojuice.citeweb.net PC-demos explained.....http://www.oldskool.org/demos/explained Pixel...................................http://pixel.scene.org Scenet....................................http://www.scenet.de Sunray..............................http://sunray.planet-d.net Swiss List.................http://www.profzone.ch/vantage/list Swiss Scene Server.......................http://www.chscene.ch TakeOver................................http://www.takeover.nl Textmode Demo Archive.................http://tmda.planet-d.net Hungarian scene page...................http://www.scene-hu.com Trebel...................................http://www.trebel.org Zen of Tracking.........................http://surf.to/the-imm DiskMags / SceneMags: Amber...............................http://amber.bti.pl/di_mag Amnesia...............http://amnesia-dist.future.easyspace.com Demojournal....................http://demojournal.planet-d.net Dragon......................http://www.wasp.w3.pl/pages/dragon Fleur................................http://fleur.scene-hu.com Heroin...................................http://www.heroin.net Hugi........................http://home.pages.de/~hugidownload Music Massage......................http://www.scene.cz/massage Planet Chartmag...........http://www.agravedict.art.pl/planet/ Pain..................................http://pain.planet-d.net Scenial...........................http://www.scenial.scene.org Static Line......................http://www.ic.l7.net/statline Total Disaster...................http://www.totaldisaster.w.pl TUHB.......................................http://www.tuhb.org WildMag...........................http://www.wildmag.notrix.de FTPs: Amber.......................................ftp://amber.bti.pl Cyberbox.....................................ftp://cyberbox.de Flerp.....................................ftp://flerp.scene.hu Scene.org..................................ftp://ftp.scene.org Skynet archive.................ftp://acid2.stack.nl/pub/skynet ACiD2 Archive.............................ftp://acid2.stack.nl --=--=-- ----=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------ Editor: Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan.ic@rcn.com Assistant Editor: Gekko / Gergely Kutenich / gk@scene.hu Columnists: Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan.ic@rcn.com Dilvish / Eric Hamilton / dilvie@yahoo.com Gekko / Gergely Kutenich / gk@scene.hu 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 Subliminal / Matt Friedly / sub@plazma.net Tryhuk / Tryhuk Vojtech / xtryhu00@stud.fee.vutbr.cz Virt / virt@bellsouth.net Technical Consult: Draggy / Nicolas St. Pierre / draggy@kosmic.org Jim / Jim Nicholson / jim@kosmic.org Static Line on the Web: http://www.ic.l7.net/statline ftp://flerp.scene.hu/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. Expect a new issue during the first weekend of each month. 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 avoid foul language and high ascii characters. Contributions should be mailed to Coplan (coplan.ic@rcn.com). See you next month! -eof---=------=--=------=--=--