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Static Line 43
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cRu|________\ | | Issue #43
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February, 2003 || / \ \__/ / / /___// |
309 Subscribers World Wide | /___/ \ / / __/_ / |
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--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
Tale Of Contents
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
Opening:
Message From the Editor
Letters From Our Readers
Features:
Lessons Learned -- An Interview With TiS's Saurin "Mysterium" Shah
Review and Response -- Final Responses
Reviews:
Music:
In Tune --
The Lineup -- Monthly Music Listings
Demo:
Screen Lit Vertigo -- MFX and Condense & Mandarine and Cocoon
Demo Review -- "Singing in the Rain" by SquoQuo
Opinion / Commentary:
Editorial -- Personal Goals
Inside My Mind -- How Vill Got His Groove Back
Early Dawn Reflections -- Teamwork
Link List: Get Somewhere in the Scene
Closing: Staff and Contact Information
--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
Message From the Editor
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
Well, it's been yet another exciting month. My company recently
transferred me to an office that is much closer to home. The upside to
that is that I'll likely have more time for the 'scene. Therefore,
hopefully less late issues of Static Line and more improvements to
SceneSpot.
I am now looking for any PHP coders that might be able to help me with
SceneSpot. We're using a core system that has a pretty good community
and pretty good documentation. I will still be doing a huge amount of
code for the site, but I would like some help if at all possible. If
you think you might be of some help, send me a message.
We have a very interesting interview for you this month. Novus managed
to strike up a formal interview with Saurin Shah, aka Mysterium, of
Trax-In-Space. Ever wonder about his side of the story? Now's your
chance to find out.
Until Next time.
--Coplan
--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
Lessons Learned:
An Interview With TiS's Saurin "Mysterium" Shah
By: Novus
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
When the merits and problems of a website are still being debated well
over a year after its formal closure, you know it left an impact.
Indeed, when it comes to Trax In Space, this may be the one aspect of
the site that both its supporters and detractors can agree on.
Founded in 1992 by the CyberLegion Artist's Network, Trax In Space soon
became the solo project of Saurin "Mysterium" Shah, a teenaged Texan
tracker with big plans. From humble beginnings -- 250 megs of songs
personally reviewed by Mysterium -- TiS eventually added other
reviewers in 1997 and soon swelled into the largest tracker music
archive in the history of the tracking scene before its collapse in
2001. With its commercial aspects and Mysterium's goal of
profitability, TiS forced us all to question how many concessions to
capitalism our non-commercial music scene could make -- if any --
without "selling out."
Recently, Mysterium agreed to sit down and chat with me for his first
major public exposure since the collapse of TiS. Our conversation
covered the rise and fall of TiS, the lessons he learned, and his
advice for the scene's future. He also gave me an unparalleled inside
look at TiS, providing details that most former business owners would
never dream of revealing.
NOVUS: In 1997, did you have any idea just how big TiS was going to
become?
MYSTERIUM: No, but I did have grand plans -- even then. It all really
starts with my take on music, and me personally as a musician. The
reason I began the TiS project at all was because, back then, very few
of the established artist groups would take me. I thought I was not
bad, but in reality I was a terrible musician. But I wanted a place for
people like me to go and to be accepted and most important of all, to
be in a place where they could become better as musicians.
NOVUS: At its peak, how many songs and members did TiS have?
MYSTERIUM: Approximately 45,000 musicians and over 200,000 songs.
NOVUS: That's... um... way past 250 megs. :)
MYSTERIUM: Way past. At our peak we had six dual-processor, server class
DELL machines running this. In fact, the database machine had up to 4
processors and had the XEON CPUs. Our storage capacity, after
considering the multiple-RAIDS that we had, was past 300 GB.
NOVUS: How quickly did TiS grow? When you added more reviewers in 1997,
did the numbers start to explode, or was it a slower growth over time?
MYSTERIUM: TiS's growth started off slow, but I would say around 1998 it
just exploded. You see in 1998, I had achieved a threshold needed of
visibility in the scene. Still not huge, but enough where each new
artist put me on an exponential growth curve.
NOVUS: Kind of like critical mass, then?
MYSTERIUM: Yes, exactly. There is no doubt that we were the largest
scene site ever. In fact, we were listed in the top 10 music sites in
the world by several of the real industry watchers.
NOVUS: Quite an achievement. :)
MYSTERIUM: I did not do it alone, but thanks.
NOVUS: I want to come back and talk about some of the day-to-day
operations of TiS in a little bit, but for now I'm going to jump ahead
to the end of the story.
MYSTERIUM: Ok, go ahead and jump ahead, I'll follow. :)
NOVUS: A lot of people already know that TiS collapsed, although very
few people, if anyone, know the hows or whys. So, in your words, and
take this in what ever direction you want to... just what the heck
HAPPENED anyway?
MYSTERIUM: Alright, it was another critical mass situation. But you have
to understand the build up, so I'll give you the punch line, but you'll
have to ask me about the steps leading up to it.
NOVUS: Okay, I'll follow. :)
MYSTERIUM: Essentially, with six-servers and the serious amount of
traffic we received (we were about half the traffic sometimes for the
ISP we used), it was expensive. It actually mimics the dot-com busts.
Too much cash going out, not enough coming in to support the
operations.
NOVUS: I've gotten the feeling not a lot of people ever realized HOW
expensive bandwidth can be.
MYSTERIUM: Or how much six servers can be. We also had our own dedicated
T-1 and spilled over into the T-3 node of our ISP. Plus none of us had
outside jobs. It took 5 people working 10 hours a day to run TiS.
NOVUS: So, TiS basically was your full-time job, for you and several
others.
MYSTERIUM: Yes. It was our dream jobs in fact. We had a love affair with
TiS, the music, and everything about it and its patrons.
NOVUS: And yet you had to meet reality, which meant you had to make TiS
profitable. That meant taking it in a commercial direction, which is
probably where the bulk of the criticism of TiS was aimed.
MYSTERIUM: Yes, but the criticism never bothered me (okay, maybe
sometimes). But yes, the reality. We expanded too fast. I was a novice
when it came to the real-world of business.
NOVUS: If you don't mind my asking, how much did it cost to keep TiS up
and running per month?
MYSTERIUM: Well, we had other divisions, but TiS itself... I would say
approximately $25,000 per month. I mean, we had to buy insurance,
health-benefits (what if one of us became sick), our pay (though believe
me it was not too much), etc. I had a responsibility to all the other
TiS people to make sure that I took care of them.
NOVUS: Did TiS ever break even or make a profit, even for just a short
time?
MYSTERIUM: It never did. But being realistic, it takes an average
business 5 years to just break even. We really got going in 2000, so we
still had time.
NOVUS: A lot of small-business owners never realize how long it can take
to get profitable. TiS had several different "profit centers:" paid
memberships, CD sales, t-shirts and hats, advertising... which one of
those worked out the best revenue-wise?
MYSTERIUM: The best had to be the Advertising and the Paid Memberships.
The Paid Memberships were my best bet, but I understood our users and
knew that it had to survive for 3 more years before it would take off.
I also had the scene working against me in a way. Many people were
pie-eyed utopians. They wanted a commerical-free scene with the
benefits of a commercial industry. And since many sceners were still in
college or younger and never had a real job and had to support a family
or themselves, the real world had not met them yet. About 90% of my
paid memberships were from people 28 yrs and older. And I will let you
in on another secret, no one knows.
NOVUS: Go ahead.
MYSTERIUM: TuCows wanted to buy my site in 1999. They offered me my own
Ferrarri with all the insurance paid plus a ridiculous salary.
NOVUS: Goodness! So, what happened there?
MYSTERIUM: For the scene and to make sure that it did not become
"commericial," I said no. I could have been a wealthy young man, but the
music and artists meant more to me.
NOVUS: Wow... that would've been nice to throw at the critics who said
TiS was already too commercial. I wish I'd known that at the time. :)
MYSTERIUM: Well, I did not tell people, because I wanted people to
genuinely appreciate the site for what it was and not because of me.
Though the site was me, and I was the site; I could not differentiate
for many years. Let's just say that the salary and bonus had *many*
zeroes.
NOVUS: Looking back with 20-20 hindsight, would you have taken that deal
if it had meant TiS would last longer?
MYSTERIUM: No, that part I would not have changed. I knew AOL was
courting TuCows, and TiS was meant to fight the likes of Time-Warner.
NOVUS: Those are two scenarios that make trackers everywhere shudder:
either AOL-Time Warner or Microsoft getting involved in the scene. ;)
MYSTERIUM: It was never about the money, but I should have paid closer
attention to that aspect. Now, did you also know that ModPlug and
Digital Music Magazine were a part of TiS?
NOVUS: I knew about DMM, but MODPlug, that's news to me, and that
actually gets into one of my later questions. :)
MYSTERIUM: Well lets just say that on the back-end, I was trying to
unite the scene -- and there was a reason behind it. But Kim (ModPlug)
was free to run ModPlug that way he sought fit; I did not want TiS to
influence it at all.
NOVUS: I did an availability check on the domain name traxinspace.com
yesterday, and noticed you're still the owner, with Kim "Mister-X" Kraft
of MODPlug Central listed as the Tech Admin. Is this leftover from when
TiS was still active?
MYSTERIUM: Yes, when I closed TiS (which you can ask me about later),
Kim still wanted to run ModPlug, so I gave him the traffic. Kim is a
great guy and a real asset to the scene.
NOVUS: So that's why www.traxinspace.com was pointing to his StudioKraft
side project for a while?
MYSTERIUM: Yes. Kim still wanted to do this full-time, so studiokraft
was his way of paying the bills. I now work for Counsumer Credit
Counseling Services (CCCS; www.moneymanagement.org), a non-profit that
helps people out of debt. Ironic, isn't it?
NOVUS: Heh, I work indirectly for a credit counseling service myself. :)
MYSTERIUM: I tell you what, this is a tongue-in-cheek analogy, but we
seriously felt like the "USA" and the rest of the scene was the United
Nations.
NOVUS: Being a red-blooded American and suspicious of the UN, I think I
get that. ;)
MYSTERIUM: LOL... I guess only the american readers would get that,
hehehe. Basically, we had criticism from everywhere because we were so
successful (in terms of visibility, traffic, and artists).
NOVUS: What was it that made you look around and finally decide to pull
the plug on TiS?
MYSTERIUM: A few reasons. One, I needed a job; living off of nothing and
being in major debt was not a life goal I wanted to continue. Secondly,
I needed a break from everything. There was a whole other part to TiS
that its about time I told. Thirdly, I wanted a change and a chance to
sit back and rethink my goals, and I think I finally know what I want
to do. You are going to have a huge article. LOL
NOVUS: That's fine, Static Line set a length-record last month, and I
intend to break that single-handedly. ;)
MYSTERIUM: :)
NOVUS: Besides there's always the magic of the Delete key. ;)
MYSTERIUM: That's true.
NOVUS: So, on the second point, what's the whole other part to TiS that
you need to tell?
MYSTERIUM: Well if I had $25,000 outgoing a month just for TiS, and we
also had DMM and ModPlug, how did we pay for it?
NOVUS: Ah, I knew I'd left a question dangling somewhere. I would assume
loans?
MYSTERIUM: In 1999, I got my parents, their friends, and the owner of
the ISP to give me $1 million to get started. Too much for a kid just
out of college.
NOVUS: That sound you just heard was my jaw hitting the desk.
MYSTERIUM: But I had some senior help from two men who were supposed to
be very experienced businessmen.
NOVUS: "Supposed" to be?
MYSTERIUM: Well, one of them I think is alright, but the other... hmmm.
NOVUS: I've met guys like that... radio is infested with 'em. ;)
MYSTERIUM: While I handled the sites, the others were supposed to raise
more money and manage it. In a few months, all of the money was gone,
some of it still not fully accounted for. We don't know where it went.
I had a blind-eye to the financial side, because 1) I was too engrossed
with the site, and 2) I trusted them blindly. I was young, just out of
college, why wouldn't everyone do their job properly when i did mine
well? Naive. We knew that the sites could not survive off of just $1
million; we needed more so that we could reach the critical point of
profitability. Now that being said, not all the business we made were
wise. We could have been much more spend-thrifty than we were.
NOVUS: So, it's 1999, your investment capital is gone, and the site
needs thousands a month to operate. Where did the rest of the money
come from?
MYSTERIUM: Well in November 1999, I raised the money. In August 2000,
the money was spent. For the next few months, we all worked off our own
good graces while the ISP gave us the bandwidth for free.
NOVUS: Okay, so it almost lasted a year. What then?
MYSTERIUM: I then found out that bills were under my name -- lots of
bills. I was already in debt. It was time for a job. And time to
rethink everything. Not only did the sceners not support TiS as much as
I had hoped (though I could have done things better I think), but I had
made a mistake in picking the people to watch the money. A mistake
which cost me dearly, because my dad lost a huge part of his savings
(he gave it to me to show me he believed in me) and his friends took
out their anger on me and my parents. I almost went into depression,
but thank goodness I did not.
NOVUS: I've been there, and believe me, that's not an easy hole to climb
out of.
MYSTERIUM: I took at as a war scar and decided to take it easy and
replan life. So we have the site getting bigger and bigger and getting
real industry coverage: front page of Computer Music Journal, in
Keyboard Magazine, Houston Press, and more... and even on ABC News.
They interviewed me. On top of this, TiS costs too much and is not
getting money, and the money behind the scenes is being spent like
water. I did not give up until November 2000, when everything reached a
breaking point for me personally. It was too much to have to defend
myself to a group of utopic sceners (of course just some, not all) and
deal with the real financial problems facing me and my closest friends
-- those who worked on TiS and ModPlug. They were like my family and I
felt as if I had failed them.
NOVUS: So, November 2000 was when you stopped active work on the site?
MYSTERIUM: Yes. Then I put it on auto for a few months.
NOVUS: And when was the plug pulled entirely then?
MYSTERIUM: You could say September or so of 2001. I don't remember
exactly when. Just one day the site went down and I let it stay down.
NOVUS: I've been told you at least had some free bandwidth towards the
end, due to your domain-name registrar screwing up and improperly
selling off the name traxinspace.com.
MYSTERIUM: No, that's not exactly right; the ISP had put in some money
into TiS and they wanted and hoped that it would turn around. The
domain name fiasco was crazy. Someone in Singapore or Hong Kong was
waiting to buy it... until I pressed their Australian parent with a
legal fight, and then they relinqueshed.
NOVUS: And that's when you got the domain back.
MYSTERIUM: Yes.
NOVUS: What would you say was the most unfair criticism that TiS faced
while it was still up-and-running?
MYSTERIUM: Basically 1) Why were we so big. 2) Why were we trying to
make money, didn't we know the scene was not about that. Those were the
two biggest. The first one is a no-brainer, my answer -- why not?
NOVUS: Nobody ever complained about how big Hornet was. ;)
MYSTERIUM: That's true. The second one should become easier to answer
now. But they did complain about TiS -- even compared it to Microsoft.
There were "fake" sites mocking TiS like the Microshaft and other
sites. I was actually quite flattered and bookmarked those pages.
NOVUS: You know you're important when people feel strongly enough about
you to parody you. ;)
MYSTERIUM: Yes, exactly, it was a badge of honor to have parody sites.
:) You see, to help musicians become better evolves naturally to
allowing people with talent and the will to succeed as a musician for
their livelihood. Many people in the scene did not like that; they did
not want others to succeed as musicians, which I still can't figure out
why they would think like that. It's almost communist -- everyone
should be subject to being failures in the public world of music as
much as they are. For someone to succeed and do it for a living is just
wrong. But behind closed doors, they would make music for games and
commericials and so on.
NOVUS: There's the USA comparison again. ;)
MYSTERIUM: Yes, another USA comparison, but I can't help it. I embrace
those ideals and it was very evident in TiS.
NOVUS: I butted heads with quite a few people in your defense over the
money issue, but even I had no true idea how much the site was costing
you to run.
MYSTERIUM: Thanks, I needed friends everywhere I could get them. :) It's
not easy being a pioneer; I just hope I have broken the ice and made it
easier for those who try next. TiS was a channel for those just
beginning to become better through their peers and then to take their
talent and showcase it to the world. The size and visibility meant that
the world watched. The TiS Charts mattered -- they really did matter,
and I know it has helped some artists.
NOVUS: So, to take the question in the other direction, what was the
most accurate criticism of TiS?
MYSTERIUM: The most accurate was that it WAS too big (not WHY was it too
big), because it grew too fast.
NOVUS: So, the growth rate, rather than the size itself.
MYSTERIUM: Yes, the growth rate was an accurate criticism. And that
sceners would not accept TiS. That was true, but again I felt that as
the sceners grew older and if they had a serious forum for their music,
then as they matured as people and musicians, they would not leave TiS.
The paid memberships clearly showed that I was right about that.
NOVUS: A common area of criticism was the quality of the reviews, and
this was the topic where I was quite critical of TiS. What did you
think of your reviewing staff overall?
MYSTERIUM: Thats true, too. Thanks for reminding me. :)
NOVUS: No prob. :)
MYSTERIUM: I thought that the reviewing staff overall was representative
of the peers. The paid memberships were supposed to help those serious
about music get the best reviewers. After all, it was peer reviews. The
critics have only themselves to look at. We gave as much guidelines as
we could. In the end, it's not us writing the reviews and bringing with
us our personal experiences that make each reviewer different.
NOVUS: I always saw TiS's growth as the culprit behind that: with so
many songs flowing in, the only way to possibly review them all was to
throw a huge team of reviewers at it. But such a huge team makes
quality-control nigh impossible.
MYSTERIUM: Yes, though we tried and tried and tried. It's almost
impossible. I had ideas about placing some limits and such that would
have helped. In fact, I know some of my ideas would have worked. But I
ran out of time.
NOVUS: Any advice for anyone else who wants to run a scene mega-site
someday?
MYSTERIUM: Yes. Watch the growth rate, be very careful. Plan out how you
will spend money (whether it's your own or someone else's). Be realistic
-- music may be artistic and ethereal, but there is a reality also. And
don't give up or listen to the criticism; trudge ahead with what you
truly believe in and make your visions happen.
NOVUS: When TiS went down, a lot of good music went down with it. Is
there any hope at all of recovering any of those songs?
MYSTERIUM: I had hoped to recover them, but there were too many issues
and we could not unfortunately. The servers were too big and no longer
belonged to us since we could not pay the lease. And they were located
very far from us. All that combined made it very difficult to recover
the songs. I wish I could have though.
NOVUS: Have you ever seen the e-mail that your right-hand man Ronald
"Roncli" Clifford sent to me before TiS collapsed?
MYSTERIUM: Nope, RonCli and I did not talk about TiS too much afterward.
It was a mutual understanding that we needed a break -- both of us. You
could send me his email or paraphrase it if you can. You have piqued my
interest.
NOVUS: You can read it here:
http://www.united-trackers.org/2000/bbs/viewpost.asp?post_id=4509 -- He
gave me permission to take it public.
MYSTERIUM: No prob.
NOVUS: I was going to ask what you thought of it, and at the time, I
thought there was a rift between the two of you based on what he said.
MYSTERIUM: He did not know the entire story.
NOVUS: I'd always wondered that.
MYSTERIUM: I did not tell him, because it was still going on at the time
and he had already sacrificed enough. I wanted him to have an easier
break from it all than I had to endure.
NOVUS: A lot of what he said makes a lot more sense now in the context
of this interview. Do you and Ron still keep in touch?
MYSTERIUM: Oh yeah! He works at CCCS also. In fact, his cube is across
from mine. :) I helped him get the job there, and he is very successful
there.
NOVUS: Wow, that worked out then. :)
MYSTERIUM: I have no problems with anyone except the "senior staff."
NOVUS: The "senior staff" being the aforementioned "experienced
businessmen"?
MYSTERIUM: Yes, that's correct.
NOVUS: So, do you still have any leftover TiS merchandise that never got
sold?
MYSTERIUM: Yes. Some, I kept some for keepsakes and the rest I don't
know where it is. I live in a one-bedroom apartment, so I could not
take too much.
NOVUS: Darn, I was gonna ask for a t-shirt. ;)
MYSTERIUM: Yeah, I don't know where any of that stuff is now. If I had
more room I would have taken it all.
NOVUS: Would you ever consider letting someone else, like Kim Kraft or
Ronald Clifford, pick up the TiS banner and try to resurrect it?
MYSTERIUM: Maybe. Someone asked me recently and I said no, because one
day I may want to do it again -- in a few years. I have seriously been
wanting to get back into the music industry and make change. With my
experience (TiS) and now work success coupled with a good education, I
think I may want to become a music industry analyst. I could help the
scene so much like that by bringing to light the strong sites and
leaders. The battle is not over for me yet. I'm just on R&R.
NOVUS: Well, don't get too sidetracked away from that... to quote Dave
Matthews, "Don't lose the dreams inside your head / They'll only be
there 'til you're dead." Would you ever consider being an admin for one
of the scene's existing sites?
MYSTERIUM: Maybe, or even an editor for a scene magazine (or
contributing writer). I think that being an orator is just as important
as running a site.
NOVUS: Well, I know Coplan's looking for writers for Static Line... ;)
MYSTERIUM: Well if I hear from Coplan, then there might be another
writer for Static Line. :)
NOVUS: I'll pass that along. :)
MYSTERIUM: No problem. I would like to say that I hope that this sheds
some light for the scene -- not for a personal benefit, but for those
people who come next.
NOVUS: Well, if this marks your return to the scene, I imagine we'll
hear quite a bit more from you in the future.
MYSTERIUM: LOL... Maybe so, maybe so. Two years off is just about right.
I am putting my life on track -- going for an MBA at a top ten school
and then armed with that, I plan on helping the sceners more. It's in
my blood. It's like the NBA commercials -- I love this stuff.
NOVUS: There's a slogan... "I love this scene!"
MYSTERIUM: Exactly. :) I love this scene.
NOVUS: Imagine... TV commercials with Necros and Skaven, and the Second
Reality demo running in the background. ;)
MYSTERIUM: Exactly, that would be something to see.
NOVUS: Well, I now have a mammoth task ahead of me, copying-and-pasting
this all. I really should've thought this through and expanded the
log-file settings in mIRC. ;)
MYSTERIUM: I have the log I think, let me see... Yes, I can e-mail it to
you.
NOVUS: Excellent! So, on behalf of myself, Coplan, and Static Line's
readers, thank you for taking the time for this. It's hard to pick this
up from reading, but we've been chatting for almost 2 hours now.
MYSTERIUM: You're right, two hours. My wife is telling me too now that I
am wasting her day. :)))
NOVUS: Sorry if your wife is mad. Just blame me. :)
MYSTERIUM: I already did blame you. :)
NOVUS: Heh. ;)
MYSTERIUM: Thanks for giving me a forum to tell my story. I want people
to understand.
NOVUS: This should help with that. Take care!
MYSTERIUM: Bye!
--Novus
--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
Your View and Response
Final Responses
By: Coplan
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
In the previous issue of Static Line, Issue #42 (December, 2002), I
asked readers to respond with their favorite demo of all time. I got a
few responses, and I will post the two cleanest responses here.
-=- Response from Nauthiz -=-
I'll admit, my favorite demo, Paimen by Coma, is on the MindCandy DVD,
but in my defense I'll claim that I thought of it before I saw it was on
the DVD. When I show my friends a few demos to give them an idea of
what the whole thing is about, many of them don't see why I enjoy them
so much. Usually, Paimen is what convinces them that demos are art. It
was the first demo I saw that made me stop and think for a few minutes,
and it has done the same to a great many people I know, too.
--nauthiz
-=- Response from Dilvie -=-
My favorite demo of all time is the 64k Paper, by Statix & Vic. When
it was first presented at a party (wired '96?), people were throwing
paper airplanes all over the place (I wish I had been there). It was
probably the most imaginative demo to date when it was made, and puts
even modern demos (64k or otherwise) to shame.
If you have not witnessed this classic bit of PC demoscene history, you
need to.
--Dilvie
-=- Conclusion -=-
I'm glad that some of you responded to these two issues of this feature
column. In the future, I may return and ask again for your response. I
learned a lot about my readers, and I would hope to learn more. But for
now, I don't have any new challenges. But feel free to continue sending
me comments about your favorite demos and music.
--Coplan
--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
The Lineup
By: Novus
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
Welcome to The Lineup! Every month, I scour through the hundreds of new
releases on the scene's major archive sites to find the best new music,
saving you the trouble of having to download 20 instant-delete songs to
find 1 that's worth keeping.
I'm proud to say that right now, The Lineup can claim a 100% customer
satisfaction rating! Yay for me! :D (Never mind that I've only gotten
feedback from one person so far... it was positive feedback, so 1 out of
1 customers were satisfied, which is 100%. So there.) Here's what
Flamingo had to say:
"Well I think mostly you've done a very good job. At least 10 of the 23
were very good tracks. I also liked that you select tunes from
different genres, not only trance. All the weakest tunes were from
trance genre, except self.it was marvellous. Thank you for this great
music pack!"
You're welcome, and glad you enjoyed it, Flamingo! And if you'd like to
add your feedback about the job I'm doing on The Lineup, e-mail me at
vince_young@hotmail.com. Just think of it as critiquing someone's song.
;)
Static Line took last month off, but The Lineup didn't, so the following
are the best tunes that were released in December and January:
THE BEST OF THE BEST: JANUARY
"Beyond Forever" - Crenton & Slash - demostyle
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2121
THE BEST OF THE BEST: DECEMBER
"Conquest Of Farakhan" - Gopher - orchestral
http://www.planetheck.co.uk/~gophers/download/gh-cof.rar
THE REST OF THE BEST:
"All Alone Now" - Rave-N - dance
http://www.cutetrancegirls.com/ctg/song.php?id=2
"An Age May Pass" - FleshDance - fantasy
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2279
"Axiapo De Presto Estrala" - Link - pop
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=1950
"Back In The Fields" - Cooth - orchestral
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2251
"Beat F" - Phred - fantasy
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2271
"Bitter Sweet Love" - Jeva - pop
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2010
"Cherry Jam" - Reed - funk
http://reed.planet-d.net/tunes/cherryjm.zip
"Chaos: Tohu Vavohu" - Xavt - techno
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=1986
"Clamberdown" - Reed - celtic
http://reed.planet-d.net/tunes/clamberd.zip
"Clear Conscience" - DJ Attack - trance
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2255
"Codswollop" - Reed - celtic
http://reed.planet-d.net/tunes/codswoll.zip
"Cranberry Cruise" - Reed - funk
http://reed.planet-d.net/tunes/cranberr.zip
"Crimson Flight" - Little Elk - fantasy
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2072
"Cyborg At War" - Pro-Xex - techno
http://data.modarchive.com/C/cybatwar.it.zip
"Dancing With Birds" - Crazy Man - fantasy
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2258
"Decompose" - Spoz & Copie One - jungle
http://www.subwoofer.32k.org/swf-dcom.zip
"Digital Nova" - Cadra - trance
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=1882
"Disco Del Copstation" - Reed - funk
http://reed.planet-d.net/tunes/discodel.zip
"Dots" - Ballistique - electronica
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2037
"Echo" - Link - pop
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=1954
"Elephantism" - Reed - funk
http://reed.planet-d.net/tunes/elephant.zip
"Ethereal" - Dronir - fantasy
http://koti.mbnet.fi/dronir/WS_ETHER.IT
"Falkenna" - Link - rock
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=1951
"Fallen Angel" - Morgan - dance
http://data.modarchive.com/F/flnangel.xm.zip
"Flight" - Butch - demostyle
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2211
"Fugue State: Iquion Part 9" - Spoz - jungle
http://www.subwoofer.32k.org/swf-iqn9.zip
"Generator" - Timewyrm - experimental
http://www.timewyrm.de/mod/47Generator.zip
"Ghettos Of Wroclaw" - Reed - funk
http://reed.planet-d.net/tunes/ghettos.zip
"Halitosis" - Reed - funk
http://reed.planet-d.net/tunes/halitosi.zip
"In Flux" - Solo - electronica
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/groups/hellven/hv051_-_solo_-_in_flux.zip
"Inside The Sun" - Aulin & Slash - trance
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2182
"Invisible Movement" - Butch - electronica
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2191
"Ivory Tower" - Ivory - orchestral
http://data.modarchive.com/I/ivtower.it.zip
"Kadapoé" - Iwellius - fantasy
http://www.8ung.at/iwellius/Mods/kadapoe.zip
"Lake Of Sand" - DJ Keys - trance
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2083
"Last Dawn" - Argh - fantasy
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2198
"Let The Dragon Fly" - Little Elk - fantasy
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2074
"Masootm" - Phred - electronica
http://cgi.ethz.ch/~phkeller/modules/masootm.zip
"Mystique" - Butch - electronica
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2210
"Ninety Minute Cassette" - Chisel - dance
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/chisel/dtac/ninety.zip
"Orbiting Saturn" - Solo - electronica
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/groups/hellven/hv031.zip
"Rain Light Sonata: Part 1" - Crazy Man - light rock
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2257
"Rez" - Zond 3 - techno
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2190
"Savage Lands" - R6k - drum'n'bass
http://lysis.audio-stream.net/unbeat/musakki%5CUB-Savagelands02.zip
"Sixty-Four" - Uctumi - pop
http://data.modarchive.com/U/uc-sixty.xm.zip
"Sky Chase" - DJ Attack - trance
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2254
"Sky Cruiser" - Butch - electronica
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2267
"Sunday Afternoon" - Argh - light rock
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2063
"The Arpegiator: Part 2" - Herr Weltschaft - trance
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/artists/herr_weltschaft/31337%2102.zip
"The Classical Triplet" - Crazy Man - orchestral
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2245
"The Quest For The Ardesy" - Xcalibur - dance
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2131
"There's No Way" - DJ Attack & J. Ferreira - trance
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2253
"Track On" - Kristjan - trance
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2206
"Turquoise" - Reed - funk
http://reed.planet-d.net/tunes/turquois.zip
"Ulf's Vibrator" - Edzes & Loonie - pop
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=2223
"Waterfall" - Storm - dance
http://www.homemusic.cc/Songs/songs.get.php?soId=1930
--Novus
--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
Screen Lit Vertigo
Productions by MFX, Condense & Mandarine and Cocoon
By: Seven
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
-=- Various ramblings: -=-
* Everyone who had still some hope left that The Party would reverse its
decline from a demoparty to a LAN-party can stop hoping now. There were
so little contributions that the 64K intro, demo AND wild compos had to
be merged in a single compo, and even then the quality was at an
all-time low. I'd rather review some demos I like.
* Regrettably no reviews of Planet Loop/Mad Wizards (1st at TUM) or Raw
Confessions/Cocoon (1st at SOTA) either, because they do not run
correctly on my Radeon :( I'm really looking forward to patches, some 3D
parts of Raw Confessions run OK and they look sooo impressive...
-=- "A deepness in the sky" by MFX (party-version) -=-
Found at www.scene.org
2nd place at the State Of The Art democompo
System requirements:
5.3 MB HD, Win9x "a gf4 or similar for full enjoyment"
(My ATI 8500 shows it just fine, and that's about as powerful as a
Geforce3)
Test Machine: PIII 900 640MB, SB1024, Radeon 8500 LE 64MB, Win98
The Credits:
Code: Droid, Uncle-X
Music: Little Bitchard, Uncle-X
The Demo:
If you like science fiction, you might know that the title of MFX's
previous demo,"A fire upon the deep", was taken from a Vernor Vinge
book. "A deepness into the sky" is the name of the sequel to the book,
and MFX took it as the sequel to their demo. Nonetheless, MFX denies any
relation to the book.
"A deepnes in the sky" is a techno-demo that actually consist of a
single big effect, that gradually becomes more complex. It starts with
hundreds of tumbling cubes and beams, arranged in the form of a disk
with a pillar through the center. It looks a bit like a spaceship IMO,
and travels through a tunnel of solid black cubes. The music is a very
monotone techno track, it slowly evolves but is always dominated by the
same bassline, except for a short break in the middle. Three times per
second (synced to the beat), the camera viewpoint switches, together
with the form of the spaceship: the cubes are replaced by bars, the disk
pulsates etc. During the course of the demo, lightning-blue streaks
start to appear, first in the center of the ship, later in the disk and
the tunnel itself. Also the background lightens up gradually, so the
darkness at the start becomes almost a single white flare near the end.
There are no logos or images, and only one texture.
Overall:
I'm not a fan of MFX's music, it's too droning for my taste, but the
visuals are really excellent. I know cubes are boring, but in large
swarms, with rounded edges and lots of little flares attached, they can
still be beautiful. The bad side of this eyecandy is that it requires a
pretty fast videocard... The continuous evolution grabs your attention
at the start, but gets predictabel near the end: 5 minutes is a bit too
long for this demo IMHO. I just realize the qualities "looks good,
boring music, too long" remind me of Kasparov/Elitegroup, so if you
liked that one, be sure to give this one a shot.
-=- "Superjam Superheroes" by (party-version) -=-
Found at www.scene.org
5th place at the State Of The Art democompo
System requirements:
Nothing listed. 13.5 MB HD, Win9x. Should run on any reasonable machine.
Test Machine: PIII 900 640MB, SB1024, Radeon 8500 LE 64MB, Win98
The Credits:
Music: Med
Gfx & DemoPajaing: Ak
The Demo:
This 3D-less cooperation between Condense & Mandarine was a refreshening
break from the usual compo stuff at State Of The Art. It's very short
(under 2min30, less then Cocoons demo takes to load) but very
entertaining. It's about two superheroes, Wonder Wiggy Man (Med) and
Moustache Boy (Ak), who apparently protect us against evildoers. But who
those evildoers are, what they want and how the heroes foil their plans
is left in the dark.
The effects are done with Demopajaa, a demo scripting system from Moppi
Productions that let you add your own effects as plugin DLLs. All
effects are old and simple: a low-res plasma, image warping, blur etc,
and there's not a single 3D object in sight. But that's OK, the aim of
this demo is not to impress, but to amuse. The tong-in-cheek images are
the best part IMHO: the wacky group logos, the shady criminals, the
various images projected by the heroes cars headlight (f.e. Spiderman
holding up a sign with little hearts and the wig-and-moustache logo).
The heroes themselves are shown with some short movie clips. The speed
of the first part of the demo is right on: you've just enough time to
read and watch everything, before the next part comes up. There's a bit
of a lull during the greetings, though. The syncing with the excellent
jazzy soundtrack is quite good as well.
Overall:
You may think that Superjam Superheroes is a joke demo, with the funny
content and the simple code, but that wouldn't do this demo justice.
It's quite polished and everything fits together nicely. It reminds me a
lot of Mutant Poulets Projects 2/Mutant Inc (a weird graphics-intensive
demo about a worldwide attack of chickens, released at LTP4). The only
bad point is the size/time ratio: With an MP3 soundtrack and the short
movie clips, it weigth over 13 meg, which is definately on the large
size for a 2.30 min demo. But if that's no concern for you (broadband
rules!), make sure you check this one out.
-=- "Raw Confessions" by Cocoon (beta-version) -=-
Found at http://cocoon.planet-d.net/raw/!Raw_Beta.zip
(divx version: http://cocoon.planet-d.net/raw/RawConfessions_Cocoon.avi,
for the people with more bandwidth than 3D-power. 85 MB)
1st place at the State Of The Art democompo
System requirements: 17MB HD, Windows, Geforce3 or higher
Test Machine: PIII 900 640MB, SB1024, Radeon 8500 LE 64MB, Win98
The Credits:
Code: Guille, Atc
Gfx: Tenshu, Nytrik, Zaac, Azo, Mr Whore, Skorp
Music: Syl East, Simon Robinson
The Demo:
My first demoparty was Wired98, whose democompo was deservedly won by
Cocoon & Syndrome with the demo Shad: a very dark metal-demo full of
blood, lightning, and spare body parts. Cocoon made several more demos
in this dark style, but at Takeover'01 they surprized everyone with
Glon243, a funny cartoon-demo with "No more blood, and nearly no
violence". But their foray into comedy seems to have been only
temporary: in Raw Confessions, they unleash their inner demons once
again in full force.
Loading the demo takes over two minutes on my P3 900. In the meantime we
can admire a reel of film showing a crucified man on a destroyed
background, with half-readable text fragments overlayed. This is an
accurate foretaste of what is to follow: the demo starts with a damaged
living doll, crucified at one end of a large tunnel which is filled with
TV's flashing messages about porn and murder at subliminal speed. At the
other end, there's a large syringe aimed at a giant human eye which is
embedded in machinery. As you can guess from the Geforce 3 in the
requirements, Raw Confession is mainly a 3D demo. Almost all scenes are
very detailed, with high-resolution textures, superb models, realistic
animation, and either a very dark athmosphere or an overkill of flames,
lightning and flares. Some representative scenes are a circular assembly
line where human torsos are mutilated with welding torches, an old man
with a swaying TV connected directly into his brain, and a little girl
running away in a house full of hanged people. A few scenes with an
infrared colorscheme are far less detailed (f.e. a whole stair made of a
single poly and texture), probably to save GPU power for the 2D twirl
effect applied to them.
The music is loud and fast, some trash-metal/industrial song that fits
the demo very well. The lyrics (screamed by a lip-synchronized blind
zombie with a metal bar through his head) are connected with the
visuals, f.e "Watch your TV and shut you mouth!"
Overall:
If you like the shocking style, Raw Confessions is a real masterpiece.
It has solid design, high-quality visuals and a soundtrack to match. The
hardware requirements are high, but that's to be expected for this kind
of demo. This version works also with ATI cards, unlike the party
version that needed an Nvidia board. The only glitch I noticed were two
grey polygons making a spike from the TV-connection to the eye of the
old man (I checked with the DivX-version and it's not supposed to do
that). The _Beta in the filename suggests a final version is on the way,
I hope that one will shorten the loading time. The waiting every time I
rewatch it is getting boring...
--Seven
--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
Demo Review
"Singing in the Rain" by SquoQuo
By: The Watcher
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
Found at www.pouet.net
1st place at 0a000h 2003
System Requirements:
300Mhz CPU, 128MB ram, OpenGL 1.2 compatible 3D card supporting
multi-texturing, DirectX 7+
Test Machine: PIII 700Mhz, SBLive!, GeForce 256 DDR, Win98
The Credits:
Code: Hopper
Design: Hopper, Bugger, Yoda
Music; Hopper
Additional code: Toxie/AInc
Exporter Help: Avalanche
ASCII Logo: Elend
The Demo:
One of the comments on pouet.net read: "This intro is so ugly that
several parts of my body started bleeding instantly..." After this very
promising remark I happily downloaded the intro, run it (and it run like
a charm), and few minutes later I could only come to one conclusion:
whoever made that remark, he was completely right! This intro must be
one of the most ugly things I ever saw. But, I have to add, also one of
the most funny, and definitely most original ideas I ever saw. I wish I
could have been at the party-place when this was shown, I know this
would have blown me away after 48 hours without sleep.
On to the actual content: when the intro starts we see a robot (if you
would have a three-year-old model a robot, it would look like this)
'walking' (well, at least his legs are animated and he is moving
forward, so technically he is indeed walking) through the 'rain' (if you
squint your eyes hard enough, the weird stretching texture-effect could
indeed be mistaken for heavy rain-showers). More important than the
graphics is the sound: we can hear a synthesized, high-pitched
robot-like voice singing the lyrics of the famous song 'singing in the
rain'. Speech-synthesis (singing-synthesis to be more precise), even
though it is not very intelligible and it needs karaoke-style subtitles
to make things more comprehensible, is (as far as I know) a novelty in
64k intro's. The fact that it doesn't sound very good is actually made
into a positive feature, because music and graphics fit each other
perfectly in their mutual ugliness and make this intro very, very
stylish.
While the song goes on and on and one, we watch the robot walking
through the street, in the background random objects (just as ugly as
anything else in his marvelous piece of art) move across the screen as
if they are blowing in the wind... and then a 'gabber'-house-part kicks
in. Although I'm not sure that the intro really needs this part, it is
still quite funny to watch the robot 'dance' (the dancing is actually
animated a bit better than the walking).
I know there are many people out there who just don't get this intro,
and think it is a disgrace that it won the competition. If you are one
of them, I think you should ask yourself the following question: what do
you think is the scene about? Is it about creating the perfect looking
incredibly boring scene-flyby style intro's that all seem to strive to
look and sound the same, or is it about originality, trying new things
and having fun? I think the scene could use some more groups focusing on
the latter, and SquoQuo is definitely one of them.
--The Watcher
--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
Editorial
Personal Goals
By: Coplan
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
There is a certain aspect about my role within the scene, I have a lot
of deadlines and goals that I strive to reach each month. These
personal goals help me to keep on track, every day, every month, and
throughout the year. If I did not have any of these goals that I set
for myself, I'd probably have to spend some time in a padded room with
straight-jacket.
Goals come in two forms: A goal set upon you by another person, or a
goal you set for yourself. The goals that one sets for themselves is
going to be a bit more realistic, a bit more reachable, and you're most
likely going to be able to keep them. When it comes to your involvement
in the scene, it would be best for you to set goals for yourself, and
try to keep them. If someone else trys to set goals for you, negotiate.
Or offer a more realistic goal. Don't complain, simply specify why you
think it's unfair (if, in fact it is). But don't be afraid to set goals
that are above and beyond those that may have been set upon you.
Of course, setting and having goals is important in real life as well as
in any of your hobbies, including the Demoscene. In relation to the
scene in paticular, you have to set goals to improve your abilities as
coders, artists or musicians. Back when I was still learning Impulse
Tracker, I had a goal to use one new effect for each of the songs that I
worked on. I learned the program inside and out and learned what
effects I liked and didn't like. Eventually, the tracking program
itself was no longer my obstacle. And because of the goal that I had
set for myself, I no longer am limited by my inability to use the
program.
So one really needs to ask oneself: What do goals really do for you, as
a person? Maybe that's not really the question one needs to ask. Maybe
one should better ask: What don't goals do? It might be a matter of
opinion, but one that is commonly shared, but goals don't harm anyone or
anything. Instead, goals put into your hands what was yours all along.
If you thought something was unattainable, then you weren't setting
goals for yourself. If, on the other hand, you realize that your
ultimate goal is just so many steps away (so many smaller goals away),
then you know what goals can do for you.
I will close with this statement, and that will be all: My ultimate
goal is to one day write an orchestration that can be considered an
opus. I want to write the ultimate demonstration of my abilities as a
musician. I want to write something that is worthy of being performed
by any major city orchestra, or a philharmonic. Obviously, that goal
has yet to be attained. Do I feel that it is out of reach? No. But I
realize that I have many smaller goals to reach before I can consider
that within my immediate grasp. But the point is that even if I never
reach that ultimate goal, I will certainly have reached a long way up
until that point. I will have learned a lot. I will have acheived a
lot. So what do I have to loose? Nothing.
Everything is ultimately within my hands. And it is yours as well.
--Coplan
--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
Inside My Mind
How Vill Got His Groove Back
By: Vill
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
Whump, whump, whump, whump. I can reference a few things by saying
whump. Most trackers will think of their first module ever; we
collectively had the greatest idea of mankind: dump the bass drum every
four clicks. Brilliance ensues and cheap techno is born.
Further down the line of the whumps would have to be smile-inducing
click tracks. There are few things on this glorious earth that I hate
more than click tracks. When trying to rock a little midi piano into my
song, I feel like my computer is mocking me. HaEHAEheaeHA, you foolish
human, there is no possible way your analogue mind can compete with my
digital perfection. Oh, youre off, youre so off, thatll never break
down into 128th notes. I slam my head on the keyboard to the computers
never-ending 120bpm chuckle. However, despair not! We have an ally, we
have a friend, we have the quantize tool. Oh yes, sometimes I feel like
Im married to the little Q tool that bumps and slides all my midi
input into Perfect Time.
As all the blocks of midi input stand like soldiers in a line I lean
back and smile. But whats this? Where has the personality of my track
gone? Why does it sound so
plastic? The timing is blatant and obvious
to a point of distraction from the song. I am a metronome, I can count
the beats of my track with my entire body, and the computer has won yet
again the groove has been sucked out of my song.
One day I did something a little daring; see ladies, I am a risk taker,
action just emanates from me, for I neglected to quantize my small blips
into perfect time. Mind you, I played the riff relatively in time, I
just decided to leave the little human errors in it. The imperfections
ended up adding a human element to my song. My song actually sounds
real, and I think it flows just that much better.
Neglecting to make everything so perfect has not only injected the
groove back into my tracks, but it has also cut down on prodction time.
The less anal you are with meaningless polishing, and in this case,
quantizing, the eaiser you can keep your rhythm and flow going. This is
just another way I am able to keep my grip on those rare fits of
creativity.
As always, with all the screaming goats, vile thoughts, and
ear-covering, head-thrashing goodness, I hope you enjoyed being inside
my mind.
--Vill
--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
Early Dawn Reflections
Teamwork
By: The Watcher
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
For the first time in years, the snow is fiercely blowing against the
window of my living room, and I'm gazing to the soft white world
outside, a glass of Irish Mist (one of my favorite drinks) in my hand.
My mind is occupied with one of the fundamental questions of life: why
has no coder ever managed to do a snow-effect that looks nearly as good
as the real thing?
After not being too active a demo-coder for quite some time, I finally
might pick up coding as a member of a demogroup somewhere in the near
future. That also implies I'll probably be doing some teamwork with
other demo-coders once again.
Working in a team for the first time can be a pretty scary thing. The
typical newbie scene coder consists of about 95% hot air, 3% talent and
2% skill, and spends a lot more time bragging about his l33t
coding-skillz than doing any actual coding (I know I did). And then,
suddenly, you find yourself part of a novice demogroup and, to make
things worse, people actually expect you to do some work. So you work
your ass off, ripping and learning from tutorials and sources, and being
still in school and having quite a lot of time on your hands, you
actually manage to produce something fairly good looking, and your
group's entry wins a price at some demoparty.
Now that the group has gained some fame, another coder is willing to
join. And the other group members expect 'their coders' to produce the
technical basis for the perfect demo together. Now there is a scary
thought: you will have to work closely together with someone who
actually understands what you are doing. What if he sees straight
through your bluff and calls your code for what it is: a collection of
beginners botch, covered with a layer of swank? What if he is so much
better than you that you'll become totally useless, and get kicked from
the group?
None of that happens of course, and you soon discover two important
things about working together: 1. it is a lot of fun and 2. keeps you
motivated. Although being in a demogroup in itself is a strong motivator
to keep your focus on coding, nothing beats another guy doing the same
stuff as you are, working on the same project, being there when you need
to do some rubberducking (for those of you unacquainted with the term:
rubberducking is the process of comprehensively explaining a difficult
problem to someone else, with the intention of finding the solution
yourself). You really don't have to do pairprogramming, staring at the
computer while the other guy does his thing... the knowledge that the
other guy is eagerly waiting to see your new piece of code, and vice
versa, is enough reason to keep going.
Although the little story above is about coding, I know the same holds
for musicians. Some trackers do co-productions even though they are
capable of doing far better tunes working apart. Working in a team can
be very inspiring, but maybe even more important is the simple fact that
you don't want to let the other down. The chances of a song getting
finished improve a lot if there are two individuals are working on it. I
am not sure if the same holds for doing graphics though. I can very well
imagine two artists working on the same picture, but I have no idea how
common that is.
So here is a message to all those sceners who are still struggling on
their own: find someone to work with. You will be glad you did.
--The Watcher
--=--=--
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Link List
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
irc channels:
dunno (this is gfx portal like gfxzone.org)
ZpiXel ........................ www.zpixel.by.ru
Portals:
SceneSpot (Home of Static Line).......http://www.scenespot.org
CFXweb.......................................http://cfxweb.net
Czech Scene................................http://www.scene.cz
Danish Scene..............................http://demo-scene.dk
Demoscene.org.........................http://www.demoscene.org
Demo.org...................................http://www.demo.org
Diskmag.de...................................http://diskmag.de
Hungarian Scene........................http://www.scene-hu.com
Italian Scene...........................http://run.to/la_scena
ModPlug Central Resources..........http://www.castlex.com/mods
Norwegian Scene........................http://www.demoscene.no
Orange Juice.............................http://www.ojuice.net
Planet Zeus..........................http://www.planetzeus.net
Polish Scene...........................http://www.demoscena.pl
Pouet.net.................................http://www.pouet.net
Russian Scene..........................http://www.demoscene.ru
Scene.org.................................http://www.scene.org
<*> Scenergy on-line (8bit)............http://www.scenergy.natm.ru
Scenet....................................http://www.scenet.de
Spanish Scene............................http://www.escena.org
Swiss Scene..............................http://www.chscene.ch
Archives:
Acid2.....................................ftp://acid2.stack.nl
Amber.......................................ftp://amber.bti.pl
Cyberbox.....................................ftp://cyberbox.de
Hornet (1992-1996)........................ftp://ftp.hornet.org
Scene.org..................................ftp://ftp.scene.org
Scene.org Austra........................ftp://ftp.au.scene.org
Scene.org Netherlands...................ftp://ftp.nl.scene.org
Swiss Scene FTP...........................ftp://ftp.chscene.ch
Demo Groups:
3g Design..............................http://3gdesign.cjb.net
3State...................................http://threestate.com
7 Gods.........................................http://7gods.sk
Aardbei.....................................http://aardbei.com
Acid Rain..............................http://surf.to/acidrain
Addict..................................http://addict.scene.pl
Agravedict........................http://www.agravedict.art.pl
Alien Prophets.....................http://www.alienprophets.dk
Anakata..............................http://www.anakata.art.pl
Astral..............................http://astral.scene-hu.com
Astroidea........................http://astroidea.scene-hu.com
BlaBla..............................http://blabla.planet-d.net
Blasphemy..............................http://www.blasphemy.dk
Bomb..................................http://bomb.planet-d.net
Broncs..................................http://broncs.scene.cz
Byterapers.....................http://www.byterapers.scene.org
Bypass.................................http://bypass.scene.org
Calodox.................................http://www.calodox.org
Cocoon..............................http://cocoon.planet-d.net
Confine.................................http://www.confine.org
Damage...................................http://come.to/damage
Dc5.........................................http://www.dc5.org
Delirium..............................http://delirium.scene.pl
Eclipse............................http://www.eclipse-game.com
Elitegroup...............
...........http://elitegroup.demo.org
Exceed...........................http://www.inf.bme.hu/~exceed
Fairlight.............................http://www.fairlight.com
Fobia Design...........................http://www.fd.scene.org
Freestyle............................http://www.freestylas.org
Fresh! Mindworks...................http://kac.poliod.hu/~fresh
Future Crew..........................http://www.futurecrew.org
Fuzzion.................................http://www.fuzzion.org
GODS...................................http://www.idf.net/gods
Halcyon...........................http://www.halcyon.scene.org
Haujobb..................................http://www.haujobb.de
Hellcore............................http://www.hellcore.art.pl
Infuse...................................http://www.infuse.org
Kilobite...............................http://kilobite.cjb.net
Kolor................................http://www.kaoz.org/kolor
Komplex.................................http://www.komplex.org
Kooma.....................................http://www.kooma.com
Mandula.........................http://www.inf.bme.hu/~mandula
Maturefurk...........................http://www.maturefurk.com
Monar................ftp://amber.bti.pl/pub/scene/distro/monar
MOVSD....................................http://movsd.scene.cz
Nextempire...........................http://www.nextempire.com
Noice.....................................http://www.noice.org
Orange.................................http://orange.scene.org
Orion................................http://orion.planet-d.net
Outbreak................................http://www.outbreak.nu
Popsy Team............................http://popsyteam.rtel.fr
Prone................................http://www.prone.ninja.dk
Purple....................................http://www.purple.dk
Rage........................................http://www.rage.nu
Replay.......................http://www.shine.scene.org/replay
Retro A.C...........................http://www.retroac.cjb.net
Sista Vip..........................http://www.sistavip.exit.de
Skytech team............................http://www.skytech.org
<*> Skrju.....................................http://www.skrju.org
Spinning Kids......................http://www.spinningkids.org
Sunflower.......................http://sunflower.opengl.org.pl
Talent.............................http://talent.eurochart.org
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.de
Universe..........................http://universe.planet-d.net
Vantage..................................http://www.vantage.ch
Wipe....................................http://www.wipe-fr.org
Music Labels, Music Sites:
Aisth.....................................http://www.aisth.com
Aural Planet........................http://www.auralplanet.com
Azure...................................http://azure-music.com
Blacktron Music Production...........http://www.d-zign.com/bmp
BrothomStates.............http://www.katastro.fi/brothomstates
Chill..........................http://www.chillproductions.com
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
Fairlight Music.....................http://fairlight.scene.org
Five Musicians.........................http://www.fm.scene.org
Fusion Music Crew.................http://members.home.nl/cyrex
Goodstuff..........................http://artloop.de/goodstuff
Hellven.................................http://www.hellven.org
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
Lackluster.....................http://www.m3rck.net/lackluster
Level-D.................................http://www.level-d.com
Mah Music.............................http://come.to/mah.music
Maniacs of noise...............http://home.worldonline.nl/~mon
MAZ's sound homepage..................http://www.maz-sound.com
Med.......................................http://www.med.fr.fm
Miasmah.............................http://www.miasmah.cjb.net
Milk.......................................http://milk.sgic.fi
Mo'playaz..........................http://ssmedion.de/moplayaz
Mono211.................................http://www.mono211.com
Morbid Minds..............http://www.raveordie.com/morbidminds
Moods.............................http://www.moodymusic.de.vu/
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
pHluid..................................http://phluid.acid.org
Radical Rhythms.....http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/merrelli/rr
RBi Music.............................http://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
Tetris....................................http://msg.sk/tetris
Theralite...........................http://theralite.avalon.hr
Tokyo Dawn Records........................http://tokyodawn.org
Triad's C64 music archive.............http://www.triad.c64.org
UltraBeat.........................http://www.innerverse.com/ub
Vibrants................................http://www.vibrants.dk
Wiremaniacs.........................http://www.wiremaniacs.com
Zen of Tracking.........................http://surf.to/the-imm
Programming:
Programming portal......................http://www.gamedev.net
Programming portal.....................http://www.flipcode.com
Game programming portal...............http://www.gamasutra.com
3D programming portal.................http://www.3dgamedev.com
Programming portal......................http://www.exaflop.org
Programming portal............http://www.programmersheaven.com
Programming portal.....................http://www.freecode.com
NASM (free Assembly compiler)......http://www.cryogen.com/nasm
LCC (free C compiler).........http://www.remcomp.com/lcc-win32
PTC video engine.........................http://www.gaffer.org
3D engines..........http://cg.cs.tu-berlin.de/~ki/engines.html
Documents...............http://www.neutralzone.org/home/faqsys
File format collection...................http://www.wotsit.org
Magazines:
Amber...............................http://amber.bti.pl/di_mag
Amnesia...............http://amnesia-dist.future.easyspace.com
Demojournal....................http://demojournal.planet-d.net
Eurochart.............................http://www.eurochart.org
Heroin...................................http://www.heroin.net
Hugi........................................http://www.hugi.de
Music Massage......................http://www.scene.cz/massage
Jurassic Pack...........................www.jurassicpack.de.vu
Pain..................................http://pain.planet-d.net
Scenial...........................http://www.scenial.scene.org
Shine...............................http://www.shine.scene.org
Static Line................http://www.scenespot.org/staticline
Sunray..............................http://sunray.planet-d.net
TUHB.......................................http://www.tuhb.org
WildMag..................................http://www.wildmag.de
Parties:
Assembly (Finland).....................http://www.assembly.org
Ambience (The Netherlands)..............http://www.ambience.nl
Dreamhack (Sweden)....................http://www.dreamhack.org
Buenzli (Switzerland)......................http://www.buenz.li
Gravity (Poland)............http://www.demoscena.cp.pl/gravity
Mekka-Symposium (Germany)...................http://ms.demo.org
Takeover (The Netherlands).............,http://www.takeover.nl
The Party (Denmark).....................http://www.theparty.dk
Others:
Demo secret parts....http://www.inf.bme.hu/~mandula/secret.txt
Textmode Demo Archive.................http://tmda.planet-d.net
Arf!Studios..........................http://www.arfstudios.org
#coders..................................http://coderz.cjb.net
Demonews Express.........http://www.teeselink.demon.nl/express
Demo fanclub........................http://jerware.org/fanclub
Digital Undergrounds.....................http://dug.iscool.net
Doose charts...............................http://www.doose.dk
Freax................................http://freax.scene-hu.com
GfxZone............................http://gfxzone.planet-d.net
PC-demos explained.....http://www.oldskool.org/demos/explained
Pixel...................................http://pixel.scene.org
#trax e-mail list.............................................
.............http://www.scenespot.org/mailman/listinfo/trax
Underground Mine.............http://www.spinningkids.org/umine
IRC Channels:
Scene.........................................ircnet #thescene
Programming.....................................ircnet #coders
Programming....................................efnet #flipcode
Graphics.........................................ircnet #pixel
Music......................................irc.scene.org #trax
Music.............................................ircnet #trax
Scene (French)..................................ircnet #demofr
Programming (French)............................ircnet #codefr
Graphics (French)..............................ircnet #pixelfr
Programming (German)........................ircnet #coders.ger
Scene (Hungarian)............................ircnet #demoscene
Programming (Hungarian)......................ircnet #coders.hu
<*> Zx-spectrum scene..................................ircnet #z80
--=--=--
----=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------
-=- Staff -=-
Editor: Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan@scenespot.org
Staff Writers: Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan@scenespot.org
Dilvie / Eric Hamilton / dilvie@yahoo.com
Novus / Vince Young / vince_young@hotmail.com
Psitron / Tim Soderstrom / tigerhawk@stic.net
Setec / Jesper Pederson / jesped@post.tele.dk
Seven / Stefaan VanNieuwenhuyze/ seven7@writeme.com
Tryhuk / Tryhuk Vojtech / vojtech.tryhuk@worldonline.cz
Vill / Brian Frank / darkvill@yahoo.com
The Watcher / Paul-Jan Pauptit / watcher@tuhb.org
Tech Consultant: Ranger Rick / Ben Reed / ranger@scenespot.org
Static Line on the Web: http://www.scenespot.org/staticline
Static Line Subscription Management:
http://www.scenespot.org/mailman/listinfo/static_line
If you would like to contribute an article to Static Line, be aware
that we will format your article to 76 columns with two columns at the
beginning of each line. Please avoid foul language and high ascii
characters. Contributions (Plain Text) should be e-mailed to Coplan
(coplan@scenespot.org) by the last Friday of each month. New issues are
released on the first Sunday of every month.
See you next month!
-eof---=------=--=------=--=--
