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Issue #5
June 25, 1995
HNews is a weekly newsletter for the demo scene.
It is produced by the group Hornet at the site ftp.cdrom.com.
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Subscribers: 701 | Last Issue: 652 | Change: +49 | Size: 41,865
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CONTENTS
--[Article Name]-------------------------[Author]--------------------
Hornet News Introduction Snowman and GD
MC3 Updates Floss
This is your History Rimbo
Sites Razorback
Linux Rules Maverick
Interview: Trixter and Edge Dreamwalker
Rules at Assembly '95 Contributers to c.s.i.p.d.
Subscribing
Closing
---[Hornet News Introduction]--[Snowman, GraveDigger, and Trixter]-------------
GD: Hello and welcome to issue five of Hornet News.
SM: This week, I'm not doing anything.
GD: Snowman is on vacation in Bermuda, surrounded by topless women and cold
drinks. :) Back on this side of reality, Floss starts off our newsletter
this week with probably the final update on MC3.
SM: I just finished checking all the entries. We have 136 tunes, totalling 28
Megs. I wonder how many entries ASM94 and TP94 had.. hmm.
GD: Good question.. Well, our next article is called "This is Your History"
and is from Rimbo. Snowman, how did you find Rimbo?
SM: Actually, Trixter started forwarding his posts to c.s.i.p.d. to me. I
really liked his style so I contacted him. Hopefully he'll be a regular
contributer around here for awhile. What's this "Sites" article?
GD: The sites article is a reply to a post on c.s.i.p.d about demo-related
FTP sites.
SM: For those readers out there who don't know much about newsgroups,
c.s.i.p.d. is an acronym for comp.sys.ibm.pc.demos; one of the most
active demo-related newsgroups out there.
GD: ...A good way to get in touch with demo fanatics around the world. Oh
hey, be sure to check out Maverick's "Linux Rules" article! It's very
interesting.
SM: Maverick had to deal with some corrections from your buddy and mine,
Trixter! Looks like we have a couple of very knowledgeable people on our
Hornet team.
GD: How true. Trixter has also been a big help with helping to manage our
FTP site. And to put Trixter in the spotlight again, he and Edge/EMF are
interviewed regarding the musicdisk, Chromatiks II. This interview was
done by Dreamwalker.
SM: Also, Trixter was interviewed for the July issue of "Wired" magazine. I
hope he doesn't get so popular that he wants to run off, leave Hornet,
and join iCE.
GD: Yikes! Watch out for the hate-mail from that one. Anyways, we wrap up
with some opinions of the ASM'95 rules, as posted on (again) c.s.i.p.d.
SM: Yes, Assembly 95 is just around the corner. I wonder if FC will attempt
a comeback.
GD: I'm anxious to find out as well! Anyways, we must be moving along...
SM: Yes, I have more System 370 Assembler and Calculus to do... ahh, the
wonders of university. Well dude, thanks for putting this issue together.
GD: Not a problem; glad to help out when I can... This has been GD...
SM: ...and the warm and cuddly Snowman...
<>: ...And we are outta here!
---[MC3 Update]--[Floss]-------------------------------------------------------
This is kind of a pre-wrap up to the big thing that we like to call "Music
Contest 3." Since I don't have the papers on me handy and I'm using a
Telemate window to write this all down, why don't I just give out a few
general numbers that should give you an idea of what things are like down
here.
We have a total of 46 judges (give or take a few, depending on how off my
count is and if anyone decided to drop out), we HAD over 170 applied
entries, and the last count I was able to make of the total uploaded and
verified entries is up over 130. Something to be feared, yes. Something to
party about, hell yes.
However, the hardest part is to come at this moment. The waiting. I know
how the waiting feels. In MC2 I entered the second uploaded song into the
directory and had to wait months for the results to come out. You know the
deal; pulling your hair out, biting fingernails, shredding paper, pulling
Floss's hair out, pulling other people's hair out, hurling large objects
out the front window, that kind of thing. The waiting is the hardest part
of the whole thing.
Before the deadline, you were trying your best to track your best, and now
you're stuck waiting for another 2 weeks until you find out how you did.
The results will be out sooner than you think, so don't worry. And fear
not, the judges will not be idle (at least they better not be or i'm gonna
rip some kiwis off). They'll be hard at work doing their best to rate your
music.
There are a few people that contributed to this contest that made all
things possible, and I think its time to recognize them.
First off and foremost, there was this young cigar smoking, long haired,
ant eating, bat watching Ohio dood who sat as far back behind the scene (no
pun intended) as possible and helped out in ways that I couldn't have lived
without. From coding to scanning each file to letting me know who needed to
send in new versions because of corrupt files, and making sure each and
every one of those 130-something entries were in working order.
Christopher G. Mann, aliased as Snowman, deserves a pat on the back. Well,
he deserves a lot more than a pat on the back. Though a round of applause
would be kind of hard to do on the net. I'll buy him a doughnut at the next
NAID. You all can hold me to the bargain too.
Others of note are Dan Wright, who made sure I was alive even when I wasn't
so sure I was. He forwarded email to me when people didn't read the file
that said 'Floss get email. Leave us alone.', and even took care of some
file problems I was having on my system. Of course, there is GraveDigger,
who was just plain cool throughout the whole thing (even though he went
over my helmet a couple times (: ).
Finally, big many smewchies to everyone who ENTERED the contest. More
smewchies to the judges who are gonna have all the fun. (:
Music Contest 3 had a few tough battles that had to be fought. The deadline
was moved beacuse everyone panicked when I had to work two open-to-close
days at my job (8am to midnight, fear) and I wasn't able to get to my email
fast enough. Lots of corrupt entries happened here and there and we had
troubles trying to get a hold of the composers to let them know that they
needed to send new versions. Some people objected the GUS only rule, some
people objected lil 'ol me, and some people just had bad hair days and
flamed me to my face on IRC. At least you had the courage to tell it to my
screen. (:
All in all, the whole thing is the single most successful music contest in
the history of the music scene. It's slammin, it's jammin, it's big, no,
it's not big, it's huge. It's your worst nightmare, it's the best thing
since sliced bread, and best of all, it's all yours.
I'll cut this a little short because I have to leave for school. Yes, I'm
the crazy one who's going to school during the summer. For three years
straight. Muahahahaha. In any case, the results will be in your hands as
soon as the judging gets finished and Floss gets a day off to handle all
this stuff. (:
Take care.
-George Nowik
Floss [KFMF / MC3]
---[This is Your History]--[Rimbo]---------------------------------------------
[taken from comp.sys.ibm.pc.demos]
> This is your history, ladies and gentlemen.
> It used to be a much smaller world.
> -FT/iCE
It's very important that you said "history." Certainly, even the PC demo
scene at one time may have had minor warez affiliations. But those days are
long gone and ill-remembered. This part of the scene has detached itself
from that history. Let me give you another example.
I am a Southerner and a Texan, not just a member of the USA. The history of
the South in the USA is brutally tarnished with the shadow of black slavery
and racism. But today, in the South of the 1990s, racism is rare and
slavery is totally nonexistent. Assuming that I'm a racist, or that anyone
in the South is racist, is wholly unjustified.
In fact, of the ten most segregated states, only two were once members of
the old Confederate States of America. [People not-well versed in US
History: The CSA was, 130 years ago, 13 states in the Southeastern section
of the USA which separated from it in an attempt to retain their "right" to
own slaves.] The point is, the area which once was the embodiment of racial
tensions is now less racist than the rest of the country.
The analogy is obvious. Just because the PC demo scene has some roots in
piracy doesn't mean that today it's a haven for pirates and warez. That's
not why most of us got involved with it. We got involved with it because of
DEMOS, and demos alone. Not warez, but demos. Demos are cool.
History? History is bunk. History is the class everyone sleeps in. In the
words of Sting, "I once asked my History teacher how we were to learn
anything useful from his subject, when it seemed to me to be nothing more
than a rotten and sordid succession of robber baron scumbags devoid of any
admirable human qualities." (He failed History.)
If nothing else, it is that History which makes it even more imperative
that we are wary of how others judge us. So you see...we HAVE changed.
-Rimbo
---[Sites]--[Razorback]--------------------------------------------------------
[taken from comp.sys.ibm.pc.demos]
> QUESTION! : WHY IS IT 'DAT EVERY TIME SOMEONE GIVES ME SOME SITEZ, I END
> UP GETTING EITHER NO CONNECTION, OR SOME REALLY CHEAP PIECE OF JUNK WITH
> 1 DEMO CALLED "UPCHUCK" OR SOMETHING? COME ON MAN! FUNK DAT!
> no really, could someone post 5-10 sites for me?
I THINK IT IZ ALZO K00L TO WRITE LIKE THIZ, BECOZ IT GIVEZ MY EG0 A BIG
BOOZT. ALZO MY FRiENDZ LIKE IT A L0T.
stop whining and try ftp.cdrom.com.
-Razorback
---[Linux Rules]--[Maverick]---------------------------------------------------
"Linux rules - if you have the time to recompile"
"Windows is not an answer;
Windows is a question,
and the answer is NO!"
- anon Net signature.
Unix is not a friendly environment. Weird filenames, the lack of an
undelete command and tools that have names like awk, sed and emacs can send
chills through the average DOS user. Which was what I was just over a year
ago. Then co-worker Clayton (bless his heart) said: "You must get into Unix
sometime. You will like it a lot. Try Linux - here are the disks." Bingo.
My outlook on computing philosophy changed. Linux, despite some short
absences from my HD is now firmly here to stay.
Linux is a fully-featured, industrial-strength 32-bit operating system.
Sheesh, I sound like an IBM press release! What it means in english is that
it's very fast, never crashes, and has thousands of applications with which
to test it out. Not that there isn't a lot of mileage to be gained by just
fooling around with the operating system utilities. The philosophy of Unix
is to have a small, tightly-integrated kernel with plenty of small, fast,
and configurable utilities that sit on top of that kernel.
Does this remind anyone of the C language? Well, Unix and Linux are written
in C and leverage the portability, compactness, and general all-around
wonderfulness of the C language. (Please note objective coverage of *all*
demo tools in this article ;-p)
Linux has a complete implementation of the X-Windows system and when and
running it looks pretty much like a workstation's desktop. Since it's Unix,
it comes with native IP network support. None of these PC add-on packages
that run on Windows sockets - we're talking about *the* ftp, ncftp, irc,
telnet, gopher, Netscape and other Internet goodies.
Because its fully multitasking, I can write this article using and X-Windows
text editor, spell check it with the spell tool, run Netscape in a window,
telnet to somewhere else, monitor a friend telneting to my machine, and keep
an eye out on rcramer's comments on #trax. My 4x CD-ROM works perfectly, both
for data and playing audio disks. It's the first OS I've seen to make use of
all of the 2Mb of RAM in my graphics card.
The Gravis MAX responds sweetly to anything sent to it. MIDIs, MODs, S3Ms and
the sounds made by DOOM - DOOM? Oh yes, I forgot. Doom I and II run fine
under Linux - no MIDI soundtrack but full bzzzzzzzzrrrnnnaaaargh sound
support when your trusty motorised tree-feller bites into a bad guy. It's an
eye-popper when you first see it - either in full-screen (aka DOS) mode or in
a window (tm) on your X desktop.
You can also play over the Internet against anyone else with a connection.
T1 not needed, 28,8 modem works fine. There are paint programs, graphical
debuggers, games, visual editors and enough man (for manual) pages to get
anybody started. The most dangerous part of all - setting up your video
card and monitor frequencies - has been greatly simplified with a utility
to do it for you. So there's no need to blow that 17" monitor into
thousands of little fragments.
"Bother", said Pooh as Windows swapped to disk for the tenth time.
Now the Windows pundits (and that dangerous subset, the Windows with Internet
tools pundits) may be saying that Windows can do all of this and more. My
answer to that is NO IT CAN'T.
1. Linux is free. Free. You pay nothing. It's not even shareware. No
registration fee needed. No difficult dealings with those teams of
registration card experts. Nothing to pay - now or later.
2. Linux comes with free and comprehensive technical support -ie. the
Internet news groups comps.sys.os.linux.questions, alt.os.linux and
alt.linux.advocacy.
3. Linux works and it works all the time. It's also been shipping for a
while.
4. Linux shows off the power of your machine rather than forcing you to buy
a new machine to show off the power of Linux.
5. Finally, because this is a demo zine and I need to talk about demos a bit
if I want to continue writing for it and because I believe it may be true,
Linux is a viable demo platform if enough coders get cracking. Windows
will never be.
O say can you C?
I would love to see some demos for Linux. But there are a number of
problems. The first is Pascal and pure ASM programmers need not apply - C
is your only viable option. There are some Pascal to C translators out
there and inline ASM is possible in C, though. Secondly writing your own
graphics and sound libraries is going to be tricky as both require a
thorough knowledge of the underlying operating system. The C and C++
compilers are great though, and have X graphical debuggers and interfaces
for the patient types who want to configure them.
But perhaps the greatest barrier is the unfriendliness of Unix. It's a very
different terrain to navigate. Once you get into it, its cool to work with
but it will probably never be as familiar as DOS is to the masses of PC
users.
The mindset is quite different too - when you get a game, there's no
executable. No, there's just a whole lot of source (and a makefile). You
must type "make" to get your game working. Looking at the source of a lot
of Linux games I have now is very interesting, especially to see how they
handle the screen and the sound. Maybe here is the place to start...
The mindset when working with Linux is also one of cheerful optimism. You
will probably trash your entire installation a couple of times and have to
reinstall it again. Most of the README files contain bug lists and known
problems but nothing that's too life-threatening.
"A vain hope"
Everyone I know has heard the "if Operating Systems were Airlines" joke but
it bears repeating here (plus my additions):
DOS Airways: Everyone pushes the plane, jumps on, glides to a halt, pushes it
again, glides.....etc.
Windows Airways: The plane, airport and attendants are smart and helpful
but a bit slow. The plane takes off, but at 40,000 feet blows up without
warning.
OS/2 Airways: The attendants apologetically ask you to disregard the other
sleek jets in the airport and say that their one will be ready anytime
soon.
MacAir: All planes, attendants, stewardesses and ground crew look the same,
talk the same and act the same. If you ask a question they say that you
don't want to know, don't need to know and will you please return to your
seat and watch the movie.
Linux Air: A complete *free* Concorde kit is waiting at your arrival. Since
very few people are familiar with how the Concorde works or how to put it
together, few persevere. Those who do have access to the manuals and trade
secrets and about 150,000 experts standing around waiting to give free
advice. When built it flies faster and more efficiently than any other
aircraft but many airports will not let it land.
Check out Linux if you have some free drive space. Also make sure you have
quite a bit of time to recompile the system to configure your options. I
seriously doubt there will be a massive move to Linux worldwide. But now
you know that it's there and that it has more advantages than
disadvantages.
This was brought to you by:
* Linus Torvalds - a bloody genius of a computer science student who wrote
the original kernel from scratch. Although there are now thousands of
contributors you can still give the man a hand!
* cloud9.mod by basehead played by xgmod - the best Linux mod player.
* Linux version 2.1.2 kernel 1.2.9 recompiled for CD-ROM support and Gravis
support.
* Trixter - who very politely pointed out to me a number of errors in the
first draft of this article.
-Maverick/Serenity
---[Interview: Trixter and Edge]--[Dreamwalker]-------------------------------
Chromatiks II: The Story Continues...
An Interview with Trixter / Hornet and Edge / EMF
by Dreamwalker / Overlook & Poison
Interview date: May - June, 1994. Released in May, 1995.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This interview was started nearly a year ago, when the first volume of
Chromatiks was released. The disk was very unusual at the time, since it
featured music from several composers. New possibilities (i.e.,
integration) in development of the demo scene were exciting -- and I
started a rather fruitful conversation with Trixter and Edge, the people
behind the project.
Unfortunately, the second volume was delayed, and I wanted to make a story
about an ongoing project. Time passed... The trend toward integration came
to stay -- now we have Epidemic, a huge three-disk project packed with
great pieces from many scene musicians. We also have other great multigroup
music disks. Now -- as Chromatiks Volume II is finally released -- it's
time to make the whole story available to the public... ;-)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
DW: Dreamwalker dmitry@orbis-3.msk.su
TX: Trixter trixter@ftp.cdrom.com
ED: Edge edge@hut.fi
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
DK: The demo scene was (and mostly is) oriented at technical aspects of the
creative process. However, the main thing behind demo making is
*creating a brand new art*, that is not found in the real world, that is
not Windows multimedia, etc. Until now, it virtually wasn't noticed.
Chromatiks is one of the first examples of turning this endless coding/
PC power boast into something different. It doesn't pursue "standard"
demo scene goals, like "My group is cooler than all others!" (True
nearly for any cyberspace group, regardless of its orientation.)
Chromatiks is the first project that integrates creative artistic work
from different people.
TX: :-) Thank you... You're the first person to notice that that was what I
originally wanted to accomplish with the Chromatiks project.
DK: As for Chromatiks -- you did a very good job with its code. And it has a
certain amount of good design. Another thing: it's the first demo scene
project that is released not only for "demo dudes," but for ordinary
people as well. We'll wait and see if multigroup projects will become a
trend. This can change the situation with the lack of design and artwork
in even recent demos.
TX: Yes!! Again, you are quite observant -- I *did* release Chromatiks for
*normal* people as well as scene people. That's probably the one thing
I'm most proud of; I would like more people to get into the scene, like
contemporary musicians and artists. I worked fairly hard to get it to
appeal to everyone, as well as holding a certain interest for scene
members. For instance, how many music disks come with a "typeset" manual
-- with a "problems and solutions" chapter? :-)
DK: The thing that you're doing is absolutely right -- bringing real world
musicians and artists into the scene is a great idea. We need some new
ideas and a different vision of the scene. The manual makes a big
difference for *normal* people. Next question: How can you relate the
idea of music disks to the real world, and what makes computer music
different?
TX: It's interesting: The ideas behind both are quite similar, but the end
results are very different. Both music disks and contemporary albums
are collections of music; they both have themes; they are distributed
widely and listened to by fans. There is a big difference between
albums and musicdisks, however: Since scene musicians aren't out to
make money, they can compose and distribute practically anything they
want. With nothing to prove, musicdisks can portray any vision, idea,
or theme they want to.
DK: And we have charts for both. ;-) Well, it's a good remark that there are
fans of scene musicians.
TX: Of course, music disks are more fun, because there's usually something
to see as well as listen to. While small, this difference can lead to a
little more appreciation for the music.
DK: Yes, that's true. Another thing: Musicdisks can create a better visual
representation of the conceptual part of the music. As album artwork
adds a lot to the music (if used properly). Computer musicdisks can
create a much, much better visual sequence for the tune. (And avoid
becoming a demo.) They can combine music and (for example) poetry.
TX: You'll probably be happy to know that we're asking Skaven to write the
title tune *and* do the beginning animation/graphics for C3. It should
be great!
DK: Yes, and that's what we need -- it's more like expressing artistic
ideas, not just technical quality.
All this brings about another point: The scene projects are nonprofit,
though all demo writers add some words about commercial demos/games.
Still, this sub-culuture exists without definite profit goals. And it's
good -- the scene projects have a greater impact and a wider
distribution then, for example, albums from some independent groups.
Also, the scene is open to amateur artists, musicians. It's not a
record company that either promotes or turns down artists based on
their demo- tapes. The demo scene means real freedom for composers, and
everyone.
BTW, did you read the other side of Chromatiks? The messages in
modules? ;-) Like "doing it for a musicdisk... What is it called?...
Heck, I dunno what it's called..."
TX: :-) Some of the music was composed in November or December, when the
disk was tentatively titled "Chromatiks." Luckily, the name stuck.
DK: Next question: why was the name "Chromatiks" chosen?
TX: I get a rush out of music that climbs upward chromatically. (I'll bet
Kalle doesn't know that--I'll have to tell him.) Also, a musical-term-
warped-into-a-title seemed better than something stupid, like
"devastation" or something.
DK: Did you ever treat your project as a form of collecting and displaying
ART, not just MODs? And what do you think about demos being a new form of
art?
TX: I agree completely, that coding demos is an art form, but on two levels:
- It's an art form in ideas. Previously, demos were a way to show off
the coder's programming skill; for instance, (as you well know) to
make the C64 jump through hoops to display full-screen 3d with only
64K of memory. With the advent of faster computers and better
display/sound hardware, a demo can now show off the idea, or vision
of the programmer.
Let's take this example: A cube, rotated and shaded on the screen, is
easy to do. But a gelatineous cube that wiggles/bounces around is only
slightly harder to code, yet much more fun to look at. (As in S!P's The
Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.) Demos are starting to take the direction
that Amiga demos have been pursuing for over 3 years now--good design.
In other words, it's not how fast you can display and rotate that
cube--it's what you can do with it. Even now, subdivisions of this art
form are appearing: Screen layout, Object design, Music choice (techno
is not necessarily the best music for a demo anymore), and so on.
- It's an art form in technical perfection. Demos must be perfectly
speed-optimized, or they won't achieve some of the effects they
desire (or, even worse, not run as desired on slower computers, which
makes them look bad). Also, finding new ways to do things with the
hardware that the hardware can't normally do is an art. Copper bars
in text mode, more than 256 colors on the screen, etc. are all
examples of this.
DK: This question is based on your comment in comp.ibm.pc.sys.demos about
watching the scene for three years: How, when, and why did you decide
to produce a multi-group musicdisk?
TX: After two years, I finally had some working music routines, and I
really wanted to put them to good use. I had viewed the scene for about
3 years, and I wanted to give something back to the main thing that's
sparked my interest in programming again. It takes a lot of work, a
different kind of work, to track a song that sounds great; and since I
was a great fan of scene musicians, I decided to go that route.
DK: What was behind this idea?
TX: I wanted to give good musicians an outlet to release their work and get
recognition for it. U4IA and Maruku Barunu, for example, are respected
musicians that had to rely on the normal distribution of their music to
join a group; I wanted to do the same thing. Also, I wanted to do
something that hadn't been done before (don't we all? :-), so I got the
idea for a musicdisk that didn't have music from just one person or
just one group.
Everybody talked about a multigroup disk, but no one did it. Kalle and
I worked very hard, because coordinating all the musicians (Kalle's
job) and integrating the ideas with the code (my job, and a first for
me) was tough. Heck -- all of the coding was tough.
DK: Was it a quest for glory, or something different?
TX: Not really, but it's nice to be recognized by an industry that you
admire. While the glory wasn't the main reason, it is a nice side
effect. :-)
DK: :-) I think that at this point I'll turn to Kalle too. It's about time.
TX: Since he lives in the *heart* of the scene and is friends with many of
the "good" scene people, he will prove to be a valuable resource, I'm
sure.
DK: The progress of the PC scene is notable, it also becomes professional
these days. The companies that are supporting the scene are not just
wasting their money. The scene now is not a small closed space of
initiated people. It becomes broader and affects more and more people
from the outer world.
ED: As can be seen in the growth of demoparties. Assembly '92 had a PC-
section of perhaps 200 people, and the party was held in a school.
Assembly '93 was already bigger, some 500 -- 1000 PC-people attending.
The partyplace, though, was still a school, not even a very big one.
This year, we expect some 1500 PC-freaks coming.
I just got a call from Italy, they are organizing a bus trip of 60
people. Can you imagine that, 60 people coming all the way through
Europe just to get to a three-day demoparty? Amazing, isn't it? Not to
mention the hundreds of people from Scandinavia!
And the partyplace is Helsinki Ice-Hall, which houses some 9000 ice-
hockey enthusiasts during the Finnish League matches. Definitely not an
inside party anymore.
DK: My first questions are: How and why did you decide to participate in
the Chromatiks project? What was especially attractive in this idea?
ED: The reason I decided to answer Trixter's post in comp.sys.ibm.pc.demos
was that I didn't like the quality of the musicdisks at that time. Most
lacked variety, the songs were always made with the same instruments,
same style, or the same theme. Since I knew many musicians in the scene
personally, it seemed logical that I contact them and ask if they would
be also interested.
First I turned to Cybelius, who liked the idea and promised to make a
tune. I also knew Purple Motion, so I gave him a call, too. He was the
first one to finish his song. After I got these two musicians to help
me out, it was no big job finding others. Prism is a friend of mine, so
he started working on a song, and I contacted JayJay and Tonedeaf
through BBS's. In the process, I got many songs that will be put to use
in future Chromatiks disks.
That is also one of the best sides of Chromatiks: its continuity. When
most music disks are just single, independent pieces of work,
Chromatiks is an ongoing project. If there were more musicdisks like
this one (which I hope there will be), you could choose your favorite
musicdisk, much the same way you read a diskmag. It is also some sort
of a quality assurance - if you don't like the style of a musicdisk
series, you can just not download it the next time.
DK: QA a good point -- the best QA comes from the public, and some healthy
competition will help to extend the borders of the demo scene.
Chromatiks 1 features mostly music from Finnish musicians. Why it is so
and will we hear composers from other countries? Will we see new names,
independent, even professional musicians in your future volumes?
ED: The reason the composers are Finnish is that I only knew Finnish
musicians. Because no-one knew of Chromatiks, I had to gather the
musicians myself. Now that there is a full contact-info in the end of
Chromatiks, I hope musicians from all around the world will join us in
this project. There will still be many Finnish musicians in coming
Chromatiks disks like Skaven/FC, Cube/Hysteria and Dune/Sonic, but
other musicians are submitting tunes, too.
As for new musicians, we are sure to have them in following disks, this
could be a way for YOU to make a name, so give me a call!
About professionals, I'm not sure. In the first Chromatiks disk, only
Purple Motion has done commercial music (his band has made a CD), and I
don't know if the situation will change in the future. I believe this
should be kept to an amateur level, like the whole demo-scene.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Closing words: Maybe Chromatiks 2 is not what it was meant to be, however,
it's really good to see a sequel to one of the most original projects of
1994. Lets just hope for more integration in the scene, more creativity, more
real art in demo productions. It is interesting to read this interview one
year later: some things that were mentioned became a reality, some things are
on the way... I just hope that the interview will not seem obsolete to
anyone, I believe that this was the true time to release it. Peace and love
to everyone.
---[Rules at Assembly '95]--[Contributers to comp.sys.ibm.pc.demos]------------
_____By Feather:
This is a long, but important one...
Assembly '95 rules suck. So what. I've read many messages where people have
said they're not coming to assembly, because it will suck because of the
rules. Now, my question is, why are the rules ruining it?
When IMO two best groups in the scene at the moment, Complex and Orange,
are making a demo, probably some other big groups as well, the compos just
can not suck. Think about ASM'94 and TP'94: ASM'94, only one decent demo, a
few not-so-bad ones. TP'94, 2 good demos, a few not-so-bad ones. So ASM'95
will surely have better compoquality than these 2 parties.
And if you can't make a demo that works by the rules, just don't. Just go
to ASM'95 and enjoy other peoples work. You don't have to stay up all
August making demos, just go to Assembly and enjoy the show. It's much less
stressing that way. So there is absolutely no reason to miss ASM'95 because
of the rules. And the compos shouldn't be the only reason to come to
parties. You'll also meet a lot of people, make contacts, have fun, enjoy
the summer, etc... (like you didn't already know that...)
Also, people say that coming to Assembly is far too expensive. SO WHAT! Do
you seriously think those pieces of paper (=$) are more important than
having fun? I think not. Get a job, whine to your parents, sell your
computer, whatever, it can't be THAT hard to get some money.
Right now, people in Europe should stop complaining and start organizing
big bustrips to Finland. With lots of people and buses, it just can't be
too expensive. And if it seems no one is organizing one, *YOU* do that. It
shouldn't be hard to fill up some two buses or so. So get up, make a few
phonecalls, gather up some people, and there you go. And, uh, afterall, the
bustrip organizers can always take a few bucks extra from people and travel
to the party for free...
I can understand people from America that can not come because of money,
but in Europe... Hey, Finland isn't THAT far. If you can't think of
anything else, walk! (ok, I know, it's easy for me to say...)
Since Assembly and The Party are the two main events of the scene, I think
no one in the scene can afford to miss them. They're both commercialized,
too bad, but you should always look on the bright side. Ignore the bad
things and enjoy the good things of commercialism twice as much.
I'm writing this message because I'm starting to get very mad at these
whining people. Stop it. Demos and the scene are supposed to be fun, don't
take 'em too seriously.
Why let the organization and commercialism ruin this great event for us?
It's *OUR* party, not theirs. If something's ruining it, it's people's
stupid attitude that it just can't be any fun because of the party CD,
compo rules, or commercialism. Thank god there's still time to change this
stupid attitude. Just ignore the bad things, come to Assembly and have the
time of your life.
-Feather/Glueteam
See? Not a single smiley in this message. (it's a very serious matter,
since I already bought my tickets to asm 95...)
_____By Nomikos Zografakis: (reply to Feather)
> Also, people say that coming to Assembly is far too expensive. SO WHAT!
> Do you seriously think those pieces of paper (=$) are more important
> than having fun? I think not. Get a job, whine to your parents, sell
> your computer, whatever, it can't be THAT hard to get some money.
Hahah... if money is only a piece of paper, would you be kind enough to
give me some of your paper? I happen to be missing quite a lot of paper to
go to ASM... perhaps you could spare a few thousands of those little
worthless pieces of paper? :)
By the way, the more expensive it gets, less people will go, and less
people in a party means less fun! Prices must be kept at a minimum or it
isn't no fun anymore! Only people who can afford it will be able to go.
(and people who can afford it aren't necessarly people you want at a
demoparty...) :(
Well anyways... my $0.02
-Nomikos Zografakis
_____By Dev:
> And since so many Finnish people won't show up,
Please, get real. Only a force majeure like the army or such will prevent a
Finnish scene freak from attending ASM'95. When it comes right down to it,
the competition rules don't matter the least bit. Hell, a vast majority of
attendants won't even take part in any compos!
> there will be almost none from middle Europe, according to what I've
> heard from them.
We'll just see. Should I archive this message and throw it back at you in
August when we've witnessed the biggest ever amount of foreign demosceners
attending a Finnish party? :)
> Yes, but Assembly is the worst of all the bigger compos, in organizing
Cut the crap. At TP'94 there was, what, a six (6) hour delay in the PC demo
compo? And the demo numbers were screwed up so that no public voting ever
happened, isn't that so? And how about the most recent, Gathering94 - the
organizing group made a "recount" of the votes *after* the party, resulting
in their own demos and members magically jumping from fourth and fifth
places to 2nd and 3rd...
> for voting, can you imagine it? That sure leaves space for some
> manipulation, remember Future Crew, the organizers winning by a small
> margin? :)
This was discussed to death two years ago.
-Dev/EMF
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